Pat and Olivia bring a touch of glamour - opening for the Shadows
Patricia Carroll and Olivia Newton-John, who will be bringing a touch of glamour to the stage at Coventry Theatre next week. Previously rivals on the Australian musical scene, they teamed up in England as a duo.
Coventry Theatre: The Shadows, with supporting company.
SINCE making their mark on the show business scene as Cliff Richard’s backing group. The Shadows have earned, widespread recognition as artists in their own right.
Next week, they are appearing the stars of a show at Coventry Theatre. The supporting artists are Ray Pell, Les Dawson, Morton Fraser’s Harmonica Gang, Glenn Weston, Pat and Olivia and the Betty Smith Quintette.
The four Shadows - Hank, Bruce, Brian and John - returned recently from Yugoslavia, where they scored a big success in a three-day national song festival.
“We never tire of travelling abroad” says Bruce. “Every trip is a knock-out and it’s quite impossible to say that one country has thrilled us more than another”.
“We hope there’s travelling ahead of us, because all we want is the opportunity to visit all the countries in which we’ve been asked to appear”.
Hard times
The Shadows initial success came through records, but their musical talents have also taken them into film, with Cliff Richard, as well as bringing them stage, radio and TV fame.
Before the Shadows became established, Hank and Bruce played skiffle in a London coffee bar, and in those days success looked a long way off.
“For two weeks when things were really bad, our diet was a roll and a cup of Chan for lunch and an apple for tea,” Hank recalls.
One of the supporting artists next week, Les Dawson, is no stranger either to what he calls “the artistic side of poverty” having lived in London and Paris trying to sell short stories to impassive publishers.
But the 34-year-old comedian is now experiencing more happier times making a home for himself in radio, TV summer seasons and top-flight night clubs.
Another comedian in the show, Ray Pell, has worked his way up from “a fifty bob a night comic” in northern clubs to starring on Sunday Night at the London Palladium.
“In Liverpool,” he says they teach you a simple formula for success in the clubs - you are paid to entertain, not to educate. That’s my motto still”.
Editor’s note Coventry Theatre, Pat and Olivia supporting The Shadows Mon 11th Sep until Sat 16th Sep 1967.
