Ivy Benson
Encyclopedia
Ivy Benson was an English
musician
and bandleader
, who led an all-female swing band. Benson and her band rose to fame in the 1940s, headlining variety theatres and topping the bill at the London Palladium
, and became the BBC
's resident house band
.
, Leeds
, the daughter of Douglas Rolland "Digger" Benson and his wife Mary Jane Mead. Her father, a musician who played with ensembles including the Leeds Symphony Orchestra
, began teaching her to play piano at the age of five. She played at working men's club
s from the age of eight, billed as Baby Benson, and performed on BBC Radio's Children's Hour
aged nine.
Ivy's father had ambitions for her to become a concert pianist, but she was inspired to become a jazz musician after hearing a Benny Goodman
record and learned to play clarinet
and alto saxophone
. She left school at 14 and took a job at the Montague Burton
factory in Leeds, putting aside half a crown from her wages each week to save up for her first saxophone. She supplemented her income by playing in dance bands
in the evenings.
Edna Croudson's Rhythm Girls in 1929, touring with them until 1935, after which she toured with various bands including Teddy Joyce and the Girlfriends where she became a featured soloist
. She moved to London
in the late 1930s and formed her own band. Their first significant engagement was performing with the all-female revue
Meet the Girls, which starred Hylda Baker
.
During World War II
, opportunities for female musicians opened up as many male musicians were enlisted into the armed forces. The band became the BBC's resident dance band in 1943, and were top of the bill at the London Palladium for six months in 1944. In 1945 the band were the first entertainers invited to perform at the VE Day
celebrations in Berlin
at the request of Field Marshal Montgomery
, and on Christmas Day that year they performed for a live BBC Radio broadcast from Hamburg
immediately after the King's speech
. Benson and her band also toured Europe and the Middle East with the Entertainments National Service Association
entertaining Allied
troops, headlined variety theatres and performed at the 1948 Summer Olympics
in London.
Benson's band had a high turnover of musicians, as they frequently left to marry G.I.s they met while touring. She once commented, "I lost seven in one year to America. Only the other week a girl slipped away from the stage. I thought she was going to the lavatory but she went off with a G.I. Nobody's seen her since."
In the 1950s, she played summer seasons at Butlins
holiday camps and Villa Marina on the Isle of Man
. She continued to lead the band until the early 1980s, adapting to changing tastes by adding pop tunes
to the band's repertoire in the 1960s. The band played for overseas-based servicemen until the 1970s. Towards the end of her career the band played mostly private functions as dance halls and variety theatres declined. The band disbanded in 1982 after a final performance at the Savoy Hotel
, briefly reforming in 1983 for a performance on Russell Harty
's television show to celebrate Benson's 70th birthday.
. She and the band were scheduled to take part in a BBC Television
broadcast in 1946, but were forced to cancel 48 hours before they were due to go on air following a dispute with the Stoll Theatres Corporation, who she was contracted to. Stoll advised her that she faced a ban from their theatres, saying that they considered that television "will be a great detriment to the theatre".
Benson and the band appeared on the television series The Music Box in 1957. She was the subject of an episode of the UK tribute show This Is Your Life
in 1976.
, whom she met while performing in a summer season on the Isle of Man
. The marriage ended after she refused to accompany him when he returned to the United States in 1963 and they were divorced in 1964. An operation left her unable to have children.
, Essex
, occasionally entertaining local holidaymakers on the electric organ
. She suffered a heart attack at her home and died on 6 May 1993, aged 79.
placed at her childhood home in Cemetery Road, Holbeck.
. Benson and her band have been suggested as a possible basis for Alan Plater
's TV film The Last of the Blonde Bombshells
and play Blonde Bombshells of 1943, in which a woman reunites her wartime all-girl band.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
, who led an all-female swing band. Benson and her band rose to fame in the 1940s, headlining variety theatres and topping the bill at the London Palladium
London Palladium
The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...
, and became the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's resident house band
House band
For the British band that existed from 1984-2001, see The House BandA house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to...
.
Early years
Benson was born on 11 November 1913 in HolbeckHolbeck
Holbeck is a district in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.The district begins on the southern edge of the Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 Leeds postcode area. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is the only motorway that passes through the area since...
, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, the daughter of Douglas Rolland "Digger" Benson and his wife Mary Jane Mead. Her father, a musician who played with ensembles including the Leeds Symphony Orchestra
Leeds Symphony Orchestra
Leeds Symphony Orchestra is one of the oldest established orchestras in the United Kingdom dating back to 1890. It is a non-professional orchestra based in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. There are 90 players in the orchestra, and Martin Binks has been the conductor since September 1970...
, began teaching her to play piano at the age of five. She played at working men's club
Working men's club
Working men's clubs are a type of private social club founded in the 19th century in industrial areas of the United Kingdom, particularly the North of England, the Midlands and many parts of the South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class men and their families.-...
s from the age of eight, billed as Baby Benson, and performed on BBC Radio's Children's Hour
Children's Hour
Children's Hour—at first: "The Children's Hour", from a verse by Longfellow—was the name of the BBC's principal recreational service for children during the period when radio dominated broadcasting....
aged nine.
Ivy's father had ambitions for her to become a concert pianist, but she was inspired to become a jazz musician after hearing a Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
record and learned to play clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
and alto saxophone
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
. She left school at 14 and took a job at the Montague Burton
Montague Burton
Sir Montague Maurice Burton founded Burton, one of Great Britain's largest chains of clothes shops....
factory in Leeds, putting aside half a crown from her wages each week to save up for her first saxophone. She supplemented her income by playing in dance bands
British dance band
British dance bands developed a unique style of popular jazz and dance music during the 1920s and 1930s that developed in British dance halls and hotel ballrooms thousands of miles away from the true origins of jazz...
in the evenings.
Career
Benson joined Yorkshire-based six-piece bandSextet
A sextet is a formation containing exactly six members. It is commonly associated with vocal or musical instrument groups, but can be applied to any situation where six similar or related objects are considered a single unit....
Edna Croudson's Rhythm Girls in 1929, touring with them until 1935, after which she toured with various bands including Teddy Joyce and the Girlfriends where she became a featured soloist
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
. She moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in the late 1930s and formed her own band. Their first significant engagement was performing with the all-female revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
Meet the Girls, which starred Hylda Baker
Hylda Baker
Hylda Baker was a British comedienne, actress and music hall star.-Early life and career:Baker was born in Farnworth, near Bolton, Lancashire, the first of seven children. Her father, Harold Baker, was a painter and signwriter, who also worked part-time in the music halls as a comedian...
.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, opportunities for female musicians opened up as many male musicians were enlisted into the armed forces. The band became the BBC's resident dance band in 1943, and were top of the bill at the London Palladium for six months in 1944. In 1945 the band were the first entertainers invited to perform at the VE Day
Victory in Europe Day
Victory in Europe Day commemorates 8 May 1945 , the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The formal surrender of the occupying German forces in the Channel Islands was not...
celebrations in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
at the request of Field Marshal Montgomery
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC , nicknamed "Monty" and the "Spartan General" was a British Army officer. He saw action in the First World War, when he was seriously wounded, and during the Second World War he commanded the 8th Army from...
, and on Christmas Day that year they performed for a live BBC Radio broadcast from Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
immediately after the King's speech
Royal Christmas Message
The Queen's Christmas Message is a broadcast made by the sovereign of the Commonwealth realms to the Commonwealth of Nations each Christmas. The tradition began in 1932 with a radio broadcast by George V on the British Broadcasting Corporation Empire Service...
. Benson and her band also toured Europe and the Middle East with the Entertainments National Service Association
Entertainments National Service Association
The Entertainments National Service Association or ENSA was an organisation set up in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes...
entertaining Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
troops, headlined variety theatres and performed at the 1948 Summer Olympics
1948 Summer Olympics
The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in London, England, United Kingdom. After a 12-year hiatus because of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics since the 1936 Games in Berlin...
in London.
Benson's band had a high turnover of musicians, as they frequently left to marry G.I.s they met while touring. She once commented, "I lost seven in one year to America. Only the other week a girl slipped away from the stage. I thought she was going to the lavatory but she went off with a G.I. Nobody's seen her since."
In the 1950s, she played summer seasons at Butlins
Butlins
Butlins is a chain of large holiday camps in the United Kingdom. Butlins was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families....
holiday camps and Villa Marina on the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
. She continued to lead the band until the early 1980s, adapting to changing tastes by adding pop tunes
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
to the band's repertoire in the 1960s. The band played for overseas-based servicemen until the 1970s. Towards the end of her career the band played mostly private functions as dance halls and variety theatres declined. The band disbanded in 1982 after a final performance at the Savoy Hotel
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
, briefly reforming in 1983 for a performance on Russell Harty
Russell Harty
Russell Harty was an English television presenter of arts programmes and chat shows.-Early life:Born Frederick Russell Harty in Blackburn, Lancashire, he was the son of a fruit and vegetable stallholder on the local market...
's television show to celebrate Benson's 70th birthday.
Film and television appearances
In 1943 Benson appeared as herself with a speaking role in the feature film The Dummy Talks, which starred Jack WarnerJack Warner (actor)
Jack Warner OBE was an English film and television actor. He is closely associated with the role of PC George Dixon, which he played until the age of eighty....
. She and the band were scheduled to take part in a BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
broadcast in 1946, but were forced to cancel 48 hours before they were due to go on air following a dispute with the Stoll Theatres Corporation, who she was contracted to. Stoll advised her that she faced a ban from their theatres, saying that they considered that television "will be a great detriment to the theatre".
Benson and the band appeared on the television series The Music Box in 1957. She was the subject of an episode of the UK tribute show This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life (UK TV series)
This Is Your Life is a British biographical television documentary, based on the 1952 American show of the same name. It was hosted by Eamonn Andrews from 1955 until 1964, and then from 1969 until his death in 1987 aged 64...
in 1976.
Personal life
Benson married theatrical producer Caryll Stafford Clark in 1949; they were divorced in 1951. In 1957 she married Top Sergeant Brantley Callaway of the United States Air ForceUnited States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
, whom she met while performing in a summer season on the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
. The marriage ended after she refused to accompany him when he returned to the United States in 1963 and they were divorced in 1964. An operation left her unable to have children.
Later years
Benson retired to the seaside resort of Clacton-on-SeaClacton-on-Sea
Clacton-on-Sea is the largest town on the Tendring peninsula, in Essex, England and was founded in 1871. It is a seaside resort that attracted many tourists in the summer months between the 1950s and 1970s, but which like many other British sea-side resorts went into decline as a holiday...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, occasionally entertaining local holidaymakers on the electric organ
Electronic organ
An electronic organ is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally, it was designed to imitate the sound of pipe organs, theatre organs, band sounds, or orchestral sounds....
. She suffered a heart attack at her home and died on 6 May 1993, aged 79.
Honours
Benson was made an honorary fellow of Leeds Polytechnic in 1988, the only significant honour she received during her lifetime. In 2011 she was commemorated by Leeds Civic Trust with a blue plaqueBlue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
placed at her childhood home in Cemetery Road, Holbeck.
Cultural references
In 1984 The Silver Lady, a play by Liane Aukin based on Benson's life, was staged at the Birmingham Repertory TheatreBirmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre is a theatre and theatre company based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England...
. Benson and her band have been suggested as a possible basis for Alan Plater
Alan Plater
Alan Frederick Plater, CBE, FRSL was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s.-Career:...
's TV film The Last of the Blonde Bombshells
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells is a 2000 British-American television film directed by Gillies MacKinnon. The script by Alan Plater focuses on the efforts of a recently widowed woman to reunite the members of the World War II-era swing band with which she played saxophone.It features Carry On...
and play Blonde Bombshells of 1943, in which a woman reunites her wartime all-girl band.
Discography
- Ivy Benson And Her Orchestra (1977)
- Ivy Benson And Her All Girl Band (2000)
- You Danced to These Bands (2001)