Blackpool -Rochdale - Gracie Fields - Haley´s Juveniles

[sikeywabbit]

I am 49 years old. My grandma had Gracie Fields records playing all of the time, so maybe that is the reason that I have them on my ipod, mostly downloaded from itunes. My grandmas favorite  was Grandmas feather bed. I would pay you in arms and legs if I could get a copy of it. Any chance anyone knows where I can get it from?

Gracie is a favorite of mine too.

[jevonthegm]

Priscilla Haley (nee Hardaker) was my mother's Great Aunt and I grew up hearing about the the connection to "our Gracie" and how her uncle's we're involved in the troupe.  I did find Madam Haley and her daughter Marion each with one of said uncle's in separate digs in the London 1911 Census.  I know very little about the details of the troupe but I am fascinated by it.  I do know that Priscilla's father was known for playing the piano and often went around the rural Lincolnshire community to play the rivalries and at one point seems to have managed the Athens tea shop in York and was also a baker.

I do think it might be worth collecting together all the names of those in Haleys Juveniles to keep it's memory alive - I find it annoying that a company that ran for 17 years with no break seems to be forgotten by all but a few and the Palladium.

[pannett]

Now, knock me over with a feather!  My half-great, great aunt, May Ludgate, was one of Haley's Juveniles, and indeed is in the second photo that was posted at the top of this thread - I've a copy of that very postcard that she sent her father that year!  She went on to be part of the original Bluebell Girls, so goes family lore, and was their seamstress until children meant that she couldn't travel.  Delighted to find out about Gracie Fields!

[CLEOME]

Jevonthegm, August 2014, posted Priscilla's (nee Hardaker) father was known for playing the piano, managed a teashop in York and might have been a baker.  This is my grandfather and I have always understood he was a "superintendent" for Pearl Assurance and in this role was moved from Lincolnshire to Pontefract.

A mystery!

Cleome

[Levocalady]

This is a photo I've recently found when my nan was in the troupe in the 1920s (she's the 2nd from right:  Mary Annie Cambridge).

[Chilton]

Were they all females in Hayleys Juveniles?
I have a note that a relation of mine, male, joined them when young.

[Alisem]

My great grand aunt Lily O'Gara also performed in Haley's juveniles. I have had some success finding records of her time with the troupe through the University of Sheffield's Archives, they have a collection of Argyle Thearte of Varieties Posters. My great grandmother also performed with her when they were young and her husband, my great grandfather with Archie Leach. My pop has his fathers autograph book that has both Gracie Field and Cary Grants signatures.

[Gillg]

But wasn't Archie Leach the real name of Cary Grant (born Bristol 1904)?

[Alisem]

yes that is correct. I have a photo with my grandfathers uncle Leslie Brooks with Archie Leach/Cary Grant in the troupe