25
BEHIND THE PIANO
WINIFRED ATWELL was a black
pianist from
Lew’s offer to join the group
was more than three times normal gig money plus a retainer and a personal
roadie to set up the drums. I eventually took Jim’s advice. “Come on
My last gig for August was
with the Dellies at Kogarah RSL. The Delltones were the starring act and at the end of the show
the club manager, Michael Lang, always insisted that the entire cast had to
join in the finale and sing There’s No
Business Like Show Business. Not much room for the rock’n’roll
in clubs. They were still tied to the old cabaret scene.
It was a formidable little group with JIMMY
DOYLE (guitar), MICHAEL LAWLER (bass) LEON ISACKSON (drums), and ‘The Queen of
the Keyboard’ Miss WINIFRED ATWELL on piano with LEW LEVISOHN on lights. More
like Winifred Atwell with a fair dinkum rock’n’roll
band. To complement our bow ties and black dinner suits, Winnie
had her seamstress sew some frilly fronts for our white shirts. The fronts were
also studded with sparkling diamonds and we all looked immaculate, especially
Diamond Jim who really lived up to his nickname. Michael referred to them as
the “poof fronts” and Winnie also readily adopted the
name. “Don’t forget your poof fronts,
boys,” said Winnie, every night before the show. As
well as sounding good, we also had to look good. Or to put it into Lew’s words:
“If we’re going to charge a lot of money, we’ve got to look expensive.”
We were picked up at the old
The Dorset Gardens Hotel was a
reasonably flash hotel just outside of
The band was great as
expected. It sounded like we had been playing all this stuff for years. Jim had already warned me that Winnie had a tendency to speed up or pull back as the mood
took her, but she always expected the band to sit behind her like a rock,
without moving. “Beware of the black look,” said Diamond Jim.
Jim explained that in the
past, unsuspecting players who tried to follow her tempo moods always received
the dreaded ‘black look’. She also hated wimpy drummers, whom she referred to
as ‘Tappers’. It was her prerogative to speed up but the band had to stay where
it was. She liked plenty of dynamics and she wanted all the chasers to be
raucous and loud. Jim, Michael and I were used to getting a good feel going
between us and for the first time there were no black looks. Winnie had a band that was good and solid - and she loved
it. Winnie’s broad smile revealed almost as many
teeth as her grand piano; with a cute little gap in the middle they never
failed to warm the heart of even the coldest audience. During the Let’s Have a Party - Old Time Medley, when Winnie commanded them to sing along they did so without
hesitation.
The place was packed and the
standing ovations continued at the end of every show. Michael told the road
crew that Lew had all the seats wired with electric shocks, which he operated
from the light box.
“Turn on the electric seats,
Lew,” Michael would call out at exactly the right moment. Sure enough, the
entire audience would all jump out of their seats on cue.
A
FEUDIC SUPPER
After a sumptuous banquet of
seafood, steaks and wine Michael, Jim and I were whisked away to check out the
late
Winnie never liked to eat before the
show so Lew would usually arrange for an extravagant banquet after the
performance.
“Come on, boys, we’re going to
have our feudic
supper,” said Winnie,
every night at the end of a show. We had told Winnie
and Lew that in old English times when the feudal lords held a banquet it was
known as a feudic supper – and they believed us!
In actual fact the name came
about when the three of us were sitting at the bar after the show. We were
still in our dinner suits and poof fronts when a ‘lady-of-the-night’ walked
past us and smiled. Michael turned to me and said, “I BET SHE’S HAD A FEW DICKS
UP HER.” Jim was a bit stoned and he only caught the last part of Michael’s
ungracious remark.
“What’s a few-dicks-up-her?”
said Jim. Michael and I both laughed at the sound of it and I made up the story
about the feudal lords on the spot. It all sounded pretty convincing to Jim,
although he wasn’t really too sure at this stage. It was about this time that Winnie called us in for our late supper, and thus the feudic supper was born. From then on, no one
ever dared to tell Winnie what a feudic
supper really meant, and even Lew was convinced of its dubious historical
meaning.
Winnie soon became a bit a of a
mother hen to her three boys and Lew was pleased to have some drinking partners
to relate all his old show biz stories to. In true British fashion Winnie and Lew always liked us to be nicely dressed when we
were staying at posh hotels. As soon as we’d arrive, Lew would head straight
for the bar. He had a million stories to tell. During a private command
performance for Queen Elizabeth, Lew Levisohn was introduced to Her Majesty as
Mr. Atwell. “Well, who was I to argue with the Queen?” said Lew as he tossed
down another triple Gordon’s gin and tonic.
HOWARD
GOZE
“It’s alright Bird. It’s just
the long term effects of marijuana,” said Diamond Jim, as we listened back to
the first take of Rock’n’Roll Will Stand. “Well, who knows how it
goes?” continued the Bird. “Nobody!” we all chorused. “Maybe we can put Howard Goze on the record as the producer,” I interjected.
The mood of the session was
very humorous and relaxed and it wasn’t long before we came up with a couple of
good backing tracks for Rock’n’Roll Will Stand and a song written by Bob Pierse called Billy’s
Rock’n’Roll. As well as the trio of Diamond Jim,
Michael and me, I also booked Barrie Heidenreich on
piano and Jim Kelly on rhythm guitar. The Dellies put
down a great vocal and it was all over in a couple of hours.
The next night I was off to do
a gig with Little Pattie and her MD, Ross Dean. I enjoyed the semi-casual
feeling of not having to work in the same place every night. Like everyone else
I was in love with Little Pattie and it was nice to meet up with her again for
a gig at Penshurst RSL Club. We only did one gig with Winnie
that week, and it was a new experience to pick up a retainer and still fit in
any other odd gigs that came along. A couple of gigs with the Dellies and a few more with Sandy Scott and I was back with
Winnie again. Winnie’s book
was starting to fill up now that the agents knew that she was available. The
Sydney and NSW clubs were booming and our little troupe was primed and ready to
go anywhere.
SIR
FRANK PACKER
Winnie and Lew needed a permanent
roadie and Michael introduced a friend of his to Lew. Winnie
hired him straight away when she found out that he originally came from her
hometown in
Sir Frank (Gavin) became an important part of the team, especially
when we went on tour. On some flights we had well over a ton of gear, which
included lights, sound and instruments. Sir Frank’s toughest tours were when he
had to drive a truck with a grand piano while the rest of us flew.
Whenever possible, Lew would travel first
class so that he could enjoy the luxury of free drinks. He figured that the
amount of triple Cognacs he drank almost made up for the difference in the fare
price.
“Look at him, he thinks he’s on holidays,”
Lew would say sarcastically as Gavin sat with us in the plane. Gavin’s face
would light up with a broad grin, anticipating yet another adventure in
Since his arrival from
Gavin soon became sick of
driving on his own in the truck and at the first opportunity he would join us
in the car, where Jim would keep him permanently stoned. While we were driving
from the motel to the gig I had a shave with the portable shaver that we
carried in the glove box. When I had finished I handed the after-shave to Jim.
“Would you like a bit of Brut, Jim?” “Don’t mind if I do,” replied Jim,
slapping a bit of the after-shave on his face. “What about you, Muck?” said
Jim, handing the bottle over to the back seat. “Gavin, would you like some?” said
Muck. “Oh gas, man. You guys are so cool,” said Gavin, who then proceeded to
drink the bottle. Michael grabbed the bottle. “No, you bloody fool. You don’t
drink it!”
“Oh sorry, Muck,” said Gavin
with a pained look on his face. “It doesn’t taste too good.” Gavin wiped his
mouth with a tissue. It was still great to be one of the guys.
One of our first flights with
Gavin was a concert tour of
Winnie explained to the audience
that Claire de Lune was considered so
sensual in its day that young schoolgirls were forbidden to listen to it.
Michael would invariably fall asleep on his stool during these numbers and I
would always have to give him a discreet call at the end. One night he actually
fell off his stool as Winnie played the last chord. Muckle figured out the length of time that the classical
spot took, and calculated that he was being paid three dollars a minute for
sleeping.
Michael’s sneaky stool did
come in handy one night during one of Winnie’s bum
crashing numbers. Winnie sometimes included a comedy
routine with a Lonnie Donegan song called My Old Man’s a Dustman. Winnie would jump off her stool and crash back on to it
about a dozen times during the song. It was a great visual gag and it was my
job to catch her bum landing back on the stool with a big cymbal crash. After
about half a dozen crashes Michael and I noticed that the old piano stool was
starting to give way. Just as one of the legs collapsed Michael saved the day
by replacing the stool with his own just in the nick of time. The audience
thought it was all part of the gag and it got a big laugh.
During our time in
Because he had to leave early,
His Royal Highness Prince Charles made a special request for Winnie to open the second half instead of closing. Prince
Charles had been a Winnie fan since he was a kid so
we obliged by opening the second half with Black
& White Rag. The show was a roaring success and our closing number, Glory, Glory, Hallelujah sounded
fabulous with Bob Gibson’s 16-piece band.
The cast was then invited back
to the mayoral chambers where we were treated to yet another feudic supper, and presented with a mayoral
mug. Rolf Harris filled our mayoral mugs with booze and gave us lessons on
circular breathing with a straw. This is something you have to learn if you
want to play a continuous note on a didgeridoo. You must be able to blow bubbles
continuously without taking a breath through your mouth. It was a trick Rolf
learned from an Aboriginal didgeridoo player called David Gulpillil.
The night ended with Rolf, Lew, Jim, Michael and I staggering down the main
streets of
Another feudic
supper followed the next week when we played three nights at Cabravale Diggers. We were invited into the boardroom with
Gough and Margaret Whitlam. As well as being a Winifred Atwell fan, Gough was
also a patron of the club, because it was part of his electorate. Gough and
Margaret soon became bored with talking politics to the directors and they
turned their attention to us.
“You must be all from
Looking uncomfortable in his
new coat and tie, Gavin was a little overawed with the distinguished company
and he nervously offered Gough a cigarette. Gough looked at Gavin’s red eyes
and said, “Well, Gavin, I don’t think I should have one of your brand, thank
you.”
The Whitlams
were very charming and very tall. Gough had already started his campaign
leading up to the election and they promised to meet up with us next year when
we played the Canberra Civic Theatre.
THE
ZARSOFF BROTHERS
Now that we had a fully
Australian band, Lew wanted to give us a name. He preferred one of Winnie’s Aussie suggestions – ‘The Magic Pudding’. We
really thought that a name for Winnie’s band was
superfluous and we often joked about other possible names. It wasn’t until we
were all driving to the gig one night that another suggestion came up. As Jim
tried to get the last puff out of one of the little numbers he used to roll for
the car trip, he dropped a smouldering ash on my seat.
“Look out!’ said Michael.
“You’ll burn his arse off!”
“Burn-his-arse-off?” I
replied. “That sounds like a Russian composer – BERNIE ZARSOFF.”
“That’s it!” said Jim. “We
could call the band the ZARSOFF BROTHERS!”
We rattled off a few more
names that fitted. As well as Bernie, we could have BLUEY ZARSOFF, TERRY
ZARSOFF and RORY ZARSOFF. “What about Gavin?” said Michael.
“I know, we’ll call him RUDY
ZARSOFF!” - And so the Zarsoff Brothers were born.
Winnie and Lew thought it was great
name. Although Winnie never really grasped the
significance, she always requested that we sing our song for the prominent
guests at our feudic suppers.
(Sung
to the tune of Dark Eyes)
(All - in unison) We are the Zarsoffs,
the dreaded Zarsoffs
(Michael) I’m Bluey Zarsoff,
(
(Jim) I’m Rory Zarsoff, or Terry Zarsoff,
(All – in harmony pointing to
Gavin)
…and there is Rudy Zarsoff,
too.
This was then followed by an
unrehearsed Russian Cossack dance that usually received a burst of applause.
During one of our trips to
Lew loved all the nicknames
that we gave to various people that we met. One of our promoters was a retired mouth
organ player who had a big wart on his nose and we always referred to him as
the “Wart.” Lew had no sensitivity at all, and in his presence Lew blurted out,
“Gee, these boys have funny names for some people. They call you the Wart!”
This statement was followed by deadly silence. Lew was the only one smiling.
The Wart was devastated and we were embarrassed no end. Lew was always giving
promoters a hard time. He loved it. While we were following Lew and the Wart in
another car we could see that they were having a heated argument in the back
seat. This prompted Muckle to observe.
“Look guys. It’s the battle of
Wart and Lew!”
It was a busy time for Winnie the Pooh and the famous Zarsoff
Brothers, although I still managed to fit in a new weekly television show on
Channel 10 called The Tonight Show with Dick Curtis and Hazel Phillips.
Produced by John Collins, it was recorded every Saturday afternoon and I played
with John Ferguson’s 20-piece band. The show began on October 9, and American
Dick Curtis was later replaced by Bernard King and Maggie Tabberer.
With all of Winnie’s gigs I had probably bitten off more than I could
chew, but I could always get drummer Will Dower to fill in for me when we went
away on tour. At the time, Will was breaking his neck to get into television.
It was the usual thing. Play-ins and play-offs to ad breaks followed by backing
up a few visiting guests. After years of television at Channel 7 with Dig
Richards and then Johnny O’Keefe, I didn’t fancy making a career out of it. The
Tonight Show soon evolved into a daytime show with Mike Walsh and
eventually moved to Channel 9. Will Dower managed to stay on as the resident
drummer extraordinaire for the next twenty years or so.
After a week at St. George
Leagues Club with Winnie, the Zarsoffs
spent the end of the year in Jon Hayton’s new
swimming pool; paid for, no doubt, with his earnings from
Jon and I had been friends
with
Throughout this time I was
never ever an official Joy Boy. Their original drummer, the notorious John
Bogie, already had the honour of that position. Bogie was also the originator
of the legendary ‘Dance Of The Flames’, as well as many other indecent acts of
debauchery that were performed on some of the early tours.
At the start of 1972 Winnie and the Zarsoffs played a
couple of weeks in Surfers Paradise and Lew became very sick. While we took a
week off I was at last called upon to be an official Joy Boy for one night in
Goulburn.
Jon Hayton
always thought that Ron had a kangaroo loose in his top paddock, so we donated
him to the Joy Boys back in 1962 - and he was still with them! While we were
setting up Ron was barking out orders to the Joy Boy’s famous roadie, Jimmy the
Spider. The old Purple Face had only recently returned from the
That night at
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This Chapter is dedicated to ‘Diamond’ Jim Doyle 1945-2006
He brought joy and musicality to everyone he played with. We
will miss you Jim
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