A year after arriving in England Ron Grainer copyrighted “Pretty Bird Fly Away” one of few known incidences of a vocal composition for which he wrote both words and music [1]
This may have been a song for children.
Copyright on “Pretty Bird” was first registered on 17th December 1953 intriguingly it was renewed on 5th January 1981 only a few weeks before Grainer’s death on 21 February 1981. [2]
Despite his academic qualifications and concert experience peer recognition did not come easily for Grainer in England.
“He had in mind to go to Brazil to work with the composer Villa Lobos but by the time they got to England in 1952 their money was down to 200 pound and so they had to stay put”. [3]
Ron and his wife Margot had to accept whatever work was offering and what was available was often humiliating for a creative person. The lowest point for Grainer was playing a buffoon in a Spike Jones and the City Slickers style musical comedy act incorporated into a travelling cabaret show called the Allen Brothers and June.
Apart from musical accompaniment duties Ron was required to be nightly hit on the head with a grand piano lid and then fall into the orchestra pit. Luckily he knew enough about the layout of an orchestra to know where to fall to avoid serious injury. [4a]
It’s ironical that a decade after Grainer’s stint with the Allen Brothers and June Australian singer Peter Allen was also involved with an internationally touring cabaret act called the Allen Brothers. Unlike Grainer Peter Allen obviously loved "performance" and encouraged the public perception he had an Australian outback upbringing. Although born in the Tenderfield of his famous song Allen was actually raised in suburban Armidale [population 9000] a self proclaimed “City of Arts and Cathedrals” . [4b]
In contrast Ron Grainer never seemed to acknowledge in public the formative years he lived in the Northern Queensland coal mining community of Mt Mulligan and always stated or implied that the pastoral industry orientated town of Atherton in the tableland south west of Cairns was his childhood environment.
Grainer even gave Atherton as his home base on the sleeve notes for the 1979 compilation LP “The Exciting Television Music of Ron Grainer” ie: Track 11- Mobile – “on the way to visit my birthplace in Atherton North Queensland this was inspired by seeing and enjoying once again the surf in Hawaii and Australia”.
During the lean financial years before fame the Grainer’s were involved in many unexpected situations.
"At one time when money was short Ron and Maigret worked for their rent as caretakers for a huge block of flats. Ron rose at 5am each day to stoke two huge boilers, went off the play the piano until it was time to come home and stoke them again" [5] While he was away Margot scrubbed her way up eight flights of stone stairs and down eight flights of wooden ones, changed linen, swept rooms and dusted furniture. [6]
It was a lucky coincidence that one of Ron, Margot and Rel's neighbours at Number 3 Cambridge Gate a Victorian block in the outer circle of Regents Park, was the formidable writer and satirist Caryl Brahms later to be a collaborator with Ron and Ned Sherrin on three musicals. [6b]
LONDON'S MADE OF US [13.12.56]
On 13 December 1956 Grainer copyrighted "London’s Made Of Us’’ a song written with lyricist David Dearlove. [7]
The song had earlier appeared as "Englands Made Of Us" in Heat Four of the first Festival of British Popular Song contest held 30th July 1956. It suffered the humiliating fate of being the only composition to receive no points at all a distinction it apparently still holds to the present day. Gordon Roxburgh in his book "Songs For Europe" suggests this was because no matter what its merits voters in Scotland, Wales and Ireland were loath to vote for any song with such a provincial title. When published as sheet music in 1956 it had been retitled "London's Made Of Us". [8a]
The song immediately following the performance of "Englands Made of Us" in Heat Four was a ditty with the not very alluring title of "The Waiter Was Yawning" by Harold Elton Box and Desmond Cox. Grainer could have been excused for thinking he was back on the Allen Brothers circuit. [8b]
The reported television staging for "England" however is most interesting as its echoes, in a modern setting, the opening 1843 Wimpole Street scene of Grainer's later highly successful 1964 musical "Robert and Elizabeth" so maybe he had the last laugh.
'All 12 Mitchell Singers were involved in this number dressed in a variety of outfits including a policeman, a policewoman,a soldier, a sailor, a market trader, a bus conductor and city gents with bowler hats. There was a backdrop of a building skyline and in the foreground a street stall dressed with fruit and vegetables complete with price tags'. [8c]
Roxburgh says that nowhere in any paperwork held by the BBC does it mention that any of the compositions from the 1956 Festival contest were ever intended to be entered in the First Eurovision contest which was telecast on May 24 1956 two weeks after the start of heats in the BBC sponsored competition. [8d]
The goal of this deliberate attempt to boost the number of British songs broadcast on the radio was eventually reached but it took a band called The Beatles and the golden year of 1963 to achieve it.
In Heat Three of the 1956 "British Festival of Popular Song" was "Marry Me" with music by Austrian born stage and film composer Hans May. A noteworthy film with a May score was 1947's "Brighton Rock" based on the Graham Green novel. In the cast were a young David Attenborough and the actor destined to become the first Dr Who William Hartnell. [8e]
A mid afternoon BBC television women's program was a most unlikely place to introduce a song by an unknown Australian composer much less having it performed by a former child prodigy who claimed to have learnt the sounding of perfect pitch music notes before speech and was broadcasting piano recitals by the age of 11 [1] but that was the back story of [George] Mantel - Childe a great nephew of Walter Bache a former pupil of classical / modern crossover music composer /performer Franz Liszt [2] .
Mantle Childe's 3 pm appearance on “Mainly For Women / Your Own Time” [3] was a first for him and was highlighted with a photo in the Birmingham Daily Post TV timetable. Mantle Childe's “Songs at the Piano” play list was given as “Bird On Wing” by Ron Grainer, a Hungarian folk song and a negro spiritual. [4]
“Bird on a Wing” may have been a later version of the song “Pretty Bird Fly Away” that Ron copyrighted on 17th December 1953.
How Mantle - Childe became aware of Ron's song is unknown but a likely possibility is a recommendation by former Sydney Symphony Orchestra conductor Eugene Gossens described bv Ron as having mentored him during his early attempts at composing [5]
Although describing himself as annoyingly precocious as a child, “There was one festival in Birmingham where I won six first prizes in ages all above my own [which] caused consternation”, Mantle-Childe went on to have a lengthy and significant career described in 1967 as having brought “music into the lives of millions of people as a concert pianist, broadcaster and music teacher”. Mantle Childe was Professor at Guildhall School of Music London from 1949 – 1965. [6]
The fact that someone as gifted as Mantle-Childe heard something worthy enough in Ron's song to broadcast it during one of his rare BBC TV appearances must have helped boost Ron's confidence in his own talents and ability.
References:'
[1] Sunderland Echo 19.1.53 p2
[2] Radio Times 22. 12.33 p 917
[3] Radio Times # 1736 p32
[4] Birmingham Daily Post 9.1.57 p7
[5] Australian Women's Weekly 5.8.64 p 9
[6] Birmingham Post 8.11.67 p8
DON'T CRY LITTLE DOLL / EUROVISION SONG CONTEST #2 [22.1.57 ]
In December 1956 a selection committee of five chose 18 songs from the 70 or 80 submitted to enter the first round of BBC Television's British Festival of Popular Songs for 1957.
In January and February 1957 three UK semi finals and a grand final were held to find the British entry for the second Eurovision Song Contest to be presented and televised on March 3 1957 from Frankfurt, Germany.
Ronald Waldman wrote in the Radio Times for 18th Jan 1957 "Every music publishing firm in the country had been invited to submit one song written and composed by writers of British nationality. We laid down the condition that the firm must have purchased the song but not yet published it so that it not yet been publicly performed
... keeping the names of the writers and publishers a secret from the Committee the production staff and the artists had proved very useful in last years "Festival Of British Popular Songs" and the new series is following the same rule
The voting will be done by 'juries' of viewers - twelve viewers to each jury and one jury in each of the eleven different cities in the United Kingdom. In all 132 people will vote on each of the programs.
Again, the best possible orchestrations and television presentation will be given to the songs and the best available artists will be invited to sing them." [9a]
Making its way through to the last round [12.2.57] of the British heats was long shot entrant “Don’t Cry Little Doll” by David Dearlove and Ron Grainer. There was some controversy over its status with one publishers employee claiming to have heard it being rehearsed a couple of years previously by a vocal group with a different lyric but the situation was eventually clarified and the song was allowed to continue competing. [9b]
Later with "Robert And Elizabeth" Grainer would find public performance of his work restricted by a far more complex copyright claim situation.
The song eventually chosen to represent the United Kingdom was the opera influenced “All” followed in second place by ”Once” “The Way It Goes” 3rd, “Don’t Cry Little Doll” 4th with “Seven” and “For Your Love” equal 5th. “All” reached position seven out of the ten finalists in the overall 1957 Eurovision contest results. [9c]
SUNDAY BREAK [16.3.58]
One of Grainer's earliest creative involvements with British TV appears to have been a social / work religious program called "Sunday Break" self described as "a Sunday club for teenagers about life and meaning with dancing, singing,bible reading and discussion on topics of interest to young people. [10]
In a 1961 resume Grainer is described as having a large collection of early and unusual musical instruments which he used for illustrating bible stories broadcast as BBC late night epilogues so it is quite feasible he may have been doing similar activities for the “Sunday Break” series. [11]
Ron Grainer.org indicates “Johnny’s Theme” from the 1963 movie “Some People” was first used on “Sunday Break”.
Having failed at Eurovision glory Grainer continued as before although by late 1958 he appeared to have gained a reputation, at least in clergy circles, as a songwriter. It also appears that although relocated from Australia the Grainers still held a lot of affection for their home country.
"The Reverend William Baddeley will leave London next month [for the Brisbane parsonage of St Pancres]. 'For months we've had Australia for breakfast, dinner and nursery tea' he said. Francis [his young daughter] goes to a kindergarten run by Mrs Ronnie Grainer, wife of the well known songwriter, where all the toys are Australian animals and many of the books are about Australia. 'We are awakened every morning to Francis imitating the laughter of the kookaburra". [12]
GOING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS [04.11.58]
In November 1958 Dearlove and Grainer received copyright approval for a song called “Going Home For Christmas’’. [13]
English singer Shari released "Going Home For Christmas" as a Decca 45 single in England in October 1958 while singer Irmelli Makela recorded a Finnish translation version on the 21st September 1959.
A British Television Times program guide for 22nd December 1958 lists a musical story with orchestra and dances at 6.10 to 6.40 pm [ATV] called "Going Home For Christmas". It is possible Grainer and Dearlove wrote their song of the same name for this show and may even have composed other "uncredited" songs for it as well.
HOUSE OF CAROLS [23.12. 58]
A Granada TV Christmas special devised by Margot Grainer with music by Ron Grainer a script by Diana Noel and direction by Penny Wooton.
The plot as such involved two young carol singers who were invited into a house and shown, with the aid of a globe, other parts of the world where carols are sung. Places visited include Vienna, Naples, Venezuele, the American Praires, the Australian bush, Mexico and Russia. Characters were listed as Boy, Girl, Old Man & Ron [played by Grainer]. Three singers, Ricky Vaughan, Howard Short and Frank Olegario were also in the cast. [14]
>>> SEVEN YEARS LATER The Ron Grainer story continues <<<
Seven years after leaving Australia Grainer finally managed to find full time employment in his chosen profession although he was originally hired as a consultant for programs starring such notable “straight” artists as Maria Callas, Tito Gobi, Jose Iturbi, Sir Malcolm Sergeant and the Royal Philharmonic. [15]
“Nobody wanted to know Ron Grainer the composer. They were more interested in whether I could learn 80 new songs in two days – I had to do that once”. [16]
“Nothing at all happened until 1959. A friend of mine was second in charge of the music department at the commercial TV network and he’d been trying to get his boss to give me a break for months but it didn’t work.
Then I answered an ad for an accompanist and the man in charge of the music department heard me. He asked me to stay on for a while because the regular piano player hadn't turned up and it just went on and after a few weeks I was working for him full time.
A little while after that one of the directors who knew I wrote music - he'd seen me fooling around improvising - asked me if I could write a theme or two and I said yes and haven’t looked back". [17]
BEFORE THE SUN GOES DOWN [20.2.59]
Grainer’s work on the ITV science fiction drama “Before The Sun Goes Down” was perhaps a warm up for his writing of the Dr Who theme a few years later. The plot of "Sun” revolved around a lonely boy and girl who form a romantic relationship during an unusual space age crises. [18]
The play caused something of an Orson Welles “War of the Worlds” type panic in London and prompted many angry letters to be be written to MPs because, like the 1938 radio show, it used a fake broadcast announcement to create "atmosphere". The consequent public reaction caused questions to be raised in the British parliament and a stern warning was given to the TV station involved to avoid such a misjudgement in the future.
“Mr Maurice Edelman [Coventry North “I rise to draw the attention of the House once more to an act of irresponsibility by an independent television programme company in making a bogus news broadcast which had the effect of causing great distress to many people throughout the country…
.The facts about this bogus broadcast are well known, but I will venture to summarise them again rapidly. On the night of 20th February a programme was presented by Associated-Rediffusion entitled, "Before the Sun Goes Down"---
“Nobody wanted to know Ron Grainer the composer. They were more interested in whether I could learn 80 new songs in two days – I had to do that once”. [16]
“Nothing at all happened until 1959. A friend of mine was second in charge of the music department at the commercial TV network and he’d been trying to get his boss to give me a break for months but it didn’t work.
Then I answered an ad for an accompanist and the man in charge of the music department heard me. He asked me to stay on for a while because the regular piano player hadn't turned up and it just went on and after a few weeks I was working for him full time.
A little while after that one of the directors who knew I wrote music - he'd seen me fooling around improvising - asked me if I could write a theme or two and I said yes and haven’t looked back". [17]
BEFORE THE SUN GOES DOWN [20.2.59]
Grainer’s work on the ITV science fiction drama “Before The Sun Goes Down” was perhaps a warm up for his writing of the Dr Who theme a few years later. The plot of "Sun” revolved around a lonely boy and girl who form a romantic relationship during an unusual space age crises. [18]
The play caused something of an Orson Welles “War of the Worlds” type panic in London and prompted many angry letters to be be written to MPs because, like the 1938 radio show, it used a fake broadcast announcement to create "atmosphere". The consequent public reaction caused questions to be raised in the British parliament and a stern warning was given to the TV station involved to avoid such a misjudgement in the future.
“Mr Maurice Edelman [Coventry North “I rise to draw the attention of the House once more to an act of irresponsibility by an independent television programme company in making a bogus news broadcast which had the effect of causing great distress to many people throughout the country…
.The facts about this bogus broadcast are well known, but I will venture to summarise them again rapidly. On the night of 20th February a programme was presented by Associated-Rediffusion entitled, "Before the Sun Goes Down"---
The play was preceded by a so-called newscaster, broadcasting from what was apparently a television news room. I have taken the trouble to ask Associated-Rediffusion for the script, and I am about to quote the exact statement made by the broadcaster”.
“ We are interrupting the programme for an urgent announcement. Tonight a new and terrifying satellite has been launched into outer space. Defying all previously held scientific theory, it hangs stationary over London”. Then it was shown on the screen. “Here it is, seen from a camera on the roof of Television House. The question is—is this an enemy space platform armed with H-bombs aimed at the heart of the City? Before we know the answer, remember—there is no need for panic”.
This was the invitation to the millions of viewers who were looking in: “There is no need for panic. There has been no ultimatum from any other Power. The Prime Minister"… has called an emergency Defence Council meeting. He has asked us to broadcast the following message: 'Fear is our greatest enemy, not bombs. Carry on as usual; but stay in your homes with your families. Our trust is in God '. In compliance with the Prime Minister's request, the Civil Defence has ordered all traffic and pedestrians off the streets at once”.
“The broadcast had all the hallmark of authenticity. The room, the broadcaster, the manner, all combined to give the vast public looking in at the programme the feeling that it was a genuine news broadcast. While it is true that a preliminary announcement had been made in the Television Times that there would be some simulation of actuality, there were probably many millions of people who had not read the Television Times and had no idea of what was to happen”. [19]
JOANNA [21.8.1959]
On 21st August 1959 Ron Grainer was given copyright for an instrumental called "Joanna". An unusual aspect of this situation is the copyright claimant is described as "National Westminster Bank" suggesting it may have used in a television commercial.
THE HIGHWAYMAN [25.8.59]
In 1959 Grainer again collaborated with lyricist David Dearlove this time to provide the score for a light hearted 30 minute children's play written by Elizabeth Paine. Nothing else seems to be known about this early musical. [20]
THE MEN FROM ROOM 13 [2.11.59]
Quite probably Grainer’s first significant BBC TV theme was for a program described on Action TV.com as a “series which concerns itself with Scotland Yard’s post war ghost squad department of underground detectives who inserted themselves in various groups on the verge of or actively engaged in criminal activities. Audiences were required to use their own detective skills to figure out which member of the criminal gang was the underground officer and whether or not the police operation would succeed”.
"Men From Room 13" Action TV
Although the Action TV site gives the detailed story line of several episodes implying access to private video copies to date the source of this information could not be contacted. [21]
1953 -1959 References
[01] 17.12. 1953 United States Copyright Office
[02] 1981 United States Copyright Office records
[03] “Here’s a man who used to be hit nightly by the lid of a piano” The Australian 18.6.1968 p18
[4a] “Here’s a man who used to be hit nightly by the lid of a piano” Australian 18.6.1968 p18
[4b] The Boy From Oz / Stephen Maclean / Random House 1996 p 5/6/74]
[05] "On the Trial of Inspector Maigret" . Australian Women’s Weekly. 27 June 1962 p42
[6a] "On the Trial of Inspector Maigret" . Australian Women’s Weekly. 27 June 1962 p42
[6b] "Too Dirty for the Windmill" Caryl Brahms1986 Constable and Company Ltd p164, 211/212
[07] 1956 United States Copyright Office records
[8a] "Songs For Europe" Gordon Roxburgh Telos Publishing Denbighshire 2012 p60, 53
[8b] "Songs For Europe" Gordon Roxburgh Telos Publishing Denbighshire 2012 p53
[8c] "Songs For Europe" Gordon Roxburgh Telos Publishing Denbighshire 2012 p53
[8d] "Songs For Europe" Gordon Roxburgh Telos Publishing Denbighshire 2012 p96,10
[8e] "Songs For Europe" Gordon Roxburgh Telos Publishing Denbighshire 2012 p45
[9a] "British Songs: A Television Contest" / Radio Times 18th Jan 1957 p3
[9b] "Songs For Europe" Gordon Roxburgh Telos Publishing Denbighshire 2012 p138
[9c] Wikipedia.com "United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest" / "Eurovision Song 1957"
[10] BFI.com / 78rmp.co.uk / British Dinosaur TV section
[11] 1961 "Biography - Ronald Erle Grainer" / Australian National Library doc / source unknown
[12] 'New Dean "Lively, Energetic" Australian Women’s Weekly 29 October 1958 p10
[13] 1958 United States Copyright Office records / Ron Grainer.org / NME.com
[14] 78rpm.co.uk / British Dinosaur TV section / BFI.com
[15] “Music in the Maigret Manner”. Mike Nevard Spinning Discs 1 November 1960
[16] “On the trail of Inspector Maigret". Australian Women’s Weekly 27.6.62 p42
[17] “Making Tunes We Can’t Forget". The Australian 20.12.75 p20
[18] "Before The Sun Goes Down" IMDb.com
[19] Hansard Common Sitting HC Deb 16 March 1959 vol 602 cc161-72
[20] 78rpm.co.uk./ British Dinosaur TV section
[21] Mathew Lee / Action TV.com / “The Men From Room 13”
