Speranza
Dr. Evadne Hinge and Dame Hilda Bracket are
the stage personae of the musical
performance
and impersonation artists Scots-born George Logan and Stafford-born Patrick Fyffe.
Active in theatre between 1972 and 2001, this comedy
partnership entertained
the public in the guise of two eccentric
spinsters,
living genteel lives in their house, "Utopia Limited", in the village of Stackton Tressel,
in the deep Suffolk countryside,
and
celebrating their careers on the provincial operatic and musical theatre
stage.
Early appearances show Dr. Evadne Hinge and Dame Hilda Bracket, ostensibly
emerging from retirement to perform in concert by popular request.
The
ladies greet their public as old friends and give recitals
in which they sing,
play and reminisce about their
past lives on tour in opera and musical theatre
in the
more elegant age of the years following the Second World War.
Logan
and Fyffe play exclusively
in drag and in falsetto, serving
up the musical
numbers in spinsterish
bickering which formed the dynamic of the act.
Logan
acted as accompanist, arranger and foil for Fyffe's
vocal performances.
Their repertoire was pretty _vast_.
Details
of the ladies' genteel lifestyle and theatrical history were shared with the
audience for comic effect.
In the spirit of authenticity, Logan and Fyffe
enjoyed developing a detailed backdrop and life history for their stage
personae.
Logan and Fyffe declined, for the duration of their stage
partnership, to be interviewed out of character.
In this way, they were
consciously preserving the illusion for their following.
Their stage
partnership spanned theatre and stage shows, and continued
for 30 years until the death of Patrick Fyffe in 2002.
Logan retired from the
stage in 2004.
In a 2007 televised
interview, Logan explains how he and Fyffe
collaborated on their own stage material, developing the framework for a new
show around a series of ideas,
then subsequently refining the gags and the
timing in live performance.
In Logan's words, they needed to play it like a duet
with the audience in order to perfect a show.
He notes that the differences in
their personalities worked to the good of the act.
Logan himself was apt to work
from the head as a performer, whereas Fyffe's approach to performing was more
instinctive: a natural comedian given to bouts of insane humour and never
happier than when deviating from the script.
Logan's role in such
circumstances was to keep the shows on track.
When
Fyffe died in 2002, George Logan decided that, without a Hilda, there
would be no more Dr. Evadne Hinge.
In a television interview, Logan spoke of working himself, but made it clear that he did not miss the Hinge
persona.
Feeling that the appeal of Hinge and Bracket lay more in the
interaction between the two characters than with either of the separate
personalities, Logan determined that the body of work he and Fyffe had
created together should stand as a finished item.
In a 2007
interview in which Logan paid tribute to his stage partner,
Logan praised Fyffe's comedic genius and observed.
Fyffe was fabulously
talented, a brilliant clown and a natural comedian.
Since Fyffe is no longer
with us, Hinge and Bracket can never happen again.
When you've worked with the
best, there'd be no point in doing second-best afterwards, so I'd rather leave
it as it is.
"Dame Hilda Nemone Bracket"
(Patrick Fyffe) is portrayed
as a lively, fun-loving, flamboyant doyenne of
opera.
Bracket takes charge of the stage and inhabits the limelight
sporting a
coquettish lop-sided grin and a chiffon hanky
dangling at the wrist.
Projecting
enthusiasm and flirting shamelessly with the audience,
Dame Hilda Bracket leads the performance
with gusto,
exerting a comical degree of bossiness, and
occasional wilfulness,
over the long-suffering Dr. Hinge.
"Dr. Evadne Mona Montpelier Hinge"
(George Logan) is played, in sharp contrast, as a reserved, austere intellectual
whose role is to provide piano accompaniment, direction and, where necessary,
vocal support for Dame Hilda Bracket's singing performances.
Cutting a modest,
almost apologetic figure on stage, Dr. Evadne Hinge slides
demurely onto the piano stool
and peers sideways at the
audience over half-moon spectacles on a decorative
chain.
Together, they play and sing songs from a traditional "light-operatic" repertoire, taken mainly from Gilbert and Sullivan, Noël Coward and Ivor
Novello ("Dear Ivor"), but occasionally "coming bang up to date" with "modern"
shows such as "South Pacific".
Their repertoire was _vast_ and someone should compile a complete list -- with INDEX!
Their musical turns are interspersed with comic
anecdotes and frequent discursions into repartee, punctuated by flashes of
cattiness and bickering.
Between numbers, Hilda's wise-cracking antics and
Evadne's acid reactions to her companion's attention-seeking are a rich source
of comedy in the act.
------
Early on, Dame Hilda establishes the pecking order by
explaining their titles.
Her own damehood was awarded for
"services to music and
opera"
whereas Evadne's "Dr." was bestowed "for hard work".
Disapproving,
but never daunted by the frivolous and overbearing Hilda, Evadne Hinge raises her
eye-brows and takes controlled revenge through terse and well-timed put-downs
that deflate Hilda's ego.
Dr. Evadne Hinge also reminds the audience at every opportunity
that she is in fact younger than Hilda.
Throughout their exchanges, and
notwithstanding their petty squabbles over such details as the date they first
met, or which opera was in rehearsal at the time, Hilda and Evadne never fail to
address each other as "dear", and occasionally stop mid-concert for sherry, or
to examine the fascinating contents of their handbags.
In spite of their
petty disagreements, the ladies are portrayed as indivisible companions and an
unassailable partnership.
A regular treat for the audience sees Hilda make a comedic
meal of polishing her spectacles.
Each lens in turn is breathed upon in a loud,
honking baritone ("hungh!") before the glasses are finally ("hungh!") positioned on
her nose.
Hilda's cousin's career in the military.
H: He was in the
guards. Only for two weeks.
Cousin Evelyn ("Yes it's one of those
difficult names") was caught playing (cards) with his privates.
In "Dear Ladies",
this incident was attributed to Hilda's NEPHEW Julian instead.
Hilda checks
the time on her brother's watch
E: Why are you wearing your brother's
watch, dear?
H: Because he's borrowed mine.
Cue various oblique
references to cross-dressing.
Evadne's mysterious health
problems.
Frequently aired in public by Hilda, Evadne's afflictions include
knees prone to locking, a separate condition requiring treatment with three
forms of Ralgex, and a non-specific rash.
Letters from Evadne's clinic,
invariably addressed to "Mrs Ming", are seized upon and read "sotto voce" by
Hilda, mumbling practical instructions such as "try not to pick it".
In start-of-show announcements, the list of Evadne Hinge's names is
occasionally expanded beyond the usual "Evadne Mona Montpelier", to include
additions such as "Pauline", "Renee", "Albuquerque" and "Liversedge".
Later
shows, alluding to the advent of the cyber-age, incorporate "DotCom" into this
list.
Hilda Bracket compliments Evadne Hinge on her singing.
H: "Very reminiscent of
Lilian Baylis, dear."
E: "But she didn't sing, dear".
Hilda and Evadne
receive their end-of-concert presentations.
Over the applause, Hilda and
Evadne are presented with gifts of appreciation by the organisers.
Huge bouquets
arrive for Hilda.
But for Evadne, never more than a meagre token, ranging from
the tiniest posy of flowers, via half a dozen eggs in a cardboard carton, to a
banjo.
Evadne's half-moon spectacles.
Always
perched on the end of Evadne's nose, and lending an appropriate air of severity
to the character, these spectacles began life as a brown half-moon design on a
gold chain.
The second incarnation were again spectacles of brown half-moon
design, but this time on a pearl chain.
In 1984, on the final series of "Dear
Ladies", the BBC provided George Logan with a slightly different pair of brown
half-moon spectacles on a chain made entirely of very large shaped pearls,
Logan
continued to use them on a few live stage shows (before he reverted back to the
brown half-moon spectacles on the pearl chain).
When Evadne Hinge's pearl chain
finally broke and had to be replaced, Fyffe gave Logan a silver
chain (which actually came from Dame Hilda's reading spectacles).
Logan soon
replaced this with a more dainty gold chain.
In the later years, and after
Logan's props were accidentally lost (by Fyffe), Evadne peered over red
half-moon spectacles on a different gold chain.
Through each and every
incarnation of these spectacles, Evadne's disapproving glare had the power to
melt paint.
Hinge and Bracket were never seen on
stage without their handbags, and with each successive concert, their bags
appeared to grow in size.
The clasp of Hilda's vintage 1950s metal-framed
carry-all closed with the snap of a crocodile's jaws, and in later years she
would claim this action as an attention-getter learned from Mrs Thatcher
("...and she got it from Harold Wilson").
The handbags' contents reflected the
personalities of their owners.
Hilda's held little beyond her reading glasses, a
chiffon hankie and the obligatory powder compact, whereas Evadne's accoutrements
were a cross between a portable pharmacy and the contents of Just William's
trouser-pocket.
Hilda Bracket's favourite humiliation tactic was to ridicule the
contents of Evadne Hinge's handbag in front of the audience.
Gay references were present throughout the stage shows, some examples in
the television series, largely absent from the radio shows.
In conversation in
the televised shows, there would be various old-fashioned slang references to
"Dorothy", and a few racier remarks.
The stage shows were the main medium for
delivering gay-themed innuendo.
But in musical performance, Hinge and Bracket
were inveterate teasers of their audience.
In the course of their shows, Hinge and Bracket performed what amounted to the
THE ENTIRE repertoire of "light opera" songs containing
the word "gay", additionally mining G and S classics as a rich source of
double-entendre from 'The Gondoliers' , "Then One Of Us Will Be A Queen", via
Patience "blithe and gay" through to the story of Iolanthe, which famously had
one dainty foot in fairyland.
Thus would the trail of gems be laid, innocently,
straight-faced and of course in impeccable context.
The audience could stoop to
gather these, if so they wished, but the ladies were always looking firmly the
other way.
According to their invented background, the ladies won their
musical spurs touring with the "Rosa Charles Opera Company", where Hilda Bracket sang
lead roles and Evadne Hinge joined in the capacity of assistant to the assistant
musical director, quickly rising to the full directorship.
Audiences in the
1970s, at least, would have recognised in this invented name a respectful nod to
Carl Rosa, founder of a real-life opera troupe in England in the late 19th
century.
Carl Rosa did much to popularise opera across Victorian England, and
the company flourished through into the mid-20th century, touring with the
standard operatic repertoire up until 1960 - all sung, of course, in the
"natural language of the civilised world": English.
Accordingly, a recurring
joke in their musical act was Dame Hilda's discomfiture whenever called upon to
perform an aria in Italian.
With an irritable flourish, Hilda
Bracket would produce from her hand-bag the famous reading spectacles for ("hungh!")
polishing, and squint impatiently at the Italian ("hungh!") lyrics.
Cue a
bravura performance
from Fyffe, singing as Hilda
with a smell under her nose,
but nevertheless demonstrating a
knowledge of Italian which was a little more
than Asti Spumante - at least in the context of operatic performance.
Hilda Bracket's
back-story in fact extended to a few glorious years spent in
Italy in the run-up
to "The Phoney War", studying the
rhythm method under the large Italian operatic
impresario Signor Bonavoce.
Evadne Hinge's doctorate in music (awarded at the age
of 16) and reputation as a pianist preceded her, but the convention of the act
demanded that, because of Hilda Bracket's limited attention span, Evadne Hinge was always
denied the opportunity to perform full pieces on stage.
Once in a while,
however, the audience would be treated to a brief taste of Logan's Royal
Scottish Academy standard piano skills - notably Tchaikovsky's Concerto No. 1 in
B-flat minor (condensed to 2 minutes).
Additionally, Evadne Hinge was reported to
have the advantage of French - which she had picked up many years ago from a
wine list.
Not to be outdone on this front, Hilda Bracket would attempt to compete by
tossing in the odd French phrase with her customary joie de vie (sic) and
invariably got it wrong.
The ladies' musical credentials were further
supported by allusions to celebrity audience members attending their concerts -
names from the world of opera and music
with whom they claimed equal status.
Some of these names were real figures, and actually present at their recordings.
Dame Eva Turner and Olive Gilbert being two notable examples.
Others were
nebulous inventions, embraced by Dame Hilda's blanket welcome line to the
distinguished audience:
You celebrities know who you are, so we'll say
nothing.
Frequent collaborators from the world of "light opera" included
baritones Michael Rayner and Ian Belsey.
Hinge and Bracket's fictional home life, referred to constantly in
their shows, is further developed in the radio and television series.
The
invented back-story has the ladies residing in the village of
Stackton Tressel, Suffolk, which, in the words of Bracket, lies 17 miles from
Bury St. Edmunds as the crow flies, though there haven't been a lot of crows
this year.
Here, the ladies share a house called "Utopia Ltd".
They also share
their home with three cats, Sandy the Goldfish and Milton the Budgie.
Evadne Hinge is
not keen on the pets, or more accurately, on Hilda's sugary attitude towards
them.
In one story from the television series, Sandy the goldfish is banished to
a bucket under the sink when Evadne borrows his bowl to use as a crystal ball
for her "Gypsy Mona" spot at the village fête.
The ladies otherwise amuse
themselves with recitals of Gilbert and Sullivan, Noël Coward and Ivor
Novello ("Dear Ivor"), and employ an eccentric housekeeper, Maud, played in the
radio series by character actress Daphne Heard (and, on her death, by Jean
Heywood).
Maud is characterised by her bovine devotion to "Dame 'Ilder", a
barely disguised antipathy to Evadne, and a general suspicion of men.
She is
particularly wary of men with beards, men with moustaches, and foreign men
(Evadne's French friend André, played in the radio series by André Maranne, is
suspected by Maud of being a white slaver).
Maud systematically breaks, steps
in, ruins or otherwise bungles every aspect of her household duties, and is
indulged by Hilda because of her history as Hilda's dresser from their days with
the "Rosa Charles Opera Company".
Evadne Hinge is constantly at loggerheads with Maud,
who retorts with observations such as we can't all be musical.
The TV series
did not feature Maud in person, although a couple of references were made to her
in the first two episodes of Dear Ladies Series 1.
Dame Hilda drives around
in her shiny open-top vintage Rolls, while Evadne is more than happy to rely on
her faithful old tricycle and trailer (usually unaware that all the fruit and
vegetables just bought from the local greengrocer are falling out of the back of
the trailer).
Fellow villagers are known by such unlikely names as Methuen
Hawkins (pharmacist) and Tewkesbury Ptolman.
They make guest appearances in the
ladies' concerts, most notably baritone (and butcher) Tewkesbury Ptolman, who
appears in a number of the shows "by kind permission of Christopher
Underwood".
Theirs is a genteel English post-war world of cucumber
sandwiches, bell ringing, church fêtes and ladies' bowls matches, all served
with a liberal helping of old-fashioned values recalled, and a sprinkling of
double entendres.
But the ladies do not always play fair.
In one episode, Hilda
and Evadne organise the refreshments for a friendly inter-village football
match, manned by two teams of Stanley Matthews look-alikes and intentionally
poison the visiting team.
In interview, Logan has acknowledged that the overall style
of Hinge and Bracket harked back to the era of Ealing comedy and owed a great
debt to Joyce Grenfell.
Borrowings from Hinge and Bracket in modern British
comedy are detectable in some comic creations of recent years.
Notably in the
Florence and Emily ("I'm a Laydee") characters from "Little Britain", and also in
the eccentric personage of Hyacinth Bucket.
Bucket is yet another example of
singing household hardware, and in full amateur operatic flow she is reminiscent
of Bracket (Braqué?) in both voice and stiff-legged gait.
Also, Hyacinth's
forbearing, modest but quietly competent spouse Richard bears more than a
passing resemblance to Evadne Hinge, as a foil.
But a comparable mix of wit, warmth
and musical talent epitomised by Hinge and Bracket has not been achieved since
Fyffe died, and Logan laid aside his half-moon spectacles.
Both Logan and Fyffe were born into
musically talented families with a strong stage background.
Logan went on to
study music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and
attended Glasgow University.
Fyffe appeared in amateur theatre before turning
professional.
In a 2007 television interview, Logan explains that both
he and Fyffe had been boy sopranos, and found themselves able to produce a
falsetto voice after puberty.
Fyffe's falsetto voice was additionally
gifted with the full rounded tones of a mezzo soprano, and capable of producing
some rousing high notes in performance.
**********************
Fyffe's vocal interpretations demonstrated
profound
emotional connection with the songs, and
with his audience.
Logan, who claims not to have seen himself as a singer in the same vein,
nevertheless projected a light quavering soprano of clarion tone, and admirable
breath control in the patter songs, whilst simultaneously providing the piano
accompaniment.
Though formally trained as a classical pianist, he also has the
ability to play by ear, and used both skills to the benefit of the act.
In many
instances, the material performed by Hinge and Bracket required transposition to
a different key or other special musical arrangement.
Thus, the inspiration
for Dr Hinge’s character as a serious musician came from Logan's formal musical
background.
Similarly, Fyffe's affinity with "musical comedy" and "operetta" informed the character of Dame Hilda.
This meshing of the two areas of interest
allowed the act to explore and exploit many different areas of the vocal music
repertoire.
Fyffe and Logan were
already well acquainted from their separate appearances in London cabaret when
Fyffe approached Logan to stand in briefly as the piano accompanist for his drag
act.
One thing led to another, and before he knew it, Logan was sitting at the
keyboard in one of Fyffe's spare frocks.
The names "Hinge" and "Bracket" were
chosen after much deliberation, and in preference to bawdier alternatives.
Fortunately so, since "Dr P. Nissen" and "Dame Ava Fanny" would hardly have
flown under the radar as family entertainment in quite the same way.
From
June 1972, Hinge and Bracket worked for two years around the London pubs and
clubs.
Most notably, they appeared at a Kensington restaurant, called "AD8",
every Sunday lunch-time.
The restaurant was owned by Desmond Morgan and April
Ashley.
Ashley was a celebrity of the 1960s after a sex change in Morocco in
1960.
Hinge and Bracket were popular with diners, and their Sunday slot became a
ritual in moneyed society.
-------
It was from this circuit that Hinge and
Bracket were recruited to appear at the 1974 Edinburgh Festival.
Their
Edinburgh show was a one-hour scripted vignette, presenting them in a Victorian
church hall setting, along with a visiting baritone.
In this intimate
atmosphere, Evadne and Hilda handed round glasses of sherry to their audience.
News of the show (or the sherry) quickly spread around the festival, and after
the first couple of nights, they were playing to packed houses.
Immediately
after Edinburgh, they moved the show to London, where they appeared for an
interim fortnight at The Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, immediately followed by a
six month season at The Mayfair Theatre.
The format of the show remained
largely unchanged until the act moved to The Ambassador’s Theatre.
One month
into their run, they were approached by playwright Ray Cooney to provide a show
for the late-night slot.
And so, the first specially commissioned Hinge and
Bracket show, "Sixty Glorious Minutes", was written, and the Hinge and Bracket
phenomenon was born.
Hinge and Bracket toured theatres with
their double act for some years before appearing on the radio.
Their first
series,
"The Enchanting World of Hinge and Bracket",
ran on BBC Radio 4 for three
seasons from 1977 to 1979.
Produced by James Casey at BBC Radio in Manchester
and scripted by Mike Craig, Laurie Kinsley and Ron McDonnell, these programmes
were a mixture of "period songs" and situation comedy.
Actress Daphne Heard was a
series regular as The Dear Ladies' housekeeper, Maud, and each show featured an
appearance by a guest artiste.
"The Random Jottings of Hinge and Bracket",
which ran for 68 episodes on BBC Radio 2 from 1982 to 1989, was scripted by
Gerald Frow, and placed the stars in a variety of comedy situations, each
episode being introduced from a supposed entry in Dame Hilda's diary.
With the
death of Daphne Heard in 1983, Maud's mantle was assumed by character actress
Jean Heywood.
Maud in her later incarnation was periodically joined by her
uncouth and mischievous sister Gudrun, played with blood-curdling relish by
comedienne Liz Smith.
Their final radio series,
"At Home with Hinge and
Bracket", had the format of informal "musical evenings" with a celebrity guest, and
ran for a single season in 1990.
Guests on these shows were:
Anthony Newley
Rosalind Plowright
Benjamin Luxon
June Whitfield
Evelyn Laye and
Jack
Brymer.
----
Certain of the radio episodes have been re-broadcast on BBC 7 in
recent years - the radio station subsequently known as BBC Radio 7 and,
latterly, Radio 4 Extra.
A number of Hinge and Bracket
gala and concert performances were televised by the BBC between 1978 and 1983.
Venues include
The Royal Hall, Harrogate and
The Opera House, Buxton,
and the
repertoire ranged from Verdi through light opera and musical comedy to music
hall.
In addition, the BBC recorded a "Dear Ladies Master Class", with
early-career contributions from baritone Gerard Quinn and pianist Janet Mellor, held at The Royal Northern College of Music and a special performance,
co-scripted by Gyles Brandreth, from The Princess Hall, Cheltenham Ladies'
College in 1983.
Hinge and Bracket appear in their own series called "Dear
Ladies" on BBC 2, between 1983 and 1985.
The theme music ('Dear Ladies, the
fairest of all to see') was written and performed by Logan and Fyffe themselves
and the scripts were written by Gyles Brandreth.
Locations were picturesque
Cheshire towns and villages, including Knutsford, Great Budworth and Nantwich.
Three series were made, including a pilot (in the pilot, Tewkesbury the butcher
and Donald the vicar were played by different actors), but Frances Cox who
played Grace Pullit, the librarian in the pilot, continued to play her in all
three series.
A few small changes were made to some of the props in Series 3.
These included the sofa and arm-chairs, which were now covered in pink cushion
covers (instead of rose patterned ones) and Dr.Evadne herself was now wearing a
slightly different pair of Brown half-moon spectacles and chain, also a
different font of lettering was used for the opening and end credits.
In this
final series, there is a scene where we get to see Hinge and Bracket wearing
identical patterned dresses (normally they didn't share the same taste in
clothes), but it showed that occasionally these two old friends did share the
same taste in things, other than in music.
The two also made
independent stage appearances.
Dame Hilda as 'Katisha' in
The Mikado and 'Ruth'
in
The Pirates of Penzance.
Doctor Hinge as Miss Marple in Murder at the
Vicarage in 1994.
The characters appeared together in Oscar Wilde’s The
Importance of Being Earnest for a West End run, followed by a nationwide tour.
They also appeared at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in a New Year’s Eve performance of
Die Fledermaus, conducted by Plácido Domingo and starring Kiri Te Kanawa.
----
They
toured the UK with the Peter Shaffer play, "Lettice and Lovage", as well as
continuing to appear in their variety act, touring with the variety show
"Palladium Nights" until 2001).
Hinge and Bracket appeared on "The Royal Variety
Show" twice.
They were selected to perform
privately for the Royal
Family on a
number of occasions.
Fyffe (Dame Hilda) also toured a one-woman show entitled
"By Kind Permission", which saw Dame Hilda perform new songs (written by Fyffe,
Barrie Bignold and Stuart Calvert) and perform sketches as different
characters.
-----
Fyffe was born on 23 January 1942
in Stafford, Staffordshire and died on 11 May 2002 at Wellington, Somerset from
spinal cancer.
Fyffe is outlived by his sister, the soprano Jane Fyffe, who was a
performer with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the late 1950s.
Many of
Fyffe's immediate family had been active in musical theatre.
He initially
trained as a hairdresser, and ran his own salon in Stafford before making a
career on the stage.
He was a regular star of local amateur productions, but a
desire to turn professional took him to London.
His early professional
appearances included a 1964 production of the musical, "Robert and Elizabeth", at
the Lyric Theatre (in which his sister played the lead for a period, and he
played one of Elizabeth's brothers) and a 1971 production of the same show at
the Alhambra Theatre, Glasgow.
With some experience of repertory and a
couple of provincial tours behind him, Fyffe invented the character of glamorous
soprano "Perri St Claire".
Played on stage as a sophisticated young lady
with
singing talent, the "Perri St Claire" character was sufficiently eye-catching to earn him
some television slots.
Fyffe was asked to appear in character in a number of
television series of the late 1960s, notably Z-Cars and the last programme of
Doctor in the House Series 1 in 1969, when he appeared as a cabaret singer.
Fyffe also appears in the first "Steptoe and Son: film, as a drag artist who
becomes the mistaken object of Steptoe Senior's lust.
-----
Logan was born on 7 July 1944 in Rutherglen, Scotland, to a
musical and theatrical family.
He was educated at the Royal Scottish Academy
Glasgow and Glasgow University, trained as a classical pianist and has a
particular interest in opera and vocal music.
After leaving Glasgow, Logan
worked in London as a computer programmer, but continued to use his piano skills
around the London clubs and pubs, accompanying the stage acts.
In 1970, Logan met
and became friends with Fyffe, and together they formed Hinge and
Bracket, making their first appearance in 1972.
Logan applied his formal
training to producing all the musical arrangements for the act.
Mainly because
of the atypical vocal range of the performers, most of Hinge and Bracket's
material required transposition or adaptation for performance.
Logan
frequented the Toucan club and the Piano Bar in Soho, where he would hold court
with his many tales of show-biz high jinks.
After the death of his stage
partner, and a few seasons of pantomime, he retired from the stage in 2004.
Having, like his stage counterpart Evadne, the advantage of French, as well
as
an interest in fine food and wine, Logan opened a bed-and-breakfast
in France,
where he lives today.
Following
special provision in Fyffe's will,
"The Dame Hilda Bracket Trust"
was
established in September 2004 and registered as a charity in March 2006.
The
stated aims of the Dame Hilda Bracket Trust were to encourage and advance the education of the
public in the study, performance, understanding and appreciation of theatrical
music, in particular grand and light opera, operetta and musical
comedy through the establishment and maintenance of scholarships and trusts.
Fyffe's stage partner, Logan, and his housekeeper and friend, Hilary
Miles, were among the appointed trustees.
In 2007, it was decided that
Fyffe's wishes would be best furthered if administration of the funds were
handed over to an organisation with appropriate expertise and administrative
capability.
Accordingly, in 2007, The Dame Hilda Bracket Trust was subsumed into
"The Sadlers Wells Trust".
Hinge and Bracket's television
series Dear Ladies is available on DVD.
"Hinge and Bracket: Gala Evenings" is
available on DVD, featuring over 6 hours of material.
The Complete Dear
Ladies and Gala Evenings set is available on DVD, distributed by Acorn Media
UK.
This includes all three series of Dear Ladies as well as the Gala Evenings
DVD.
References
Specific reference to the non-standard
spelling of "Montpelier" is made in an episode of "The Random Jottings of Hinge
and Bracket".
Among other recordings of Gilbert and Sullivan songs by
Hinge and Bracket are the following:
Hinge and Bracket Volume 1, EMI records on
the One-Up label, catalogue number OU 2125 issued 1976 -- G and S items:
"Sing Hey
to You" from Patience and "Poor Wand'ring One" from The Pirates of Penzance)
An
Evening with Hinge and Bracket, EMI records One-Up, OU 2181, 1977
includes
"Blameless Dances" from Ruddigore and "Regular Royal Queen" from the Act I
finale of The Gondoliers); and
Hinge and Bracket at Abbey Road, EMI records, NTS
201, 1980 (includes
"Things are Seldom What They Seem" from H.M.S. Pinafore and
"So Please You Sir We Much Regret" from The Mikado).
-- Vernon Page, personal
recollection of AD8.
-- "Programme" (PDF).
Retrieved 11 September 2012.
-- Programme Robert and Elizabeth - Glasgow
University's Special Collections Department
-- Network DVD; 'Pass or Fail',
Doctor in the House, 1969.
^ Daily Express Whatever Happened to Hinge from
Hinge and Bracket?, 19 August 2006)
External links
The official
Hinge and Bracket website
Details of their radio shows
Tribute to Patrick
Fyffe
Video Tribute to Patrick Fyffe
George Logan at IMDB
Patrick Fyffe
at IMDB
Obituary of Patrick Fyffe
Retrieved from
"http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hinge_and_Bracket&oldid=553446481"
Categories:
BBC television sitcoms
BBC Radio comedy
programmes
British comedy duos
British drag queens
British male
comedians
British comedy musicians
English male singers
Musical
duos
Pantomime dames
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