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03 October 2016

"Oh Boy!" Stage Show

Sunday 25th January to Friday 30th January 1959,
Commodore Theatre,
Hammersmith,
West London.

"The screams and hysteria from the audience was such I was amazed they could hear anything at all.”

(Vernons Girl Barbara Mitchell)

['Oh Boy!' Stage Show - Commodore Theatre, Hammersmith, West London. January 1959]

A look at the "Oh Boy!" stage show by Paul Rumbol, including an extract of an exclusive recent interview with Barbara Mitchell, spokeswoman for the Vernons Girls:

For 7 days in January 1959 a stage show of “Oh Boy!” took up residence at the Commodore Theatre in Hammersmith, West London. There were two shows performed on the first Sunday (25th) at 5pm and 8pm and one show nightly for the remainder of the week at 7.45pm. it featured all the biggest star names the series had created in just three short months on television.

Someone fortunate to have gone to one of those shows on a cold wet January evening was Paul Nihill MBE. He recalls:

“We were treated to a non stop extravaganza of British Rock 'n' Roll at its very best. Cliff complete in his pink jacket etc. really rocked the joint, ably backed by Lord Rockingham's X1 and assisted by The Dallas Boys and the Vernons Girls. Also on the bill, I got the chance to see for the first time Vince Taylor & his Playboys - wow - they were hot. After the show finished, I travelled on the tube train with Vince and he certainly gave me the impression he was American, which of course he wasn't, but he was a great rocker.”

Also on the bill was Cuddly Dudley, Neville Taylor and his Cutters, Peter Elliott and the Vernons Girls.

Barbara Mitchell, known as the “blonde bombshell” and for many years the spokeswoman for the group, recalls those shows:

“Boy they were truly exciting days. The crowds just went wild and all the acts we had were really good, very hot, and the routines so well polished. During the TV transmissions at Hackney the audience was just confined to the balcony and what with all the stage lighting in our eyes all we could see were lots of frantic kids jumping up and down in the balcony. Then we took up this week long residence at Hammersmith where we played to a packed house every evening. The screams and hysteria from the audience was such I was amazed they could hear anything at all.”

“I will always remember that first night at Hammersmith because among the new numbers we performed were “To Know Him Is to Love Him” which I sang with two of the other girls, and on the first house it went wrong. Something didn’t sound right. So we had to have a frantic run through with the band to get it right in just half an hour before the second show at 8pm.”

[Very few photographic memories have surfaced of the Hammersmith concerts
except this revealing snap of an 18 year old Cliff Richard performing his first
hit “Move It!” while being kept at safe distance from the frenzied
audience by the bouncers at the front of the stage.]
 

(To read the rest of the interview, please go to 'Vernons Girls page')

 

THE STRINGBEAT YEARS

  

The Stringbeat Years cover2

Now available!

The Stringbeat Years: Songs accompanied by John Barry

Now available, a 4-CD box-set comprising of 144 tracks, a 24-page booklet (replete with period photographs and comprehensive notes) and including ten bonus tracks (among them the CD debut of the first ever cover version of a John Barry instrumental composition).

Featuring – for the first time – the film versions of ‘Mix me a Person’, ‘The Time has Come’, and ‘What a Whopper’ (slightly shortened). There’s also an unique opportunity to hear the original version of ‘Ah, Poor Little Baby’, making its premiere appearance on CD.

The box-set is limited to 500 copies and is only £16.99 post-free in the UK, so don’t miss out! It is available direct from this website!

£16.99  post-free in the UK
£19.99  anywhere else in the world

Order now!
https://paypal.me/Geoffers007

Let us know if you aren't able to do this and we'll work out another way. 

Track listing

HIT AND MISS: THE STORY OF THE JOHN BARRY SEVEN

HitAndMiss 1000

Thoroughly and painstakingly researched over a number of years, it features contributions from several ex-members of the band and from friends and relatives of John Barry.

Comprising of over 360 pages, it is packed with an array of rare photos of the band, and the singers they often supported, as well as some unique images of memorabilia and documentation from that era; some never previously published, many more seldom seen.

Even if you are not necessarily a devotee of The John Barry Seven per se, the book offers a fascinating historical insight into the British music scene of the period and, more importantly, provides an essential read for anybody remotely interested in discovering more about John Barry’s formative career.

The book’s cover price is £30, but anybody ordering direct from us will receive a 33% discount, reducing the cost to £19.99.

Order now (click this line)!

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