WEBSTER BOOTH TIMELINE (1940 - 1949)

Messiah - 22 March 1940 in Queen's Hall, London

Good Friday Messiah. Royal Choral Society with Elsie Suddaby, Muriel Brunskill, Webster Booth, Robert Easton. Conducted by Dr Malcolm Sargent.

Gala Variety Performance

5 May 1940 in The London Palladium

Because of the war this show replaced the traditional Royal Command Performance.The concert was in aid of the Variety Artistes' Benevolent Fund.

Messiah

22 December 1940 in Hallé Concert Society, Manchester

Webster Booth was tenor soloist at this concert, conducted by Malcolm Sargent. Later that night a big bombing raid destroyed the Free Trade Hall.

Dream of Gerontius (Elgar)

10 May 1941 in Queen's Hall, London

Webster Booth, Muriel Brunskill and Ronald Stear were soloists in an afternoon performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Choral Society, conducted by Malcolm Sargent. That night a single incendiary bomb gutted the Queen's Hall.

Paddy Prior, second wife of Webster Booth (tenor) 1902-1984 entertaining troops during World War 2. — in London, United Kingdom.

Paddy Prior, Webster Booth's second wife who divorced him in 1938, entertains troops as a member of ENSA during the war.

Death of Sarah Booth, Webster's mother

November 1942 in Birmingham, United Kingdom

Webster and Anne had sung at Golders Green Hippodrome in "Clap Your Hands and Smile" with Charlie Kunz and others from 1 November 1943. Webster's mother died (aged 80) during that week.

Good Friday Messiah

23 April 1943 in Royal Albert Hall

Webster Booth sang in another Good Friday Messiah at the Albert Hall with soloists Isobel Baillie, Mary Jarred and Henry Cummings, conducted by Malcolm Sargent. In 1940 he and Anne Ziegler began touring in Variety as duettists and it is clear that he did not do as much serious singing because of this.

Edwin Booth remarries.

1947 in Birmingham, United Kingdom

In 1947 Edwin Booth married Irene Constance Louise Coles, who was born in Bristol in 1902, a few months younger than Webster. After Edwin Booth's death, Irene continued to attend Webster and Anne's concerts in Birmingham. The census form shows the Coles family in 1911 when Irene was 9 years old.

Funeral of Tommy Handley

January 1949 in Golders Green Crematorium

Members of Savage Club formed choir which included Webster Booth, Parry Jones, Walter Midgley, Dennis Noble, Frederic Gregory, George James & Edward Dykes. They sang "The Long Day Closes" by Arthur Sullivan.

Funeral of Tommy Handley at Golders Green Crematorium January 1949. Webster Booth was singing in choir with other Savage Club singers. — with Trefor Jones at Golders Green Crematorium.

Death of Edwin Booth 16 October 1949 in Birmingham Town Hall Webster's father had celebrated his 83rd birthday the day before. He was attending a concert featuring Webster & Anne Ziegler and was taken ill during the concert. Webster was not informed about his father's death until after the concert. His father referred to the concert at which he died as his "birthday concert".

WEBSTER BOOTH AND THE QUEEN'S HALL

QUEENS HALL, LANGHAM PLACE

The Queen’s Hall had seventeen entrances in Langham Place, Riding House Street and Great Portland Street and originally seated 3000 people, although, after alterations in 1919, housed only 2,400. It was considered to have excellent acoustics. There was also the Queen’s Small Hall, seating 500 people. This hall opened in November 1893.

While Webster Booth always considered this hall to be his favourite as a singer, he was associated with it as early as 1935 when the unusual film written and composed by Friedrich Feher in which he appeared as a troubadour, was first shown in the Queen’s Hall. The film was called The Robber Symphony. Not only was Webster required to pull a piano through the snow in the Alps during the making of this film, but he also sang several songs written by Mr Feher, one in creditable Italian.

ROMANCE from THE ROBBER SYMPHONY (FRIEDRICH FEHER)

Webster Booth in The Robber Symphony.

Webster sang many oratorio performances in the Queen’s Hall, including a Messiah, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham on 17 December 1938. It was at this performance that Australian, Joan Hammond sang the soprano solos in one of her first engagements in England. At that time Joan Hammond had a beautiful lyrical soprano voice, but after further training Webster was surprised to discover that her voice had become very much heavier when he recorded the duet from Madame Butterfly with her in 1943. In order to balance the duet, Miss Hammond had to stand quite a distance behind Webster during the recording, conducted by the (then) Dr Malcolm Sargent.

DUET FROM MADAME BUTTERFLY: JOAN HAMMOND, WEBSTER BOOTH

By the time this recording was made, the Queen’s Hall had been destroyed by an incendiary bomb. On the afternoon of 10 May 1941 Webster had sung the part of the Soul in Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius at the Queen’s Hall. The other soloists were contralto, Muriel Brunskill (the Angel) and baritone, Ronald Stear (The Priest and Angel of Agony). The soloists, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Choral Society were conducted by Malcolm Sargent. 

Interior of Queen's Hall

I have always regretted that no recording was ever made of Webster singing Gerontius, as he was notable in this role. When he immigrated to South Africa he sang in the first South African performance of The Dream of Gerontius in 1957, conducted by a very young Keith Jewell, who became the Cape Town City Organist. Keith Jewell accompanied Anne and Webster in (what was meant to be) their farewell concert in Somerset West, Cape Province in 1975..  

The day in 1941 had been pleasant and sunny, but only a few hours after this performance of  The Dream of Gerontius, the Queen’s Hall was destroyed by a German incendiary bomb. Webster Booth always considered the hall to be the finest concert hall in the world for a singer. The Promenade Concerts had been held there, but after the destruction of this beautiful hall they transferred to the Royal Albert Hall. Webster Booth said in his joint autobiography with Anne Ziegler, Duet (1951), that many singers were terrified to sing in the Albert Hall after the warm acoustic of the Queen’s Hall, but although he adored the Albert Hall, the Queen’s Hall would always remain his favourite London Concert Hall.

Jeannie C

March 2011 ©

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