Web Page  No 2380

17th June 2017

Top Picture: Jewel and Warriss

 Second Picture: Nearest and Dearest

Third Picture: Ben Warriss Grave

 Forth Picture: Nearest and Dearest film poster

Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warriss

For most of our younger lives and into the 1980s the comedy team everyone looked up to was Morecombe and Wise but before them there was another double act Jewel and Warriss.

Jewel and Warriss were first cousins and were brought up in the same household, even being born in the same bed (a few months apart) at 52 Andover Street, Sheffield. Jimmy Jewel worked as a solo act until 1934, when he formed an enduring double act with Ben Warriss initially at the Palace Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne. They toured  Australia and America, as well as appearing in the 1946 Royal Variety Performance and five  pantomimes for Howard & Wyndham Ltd at the Opera House, Blackpool.

A major success of their partnership was the very popular BBC radio series Up the Pole which began in October 1947. The premise of Up the Pole was that Jewel and Warriss were the proprietors of an Arctic trading post. Each episode included a musical interlude, and this sometimes featured the young Julie Andrews.

The pair were top of the bill in two London Palladium shows - Gangway (1942) and High Time (1946) and went on to make regular television appearances in the 1950s and 60s. The duo also had the lead roles in the short-lived 1962 comedy series It's a Living.

Ben Holden Driver Warriss  was born on 29th May 1909, he was the son of Benjamin Holden Joseph Warriss, an insurance company inspector and his wife, Mary Ann, née Driver, Jimmy Jewel's mother's sister. He first performed on the stage in 1930. Their double act achieved seven Royal Variety Performances and 12 Blackpool summer seasons. Around 1966, the two went their separate ways, with Ben Warriss performing on stage and Jewel moving into television.

In the 1970s Ben Warriss was the resident compere at the Cala Gran club in Fleetwood.. In 1988 he played the Emperor of China in the first of the newly reopened Hackney Empire pantomimes, Aladdin. He was still performing in pantomime in his eighties. The character Parker from the 1960s TV series of Thunderbirds is said to have been based upon his appearance.

His first wife, whom he married on 22nd September 1934, was Grace Mary Skinner a dancer and teacher of dancing and daughter of a master mariner. This marriage had ended by 1940 and two years later Ben Warriss married the entertainer Meggie Easton. His third marriage, which took place about 1960, was to Virginia Vernon. He died in 1993 at Brinsworth House, Staines Road, Twickenham, and is buried in the same section of Streatham Park Cemetery, London, as comedian Will Hay

.

James Arthur Thomas Jewel Marsh, known as Jimmy Jewel, was born on 4th December 1909. He was the son of a comedian and actor who also used the stage name Jimmy Jewel, the young Jimmy made his stage debut in Robinson Crusoe in Barnsley, at the age of four, performed with his father from the age of 10 and subsequently became stage manager for the family show.

When young Jimmy started his own act, his father refused to let him use his stage name 'Jimmy Jewel', so he performed as Maurice Marsh. He made his first London stage appearance at the Bedford Music Hall, Camden Town in 1925.

After splitting from Ben Warriss in 1966, and having done a stint working as a joiner and bricklayer, He appeared in a Comedy Playhouse and two ITV Playhouse productions. He also played a murderous quick-change vaudeville artist in a 1968 episode of The Avengers. He then starred in the sitcom Nearest and Dearest with Hylda Baker as bickering brother and sister pickle factory owners Eli and Nellie Pledge from 1968 to 1973, including a film version of the series in 1972. Although their characters hurled insults at each other onscreen, the insults would continue offscreen as well as the two actors allegedly detested each other. (An ex girlfriend of mine actually had a very minor part in this film, she played Scarlett O’Hara and had three words to say ‘Yes Miss Pledge’).

While Nearest and Dearest was running, he had a regular role in the short-lived 1969 sitcom Thicker than Water and made an appearance in the 1970 film The Man Who Had Power Over Women. He also starred in the comedy series Spring and Autumn (1972–76) as retired railway worker Tommy Butler. In the early 1980s, he made appearances in Worzel Gummidge and two Play For Today episodes. In 1981 he starred in Funny Man a series about a family music hall act, on his father's company in the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1990s, then in his 80s, he continued to make appearances in film and television. He was married to Belle Bluett with whom he had a son and an adopted daughter. In 1985 He won a Variety Club of Great Britain Special Award. He died on 3rd December 1995, the day before his 86th birthday, and was cremated and interred at the Golders Green Crematorium, in London.

I remember being taken to see them at Southsea Pier when I was a nipper, they were second on the bill, Arthur English was top.

Keep in touch

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

On this day 17th June 1960-1965

On this day 17^th June 1960-1965

On 17/06/1960 the number one single was Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ATV) 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 17/06/1961 the number one single was Surrender - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Probation Officer (ATV) 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 17/06/1961 the number one single was Surrender - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Probation Officer (ATV) 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 17/06/1962 the number one single was Good Luck Charm - Elvis Presley 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. The big news story of the day was Brazil wins World Cup Final.

On 17/06/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The Beatles and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Conservative 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. The big news story of the day was Prince Charles (14) buys cherry brandy.

On 17/06/1964 the number one single was You're My World - Cilla Black and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. 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 17/06/1965 the number one single was Crying in the Chapel - Elvis Presley and the number one album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. 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.