Billy Russell

Presenter0:00

This download is the only extract the BBC has of this edition of Desert Island Discs. The presenter was Roy Plumley.

Billy Russell0:08

Yeah, I was born

Billy Russell0:11

in show business.

Billy Russell0:13

Really, I've had no choice. It's been my life.

Billy Russell0:16

My father was working at the Grand Theatre Birmingham when I was born.

Presenter0:21

And it was taken for granted that you were going into the theatre.

Billy Russell0:23

Not at all.

Billy Russell0:25

Uh we happen to be at Gloucester.

Billy Russell0:29

And uh

Billy Russell0:32

They wanted a child in a melodrama that was being played at the Theatre Royal. My father was scenic artist resident at Gloucester.

Billy Russell0:40

and I, precocious little brat that I was at the time, I was taken along and shoved in this

Billy Russell0:47

thing, and that was how it started. This was in nineteen hundred. I was born in eighteen ninety three.

Presenter0:53

And you played quite a number of child parts.

Billy Russell0:56

Oh yes, quite a lot.

Presenter0:56

Yeah.

Presenter0:59

And after that?

Billy Russell1:00

Uh well shortly after that my mother died and we moved again. We came

Billy Russell1:06

Back up to the Midlands.

Billy Russell1:09

And uh

Billy Russell1:12

My father was encumbered with four young kids.

Billy Russell1:16

And I was

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Away uh on the road again.

Billy Russell1:22

With a sketch company. There used to be a lot of sketches used in the music halls at those uh in those days.

Presenter1:27

Mm-hmm.

Billy Russell1:28

Variety meant

Presenter1:29

What it said, variety. But you didn't only work in music halls, a youngster.

Billy Russell1:33

No, I worked I went to Spellowis Circus. I went to the circus at one time.

Presenter1:38

Did you? As what?

Billy Russell1:39

As what? A clown? Oh, General Rostebat and um

Billy Russell1:44

And if I

Presenter1:47

And he worked in melodrama too.

Billy Russell1:48

I worked in many melodramas, yes, and stock dramas, stock melodramas.

Presenter1:53

Oh, you certainly crammed plenty into into the first years in the business.

Presenter1:58

What happened next?

Billy Russell2:00

Well, the war broke out.

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And uh

Billy Russell2:03

I went in the South Staffordshire regiment as an

Billy Russell2:07

an infantryman. I wanted to be a general, but they were full up.

Billy Russell2:11

Did you do any concert party work in uniform? Well, I didn't join any of the regimental concert parties, if that's what you mean, out there.

Billy Russell2:20

When I was in a convalescent camp,

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I did do um a soldier act, the trench philosopher. I stuck on a walrus moustache.

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And um

Billy Russell2:33

It was pointed out to me that this character burst did bear some resemblance to a character.

Billy Russell2:39

In um

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A magazine called The Bystander.

Billy Russell2:44

Which they used to have in the officers' mess. Uh a cartoonist, he was um

Billy Russell2:50

A captain in the Royal Warwickshire regiment, a Bruce Bairn's father, created a character.

Billy Russell2:56

Called Old Bill.

Presenter2:58

Where did that one go?

Billy Russell2:59

That was right, and uh if you know of a better old, go to it.

Presenter3:05

And when the war was over, what was your characterization? The demorbbed, Tommy?

Billy Russell3:09

Well, what would he do? He was just an ordinary infantryman, a big, burly, hefty man. What would he be doing? He'd be a navvy, of course. And so on behalf of the

Presenter3:20

The working classes was born. Mr. Russell, you had many years of success in the music hall.

Presenter3:26

What killed the music hall?

Presenter3:28

Boo.

Billy Russell3:29

Well, I think it was culpable homicide, to tell you the truth.

Presenter3:33

On the Bartaville.

Billy Russell3:35

Well, I don't know.

Billy Russell3:37

I don't know who to blame for it.

Billy Russell3:39

Yeah, I think a l lot of people

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uh people who didn't belong coming in

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They killed it, people with little talent, get rich quick, whether it would last or no, they didn't care.

Billy Russell3:55

They came in

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And they slept on strip shows. It ceased to become a family entertainment. The jokes jokes.

Billy Russell4:05

Nothing funny ever happened outside the bedroom or outside the toilet.

Presenter4:10

Hmm.

Presenter4:11

So the music hall died, it caused very big changes in the entertainment industry.

Presenter4:16

Which you had a front seat for these changes. You were chairman of the Branti Artis Federation, weren't you? Yes, I was.

Presenter4:22

But in your case, as a character comedian, as a character actor, you could go back to straight acting.

Presenter4:28

Well, I hoped I could, but it took a bit of convincing.

Presenter4:32

You have done some very good work in the theatre since your music hall days, haven't you?

Billy Russell4:35

Well, I must pay tribute to the Royal Court Theatre for that.

Billy Russell4:40

and having a a very good agent who prevailed upon me to come back,

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and to take a part in uh

Billy Russell4:49

A couple of John Osborne plays at the Royal Court. Mhm. And from then it's gone on. I've done quite a few good plays.

Presenter4:58

and a lot of television.

Billy Russell4:59

Oh, quite a lot of uh television plays. Uh quite a few.

Presenter5:03

And you still do a few weeks for Arty every year.

Billy Russell5:06

Uh this year I've been too full up with what with films and one thing or another. I haven't had any time this year.

Billy Russell5:12

But um

Billy Russell5:14

Last year I did ten weeks. So really, you're busier now than you were

Presenter5:17

Uh

Billy Russell5:17

Yeah.

Presenter5:18

We'll be Yeah.

Billy Russell5:19

I certainly am.