"momma_dont_allow"
04/07/08 - I'm indebted to John Turner for the following :- "Dear Fred, Wood Green is a bit outside your patch but Tony Richardson's film of the Barber band at The Fishmongers Arms in 1954 could have been made at virtually any pub in Britain in the fifties. (Though I don't recall anyone turning up at the Black Lion in a Hispano) It's at http://www.channel4.com/fourdocs/archive/momma_dont_allow_player.html and worth a look now that it is on the Channel 4 archive. Just click the small screen.
Hi Fred,
I sent the Chris Barber page to good friend of mine (Stu Morrison) who played banjo for Chris Barber for a while, he lived in Lancaster a long time ago and of course knew Alan Duckles, he visited a few ago and we got to know each other, I received this very interesting reply from him.
Might be worth posting on your site, I'm sure it will be OK.
Barrie
Hello Barrie and Thanks' for the "Mama..." thing.
Predictably, having done 8 years as Chris' Banjoist, I have this on disc. There's some drifting about out there ranging, in quality from fair to so grainy as to be unwatchable. mine's not bad. The Fishmongers, in Wood Green, North London stands at the top of Jolly Butchers Hill and was Chris' residency in the very early '50's. Lonnie is the Banjoist on this so do the Math date wise. Later on the Fish was Mike Cotton's residency so I got to know the place VERY well before I left Mike to Join Chris and it had not changed one bit from what you see in the film. It was run by Art and Viv Saunders both of whom appear in the film. So does the funny old home made Cash Desk which was painted in, what appeared to be, Green Tar!! The twinkly ball was there too. I remember the girl with the dark hair who jives in the "whipping around smartly" style of jiving that was then de rigueur. I think her name was Barbara or Brenda. Apart from playing there N times The Cotton Sound, with whom I was on Bass Guitar, rehearsed there with Gene Pitney. The street outside filled up with very tasty schoolgirls who were subsequently rounded up by their, not very tasty, Nun-Teachers!! Sadly the pub has now been "themed" and is called Old Mother McGilliecuddy's Celebrated Alehouse or similar. Whether the Dancehall, which was at the back, not upstairs, is still there I don't know. My main interest in all this is that I'm a Wood Green boy, born just over the road in Pellet Grove, literally a stones throw away. Golden days, Gone Forever..... Hope this is of interest to you in your post as Jazz Historian and not TOO boring. I did an article on the film in the Colyer Trust Newsletter and received a lot of feedback, some "correcting" me on the spelling of MOMMA!! Me and George Lewis will stick with MAMA!! Best Wishes.
Stu Morrison