Gracie Fields

Gracie Fields
Fields on the island of Capri, by Allan Warren, in 1973
Born	January 9, 1898(1898-01-09) Rochdale, Lancashire, England
Died	September 27, 1979(1979-09-27) (aged 81) Il Canzone Del Mare, Capri, Italy

Dame Gracie Fields, DBE (born Grace Stansfield, 9 January 1898 – 27 September 1979), was an English-born, later Italian-based actress, singer and comedienne and star of both cinema and music hall.

Life and work

Early life

Grace Stansfield was born over a fish and chip shop owned by her grandmother, Sarah Bamford, in Molesworth Street, Rochdale, Lancashire. She made her first stage appearance as a child in 1905, joining children's repertory theatre groups such as 'Haley's Garden of Girls' and the 'Nine Dainty Dots'. Her two sisters, Edith and Betty and brother, Tommy, all went on to appear on stage, but Gracie was the most successful. Her professional debut in variety took place at the Rochdale Hippodrome theatre in 1910 and she soon gave up her job in the local cotton mill, where she was a half-timer, spending half a week in the mill and the other half at school.

She met comedian and impresario Archie Pitt and they began working together. Pitt gave Fields champagne on her 18th birthday, and wrote in an autograph book to her that he would make her a star. Pitt would come to serve as her manager and the two married in 1923 at Clapham Registry Office. Their first revue in 1915 was called Yes I Think So and the two continued to tour Britain together until 1924 in the revue Mr Tower of London, with other reviews including By Request, It's A Bargain and The Show's The Thing.

Archie Pitt was the brother of Bert Aza, founder of the Aza agency, who were responsible for many talents of the day including the actor and comedian Stanley Holloway, who was introduced to Aza by Fields. Fields and Holloway first worked together on her film Sing As We Go in 1934 and the two remained close friends for the rest of their lives.^[1]

Fame

Fields came to major public notice when Mr Tower of London came to the West End. Her career rapidly accelerated from this point with straight dramatic performances and the beginning of a recording career.

One of her most successful productions was at the Alhambra Theatre in 1925. The show, booked by Sir Oswald Stoll, was a major success and toured for ten years, throughout the UK. She later said "One day I was in Plymouth's palace theatre and the next playing Blackpool!". She made the first of ten appearances in Royal Variety Performances in 1928, following a premiere stint at the London Palladium, gaining a devoted following with a mixture of self-deprecating jokes, comic songs and monologues, as well as cheerful "depression-era" songs all presented in a "no-airs-and-graces" Northern, working class style. She recorded her first record for HMV Because I Love You and My Blue Heaven in 1928.

At one point, Fields was playing three shows a night in London's West End. She appeared in the Pitt production she was working on, with Gerald Du Maurier in the straight play SOS at the Saint James Theatre, with also a cabaret spot at the Cafe De Paris following this.

Fields had a great rapport with her audience, which helped her become one of Britain's highest paid performers, playing to sold out theatre's across the country.^{[citation needed]}

Her most famous song, which became her theme, "Sally," was worked into the title of her first film, Sally in Our Alley (1931), which was a major box office hit. She went on to make several films initially in Britain and later in the United States (for which she was paid a record fee of £200,000 for four films). Regardless, she never enjoyed the process of performing without a live audience, and found the process of film-making boring. She tried to opt out of filming, before director Monty Banks persuaded her otherwise, landing her the lucrative Hollywood deal. Fields demanded that the four films were to be filmed in Britain and not Hollywood, and this was the case.

Ironically, the final few lines of the song "Sally" were written by her husband's mistress, Annie Lipman, and Fields sang this song at nearly every performance she made from 1931 onwards - claiming in later life that she wanted to "Drown blasted Sally with Walter with the aspidistra on top!"

Charity work

The late 1930s saw her popularity peak and she was given many honours: the Officer of the Venerable Order of St. John (for charity work), the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) (for services to entertainment) in 1938 and the Freedom of the Borough of Rochdale.

She donated her house, "Tower," 20, Frognal Way, Hampstead, London, NW3 6XE (which she had not much cared for and which she had shared with her husband Archie Pitt and his mistress) to a maternity hospital after the marriage broke down. In 1939, she became seriously ill with cervical cancer. The public sent over 250,000 goodwill messages and she retired to her villa on Capri. After she recovered, she recorded a very special 78rpm record simply called Gracie's Thanks, in which she thanks the public for the many cards and letters she received while in hospital. During World War II, she paid for all servicemen/women to travel free on public transport within the boundaries of Rochdale.

Fields also helped Rochdale F.C. in the 1930s when they were struggling to pay fees and buy sports equipment.

In 1933 she set up the Gracie Fields Children's Home and Orphanage at Peacehaven in Sussex for children of those in the theatre profession who could not look after their children. She kept this until 1967, when the home was no longer needed. This was near her own home in Peacehaven, and Fields often visited, with the children all calling her 'Aunty Grace'.^[2]

World War II

Fields, accompanied by an RAF orchestra, entertains airmen at their 1939 Christmas party.

World War II was declared while she was recovering in Capri, and Fields - still very ill after her operation, threw herself into her work and signed up for ENSA headed by her old film producer, Basil Dean. Fields travelled to France to entertain the troops in the midst of air-raids, performing on the backs of open lorries and in war-torn areas. She was the first artist to play behind enemy lines in Berlin.

Following her divorce from Archie Pitt, she married Italian-born film director Monty Banks in March 1940.

However, because Banks remained an Italian citizen and would have been interned in the United Kingdom, she was forced to leave Britain for North America during the war, at the instruction of Winston Churchill, who told her to "Make American Dollars, not British Pounds," which she did in aid of the Navy League and the Spitfire Fund. She and Banks moved to their home in Santa Monica, California. She did occasionally return to England to show she was not indeed a traitor, performing in factories and army camps around the country. After their initial argument, Parliament offered her an official apology.

Although she continued to spend much of her time entertaining troops and otherwise supporting the war effort outside Britain, this led to a fall-off in her popularity at home. She performed many times for Allied troops, travelling as far as New Guinea, where she received an enthusiastic response from Australian personnel.^[3] Late 1945 saw her tour the South Pacific Islands.

Post WWII

After the war, Fields continued her career less actively. She began performing in Britain again in 1948 headlining the London Palladium over Eartha Kitt who was also on the bill. The BBC gave her her own Radio Show in 1947 dubbed Our Gracie's Working Party in which 12 towns were visited by Fields, and a live show of music and entertainment was broadcast weekly with Fields compering and performing, and local talents also on the bill. This tour commenced in Rochdale.

In 1951, Fields opened the Festival of Britain celebrations. She proved popular once more, though never regaining the status she enjoyed in the 1930s. She continued recording, but made no more films, moving more towards light classical music as popular tastes changed, often adopting a religious theme. She continued into the new medium of LP records, and recorded new takes of her old favourite songs, as well as new and recent tracks to 'liven things up a bit'.

Monty Banks died in 1950 of a heart attack while travelling on the Orient Express. Two years later Fields married Boris Alperovici, a Romanian radio repairman. She claimed that he was the love of her life, and that she couldn't wait to propose to him. She proposed on Christmas Day in front of friends and family. They married at the Church of St Steffano on Capri in a quiet ceremony before honeymooning in Rome.

She lived on her beloved Isle of Capri for the remainder of her life, at her home La Canzone Del Mare, a swimming and restaurant complex which Field's home overlooked. It was favoured by many Hollywood stars during the 1950s, with regular guests including Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Greta Garbo and Noël Coward.

Later years

She began to work less, but still toured the UK under the management of Harold Fielding, manager of top artists of the day such as Tommy Steele and Max Bygraves. Her UK tours proved popular, and in the mid 1960s she performed farewell tours in Australia, Canada and America - the latter performance was recorded and released years later.

In 1956, Fields played Miss Marple in a US TV production of Agatha Christie's A Murder is Announced.^[4] The production featured Jessica Tandy and Roger Moore, and predates the Margaret Rutherford films by some five years. She also starred in television productions of A Tale of Two Cities, The Old Lady Shows Her Medals, - for which she won a TV Award, and Mrs 'Aris Goes to Paris, which was remade years later with Angela Lansbury as Mrs Harris, a charwoman in search of a fur coat. (A Chanel dress in Lansbury's case.)

In 1957, her single, "Around the World" peaked at #8 in the UK Singles Chart, with her recording of "Little Donkey" reaching #20 in November 1959.^[5]

Fields regularly performed in TV appearances, being the first entertainer to perform on Val Parnell's Sunday Night at the London Palladium. Fields had two Christmas TV specials in 1960 and 1961, singing her old favourites and new songs in front of a studio audience. 1971 saw A Gift For Gracie, another TV special presented by Fields and Bruce Forsythe. This followed on from her popularity of Jess Yates's Stars on Sunday religious programme, the precursor to Songs of Praise, in which celebrities sang religious hymns and read Bible readings. Fields was the most requested artist on the show.

In 1968, Fields headlined a two week Christmas stint at Yorkshire's prestigious Batley Variety Club. "I was born over a fish and chip shop - I never thought I'd be singing in one!" claimed Fields during the performance recorded by the BBC.

In 1975, her album, The Golden Years, reached #48 in the UK Albums Chart.^[5]

In 1978, she opened the Gracie Fields Theatre, located next to Oulder Hill Community School, in her native Rochdale, performing a concert there recorded by the BBC to open the show. Fields appeared in ten Royal Variety Performances from 1928 onwards, her last being in 1978 at the age of 80 when she appeared as a surprise guest in the finale, in which she appeared and sang her theme song, "Sally".

Her final TV appearance came in January 1979 when she appeared in a special octogenarian edition of The Merv Griffin Show in America, in which she sang the song she popularised in America, "The Biggest Aspidistra In The World". Fields was notified by her confidante John Taylor while she was in America that she had the invitation to become a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, to which she replied: "Yes I'll accept, yes I can kneel - but I might need help getting back up, and yes I'll attend - as long as they don't call Boris, Buttons."

Fields' health declined in July 1979, when she contracted pneumonia after performing an open air concert on the Royal Yacht which was docked in Capri's harbour. After a spell in hospital, she seemed to be recovering, but died on 27 September 1979. The press reported she died holding her husband's hand, but in reality he was at their Anacapri home at the time, while Gracie was home with the housekeeper, Irena. She is buried in the non-Catholic cemetery on Capri; the Protestant Cemetery.^[6] in a white marble tomb. Her coffin was carried by staff from her restaurant. Her husband Boris died in 1984.

Honours

In February 1979, she was invested as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire^[7] seven months before her death at her home on Capri, aged 81.

On 3 October 2009 the final train to run on the Oldham Loop before it closed to be converted to a tramway, a Class 156, was named in her honour.^[8]

She was also granted the Freedom of Rochdale.^[9]

Miscellaneous

The Rochdale Boroughwide Cultural Trust holds the 'Gracie Fields Archive'.

In 2009, Jane Horrocks took the lead in the BBC TV production Gracie!,^[10] a drama portraying the life of Fields just before and during World War II and her relationship with Monty Banks (played by Tom Hollander).

Famous songs

• "Sally"
• "Sing As We Go" (later parodied by Monty Python as "Sit on My Face")
• "Thing-Ummy-Bob (That's Gonna Win The War)"
• "The Biggest Aspidistra in the World"
• "I Took my Harp to a Party"
• "Teddy Bears' Picknick"
• "Only a Glass of Champagne"
• "Angels Guard Thee"
• "Nuns' Chorus"
• "Now Is the Hour"
• "The Isle of Capri"
• "Walter, Walter, Lead Me to the Altar"
• "Christopher Robin is Saying His Prayers"
• "If I Had a Talking Picture of You"
• "Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye"
• "When I Grow Too Old to Dream"
• "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake"
• "The Twelfth of Never"
• "Those Were The Days" (performed live at The Batley Variety Club in 1968)

Filmography

• Sally in Our Alley (1931)
• Looking on the Bright Side (1932)
• This Week of Grace (1933)
• Love, Life and Laughter (1934)
• Sing As We Go (1934)
• Look Up and Laugh (1935)
• Queen of Hearts (1936)
• The Show Goes On (1937)
• We're Going to Be Rich (1938)
• Young and Beautiful (1938) - short Jinx Falkenburg feature, in colour
• Keep Smiling (1938)
• Shipyard Sally (1939)
• Stage Door Canteen (1943) - cameo appearance
• Holy Matrimony (1943)
• Molly and Me (1945)
• Paris Underground (1945) aka Madame Pimpernel

References

1. ^ http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/feature.php/27936/jack-beckitt
2. ^ Peacehaven Council http://www.peacehavencouncil.co.uk/index.php/historic-peacehaven/famous-residents
3. ^ Fields' travels to entertain Allied soldiers
4. ^ IMDb
5. ^ ^{a b} Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 199. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
6. ^ Find-a-Grave
7. ^ "Supplement to the London Gazette". Her Majesty's Stationery Office. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/47723/supplements/7. Retrieved 2009-11-27. 
8. ^ "Train named after Rochdale star". Rochdale Online. http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/30712/train-named-after-rochdale-star. Retrieved 2009-10-15. 
9. ^ [1]
10. ^ Gracie! at the Internet Movie Database

Sources

• Sing As We Go, The Autobiography of Gracie Fields published in 1960 by Frederick Muller Limited
• Gracie Fields: The Authorised Biography (1995) by David Bret
• "Gracie Fields" by Jeffrey Richards in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Further reading

• Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; McNeilly, Donald (2007), "Gracie Fields", in ., Vaudeville, old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performers in America, Vol.1, New York: Routledge Press, pp. 380–383, ISBN 9780415938532, http://books.google.com/books?id=XFnfnKg6BcAC&pg=PA380&dq=gracie+fields&hl=en&ei=ohmATO_JNJCjcYrGyP8K&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q=gracie%20fields&f=false, retrieved 2 September 2010 
• "Gracie Fields: English comedienne mugs and sings", Life: 124, 126, 21 December 1942, http://books.google.com/books?id=NVEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA124&dq=gracie+fields&hl=en&ei=7A-ATMbyOIyivQOs55CqBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBg#, retrieved 2 September 2010 
• Hunter, Jefferson (2010), English Filming, English Writing, Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, ISBN 978-0-253-35443-3, http://books.google.com/books?id=JbnHvxuby54C&printsec=frontcover&dq=English+Filming&hl=en&ei=fSSATNW_H4uycaOCpbAM&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false, retrieved 2 September 2010  Paperback ISBN 978-0-253-22177-3
• Johnston, Sheila M.F (2001), "London Little Theatre Era: Gracie Fields", in ., Let's go to the Grand!: 100 years of entertainment at London's Grand Theatre, Toronto, Canada: Natural Heritage/Natural History Inc, pp. 95–96, ISBN 1-896219-75-6, http://books.google.com/books?id=XwdlHPIR9FEC&pg=PA95&dq=gracie+fields&hl=en&ei=sSOATMiVO8Grcdyp9JwL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBTgU#v=onepage&q=gracie%20fields&f=false, retrieved 2 September 2010 
• Joyce, Patrick (1994. First published 1991), Visions of the people: industrial England and the question of class 1848-1914, Camridge, New York: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, pp. 215–219, 318–320, ISBN 0-521-37152-X, http://books.google.com/books?id=z_nMtyp7XCEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Visions+people&hl=en&ei=kSmATPPcNoqrcdKKpe8K&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false, retrieved 2 September 2010 
• Landy, Marcia (2001), "The extraordinary ordinariness of Gracie Fields: the anatomy of a British film star", in Babington, Bruce, British Stars and Stardom: From Alma Taylor to Sean Connery, Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, pp. 56–67, ISBN 0-7190-5840-6 (hardback), http://books.google.com/books?id=vxmQJRr0vL8C&pg=PA56&dq=gracie+fields&hl=en&ei=7A-ATMbyOIyivQOs55CqBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CEYQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=gracie%20fields&f=false, retrieved 2 September 2010  Paperback ISBN 0-7190-5841-4
• Scannell, Paddy (1996. Digitalised 2002), Radio, television, and modern life: a phenomenological approach, Oxford, UK & Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell, pp. 65, 72, ISBN 0-631-19874-1, http://books.google.com/books?id=ukYabkWNV1cC&printsec=frontcover&dq=radio+television&hl=en&ei=0iGATLCoFoHvcPOFyPMK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false, retrieved 2 September 2010  Paperback ISBN 0-631-19875-X
• Slide, Anthony (1985), "Sing As We Go", in ., Fifty classic British films, 1932-1982: a pictorial record, General Publishing Co., Canada; and Constable & Co, UK, pp. 16–18, ISBN 0-486-24860-7, http://books.google.com/books?id=Rf5CCA7_Lv4C&pg=PA16&dq=gracie+fields&hl=en&ei=ohmATO_JNJCjcYrGyP8K&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=gracie%20fields&f=false, retrieved 2 September 2010 
• Shafer, Stephen C (1997), British popular films, 1929-1939: the cinema of reassurance, London: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-00282-6, http://books.google.com/books?id=jeB2-TiVoPIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=british+popular&hl=en&ei=XBqATM3dHozKceCkxe8K&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false, retrieved 2 September 2010 
• Short, Ernest Henry & Compton_Rickett, Arthur (1970. First published 1938), Ring up the curtain: being a pageant of English entertainment covering half a century, Freeport, N.Y: Books for Libraries Press, ISBN 0-8369-5299-5, http://books.google.com/books?id=mZXSZvShXKcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Ring+up&hl=en&ei=MheATKWzBIWsvgOP1O2IBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false, retrieved 2 September 2010 

External links

Biography portal

• Gracie Fields at the Internet Movie Database
• Gracie Fields: A Biography by Joan Moules
• Photographs and literature
• Nine digitally restored Gracie Fields recordings

Persondata
Name	Fields, Gracie
Alternative names
Short description	English singer and comedienne
Date of birth	January 9, 1898
Place of birth	Rochdale, Lancashire, England
Date of death	September 27, 1979
Place of death	Capri, Italy