Caven O’Connor  -  singer
I saw him lots of times. Now he was the Irish Vagabond. He came on the stage with a bright cheque black and red shirt and a jacket singing “I’m only a strolling vagabond”. He was very popular and still going in his 80s, a very good entertainer with a good voice.
Sandy Powell  -  comedian
You remember him. His catch phrase was “Can you hear me mother?”. Later in life he used to do little shows for the old people, at Eastbourne. I saw him when he was younger. He used to have a harp on the stage, strum it a bit and he used to get through it between the strings.  

Arthur Prince  -  ventriloquist
He was brilliant, a brilliant ventriloquist. He came on, on a chair dressed as a captain of a ship and he had a dummy on his lap and he would be doing this little sailor’s voice while he drank a pint of beer. He drank the pint all in one go while still doing the voice, never been done since. He was brilliant.
Ralph Reader  -  choreographer and director
He did a lot in the 30s for the scouts with the Gang Show. The scouts would sing and perform and used to appear at Wembley before the cup final.  He was a big noise Ralph Reader was, all to do with Baden Powell and the scouts.
Beryl Reid  -  comedienne and actress
She was very good, she used to do Marlene and had got big earrings. She came from Scarborough and invented the Brummie Marlene character while in pantomime at Wolverhampton. She put the Marlene character in at the start of the pantomime and had to keep it there. She used it all over the country afterwards. She was in films and was brilliant, but that Marlene was invented in Wolverhampton.
Old Mother Riley  -  comedian
Old mother Riley was played by Arthur Lucan and his wife Kitty McShane played his daughter. They came quite a few times, I saw them at Wolverhampton and Dudley. His catch phrase was “Where’s my daughter Kitty?” They were very popular in the early fifties because they made films. In real life they had a terrible time together, always arguing.  I met him at the Royal Pier in 1952 after he had split up with Kitty McShane. You wouldn’t recognise him off the stage without his wig, but he was a devil for the women, he tried to make a few passes at my sister. He still appeared on stage with Kitty but they stayed in separate hotels.
Roy Rogers  -  singing cowboy
He came over with his wife, Dale Evans, and his horse Trigger. I can’t remember if he went to Wolverhampton, but I think he would as well as Dudley. He would take the horse upon the stage and he had it stuffed when it died. Roy Rogers died about two years ago, he was in his nineties. He was a nice looking guy with his cowboy hat on, sitting and playing the guitar.
Ronnie Ronalde  -  whistling singer
Well you’ve heard of him, he was a whistler and could do all of the birds, bird impressions. He would sing “In a Monastery Garden” and would bring his bird impressions into it.
Derek Roy  -  comedian
He was on the radio more than he was on the stage with his show “Hip Hip Hoo Roy”. I saw him at Dudley, he was alright but I can’t remember that much about him.
Billy Russell  -  comedian
Billy Russell was born in Dudley and had a string of hit records in the 1930s and 1940s, another Black Country comedian. He had a big moustache but I never saw him, he was on the circuit. He died in 1971.
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