Paul Romane's Upper Cut exhibition - for the record

Forest Gate Arts' stalwart, Paul Romane, recently curated an excellent exhibition on the Upper Cut club, fifty years after its brief sojourn in Forest Gate, as part of the second council Heritage Week programme.

Above and below left, some of the exhibits curated for the exhibition.  Below right - also in the exhibition - a Forest Gate 'mod' of the era - a typical Upper Cut patron

The exhibition was held in the temporary headquarters of Forest Gate Arts, in Upton Lane, and this post is an on-line record of the fine show. Paul, a long time devotee of the club, and in particular some of the Soul acts that played there, had spent a great deal of energy drawing together exhibits for the week-long show.

The Upper Cut club on Woodgrange Road later
became the Ace of Clubs  (above)
and an outside shot of the gallery
hosting the exhibition (below)

A poster advertising the club, preserved
from the era and on display in the exhibition.

Paul collected mementos and memorabilia from a wide range of sources - including Small Faces roadie and brother of band member Ronnie - Stan Lane, and this website, together with many of his own souvenirs, to provide a fascinating, evocative and inspiring exhibition.

Left one of the display boards in the exhibition showing adverts for the gigs appearing at the Upper Cut (loaned by this website). Right, some modern posters in 60's psychedelic style by Forest Gate artist, and sister of modern singer, Plan B, Lauren Drew.

This post is being published to mark the 50th anniversary of the closure of the club - to make way for a bingo hall - in the last week of 1967. The artifacts embraced in many of the photos here are reproduced for the first time on this site, and add to the considerable collection already here. See below for details of other blog articles on the club.

An original poster, featuring acts
 appearing during the club's opening
 week (note mis-spelling of Jimi Hendrix's
 name - he was little known in the UK at
 the time, hence the Boxing Day 
matinee gig).

A flyer for one week's
shows at the club,
on display in the
exhibition

The curator - Paul Romane

Paul is a Newham boy; born in Plaistow in 1960, he has spent his whole life - bar the decade of the 1970's - in the borough. He moved to Forest Gate in 1981 and has developed a fascination with the briefly existing Upper Cut Club ever since. Such is his love for the music it featured, that he named his only son Otis after one of the venue's greatest performers. 


He has spent most of his working life in and around the arts, as a singer, musician, video maker, recording studio owner, poet and local music archivist.

The club

We have written extensively about the club, which lasted for only a year - from December 1966 until New Year's Eve the following year. (see footnote for details of previous articles ).

Insignificant-looking, but historic,
 scrap of paper. Kenny and Eddie
 Johnson (who ran the Lotus Club
 and Stratford's Two Puddings) had
negotiated with Aronsohn to take
 over the empty building that was
to become the Upper Cut, and 
shared  with him their business 
plans.They feel that he duped
  them, when the club opened with
 an identical set of objectives, run
 by Walker Brothers, Billy and George.

The Upper Cut was located in a building on land next to Percy Ingle's, on Woodgrange Road. The building was originally opened in 1902 as Forest Gate Public Hall, and served a variety of roles over the next century - hosting a theatre, cinema, skating rink, the Upper Cut Club (briefly), a bingo hall, The Ace of Clubs club, and an electrical warehouse, until its demolition, in the early years of this century, to make way for a ventilation shaft for the Eurotunnel rail link, which remains today.

Left - adverts for gigs at Upper Cut club, right - coverage of the club - all from the New Musical Express, at the time.

The location was awarded a plaque by Newham Council five or six years ago, in recognition of the fact that it was there that Jimi Hendrix wrote and first performed  Purple Haze - widely regarded as being one of the greatest rock numbers of all time - on Boxing Day 1966. The sign has subsequently been removed, as developers Mura have taken over much of the surrounding land.

The owner - Billy Walker

The club was owned and named after British boxer, Billy Walker, seen as a 'glamour' figure at the time of 'Swinging Britain'. Billy was very much the front man for the club, with his brother, George, the brains and businessman behind it. See here for details of Billy's local associations and views on the club, based on a personal interview with this website.

Above, programmes and Boxing magazines featuring Upper Cut owner, Billy Walker's boxing career, and the corner devoted to him in the exhibition.

Entrance and cloakroom of Upper Cut on
 night of Stax performance, March 1967, 
with large poster of Billy featured
 in the reception area.

Billy, in a staged photo, surrounded
 by "adoring fans" at the club, in the
 midst of the 'Swinging Sixties' .
(photo: copyright Getty Images)

Billy (right) with Lord Bath previewing an
 exhibition of his lordship's controversial artwork
 on the walls of the club.
 (photo copyright of Getty Images)

The performers

Although the club was opened for just one year, it attracted almost all the prominent UK bands of the day (excluding, notably, the Beatles) and some American black acts who were struggling to get recognition at home.

Most notable among them was Jimi Hendrix, who appeared at the club twice.  

Possibly the biggest night in the club's short life was on 18 March 1967, when the so called Stax tour appeared. They performed one of their four UK gigs at the club, as part of a European tour. The star of the show was Otis Redding - who was dead months later following a plane crash. He was supported on the bill by Sam and Dave, The Mar-Keys, Booker T and the MG's, Arthur Conley and Eddie Floyd.

Left - waiting outside the club for the Stax gig, Right - poster advertising the gig

Above and below, the programme
for the night for the Stax gig

New Musical Express coverage of  the Stax night at the Upper Cut club

Ronnie Lane

One of the biggest UK acts to perform at the club was local band, The Small Faces. The lead, Steve Marriott, was brought up in Manor Park, while bass guitarist, Ronnie Lane, spent his youth in Forest Gate's Romford Road.  See here for this site's biography of Ronnie.

Left - a cut-out of Ronnie Lane, with guitar - loaned to the exhibition by his brother, Stan.  Right - a poster advertising one of Ronnie's later projects - Slim Chance

Left - one of Ronnie's jackets, right the label inside from 60's famed 'pop culture' retailer, King's Road's  'Granny Takes a Trip' - loaned to the exhibition by Stan Lane.  Below - one of Ronnie's "country jackets", as Stan calls them.

Paul was able to track down Stan Lane, Ronnie's brother, who was for a while the band's roadie. He now lives in Essex and has a considerable collection of Ronnie's possessions and artefacts. He kindly lent some of these to Paul, and they formed a central part of the exhibition.

What's next?

It is a great pity that at the end of the carefully curated exhibition, its contents had to be returned to their original owners, as there is no location on which to house a longer show in Newham - the borough being one of only seven in London without its own museum.

Newham has a very rich musical heritage - particularly at the popular end of the spectrum.  Other venues in Forest Gate alone worthy of public exhibition and recognition include: the Lotus Club (see here for details), The Princess Alice, as host to the first Rock against Racism (see here), The Tonic Sol-Fa college in Earlham Grove (see here). 

Beyond these narrow geographic boundaries is Canning Town's former Bridge House (see here) and pubs such as the Ruskin Arms in Manor Park (another venues for the Small Faces), Stratford's former Two Puddings pub (along with the Forest Gate's Jive Dive, home to perhaps Britain's first disco), Maryland's Cart and Horses (home, as the poster outside proclaims, of Iron Maiden) and Stratford Angel Lane's Railway Tavern (home of a sixties blues club).

Posters advertising events at Kenny Johnson's Forest Gate's Jive Dive (Earlham Grove) and Lotus Club (Woodgrange Road)

In addition to the Small Faces band members, other prominent musical performers with significant Newham connections include: Dame Vera Lynn, Lonnie Donegan, Joe Brown, David Essex, Forest Gate's Plan B (Ben Drew), and a very lively current Grime scene.

Future shows and dedicated exhibition space devoted to the rich history and locations outlined above would make a significant statement about Newham's pride in its musical heritage. But will the council be prepared to recognise this and facilitate the celebration?

This site's back catalogue

Previous articles on this site related to the history of the Upper Cut club can be found here:

When Otis played Forest Gate (March 1967) May 2013

Upper Cut (1) - a summary of the emergence of the first six months of the club (December 1966 - July 1967) July 2013

Upper Cut (2) - a brief survey of the second, and final half year of the club's existence (August 1967 - December 1967) July 2013

Georgie Fame, The Tremeloes and Unit 4 + 2 - (September 1967 at the Upper Cut) October 2013

When Stevie Wonder played Forest Gate - (October 1967) November 2013

Mouthwatering musical fayre on Woodgrange Road - (November 1967) December 2013

Club bills for the Upper Cut's two Decembers - (Decembers 1966 and 1967) January 2014

The Upper Cut beds down - (January 1967) February 2014

Essex comes to Forest Gate - (February 1967) March 2014

Stax comes to town - (March 1967) April 2014

A mixed bunch at the Upper Cut in April (April 1967) May 2014

Upper Cut - May 1967 (June 1967) June 2014

Summer of Love in Forest Gate (Summer 1967) August 2014

Golden Boy, Billy Walker's Forest Gate memories September 2014

Thanks

To Paul Romane for curating the exhibition and to Sophie Rigg from Forest Gate Arts for allowing us to use some of her photos of it.

Thanks, for the memory (1)

If journalism is the first draft of history, websites like this have a good claim to be the second. So, in most of the articles, we try to give a flavour of what the press had to say about a particular event and add context to it with the hindsight from public records, official histories and published maps, photographs etc.

Apart from the odd extract from autobiographies that we reproduce, there are rarely accounts of how the participants, observers and those directly affected by events felt about them. We believe these are vital in coming to a rounded understanding of history, but won't bore you with treatises on the nature of history, here.

So, we are delighted to receive comments on the articles that we have published, from those directly involved or affected by the events covered - whether it was World War 11 bombings, attendances at Upper Cut gigs, or life within the rapidly disappearing local Jewish community.

They, in many senses, give "reality" and authenticity to what we publish.

They are often contributed many months after the original article was published, so it is highly likely that regular visitors to this site will not catch up with them - having already read the substantive article, and feel no need to revisit it - thus miss the comment.

Similarly, for us, it is an absolute delight when a blog provokes or adds to a reader's family story, and we have had a fair number of these, since we began publication.

So, this is the first of two articles in which we round up some of the comments subsequently made to original articles.  We find it illuminating and that the comments add real value to the original piece.

For the future, we would be delighted to hear from those directly affected by all of the pieces that we write about, and if the response is appropriate, we'll be delighted to run similar 'comment round-ups', in future.

The headlines below are the original title of articles published and the comments below are edited extracts from comments related to them, with a hyperlink to the article, itself.

Fire guts famous gym

Original article link: here, date: 17 April 2003

1. Anonymous

Well said mate .. I went there today (26 September 2014) and noticed that the lamp post is still standing! ... It will soon be demolished ... I think someone should take that lamp post as a memory of the gym and all it stood for! ... or it will end up in a skip very soon ...

As predicted by the
commentator - now gone

ed note: Somebody took this poster at his/her word.  The lamp post (pictured) has subsequently been "removed", by whom, we do not know.

When Otis played Forest Gate

Original article link: here, date: 27 May 2013

1. Ron Smith-Galer

I was there that night.  Sam and Dave were electric and the singers wore pastel coloured suits that soon showed huge sweat stains. I was 18 and nobody could eclipse Sam & Dave that night ...

Until this big black guy came on and barely moving, with that gentle sway and  gracefulness that some big guys manage started to sing. Otis, a true giant of music.

Ecstasy!

Every picture tells a story

2. Pat Morrissey, Dublin

I travelled from Dublin on my own, without a ticket for this gig. It was St Patrick's weekend. What an innocent time. No problem, I just paid on the door about 7.30pm and walked into the venue. Could you, or would you, ever try to do that today. Incredible gig that I still recall today. They all played for about 15/20 mins and when Otis came on, he was amazing.

Then it was over! My main concern was to get back to Euston to my B&B.
It was one of my most memorable gigs ever. The others were The Beatles in Dublin in 1963 at The Adelphi and the Isle of Wight Festival 1970. What a very lucky person, born at the right time.

3. Steve Cook

I saw the Stax show having travelled up to London, from Southampton... We saw it at the Hammersmith Odeon then 2 shows at the Upper Cut. Asked if they could get my newly bought copy of a Booker T album signed, and to my amazement was invited in to meet Booker T .. they all signed the album label.

Booming Woodgrange Road

Original article link: here, date:12 June 2013

Opposing views on recent developments, from two posters:

1. Carol Hale

So pleased this little bit of East London is regenerating in such a positive way.  My daughter and myself have noticed a really upbeat quality in the area (which was badly needed) having lived in the area for 20 yrs with its fair share of bad press. I hope this lovely area continues to thrive and I hope I can also get involved with the market.

CoffeE7 - the good bit of the facelift

2. Anonymous

Sorry to say that the shopping experience in Woodgrange Road is really depressing. I only shop in the local butchers, co-op and fishmonger. The betting shops and chicken shops are a real let down and the various grocers all sell the same stuff. Thank goodness for the lovely new coffee shops.

The Sound of Music from Earlham Grove

Original article link: here, date:19 June 2013

1. Frontier Publishing

Curwen professionally thieved Sarah Anna Glover's intellectual property, expressly without her permission, (he had asked) and attempted to pass off the whole Sol-fa phenomenon as his own. He profited greatly from his deceit and even today people are not aware that Curwen ripped off Glover's work - his feeling being that she couldn't take it further (perhaps true) because she was a mere woman. The forthcoming book about Glover by Dr Jane Southcott will confirm the true attribution of Sol-fa and permanently expose Curwen for the cheat he was.

Sarah Anna Glover

ed note: We have not been able to trace any sign of this book being published, by Frontier Publishing, or any other publisher. Neither have we been able to trace a book by Dr Jane Southcott, who would appear to be a lecturer in music history in an Australian University.

Sarah Anna Glover's (1785 - 1867) Wikipedia entry says that she was an English music teacher, who invented the Norwich sol-fa system. She was born in Norwich and developed her learning system to aid teachers with a cappella singing. Her instruction book Scheme for Rendering Psalmody Congregational met with great success. It was later refined and developed by John Curwen and others over the years. The concept became known in popular culture, after it was featured in a song from The Sound of Music.

The Upper Cut Club, part 1 - the rise

Original article link: here, date:24 July 2013

1. Martin Smith

Thanks so much for a great article. After nearly 50 years the Otis/Sam & Dave and the Nina Simone gigs still stand out as favourites for me, partly due to the great atmosphere in the club.  My parents skated there as teenagers.

2. Peter Read

A very good article. Thanks.  I was at the Boxing Day 1966 matinee gig at the Uppercut, with my mate Steve Jolly. Hendrix played a great set (of course) but the advertised Pretty Things did not appear. Instead we saw John Lee Hooker, solo, and Zoot Money with (I think) his band Dantalian's Chariot. JLH was amazing, and very cool, wearing a sharp mod-style suit. I remember thinking it was a cheap entrance ticket for a wonderful bill. Best Boxing Day ever, thanks to the boxer, Billy Walker.

The great John Lee Hooker
 - another name to add
 to the Upper Cut's
illustrious performer list

The Upper Cut Club, part 2 - hitting the deck

Original article link: here, date:31 July 2013

Upper Cut club - after the event

1. Michael Claxton

I played in The Trend, a soul/R&B band from Canning Town - Norman, Frank, Phil and me - and I certainly remember playing the Upper Cut because I had to set my new amp at Spinal Tap volume 11 so that my new Vox Continental organ could be heard - on stage! - in that vast venue. We backed the Soul Sisters and various permutations of the 'Original' Drifters as well as playing in our own right, so it was either us alone or as a backing group. If the former, at a talent evening, maybe? Does someone remember?

Updates to previous blogs

From time to time we come across images or additional material that adds significantly to earlier posts.  This article is a collection of some of those items.
 
We have added the relevant sections as postscripts to the original article, for ease of access for future visitors, and added, at the end of each section, the hyperlink to the location of the original article, with its post script.

We know that this site can only be a first draft of bigger stories for each of the short articles we produce, and are always keen to hear of more information about the subjects covered.  Please feel free to add memories to the comments section of any blog, or send in details of further information, that we will be happy to acknowledge and display, in future update round-ups.

Forest Gate Industrial School fire, 1890

Illustrated London News 11 Jan 1890,
Industrial school fire, dormitory
where children suffocated (1)

We have recently come across a copy of the Illustrated London News of 11 January 1890.  This included sketches of the fire at the Forest Gate Industrial School, on the previous New Year's Eve.
We reproduce these, below, which should be viewed in conjunction with our article on the fire, in May of this year.

Illustrated London News 11 Jan 1890,
Industrial school fire, general view of building

 The original story, with the sketches added as postscripts, can be accessed here.

Illustrated London News 11 Jan 1890,
Industrial school fire, dormitory
where children suffocated (2)

Forest Gate cinemas

A Cinema Miscellany no 24 (2003) by Brian Hornsey has provided valuable additional local material about a few of the local cinemas covered in our history of them in our Every Picturehouse tells a story feature, of July 2013. We thank him for his painstaking research.

The Imperial Palace (also known as the Regal and Rio) was for a while, around the outbreak of World War 1 known as the Forest Gate Electrical Theatre ( shortened to The Electric).

The Forest Gate Public Hall etc. In its early days had 1,000 seats, but following refurbishment around the outbreak of World War 1 they were reduced to 750 - suggesting that the earlier seating was on benches, replaced by single seats after the refit.  Prices for show around the start of World war were from 5d to 1/3d (depending on sitting within the cinema).

The Queen's.  Millionaire A E Abrahams had had such success with his Manor Park Coronation Cinema (built, nor surprisingly in 1902) that he built this - a sister cinema to it, near his Forest Gate home. Following its 1928 refit it became one of the first cinemas in the area to show talkies (introduced that year) and full length feature films.

Queen's Cinema

Poor reproduction of photograph
 of interior of Queen's Cinema

Another poor reproduction photo
 of Queen's Cinema exterior

The Odeon. It was opened on 1 March 1937 with "Thank Evans", when prices ranged from 6d to 1/-, with continuous showings from 12.30pm, daily. After the emergence of Odeon the two main cinemas in Forest Gate were it and the Queen's - operated by two of the country's major cinema chains. From this time, these two cinemas tended to show the major recent releases and the other local cinemas were left showing re-runs and 'B' movie feature films.

World War 11 and local cinemas. All places of entertainment - in Forest Gate, and nationwide - were closed on 3 September and all but essential staff were laid off (without compensation). When it became clear that the threatened invasion was not about to happen, cinemas reopened gradually, after about two weeks. 

There were four local cinemas operating by October 1939: The Odeon (1,800 seats), The Queen's (1,700 seats), The King's (600 seats) and the Splendid (550 seats). The Kings closed first, in 1940 (the circumstances are not clear). The Splendid, dropped its curtain for the final time, around then.  The Queen's was badly bombed on 21 April 1941, and its near neighbour the Odeon less severely hit.  The Odeon was repaired, but the Queen's was now gone for good.

So, by the end of the war the Odeon was the sole surviving local cinema, brining to an end a frantic half century of openings, closures, name changes and mergers locally.  The Odeon was fully restored and operating at its peak level by 1950. It was fitted with a Cinemascope screen in 1954.

Original article, with these notes and photos added as a post script, can be accessed here.

Wag Bennett and Arnie Schwarzenegger's gym

One of the most viewed articles on this site was the first (it's been all downhill since!), on the fire at Wag Bennett's gym, on Romford Road in April 2013.

Wag's house and gym (1), November 2014

The post has been viewed by a large number of both body builders and Arnie fans, as far as we have been aware. Not all of them will pass the sorry state that is the building, eighteen months after the fire.

The building has been squatted and vandalised, but has more recently been boarded up and secured.  Quite how effective this will prove to be, without a roof (!), remains to be seen.


Wag's house and gym (2), November 2014

So we are producing a two photos taken a couple of days ago, primarily for the benefit of blog visitors from beyond our local boundaries.

The original article, with these photos as a postscript i can be accessed here.

The Upper Cut Club

As visitors to this site may feel, we have an almost unhealthy obsession with this club, which ran for a single year in 1966/7 on Woodgrange Road.

We have recently come across a couple of gems that can be added to our regular coverage. Paul Osborn, who has an interest in the former pirate radio stations, of the 1960's, contacted us with a fascinating MP3 recording, attached, below.

The Club used to host regular sessions of the Giggle, Goggle, Guggle Club - essentially a disco held on Sunday afternoons, hosted by DJs from the pirate radio stations. Tony Blackburn and Ed Stewart, among others appeared.

The You Tube clip, below, is from an advert broadcast on Radio London ("Big L") on 12 August 1967. It was promoting an appearance at the Upper Cut Club, by DJ Mike Quinn, who could be seen for "Half a crown"!

Pete Drummond on Radio London reading
an advert during the morning show for the
Giggle, Goggle Guggle Show, at the
Upper Cut Club, on Saturday 12 August 1967.

Click link:  to hear. Thanks to Paul Osborn for the link

We have placed this as a postscript to the article on The Summer of Love, we published in August this year. It can be viewed here.

Prominent Rock music journalist, Peter Guralnick produced a book, published by Penguin, Sweet Soul Music in 1986. It includes photos of both Sam and Dave and Otis Redding, appearing at the Upper Cut on 18 March 1967. Close inspection of the photos shows posters on the wall of the club, adverting the event.

Sam and Dave at the Upper Cut
 Club, 18 March 1967

Guralnick credits Fred Lewis for the use of these photos.  We have been unable to track Mr Lewis down, but would like to thank him, for our ability to use them. Any other, similar photos, would be very gratefully received! We have placed these photos on our article on the Stax Tour, of April this year, which can be accessed here.

Otis Redding performing at the
Upper Cut Club, 18 March 1967