Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler were very popular and attracted a legion of fans who followed them for a variety of reasons.
Before he began working with Anne, Webster attracted many female fans who admired him, not only for his beautiful voice, but for his smouldering good looks. He told me that he often singled out the most attractive girl in the audience and sang for her alone. Invariably she would be waiting at the stage door after the show, either to ask shyly for his autograph, hoping for a few kind words from her hero, or hoping, better still, that he would ask her out for a drink! He had attractive photos made to hand out to his fans, such as this one, signed at Shanklin in 1931, and the same photo later signed to Elaine in 1933.
His practised seduction technique led directly to his second marriage with soubrette, Paddy Prior. He had been singing at a Monday evening concert at the Concert Artistes Association when he noticed an attractive young woman sitting in the audience obviously enjoying his singing. When he sang One Alone he directed his attention to her alone. After the concert, he was introduced to her and they were married after his divorce from his first wife, Winifred Keey, was finalised. Sadly, his marriage to Paddy did not last very long after he met Anne Ziegler during the filming of the Faust Fantasy at the end of 1934.
In July 1934, Madeleine wrote a note to her friends, Lily and Phil, from Shanklin on the Isle of Wight where Webster was appearing in the Sunshine summer show there.
He valued his fans and treated them with kindness and consideration. He answered fan mail himself, such as in these letters, dated September and December 1936:
During the 1990s Anne wrote to me and told me that her very first fan had visited her recently in Penrhyn Bay. The girl had been fifteen years of age in 1935 and saw Anne in a summer show in Ryde when Anne herself was only twenty-five years of age. She had been a fan of Anne’s ever since and kept in touch with her over the years.
Even before Webster’s divorce to Paddy Prior was finalised, he and Anne began singing together on the concert platform. They were an instant success. Both were very attractive with charming personalities. He wore an evening suit with a gardenia in his lapel; Anne was beautifully dressed. As their popularity grew, she had crinoline gowns designed for her, some by the Queen Mother’s dress-designer, Norman Hartnell.
By the 1940s when they appeared on the Variety circuit and starred in a revival of The Vagabond King they were able to afford their own manager and persuaded Mr F.W.J Gladwell, who was Tom Arnold’s manager in 1943 when they were appearing in the show, to join them. While they occasionally still answered fan mail themselves, it was often left to Gladdie to do it for them. Here is an example of a letter he wrote to a fan in 1953:
GLADYS REED
They attracted a legion of adoring fans. Many followed them ardently from one engagement to another and listened to all their broadcasts on the radio. One of their fans was Gladys Reed, seen below with Anne at the stage door of the London Palladium in 1942. You can see how delighted she was to have her photo taken with her idol! Anne wrote a letter to Gladys telling her to give their regards to the “gang” – probably referring to the devoted fans who followed them around from one engagement to the other.
Letters to Gladys 1942 and 1943 
I think Gladys must have been a special fan as she had met them at the stage door of the London Palladium and had her photograph taken with them and written to them several times. Anne mentions “the gang” in her letter. No doubt there were a number of their fans who went to most of the shows together and met them at the stage door afterwards. I remember the same thing happening in the 1960s where a number of Tom Round fans got to know each other and went to all his performances.
Imagine how Anne and Webster’s fairytale act must have lightened the lives of their fans during the difficult war years. No wonder they attracted so many people at that time.
JEAN BUCKLEY
In 1943, Jean Buckley (née Newman) was thirteen years of age, living in wartime Manchester and she and her mother spending many nights in an air raid shelter with bombs dropping around them, keeping them from sleep. She and her mother attended many of their concerts and broadcasts in the city for Jean was enchanted by their act. She and her mother always went backstage to see the couple and Jean saved her pocket money and collected coupons so that she could buy gifts to present to Anne whenever they went backstage after a show. Anne and Webster saw Jean so often that they often sent her complimentary tickets for their shows.
Jean was very upset when they decided to move to South Africa in 1956 but they kept in touch and she sent them copies of The Stage while they were living there. When they returned to the UK in 1978 they lived near Jean and her husband Maurice and spent a lot of time with them. Jean said that Webster enjoyed watching cricket on TV with Maurice.
When Webster became ill and was admitted to a nursing home, Jean visited him in the afternoon when she finished work and took him out occasionally to give him a break from the dull routine of the nursing home. After his death, Jean did a great deal for Anne in one way and another. She and Maurice raised money to inaugurate a prize in Webster’s name at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Jean was very hurt when Anne’s friend, Babs Wilson Hill condescendingly introduced her as “Anne’s greatest fan.” Jean replied, “I think I might be considered Anne’s greatest friend.” Sadly, Anne and Jean fell out over a trivial matter several years before Anne’s death and they were never reconciled. I corresponded with Jean for over ten years and I am sad that she has lost her sight and is now living in a frail care home at the age of eighty-seven.
Update on Jean Buckley Sadly, Jean died in July of 2017. Not only was she blind but she suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease and I can only imagine how confused she must have felt to be living in a frail care home, unable to see and not really knowing what was happening to her. I was surprised when lawyers contacted me to let me know that she had left me a sum of money in her will because of our friendship. I may never have met her in person, but we had a lot in common because of our friendship with Anne and Webster. I will never forget her.
Anne and Jean in Penrhyn Bay before going to the Royal Northern College, Manchester for prize winners’ concert for the Webster Booth prize.
Jean Buckley, Anne and Babs Wilson Hill in the 1990s They were all dog lovers!
PAMELA DAVIES
Another fan was Pamela Davies (née James). She mentioned in her book Do You Remember Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth? that she and her fellow teaching students gathered round the radio to listen to the Victory Royal Command Performance in November 1945 to hear Anne and Webster singing. She made extensive notes of all their radio appearances and the concerts she attended.
When Anne and Webster returned to the UK in 1978 she wrote to them to say how pleased she was that they had returned to the country. Thus began a regular correspondence with Anne which resulted in Pam and her husband Walter taking Anne out to lunch whenever they went to North Wales.
I “met” Pam when she contacted me after Anne’s death in 2003 as she had read one of my articles on the internet. At the time I was writing my book, Sweethearts of Song: A Personal Memoir of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth. She too had hoped to write a book about her association with them. We decided to collaborate and her book Do You Remember Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth? was published at the same time as mine in 2006. 
We kept in touch with each other after the books were published and corresponded with Jean Buckley at the same time. Unfortunately the postal system in South Africa was failing and Pam was not computer-literate so our correspondence faltered slightly until she obtained a tablet and gradually learnt to use it. Pam was a gifted linguist, fluent in French and German. 
Church House, Great Comberton.
Eventually Pam left her beautiful cottage in Great Comberton and moved into a frail care home recently. She had a very bad fall and died a few days ago, at the age of 93. I will treasure all the beautiful letters she wrote to me when the postal system in South Africa was more reliable than it is today. I will always remember her with love.
Her funeral was held on 13 January 2020. Her relative, Nigel Withyman told me about it in an email:
MARGARET RICHARDSON
Anne and Webster went on an extensive concert tour of New Zealand and Australia in 1948. Anne wrote in Duet: “I had an admirer in Christchurch who brought me flowers every day we were there. They were freesias, of the beautiful big New Zealand variety. Her name was Margaret Richardson, and she has since come over to England and obtained a job in New Zealand House.”
Margaret Richardson returned to New Zealand and she and Anne kept in touch over the years. Unfortunately, Margaret died shortly before Anne, so she did not receive the photos Anne had allocated to her in her will.
Excerpt from the JOHN BULL article:
I wonder where these children are now and what they thought of their mother’s choice of names for them!
THE THIRD CAREER
When they returned to the UK in 1978, aged 68 and 76, they expected to lead a quiet life in semi-retirement. They had been doing very little work in South Africa for years so it came as a surprise to them to find that they were in great demand in the UK. Many of their fans from the good old days were still alive. Soon they were travelling around the country, singing in concerts, giving talks, appearing on TV and presenting radio programmes. In 1975 they had given a farewell concert in Somerset West and they had not intended to sing again, but they gave in to public demand when they went back to the UK. Anne was still in fairly good voice but Webster’s voice had deteriorated and I thought it was very sad that he should have had to sing in public again when he was past his best. But they needed the money and so their performances continued longer than they should have done. I don’t think their elderly fans were very critical – they were only too happy to see their favourites on stage once again.
JOAN TAPPER
Joan Tapper, a piano teacher, had been a life-long fan of the couple and when they sang in Mold, North Wales, she presented them with a gift after the concert. This led to a friendship which lasted until Anne’s death in 2003.
Joan wrote to the BBC (Wales) after Anne’s death:
One of Anne and Webster’s greatest fans, Joan shares her memories of becoming great friends with the duo.
I have been a fan of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth since my teenage years and listened to their glorious God given voices on the old wireless. They were greatly missed in this country while living in South Africa, but what great joy when they returned to live in Penrhyn Bay, North Wales.
To my great delight, on a snowy February Sunday afternoon, they came to our local Theatre Clwyd to sing and talk about their careers. I presented them with a tray of my homemade toffee, and that was the start of a very lovely friendship.
Every Christmas I would send by carrier a box of homemade goodies and vegetables from my garden. Webster was particularly fond of my varieties of chutneys and jams and Anne used to say he was like a child in a bran tub.
When Webster died, Anne devoted her life to her little Yorkshire Terrier Bonnie and valued my friendship. My friend Allun Davies, a singing teacher from South Wales came to stay with me every year and we took Anne out for a birthday lunch with one or two of her fans. She was full of fun and we all had some good laughs. On her eightieth birthday, I arranged a birthday party for her at Erddig Hall and my friend Buddig made the cake with “Only a Rose” in icing. The press took photographs outside the hall.
As Anne grew older, just Allun and I took her for a birthday lunch, but she looked forward to my regular Sunday morning chats on the telephone. We chatted about her fans in different parts of the world and I said I was a local fan. I felt very honoured when she said, “My dear, you are not a fan, you are my most cherished friend.”
Allun and I visited Anne on August 2 2003. She was very frail and unable to go out for lunch, but I took some tasty snacks for her. We kissed and hugged her and told her not to come to the door, but when we got to the car, she was at the window, the net curtains pushed one side a BIG smile on her face and she was blowing kisses to us. We knew then that that was her last curtain call.
She passed away in October 2003, but managed to eat a box of chocolates I posted her four days before she died.
A friend took me to the cremation in Colwyn Bay and Sally Hill (Rayner) placed a fragrant Cloud Rose (her favourite) from my garden on her coffin. I still miss her very much, but often still feel she is here with us. She left me a large box of her lovely studio photographs, now mounted in five albums.
Joan Tapper.
Webster’s health deteriorated and after a disastrous performance in Bridlington when he forgot the words of one of their most popular duets, Anne realised that this had been their swansong and they would never be able to sing together again.
Webster died in 1984, and Anne lived alone in the bungalow in Penrhyn Bay, North Wales for another nineteen years. The bungalow was owned by Babs Wilson Hill, who had been Anne’s friend and admirer since they appeared in pantomime together in Liverpool in 1935, although by the end of their lives they were not as close as they had been in earlier times. They died within a few weeks of one another.
It is very sad to think that all the fans and friends of Anne and Webster are dead now – except me and Dudley Holmes. As long as we are alive they will always be fondly loved and remembered.
Jean Collen © 22 June 2017
Revised 6 August 2022.
WEBSTER BOOTH-ANNE ZIEGLER 
What a lovely blog So interesting your such a star keeping the two alive! Well done.
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Thank you for your kind comment. I appreciate it.
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