Stars are Dimming from a Golden Age of Music – Part 1
A Third Age Entertainment feature
by Graham Smith

They were the untouchable stars with a magical air who sprang from the silver screen long before the days of TV, DVD and videos, and often their private lives had as much mystique and tragedy as the scripts of the films in which they starred.

With the death in 2008 of Patricia Kirkwood in a West Yorkshire nursing home the curtain came down on probably the last great survivor of the golden age of pre-war British musical stars.

During a career spanning more than 60 years she starred in leading roles in musicals written by Noel Coward, Cole Porter and Leonard Bernstein, but it was for something entirely different that she will be remembered, and she isn’t the only one.

In 1948, on a fateful night in October, her boyfriend of the day brought a young man to her dressing room who was rather the worse for wear. It was Prince Philip who then drove Pat to the Mayfair restaurant Les Ambassadeurs. She, allegedly, had to keep grabbing the wheel to stop him running into the cars in front!

The royal consort and the wealthy, beautiful West End star dined among the famous faces of the day and drew considerable attention to themselves. Afterwards they disappeared upstairs to the Milroy nightclub where they spent hours dancing cheek to cheek. The night ended with scrambled eggs on toast at dawn in the flat of a court photographer, Baron, and the world’s press had a field day. At the time Princess Elizabeth, the future queen, was heavily pregnant with Prince Charles.

The King, George VI, was furious on behalf of his daughter, and no matter how much Pat denied any impropriety the less she was believed by the gossip columnists of the day. The event was to follow her quite literally to her grave and was referred to in the eulogy at her funeral.

On that day the press were assembled outside and I sat in church close to a lady who said in the loudest of stage whispers to her neighbour: “Have you seen the press? I used to clean for Pat. She was a lovely, gracious lady and told me the truth of what happened. There was nothing improper and if they ask me I’ll tell them!”

These were magical stars and the magic still lingered on that bleak January morning as I watched the press recording the last performance of Patricia Kirkwood. After the address a recording of her version of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel was played. You could have heard a pin drop until it ended and her last audience broke into rapturous applause.

This was the lady who in 1942 starred in Cole Porter’s musical, Let’s Face It, and introduced the timeless classic song Just One Of Those Things to the world. Porter was so pleased that he cabled her the message: “You may sing any song of mine at any time for the rest of your life.” Top that.

This was also the lady whose legs were once described as “the eighth wonder of the world”. George Formby’s wife, the notorious Beryl, demanded that her appearance be tempered down when she appeared opposite him, just in case George got ideas. He probably got them anyway!

Despite her glittering career, which continued until 1994, Patricia Kirkwood was never honoured for her services to entertainment. I wonder why?

Stars are Dimming from a Golden Age of Music – Part 2 – Jessie Matthews