Emily accompanied Dorothy when she visited Australia for live performances in early 1975. “We spent a month there. Dorothy was fulfilling a contract to appear at the South Sydney Junior League Club, and she did good business. She included the ‘autography book’ musical segment in her show and I had to play the role that Hilda Brown did back in England, pretending to be the fan who was worried about missing her last bus home.”
Dorothy’s Bexley home was notable for the lavish parties that she often hosted. “I can remember going to lots of them when I was younger … you never knew who was going to be there. Diana Dors, actor Mark Eden, Shirley Bassey with her first husband Kenneth Hume, Lionel Bart, Kenny Lynch, Alma Cogan, Lita Roza, Kathy Kirby Frank Ifield, Susan Maughan, actors Wilfred Brambell and Patrick Cargill, DJs Pete Murray and Simon Dee, Joe Collins the theatrical agent (and father of Joan and Jackie), and just about the whole cast of Z-Cars which was the top TV cop series in the Sixties. They were all there at some point.
“Hylda Baker was another visitor, and The Bachelors used to come along. I remember one New Year’s Eve, I think in 1965, when Tom Jones turned up at the front door unexpectedly and we all ended up going out to a local night club. Another time Tessie O’Shea also arrived unexpectedly, and Dorothy said to me, ‘Tell her I’m not in’. I opened the front door and apologised for Dorothy’s absence. Tessa replied: ‘I know that she’s here and has told you to say that!’ ”
Emily continues: “Diana Dors was lovely, very down to earth, and no matter how long the gap between seeing her, she always remembered me. I remember Shirley Bassey’s husband Kenneth Hume was wearing make-up, which was very unusual for a man at that time. Lionel Bart was having a lot of success with his stage musical Oliver! at the time, and I remember him being quite bohemian the way he dressed. Tony Booth, who is now Tony Blair’s step father-in-law, was another regular visitor. It all made a big impression on a very young girl, which is what I was, but at the same time I became quite blasé about meeting all these names.”
Emily continues: “At Dorothy’s parties people were expected to get up and perform, and I remember one particular occasion when she sang Till, and then Shirley Bassey did a very moving version of Fly Me To The Moon. When it came to Diana’s turn, she didn’t know how to follow them!”© 2004 www.dorothysquires.co.uk
