Hinge & Bracket

Speranza

Patrick Fyffe was half of the cross-dressing act "Hinge & Bracket", which enchanted English audiences with its affectionate, slightly catty dialogues and renditions of such musical favourites as Sir Noel Coward's "Play to Me, Gipsy", Ivor Novello's "We'll Gather Lilacs", and "Keep the Home Fires Burning".

Sipping sherry in a chintzy sitting room, Fyffe's "Dame Hilda Bracket" and George Logan's "Dr Evadne Hinge" looked back on more than 30 years' musical collaboration in concert and light opera.

The two dear ladies relished the opportunity to reminisce and cut each other down to size while periodically rising to sing, play the piano and even dance.

The soprano Dame Hilda used to give a hilarious rendition of "Gangway", employing the appropriate steps as if she were Jessie Matthews herself.

Such a concoction was not to everyone's taste.

Apart from those who disliked drag acts performed outside of pantomime, many in their audiences were uncertain as to what they were supposed to make of the performance.

There was certainly a strong camp element, involving double entendres.

But those who relished this aspect were slightly suspicious that it might be a hoax at their expense.

The two ladies seemed to be preserving the middle-aged, middle-class mores and musical standards which were supposed to have been swept aside in post-"Beatles" England.

Not the least reason for such suspicions was that many later fans did not seem to WANT to know that Hinge and Bracket were male.

Dame Eva Turner, the first English soprano to sing at La Scala, was
only one of their ancient but indubitably respectable fans.

Patrick Fyffe was born into a show-business family at Stafford.

His mother and aunt were known as "The Terry Sisters", and his father worked the variety halls.

After running his own hair-dressing salon, Fyffe went into the theatre, moving round the repertories and beginning his own female impersonating act.

It was while working in cabaret at Pimlico that the overweight baritone who was his partner failed to appear, and he met Logan, the pianist.

"I hit on this idea which I'd seen my mother and father do once: a sort of Edwardian musical evening - and thought, how about if we do it as two slightly dotty old ladies?"



Their show "An Evening with Hinge and Bracket" became a hit of the 1974 Edinburgh Festival.

They transferred to "The Theatre Upstairs", at London's Royal Court, then went to the Mayfair for a three-month season.

A new show, "Sixty Glorious Years", at the Ambassadors was followed by an Australian tour.

Radio Four's "The Enchanting World of Dr Evadne Hinge and Dame Hilda Bracket" led to regular radio work for more than a decade.

In the early 1980s, they had their own television show, "Dear Ladies".

The latter placed them in their house "Utopia Limited", in the village of Stacton Tressel, Suffolk where they were involved in the same experiences as on radio.

For three years they gave up because Fyffe found it hard to work and look after his sick mother.

After her death, they went back into full partnership.

If they did not appear so much on the airwaves, Hinge and Bracket remained firm favourites as celebrity guests.

They appeared in The Importance of Being Earnest, Bracket playing Lady Bracknell and Hinge Miss Prism.

They were in Peter Shaffer's play Lettice and Lovage.

Placido Domingo invited them on to the stage of Die Fledermaus, and they also sang with numerous symphony orchestras.

Occasionally, they worked separately.

Fyffe was a venomous Katisha in The Mikado and a winsomely coy Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance.

He also appeared in radio adaptations of Travels with My Aunt and Auntie Mame.

But they continued to make extensive tours, and remained in constant demand for pantomime, their true home.

Fyffe was rehearsing in Barnstaple when he fell ill while rehearsing Sleeping Beauty before Christmas.