El) , ' ,,, , , , ,, ·, Red ,Jackets and Entertainment in 1960s Birmingham Red Jackets and Entertainment in 1960s Birmingham Alan Pianosmith lan Pianosmith has written a book about the enigmatic 'professor' Arthur C Aifhroovest. Alan and Throovest are one and the same person. But this stage name - dreamed up in the 1950s - came into its own with the advent of the internet. There's only one Throovest and it's Arthur! Or rather, Alan. rm sure you get the idea. Back in 50s Birmingham, however, the only net was what you kept fish in which you hoiked out of the canal at the Maypole. And a mobile hung over babies' cots. Although born in West Bromwich, Arthur lived out his formative years in King Edward Road, Moseley, ._·1; Arthur trying to look cool .•• andfailing miserably! Squirrels publicity snap. Birmingham, up by the 'Fighting someone else. Saturday morning Cocks' pub. It was post-war Brum: cinema. Saturday afternoon bussing an Arthur celebrates passing the rationing; arguing neighbours; into Birmingham - on his own, aged most advanced grade on occasional suicide. Just three car six. · accordton; thanks to Mr. Barrett owners in a cul-de-sac of some 160 of Woodroffe's, John Bright souls. No cash. Kicking tin cans in the Kings Heath Infant & Junior schools. Street. road. Breaking windows and blaming His mother sent him there because she didn1t like the condition of the f, Ii tt Red Jackets and Entertainment in 1960s Birmingham , · ·' · ' Qi) i I' I ' Ricardo Palomino falls asleep during Arthur's somnolent solo at Moseley Grammar. outside lavatories at Moseley Junior songs and life in general, must surely Well, there were no phones back School. Thick fogs. Thick snow. Thick have influenced fellow Moseleian, then much, so you just had to call stews. Jasper Garrott and, latterly, Lord round if you wanted to speak to The week was punctuated by trips to Taylor of Warwick. Or was it the other someone. Mother knew Arthur would Woodroffe's Music Emporium in John way round? readily consent to this offer. He was Bright Street for accordion lessons. Leonard Lanyard was also at sick of Birmingham, working as an ice By age seven, Arthur knew all there Moseley, but four years ahead of cream salesman from a left hand drive was to know about chords. The bass Arthur. Leonard also had a band but it Ford Anglia van. His patch was buttons on a squeeze box spelled them would have nothing to do with Nechells and Aston and it was hard out in logical lines. This kitowledge Arthur's lot. Four years apart at territory. Very hard. would become invaluable. A happyish school is the equivalent of a billion He earned so little that he ate the time when he just did what was asked light years. cones and wafers into which vanilla of him. "Can Arthur join our group?" asked ice cream should be shoved. To Arthur He scraped through the contentious Leonard, now with his own this was expedient. Necessary. 11 + exam, moved on to Moseley professional band, the Merrye Men. Breakfast. Lunch. Walls Ice Cream Grammar School where he didn't get School was now a distant memory to Limited docked every cornet and 0 levels in maths, physics, Latin, both of them. Leonard had simply wafer he consumed from his meagre geography, woodwork or biology: He turned up on Arthur's doorstep. wage. It didn1t bother him. It was didn1t excel with other subjects either, Arthur was out. 'Of course', said his normal business practice back then in but he did have a band - or group as mother. 1964. such ensembles were then dubbed. Arthur was immediately and The Merrye Men were signed to a Throovest's Performing Squirrels irrevocably shot into oblivion by his London manager, Larry Varnish. They were more an enigma. A puzzle, rather mom without any personal input, were about to take Germany by than a coherent musical outfit. Many action, prior knowledge or consent. A moderate drizzle, but not before thought that Arthuris rather ~ointed trait and pattern that was to follow Arthur was to go on a long, planned and avant-garde approach to popular him for the days of the rest of his life. holiday. Since there was no fixed date fl!) . , :· , \ ,' Red .Jackets and Entertainment in 1960s Birmingham for the German gig, it seemed OK for exploits. Nobody had ever been him to go on a pre-arranged holiday abroad. They didn1t even know what to Sweden with his oldest school or where Germany was. friend, Ricardo Palomino. (Ric1s The only thing Arthur1s mates knew family bred horses). They thought was that Hitler was probably dead and Palomino was a great name in the they were all foreigners over there; equine world and the emerging world and that the war involving that of PR, too. country had knocked their families Arthur and Ricardo went to Sweden. about a bit. In some cases, a lot. And Arthur was told to go to Cologne that the Beatles had worked there. immediately to join The Merrye Men. Arthur embellished the inherently This he dutifully did and played a exciting stories and splashed huge month in the Storyville Club as the German cigars about as if they were band's new piano player. Park Drive nub-ends, much to the Back home, it was as if Arthur had delight of most of the Gigi coffee bar's visited Mars in a time machine. customers. Arthur took great delight Landing back in Moseley Village was in dramatising the outrageous as if time had stood still. Or maybe behaviour of his Cologne landlord and just shuffled about a bit. His old landlady. friends bombarded him with His mates simply didn't believe interminable questions about his stories of a large, maniac German r 'The Per.forming Squirrels' play . ' . ~ti Moseley Grammar's Summer '.· '""'··.' ""' ; . concert in 1961. .,~·~ landlady who once tried to beat him . ~' up. The crime? Wearing jeans on a Sunday. More plausible was the operation of the Storyville Club. The bouncer carried a gun and the head waiter resembled Dustin Hoffman's Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy. This slightly deformed relic from the war shuffled quickly from bar, storeroom and shot glasses. Arthur explained to his chums how Ratso would stack a huge tray with about 100 schnapps glasses and fill them by continuously pouring cheap schnapps from a great height. The technique was the same as that of the Woolworths cafeteria tea pourer in the Bull Ring of the 1950s. High Tea had a totally different meaning in Woolies by Birminghamis bombed out market. In the Storyville, Arthur with Roy Orbison's bass player, Terry Widlake, in Bonn. it was compulsory to have a schnapps •i)hm~11 ,ijistnri,:al lits Facsimile copies of directories and books on CD Now with FREE search index on our web-site www.midlandshistoricaldata.org Red Jackets and Entertainment in 1960s Birmingham , · , ' Q with your beer. No option. play something, Vance arranged for publicity photos taken and the band's Then an advert in the Birmingham parts to be written out and the boys name plastered everywhere. It was Mail struck him.Musicians wanted to assembled for the first rehearsal. The Arthur who came up with the form a band to perform pop and parts had been written by a seasoned masthead 'The Entertainers'. It was a dance music. Such a band had never and well known professional dance good brand. The outfit was existed. A challenge, surely. Arthur band orchestrator. One Freddie New. entertaining. It was unusual to see a was the only one with any real Mercifully, Arthurls training on the band smartly and brightly turned out, experience among those that turned accordion came to the fore. He was well-rehearsed and with a repertoire up for the audition. The idea was the the only one who could read the parts that spanned the dance band I brainchild of a Black Country with any degree of fluency. Patiently, ballroom standards together with an engineer, one Vance Blanchard, who he routined sax, guitar and drums amalgam of top ten tunes. was successful in running trad bands through such standards as 'Tea For 'The Entertainers' could switch from on the side. Patrons of Birmingham Two', 'Whispering' and 'Fly Me To a waltz-like 'Ramona' to the Beatles' 'I and Black Country pubs actually paid The Moon'. The guys already knew the Saw Her Standing There' or Tom good money to listen to trad back top ten of the day. 'Tie a Yellow Jones' 'Delilah' effortlessly and then. It was a good idea. Ribbon' and 'March of the Mods' were convincingly. The enterprise worked. Once the candidates had been paired thrown together in no time. Arthur had simply gone along with down to some guys who could actually So, red jackets were ordered, another idea. It was working. But although popular, it didn1t propagate neither fame nor fortune. He got a daytime job again. This early era was seen out with him working for Brewer's of Birmingham, cutting up and despatching upholBtery cloth. Brewer's was at the top of Deritend by the newly constructed (now demolished) flyover. He played with Hall Green based pop group 'The Sherwoods' for a while but all too quickly the many dozens of local bands diminished to a handful. But the handful included 'The Move', 'ELO', 'The Applejacks' and other Brummies who ertjoyed stardom. Some, like Jeff Lynne and Jasper Carrott, eajoyed considerable stardom. Since then Birmingham changed ever and increasingly more dramatically. Like many a Brummy, Arthur, or is it Alan, has witnessed three Bull Rings, eating 'out' as normal and more TV channels than you could throw a Walter Smith pork pie at.