| MAX
BYGRAVES (ARTIST BIOGRAPHY)
Max Bygraves OBE (born 16 October 1922 in Rotherhithe,
London as Walter William Bygraves) is an English legend, an
entertainer in the fullest sense of the word with a fairytale career
in Variety, radio, films, television, song writing and records. It
is over sixty years since his first professional appearance at the
Roxy Theatre, Falkirk in 1943 where he earned just £5.10s for three
nights.
After being born in
Rotherhithe by the docks in east London, the family moved to East
Ham. He was one of six, with elder bother Henry and four younger
sisters called Lily, Patricia, Kathleen and Maureen. Max got his
first job aged 10 as a milkman’s assistant, delivering before school
as well as having an evening paper round. Upon leaving school he
became a messenger for an advertising agency in Holburn, and spent
lunch breaks at the cheap seats in the Empire theatre.
During the war Max was
a builder. The docks proved to be a magnet for enemy bombers and
took a pasting. Infuriated by a near miss whilst repairing war
damage, he volunteered for the RAF two months before his eighteenth
birthday where he appeared in well over 1,000 RAF concert parties
acquiring on the way the title of the ‘Best Act in Fighter Command’
as well as being Aircraftsman Second Class 1212094 and doing his
share of guard duties on draughty airfields. He demonstrated his
skills as an entertainer by impersonating Max Miller, which gave him
the nickname Max. He married a WAAF sergeant (Blossom Murray) and
they had a daughter Christine. Max was by now performing to larger
camps and becoming known as an entertainer. After the war the BBC
invited Max to join an ex-servicemen’s show called They’re Out with
other later stars such as Frankie Howerd, Benny Hill, Jimmy Edwards,
Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan. Max and Blossom had a son Anthony
during this time.
After the war, Max
returned to his trade as a carpenter to support a young family on
£6.00 a week - but then came his first break, a radio broadcast with
the BBC an opportunity he shared with a very nervous Frankie Howerd.
That broadcast led to a job in a touring revue For the Fun of It
which lasted 61 weeks.
Learning his trade in
the 200 Variety theatres then flourishing throughout the land, Max
gradually worked his way up the bill. He was already a star when
food, sweets, petrol, and furniture were still rationed after the
war.
May 1951 saw him
performing at the London Palladium, and he began to have small parts
in films, and on radio. Having appeared at the Royal Variety Show,
he began to make records; his first was The Cowpuncher’s Cantata.
Second daughter Maxine was born and Max was invited by July Garland
to support her for a season in New York. Max by now was a known
star, he had a Rolls-Royce with the number plate MB 1; he stared in
films such as Charlie Moon; he produced a series of major hit
records including ten under the title Singalongamax; he toured the
world and was awarded the OBE.
In the 1990s he bought
an 84 acre property in northern New South Wales, Australia called
Attunga Park. He semi retired from the UK in 2002, with a tour
finishing with a sell out concert in Bournemouth, with the Beverley
Sisters and moved to his Australian home. However Max returned in
2005, playing his final UK concerts in September 2006.
A dazzling career
spanning over 50 years in Variety, records, television, and film,
winning many awards on the way has earnt Max a reputation as a
consummate professional and master of stagecraft.
(info edited from my newham.co &
blackpool.grand.co.uk)
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