black books supplied by head offi ce, in
which would be listed the artist’s arrival
and performance times. It mattered not if
you were the biggest star imaginable or a
lowly comedian, juggler or budding pop star,
your theatre arrival time and performance
time were logged in order to ensure thatyou weren’t late for the show and you
didn’t exceed the two minutes overrun
allowance for your act. If you were under
or over, it went in Cissie’s little black book,
which was sent to her every week. I knew
several artists who fell foul of Cissie’s strict
rules and some – no matter how talented
or popular – were never allowed to tread
her theatre boards again. I was petrifi ed of
going over and it has stayed with me to this
day. My time-keeping both on and off stage
is legendary – if you don’t believe me then
ask my wife!
Our enforced theatre discipline soon
became fractured due to the arrival of
certain artists and their groups. Cliff
Richard and Billy Fury were possibly the
main culprits for over-running, due to
the euphoria of their female fans making
it diffi cult for them to consider their
timings. Most of us had screaming girls to
contend with, but Billy and Cliff topped
the leaderboard. I was delighted with my
receptions, considering I was developing
a rock’n’roll variety act – playing piano for
Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino songs,
guitar for Elvis and Lonnie and bongos
that lit up when I hit them, plus a few gags
that put me in the league of being a variety
rock’n’roll artist if and when required.
Playing the ballrooms, as we did
alongside the theatres, was a totallydiff erent story, however, as there we were
performing mainly for dancing, so it was
back-to-back rock’n’roll.DURING THE OH BOY! television
series, the producer Jack Good and my
manager Larry Parnes were often at
loggerheads, mainly due to Larry thinking
that he knew more about rock’n’roll than
Jack – but nobody knew more than Good,
especially not Parnes. They did, however,
begin to sing off the same hymn sheet when
it came to bringing major rockers from
America to the UK. The outcome of their
newfound respect, be it genuine or not, was
an agreement for Larry to tour American
rock’n’roll superstars in the UK if Jack
booked them for his rock’n’roll TV shows
such as Oh Boy! and Boy Meets Girl.
The fi rst artists to be booked were
Conway Twitty, Gene Vincent and Eddie
Cochran. I watched Conway perform on the
Oh Boy! show and couldn’t get over the song
he sang and the emotional performance he
gave. The song was It’s Only Make Believe.
Within two days, I’d rehearsed it with my
group and it was in my act. I would put so
much into my performances that I actually
cried. It soon became a showstopper that
helped to improve my act on several levels,
plus the reviews of my shows. It was when I
did a week at the Birmingham HippodromeVince with Larry Parnes’
stable of artists ready to
rock the Big Beat ShowThe stellar line-up for the Big
Beat Show at Birmingham
Hippodrome – the moment
Vince knew he’d cracked itVince Eager