Bring on the Dancing Girls

de Mary Logan

Mary had superb showbiz credentials. Born in 1921, she was the great niece of Alec Hurley, a fine music hall singer in his own right and the second husband of the legendary Marie Lloyd. Both her parents were entertainers, so Mary was destined for the stage. Her career began as a dancer in touring revues in the 30’s – lodging with theatrical landladies, doing ‘panto’ in the winter and dreaming of London’s West End. These dreams came true when Mary was made head-girl of the chorus in a show at the London Coliseum. During the Second World War duty called and Mary was conscripted to ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) and with her partner Maggie entertained troops in camps from The Orkneys to Land’s End and later in France, Belgium and Holland. They were one of the first acts to entertain behind front lines on D-Day. As the war came to an end, Mary was sent out to Egypt and this period will be covered in her follow-up book, ‘Sand In My Shoes’. In 1949, Logan married Bernard Spear, a comedian who had learnt his craft in variety theatres around Britain and who went on to host his own radio programme, ‘The Midday Floor Show’. Spear went on to become a successful and versatile character actor - he appeared in many films, including ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ (playing one of the comedy spies) and Barbra Streisand’s ‘Yentl’ (Bernard played the tailor), theatrical shows (including ‘The Music Man’, ‘Little Me’, ‘Hello Dolly’ and ‘Man of La Mancha’), TV series (including ‘Never Mind The Quality Feel The Width’ and ‘My Son Reuben’) and TV plays (including playing the father in Jack Rosenthal’s moving television play, ‘Bar Mitzvah Boy’). In 1998 Mary produced this autobiography – it sold out its first hardcover edition. It’s packed with hilarious stories, populated with larger-than-life artistes, extraordinary characters bursting with the camaraderie of both theatre and war. The book is fascinating proof that, whatever the odds, the show must go on.