Derek Oldham

Presenter0:01

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

Derek Oldham0:05

Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast. For rights reasons, the music is shorter than on the original broadcast. The presenter is Roy Plomley. I hope you enjoy listening.

Presenter0:28

How do you do, ladies and gentlemen? Our castaway this week is a singer and actor. He was a star of some of the great musical comedies of the 20s and 30s, Derek Oldham.

Presenter0:37

Mr. Eldham, are you horrified at the prospect of continued solitude on a desert island?

Presenter0:42

No, not really. I hope I'll be rescued, but I mean, but a certain spell.

Derek Oldham0:43

No

Presenter0:48

No, I don't think it frightens me.

Presenter0:50

If the loneliness doesn't worry you so much, is there anything else that worries you?

Presenter0:55

Well, anyway, if it's a tropical island, those insects are going to worry me. I have a great horror of the insect world. I simply cannot bear it.

Presenter1:03

But uh I suppose I've got to

Presenter1:06

Put up with that, haven't I?

Presenter1:07

What would you be happiest you got away from?

Presenter1:11

Well, at the present moment, you see, I'm not living in London any longer now. I've been retired down to Haling Island for nearly eight years, and there's nothing I want to get away from there. But London, whenever I come up to London, I think it's terrible. Oh, the crowds and the noise. It's terrible to me. Do you play records a lot? Yes, quite a lot. What would you want your chosen eight to do for you on the desert island? Remind you of the past? No.

Presenter1:35

No, no, no. Purely, purely things I've loved, records that I've loved or constantly played, something about them that I like. What's the first one we're going to hear? Well, the first one is...

Derek Oldham1:44

When we get here.

Presenter1:47

It's some choral singing, some of the most beautiful choral singing I know.

Presenter1:51

It's Sir Hugh Robert Ensquire, the Glasgow Orphus singing the blue bird.

Presenter1:57

Alright, it's lovely. It is Carl singing at his best.

Speaker 32:16

Uh

Presenter3:00

The Glasgow Orpheus Choir The Bluebird.

Presenter3:03

What's your second choice?

Presenter3:04

Well my second choice

Presenter3:06

It's my favorite tenor record. You know, I'm a tenor or...

Presenter3:11

would-be tenor, at any rate or was rather.

Presenter3:15

This

Presenter3:16

Record of Pertile's seems to possess everything. It has drama, it has passion, it has legato singing, it has lovely pianissimos, and it's Pertile singing an aria from Andrea Chenier, Undi Allazziro Spazio. I think that's the title.

Derek Oldham3:39

Uh

Derek Oldham4:07

Yeah.

Speaker 24:09

The late heaven is with the old

Presenter4:22

Fertile singing an aria from the first act of Andrea Shenyev.

Presenter4:26

Where were you born?

Presenter4:28

I was born in Eccrendon, a musical family.

Presenter4:31

Ye, well, I don't know about that. There was always a violin hanging on the wall, and I never heard my father play it, but it was always taken down and dusted, but I'm told that he did play it a lot in his younger days. But my brother was a very fine musician, and really it was training for me, very fine solo pianist. But he got plus cramp, and so later on settled down to teaching. But he was 10 years older than I was, and he's been a great influence all my life.

Presenter5:00

When did you start taking an interest?

Presenter5:02

Oh, well, I remember I was taught the Wochen of Schubert when I was eight years old. And I think I always sang. I always had this voice. I know there's a family joke. I know mother once said, listen to that child. Something ought to be done about him. I was always singing. Yes. You did indeed have quite a career as a boy soprano, didn't you? Yes, yes, I did. I had a good five years. I did all sorts of things. It was chiefly oratorio. My life was spent singing oratorio all around Lancashire. But I did have nearly four months in pantomime in Liverpool when Vesterly was principal boy and I was 10 years old singing Sweet Rosie O'Grady. What did you do when you left school? Did you go straight into the theatre? No, no, no. You see, I then had a rather slight baritone voice, but I'd always had great faith in my voice.

Presenter5:51

And I went in a bank quite deliberately because I knew that a bank gave a lot of time off.

Speaker 35:57

Yeah.

Presenter5:57

And you were appearing as an amateur? Yes, I appeared all over East Lancashire as an amateur until the bank, I mean, protested. And one time a letter came from head office and they said they would like to know, was John Stevens Olden going to be a banker or an actor? Because we'd like him to make up his mind. When did you make up your mind? Well, just about that same time.

Speaker 36:16

Yeah.

Presenter6:18

Or fate was doing it for me. I'd been on a holiday and met rather an attractive, most attractive person. She was an actress in London and we'd done a lot of music and singing together. And she was, I think, lunching one time with a well-known theatrical manager. And he was desperate because he had a musical play to put on and his leading man had fallen ill and he was desperate. He had a week to do it in. And he said, where shall I find another? And she said, well, in Accrington, he's a bank clerk.

Derek Oldham6:43

Yeah.

Presenter6:47

And she sent me a telegram that night and I came up to London midnight. And that was the end of banking. That was the end of banking, yes. What was this operetta?

Derek Oldham6:54

Why

Presenter6:55

It was called The Daring of Dion, only the story was really the seduction of a youth of 18. And the trouble was he had to sing, really sing.

Speaker 37:03

Yeah.

Presenter7:07

And he mustn't look a day older than eighteen or rather fulfill thee.

Presenter7:11

The bill. And what did that lead to? That led almost straight away to the Lydic Theatre. P. Michael Faraday, the Lydic Theatre, saw me there and took me straight away.

Presenter7:22

In that leading part of Bumerle the Chocolate Soldier, in his first revival of the chocolate soldier, the lyric, with all the original cast except Workman. And I played the part of Bumerle, the chocolate soldier. This was just before the First War, wasn't it? Yes, yes.

Derek Oldham7:35

Yeah.

Presenter7:37

And, well, of course, there was the war fever all the time. And then I began to get a little self-conscious about.

Presenter7:44

Playing chocolate soldiers. I know you had five years in the army and you were mentioned in dispatches and awarded the military cross.

Derek Oldham7:46

Forehead.

Presenter7:51

After the war, what happened to you? Was it easy to get back into the theatre?

Presenter7:55

Yes, actually, I'd saved my gratuity and I'd had other things saved and I was going to Italy to study.

Presenter8:05

If you remember, that was the first season that Rupert Dolecart put on of the Savoy operas at the Princess Theatre. There'd been a gap of nine years before any were played in London.

Presenter8:14

And, well, I was engaged as principal tenor for that season. And so that washed out all ideas of going abroad to study. How long did you stay with the Deuly Cart Company? Only actually, that first time, only two years and nine months.

Derek Oldham8:26

Only actually that

Presenter8:30

People think it was much longer, but it wasn't. It was only two years, nine months.

Derek Oldham8:30

Yeah.

Derek Oldham8:33

Together.

Presenter8:34

And then you went to the musical comedy? Yes, then I joined the Dalis Management, you know.

Derek Oldham8:36

Well

Presenter8:39

Well, let's stop at this point for your third record. What shall we have next?

Presenter8:43

Well, there's a record here that I love very much. It's called Love is a Dancing Thing, and it's sung by Ramona, and there's a lovely economy of the piano. Though it's over 30 years ago since I heard it, I never tire of this number.

Speaker 38:57

Lovely is a dance.

Presenter9:00

Uh

Speaker 39:02

Yes a May Day I'm in the heyday of this love is a done

Derek Oldham9:06

The heyday of this love is done.

Speaker 39:13

Dancing my life all away

Derek Oldham9:13

Done.

Speaker 39:20

When news and friends in Spain

Speaker 39:24

Okay,

Presenter9:26

Ramona and her grandpian.

Presenter9:29

Now, Mr. Oldham, getting back to your career, you had branched out into useful comedy with the Dalys Company. You played opposite Evelyn Lay and two or three of them. Yes, that followed World Into Happiness, which was under the Dalies' management.

Derek Oldham9:36

Mayn't

Presenter9:41

And I played with Evelyn Lay and Carl Brisson in The Merry Widow.

Presenter9:45

And then I followed that with Madame Pompadour with Evelyn Lay. Delightful person to play with, I can assure you. And then from then, well, it was to draw Elaine in Rosemary. Yes. Now this was a musical on a scale one just can't envisage these days. Yes, it was spectacular. It was a colossal thing with all those. Do you remember that most marvelous totem number with all the crowd? Yes, it was the most wonderful thing. And one never thought it would run so long, but it went on for two years and one week. It just went on and on. And in those days, that was a very long time. Indeed.

Derek Oldham10:02

See what's the tech

Presenter10:19

Then you went into another of the famous romantic musical comedies of the 20s, in which you played opposite your wife, Winnie Melville. Yes, that's right. We'd been married just before The Merry Widow, and we played together in The Vagabond King. And oh, that was a grand show. That was a lovely show. Another very spectacular one. Yes, very spectacular. We'd had 90 of a chorus in that. It was an acting chorus. I think it was the most thrilling thing because we had a most wonderful producer, Richard Bolivlovsky, who'd come from the Moscow Art Theatre.

Derek Oldham10:35

Oh, that's

Speaker 310:51

Mm-hmm.

Presenter10:53

You partnered Winnie Melville a lot in variety, too, too. Yes, yes. I think all told we did about two years in variety.

Speaker 310:55

Yes?

Presenter10:59

And back to Jorylane. Back to Joralaine, back to, oh, many things. Joralaine, the return to Juralaine, I think, was in Song of the Drum. Yeah, Song of the Drum.

Presenter11:10

And you went back with the Doidy Cart for several more seasons. Yes, yes.

Speaker 311:12

Yeah.

Presenter11:13

I ought to have gone back in 1926, but Rosemary wouldn't come off. So a contract was made for the rebuilding of the Savoy in 1929-30. And my wife came back with me there and played the soprano roles. You went to the States with them on a couple of occasions? Yes, yes, twice I've been to the States.

Speaker 311:30

Uh

Presenter11:33

Wonderful time. The first time, of course, the operas hadn't been played by an English company, by a Dolecart company, authentic company, for something like 50 years. And there was just the...

Presenter11:46

Same

Presenter11:47

enthusiasm that had been at that first season at the Princess Theatre. I was very proud to be with them over there. You recorded most of the opera several times. Yes, yes. Started first of all in 1920 down the old horn in those days, you know, about nine of us doing the whole of the opera, chorus everything, because you could only get round the aperture.

Derek Oldham12:06

Hmm.

Presenter12:09

And then I did them all twice electrically.

Presenter12:13

Uh I'd like, you know, if we don't mind, I'd like to put on

Presenter12:18

Well, say the madrigal from Radigore. It's so representative, Sullivan and Gilbert both at their best. And I have that little fala la. That's the only thing I sing in it, but I'd like to have that record.

Speaker 313:08

Falla, Fall of Lord, winds of love, winds of spirit far away.

Speaker 213:22

Oh it's balla la la la la la la la la la la

Presenter13:29

The madrigal from Radi Gore, Muriel Dixon, Dorothy Gill, Stuart Robertson, and you coming in with some fellow last. Now before we have a lawyer, you'll turn to leader thingy. Yes.

Presenter13:40

Well, I was getting a bit ashamed. You see, I was still playing juvenile leads and I was 57 years old. And this can't be. Actually, the thing that pulled me up one night I was driving away from the theater after I think it was the Wall Street and I had a friend with me in the car and there was someone waving, waving, so he said, come on, do your stuff. So I turned down the window and she said, hey, Mr. Oldham, I did so want to have a word with you. You know, you used to go to school with my mother. And anyway, my friend said, I never spoke another word for 10 minutes. Anyway, that settled me. I just refused to play any more juvenile leads. But I was playing them until I was 57. And then you had another career straighter. Yes, then he came to me one day and said, would I play Old Jeff Coat in Hindlewake?

Presenter14:32

And I said, no, I

Presenter14:36

See? Then we said the good gracious.

Presenter14:39

It comes from your part of the world. I mean, it's your early life. You should be able to play this. Anyway, I refused it twice.

Presenter14:46

And then they came again and I suddenly thought, I know all these people and I'll give an, I won't act it, I'll give an impersonation. And I gave an impersonation of someone I knew very well. And that started me off on another 10 years, a career of legitimate film.

Presenter15:04

Well now you've retired and you're living down in Haling Island, you'll still come up and see all the new plays. Yes, I'm very, very, very keen on the theatre. What do you think of the new musicals?

Presenter15:14

Well, I I rather come more to the place because I don't find myself at home in the new musicals.

Presenter15:21

I don't like the singing to begin with. There isn't the singing that there used to be.

Presenter15:27

No, I just don't feel at home.

Presenter15:32

Let's have your fifth record. What next? Well, it's

Presenter15:36

Perfect singing to my mind. It's Evelyn Scottney.

Presenter15:41

singing the song of the nightingale of Saint-Sarnes.

Presenter16:42

Song of the Nightingale by Evelyn Scotney

Presenter16:45

And what's number six, Mr. Elder?

Presenter16:47

Well, we must have some Wagnerian opera. I'm a crazy Wagner enthusiast and I spent a lot of my time, or rather in the past I've spent a lot of my time at Covent Garden.

Presenter17:00

And uh

Presenter17:01

Loritz Melchior and Frederick Schaud have been two of my greatest friends.

Presenter17:06

during my life and so I've thought of

Presenter17:10

All things, but

Presenter17:12

I think the Siegfried Idel would be the most representative.

Presenter17:16

So could I have the Zeek feed Edil?

Presenter18:17

The Snake create idum.

Presenter18:19

Columbia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bruno Bauter.

Presenter18:22

Would you consider yourself a practical man, Mr. Eldham? Could you look after yourself on this island? Reasonably so, I think. Yes, I think I might.

Presenter18:32

Uh what about food? Ever done any fishing?

Presenter18:34

Oh yes, yes. I was a very keen fisherman at one time. But mind you, it was river fishing. It wasn't sea-fishing. But still, I suppose I can adapt to myself, can't I? Oh, and I love mackerel fishing. Oh, yes, I'd rig something up. Oh, yes.

Presenter18:47

Would you try to escape? If you found you'd got a raft together somehow, or that one had been washed up, would you try to get away? No, I don't think so. I think I would be too much of a coward for that. No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't try to escape. I should want to, but I don't think I would.

Presenter19:02

What's your seventh record? What next? My seventh record? Well, it's Louis Armstrong. You know that broken voice of his? It always tears me up. It always sort of, I think it's wonderful. And he made this, oh, nearly 30 years ago. And when I first heard it, I thought he must be a very, very doddering old man, and my heart broke for him. And it's nobody knows the trouble I've seen. But he must have been a very young man. It's a Negro spiritual. I love it.

Speaker 319:28

Nobody knows.

Speaker 319:31

The trouble has been

Speaker 319:35

Nobody knows but Jesus

Speaker 319:43

Nobody knows.

Speaker 319:46

The trouble I've seen

Presenter19:59

Louis Armstrong and the Lynn Murray Chorus.

Presenter20:02

What's your last record going to be? Well, I want to have the piano. You know, my brother was, oh, he was a lovely pianist.

Presenter20:08

And I seem to have been brought up with the piano being played always in the next room, lessons being given always in the next room. This was before I went on the stage.

Derek Oldham20:14

Prove this.

Presenter20:16

And I must have a piano record and I love this one. It's the those variations, the symphonic variations for piano and orchestra. The orchestra does come into it of Cesar Frank. And I'd like to have those. To me, I think they're thrilling.

Derek Oldham20:28

Yeah.

Presenter21:32

The tallising passage of Cesar Frank.

Presenter21:35

The symphonic variations, with Peter Caton at the piano with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Presenter21:41

If you could take just one of the egg records you played to us, Mr. Elder, which would it be? Oh, I should take the Z-Free Diddle.

Presenter21:47

Oh yes. And which one luxury are you going to take to the island with you?

Presenter21:51

Yeah.

Presenter21:52

Well now look here.

Presenter21:54

I'm terrified of insects. It's no good. I'm just terrified of them. Now could I take barrels and barrels and barrels of insect powder?

Presenter22:03

Yes. And also, could I have some hundreds and thousands of yards of mosquito netting, please? We'll wrap the battles in it.

Speaker 222:10

Thank you.

Presenter22:12

And one book, assuming that the Bible and Shakespeare have been provided.

Presenter22:17

I think I'd like the Encyclopædia Britannica. There are a lot of volumes there, and there's a lot of reading. And then again, suppose suddenly I had a piano washed up, I'd have a piano stool, wouldn't I? Yes, I shouldn't count on this. Thank you, Derek Eldham, for letting us hear your Desert Island disc. Well, I'm awfully glad to have done. You know, I always wanted to do a Desert Island disc, and I was never asked. And I feel now that it's rounded off a long career very happily. Thank you very much.

Presenter22:47

Thank you. Bye-bye everyone.