Jack de Manio

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a download from the Desert Island Discs archive.

Speaker 10:05

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in 1964.

Presenter0:12

Desert Island discs.

Presenter0:21

Each week a well-known person is asked the question, if you were to be cast away alone on a desert island, which aid gramophone records would you choose to have with you?

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As usual, the castaway is introduced by Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:33

How do you do, ladies and gentlemen? Our castaway this week is the possessor of a very well-known voice, but it's one that we usually hear much earlier in the day. It's Jack DiMagnio.

Presenter0:42

Jack, do you think you could face up to solitude?

Presenter0:46

Well, I'd have to face up to it, but I wouldn't be very good at it,'cause I'm a very gregarious person.

Presenter0:50

What would you be happiest to have got away from?

Presenter0:54

Initially I think uh this awful strain and rush that one goes through every day of um earning one's living.

Presenter1:01

Are you anything of a musician? Do you play an instrument?

Presenter1:03

No, I'm absolutely useless, but oddly enough, I won a music prize. You're a prize winner? Oh, yes, I won a prize at my prep school simply because they wanted me to play the piano in a concert, and I practiced so hard. Matter of fact, what I was doing was making a noise to keep people impressed to show I was at the piano, and I made such a mess of it that they couldn't put me in the concert, so they thought they'd give me the prize. That was very sweet of them. Yes, I feel very honoured to be here with you, with a prize winner. Well, they gave me a book of Wagner's operas. I immediately gave it away because I can't stand Wagner. Do you play records much at home? Yes, quite a lot.

Presenter1:35

What would you expect your eight chosen recourse to do for you on the island? Evoke the past, cheer you up, inspire you? What?

Presenter1:42

Well, I think I'd it'd be a mixture. I think I'd like them to bring back a lot of sort of happy memories.

Presenter1:47

And I'd like one or two, or one anyway, to make me laugh. And I'd think at the moment of being shipwrecked, I'd like to sort of have a with-it one, you know. What's the first one? Well, the first one is a great favourite of mine, a man I used to go and see when I was in the States of Foot War, Louis Armstrong. And he did this tour a few years ago, you know, a great success he had with it. And he made a record, which he heard a tune in Germany, called The Faithful Hesa. He can't pronounce it, he calls it Husser-Kuzza.

Presenter2:18

Oh sappo smell

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Hazikaza, Hazikazo, Papazi Hazikaza, Hazika Bo stop visiting All but start silent Papa not tempered to start to set Yeah, Hazukama Frigaswat

Presenter3:15

Louis Armstrong and his all-stars, The Faithful Bazaar. Jack, what's your second choice?

Presenter3:20

Well, I think I have something entirely different, something by mister Medsard.

Jack de Manio3:23

Mm-hmm.

Presenter3:24

Well, let's start with the beginning of Unklein and Nark music. I gather I'm not allowed the whole thing, so we have to fade it where you beastly people um

Presenter3:31

Decide. Alright, why do you choose this?

Presenter3:33

Well, when I came out of the army at the end of the war, I hadn't got any money and I was working for the BBC and I suddenly bought a radiogram for five pounds, which worked for a while. And we only had, I think, three records, and they were in a box which stood up, and they were all warped. And the only one I liked was this one, and it would always evoke very pleasant memories, because I played it the whole time, it was the only record I had.

Presenter4:42

Uh

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The opening of Mozart's Einekleine Nachtmusik, the Bath Festival Chamber Orchestra.

Presenter4:59

Jack, are you a Londoner? I am, yes. I was born in London. DiManio isn't an English name, obviously. No, my father was an Italian. Were you brought up to speak Italian?

Presenter5:09

Not one word. No. My father was killed very early on and um I never had it around the house and uh I'm not very good at it. I can understand a little.

Presenter5:16

I've yet to meet the professional broadcaster who had a childhood ambition to become one. What did you want to be?

Presenter5:22

Well oddly enough I wanted to be a soldier. There's one thing I I suppose the wrong reasons'cause I like the uniforms and what did you do when you left school?

Presenter5:29

I mean so blurry.

Presenter5:31

And worked there for a while. I wasn't very good at it. I was in a sort of Dickinsian counting house and

Presenter5:37

I was my job was to sort of send off invoices to the publicans and stick on the stamps. And I couldn't even stick those on properly, they used to come off. And a publican rang up, he sort of said, Barnes here, Eagle Clifton Row, got me a bill this morning. It was wrong and no stamp on it, because they got a bit fed up with this. And they they asked me to leave.

Speaker 25:53

Hey every

Presenter5:55

Really? Very politely.

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What was the next move?

Presenter5:59

Well then I thought I'd try the army and um it was a bit late so I thought I'd try the sort of true the sort of territorials and get them that way. Successfully?

Speaker 16:05

Success.

Presenter6:07

Uh no, not really, because um I

Presenter6:10

I didn't really like it very much because I I think one required a a certain amount of money and I hadn't got it then.

Presenter6:16

So what did you do?

Presenter6:18

Well then I went into the hotel business, starting at the bottom as you have to do. Yes. Right through the kitchens? Well not right through, through various departments. I was a fishmonger for a long time, which is a very smelly job because you can never get those beastly herring scales off you. Even if you have a Turkish bath and your friends sort of sniff when you see them.

Presenter6:38

Waiting as well? Yes. I was a floor waiter. That was great fun. And I was a waiter down in the south of France in a restaurant in Cairns. Were you a good waiter? I think I was a jolly good waiter. I poured some hot sauce once down um one of the King of Sweden's guests, which didn't uh uh endear me to the management. But apart from that, I think I was pretty good.

Presenter6:57

Then what happened?

Presenter6:59

Well then I came back from France and I got married to an American and went over to the States and lived there for a while. I worked on a farm there. I wasn't really supposed to work because I hadn't got the right sort of visa, but it was a family farm, so it was a better way. Well having been in the army you were on the reserve and were called up in 1939 and I know you served in France and right through the North African campaign. You were awarded the MC and Bar and you were wounded a couple of times I believe in North Africa. No, I was only wounded once really badly. The other time wasn't really serious.

Presenter7:30

Then you volunteered for Forces Broadcasting? Yes, a friend of mine who was also in my regiment and he was at school with me. He was I think one of the first of the sort of forces broadcasting people ever because they didn't have a they had a thing called the FBU, Forces Broadcasting Unit and he ran a little tiny station with a sergeant in Beirut.

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And then uh

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They thought of this as a serious project and a a man called Dickie Maer, uh Radio Normandy I think was, indeed, uh came out to organize it and he gave me a job on the very first station in Palestine, which is a

Presenter8:03

Enormous fun. Well there you are in broadcasting, so at this point let's break off for record number three. What next? Well something that takes me back to those days in New York. I used to go and watch Fats while I played.

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Early in the morning we used to come along and play just for the sheer joy of it, the club I used to go to.

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So let's listen to him playing I'm Crazy About the Baby.

Speaker 28:25

Now let's go.

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Oh, we're now floating down the Hudson, Mozie. Oh, you slammy, you sweet thing. Oh, baby.

Speaker 28:45

I'm twelve most happy creatures. Tell me what can worry be. I'm crazy about baby. Yeah, my baby's crazy about me. Oh, Mr. Cupid was the teacher. Oh, the reason we are green.

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And the

Presenter9:00

I'm so crazy about my baby. Well babies, Chris Bobby. Pop, get that book out. Get that book out and hold it steady. Hold it steady in your hand. Keep a steady look out.

Speaker 29:03

Yeah.

Presenter9:11

Shawnee, you can

Speaker 29:12

And Shawty, you can understand. It's an A1 combination. Mmm, not perfect here and she.

Speaker 29:19

I'm crazy about my baby, and my baby's crazy about me.

Presenter9:27

Fat water

Presenter9:28

Well Jack, you were in forces broadcasting at the end of the war. What did you do when you would have mobilized?

Presenter9:34

Well, before I left Forces Broadcasting when I knew I was coming out, I went along to see John Davenport, who was in Cairo as the BBC representative, and I asked him if he'd give me some letters of introduction, and he very kindly did. He gave me a whole pile of them.

Presenter9:45

And the first person I called on was a delightful man called Charles Max Muller, who's a head of OB's today and sound. And he gave me a job on the General Overseas Service because he was then head of um overseas. Yes. A job as what? Uh as an announcer. Yes.

Presenter9:59

Um, on the overseas service things were much more free and easy than they were on the domestic services, I believe.

Presenter10:05

Well, I wouldn't know about the domestic services then, but it was the most free and easy and friendly place to work. It was marvellous. But I think coming out of the army, one was slightly irresponsible because, you know, the war going on, you can rarely sort of get in gear. The overseas service, of course, meant working all sorts of hours.

Presenter10:21

Well, of course, we used to then have a 24-hour service. I think it's still 23. And it was working right through the night on every sort of service in North America, Far Eastern. Then you transferred to the home service. Yes.

Presenter10:36

I enjoyed that enormously but I um I wasn't a newsreader when I first joined them. I just announced in in continuity in every type of programme, but uh except the news, because it had special newsreaders. Yes. Well then today started and you were given that job. Why do you think you were elected to that?

Presenter10:51

I can't imagine really because it's the one programme I wanted to do and when I heard it was coming on I thought this is absolutely a super idea.

Presenter10:59

Uh they gave it to a jolly good chap, Alan Skempton, and then a series of people tried it afterwards.

Presenter11:06

And eventually I got a telegram when I was on holiday saying would you like to do today? And with only an occasional break, you've been doing it ever since. Yes, absolutely love it. Well, more about today in a minute. In the meantime, another record. What? Well, obviously on this island, one's got to laugh a bit from time to time, and I must have a record to make me do that. So what about The Last to Go by Mr. Kenneth Williams?

Jack de Manio11:25

I think.

Jack de Manio11:27

It was evening news was the last to go to night.

Jack de Manio11:34

Not always the last, though, is it?

Jack de Manio11:37

No, no, no, no, Cool.

Jack de Manio11:39

Oh, sometimes it's the news.

Jack de Manio11:41

Come down to one of the others.

Jack de Manio11:43

I know why I tell him beforehand like

Jack de Manio11:47

Not till you've just got your last one left, o' course.

Jack de Manio11:51

Then you can tell what one it's gonna be.

Jack de Manio11:56

Yeah.

Jack de Manio11:58

Is

Presenter12:00

Kenneth Williams and Peter Reeves in Harold Pinter's sketch The Last to Go from Pieces of Eight.

Presenter12:07

Well now Jack, today is broadcast twice, the first time at seven fifteen. What time do you have to get up?

Presenter12:12

Uh well they call me at five forty-five and uh send a car for me, the BBC do at about uh quarter past six. Hmm. And when you finish at quarter to nine you you can't go back to bed. You have to go around and do some of the interviewing, for example. Well I have to do that. I usually go to a meeting, not always and uh

Presenter12:28

About the programme for the next day and then you know one's involved in other activities. Yes. I believe we took a day trip as far as Miami to get one interview.

Presenter12:36

Yes, that was a a good idea by uh a press officer and an airline. He rang up and said, I heard you say this morning that you knew of a porpoise that jumped 16 feet, and that was a world record. Well, it's quite wrong.

Presenter12:48

And he said he knew of a porpoise that jumped twenty-one feet five times a day every day of its life. Would I like to meet it? And I said, Well, I'd be absolutely delighted to meet it.

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Um he said, Well, it's in Miami.

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I said, well, if we're going to do this, what we must do is do it over a weekend, because I've got to be back on Monday. And on a Friday, I'll say, right, I'm off to Miami for the weekend, rather smartly, and do join me on Monday. I'm going to interview a paupers. Well, off I went, and we left late, two o'clock on Saturday.

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Flew to Miami.

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And they had a helicopter laid on that because we were late and flew me to the uh Saquarium. And when we got there, because it's the tropics, it gets dark very quickly, that um the porpoises weren't performing at all well, my recording machine got broken en route, uh so I really didn't get a recording at all.

Presenter13:33

And I was absolutely desperate and I said to the managing director, For heaven's sake, you must have some recordings and he gave me a couple of tapes and I got in a police car and was whizzed at ninety miles an hour back to the airfield and got on the plane and came back to London at one o'clock on the Sunday.

Presenter13:49

I spent the whole of that night in broadcasting. I was trying to cut up this tape and get the American out of it so I'd have something for the Monday morning. I needn't have gone at all. They could have put it in the post. Looking back on six and a half years of today, all those hundreds of celebrities and centenarians and eccentrics, whom do you remember?

Presenter14:07

That's a frightfully difficult thing because I never remember anybody except of course Ruth Drew who I'll always remember who's one of our contributors, a marvellous woman, and old Mrs. Nicholas who's dead. She died when she was 109. It was absolutely fascinating talking about her childhood.

Jack de Manio14:23

Uh

Presenter14:24

Then there was that unfortunate time that the dog ate your teeth. Yes, that was very embarrassing. Uh

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I just made horrid splashing noises in the morning.

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Jack, have you any one big ambition in professionally? No, not really. I just want to go on uh being able to earn my living and um

Presenter14:42

Um die comfortably and leave it enough for my wife to do the same. That's every call number five.

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Well, I think we'll have something by mister Sinatra.

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An arrangement by Nelson Riddle of an Old Number, I'm irresponsible.

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Call me.

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Irresponsible Yes I'm unreliable But it's

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Undeniably true

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I'm irresponsibly mad.

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Frank Sinatra. And what next?

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Well, I think I dug something from um

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My fair lady, because

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Uh a lot of my friends, sort of um intellectual chaps, um always scoff at this show. I thought it was absolutely marvellous, a beautiful show, and Julie Andrews sends tingles up my spine when she sings I Could Have Danced All Night.

Speaker 115:46

Dawn storm like I thought of dawn

Jack de Manio15:51

Hide and stay.

Speaker 115:53

Yeah.

Jack de Manio15:53

Uh

Speaker 115:53

Will have made for more I could have spread my wings and done a thousand things I've never

Jack de Manio15:53

Feel happy.

Jack de Manio16:06

Uh

Speaker 116:06

Uh

Jack de Manio16:06

Uh

Speaker 116:06

Uh

Jack de Manio16:06

I'll never know what made it so exciting.

Presenter16:18

Julie Andrews. Jack, how good a castaway would you be? An Hotelier should know something about making himself comfortable.

Presenter16:25

Well, I think I'd be quite good at it, but I um I wouldn't be very good at being lonely. Um I'm not very good at cooking for myself. I like having people around me when I cook, so I might be able to catch the odd fish and um grill it on a bit of fire. Have you done any fishing?

Presenter16:40

Yes, I'm very keen, but I'm very bad, so I had to wait a long time. I probably starved. What are your other hobbies?

Presenter16:47

Uh well, I don't have time for it now. I I try and paint, but I'm not very good at that either.

Presenter16:53

Carpentry? Anything of that sort? No, I'm useless. Could you make a craft, a a raft, or something of that sort?

Presenter16:59

Well, it'd be a very dicey one if I did, but I'd try, I think. Yes. Would you try to escape?

Presenter17:04

I'd think about it and I think I'd probably decide not to because I'm sure to get lost. I was hopeless in the army when I had to find my way. Even with maps, the colonel will say, where are we, Domania? And I make a great circle on the map about there, sir. And he always asked me, but I was always wrong. Yes, better stay where you are. Let's have record number seven.

Presenter17:24

Well, I think we've got to be with it a bit on this island, and um there's one little uh trio I like pretty much, the Supremes.

Presenter17:31

And I like their first record best of all, and Where Did I Love Girl?

Jack de Manio17:35

Yeah.

Jack de Manio17:38

Where did I go?

Jack de Manio17:41

And all of your promises

Jack de Manio17:44

I'll love forevermore

Jack de Manio17:47

I have this burning, burning, burning.

Jack de Manio17:51

In it holds on me.

Jack de Manio17:54

Uh Yeah.

Speaker 117:54

Okay, so Uh

Presenter18:03

The supremes, and they bring us to your last choice, which is what?

Presenter18:08

Well, I'd like uh something from here. A rhapsody on a theme by

Presenter18:12

Paganini. And the reason for this is, I think, was after the war, I was lucky enough to be invited to um Cotton Garden for the opening.

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And um

Presenter18:21

They did a ballet on this theme.

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And apart from that, I can't even remember who was in it or anything very much about it, but it was such a marvellous

Presenter18:30

Night rarely seeing people again looking elegant and gay and the women looking beautiful and of course I think Covent Garden when it's full of

Presenter18:38

People is the most romantic place in the world and uh

Presenter18:42

I think I'd have that just to bring back that memory.

Presenter19:45

One of the variations from Raghmaninoff's Rhapsody on the theme of Paganini, Julius Couchon with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Presenter19:53

If you would only take one of the eight records you played as Jack, which one would it be?

Presenter19:58

Well, I think I take Mr. Armstrong with Huzzah Kuzza. I played that record at home about twenty-five times running and driven everybody potty. Right, and one luxury to take with you.

Presenter20:08

Well, I think I take a uh could I take a a shotgun with twenty-five with lots of cartridges. What?

Presenter20:14

Of course.

Speaker 120:14

I gotta run.

Presenter20:15

Yes, this is not a luxury. Shotgun and cartridges. I call that luxury. Well, what about, well, the birds would be pretty safe. What about a berry pistol, so I could be rescued? No, no, no, no, no, no pistols at all. No pistols, no cartridges, no guns. I think you're beastly. Well, then, I'd like some very nice, very expensive, and a great deal of it. Scented soap.

Presenter20:37

Of course, as much as you like. Marvellous. All colours, all perfumes. That's wonderful. Write on one book apart from the Bible and Shakespeare.

Presenter20:44

Well, there's a book I've read three times, and I can go on reading it again because I never remember who's in it. War and Peace. And that would keep me going, because once I finished, I'll start again. All right, and you're not to use that soap for cooking. No. And thank you, Jack Temanio, for letting us hear your choice of Desert Island Disc. And Roy Plumley, thank you very much indeed for having me. Goodbye, everyone.

Speaker 221:17

The guest in today's recorded programme was Jack DiMenio.

Speaker 221:21

The interviewer was Roy Plumley and the producer Monica Champ.

Speaker 221:25

Next Monday at 1.10, the castaway will be the actor John Clements.

Speaker 121:31

You've been listening to a download from the Desert Island Discs archive.

Speaker 121:35

For more downloads, please visit the Radio 4 website.