A Podcast Interview: Steve Rubin's Saturday Night at the Movies

I was happy to receive an invitation to take part in a podcast interview with Steve Rubin for his series Saturday Night at the Movies. This came about thanks mainly to Budd Burton Moss, to whom I am eternally grateful. Follow the link below. Can be heard on Apple, Spotify and Google too.

https://steverubinssaturdaynightatthemovies.podbean.com/e/episode-51-derek-schulthorpe/

Ruth Roman A Career Portrait

One of the most underrated actresses of the 1950s, Ruth Roman deserves credit for carving a career in Hollywood during the latter part of its Golden Age. Hailing from a poverty-stricken background in the East End of Boston, she tenaciously followed her dream despite constant setbacks and being told she would never make the big time. After a breakthrough with key roles in The Window and Champion she reached star status at Warner Bros. as the last contract player. Thereafter she made an impact in a wide range of parts, including as a modern-day Lady Macbeth in Joe Macbeth and an independent career woman in the Klondike in The Far Country opposite Jimmy Stewart. Later she found great success on television and made a memorable return to the screen in the cult psycho-horror The Baby. Along the way she was married four times and almost lost her life in a disaster at sea. Ruth Roman A Career Portrait is the first book ever written about her and is published by McFarland & Co. to celebrate the centenary of her birth. See details here

 

Malcolm Scott "The Woman Who Knows"

Belated tribute to a forgotten star of music hall

   Malcolm Scott was a leading comedian in the Edwardian era who developed a highly satirical act dressed as a female figure of history, be it Elizabeth I or Katherine Parr. Highly popular in his day, he is now practically forgotten, but over ninety years after his death I hope to rekindle interest in him, with my book now published by Bear Manor Media. 

Scott in his send up of the Directoire style

   Scott came from a good family with a brother who became a famous admiral. However, when he was orphaned at 13, he was forced to take his fate in his own hands and eventually made his way to the stage, where he became a successful actor and found his metier in comedy dressed in female attire. He was a hugely successful pantomime dame, and by 1903 a star of music hall. His approach was far different to that of his fellow female impersonators in that he was not trying to fool anyone, but effectively sending himself up - along with everything else. Nothing was off-limits to him and he made a hit in London and New York with his satire of Maud Allan as Salome, at a time when the play was still banned. Throughout his career he was the doyen of Pierrot shows and later found fame on radio before his untimely death in his fifties.

   

   His recordings are sadly few and his sole film would appear to be lost, but I hope this belated tribute elevates him to share the limelight with the other greats of music hall. My book is the first to cover his life in some detail, and includes extensive lists of his performances, songs and monologues. It is available in hardback, softback and ebook directly from Bear Manor Media and other outlets. See details here A review here

https://bearmanor-digital.myshopify.com/products/malcolm-scott-the-woman-who-knows-hardback 

The Lost World of Music Hall

    After several years and a number of false starts, my book about music hall has now been released. The Lost World of Music Hall is published by Bear Manor Media. It covers ten individuals who each represented some aspect of the national character during the heyday of the halls and the way they adapted to the many and rapid changes of the twentieth century. Among the names are Nellie Wallace, Lily Morris, Billy Bennett, Charlie Higgins and Norman Long. Several found a new lease of life on radio and others recorded extensively. Included is an in-depth discography and catalogues of the songs they sang but never committed to shellac. I hope the book stands as a fitting tribute to some forgotten stars and an introduction to the subject for those intrigued to know more about our entertainment past.

Follow Link Below

https://bearmanor-digital.myshopify.com/products/the-lost-world-of-music-hall-hardback?_pos=1&_sid=6c569452b&_ss=r&fbclid=IwAR1Zo-gL_faEJ9COYHHjxUDED2ml5DiGF0joKO_35d4d6QI5lpjecz21ybU

Margaret Cooper The Diva of the Humorous Song

 

   Margaret Cooper (1877-1922) was an entertainer at the piano, popular in the first quarter of the twentieth century and at one time reputedly the highest paid female star. She sang her light and witty ballads in a light soprano, but much of her appeal was in the way she presented her art, which was a performance in itself. There has hitherto been no substantial profile of any kind about her, since she published her own slim volume of memoirs in 1909. Until now, that is, because she is one of the principal subjects of my book The Lost World of Music Hall (Bear Manor Media, 2021). La Cooper was a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, who found success against all the odds on the vaudeville stage. See details here

 Alfred Lester "Always Merry and Bright"

One of the subjects of my forthcoming book The Lost World of Music Hall (Bear Manor Media, 2021). Excerpt below:

"Alfred Lester was a lugubrious comedian who avoided the jolly idiot approach and perfected the persona of the ultimate pessimist. It could be argued that he channelled the underlying fatalism of Music-Hall into his stage characters, although much of that outlook was decidedly his own. He found his greatest popularity in Britain on the revue stage from the Great War up until his sudden death in 1925. If he had been reincarnated as a film comedian it would have been one in the Buster Keaton mould. Unlike Keaton, Lester is almost completely forgotten and liable to remain so. However, he was a good example of a different type of comic approach and one who successfully straddled the music hall and revue stage, pointing the way forward for others."

Follow link below:

https://bearmanor-digital.myshopify.com/products/the-lost-world-of-music-hall-hardback?_pos=1&_sid=6c569452b&_ss=r&fbclid=IwAR1Zo-gL_faEJ9COYHHjxUDED2ml5DiGF0joKO_35d4d6QI5lpjecz21ybU

Lily Morris 

Much-loved Cockney Comedienne 

Lily Morris was one of the great Variety artistes who is celebrated in my forthcoming book, The Lost World of Music Hall (Bear Manor Media, 2021)

"Lily Morris was a great Cockney comedienne. On stage from childhood, she was something of a teenage phenomenon. She was a doyen of pantomime and enjoyed her greatest popularity on the variety stage in the immediate post-war era. In her prime she presented a blousy figure and had a great way with a song, in the tradition of Marie Lloyd, with whom she was often compared. Usually, Morris in character was one over the eight, and delivered her songs in a disarming way but they were true gems of social comment, and she did full justice to them."  

(From the introduction)

Above right: Lily in character, c1922. Left: A young Lily during her years as a pantomime favourite.

See link:

https://bearmanor-digital.myshopify.com/products/the-lost-world-of-music-hall-hardback?_pos=1&_sid=6c569452b&_ss=r&fbclid=IwAR1Zo-gL_faEJ9COYHHjxUDED2ml5DiGF0joKO_35d4d6QI5lpjecz21ybU