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PRESS RELEASE Stars of Variety Gather to Remember Gladys Morgan

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PRESS RELEASE Stars of Variety Gather to Remember Gladys Morgan PRESS RELEASE Stars of Variety gather to remember Gladys Morgan The Worthing Society is pleased to announce their latest Blue Plaque. It is in recognition of the much-loved Welsh comedienne, Gladys Morgan and will be unveiled at 2 pm on Tuesday 11th December 2012 at 30, Salisbury Road, Worthing, BN11 1RD. Wyn Calvin, MBE, ‘The Welsh Prince Of Laughter’, will pay tribute to Gladys before introducing Gladys’s daughter, the singer and comedienne Joan Laurie, who will unveil the plaque. The famous comedian and actor Roy Hudd, OBE, will be present as will legendary trumpet player Joan Hinde, together with other show business friends; members of the British Music Hall Society and the Max Miller Appreciation Society. Worthing’s Mayor, Councillor Charles James and the Mayoress Mrs Pauline James will also attend. Gladys was born in Swansea in 1898 and had to wait until middle age before achieving national fame when she appeared on the popular radio show ‘Welsh Rarebit’ in 1950. She was an immediate success, staying with the show for 3 years, and received a fan letter from Frankie Howerd, who then booked her on his radio and TV shows. She later starred in the very popular 50s radio show ‘Educating Archie’ as well as all the big variety shows around at that time including ‘Midday Music Hall’, ‘Blackpool Night’ and ‘Workers Playtime’ on the radio and ‘Sunday Night At The London Palladium’ on television. In 1956 Gladys was chosen to represent radio and TV at the ‘Women Of The Year’ lunch at the Savoy Hotel in London. In addition Gladys toured incessantly appearing at all the big variety theatres (where she was known as either ‘The Welsh Queen of Comedy’ or ‘Britain’s Longest Mirthquake’) and in 1961 starred at the London Palladium with her friend, Frankie Vaughan. She was also a favourite in summer revues and pantomimes throughout Britain and headlined the Revue Company at Butlin’s camps for three years. In the 1960s Gladys and her family made five tours of South Africa in an old time music hall show, proving so popular that she made her own radio series for Springbok Radio. In 1965 she starred in the film ‘The Wild Affair’ opposite Terry-Thomas and Nancy Kwan. Gladys was a comedienne of the old school. Her style was big and broad, although physically Gladys was the exact opposite, being a petite 4’10” tall. She had a vividly expressive face with a toothless smile and was famous for her huge cackle of a laugh. Gladys would either appear as a solo stand-up comedienne or with her family in sketches, when she would be billed as Gladys Morgan and Company. That company included her husband Frank, her daughter Joan and Joan’s husband Bert. Even the family dog, Pluto, was involved! Gladys moved to Worthing in 1958 and lived at 30, Salisbury Road until her death in 1983. In 2006 BBC Radio Wales devoted a 30-minute programme to Gladys’s career. When Gladys retired from show business, because of arthritis, her daughter Joan continued as a very successful solo act touring Australia for three years with ‘The Black And White Minstrel Show’ and scoring in cabaret and pantomime. Joan still lives at the family home in Worthing. The plaque is the inspiration of Geoff Bowden, a family friend, who is the Editor of ‘The Call Boy’ magazine, the official journal of the British Music Hall Society. The Worthing Society is happy to endorse the project which remembers one of Worthing’s well known residents and recalls the days when Variety filled the Pier Pavilion’s Summer Shows; Repertory filled the Connaught and actors filled the town’s theatrical ‘digs’. David Sumner Chairman The Worthing Society (end of text) .
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