FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF WEBSTER BOOTH.

Webster in the 1940s.

Early on the morning of 22 June 1984, the 74th birthday of Anne Ziegler, I received a phone call from Janet Swart, whom I had first encountered as Janet Goldsborough, singing in Mrs Dorothy McDonald-Rouse’s concert party in Johannesburg in 1957 when I was 13. Janet was a regular listener to BBC World Service and knew of my close association with Anne and Webster. She was thoughtful enough to let me know that it had been announced on News About Britain that Webster had died the day before. Janet herself died about six weeks ago but I will always be grateful to her for making that call, as I would have been completely devastated to have heard such news via the media.

A selection of obituaries printed at the time

The Star and Rand Daily Mail (Johannesburg).

The Star (Johannesburg) Obituary. (Gordon Irving)

The Times (London) obituary.

The Daily Telegraph Obituary.

Die Beeld (Johannesburg) obituary in Afrikaans.

Thanks to John Marwood for the English translation as follows:

Booth dies after illness 22.6.84

From JACK G. VIVIERS • LONDON. — Webster Booth, who together with his wife, Anne Ziegler, won the hearts of millions of people with their singing and had a large following among South Africans, died in a hospital in Llandudno in Wales after a long illness. He was 82 and his wife is 74 today.

The couple married in 1938 and sang one winning song after another during World War II and soon after. One of their most popular songs in South Africa was Wunderbar.

The music and singing of Ziegler and Booth captured the hearts of people throughout the English-speaking world. They sang many songs from Maytime.

The partnership lost some of its popularity in Britain in 1952 and they moved to South Africa, where they lived for 22 years. They first lived in Johannesburg, but later moved to the Wilderness (Knysna).

They returned to Britain in 1978 and settled in Penrhyn Bay in Wales. Their last public performance was in Bridlington about a year ago.

North Wales Weekly News, 28 June 1984.

I suggested to the Webster Booth-Anne Ziegler Appreciation group that members might like to select one of their favourite recordings which I would play leading up to the 21 June. I am listing them here. I have also suggested that those who would like to do so post a tribute to Webster to be published on 21 June.

2 June, David Small chose the duet Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life:

3 June John Rogers chose Serenade in the Night featured below.

4 June: Shiv K Purohit chose Anne and Webster singing: O Lovely Night by Landon Ronald:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sduBTwpOCBAZrroZsyGsh4fBJDuGfukF/view?usp=drive_link

5 June: Peter Wallace chose: One Alone:

6 June: John Marwood chose: The Lost Chord by Arthur Sullivan.

7 June. Robert Knight chose: The Holy City.

8 June: Anne Cook chose: Your Tiny Hand is Frozen.

9 June: Rick Wilmot chose Indian Love Call.

10 June: Marie Lamb chose Waft Her, Angels, Through the Skies from the oratorio, Jephtha by Handel.

Glynis Kester-Page

Song of Songs holds a special place in my heart and memory; it was one of a clutch of pieces of sheet music that lived in the piano stool, ready to be played (again) by my father for Mummy to sing. I therefore knew it well as a tot and, when it came on the wireless when I was about 3 (before I started school at 4, anyway), I recall joining in, much to the amusement of a visiting neighbour. My parents were very fond of Anne and Webster, and passed on their fond appreciation.

11 June: Glynis chose: Song of Songs by Moya.

12 June: The birthday of Webster’s late son, Keith Leslie Booth (1925 – 1997).

Jeff Woods chose: We’ll Gather Lilacs by Ivor Novello, one of their favourite duets.

13 June: Grietje de Vries chose A Perfect Day by Carrie Jacobs-Bond:

14 June: Bob Sanders chose I Leave My Heart in an English Garden by Welsh composer, Harry Parr-Davis. Harry Parr-Davis was Bob’s father’s cousin.

15 June: Grietje also chose the beautiful Irish ballad, Danny Boy.

https://youtu.be/AMaAOc3aO5s?si=WVuIbv17-ULdZxWm

16 June: Suzanne West chose Nirvana.

17 June: Dudley Holmes choice is Morning Glory from Sweet Yesterday by Kenneth Leslie-Smith.

18 June: Charles Jenkins has chosen The Bells of St Mary’s by Emmett Adams:

19 June: Charles Jenkins’ second choice is Bless This House by May H. Brae:

20 June: My choice is Sylvia by Oley Speaks, the first song I accompanied when I played for Webster in the studio all those years ago.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S5MFI4qX3xWVAcppGuEo9eMyvLhg3afY/view?usp=drive_link

Webster as Francois Villon in ‘The Vagabond King’ (Friml) in 1943.

This medley is a tribute to Webster on the fortieth anniversary of his death: Wayside Rose from Frederica and the Serenade from Frasquita by Lehar, The Way You Look Tonight from Swing Time by Kern, and Sweet Melody of Night from Give us this Night by Korngold.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lR883lHcTF6GsTQ_Eyz7x-LBZw50GN_S/view?usp=drive_link

Many thanks to those in the Webster Booth-Anne Ziegler Appreciation Group on Facebook who participated and chose their favourite songs for this tribute to Webster Booth.

Jean Collen, June 2024

DUETS OF WEBSTER BOOTH AND ANNE ZIEGLER.

Anne and Webster in “Merrie England” East London, South Africa (1958).

A member of the Webster Booth-Anne Ziegler Appreciation Group on Facebook, Robert Knight, wrote the following:

‘Listening to Webster and Anne duetting I’m always amazed at the combination of energy and sentiment they impart with their interweaving voices.

I would love to know how the arrangements came about. Were all the songs written with duet parts that they adhered to, or did they use arrangers from the recording studios, or did they arrange the parts themselves? Did either of them take the lead in creating the arrangements? Finally do any other duettists of the period they lived through compare to their particular style, and in particular their energy and blending of voices.

I wonder if you have a few words on this or can point to anything published about Webster and Anne singing together.’

I thought that was one of the most interesting questions I have received in all the years this group has been running and it could not be answered in a few words on the group page.

I think Anne and Webster sang duets together so well was because they formed a permanent partnership both as a married couple and as duettists. Anne once told me that every single move they made was planned and rehearsed before they ever appeared on stage. Each duet was a theatrical performance as well as a musical one. It should also be remembered that they were both extremely good-looking with charming personalities and often interspersed arch comments to one another between the singing, emphasising their “sweethearts of song” image and their happy marriage.

I remember watching a couple singing duets at an Ivor Novello concert during the Proms several years ago. They were both excellent singers but there was no rapport or give and take between them as they sang. They hardly looked at each other during the entire performance. In fact, I have noticed some singers turning a duet into a competition as to who could sing louder than the other without much thought about blending the two voices together.

I suppose the only long-standing duettists to whom they can be compared are Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddie. Jeanette MacDonald was very vivacious and attractive. Nelson Eddie always seemed rather wooden although he had a good voice. They were not married and appeared in films with other partners throughout their careers.

As Anne freely admitted, she was merely a “two-bit soprano” while Webster had a great voice and was certainly viewed as one of the finest oratorio singers of his day. He was often criticised because he sang duets with Anne rather than concentrating on more serious work. It should be noted that their pay for variety appearances was a great deal higher than what he was paid for performing an oratorio at the Royal Albert Hall!

He could easily have drowned Anne out had he chosen to do so, but he was careful that when they sang in harmony he toned his voice down so that their voices blended, and only let himself go when he was singing a solo part in the duet.

They stuck to the original arrangements of the musical comedy duets but Webster often arranged the music for songs which had not been written as duets, such as “Dearest of All” by Vernon Lathom Sharp, and the two Ivor Novello songs from King’s Rhapsody: “Fling Wide the Gates of Paradise” and “Someday My Heart will Awake“.

The London Times published my comment shortly after Anne’s death in 2003.

I’m afraid I don’t know of anyone who has written about Anne and Webster’s duet singing except me!

Jean Collen. 27 March 2022.