Gracie Fields

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Gracie Fields (1974)

Dame Gracie Fields (born January 9, 1898 in Rochdale , Lancashire , England , † September 27, 1979 in Capri , Italy ; actually Grace Stansfield ) was a British singer , actress and comedienne and in her day one of the greatest stars in film and in the music hall scene in their home country. Although they share the same last name and were both born in Rochdale, Gracie is not related to singer Lisa Stansfield .

1905–1925 First steps on the stage

Gracie Fields first appeared on stage in 1905 at the age of seven. Her two sisters and her brother have all tried their luck on the "boards that mean the world" - but Gracie was the most successful of the four. She made her professional vaudeville debut in 1910 at the Hippodrome Theater in Rochdale, and soon after quit her job at the local cotton mill.

She met comedian Archie Pitt, and the two began their collaboration. Pitt became her manager ; their first joint revue in 1915 was called "Yes I Think So" . They toured Great Britain until 1922. That year they set up the “Mr Tower of London” program . With that program, everything changed when it hit London's West End . The capitals were enthusiastic, Gracie became known to a wider public. Her career accelerated, she now appeared in "normal" theater plays and began a career in recording . She also married her Archie in 1923.

1925–1940 peaks of success

Gracie Fields performing for the Royal Air Force in 1939

They gave one of their most successful programs at the Alhambra Theater in 1925 . The show was a huge hit with audiences, and Gracie toured the program for more than ten years . She performed ten times at the Royal Variety Shows in London (first in 1928) and won over a devoted audience with her mixture of jokes that put herself down, comical songs and monologues, as well as funny songs about the era of the Great Depression - all of them presented in a no-frills style inspired by the working class of northern England.

Her most famous song, which became her signature song, was "Sally". This was specially built into the title of her first film Sally in Our Alley (1931), which then also made the box office ring. She later made more films, first in England, then in the United States (where they record fee of 200,000 US dollars received for four films) - although she never liked the filming because she missed her live audience.

Fields became one of the highest paid entertainers in Britain, playing to sold out houses across the country. Almost everyone just called her "Our Gracie" ("Our Gracie"). "Her popularity in the 1930s was so great that Parliament ended one session early so MPs could go home to hear her radio broadcast ."

It peaked in popularity in the late 1930s. She received many awards; including the title of Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for her services in entertainment. She donated her exclusive London home, which she had never cared about and which she shared with her husband Archie Pitt, to a maternity hospital when their marriage drew to a close. In 1939 she fell ill; she had cervical cancer . Her fans wrote her over 250,000 recovery cards and she retired to her villa on Capri to recover.

1940–1950 emigration and a new beginning

World War II began shortly afterwards and Gracie, not yet fully recovered, traveled to France to maintain the troops. In 1940, after divorcing Pitt, she married the film director Monty Banks . However, since Banks remained a citizen of the war opponent Italy , so was persona non grata in the United Kingdom and would have run the risk of being sent to an internment camp , Gracie and Monty were forced to leave Great Britain and go to North America . Although she continued to devote a lot of time to entertaining the troops and otherwise supporting British war interests outside her home country, this meant that her popularity in Great Britain quickly declined - not least because the London press described her as a traitor and Portrayed deserter.

After the war, Fields continued her career on a lower level. In the USA the song "Now Is the Hour" reached number 3 in the charts in 1948 . She began performing again in the UK that same year and starred in the Festival of Britain celebrations. Its popularity rose again, but without reaching the status it had had in the 1930s. She continued to record but stopped making films. Musically she went in a slightly classical direction, as the taste in music changed.

1950–1979 find peace on Capri

Gracie Fields showed a lot of social commitment and made Capri her home address. Monty Banks died in 1950. Fields remarried two years later, Boris Alperovici was her chosen one. In Great Britain she was able to bring two singles into the charts in 1957 (with “Around the World”, number 8) and 1959 (“Little Donkey”, number 20) . She worked even less since her third wedding, but when she performed the halls were also sold out, even when she was in her seventies. An album with their greatest hits ( "The Golden Years" ) hit the LP charts in 1975 . In 1978 she personally opened the Gracie Fields Theater in Rochdale and, at the age of 80, had an appearance on the Royal Variety Show - her last appearance. The following year she was made a lady by the queen . She died in her home on Capri in September 1979. Her grave is on the " Cimitero Acattolico " on Capri.

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
The Golden Years
  UK 48 December 20, 1975 (3 weeks)
Our Gracie - The Best Of
  UK 29 03/06/2010 (4 weeks)
Singles
Around the world
  UK 8th 06/06/1957 (9 weeks)
Little donkey
  UK 21st 11/12/1959 (6 weeks)

Well-known songs

  • Sally
  • Sing as We Go
  • Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye
  • The Biggest Aspidistra in the World
  • Only a glass of champagne
  • Christopher Robin Is Saying His Prayers
  • Angels Guard Thee
  • Nuns chorus
  • Now is the hour
  • The Isle of Capri
  • Around the world
  • Little donkey

Filmography (selection)

  • 1931: Sally in Our Alley
  • 1932: Looking on the Bright Side
  • 1933: This Week of Grace
  • 1933: Love, Life and Laughter
  • 1934: Sing as We Go
  • 1935: Look Up and Laugh
  • 1936: Queen of Hearts
  • 1937: The Show Goes On
  • 1938: We're Going to Be Rich
  • 1938: Keep Smiling
  • 1939: Shipyard Sally
  • 1943: Stage Door Canteen
  • 1943: Holy Matrimony
  • 1945: Molly and Me
  • 1945: Paris Underground

literature

  • Gracie Fields: A Biography by Joan Moules
  • Gracie Fields by David Bret
  • Gracie Fields by Jeffrey Richards (in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography )

Web links

Commons : Gracie Fields  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frank Laufenberg / Ingrid Laufenberg: “Frank Laufenbergs Rock and Pop Lexicon, Volume 1”, © 1995 Econ Taschenbuch Verlag Düsseldorf, 5th edition 2000, p. 517; ISBN 3-612-26206-8
  2. ↑ Klaus Nerger: The grave of Gracie Fields. In: knerger.de. Retrieved July 14, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b Chart sources: UK
personal data
SURNAME Fields, Gracie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stansfield, Grace
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British singer and actress
DATE OF BIRTH January 9, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Rochdale , Lancashire , England , United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH September 27, 1979
Place of death Capri , Italy