"Kaye Sisters" Carol dies at 71
wazzzy
CAROL KAYE, a member of the famous Fifties and Sixties girl band the
Kaye Sisters, has died with Oldham actress Dora Bryan at her side. She
was 71.
She joined the blonde trio - which was well known for close harmony
numbers - in 1955.
And when they split up, she became an actress and understudied Doran
Bryan who became her good friend.
They lived near to each other in Brighton and Dora was called to
Carol's home on Sunday to see the singer before she died.
Today Dora said: "Carol was diagnosed with cancer 18 months ago but
she was a very strong lady.
"Young people may not know who the Kaye Sisters were, but in their
day they were as famous as the Spice Girls. They were gorgeous.
"When she started to understudy me in Alan Bennett's 'Talking
Heads' we used to travel everywhere in her car and would reminisce
about Oldham.
"One of her favourite walks was to the fish and chip shop. I did that
today and I was thinking of her."
Carol's career in showbusiness started when she was a youngster in
Hollinwood, where her parents lived in Knowl Square. Then called Carol
Mayall, she was one of Grace McKenzie's Juveniles at a talent school.
She appeared in panto and revues, and toured the Continent and North
Africa as a youngster, with her first all-girl trio, the Three
Tunettes.
Then came the Kaye Sisters, who were not related at all. But Carol,
Shan and Sheila wore matching outfits and dyed their hair blonde.
They became regulars on television programmes such as "Sunday Night
at the London Palladium", and also appeared on Royal Variety Show.
Their chart hits included "Paper Roses".
Carol married the group's manager, Len Young, in 1958. They had a
son, Joseph.
The Kaye Sisters split after 21 years when Sheila married Bob Wragg,
one of the Dallas Boys - a male group also popular in the Fifties and
early Sixties - although Carol and Shan continued in cabaret until
1976.
But the trio reformed in 1988 for a nationwide tour and appeared at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall alongside the Dallas Boys.
Carol became an actress and appeared in TV series such as "County
Hall". She had a short stint in "Coronation Street" in 1983.
Her niece, Jane Mayall, ran the Oldham Race for Life in June this year
in support of her aunt, and with her team raised £2,000 for Cancer
Research.
King Daevid MacKenzie
group in the U.K. roughly analogous to (and contemporaries of) The
Chordettes in the U.S. As far as I can tell, they never had any kind of
success on this side of the Atlantic. However, a lot of Americans have
indeed heard of them as of a dozen years ago. When The Beatles appeared
on Eric Morecambe & Ernie Wise's variety TV show in 1963 (which was
incorporated into the BEATLES ANTHOLOGY albums and videos), Morecambe
gets in a dig at The Beatles' hair length by exclaiming, "It's the Kaye
Sisters! They've come back!" For those Americans who have tried to
figure out what the hell the big laugh was about, well, this lady's
showbiz act was it...
--
King Daevid MacKenzie, WLSU-FM 88.9 La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
heard Sundays 8:00 A.M. PST/PDT over KRFP-LP 92.5 Moscow, Idaho and at
http://www.krfp.org/documents/listen_windowsmedia.asx
archived in mp3 at http://www.radio4all.net
http://www.myspace.com/kingdaevid
"You can live in your dreams, but only if you are worthy of them."
HARLAN ELLISON
wazzzy
King Daevid MacKenzie wrote:
> ...a little fill-in for the Statesiders: The Kaye Sisters were a vocal
> group in the U.K. roughly analogous to (and contemporaries of) The
> Chordettes in the U.S. As far as I can tell, they never had any kind of
> success on this side of the Atlantic. However, a lot of Americans have
> indeed heard of them as of a dozen years ago. When The Beatles appeared
> on Eric Morecambe & Ernie Wise's variety TV show in 1963 (which was
> incorporated into the BEATLES ANTHOLOGY albums and videos), Morecambe
> gets in a dig at The Beatles' hair length by exclaiming, "It's the Kaye
> Sisters! They've come back!" For those Americans who have tried to
> figure out what the hell the big laugh was about, well, this lady's
> showbiz act was it...
reading this & seeing their picture, it all makes sense -
AndrewJ
legs," which Paul adapted in that ANTHOLOGY clip.
I dunno what the US equivalent to Morecambe and Wise would have been
(Abbott & Costello? Rowan & Martin? Martin & Lewis?) but I understand
they were huge in the UK during the 1950s and 1960s...
-- Andrew
aka Bob
magnanimously proffered:
>
>King Daevid MacKenzie wrote:
>> ...a little fill-in for the Statesiders: The Kaye Sisters were a vocal
>> group in the U.K. roughly analogous to (and contemporaries of) The
>> Chordettes in the U.S. As far as I can tell, they never had any kind of
>> success on this side of the Atlantic. However, a lot of Americans have
>> indeed heard of them as of a dozen years ago. When The Beatles appeared
>> on Eric Morecambe & Ernie Wise's variety TV show in 1963 (which was
>> incorporated into the BEATLES ANTHOLOGY albums and videos), Morecambe
>> gets in a dig at The Beatles' hair length by exclaiming, "It's the Kaye
>> Sisters! They've come back!" For those Americans who have tried to
>> figure out what the hell the big laugh was about, well, this lady's
>> showbiz act was it...
>>
>Morecambe and Wise also had a catchphrase regarding "short fat hairy
>legs," which Paul adapted in that ANTHOLOGY clip.
>
>I dunno what the US equivalent to Morecambe and Wise would have been
>(Abbott & Costello? Rowan & Martin? Martin & Lewis?) but I understand
>they were huge in the UK during the 1950s and 1960s...
>
>-- Andrew
IMO Morcombe & Wise were more like Rowan & Martin than Martin & Lewis
or Abbot & Costello in that the funnymen/fallguys Ernie Wise & Dick
Martin were far more sophisticated and not so slapstick silly &
childish as Costello/Lewis. Eric Morcombe was a brilliant straight
man. Then So were Dean Martin, Bud Abbot and Dan Rowan.
Both were very funny duos and much missed. BTW - Ernie Wise is still
living and does the occasional charity show and Royal Variety Show.
--
A: Dunno, maybe it's because they're stupid.
Q: Why do some people top-post?
A: Because they are REALLY STUPID!
Q: Why do some people cross-post?
Liz W
"aka Bob" <bobf...@surfwriter.net.not> wrote in message
news:pjfne29gnbp2ld3m3...@4ax.com...
Sorry to say, Ernie died in 1999.
King Daevid MacKenzie
> IMO Morcombe & Wise were more like Rowan & Martin than Martin & Lewis
> or Abbot & Costello in that the funnymen/fallguys Ernie Wise & Dick
> Martin were far more sophisticated and not so slapstick silly &
> childish as Costello/Lewis. Eric Morcombe was a brilliant straight
> man. Then So were Dean Martin, Bud Abbot and Dan Rowan.
...hunh? You have the guys mixed up -- Wise was the short straight man
and Morecambe was the goof with the glasses...
> Both were very funny duos and much missed. BTW - Ernie Wise is still
> living and does the occasional charity show and Royal Variety Show.
...then who was buried in May 1999 in that grave marked with Ernie
Wise's headstone?...
aka Bob
<echoes...@charter.net> magnanimously proffered:
>aka Bob sez:
>
>> IMO Morcombe & Wise were more like Rowan & Martin than Martin & Lewis
>> or Abbot & Costello in that the funnymen/fallguys Ernie Wise & Dick
>> Martin were far more sophisticated and not so slapstick silly &
>> childish as Costello/Lewis. Eric Morcombe was a brilliant straight
>> man. Then So were Dean Martin, Bud Abbot and Dan Rowan.
>
>...hunh? You have the guys mixed up -- Wise was the short straight man
>and Morecambe was the goof with the glasses...
You're right. I did have them mixed up. I still do.
>> Both were very funny duos and much missed. BTW - Ernie Wise is still
>> living and does the occasional charity show and Royal Variety Show.
>
>...then who was buried in May 1999 in that grave marked with Ernie
>Wise's headstone?...
No wonder his appearances are so occasional.
Seriously, I've probably mixed up his "live" performances with some
DVD's of classic British comedy we watched a few months ago. We rented
them from the library and had a week to watch the entire set - or as
much of it as we could. Reality sometimes takes a back seat ...
--
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
aka Bob
magnanimously proffered:
The older I get the more I slip back in time!
I was getting Ernie mixed up with little Ronnie Corbett, who, I'm
happy to say, *is* still with us and does the occasional charity show
and Royal Variety Show.
And after watching some of the classic BBC comedy shows on DVD, it's
difficult for me to remember that most of these great comedians are
gone.