Wilson, Keppel and Betty: Too Naked for the Nazis

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While I was doing a search for Alan's Book Award - I found these gorgeous sculptures by Stephen Dee 2016 - Stephen Dixon (Dee) Born in Birmingham in 1932, the young Jean Curley studied ballet, tap and modern dance. In 1955 she became a Windmill Girl, performing in scantily-clad and fast-moving revue numbers at London's famous Windmill Theatre. The following year she was touring Europe with a Spanish flamenco ballet troupe when she was spotted by Joe Keppel and asked to join the act. The men were now in their early 60s and neither had ever learned to drive. As Jean told Anglia TV's Bygones: 'I bought a Volkswagen minibus. And I decided to be the driver and baggage man and Betty. Everyone rolled into one.' By the early 1960s many British variety theatres were closing and the trio spent much of their time in Europe, particularly French cabaret clubs, including a lengthy residency at the Crazy Horse. Jean often found herself performing a comic and comparatively tame Dance of the Seven Veils on the same bill as girls who removed far more, but the trio's wordless act transcended the language barrier and got huge laughs the world over. One newspaper described Wilson and Keppel as having the kind of limbs that make you understand why sleeves and trousers were invented. However, not everyone saw the funny side. A pre-war showing in Germany outraged Josef Goebbels who said the 'mens bare legs were bad for the morals of the Hitler Youth' but was it really a case of 'No knees please we're Nazis' or was it Wilson's close proximity to Keppels' rear end as they shuffled across the sand. Mussolini on the other hand loved them! Though the show was nearly a disaster when they mislaid their trusty supply of Bedfordshire sand. They hastily threw together a concoction of what Keppel described as 'salt, sugar and I don't know what.'

Ruth M. Pettis. "Mann, Erika (1905–1969)". An Encyclopedia of Gay, Tesbian, transgender, & Queer Culture. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012 . Retrieved 20 May 2018. Theatre is about many things, but ultimately it can be argued that even 'serious' theatre is about entertainment in the widest sense. While these plays may tell us little about Ancient Egypt, and what they do tell us is seldom accurate, they do tell us a lot about our perception of it. Topical productions, especially spectacular ones, are popular but by definition largely about the Egypt of their day. What keeps appealing to audiences is not real Ancient Egypt, but fantasy Egypt, a land of monuments, magic, mummies, and the mysterious Queen Cleopatra. Which means, of course, that we cannot forget the fantasy Moorish style Alhambra Theatre and others which were the setting from the late 1920s to the early 1960s for Cleopatra's Nightmare and the Sand Dance of the immortal Wilson, Keppel and Betty." Postcards Roger Wilmut (16 August 1985). Kindly Leave the Stage – a history of Variety, 1919–1960. Methuen. ISBN 0-413-48960-4.As the performance concluded that 'doyenne' of British Entertainment, Bruce Forsythe paid the couple the ultimate compliment by comparing them to the incomparable Wilson, Keppel and Betty - the legend lives on! Another find by Alan Stafford who's rating of this goes something like this ' Great for posture and attitude but not quite spot-on for synchronisation. (Mind you, Wilson and Keppel spent a good few decades perfecting it.)' I like this version because it is part of a ballet and dancers are always so light on their feet. And all I saw was 'Wilson, Keppel and Betty, Ursula Andress as 'She' and the entrances from 'Aida.' or Elizabeth Taylor's 'Cleopatra' - Nothing new then?

Wilson and Keppel, very near the end of their careers, appear briefly in the French 1961 short film Gala (their sequence starts at 1:54) DocuLearn (27 May 2014). "Keppel, Wilson & Betty "Sand Dance" (1934)". Archived from the original on 2021-12-21 . Retrieved 24 October 2018– via YouTube. Stephen describes himself as 'an experienced feature writer and critic, who with his wife Deirdre Falvey (also a journalist) wrote what has been called "the definitive book on modern Irish stand-up comedy", Gift of the Gag. He also regularly broadcasts on Irish radio, doing spots based around his collection of Variety and Novelty records, and writing and presenting his own series for RTE Lyric.' More can be found here Excellent example of the painstakingly beautiful 'copperplate' hand written graphics that accompanied the 'fan' cards The 1920s, the world watches expectantly, as the aged archaeologist emerges from the Great Pyramid, blinking into the harsh unrelenting glare of the desert sun. His bearers carry three bandaged figures; are these the legendary pharaohs of old? Slowly, painstakingly, he unravels the delicate strips of white linen; could this be Ptolemy, Xerxes or even the mighty Tutankhamun?" (..... screech of scratched record needle) - Voice of Barbara Windsor - "No, better than that, it's Wilson Keppel and Betty!"The triad presented pallid mask-like unblinking and expressionless expressions that gave the impression that they couldn’t care where they were or who was there, and gave off an aura of pathological boredom marinated in indifference such as is common to month old corpses.. Some Action shots for you to enjoy in the meantime - I have tried to capture the essence of Wilson, Keppel and the energy of Betty in this 21st century representation. Duncan Gardham, 'MI5's hunt for the 'peripatetic' Nazi Martin Bormann' – The Telegraph 1 September 2009 Comedy series following Steven Toast, an eccentric middle-aged actor with a chequered past who spends more time dealing with his problems off stage than performing on it ."