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NORMA DUNBAR
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Where's Charley; Palace Theatre 1957 |
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During a very happy time at BD one of my great friends was Shirley Gould, known as Gouldy - are you out there somewhere? Please get in touch. I was also fortunate to begin a lifelong friendship with Paul, son of Noreen and Victor who, at the time was boarding at Ardingly College nearby. One night Gouldy and I decided to cycle over to see him. He let us in through a window, had a quick coffee, giggled a lot and cycled back. I remember we were so tired we had a little doze by the side of the road before getting back in time for Advanced Syll - we got through it!
I was due to leave BD at the end of autumn term, 1953 and Miss Bush had arranged for me to go to Phyllis Bedells as a student teacher. However, I had other ideas and said that I couldn't teach dancers to perform without having some stage experience of my own. I said I would go on the stage for a year then teach! "You'll never get a job," said Miss Bush. In her eyes I think if one wasn't a good ballet dancer one wasn't a good dancer at all!
I was sent to audition for Betty Farmer, an agent friend of Marjorie Davies. She took me on. The second audition she sent me for was the part of Falldown, a featured dance role in what was then the final year of the original national tour of Oklahoma with choreography by Agnes de Mille. The audition was at Drury Lane Theatre where Rikki Septimus, ballet master for The King and I, gave us a half-hour Cecchetti ballet class which I sailed through! We then had to go in front of Jerome Whyte, the American production manager, to perform our individual audition piece. We waited. I was relieved to be told to go to the office to sign a contract. However, I had to tell the business manager, Bill Styles, that I'd have to ask my teacher first because I was about to take my Ballroom and Cecchetti exams - what did he think! Without further ado I left Charters one week later. The company was then playing Golders Green Hippodrome so, for rehearsals, I was advised to lodge in Fellowes Road, Hampstead with the Aunties Flora and Joanie (Misses Giddings and Paice) (See History>Fellowes Road). The following week I made my professional debut at the Palace Theatre, Hull.
Alex Morrow (former Head of Boys, BDS) writes, "I had joined the tour of Oklahoma in 1950 playing Junior and dancing The Farmer and the Cowman solo. I remember Norma joining us in the role of Falldown. It was the first show for both of us. We worked together again in Dublin in another musical called Dearest Dracula. My friend Arthur worked with her in Marie, a musical based on the life of Marie Lloyd in which Norma played the lead, at the fringe theatre, Man in the Moon, in London. We have remained good friends since."
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