This song was written by Nat Ayer with lyrics by Clifford Grey for a show,starring Violet Lorraine and George Robey, at the old Alhambra Theatre, which used to stand on the east side of Leicester Square. Great though the Odeon Leicester Square is, maybe it is a shame that the world could not have kept both of these buildings. As for the song: it was praised by Sir Edward Elgar, who called it a perfect melody and it has been recorded by many artists across the years and one of my favourite recordings is that made by Gertrude Lawrence and Noel Coward but I also enjoy the Stanley Holloway version and the recording by the rather forgotten Kathy Kirby. Besides those there is the piano roll recording by 1930s pianist Frank Milne. I have put links in the Youtube bar at the foot of this page but whether they work externally I cannot say. If they do not, it is easy enough to find them on Youtube.
The photograph is Stanley Holloway in a still from the great film The Titfield Thunderbolt.
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love kathy kirby; all the lippie; I was 4 or 5 when i first saw her on TV and fell in love with the idea of what womanhood might be; could mean; was then to me
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the theatre; the history of london theatres; now there's a very visual book surely just waiting to be written...
Love Holloway; brilliant man
Stanley Holloway = genius from the old Music Hall days: how to hold the audience in the palm of your shaking hand.
ReplyDeleteAs for Kathy Kirby: go to Youtube and 'I Wish You Love' sung by her. Sublime. How could the world have treated her as it did?
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