‘Parents had some magic links to Gertie and George’
IT WAS interesting reading the two articles about Gertie Gitana and George Formby (TWWW, March 13) as our family has showbusiness links to both of them through their close families.
My parents Fred Van Buren and Greta, a magic act, met Gertie Gitana’s husband Don Ross in 1959, not long after Gertie had passed away. Don became their manager.
Don shared his office in Suite 34, 140 Park Lane, London – with the Richard and Marks Agency, who looked after singers Joan Turner and the Dallas Boys.
The agency was run by Pauline Marks, who was aunty to Joan and Jackie Collins.
Between them Don and Pauline steered my parents’ career so that they wento on to perform in some of the country’s largest theatres along with many of the stars of the time.
These included singer Dorothy Squires, who had just split from actor Roger Moore.
Alongside Don Ross and Pauline Marks in the Park Lane offices was the Forrester George Agency who looked after Eddie Calvert – the Man With the Golden Trumpet, and Ken Dodd, among many others.
My mum and dad originally worked their act as The Yoxanis and were doing very well, regularly appearing on the magician David Nixon’s TV shows, and performing as second top to popular comedian Jimmy James.
But in 1962 Don and Pauline decided to change Mum and Dad’s professional names to Van Buren and Greta, a move that was being done to a number of performers at the time. Most notably, Gerry Dorsey’s name was changed to Engelbert Humperdinck!
Don not only toured his Thanks For The Memories Show, he also had a regular run of theatres and venues that he booked including the Met Edgware Road, Theatre Royal Exeter and City Varieties Leeds, where the Good Old Days BBC Television show was filmed.
In fact, my parents’ first television appearance was on The Good Old Days in 1961.
Another venue that Don booked Mum and Dad into was the Palace Continental in Hull, where they would regularly be ‘top of the bill’.
On one occasion there was a new young Irish comedian opening the show called Dave Allen, who went on to have his own television series for a number of years and became a household name.
One of my parents’ other bookings was for the 1961 summer season in Llandudno with George Formby.
Sadly George passed away in the March of that year, meaning the season – although contracted – was looking precarious. To salvage the show the management booked instead George’s brother Frank Formby to top the bill.
With Frank not being the star that his brother was, the show was moved from the Pavilion Theatre into the Happy Valley Theatre instead. The Pavilion’s season was changed to the Hughie Green Show.
Don Ross managed my parents up until his retirement.
A while later, the ventriloquist Albert Saveen (of Albert Saveen and Daisy May) took over managing my parents’ career before they became self-managed.