DOCSLIB.ORG

Obituary of Johnny Ladd

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Obituary of Johnny Ladd Herald Sun, Friday, July 23, 2004 Obituaries www.heraldsun.com.au 91 JOHNNY LADD Skate prints in the sand Entertainer Reader's RAF Gang Shows Petunia Perkins in Robinson ter Music Hall (the former Born: February 19, 1924 with Dick Emery and Tony Crusoe on Ice: "Look," his Lido) and at Annabel's in Hancock — with whom he later Dame Petunia would chortle, " Alfred Place, and with partner Died: June 27, 2004 shared "digs". He entertained Skate prints in the sand!" Joe Latona he created a ship- troops in Europe and Asia, and Ladd decided to make Aus- board revue for Shaw Savill's ONE of this country's was in the first British revue tralia his home. In 1960 he Expo 70 cruise to Japan. company to tour Japan after joined John Bluthal's Gaslight most beloved enter- the war. On television he had featured Music Hall on TCN-9, a weekly roles in the police drama series tainers has left the stage. show in the tradition of the For most of his 80 years Back in Britain, work was The Link Men, and in the elusive, so Ladd made ends nostalgic Players' shows with Johnny Ladd made people which he was so familiar notorious Number 96, in which laugh. He was an expert jour- meet by working as a male he played a TV quizmaster, neyman comic whose artistry model. In 1948 he joined Clive After this came the national Jimmy Jock. He was also a sprang from the rich traditions Dunn and Hattie Jacques at version of The Bobby Limb the Players' Theatre, London's Show on the Nine Network, judge on the New Faces talent of British music hall, variety quest, which discovered come- and pantomime. only genuine Victorian music and Graham Kennedy's In Mel- hall. Here he presided as an bourne Tonight. dian Paul Hogan. Ladd went on Born in Shardlow, Derby- to produce comedy on Hogan's shire, Ladd was nine when his ebullient chairman and also Johnny was resident comedy television show for seven years. parents took him to see Robin- developed his loveable "Chel- producer and participated in son Crusoe at the Grand The- sea Pensioner" characterisa- Johnny Ladd many sketches. By the time he In 1978 Ladd and Latona atre, Derby. It was love at first tion, which he recycled for produced the entertainment Gondola, a bright new British left the show nine years later, sight! He decided there and many years. He also gained he had a hand in over 3000 for The Londoner, Dennis Gow- then that his would be the life valuable experience at the infa- musical that premiered at the ing's revamp of Annabel's. Theatre Royal in Windsor. The sketches. He also found time to of an entertainer. mous Windmill, where budding appear in Between Ourselves, Their J.J. Productions also cre- comics tried to divert male show went on to play for 673 an ABC variety series with Though his family had no performances in the West End, ated many trade shows, fashion theatrical connections, they patrons whose enthusiasms Tikki Taylor, Bill Newman and parades and special functions. encouraged him to present were mainly reserved for the and then toured Britain, with Kevan Johnston. tiny theatre's famous nudes. Ladd as resident director. Though his health deterior- plays at home, and at school he With Jill Perryman and John- ated in recent years, Johnny participated in a stream of In 1951 Johnny Ladd played In 1959 he was recruited by ny Lockwood, Ladd starred in plays and pantos. He was still retained his deep love of the in his first ice show. He stayed " Australian theatrical entrepre- When We Are Married, Tommy business and the people in it. at school when war broke out, on ice" for eight years, and neurs J.C. Williamson Theatres Tycho's musical version of J.B. and he made his farewell ap- The ready wit and the twinkle played "dame" in five ice pan- to direct and star in the show in Priestley's play, which had a in his eye remained right until pearance there as Mr Puff in tomimes. He wrote, directed this country. Grab Me a Gondo- successful run at Sydney's the end. Sheridan's The Critic. and played the title role in the la opened at the Empire The- Phillip Theatre in 1970. After In 1941 he enlisted in the enormously successful Queen atre, Sydney, on 2 May 1959 this Ladd found new audiences Johnny Ladd will be remem- Royal Air Force. With another of Hearts panto at the vast and subsequently played mer- in the convivial theatre restau- bered by friends and colleagues future comedy great, Frank Empire Stadium, Wembley. rily throughout Australia and rants that were thriving in at a gala tribute concert at the Thornton, he'ran a forces radio There were also many cheery New Zealand, though not in Sydney and Melbourne. Princess Theatre on Monday, station at Heaton Park base, summer variety shows at sea- Melbourne, where no suitable In the early 1970s he worked 30 August at lpm. after which he went into air side resorts like Bognor Regis theatre was available. in Sydney with Gloria Dawn at Everyone is welcome. crew training, initially at York and Bournemouth. After this Ladd transferred the Doncaster Theatre Restau- and later in Canada. Ladd's big break came in to the Tivoli Circuit, who fea- rant and at the Fishmongers' Frank van Straten, OAM, After the end of the war in 1956 when he was cast as tured him as a skating comedi- Hall Theatre Restaurant; and (Melbourne writer, broadcaster and perform- Europe, Ladd joined Ralph "juvenile lead" in Grab Me a an in Ecstasy on Ice and Dame in Melbourne at the Red Gar ing arts historian).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Imperial Desire and Masculine Crisis in Early Francoist Film Representations of the Loss of the Philippines and Cuba
    IMPERIAL DESIRE AND MASCULINE CRISIS IN EARLY FRANCOIST FILM REPRESENTATIONS OF THE LOSS OF THE PHILIPPINES AND CUBA Jo Labanyi New York University It is well known that one of the prime motives triggering the Nationalist uprising against the Second Republic in 1936 was military resentment at the loss of empire, perceived by the military as the fault of inept politicians to whose orders they were subordinate. As is also well known, the 1941 film scripted by General Franco, Raza , starts in 1898 with the return of its naval-captain patriarch, Churruca, from service in the Philippines, only to be despatched immediately to Cuba, dying in battle against the US fleet. Churruca complains that the Spanish government’s ‘neglect’ of the Philippines is aggravating insurrection. The Spanish naval commander in Cuba, as he sends his captains into battle against the US fleet, tells them they are going to certain defeat but have to obey government orders. In Raza , this discourse on empire is intimately bound up with a discourse on patriarchy; past military defeats are compensated, not just by the Nationalist victory parade of April 1939 which ends the film, but by the docility with which, throughout the movie, women accept their role of “service” to men. The obverse of this is that male heroism depends on women continuing to play this instrumental role: a dependence on women that is the source of male unease. The two films discussed in this article -Los últimos de Filipinas and Bambú , both made in 1945 and set against the independence struggle in the Philippines and Cuba respectively- oscillate between stress on male bonding, which excludes women, and the dramatization of women’s power over men.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 BBC Four Biopics
    BBC Four biopics: Lessons in Trashy Respectability The broadcast of Burton and Taylor in July 2013 marked the end of a decade- long cycle of feature-length biographical dramas transmitted on BBC Four, the niche arts and culture digital channel of the public service broadcaster. The subjects treated in these biopics were various: political figures, famous cooks, authors of popular literature, comedians and singers. The dramas focused largely on the unhappy or complex personal lives of well-loved figures of British popular culture. From the lens of the 21st century, these dramas offered an opportunity for audiences to reflect on the culture and society of the 20th century, changing television’s famous function of ‘witness’ to one of ‘having witnessed’ and/or ‘remembering’ (Ellis, 2000). The programmes function as nostalgia pieces, revisiting personalities familiar to the anticipated older audience of BBC Four, working in concert with much of the archive and factual content on the digital broadcaster’s schedules. However, by revealing apparent ‘truths’ that reconfigure the public images of the figures they narrate, these programmes also undermine nostalgic impulses, presenting conflicting interpretations of the recent past. They might equally be seen as impudent incursions onto the memory of the public figures, unnecessarily exposing the real-life subjects to censure, ridicule or ex post facto critical judgement. Made thriftily on small budgets, the films were modest and spare in visual style but were generally well received critically, usually thanks to writerly screenplays and strong central performances. The dramas became an irregular but important staple of the BBC Four schedule, furnishing the channel with some of their highest ratings in a history chequered by low audience numbers.
    [Show full text]
  • HATTIE JACQUES Born Josephine Edwina Jacques on February 7" 1922 She Went on to Become a Nationally Recognised Figure in the British Cinema of the 1950S and 60S
    Hattie Jacaues Born 127 High St 1922 Chapter Twelve HATTIE JACQUES Born Josephine Edwina Jacques on February 7" 1922 she went on to become a nationally recognised figure in the British cinema of the 1950s and 60s. Her father, Robin Jacques was in the army and stationed at Shorncliffe Camp at the time of her birth. The Register of Electors shows the Jacques family residing at a house called Channel View in Sunnyside Road. (The register shows the name spelled as JAQUES, without the C. Whether Hattie changed the spelling or whether it was an error on the part of those who printed the register I don’t know) Hattie, as she was known, made her entrance into the world in the pleasant seaside village of Sandgate, mid way between Folkestone to the east and Hythe to the west. Initially Hattie trained as a hairdresser but as with many people of her generation the war caused her life to take a different course. Mandatory work saw Hattie first undertaking nursing duties and then working in North London as a welder Even in her twenties she was of a generous size and maybe as defence she honed her sense of humour after finding she had a talent for making people laugh. She first became involved in show business through her brother who had a job as the lift operator at the premises of the Little Theatre located then on the top floor of 43 Kings Street in Covent Garden. At end of the war the Little Theatre found itself in new premises under the railway arches below Charing Cross Station.
    [Show full text]
  • Marie Collier: a Life
    Marie Collier: a life Kim Kemmis A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History The University of Sydney 2018 Figure 1. Publicity photo: the housewife diva, 3 July 1965 (Alamy) i Abstract The Australian soprano Marie Collier (1927-1971) is generally remembered for two things: for her performance of the title role in Puccini’s Tosca, especially when she replaced the controversial singer Maria Callas at late notice in 1965; and her tragic death in a fall from a window at the age of forty-four. The focus on Tosca, and the mythology that has grown around the manner of her death, have obscured Collier’s considerable achievements. She sang traditional repertoire with great success in the major opera houses of Europe, North and South America and Australia, and became celebrated for her pioneering performances of twentieth-century works now regularly performed alongside the traditional canon. Collier’s experiences reveal much about post-World War II Australian identity and cultural values, about the ways in which the making of opera changed throughout the world in the 1950s and 1960s, and how women negotiated their changing status and prospects through that period. She exercised her profession in an era when the opera industry became globalised, creating and controlling an image of herself as the ‘housewife-diva’, maintaining her identity as an Australian artist on the international scene, and developing a successful career at the highest level of her artform while creating a fulfilling home life. This study considers the circumstances and mythology of Marie Collier’s death, but more importantly shows her as a woman of the mid-twentieth century navigating the professional and personal spheres to achieve her vision of a life that included art, work and family.
    [Show full text]
  • Phillip Street Theatre
    COLLECTION FINDING AID Phillip Street Theatre Performing Arts Programs and Ephemera (PROMPT) Australian ColleCtion Development The Phillip Street Theatre (sucCeeded by the Phillip Theatre) was a popular and influential commercial Sydney theatre and theatriCal Company of the 1950s and 1960s that beCame well known for its intimate satiriCal revue produCtions. William Orr was the Company’s founding DireCtor of ProduCtions, and EriC DuCkworth was General Manager. After taking over the MerCury Theatre in Phillip Street, William Orr re- opened it as the Phillip Street Theatre in 1954, presenting a series of “Phillip Street Revues” and children's musicals, including Top of the Bill and Hit and Run (both 1954), Willow Pattern Plate (1957), Cross Section (1957-58), Ride on a Broomstick (1959), Mistress Money (1960). These featured many noted Australian performers, many who later went on to beCome well known film, theatre and television personalities, inCluding Gordon Chater, Margot Lee, Barry Creyton, Jill Perryman, Noeline Brown, Robina Beard, Judi Farr, Kevin Miles, Charles "Bud" Tingwell, Ray Barrett, Ruth CraCknell, June Salter, John Meillon, Barry Humphries, Reg Livermore, Peter Phelps, and Gloria Dawn. The Phillip Street Theatre was demolished at the time of Out on a Limb with Bobby Limb and Dawn Lake in 1961, and the Company moved to the Australian Hall at 150 Elizabeth Street, near Liverpool Street. The Company's name was then shortened to the Phillip Theatre in reCognition of this move. Content Printed materials in the PROMPT ColleCtion include programs and printed ephemera such as broChures, leaflets, tiCkets, etC. Theatre programs are taken as the prime doCumentary evidenCe of a performanCe at the Phillip Street Theatre.
    [Show full text]
  • The Nation's Matron: Hattie Jacques and British Post-War Popular Culture
    The Nation’s Matron: Hattie Jacques and British post-war popular culture Estella Tincknell Abstract: Hattie Jacques was a key figure in British post-war popular cinema and culture, condensing a range of contradictions around power, desire, femininity and class through her performances as a comedienne, primarily in the Carry On series of films between 1958 and 1973. Her recurrent casting as ‘Matron’ in five of the hospital-set films in the series has fixed Jacques within the British popular imagination as an archetypal figure. The contested discourses around nursing and the centrality of the NHS to British post-war politics, culture and identity, are explored here in relation to Jacques’s complex star meanings as a ‘fat woman’, ‘spinster’ and authority figure within British popular comedy broadly and the Carry On films specifically. The article argues that Jacques’s star meanings have contributed to nostalgia for a supposedly more equitable society symbolised by socialised medicine and the feminine authority of the matron. Keywords: Hattie Jacques; Matron; Carry On films; ITMA; Hancock’s Half Hour; Sykes; star persona; post-war British cinema; British popular culture; transgression; carnivalesque; comedy; femininity; nursing; class; spinster. 1 Hattie Jacques (1922 – 1980) was a gifted comedienne and actor who is now largely remembered for her roles as an overweight, strict and often lovelorn ‘battle-axe’ in the British Carry On series of low- budget comedy films between 1958 and 1973. A key figure in British post-war popular cinema and culture, Hattie Jacques’s star meanings are condensed around the contradictions she articulated between power, desire, femininity and class.
    [Show full text]
  • Buchan School Magazine 1971 Index
    THE BUCHAN SCHOOL MAGAZINE 1971 No. 18 (Series begun 195S) CANNELl'S CAFE 40 Duke Street - Douglas Our comprehensive Menu offers Good Food and Service at reasonable prices Large selection of Quality confectionery including Fresh Cream Cakes, Superb Sponges, Meringues & Chocolate Eclairs Outside Catering is another Cannell's Service THE BUCHAN SCHOOL MAGAZINE 1971 INDEX Page Visitor, Patrons and Governors 3 Staff 5 School Officers 7 Editorial 7 Old Students News 9 Principal's Report 11 Honours List, 1970-71 19 Term Events 34 Salvete 36 Swimming, 1970-71 37 Hockey, 1971-72 39 Tennis, 1971 39 Sailing Club 40 Water Ski Club 41 Royal Manx Agricultural Show, 1971 42 I.O.M, Beekeepers' Competitions, 1971 42 Manx Music Festival, 1971 42 "Danger Point" 43 My Holiday In Europe 44 The Keellls of Patrick Parish ... 45 Making a Fi!m 50 My Home in South East Arabia 51 Keellls In my Parish 52 General Knowledge Paper, 1970 59 General Knowledge Paper, 1971 64 School List 74 Tfcitor THE LORD BISHOP OF SODOR & MAN, RIGHT REVEREND ERIC GORDON, M.A. MRS. AYLWIN COTTON, C.B.E., M.B., B.S., F.S.A. LADY COWLEY LADY DUNDAS MRS. B. MAGRATH LADY QUALTROUGH LADY SUGDEN Rev. F. M. CUBBON, Hon. C.F., D.C. J. S. KERMODE, ESQ., J.P. AIR MARSHAL SIR PATERSON FRASER. K.B.E., C.B., A.F.C., B.A., F.R.Ae.s. (Chairman) A. H. SIMCOCKS, ESQ., M.H.K. (Vice-Chairman) MRS. T. E. BROWNSDON MRS. A. J. DAVIDSON MRS. G. W. REES-JONES MISS R.
    [Show full text]
  • The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust I PATRO HER MAJESTY the QUEEN ,/~~~~Sit° ~.-L
    DEPARTMENTOF RAILWAYS,NEW SOUTHWALES Sonaething to Benaeniber A visit to the theatre is a highlight in our lives. It is a pleasant experience to remember, sometimes for many years. A Sunday one-day train tour is also something to remember. It enables you to see hundreds of miles of rural scenery under ideal conditions. The long-distance tours are made in air-conditioned expresses hauled by diesel electric locomotives. On these tours you may see Canberra in the Spring and Autumn, Goulburn at lilac time, Oran ge when the cherry blossoms are at their best, and Scone during its Floral Festival. Some tours are for longer periods--a week-end at Kosciusko and the Snowy Mountains or a week on the semi-tropical North Coast. Inquire about these special tours a/ your nearest railway station. i]Jru:a··~!..........§1 .•r--nii& ~~>~ ~ t(1 <-1 <9 0" ,..... '-< ~ > 00 ~i = ~ 'y ~ 3~l..~~~ ~ r The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust I PATRO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN ,/~~~~Sit° ~.-L. PRE SIDENT ............... The Rt . Hon. Sir John Lath am, G.C.M.G., Q .C. ,__> = ffKQfft'/1 CH AIRMAN ___________ Dr. H . C. Coombs EXE CUTIVE DIRE CTOR Hu gh Hunt 1 t~j~ ~" ('t ~A:&;',._, ~ ADMI NIS TRATIVE OPF ICE R James Mills ~~1 ·0~ ~~ H ON . SEC RETARY Maurice Park er G•)WJ'), M ake your Christmas ·v· M .o,,j thing that will live gi mi so~e- ~ that will b · · · · something lh rmg happiness throughout STATE REPRESENTATIVES. e years . make a i Nicholson's- "the g,·rt fp anol from N ew South Wale s Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • HANCOCK's HALF HOUR COLLECTIBLES Notes To
    HANCOCK’S HALF HOUR COLLECTIBLES Notes to Accompany Volume 3 All photographs copyright (C) BBC (unless otherwise stated) The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society is delighted to have given its support to the production of this new and unique series concerning the lost works of Tony Hancock. Tony Hancock: BBC Publicity Shot for Hancock’s Half Hour, November 1956 The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society (THAS) Since its creation in 1976, the THAS has dedicated itself to preserving and promoting the works of Tony Hancock and, more crucially, to finding his broadcasts that were missing from the archives. Over the decades, these efforts have yielded a wealth of material, most notably lost episodes of his most beloved work on Hancock’s Half Hour for both television and radio. Many of these have now been located and returned to the BBC; some feature in this special series of Collectibles, now into 1 its third volume. However, many still remain lost at this time. In addition, our efforts have found other material – shows recorded before Hancock became a household name – from series such as Calling All Forces, Variety Bandbox and Star Bill. Again, examples of these can be found in this series. In the previous volumes, there was an extensive analysis of missing recordings from Hancock’s radio career, and, as ever, we remain hopeful that some of these recordings will emerge from private collections or, perhaps, the archives of the BBC or other institutions. In these notes, we will focus on a number of missing recordings and shows outside the ‘core’ work Hancock did on his eponymous series and those that preceded it.
    [Show full text]
  • Gb 1456 Thomas
    GERALD THOMAS COLLECTION GERALD THOMAS COLLECTION SCOPE AND CONTENT Documents relating to the career of director GERALD THOMAS (Born Hull 10/12/1920, died Beaconsfield 9/11/1993). When Gerald Thomas died, his producer partner of 40 years Peter Rogers said: ‘His epitaph will be that he directed all the Carry On films.’ Indeed, for an intense 20-year period Thomas directed the Carry On gang through their innuendo laden exploits, and became responsible, along with Rogers, for creating one of the most enduring and endearing British film series, earning him his place in British popular culture. Thomas originally studied to become a doctor, before war service with the Royal Sussex Regiment put paid to his medical career. When demobilised in 1946, he took a job as assistant in the cutting rooms of Two Cities Films at Denham Studios, where he took Assistant Editor credits on Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet (1948) and the John Mills thriller The October Man (1947). In 1949, he received his first full credit as editor, on the Margaret Lockwood melodrama Madness of the Heart (1949). During this time Peter Rogers had been working as associate producer with his wife, producer Betty Box, on such films as It’s Not Cricket (1949) and Don’t Ever Leave Me (1949). It was Venetian Bird in 1952 that first brought Thomas and Rogers together; Thomas employed as editor by director brother Ralph, and Rogers part of the producer team with Betty Box. Rogers was keen to form a director/producer pairing (following the successful example of Box and Ralph Thomas), and so gave Gerald his first directing credit on the Circus Friends (1956), a Children’s Film Foundation production.
    [Show full text]
  • Here from There—Travel, Television and Touring Revues: Internationalism As Entertainment in the 1950S and 1960S
    64 Jonathan Bollen Flinders University, Australia Here from There—travel, television and touring revues: internationalism as entertainment in the 1950s and 1960s Entertainments depicting national distinctions attracted Australian audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Touring revues from overseas afforded opportunities to see the nations of the world arrayed on the stage. Each of the major producers of commercial entertainments in Australia imported revues from Europe, Africa, the Americas and East Asia. Like their counterparts in Hong Kong and Singapore, entrepreneurs in Australia harnessed an increasing global flow of performers, at a time when national governments, encouraged by their participation in the United Nations, were adopting cultural policies to foster national distinction and sending troupes of entertainers as cultural ambassadors on international tours. In this article the author explores the significance of internationalist entertainment in mid-20th century Australia, focusing on Oriental Cavalcade, an “East Meets West” revue from 1959 which toured with performers from Australia and Asia. At a time when television viewing was becoming a domestic routine and international aviation was becoming an affordable indulgence, producers of internationalist entertainments offered audiences in the theatre experiences of being away from home that were akin to tourism and travel beyond the domestic scene. Jonathan Bollen is a Senior Lecturer in Drama, Flinders University, Australia Keywords: variety, revue, aviation, tourism, travel, television, internationalism desire to create a national theatre for Australia gathered momentum A in the late-1940s and eventually gained traction.1 Government support for the performing arts was introduced with the establishment of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1954 and the subsequent founding of new national opera, theatre and ballet companies and the National Institute of Dramatic Art, while government investment in venues for the performing arts Popular Entertainment Studies, Vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Memories of Television in Australia
    Sue Turnbull and Stephanie Hanson AFFECT, UPSET AND THE SELF: MEMORIES OF TELEVISION IN AUSTRALIA Abstract In a recent survey inviting people to outline some of their memories of television and its place in their lives, one of the questions asked was: ‘Can you explain why these particular television memories have stayed with you?’ While the responses to this question were complex and individual, some common themes emerged. These included questions of affect; experiences that were ‘beyond the norm’; and moments of self-identification. While the younger age group (15–45 years) slightly favoured the ‘self-identification’ and ‘affect’ categories, for the 46+ combined groups, the major category was the ‘beyond the norm’. The second-most cited factor, given by approximately 50 per cent of the respondents, was that a television memory is made when an event on television somehow becomes intertwined with the life of the individual. In many instances, the event was recalled as a formative or life-changing occurrence. While it is difficult to draw too many conclusions from the data in relation to gender, given that there were more female participants than male, when the data were recast to show percentages within each gender group, it was interesting to note that the male participants rated ‘affect’ most highly while females rated ‘self-identification’ as the most significant factor in the making of a television memory. This article explores these findings in more detail and examines the implications of these data for thinking about the relationship between the medium of television, television audiences and the formation of memories.
    [Show full text]