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Celebrating television's This Is Your Life

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THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Ruby Miller, actress, singer and dancer, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews outside the BBC Television Theatre.

Ruby was one of George Edwardes’ ‘Gaiety Girls’ - a glamorous dancing corps consisting of fashionable, elegant young ladies who became the toast of Edwardian London, and courted the many aristocrats who frequented the shows.

Ruby also appeared in many early films, while continuing her career in theatre, both performing and producing as well as writing.

"Eamonn - how dare you?"

programme details...

• Edition No: 206
• Subject No: 207
• Broadcast date: Tue 11 Dec 1962
• Broadcast time: 7.55-8.25pm
• Recorded: Mon 5 Nov 1962
• Venue: BBC Television Theatre
• Series: 8
• Edition: 11

on the guest list...

• Mrs Hurst
• Rolanda Ronald (Lady Bourne)
• Evadne Price - sister
• Alfred - brother
• Robert Atkins
• Denis Cowles
• Evelyn Laye
• Daphne Barker
• Iain Kerr
• Air Chief Marshall Sir Philip Joubert de la Ferte KCB, CMG, DSO
Filmed tributes:
• Beatrice Lillie
• Lauderdale Beckett

production team...

• Researcher: Suzanne Twiston Davies
• Writer: Peter Moore
• Directors: Vere Lorrimer, Mark Patterson
• Producer: T Leslie Jackson

• names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

• with thanks to Iain Kerr for his contribution to this page

An Actor's Life For Me

spotlight on the stars

Evelyn Laye

Photographs of Ruby Miller This Is Your Life

Iain Kerr, cabaret entertainer and composer, was a guest on this edition of This Is Your Life. Here he recalls his involvement and the experience of taking part in the tribute...

I was in cabaret partnership with Ruby Miller’s niece, Daphne Barker, whom I had met in Sydney, Australia in the late 1950’s. On our return to the UK in October 1961, Mike Sullivan from the Delfont Agency, looked after us and after a successful series of West End dates, booked us into the Zodiac Room of the Society Restaurant in Jermyn Street for Cocktail Cabaret on Monday March 5 1962 in a run which lasted 18 months.

During this time we were very close to Ruby and in particular with her launch of her autobiography “Champagne From My Slipper” which was published by Herbert Jenkins. Their promotion department agreed with Daphne and me that a boost to the launch would be a song with the same title to be released in conjunction with the book. This must have caught the attention of the This Is Your Life researchers as our song was featured in the telecast of Ruby’s edition of the show.

Let me quote the entries from my 1962 Engagement Diary:

MONDAY 5 NOVEMBER 1962

10.30am - BBC TV Theatre, Shepherds Bush Green - Iain to see Mark Patterson and James Turner to hear orchestration

Noon - To Moss Bros (to collect tails etc)

2.00pm - Be at Ruby’s at Hampstead

3.00pm - BBC TV Theatre – Rehearsal 3pm to 6.30pm

8.00 – 8.45pm – Telecast - Fee: £52.10.00

Ruby had no idea we were to be at the BBC Television Theatre at 3pm to rehearse with the other contributors and then would be out of sight - backstage - until she saw us again on the set once the recording had started at 8pm.

The plan was that having heard the song sung by Daphne to Ruby with piano accompaniment during the programme, the show should end with the orchestral version of the song being played under the credits while the dancers waltzed around the set.

Play a clip of Iain's song Champagne From My Slipper

I vividly recall that Ruby was very much intrigued by the fact that she had been invited to attend the filming of some Edwardian event that evening and that it was arranged that she should arrive in a hansom cab! She was sorry that Daphne and I could not join her because of our nightly engagement in the Zodiac Bar of the Society Restaurant in Jermyn Street but that she would give us chapter and verse when we next met up again. Little did she know that she was to be the main attraction and that we would be making our own contribution to the "event".

Although Ruby had been featured in over two dozen motion pictures – quite apart from numerous stage plays and shows - she was absolutely over the moon with her unrehearsed appearance on This Is Your Life. She virtually effervesced over the exciting experience of it all for many days. Being seventy three years old 50 years ago was old then but This Is Your Life put a real youthful spring into Ruby's step. Seeing a waiter from Romanos again and a genuine Cabbie, not to mention her dearest associates from the theatre, made it a glittering, memorable occasion for her and also for the viewers.

In the contribution clip from New York, Bea Lillie said something like: "see you in a few weeks when I get back" - well she did:

It was New Year's Eve. Mario Gallati, who owned the celebrated Caprice Restaurant behind the Ritz in Arlington House, always treated his regular clients to a gala party on each December 31. In 1962 he held it at his latest venue, the Empress Restaurant in Berkeley Street, opposite the Mayfair Hotel. Ruby, Daphne and I were invited and were seated at a round table for five on the mezzanine floor overlooking the bandstand and circular dance floor below. The other two guests at our table were Bea Lillie and Van Johnson - he was starring in the musical 'The Music Man' at the Adelphi. Ruby couldn't resist commenting to Van that she had never ever seen bright red socks with a black tie dinner outfit before. He cheerfully replied that bright red sox were his trade mark whereupon Bea joined in with "Never mind red socks Ruby, take a look at these. She lifted up her full length evening gown to reveal a pair of green Wellington Boots! Well, after all it was snowing outside.