Gracie Fields and a Dominie at Ohakea in 1945
Oct 21, 2015 19:21:58 GMT 12
camtech and baz62 like this
Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 21, 2015 19:21:58 GMT 12
Check out this super photos that Peter Mole was recently given and he posted to Facebook. He's given me permission to share it here. On the back it had "G. Fields" and 1945. We've worked out it has to be Gracie Fields, the British comedienne, actress and singer who toured NZ in July-August 1945.
On the flightline are at least three Corsairs, four P-40's, three Avengers and a Ventura as well as the DH89 Dominie NZ527 which she seems to have travelled from Ohakea to Rongotai in. Note the two-tone cheat line on the Dominie, it looks to be red and blue? Nice!!
Here's an article from the Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 29, 3 August 1945, Page 6
"OWER GRACIE"
ARRIVAL IN CAPITAL
A STRENUOUS TOUR
To the couple of dozen Waafs and even the several dozen erks and other ranks up to "wingco" who had lined up with foreknowledge at Rongotai aerodrome yesterday afternoon, it was more than somewhat of an anticlimax to find that the first person to step out of the door of the Dominie plane was a man. So was the next. So was the next. Then came a travelling woman companion, and then Gracie. Seeing Gracie had spent the trip from Ohakea to Rongotai almost nudging the pilot and with her back to the rest of the "crew," she had good reason to ask, when helped from the plane by her husband, actor, and producer, Monty Banks, "Ha did thee git 'ere? Are t'ha still oop wi' th' play?" Whether the plane was a little small compared with some on which she had travelled, or whether the "landing pear"' was not as substantial as a lass many times bigger than "ower Gra-a-cie"'would need, may never be known. But as she started to negotiate the steps to the tarmac yoong Gracie Fields cried, "Ang gon! E-e-h. Ah ma-at bre-eak me neck!"
Saying "MY!" in a way in which only one person in the world can say it Gracie stepped on to terra firma once more with less terror than might have been evoked when the plane had swooped over the remains of Moa Point a few seconds before. "Allo, she said. "They told me it might be a bit cold dahn 'ere." Whoever the propagandists were who told Gracie that, it wasn't cold, much, really, to those who are used to
it.
Putting her arm round the shoulder of the pilot of the plane which had brought the party in, Gracie had crack at— Well, let Gracie tell it: "E-e-eh," she said to the pilot. "Tha fair scared the lights aht o' me coomin' rahnd that theer corner!"
Not that the pilot did anything but come in to a usual landing, but you know how it is about Moa Point. So went the arrival in the capital yesterday afternoon of one of the world's most popular entertainers, Gracie Fields, who has come to New Zealand for a brief—and rather exhausting—tour. She has already given two concerts at Auckland, visited Rotorua, and turned on a brief "do" at Ohakea yesterday when she landed for lunch.
Tonight and tomorrow night the Town Hall here will be packed for her shows. Tomorrow she is to make records, attend a Government reception, and kick-off at a soccer match. Next day she will fly to Christchurch, where she is to give a performance on Monday night, to be followed by one in Dunedin on Tuesday night. Gracie will return to Sydney on Thursday next. In the midst of all this business, Gracie was asked how she was finding the tour so far.
"Ah'm doin' an awfu' lot o' singin' But Ah'll be all reet."
And there's plenty more singing ahead of her, too, for next month she is going to fighting stations in New Guinea, then the Philippines, Burma, and India, and back to Europe by about April next year. "Then' I will probably go to sleep for three,months to restore my youth and beauty," said Gracie solemnly, apparently overlooking the fact that the ordinary person meeting her thinks such a measure entirely unnecessary.
On the flightline are at least three Corsairs, four P-40's, three Avengers and a Ventura as well as the DH89 Dominie NZ527 which she seems to have travelled from Ohakea to Rongotai in. Note the two-tone cheat line on the Dominie, it looks to be red and blue? Nice!!
Here's an article from the Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 29, 3 August 1945, Page 6
"OWER GRACIE"
ARRIVAL IN CAPITAL
A STRENUOUS TOUR
To the couple of dozen Waafs and even the several dozen erks and other ranks up to "wingco" who had lined up with foreknowledge at Rongotai aerodrome yesterday afternoon, it was more than somewhat of an anticlimax to find that the first person to step out of the door of the Dominie plane was a man. So was the next. So was the next. Then came a travelling woman companion, and then Gracie. Seeing Gracie had spent the trip from Ohakea to Rongotai almost nudging the pilot and with her back to the rest of the "crew," she had good reason to ask, when helped from the plane by her husband, actor, and producer, Monty Banks, "Ha did thee git 'ere? Are t'ha still oop wi' th' play?" Whether the plane was a little small compared with some on which she had travelled, or whether the "landing pear"' was not as substantial as a lass many times bigger than "ower Gra-a-cie"'would need, may never be known. But as she started to negotiate the steps to the tarmac yoong Gracie Fields cried, "Ang gon! E-e-h. Ah ma-at bre-eak me neck!"
Saying "MY!" in a way in which only one person in the world can say it Gracie stepped on to terra firma once more with less terror than might have been evoked when the plane had swooped over the remains of Moa Point a few seconds before. "Allo, she said. "They told me it might be a bit cold dahn 'ere." Whoever the propagandists were who told Gracie that, it wasn't cold, much, really, to those who are used to
it.
Putting her arm round the shoulder of the pilot of the plane which had brought the party in, Gracie had crack at— Well, let Gracie tell it: "E-e-eh," she said to the pilot. "Tha fair scared the lights aht o' me coomin' rahnd that theer corner!"
Not that the pilot did anything but come in to a usual landing, but you know how it is about Moa Point. So went the arrival in the capital yesterday afternoon of one of the world's most popular entertainers, Gracie Fields, who has come to New Zealand for a brief—and rather exhausting—tour. She has already given two concerts at Auckland, visited Rotorua, and turned on a brief "do" at Ohakea yesterday when she landed for lunch.
Tonight and tomorrow night the Town Hall here will be packed for her shows. Tomorrow she is to make records, attend a Government reception, and kick-off at a soccer match. Next day she will fly to Christchurch, where she is to give a performance on Monday night, to be followed by one in Dunedin on Tuesday night. Gracie will return to Sydney on Thursday next. In the midst of all this business, Gracie was asked how she was finding the tour so far.
"Ah'm doin' an awfu' lot o' singin' But Ah'll be all reet."
And there's plenty more singing ahead of her, too, for next month she is going to fighting stations in New Guinea, then the Philippines, Burma, and India, and back to Europe by about April next year. "Then' I will probably go to sleep for three,months to restore my youth and beauty," said Gracie solemnly, apparently overlooking the fact that the ordinary person meeting her thinks such a measure entirely unnecessary.
