Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Impresario who staged the Follyberger, ran the Talk of the Town, managed Frankie Howard and Norman Wisdom, and became president of a £450m leisure corporation.
On the island
Eight records
My Heart and IFavourite
My Heart and I are from Old Chelsea, which features my wife, actually, Carol Lynn and Richard Talbot, a great tenor of course.
Because I've been a little bit of a gambler... I like to hear Kenny Rogers in the gambler.
Yehudi Menuhin and Stéphane Grappelli
I particularly like jazz, so I'd like to hear Yehudi Menu and Stephan Grappelli playing Lullaby of Birdland.
Sammy David is a great friend of mine and he came to this country about five or six times under my management and we were great friends.
it's rather similar story to Judy Garland... she was wonderful when she sang on stage, and that's why I'd like to hear Either Piafun.
I do like popular operas, so I'd like to hear Maria Callas singing the Aria Viggi Date.
People from Funny Girl, which is a show I did some years ago which was very successful.
for a special reason that... as I get older, this song means more and more to me.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:18Shall we start with the big mistake, turning down the Beatles? How did that happen?
Well, Brian Epstein came to the office one morning and I unfortunately I didn't see him, and he met one of the chaps who was working in the office at the time and suggested he'd like our organization to take over the Beatles. This was what the early sixties? Early yes, very early on. And they had a little reputation then, but not of course what they did become eventually. And I think he asked something like seven hundred and fifty pounds a week for them. And they just threw him out of the office.
Presenter asks
2:06What about other confessions of lost opportunities? Didn't you turn down the musical Hair?
Yes, I'd say no [to] Hair because, you know, even then, some years ago, it must be, well, thirty years ago here, probably. Uh when I heard the record, there were so many four letter words in it, I thought this is not for me. And um I decided to turn it down, although unfortunately it finished up in my own theatre. I was running the shaft at the time, and it ran an awful long time, but I didn't want to present it. It was a mistake and uh well not a mistake in my mind, but I was you know, I always wanted to do really mostly family shows, what I thought wouldn't be offensive.
Presenter asks
5:02Tell me about the name Delfont, because you were born Winogradsky, weren't you?
The keepsakes
The book
British Musical Theatre, Volume Two, 1915 to 1985
It's a tremendously big volume and every time it mentions every British musical that's ever been done in all those years and every time I'd pick up a page it would remind me of all the lovely shows and some of the songs would all come flooding back.
The luxury
Well, the luxury's rather difficult. I suppose I would only ask for a s box of cigars, and would I be allowed any matches?
Well, Delphine comes actually from rather strangely. You see, our real name, my brother Lou and my younger brother Lezyan Forsy died, we were our name was Winogretsky, which apparently is the English translation of that from the Russian is good grapes. So basically my name is Good Grapes. When we arrived here and Lou went into the theatrical profession during the Charleston era craze, he took the middle part of his name, which was Winner Gretzky, and just took Grad, G-R-A-D. Somebody added an d and he became Grade, Lou Grade, because in those days it was any name that had a ski in it or any foreign zone name wasn't as popular as they are today. And he called himself, he's formed an act which called Grade and Gold. And I followed, thinking it was an easier way to earn a living than being in the East End. I was earning seventy P a week as an office boy at the time. And I started an act called Grade and Saturn. And then there was confusion between both had similar acts I suppose. And my agent said to me one day, you're not getting much work. I said, no, we're very depressed about it. He said, because she said it's confusion between Grade and Gold, Graydon Sutton. I said, what do you suggest? He said, well, change your name. And he started twiddling his and suddenly it came up with a name, he says, call yourself the Delphon Boys. And it stuck over surface. It's just like that. It could have been any other name. He just plucked it out of here.
Presenter asks
9:43Tell me about your mother, Mamma Winogradsky. What kind of woman was she?
Oh, she was a marvellous woman. She was very, very strong in principles. She guided us in the right way... [I stole] a few pennies from my uncle's pocket, then my father gave me a jolly good flashing... She was very strict. My father was a happy-go-lucky person... whereas mother was a down to earth person. She was actually the dominant force... Yes, she lived till ninety four.
Presenter asks
12:36You began your performing career in a live sex show, didn't you?
Ah, that was yes. I happened to be in Amsterdam and with without any work at all. I was doing a solo act at the time, yeah. And uh stayed a little pension on the Amstel. And um one day a young lady arrived and kept looking at me. I thought, well, I hope she thinks I'm attractive. I felt rather flattered. I was only about, what, twenty three I suppose at the time, twenty two and um one day she said to me, Would you come and have dinner with my aunt? And she we got in the tram, jogged a long hamster in the tram. And um see not this sort of house in the suburbs of Amsterdam and a little old lady came out with a stick and thought I was very naive at the time, I didn't quite realize what I was in for, and uh introduced me as her aunt. And we sat down and had some dinner and just as soon as I finished the soup, the first course, she said to me, Well, I must make love with you I was rather startled, thought it was rather strange dinner conversation and took me into this other room and of course I had to do whatever one does in those sort of circumstances. And we came back and uh another twenty minutes passed and she said the same thing again. I had to go back again and I got rather exhausted, but anyway I got back to the to the pension and when I woke up next morning... They said all she's left... He said, Well, did you do the same thing to this taking her aunt? I said, Yes. He said, You were the victim of a peep show. There must have been holes all the way round the wall. So I was really, really duped. Yes. I thought it was terrible because I thought you'd generally fall in love with me. It was a great blow to my pride.
Presenter asks
30:15So the formula is good judgment, determination, hard work and so on, but there must also be a very large dollop of luck.
Absolutely, there's no doubt about it. Luck has played an enormous part in my career.
“And they just threw him out of the office.”
“So basically my name is Good Grapes.”
“She was actually the dominant force.”
“I don't want to be in God's waiting room.”
“Luck has played an enormous part in my career.”