The Tragic Lives of Some of Our Black Entertainers in 1940’s and 1950’s England

The year 1951 saw many of the outstanding musicians of Jamaica coming to Britain such as Leroy Masters the Trombonist, Roy White, Jocelyn Trott and many others who either led or were members of the leading big bands in Jamaica.

These people combined together to form their own bands playing most of Stan Kenton’s arrangements, their music was far superior to that of any other of the big bands at the time.

There was only one problem, although no one could dispute the quality of their music, because they were all black it was only ‘The Paramount Dance Hall’ in Tottenham Court Road, London who would employ them.

They were forced to dissolve themselves and join other white bands.  Most of them returned to the West Indies or went to Canada, America, and some to the continent of Europe.

We also saw the arrival of Harold Holnes and Dudley Hislop, two of Jamaicans most famous stage dancers who were equivalent to the Nicholas Brothers of America, and among the world’s greats.

There was also Son Batson the Tailor – and many more – who set up a tailoring shop making suits for the boys.

There were the Lyons Brothers who hailed from Montego Bay, Jamaica, who were renown throughout the world as entertainers.

There was Bertha Berzuca with his Jamaica Ballet company also on tour in England as well as Lesley Hutchinson, known to English people as ‘Our Hutch’ but they were not to survive for long.

After leaving my job with Mecca I had a short spell of dancing in the ‘Bertha Berzuca Ballet’, appearing in the show ‘Tobacco Road’.  At the time I had a part in a play staged in the provincial theatres, titled ‘How Deep Are The Root’s’.

This play portrayed a young black man marrying into the family of a Trade Union Leader who was anti-racist, until his daughter brought home a black boy, things were different then, racism took hold of the family defying all his teachings as a Trade Union Leader.   Now looking back on the play, although I thought it was great at the time, I feel I was a party to the furtherance of racist beliefs prevailing at the time.

I can never forget my feeling of despair when Bertha Berzuca the famous Jamaican Ballet Dancer was found dead alone in a dinghy little room in Paddington London, with only one penny in his possession, and had to be given a paupers funeral.   

Bertha Berzuca had toured Europe and America with a troupe of dancers called ‘Tobacco Road,’ at the same time as  ‘Ram Gopal , Eastern India Ballet Dancers, both groups played to packed audiences around England.  

This English society had no room for black entertainers, however good they were.

I knew many black artists who lived in this country, and died in the same tragic circumstances, such as Victor Garrick the singer and tap dancer and Kid Hartley the lightweight boxing champion, who died in the early 1950’s in the East End of London after spending the last years of his life living as a tramp.

The belief that black people have not tried to achieve in this society is an outright lie, and a great insult.  Our present position in this society springs from the fact that the more we tried to achieve, the more pressure was used to prevent us from achieving.

Image via Wikipedia