MY LONDON NIGHTS
Almost every doorway in London during the late 50s and 60s was a night club with cabaret and floor shows, such as to name but a few - 'Club Panama', 'Whiskey - a - Go - Go', 'Eve Club', 'The Astor Club' ,'Quaglinos Club', 'The Edmundo Ros Club', 'The Flamingo', 'The Stork Room', 'Club Tropicana', '55 Club', 'Celebrity Club', 'River Club', 'Emerald Beach Club', 'Moulin Rouge', ' Mandrake Club', 'Roaring 20's', 'Freddie Mills Nite Spot', 'Charlie Chester Club'. 'The Minstrel Club' and a host of others and I appeared at nearly all of them. Significant ones for me were 'Tony Mercer's Minstrel Club' in Soho. Tony Mercer was the lead singer with the 'Black and White Minstrel Show' on TV every week. He had a great big baritone voice and was a super guy especially as he booked me repeatedly to appear at his 'Minstrel Club'. 'Freddie Mills Nite Spot' was another important one for me. Freddie Mills Heavyweight Boxing Champion, well-loved & very popular in entertainment circles had his super nite club in the heart of London's West End. I must elaborate on the London Nite Club scene which no longer exists as there are just discos everywhere
London a major tourist attraction for rich Americans and others from around the world had the very best Nite Clubs with top class resident bands and they put on lavish, glittering floorshows featuring a wide variety of artists. Freddie Mills Nite Spot was one of these with lovely decor, dim lighting, romantic candle lit tables with waiter and waitress service with hostesses to join single male guys that came to the club. The West End clubs were upmarket expensive joints where a good bottle of champagne cost £100 or more! This was London's West End after all! Visitors and guests paid top money and the clubs had to provide top class floorshows to give value for money with glitz and glamour thrown in for good measure! Freddie Mills being such a popular personality was also compere on a few '6.5 Special' TV shows and remembered me appearing on some of those TV shows. He offered me a job at his Nite Club - "He made me an offer I couldn't refuse". He put me in charge of running the whole show so it was a challenge and huge responsibility for me. I had to organise the running order of the twice nightly shows one at 11.15pm and another at 1.15am. I had to make sure that all the artists were ready on cue, that the band had all the 'dots' for the various artists with their running order, check with the lighting man that he hit the light on the 'dot'. I would then come out in a snazzy tuxedo to a big fanfare from the band with the spotlight focused on me as I was the compere. I did 'my thing' and introduced the opening act - the Nite Spot Lovelies, who were lovely too! They were a troupe of busty, leggy dancers in glittering costumes doin the Can Can. I then introduced the other 3 or 4 artists in order. There was always a stripper on the show, she stripped down to her frilly knickers but showed enough to make the guys 'drool'! She walked off the stage wiggling her ass with an air of defiance as if to say 'Follow That'! And it was hard to follow, just a girl singer or male singer with earings and rings in his nose singing in an insipid, tinny, weak nasal voice was not enough. I always made sure I put on a speciality act after the stripper. And there were some great speciality acts around, jugglers, fire eaters, cycling acrobats, strong man specialists etc etc. At the end of all that I had to close the show and had to pull out all the stops! I made my grand entrance in my 'fancy pants' playing the guitar behind my head and doing the 'Ali Shuffle' backwards with the band really cookin'. I then went into my classy cabaret routine and finished on a high note with a rousing rock n roll number joined by the Nite Spot Lovelies doing a dance routine around me. I did a gimmick thing during that number playing the guitar behind my head but also lying down on the floor with my feet up in the air still soloing on the guitar. And much to the surprise of the audience Wally Shaw the bass player in the band came off stage still playing and joined me lying down on the floor holding his great big double bass upside down with his feet! A pretty sensational finale! Only trouble was we had to do it twice nightly six nights a week! I stayed at Freddie Mills for 2 years and moved with my own band to the Charlie Chester Night Club and Casino which was also in Soho. Charlie Chester was an old time comedian and well known personality in his own right. He had a big two floor all night casino with a night club in the bassement where I played with my band for listening, viewing and dancing. I stayed at Charlie Chesters for 3 years and then went back on the road.
During those great years in London I met so many interesting sports personalities and celebs and some of them still keep in touch with me.
The London cabaret scene was swinging and I'm lucky to have been part of that era, and to have made my contribution to those great 'cabaret days'.