WEBSTER BOOTH TIMELINE - 1902 - 1939

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21 January 1902 Birth.

Leslie Webster Booth was the youngest of six children born to Edwin Booth and his wife Sarah (neé Webster) at 157 Soho Road, Handsworth, Staffordshire. Above - 157 Soho Road today.

Soho Road in the early 1900s.

Accepted as a chorister at Lincoln Cathedral

1911 in Lincoln Cathedral

Webster Booth spent four years as a chorister at Lincoln until his voice broke in 1915.

His voice breaks so he returns home.

1915 in Birmingham, United Kingdom

His parents send him to do a commercial course at Aston Commercial School. The headmaster there is Edgar Keey. Later he married Edgar Keey's daughter, Winifred.

Leaves School

1918 in Birmingham, United Kingdom

After Webster left school he began working in an accounting office in Birmingham. At the same time he took singing lessons with Dr Richard Wassall, choirmaster at St Martin's, Birmingham and singing teacher at the Midland Institute.

First professional engagement

9 September 1923 in Theatre Royal Brighton

Webster Booth was accepted into the chorus of D'Oyly Carte Opera and made his stage debut as a yeoman in "Yeomen of the Guard". He remained with the company for four and a half years, singing in the chorus, playing small parts and understudying the leading tenor roles. He was known in the company as Leslie Booth. He did not use the name Webster Booth until he left the company in 1927.

Webster Booth sings Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes

Prince's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue

Marriage

June 1924 in Fulham Registry Office, Fulham, London

Webster Booth married his first wife, Winifred Dorothy Keey in the second quarter of 1924 at Fulham Registry Office.

Birth of Keith Leslie Booth

12 June 1925 in Birmingham, United Kingdom

Birth of his son, Keith Leslie Booth. Mother: Winifred Dorothy Booth (nee Keey)

6 September 1925. Webster Booth (Leslie W. Booth) as First Yeoman.

D'Oyly Carte Opera tour of Canada

24 December 1926 in SS Metagama, Liverpool

Webster Booth went to Canada as a member of the chorus of D'Oyly Carte for the tour of Canada aboard the SS Metagama. The tour opened in Montreal on 4 January 1927.

  Singing in Lyons' Cafés and Restaurants

May 1928 in Popular & Strand Lyons' Cafés, Holborn Restaurant

Webster Booth, still known as Leslie Webster Booth, was eking out a living singing in various Lyons' cafés and at Masonic dinners, as well as performing in panto and singing with the Opieros. The photo shows the Holborn Restaurant, a popular venue for staff dinners.

Holborn Restaurant

Recording contract with HMV

1929 in His Master's Voice Records

Webster Booth made his first recording with HMV in 1929. He continued recording with the company until his contract was cancelled in 1951. The first recording was A Brown Bird Singing and I Love the Moon.

December 1929. Gloucester Hippodrome

"The Three Musketeers" (Friml)

28 March 1930 in Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

Webster Booth made his debut as the Duke of Buckingham in The Three Musketeers. Denis King played D'Artagnan. Others in the cast included Adrienne Brune and Lillian Davies.

2 September 1931

 

 

 Divorce from Winifred Booth (nee Keey)

October 1931 in London, United Kingdom

Winifred Booth deserted Webster and his young son in 1927. Webster tried to find her for many years but she had vanished. In October 1931, he sued for divorce, naming Trevor Davey as co-respondent.

Marriage to Dorothy Annie Alice Prior

10 October 1932 in Fulham Registry Office, Fulham, London

Webster Booth married his second wife, Dorothy Annie Alice Prior (stage name: Paddy Prior). Paddy was a soubrette, dancer and light comedienne.

Piccadilly Revels

May 1933 in Scarborough, North Yorkshire

Webster Booth, Paddy Prior, Violet Stevens, George & Kenneth Western and Edgar Sawyer starred in Murray Evans and Wilby Lunn's summer show. Paddy Prior is seated to the left of Webster Booth in the middle row.

Piccadilly Revels, 1933 with Webster Booth (tenor) 1902-1984, and second wife, Paddy Prior. — in 

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Concert in Canterbury. 11 March 1934

 The Faust Fantasy

December 1934 in Bushy Heath

Webster Booth was chosen to play the part of Faust in this film. During the filming he met Anne Ziegler played the part of Marguerite. Unfortunately their meeting spelt the end of his marriage to Paddy Prior before it had really begun.

A Kingdom for a Cow (Kurt Weill)

28 June 1935 in Savoy Theatre

Webster Booth starred as Juan, with Jacqueline Francell as Juanita. The show included George Gee, Bobby Comber and Hay Petrie. Muir Matheson conducted the orchestra. The show received good notices but was not a success with the public. It closed after three weeks.

30 November 1935 - Samson and Delilah

Grand Concert, Regal Cinema, Chesterfield (circa 1936)

With Mr Flotsam and Mr Jetsam (B.C. Hilliam and Malcolm McEachern)

Is 'E an Aussie, Is 'E, Lizzie, 'E? (Flotsam and Jetsam) 

and Webster Booth, Chesterfield Male Voice Choir and the Belton Singers, a male quartet comprising Walter Hardwick. A. Bennett, J. Wheatley and A. Dethick.

In aid of Chesterfield Royal Hospital.

 

  

 

The Robber Symphony (film)

17 April 1936

Webster Booth sang several songs in this film. The film was directed by Friedrich Feher, who also wrote the script and the music. His wife was the heroine of the film.

30 May 1936 - Memorial Cinema, Hastings

Hiawatha's Wedding Feast

2. 7 June 1937 in Royal Albert Hall

   Webster Booth's first appearance in Hiawatha's Wedding Feast. Conducted by Malcolm Sargent. He sang the role of the Monk on 7 & 10 June, and Chihiabos on 18 June.
   Webster Booth sings Onaway, Awake, Beloved!

   
   

   7 June 1937
3. Souvenir programme for the dramatised version of Hiawatha held at the Royal Albert Hall in June 7-19, 1937.

   

                                                                                 Ina Souez

   Ina Souez sings an aria from Cosi fan Tutti

   7 February 1938 

   

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

   27 February 1938 - Colston Hall, Bristol

   

    Der Rosenkavalier, The Magic Flute

   May 1938 in Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

   Webster Booth sang the role of Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier and took a small role in The Magic Flute.
   

   

Third Marriage

5 November 1938 in Paddington Registry office, Paddington, London

Webster Booth's divorce from Paddy Prior came through in October. He married Anne Ziegler (Irené Frances Eastwood) the following month - first at the Paddington Registry Office, followed by a blessing of the marriage at St Ethelburga's Church in Bishopsgate.

Messiah

17 December 1938 in Queen's Hall, London

Webster Booth, Joan Hammond, Muriel Brunskill, Norman Walker with London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Opera Choir, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.

 Muriel Brunskill sings But the Lord is Mindful of His Own

6 January 1939 

2 April 1939 in The London Palladium

Members of the Concert Artistes' Association gave their annual concert in aid of their Benevolent Fund. Webster Booth & other artistes performed. The receipts totalled £427 - a record for these affairs! 

 8 April 1939

 

  28 July 1939. Forthcoming concerts at The Assembly Hall, Tunbridge Wells.

Joins staff of variety department of the BBC

3 September 1939 in BBC Bristol

Webster Booth had been appointed to the staff of the BBC Variety department at the outbreak of war. Others included Tommy Handley, Sam Costa, Charles Shadwell, Betty Huntley-Wright and Leonard Henry.

                                                             9 December 1939

Oscar Natzke sings Hear Me, Ye Winds and Waves 

13 December 1939 Eastbrook Hall, Bradford

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WEBSTER BOOTH, GRAND OPERA AND SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR

Webster Booth had always hoped to sing in Grand Opera despite Malcolm Sargent's advice to him that unless he had a private income it would be best to leave opera alone. In 1938 he was asked by Sir Thomas Beecham to go to Covent Garden and sing for him. By that time he was already an established singer on the radio, on record,  in oratorio and lighter forms of entertainment and was rather affronted that he should have to audition at all. Sir Thomas and Lady Emerald Cunard were seated in the middle of the empty auditorium and chatted to one another while he sang Your Tiny Hand is Frozen from La Bohème and The Flower Song from Carmen. To add insult to injury Sir Thomas offered him two small parts - one in The Magic Flute, the other as the tenor singer in Rosenkavalier at the princely sum of £10 per performance and nothing for rehearsals.

Unlike Sir Thomas's disdainful attitude towards Webster, Erich Kleiber, who was conducting Der Rosenkavalier was most impressed with his voice and congratulated him on his performance of the aria before the whole company. It was during the first performance of Rosenkavalier that the famous soprano, Lotte Lehmann, who was playing the role of the Marschallein, stopped singing in the middle of the performance and walked off the stage. She had been informed before the performance that her husband had been arrested by the Nazis. Early in 1939, Webster appeared in Rosenkavalier at Sadler's Wells and accepted no fee. Miss Lilian Baylis could only afford to pay him £4 per performance. Webster wrote in his autobiography, Duet: "I laughed and replied, "Don't bother with the £4. I'll sing four performances for you anyway!"

 

Although Webster was offered the part of Lohengrin and other roles at Covent Garden in 1951 during the Festival of Britain, he turned it down.  People often question why he "wasted so much time" singing duets in Variety, but one of the reasons he did this was because Variety paid a great deal more than Opera and required far less hard work. 

September 1 2012 is the centenary of the death of the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who died at the early age of 37 on September 1 1912. Despite his early death he left a legacy of fine music behind him. I have many of his piano solos in my possession and get much pleasure in playing them.

Webster Booth was associated with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor because of his many appearances in Hiawatha, Coleridge-Taylor's best known and most popular work. He made his first appearance in this work at the Royal Albert Hall in May 1936 with Harold Williams and others and made another appearance in Hiawatha in June 1937, shortly before he sailed for New York the following month.

Before the war, the work was presented in full native-American costume and here is Webster in his costume below. Dr Malcolm Sargent (as he was then) conducted the work and continued to present it with the Royal Choral Society and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra many times.

Webster appeared in many other performances of Hiawatha, including one presented at Kenilworth Castle in  1952. I have included a few of the advertisements below: [caption id="attachment_528" align="aligncenter" width="301"] Hiawatha at Kenilworth Castle 1952 Webster Booth appeared in the Jubilee concert of  Hiawatha to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the concert which was first presented in March 1900. 

May 1951. Croydon, Davis Theatre. As part of the Festival of Britain celebrations a concert mainly devoted to the works of local composer, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was held in the Davis Theatre on 31 May 1951, part of a series of concerts sponsored by Croydon Corporation for the Festival. Parts One and Two of Hiawatha were presented by the Croydon Philharmonic Society, conducted by Alan J. Kirby. Gwen Catley, Webster Booth and Dennis Noble were the soloists. 

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14 Ju

 

Although the planned presentation of Hiawatha in 1954 was called off at the last minute because of poor ticket sales, Sir Malcolm Sargent asked that Webster should be the soloist in the work at his sixtieth birthday concert on 29 April 1955 at the Royal Festival Hall, where his fellow soloists were Jennifer Vyvian and Australian baritone John Cameron. Perhaps because the performance was associated with Sir Malcolm's birthday, tickets were in great demand.

Here is a photograph from the defunct magazine, Music and Musicians where Webster and Anne are speaking to John Cameron after the performance.

His last performance in the work was at the Promenade Concert in August 1955, where he also sang the song cycle To Julia by Roger Quilter.

In July 1956 he and Anne Ziegler moved to Johannesburg South Africa. He never sang in another performance of this work. Webster Booth recorded several songs by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor  below: Onaway, Awake, Beloved! Eleanore Unmindful of the Roses/Life and Death Jean Collen 2012 Updated May 2017

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