Messing around with photos

My scanner has been out of commission for so long that now I'm working overtime on it - I'd quite forgotten what fun uploading and editing photos can be.  So here's some I've been playing around with.

Freda

A Strange Romance lol!

On one of Gene’s visits to Stratters, he brought a young friend with him. Francis was on sabbatical from his studies as a psychiatrist, and came from Gene’s home town. It must have been quite a holiday for this quiet, bespectacled young man, touring with Gene. As he was a friend of Gene’s, I would smile politely and say hello whenever I saw him, but he kept very much in the back ground, whenever Gene came in the switch room to say hello/goodbye and give me a friendly kiss on the cheek, Francis would wait outside. He came and went quietly, and to be honest, I barely noticed him. Except that Gene would use him to wind me up, they had rooms next to each other, but were forever in each other’s rooms and were determined that I shouldn’t know which one of them I was speaking to - between them, they had me tied up in knots!

Gene invited me to one of his shows just outside of London and the three of us travelled down together. It was rather nice being sandwiched between these two nice young men, I found that Francis had the same cookie humour as Gene and we got to know each other a lot better on that short journey. Francis and I watched the show from the side of the stage, we stood companionably in the wings, enjoying the feel-good factor that Gene always generated in his audience. Gene came to join us in his dressing room during the interval before leaving us alone together, to go and sign autographs. I was wearing a woollen coat that I’d knitted myself, and Francis said how much he liked it, he said other nice things too before Gene came back. Francis told Gene that I’d knitted my coat and immediately he asked if I’d knit him a sweater! Francis looked a bit put out - "Aw, I was going to ask her that" he complained..

We went back to the wings to watch Gene in the second half of the show, after a while I realised that Francis seemed to be standing very, very close to me - you might say ‘invading my air space’. I turned to look at him and found him staring down at me - he wasn’t wearing the ‘Michael Caine’ horn-rimmed specs and as I gazed up at him, realised that he was actually quite a handsome guy and then something very strange happened - I felt my heart pounding like a drum, it was one of those ‘sudden realisation’ moments, we stood like that for a while, until we realised that Gene was coming off stage. Francis held my arm tightly as we made our way back to the dressing room. Gene must have felt the electricity crackling between us because hetook one look at us and decided he was going to sign a few more autographs. Francis and I used the opportunity to - er hum - get to know each other a bit better ;-)

Francis held my hand very tightly on the way back to London, and Gene was holding the other one, but in much more casual manner lol! They dropped me off at Ashley Court, Gene gave me a friendly kiss goodnight, but Francis got out of the car and walked me to the door of Ashley Court and gave me a passionate goodnight kiss. I went to bed that night feeling rather baffled by this unforeseen turn of events. I was on the late shift the next day, and hadn?t been in the switchroom long before Francis popped his head round the door, seeing that I was alone, he came in and shut the door. He sat on the chair next to me, with a look on his face that was asking had last night really happened? He kissed me - just to check, I think, then feeling more confident, kissed me again. He said it was such a shame that we had only got together now as Gene?s tour of the UK was at an end and they were both about to go back home, but he asked me if I would go with them to the airport to see them off.

On the day they were due to depart I met them at the hotel, there was also another young lady there who was going to drive us all to the airport, I thought I detected a slight sense of surprise when she saw that I was included in the party. Gene introduced us, telling me that she was the wife of Gerry Bron, his record producer (Gerry Bron was also the brother of actress Eleanor Bron). I wished that Francis and I could have spent a little time alone, but it wasn?t going to happen. When it was time to catch their flight, Gene gave me a big hug and a kiss, then led Mrs Bron away so as to give Francis and I just a small moment in which to say goodbye - bearing in mind that the others were only a few feet away lol! - we gave each other a big hug and a nice long kiss, Francis made me promise to write to him, saying he?d write as soon as he got home.

On the journey back from the airport, Mrs. Bron asked me how well I knew the boys, I told her that I?d known Gene for a while but I had only just met Francis. She told me not to get too attached to either of them as they were both in steady relationships and Gene was even on the point of getting engaged. This information didn?t bother me too much, I doubted I would ever see Francis again - it had to have been the quickest flash in the pan ?romance? on record! I re-assured her that we were just friends. And I was happy to be just be friends with Gene, admittedly we had a touchy-feely relationship, but Gene?s girlfriend had no reason for concern!

In fact I was the one who wrote as soon as I got home - and Francis replied quite quickly, I enjoyed his letters, they showed a different side to the quiet young man I?d barely got to know. He wrote in a confident, amusing style, and I wished I?d been able to get to know that side of him. Inevitably of course, our letters became few and far between until they dried up altogether, but I still saw Gene when he came to England and I would ask him to remember me to Francis if he should see him again, as he was now back at University.

But Gene?s friends weren?t always so nice - I always found it odd that he should be such good friends with the Rolling Stones when their attitude was in complete contrast to Gene?s....

Next ....The Rolling Stones and a strange metamorphosis........

Gene's Amazing Generosity

As I have already mentioned, Gene always had time for his fans - if anyone has ever been to one his concerts - you’ll know what I mean. His concerts are like a private party for friends - there is such a rapport between Gene and the audience. Some fans will travel from town to town, trying to attend as many of his concerts as possible. There is a genuine admiration and respect for Gene, and as I got to know him, I could understand why.

I never could understand why celebs stayed at Stratters, it was large and ideally located on Oxford Street, but hardly the last word in luxury. Gene was a millionaire and could afford to stay at the best hotels and yet he chose Stratters, and for the most part, even stayed in the smallest room - the one we kept in reserve for staff who had to stay overnight. Gene had a permanent booking at Stratters, and no matter how busy London might be - there were occasions when every hotel in London would be filled to the rafters, but there would always be a room for Gene at Stratters - even if it was the smallest lol! Eventually I discovered that Stratters had a contract with The Frankly Boyd Agency, a show biz Agency that made all the arrangement for visiting celebs. So it wasn’t really a case of any of them choosing to stay at Stratters, they were booked in there by the Agency, of course they could leave if they didn’t like it - but Gene just happened to like staying here. He was basically just an ordinary guy - so an ordinary hotel just suited him fine.

Amongst the other celebs who stayed at Stratters were film star Dean Stockwell - nice but slightly weird lol! American pop singer Johnny Thunder - lovely guy, The Rolling Stones - more of them later >:( grrrrr. As already mentioned - the gorgeously yummy Richard Beymer, Freddy Cannon - American pop star and Wes Farrell - song writer, Wes was a great looking guy and really nice, Freddie was a loud mouthed big head - the absolute antithesis to Gene, Little Richard - lovely well-mannered guy. Johnny Burnette - American pop singer, David Whitfield- famous UK singer of the 50's, Ketty Lester (her classic hit ‘Lover Letters Straight From the Heart’ always a great favourite of mine), Big Dee Irwin, Del Shannon. And when I first went to work at Stratters - almost all the contestants for the Eurovision Song Contest, which was being held in GB that year. There would be a constant stream of others popping in to see whichever celeb was staying at Stratters. Craig told me that he?d popped in to see Freddie Cannon in the early hours of the morning (best time to miss me Craig lol!) And apparently Mike Hurst DID pop in to see Gene, but not whilst I was on duty - we never did meet up again.

What could have been the ground floor frontage on Oxford Street to Stratters, was, in fact, taken up by Dolcis shoe shop, the entrance to the hotel was down a narrow side street, so I often wondered how the fans ever found it, or indeed, how they found out that Gene was in town, as he often came privately on business. But no sooner was he in town than fans would gather outside the hotel, hoping to catch him as he came and went. On one occasion, three young fans turned up one weekend, but Gene was away for the day, the fans came and went throughout the day, as no one could be sure when he would be back. When the weather turned bad, Mitch, the Head Porter, invited them to sit in the hotel, but as soon as it cleared up, they were shoo-ed out again. Gene finally arrived back at midnight, and the fans were still there! I?d left a note for Gene telling him about them and asking if he would leave signed photos that I could pass on, assuming they would be back the next day. The nightporter told Gene that the fans had been waiting for him all day, so Gene had them put up in the hotel for the night - at his own expense, and made sure they had everything they needed.

I heard all about this when I came in to work the next morning. Gene came to see me later and told me that he had arranged for the three to see his concert that evening, and would I ?chaperone? them. I was delighted to do this, I was touched by how overwhelmed the three fans were by it all and was pleased to act as ?mother? lol!

We travelled by coach down to the theatre and went back stage to see Gene in his dressing room. The fans were taken to seats right in front of the stage and I watched the show from the wings, where I was also able to keep an eye on them. It was the first Gene Pitney Concert I had been to, and it was quite a revelation. In between singing, Gene would sit on a high stool in the middle of the stage and read out letters he?d been sent by the fans, there would be squeaks of joy as the name of someone in the audience was mentioned. He?d ask them to identify themselves, then he?d speak directly to that person. There?d be a question and answer session and he?d also sing requests. Gene genuinely held his fans in great regard.

During the interval we all chatted in Gene?s dressing room, and the three fans came round to see him after the show. Then we all caught the coach back to London, the thee fans clutching large signed photographs of Gene, and taking home wonderful memories of their favourite pop star. A Star indeed, Gene. Mwah!

http://www.gene-pitney.com/music.html

Info on Gene Pitney

Gene Pitney was born on 17th February 1941 (his 64th birthday is next Thursday!)

He wrote his first recording "I Wanna Love My Life away" which entered the US Top Forty.

He has also written other artist’s biggest hits:-

The Christals - He’s A Rebel

Bobby Vee’s - Rubber Ball

Ricky Nelson’s Hello Mary Lou

He is remembered mostly for his recording of Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa, perhaps because it was his first UK Top Ten hit.

But other singles which reached higher placings in the UK Charts are:

I’m Gonna Be Strong - 1964 - No. 2

Looking Through the Eyes of Love - 1965 - No.3

Backstage - 1966 - No. 4

Nobody Need Your Love - 1966 - No. 2

He has had 5 million selling singles worldwide.

Url to Gene’s website where you can listen to all of his music

http://www.gene-pitney.com/music.html

The Way We Were - Gene Pitney

 

I’m so glad to have found some fellow Gene Pitney fans, as after telling you how I first met him, all kinds of great memories have come flooding back which I would love to share with you.

Gene had a really wacky sense of humour, and there was never a dull moment when he was staying at Stratters. He loved those silly ‘electric plumb’ jokes that circulated during the Sixties - unfortunately I can’t remember any, so if anyone else can - I’d love to hear them again. Gene’s way of telling a joke cracked me up as much as the joke itself. He’d start out by saying "Freda, I wonder if you could tell me something?" " Yes?" I’d respond, all eager to be able to help him in some way, " How can you tell when there’s been an elephant in the fridge?" barely stifled laughter as his question sinks in. " I don’t know Gene, how CAN you tell when there’s been an elephant in the fridge?" " He left his footprints in the butter - ba boom!" Oh yes, the old ones are the best - but these silly jokes were quite new then, and it was great to get a reaction from someone who’d never heard them before - and Gene professed to know ‘em all - so began the search to find a joke he didn’t know. Gene also loved to play tricks on me, for instance, he would ring in from outside the hotel and, disguising his voice, ask to speak to Gene Pitney, when I’d say he was out and could I take a message, he’d proceed to give me this long and convoluted message that didn’t make any sense, then, speaking in his normal voice, he’d say " Now you will make sure I get that message, won’t you Freda!" He got one over on me so many times that finally I decided it was major payback time, and I enlisted my friend Jenny to come up with something really good.

I made quite a few new friends, thanks to Gene. There was one young man called Dennis, who came to interview Gene for his local newspaper, Dennis was on the fringe of the entertainment world, in that he was Entertainments Officer for Lewisham Town Hall, part-time DJ and wrote a music column for a local paper. We spoke several times on the phone when he rang Gene, then one day he came in to see Gene and popped his head round the door of the switchroom to say hello. We became good friends after that, and sometimes went out socially - well, you can’t turn down an invite to the Lord Mayor’s Ball, can you? Anyway, I told Dennis about our plan to play a prank on Gene, and he wanted to be part of it, which turned out to be quite useful inthe circumstances, as Dennis was one of those rare young people who had a car. Knowing how accommodating Gene was with his fans - he never refused to see or speak to any of them who rang or waited outside the hotel for him, I knew he wouldn?t refuse to do an interview. Gene was in Oxford for a few days, so we arranged that Jenny should ring him at his hotel and ask if he would agree to give an interview to one of the students for their University Rag. Of course he agreed. The plan was for me to dress up as student lol - or at least our idea of how a university student might look - although I think we may have overdone it a tad :-/

Jenny?s brother lent me his duffle coat, which was about 2 sizes too big, Dennis came up with an outsize pair of dark glasses, which concealed most of my face - good , we thought. Jenny lent me her black leather ?John Lennon? cap (remember those?) to hide all my hair, but it wasn?t really capacious enough and it seemed to sit on top of my head, there was no way I could keep my long fringe inside it. Finally I wore my black leather boots and my shiny black ski pants. Originally, we?d hoped to disguise my gender, as Jenny had just said ?a student called ?Kim?, would be interviewing him, but that became too difficult. A rare sight I must have looked, so just as well Jenny and I didn?t have to go by train!

We couldn?t set out until Jenny and Dennis had finished work, and then it took ages to get there as we kept getting lost, we arrived at the theatre just as the show was ending. It didn?t seem as though there would be any chance of getting through the stagedoor, there were hoards of screaming fans blocking our way. Dennis, brave man, fought his way through and somehow managed to get in the stage door. As luck would have it, the ?roadie? for Gene?s show turned out to be an old school mate of Dennis?s, and he came out with Dennis to help fight our way through the fans. It was pretty nasty, I can tell you - giving birth? Pulling teeth? Sticking pins in my eyes? Far less scary than taking on Gene?s fans! Because I was dressed so strangely, the fans got the impression that I must be ?somebody?? and tried to snatch at my hat and glasses - I was never so grateful to get through the crack that the stage doorman allowed us to slip through. He slammed the door shut against the fans who hammered on it demanding to be let in too.

Stuart, the roadie, didn?t have a clue what was going on, he led us to Gene? dressing room and I heard him saying to Gene, "my mate Dennis has come to see you and he?s got a strange German bird with him". Strange German bird!!! Strange, perhaps, but German? Lol! I confess to feeling rather foolish standing there, in Gene?s dressing room, he was sitting down, but jumped up and came to peer at me, in an instant he?d whipped off my cap and glasses and declared that he?s known it was me a straight away - oh poo :-(

He said that I?d have to get up very early in the morning if I wanted to fool him - but didn?t think I?d ever succeed! For once Gene wasn?t going to sign autographs at the stage door - a wise decision - instead, we all went out of the main entrance of the theatre, just as if we were part of the audience, and walked down the street to Gene?s hotel which was close by. Only a few fans followed us and recognised Gene. We went into his hotel and thankfully the fans stayed outside. We sat in the enormous lounge, Mike Hurst of The Springfields, joined us, on the other side of the lounge sat Cilla Black and Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas. Gene called over to ?Chilla? as he called her, to come and join us but the group decided to stay on their side of the lounge. We had coffee and sandwiches and a jolly good laugh, both Gene and Mike said how much they liked my shiny black ski pants and wanted me to stand on the coffee table so that they could get a better view of them lol! Needless to say, I declined. It was 2.30 am before we finally said we had to go, poor Dennis had to drive all the way back and get up for work in the morning, as did Jenny - only I was going to get a lie-in. Mike and Gene came with us to where Dennis had parked the car, they both gave Jenny and I quite passionate kisses - Dennis had to do with a hand shake Lol! Mike said he would be popping into Stratters to see Gene and would pop in to see me too, and that perhaps we could go out some time. Well, Mike was tall, dark and handsome - why not?

next - Gene's amazing generosity

The Way We Were - After the Holiday

I’ve now Received two tickets for the Holiday Reunion Dinner Dance. Assuming mum would want to come I rang her to let her know that it will be on Saturday October 5th, she says she will be away that weekend on a mini-holiday break - restrained whoop of joy lol - she says I could always take Eugen - gosh - hadn’t thought of that!! I lost no time in asking him if he would like to go - never one to give a straight answer, he says he’ll let me know, but says it sounds like fun.

Yay - Eugen IS coming to the dinner dance with me!

We had a lovely time, Eugen looked gorgeous in the smart suit he wore when we went on our disastrous date. I felt very proud with this smart handsome man on my arm, and the fact that he could converse with the Granbichler family in their own language. We had a typical Austrian meal of Vienna schnitzel, which I enjoyed, it was only when I discovered some years later how veal was produced that put me off ever eating it again :-(

Eugen came back to Ashley Court afterwards for coffee and I showed him my holiday photographs, eventually he said it was time to go and he bent down to give me a goodnight kiss.........He finally left at 2.30am..........His kisses may have become more ardent - and all the more enjoyable - but it never went beyond that.

As an eighteen year old, I had a great pash on British Pop Star - Craig Douglas. Back in the late Fifties - early Sixties, Craig had great chart success - his two most popular hits were ‘Only Sixteen’ and ‘Teenager in Love’. I became his fan club secretary for the North of England and of course, met him many times. We met up again shortly after I went to work in London, his manager’s offices were just a short distance away from Ashley Court, as was Craig’s flat, so we often met by chance. Just a few days after the Dinner Dance, Craig was appearing in a pop show to which I had tickets, and I asked Eugen if he would like to go with me. I’d spoken often of Craig, and Eugen was curious enough to want to meet him, so he was happy to come with me - on the promise that I would introduce him to Craig. I noted in my diary that it was a most enjoyable show - but not who else was on the bill with Craig :-(

I knew that the performers all went to The Sherlock, a pub near the theatre, so that’s where we made for after the show. And sure enough, Craig came in whilst we were at the bar ordering our drinks, I turned round to say hullo, and to give him his due, Craig was always friendly and polite - even though he must often have thought "my god - that female is everywhere!" I introduced him to Eugen, and seeing them both together, suddenly realised just how much alike they were......

Eugen was very pleased to have met him and intended telling is family about the meeting - apparently Craig was very popular in Switzerland too! Afterwards, Eugen and I went back to Ashley Court for coffee and another smoochy evening lol!

There will be so many changes during the coming months - events took us all by surprise, and I look back now and smile at how things turned out. I?ve concentrated mainly on anything to do with Eugen - after all, he was the cynosure of my life - but there were parallel events which I feel I must go into, to make more sense of what happens next.

In my first job at The Grand Hotel, in Sheffield, I met Lorna - my fellow lift girl, we became firm friends and would spend as much time together socially as working on opposite shifts allowed! We also lived two bus rides away from each other - a total journey of about 11/2 to 2hrs - but it didn?t bother us too much. Lorna had been to see a film called Town Without Pity, and couldn?t wait to tell me about the sound track, she?d gone out the very next day and bought the record of Gene Pitney singing the title track and she wanted me to go over and listen to it - the long journey was worth it - we played it over and over again lol! We also like the photo on the sleeve of the dark haired young singer........

When I first went to work at Stratters, and mentioned that I liked Gene Pitney - I was still buying his records - the Head Porter said nonchalantly - "oh he stays here quite a lot", Yeah right! I thought, did he really think I was going to fall for that? Then one day I went into work to be greeted by the porter with - "well he?s here". I hadn?t a clue what he was talking about - my head was always full of Eugen and I assumed he was referring to him. My fellow telephonist, Dottie, told me that there were some Americans in who were making a lot of phone calls, but they were really nice and kept apologising for keeping the telephonists so busy. She was right - the phone calls came thick and fast, and I loved their American drawl and the way they called us ?ma?am? and said please and thank you at the beginning and end of every sentence! I asked Eugen who they were - it sounded so funny hearing him trying to say ?Gene Pitney? in his lovely Swiss accent. I didn?t believe him - it was obvious he was in on the joke - even if he didn?t quite understand it!

But as I was on my way up to the ladies on the mezzanine floor, I met a young man coming down who was the spitting image of the dark haired young man on the cover of my record of Town Without Pity. It was indeed Gene Pitney! I was surprised to find that the porters, just for a change, weren?t winding me up, never at a loss for words, I said hullo, and told him about the ?joke?. "Ah - so you?re the young lady that we?ve been keeping so busy", he smiled apologetically - believe me - we became friends in an instant! After that first meeting, he rang down often just to chat to me and often popped his head around the switchroom door to say hello or goodbye. He came to stay often at Stratters and our friendship developed in leaps and bounds, I was proud that he trusted me to do things for him, he?d often ring in with messages for me to pass onto his friends and business associates. And he would pop into the switch room to tell me of his itinerary for that particular visit. Gene was a very astute business man as well as a pop singer and was often in London on business, as well as when he was here touring or appearing on TV shows. He was the most unaffected young man I?d ever met, considering he was a big American Pop Star, and was rapidly becoming very big over here. He told me on one of his visits that he was here to promote his latest record ?24 Hours from Tulsa?, and he sang it over the phone to me. I loved everything that Gene sang because he had such a unique voice, and said yes of course it is going to be a big hit and it was, it is probably the one that everyone remembers him for, although it only went to number 5 in the charts and he had hits that went higher than that, which people don?t seem to remember so well. The trouble was, it became so well played over the years that it is now far from being my favourite track!

The proof that Gene really was an exceptionally nice guy, was that even the porters liked him - and as a rule of thumb - they refused to like anybody!

Next - Time to say goodbye...............

more of Holiday

I've added a bit more to my Holiday journal as well as a few photos, cross with myself that I can't find the one taken with the border guards - and so many photos to search through lol!  Think I may actually have some in colour too!