OBSERVER: Whatever Happened To … Jenny Howard
I feel that the great stars of the Australian stage during the 20th Century are being forgotten by the modern generation.
It is a great pity that we do not celebrate the lives of some of our performersw. I had the opportunity to see Jenny Howard in one show and it made a great impression on me.
Daisy Evelyn Louise Blowes was born in the London suburb of Walthamstow in 1902.
Jenny started her career in music hall shows in London and became a singer and comedienne. She appeared onstage with Percy King who became her husband and manager.
In 1979 Jenny and Percy came to Australia to perform the Tivoli circuit.
Jenny was cast as the romantic lead in the 1936 film Dodging The Dole which was produced by Highbury Studios in London.
Jenny and Percy returned to Australia to entertain the troops in 1940 and the couple took up permanent residence in Bondi. She was billed as ‘Australia’s favourite English entertainer’.
Her first show was with Dixie Rose, Honest John Gilbert and Connie Chalmers in Fun’s A Buzzin.
Percy and Jenny toured Australia in shows during the war years. Jenny was a regular on many radio variety programs.
On May 27, 1941, Jenny Howard stopped The Crazy Show and walked onstage to announce to the Tivoli audience that the German battleship Bismarck had been sunk.
There was thunderous applause for three minutes and then Jenny led the audienmce and the company in singing Sons Of The Sea.
Jenny worked in comedy routines with George Wallace on the Tivoli shows. At a matinee in 1942 George Wallace sat down in his dressing room and wrote the famous song A Brown Slouch Hat. Jenny sang it for the first time at the evening performance.
Jenny played the Principal Boy in many Tivoli pantomimes such as Babes In the Woods, Robin Hood and Peter Pan.
She was often labelled ‘the poor man’s Gracie Fields’ because every time Gracie released a record Jenny would follow up with her recording on the cheaper Woolworths label.
Percy King produced Christmas pantomimes and in the early 1950s Jenny starred in Aladdin And His Wonderful Lamp, Dick Whittington and His Cat and Jack And The Beanstalk at the Princess Theatre.
In 1954, Jenny headed up a tour to Korea to entertain the Australian troops. Her husband Percy was on the tour as was comedian Joey Porter.
In 1974 Jenny played the role of Bertha in the stage musical Pippin and worked opposite Johnny Farnham and Colleen Hewett and I had the pleasure of seeing her onstage.
She sings No Time At All on the Australian cast album,. Jenny played a small role in the film Caddie in 1976.
She worked at Orton’s Music Hall in Surfers Paradise, singing songs like Nobody Loves A Fairy When She’s 40.
The compere was the late Paul Sharratt and it was the basis of a popular television series.
Jenny Howard passed away at Tweed Heads in New South Wales in 1996 at the age of 94. This lady brought great joy and laughter to many people during her career.
I would like to see more photograohs of our stage legends in public places, they should not be forgotten.
Kevin Trask