Female power duo made waves on radio and stage in the 1930s
Columnist Joanne Culley shares the story of her grandmother in honour of International Women’s Day
Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, I thought I’d write about a female power duo from the 1930s who were a strong support for each other as they made their way in the spotlight of what was then largely a man’s world.
Both helped pave the way for the female performers who followed.
My grandmother, Ida (stage name Claudette) Culley, and Bebe Daniels performed together in London, England, and toured around the UK and South Africa in 1936 and 1937. They both had acts with their husbands, Claudette with her piano-playing partner Harry, and Bebe with her actor husband Ben Lyon.
A famous Hollywood actor and singer, Bebe Daniels started out acting in silent movies playing the love interest for the iconic screen idol Harold Lloyd. Unlike many other actors at that time, Bebe successfully made the transition to the “talkies,” starring in such films as 42nd Street and the Maltese Falcon.
But when a kidnapping attempt was made on Bebe and Ben’s young daughter in Hollywood, much like the Lindbergh baby’s kidnapping and murder, she and her husband pulled up stakes for England, where they found work on the music hall stage and on Radio Luxembourg.
That’s where Bebe met Claudette, a Canadian pianist who had come to London looking for work during the Depression. The two women recognized in each other kindred spirits, and, in a way, both outshone their husbands.
Claudette was a child prodigy, playing piano by ear at the age of four. At the age of seven, she played pianos in the showrooms of large piano companies such as R.S. Williams in Toronto, where a program from that time said she had 78 selections in her repertoire. She went on to play for the silent movies that were shown at the storefront theatres that charged a nickel for admission, called nickelodeons, and she said she “faked it,” a form of improvisation, where she played dramatic music in a minor key for the tense scenes, and romantic melodies with major chords for the love scenes.
Popular movies at the time included those by Mary Pickford (another Canadian) and Bebe Daniels. Little did Claudette know that she would team up with her early heroine later in life.
Claudette met Harry, who was playing piano in another silent movie theatre across the street, and after their marriage, formed a twopiano four hands act, performing on stage and radio. When their work dried up in 1936 at the height of the Depression, they travelled overseas on the advice of famed British talent agent and impresario, Jack Hylton.
On the music hall stage and on Radio Luxembourg, Bebe Daniels would sing songs she made popular from her films, such as “You’re Getting to be Habit With Me” and “There’s a Small Hotel,” while Claudette accompanied her on piano.
Bebe and Ben would perform a comic skit, such as their impression of what the world in the future, 1960, would look like, when the roles of men and women are reversed, with Bebe going out to the office while Ben does work in the home. They played it for the laughs, but both couples were living their own version of that tale.
In Seprtember 1937, the two couples embarked on a tour of South Africa, stopping at Madeira in the Canary Islands on the way, performing on board the ship and in theatres, attracting large crowds at each stop.
Read more about the two women’s professional relationship in my book, “Claudette on Keys,” available from the Peterborough Public Library, Chapters, Take Cover Books and at crossfieldpublishing.com. More information is available at joanneculley.com.