Web Page 1036

Web Page 1036

Top Picture: Ben Lyon & Bebe Daniels plus Richard and Barbara

Second Picture: Vic Oliver

From Across the Pond

BBC radio relied heavily on many American comedians during and after the war. Lets look at just three of them.



Ben Lyon was born in Atlanta on February 6, 1901 and died on March 22, 1979 he was a well known American film actor and a 20th Century Fox studio executive. He entered films in 1918 after a successful appearance on Broadway. He was in the highly successful film Flaming Youth (1923), and steadily developed into a leading man and was successfully paired with some of the leading actresses of the silent era. His greatest success as an actor came in 1930 with the film Hell's Angels. The film was a major success and brought Jean Harlow to prominence. For the ten years he was constantly in demand, but his popularity began to wane by the early 1940s. By the mid 1940s he was working for 20th Century Fox. In 1946 he met a young aspiring actress named Norma Jeane Dougherty. He organised a colour screen test for the actress, renamed her, and finally signed her as Marilyn Monroe to her first studio contract. In 1930 he had married the actress Bebe Daniels. Together they were a notable couple in show business society, and sometimes acted together. This is where we first come across this couple on British radio in the long-running radio show Hi Gang. Hi Gang was succeeded in 1950 by Life With The Lyons, which also featured their real life son Richard and daughter Barbara, and had a run on BBC and ITV from 1954 until 1960. When Bebe Daniels's health declined during the 1960s following a series of strokes, Ben Lyon cared for her until her death in 1971. He then married the actress Marian Nixon. But when on the QE2 near Honolulu, Hawaii, when he suffered a heart attack and died.




Bebe Daniels was born Phyllison Virginia Daniels (Bebe was a childhood name) onJanuary 14, 1901 and died on March 16, 1971, she was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer and producer. Her father was a theatre manager and her mother an actress. The family moved to Los Angeles in her childhood and she began her acting career at the age of four. That same year she also went on tour in a stage production of Richard III. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent movie era as a child actress, became a star in musicals like 42nd Street, and later gained further fame on radio and television in Britain. In a long career, Bebe Daniels made over 230 films. In the 1920s, Daniels was under contract with Paramount Pictures. She became an adult star by 1922 and by 1924 was playing opposite Rudolph Valentino in Monsieur Beaucaire. Following this she was cast in a number of light popular films, Paramount dropped her contract with the advent of talking pictures. She was hired by RKO and RCA Victor hired her to record several records. Radio Pictures starred her in a number of musicals Warner Brothers realized what a box office draw she was and offered her a contract which she accepted. She retired from Hollywood in 1935. With her husband, Ben Lyon, and they moved to London. The Lyons' then moved into radio most notably, the series Hi Gang, continuing for decades and enjoying considerable popularity during World War II. Bebe Daniels wrote most of the dialogue for the Hi Gang radio show. The couple remained through the days of the The Blitz. Following the war, Daniels was awarded the Medal of Freedom by Harry S. Truman for war service. In 1945 she returned to Hollywood for a short time to work as a film producer for Hal Roach and Eagle Lion. She returned to the UK in 1948 and lived there for the remainder of her life. On March 16, 1971, Daniels died of a cerebral hemorrhage in London at the age of 70.



Vic Oliver was born Victor Oliver von Samek on 8 July 1898 and died on 15 August 1964. He was born in Vienna, the son of Viktor von Samek and came to England via America. He starred in the BBC radio show Hi, Gang! along with Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels; and appeared in many others. He was the first castaway on Roy Plumbley’s Desert Island Discs. He was also a skilled musician and played the violin (badly in his shows). He had aspirations as a conductor and founded the Vic Oliver Concert Orchestra which gave light classical concerts along the south coast. His theme tune was Prelude to the Stars. He was a regular on Henry Hall's Guest Night and Workers' Playtime and has been considered a precursor of Victor Borge. As a Jew, his name was listed on a Nazi blacklist of people to be arrested (and killed) immediately after a successful invasion of Britain. He married Winston Churchill's daughter, Sarah, in 1936, but was divorced in 1945. He died in Johannesburg, in 1964. Stay in touch, Yours, Peter DUSTYKEAT@aol.com Pj.keat@ntlworld.co.uk

Jonathan Writes: On the subject of house costs, here are some interesting numbers that show the almost impossible task of a young person today wanting to enter the bottom rung of the housing ladder. When I left University in 1970 I was fortunate to be able to get a job at £1250 per annum with the British Oxygen Company in the Midlands and able to buy my first three bedroomed semi detached house on an estate for £4250 i.e. 3.4 times my salary. Even then it was a stretch for the Building Society rules of the time and I had to include Carol's earnings as a bank secretary. That same graduate today is probably going to get a starting salary of say £25 000 (excuse me if I am a bit out of touch with UK starting salaries) but his or her three bedroomed semi is going to cost up to £250 000 or TEN times the starting salary. Their only solution is to hope that their kind parents can give back on their demise from the estate. In more recent times electronic goods price de-escalation can be brought into focus with these figures.... My first microwave oven bought in the late 70's cost a month's salary,that same article's price can be earned in well under an hour. The same goes for the original home personal computers. My first £ 286 bought in 1987 with a black and white monitor and dot matrix printer cost more than a month's pay but today a really super home PC with large colour LED monitor, and printer/fax/scanner will cost less than a week's pay. I am lucky to live in South Africa where beer/ wine and spirits cost less in the store than duty free at the airport but I stopped smoking long ago and took up running.

News and Views: Bert Weedon has died aged 91. He influenced the first generation of British pop musicians through his Play In A Day. He was an unassuming man with great technical playing ability. Many figures in rock music including Keith Richards, Pete Townshend and Eric Clapton started with Bert’s teach-yourself method. His manual first appeared in 1957 and introduced aspiring musicians to the three basic chords of most of the rock and roll hits and explained what to do next. Play In A Day sold two million copies. Its sequel Play Every Day, and updated video and DVD versions continued to provide him with an income well into his old age. He was born Herbert Maurice Weedon in East Ham. His father, a tube train driver on the District Line and performed an amateur song-and-dance act with the guard of his train, under the name of Weedon and Walmisley. When Bert was 12 his father bought him his first guitar, from Petticoat Lane Market, for 15 shillings . Having started playing in the classical style, he moved to the popular repertoire of the 1930s, forming his first dance band with a group of friends in 1934. His big break came after the war, when he joined Stephane Grapelli’s as a replacement for Django Reinhardt. By the early Fifties, he was resident guitarist with the BBC Showband and worked on regular radio sessions. He was in demand as a session guitarist, backing David Whitfield and Alma Cogan, as well as Frank Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole and Judy Garland. With the coming of rock and roll, he recorded with Laurie London, Marty Wilde and Cliff Richard. Although Parlophone released five of his solo guitar singles during 1957 and 1958, none reached the charts. His fortunes improved when he switched to Top Rank in 1959, his version of the Guitar Boogie Shuffle reaching No 7. Further releases fared less well until, in August 1960, his version of Apache reached No 24. He became a prolific broadcaster, appearing on children’s television shows as well as on radio and fronting his own long-running ITV series. For many years he was an active member of the Grand Order of Water Rats, and was King Rat in 1992. He was appointed OBE in 2001. He had two sons from his first marriage, and lived in Buckinghamshire with his second wife, Maggie.

On this day 28th April 1960-1965 On 28/04/1960 the number one single was Do you Mind - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. On 28/04/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. On 28/04/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. On 28/04/1963 the number one single was How Do You Do It? - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. On 28/04/1964 the number one single was A World Without Love - Peter & Gordon and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. On 28/04/1965 the number one single was Ticket to Ride - The Beatles and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. On 28/04/1963 the number one single was How Do You Do It? - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. On 28/04/1964 the number one single was A World Without Love - Peter & Gordon and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. On 28/04/1965 the number one single was Ticket to Ride - The Beatles and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.