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Weddings before the WAGs Forty-odd years before Posh and Becks, England football team skipper Billy Wright and his popstar bride Joy Beverley would have been appalled at the celebrity wedding bling on offer these days. see below History Got a story to tell? If you have a tale about East End history, write to John Rennie or email him at johnrennie@gmail.com www.eastlondonhistory.com Bethnal Green sister act courted by Irving Berlin and Glenn Miller BY JOHN RENNIE HEwas the handsome, Brylcreemed and clean-living skipper of the England football team. She was one of the biggest popstars in Britain, one of a trio that epitomised wholesomeness (albeit with a massive spoonful of sugar thrown in). So when they arranged a quiet wedding, hoping to dodge the attention of public and press, it was never going to work. Forty-odd years before Posh and Becks and the phenomenon of footballers and WAGs selling their nuptials to Hello! and OK! magazines, Billy Wright and his bride Joy Beverley would have been appalled at the quantities of bling on display these days. After all, Joy, along with sisters Teddie and Babs, had never forgotten her humble Bethnal Green roots, and how hard the three had worked to get where they were. Their innate modesty was such that, despite being huge stars, they had initially refused to sing the song Sisters, believing it was too arrogant to sing about themselves. This despite it having been written with ‘the Bevs’ in mind by no less than Irving Berlin – generally considered America’s greatest-ever songwriter! But the union between star of stage and stadium wouldn’t take place until 1958. There was a long road to be travelled first. Beginnings had been humble, though perhaps the sisters were always destined for fame. After all, showbiz was in the blood. Joy was born first, on April 5, 1929, to East End music hall husband-and-wife act Coram and Miles. Twins Babs and Teddie followed exactly three years later, on May 5, 1932. With the beginning of the Blitz in September 1940, the girls were evacuated from the East End to the Midlands. But despite being away from the east London theatres that were their parents’ circuit, it was here that their careers began. They auditioned for the Ovaltineys radio show on Radio Luxembourg, a slot on which cheery munchkins eulogised a sugary bedtime drink. “We can sing a little,” they replied when asked where their talents lay, and launched into one of the hymns they had learned back in school in Bethnal Green. Jock Ware, who was conducting the auditions, was bowled over by their tight harmonies, a legacy of the girls singing Joy, Teddie and Babs had never forgotten how hard they’d worked to get where they were. together almost since they could talk. They landed the gig at 15 guineas a week – £15.75, a huge starting salary – and things got better still. The world of wartime broadcasting was a small one and Ware quickly spoke to a friend of his about his new discovery. Cecil Madden was number two at Alexandra Palace, the base for the BBC’s fledgling television service, which had been evacuated to Bedford. The girls were invited to an audition and immediately impressed. Even more remarkable, they caught the eye of bandleader Glenn Miller, who was recording at the studio. The American star offered them the pick of any of his band to use as backing musicians. When the BBC called the young trio in for their next audition, the producers were astonished to watch them roll up with members of the internationally famous Glenn Miller Orchestra. Tragically of course, Miller would soon be ‘missing in action’, his plane disappearing over the Channel, en route to join his band in Paris. The war over, and the sisters back in London, the BBC immediately thrust them into its new live broadcasts from Ally Pally. They quickly became huge stars, though in the austerity of post-war, ration book London, they were now back in Bethnal Green, their mum stitching together stage costumes from oddments when the clothing coupons ran out. So the call from New York, to join the Glenn Miller Orchestra in a TV series on NBC, must have felt like a leap from black and white into Technicolor – the whole family swiftly decamped to the States. They were now stars on both sides of The Pond, and were lured back to London by Jack Parnell, to star at the Palladium with Danny Kaye. Parnell’s first plan, to pair them with Gracie Fields, was torpedoed at the 11th hour by Gracie herself – perhaps the Rochdale star feared being upstaged by the younger singers. The girls got their own, long running, TV show, Those Beverley Sisters. And in 1951 the trio signed a recording contract with Columbia Records that helped them become the highest-paid female act in the UK. They were also the first British female group to break into the US top 10. But Joy, Babs and Teddie always considered themselves primarily a live act, though their saccharine style fitted perfectly into the pre-rock ‘n’ roll Hit Parade of the early 1950s. Christmas was their season. I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Claus got to Number 6 in the chart, followed by Little Drummer Boy and Little Donkey. But it was while touring in 1954 that they caught the eye of Irving Berlin. It seems eccentric to turn down a gift from the man who wrote White Christmas, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Anything You Can Do, Blue Skies… the list goes on and on. Eventually the girls relented and Sisters became their signature tune. If they were never hip, they were hugely popular, moving seamlessly from variety into TV light entertainment. There are pictures by the score – the ‘Bevs’ with Nat King Cole, with the Walker Brothers, with The Beatles, with Morecambe and Wise. It would be a long career, the girls were playing shows and matinees up until 2009. They were awarded MBEs at Buckingham Palace in 2006. And there was that ‘quiet’ wedding of course. As they headed for the church Joy and Billy were besieged by 7,000 fans (no heavy duty security to keep the public at bay in those days). The wedding over, Billy remembered years later, and “24 hours later, Joy was on stage in Bournemouth, and I was back training with Wolves”. The Bethnal Green girl and the Shropshire lad still resolutely down to earth and getting on with the job. (Above) The Beverley Sisters with Nat King Cole (Left) The sisters were top of the panto bill in 1956 27 JANUARY – 2 FEBRUARY 2014 N E W S F R O M T O W E R H A MLETS COUNCIL AND YOUR COMMUNITY 13


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