WHEN GRACIE FIELDS EARNED £3 A WEEK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 30 November 1933, Page 2

WHEN GRACIE FIELDS EARNED £3 A WEEK

Describing the start of her career, Miss Grade Fields, the famous singer comedienne, says: “I got a queer job with‘a music-hall artist. My share of the act was to sit in the gallery whilst he voiced sentimental ditties. When he reached the chorus, I had to jump up from my seat and sing that chorus with the full extent of my lungs. One night an old lady sat next to me, and when I got to my feet, she sternly told me to ‘Shoot oop, lass, and sit down.’ I thought the act was ruined and burst out crying, but the rest of the audience thought it was all a. gag, and roared with laughter. Then the manager of the music-hall in my home-town offered me a week’s trial engagement, to sing the popular songs of the day. This debut was the nightmare of my life and I shall never forget it. What happened was this. While I was singing my best song, I stepped backwards, got my skirt entangled in the back cloth of" the scenery, tore half cf it off, blushed crimson through my badly applied make-up and then the stage hands had to lower the curtain to get me out of the mess! The sad thing is that if 1 could be half as funny to-day as I unconsciously was then, I should be received with laughter instead of the jeers which terminated this' unfortunate episode. Even after this I wasn’t dismayed. I interviewed a Manchester variety agent, paid him an advance fee, was duly placed on his books, and occasionally" got a week’s engagement. I was now 1 5 and doing single turns. My agent induced me to sing a long contract to appear in a touring revue. ‘Yes, I think so,’ at a weekly salary of three pounds. I was in the seventh heaven of delight, for the money represented untold wealth to me. This was the turning point of my career, although I naturally didn’t know it at the time.”