This Is Your Life: Gracie Fields

Gracie FIELDS CBE (1898-1979)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Gracie Fields, actress, singer and comedienne, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews following a broadcast of What's My Line, on which she had been a guest, at the BBC Television Theatre.

Gracie, who was born in Rochdale, made her professional debut in variety in her hometown in 1910 before touring Britain with a juvenile troupe. After years of touring in revues such as Mr Tower of London, an appearance in London's West End in 1922 made her a star overnight and led to a successful recording career.

Her most famous song, Sally, which became her theme, was worked into the title of her first film, Sally in Our Alley, a major box office hit in 1931. Having made several more films in Britain and later in the United States, she performed worldwide with ENSA during the Second World War, entertaining troops and supporting the war effort, becoming the first artist to play behind enemy lines in Berlin.

"That was a very good catch!"

programme details...

Edition No: 128
Subject No: 128
Broadcast date: Mon 21 Mar 1960
Broadcast time: 7.30-8.00pm
Recorded: Sun 20 Mar 1960
Venue: BBC Television Theatre
Series: 5
Edition: 30

on the guest list...

Boris Alperovici - husband
Arthur Winterbottom
Joan Young
Ald C H Bryning
Barbara Pape
Stephen Pape
Doreen Rose
Margaret Poynter
Yvonne Poynter
Tom Webster
Eva Turner
Alberto Semprini
Norman Wisdom
Father Mario Borrelli
Carol Reed

production team...

Researcher: Nickola Sterne
Writer: Nickola Sterne
Director: unknown
Producer: T Leslie Jackson

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

with thanks to Chris Webster and Seb Lassandro for their contributions to this page

related pages...

A Song For Life

it's the singer not the song

The Big Red Book

the programme's icon

This Is My Life

John Bull Magazine interviews Eamonn Andrews

Mario Borrelli

Eva Turner

Norman Wisdom

Gracie Fields This Is Your Life Big Red Book

Photographs and screenshots of Gracie Fields This Is Your Life - and a photograph of Gracie Fields's big red book

Sebastian Lassandro recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, Pride Of Our Alley The Life of Dame Gracie Fields Volume II: 1939-1979...

Gracie was back in England, staying with Lillian Aza in Maida Vale, for the March 20 filming of What's My Line for the BBC. It was at the recording of this show that the host, Eamonn Andrews, surprised Gracie with his big red book for the next item. Gracie was only the guest and not a panellist, but after the cameras had stopped rolling for What's My Line they kept rolling as Gracie was brought out to take a bow, apparently just for the studio audience after the show, but really so that Eamonn could surprise her, still on film, for This Is Your Life, which was a "very good catch!" as Gracie had been reluctant for years to appear in the programme.

Interestingly, nobody from Gracie's family made an appearance on the show, and neither did her companion from the 1930s, Mary Davey. Instead, some seemingly tenuous guests were chosen, and alongside Boris appeared Arthur Winterbottom, Joan Young, Alderman C.H. Bryning OBE JP, Barbara and Stephen Pape, Doreen Rose, Margaret and Yvonne Poynter, Tom Webster, Eva Turner, Alberto Semprini, Norman Wisdom, Father Mario Borrelli, and (on film) Sir Carol Reed. So obscure were some of the guests that Gracie genuinely did not recognise who they were, and when they explained they either used to go to school with her or work in the mill she happily played along and pretended to remember them and the stories they had to tell. Arthur Winterbottom, a parish school chum who "once helped her with her sums," Gracie told him, "You haven't changed a bit. I always envied you because you wore boots. I had clogs, but I wanted to be posh and wear boots" Mr Winterbottom replied, "I remember how you used to stand on a chair and sing in class - with your stockings corkscrewing down your legs". Gracie was genuinely pleased, however, that Alderman Bryning, now in his nineties, had made the journey from Rochdale to pay tribute to her - as was the show's scriptwriter, Nickola Sterne, who wrote to him after the show thanking him for making the effort to make the journey to Rochdale. According to Eamonn Andrews, Gracie had been pretty definite she would not appear on This is Your Life, but she thought it was wonderful when it was all over. Eamonn Andrews stated 'she can't understand now why she ever thought she would be annoyed... She was a very good catch.'

Daily Mail article: Gracie Fields This Is Your Life

Daily Mail 22 March 1960

Wonderful, says Gracie

by Gibb McCall

THE STAR WHO SAID SHE WOULD NEVER GO ON THAT TV SHOW IS TRICKED INTO IT AT LAST – AND HER REACTION:

Wonderful, says Gracie

GRACIE FIELDS switched on the TV in her country cottage hide-out last night and saw – her life.

At last she had been caught out by the show she swore she would never appear on.

Security precautions reached a new peak to get her on This Is Your Life.

The hoax

Compere Eamonn Andrews knew of her objection so the hoax began with Gracie being asked to appear as a guest celebrity in What's My Line? on Sunday.

Immediately after it Eamonn hustled her into the This Is Your Life routine.

Upset? Not a bit of it. She enjoyed every moment and, like thousands in her native Rochdale, switched on to see the telerecording last night.

Her agent, Mrs Lillian Aza, said later: "Gracie has been staying with me, but she is now in the country – resting."

"She has always been pretty definite that she would not appear on This Is Your Life, but she thought it was wonderful when it was all over. She can't understand now why she ever thought she would be annoyed."

The star born in a flat above a fish-and-chip shop – "I can still smell them now," said Gracie – had a struggle to hold back tears as memories and friends were recalled.

She won. But only just. As the picture faded, she was seen smiling bravely – and biting hard on her lip.

Among the friends she met from 50 years ago was Arthur Winterbottom, a parish school chum who once helped her with her sums.

Gracie – to him she was Grace Stansfield, but she dropped the first syllable because her mother thought a stage name should be short – said: "You haven't changed a bit. I always envied you because you wore boots. I had clogs, but I wanted to be posh and wear boots."

Mr Winterbottom replied: "I remember how you used to stand on a chair and sing in class – with your stockings corkscrewing down your legs."

The voice

Gracie was taken through her days as a child star on 8s, a week until she became a top-liner in a Tower of London revue in 1922. From that point her book of life resembled a Debrett of the stage.

The procession of famous names began: Sir Carol Reed, once a studio assistant very much in awe of the girl who sang Sorrento... opera star Eva Turner, another Lancashire lass... Alberto Semprini, who was playing Chopin when Gracie came on the stage singing Sally..., Norman Wisdom, a nonentity when she once said: "He will be a great comedian."

But the two old friends who meant most, perhaps, to the down-to-earth Gracie were Father Mario Borrelli, a Naples priest, who asked her to sing to his street urchins...

Caption – GRACIE...the way they saw her hoaxed all over Britain

Incomplete article...

Unknown source article: Gracie Fields This Is Your Life

Unknown source March 1960

"OUR GRACIE" ON TV

Some time ago, Miss Gracie Fields vowed that she would never take part, as the leading figure, in the BBC programme This Is Your Life. But compere Eamonn Andrews and producer T Leslie Jackson had other ideas.

So the two men set their stall out and on Sunday Gracie was invited to be the guest personality on the programme What's My Line? This, however, was only a cover up to get her to the studios. Immediately the programme was over Eamonn Andrews recalled Grace to the cameras to take a final bow to the audience and it was then that he sprang the surprise and told her "This Is Your Life – Gracie Fields."

The programme was telerecorded and shown to viewers on Monday night, when Eamonn Andrews introduced her as the first lady of variety and known throughout the world as "Our Gracie".

After a short film showing the house in which Gracie was born in Molesworth Street, Rochdale, she was introduced to Mr Arthur Winterbottom, an old pupil of the Rochdale Parish Church School and a classmate of Gracie, who "used to do her sums for her."

He said he could always remember Gracie because her stockings used to "hang round her legs like corkscrews" and she remembered him because he was one of the few scholars who wore boots; most of the children, like her, wore clogs.

And so the programme went on, recalling the full and eventful life of "Our Gracie." "Mr Tower of London" – which made her a star overnight; "By Request"; Royal Command performances; the film "Sing As We Go."

Then came a glowing tribute to Gracie from Sir Carol Reed, the film executive who, at the time when the film "Sing As We Go" was made, was only an assistant director. He told viewers how considerate Gracie was to everyone from the call boy to the director.

Next on the screen was Alderman C H Bryning OBE JP, who like Gracie, is a Freeman of the Borough. He told how Gracie's mother went to his works to have some cards printed for Gracie and how her name was shortened from Stansfield to Fields, because Stansfield was considered too long for stage purposes. His stentorian voice evoked quips from both Gracie and Eamonn Andrews, Gracie remarking: "They have good voices in Rochdale."

Other tributes came from cartoonist Tom Webster, the internationally-known opera singer Eva Turner of Oldham, who described Gracie's voice as "remarkable and unique"; Alberto Semprini, the famous pianist; comedian Norman Wisdom, and Father Mario Borrelli of Urchins Town, Naples, and three young women who, as youngsters, had been at Gracie's children's home at Peacehaven.

And so in half an hour the programme no doubt brought back many happy memories for viewers, particularly in Rochdale.

Naturally, much had to be left out for how could a half-hour programme give a full account of the life of "Our Gracie" - a life in which she has accomplished so much and brought joy, tears and happiness to millions of people throughout the world.

Caption – "Our Gracie" is seen chatting with Alderman C H Bryning during the show.

Photo: E Hopkinson

Series 5 subjects