Margery Manners
Margery Manners (born 18 March 1926) was a music hall and variety performer,[1] singer and television actress. She was best known for her signature tune Bring Me the Sunshine of Your Smile.
Early life
Manners was born in 1926 in Coventry, Warwickshire.[2] She began performing in concerts in the working men's clubs of Birmingham when she was 8 years old,[3] and learned how to sing, play the guitar and play the accordion.[2]
Career
Manners became a professional performer at 12 years old, when she joined the popular 1930s show band Billy Merrin and his Commanders.[3] At 14, she toured the music halls singing as a "cowgirl crooner" with the show band Big Bill Campbell and his Rocky Mountain Rhythm.[3]
From the age of 16 she became a well known pantomime principle boy,[3] topping theatre bills across the UK. She performed at venues including the London Palladium,[4] Palace Pier Theatre in Brighton,[5] and the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool.[6] The song Bring Me the Sunshine of Your Smile became her signature stage tune,[4] but she also later recorded songs including Have I Told You Lately that I Love You[7] and Hop Scotch Polka.[8]
During World War II, she worked as a radio broadcaster on the BBC lunchtime series Workers' Playtime.[3]
In 1957, Manners starred in the last performance held at Theatre Royal in Leeds, which was about to be pulled down.[9] In 1969, she toured the surviving variety theatres across Britain with the double act Bob and Alf Pearson in a nostalgic bill called The Golden Years of Music Hall.[3] During the 1970s she toured in South Africa[3] and New Zealand.[10]
Manners also starred in the television shows BBC Sunday-Night Play, The Passing Show and The Good Old Days. She performed as a pub signer in the 1968 film Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter.[2]
Death
Manners died of cancer on 27 April 1997in St Mary's Hospital, London.[4][11]
References
- ^ Wright, Adrian (2023). Melody in the Dark: British Musical Films, 1946-1972. Boydell & Brewer. p. 295. ISBN 978-1-78327-749-0.
- ^ a b c "Margery Manners | Actress, Soundtrack". IMDb. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g Gifford, Dennis (30 April 1997). "OBITUARY: Margery Manners". The Independent. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
- ^ a b c "Music hall star dies aged 71". The Independent. 27 April 1997. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
- ^ "Articles, Images, and Programme for Music Hall at The Palace Pier Theatre, Brighton". www.arthurlloyd.co.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
- ^ Museum, Victoria and Albert. "Search Results | V&A Explore the Collections". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
- ^ "Have I Told You Lately that I Love You - Featuring Margery Manners". The Sheet Music Warehouse. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
- ^ "Hop Scotch Polka - Featuring Margery Manners". The Sheet Music Warehouse. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
- ^ Behrens, David (4 April 2020). "Rare photos of how the show always went on in Yorkshire". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
- ^ "Manners, Margery, 1926-1997". National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
- ^ Lentz, Harris M. (1997). Obituaries in the Performing Arts. McFarland & Company. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-7864-0460-5.