... John Farrow JOHN FARROW, one of Britain's leading musical and pantomine impresarios, died suddenly on May 31 at Holly House Hospital, Buckhurst Hill, Essex, at the age of 52 from cardiomyopathy and a pulmonary oedema. He was born on March 18. 1938, in Bolton, Lancashire, where he was edu cated by a Roman Catholic order, the Salesian Brothers, and began his career on the variety stage in the ...

... KEN WOOLLARD, founder and organiser ot the Cambridge Folk Festival, died on October 14. He set up the festival in 1963, while still in the fire service, having been also active in local politics. Originally on the committee for the proposed festival, he took over the organisation and made it one of the leading events of its kind in the world, the first event including the Clancy Brothers and ...

... Lawrence Hayes LAWRENCE HAYES died, aged 74, in Adelaide, South Australia on November 13. The beginnings of a career in the Post Office came to an end in 1938 with a scholarship to RADA and the start of a lifetime of work as actor, director, producer and teacher in the UK, Africa and Australia. In his earlier years, apart from acting work, he taught at RADA (1946), was the first producer at ...

... RICHARD LIONEL MORRIS, I HAVE a letter from I written a few weeks before his death on November 12, and just before he was due to go into hospital for the last time. The tone of the letter is bright and optimistic written in meticulously neat and beautifully formed calligraphy showing no sign that he was in great and continual pain, and desperately weak. For everything Richard did was always ...

... Beatrice De Leon On 'Q' is the title of a book of memoirs by Kenneth Barrow, soon to be pub lished. The index reads like the celebri ties' Who's Who The names in those honoured columns reflect, quite defi nitely the two passions of its subject; the Professional Theatre and the train ing of Theatre Practitioners. It is a won derful tribute to BEATRICE DE LEON who passed away peacefully aged 90 ...

... Billy Eckstine BILLY ECKSTINE, a singer who weathered the changes in public taste for nearly 50 years and made his last appearance in Britain at a season at Ronnie Scott's Club as recently as 1991, has died aged 78. Eckstine was born in Pittsburgh, where he also died, but moved to Washington with his family as a child, coming into the business through talent contests which brought him a ...

... Obituaries DAISY BROWN, who danced and sang in summer shows and pan tomime as Daisy Day, died on March 30 in hospital at Glasgow. She was 79 and had suffered a stroke three days earlier. She appeared in revue and pan tomime at theatres in Scotland, England and Ireland, and had her own act as comedienne and dancer. She was born Daisy Hinzley Hayden at Hereford, and toured theatres and halls all ...

... Allen Christie ALLEN CHRISTIE, who died in June, was one of a rare breed; like Jerry Desmonde and Chesney Allen a con summate comic's feed. His partnership with Jack Tripp, the brilliant pantomime and revue comedian, was perfection, spanning well over 30 years. A handsome debonair Australian with a fine tenor voice, Allen came to England in 1947 appearing at the Stoll Theatre in Wild Violets. ...

... Mermaid pays tribute to a great man By RON PEMBER I WROTE an article in a November edition of The Stage about the extraordinary career of Lord Bernard Miles, and in particular the important contribution he and Lady Josephine gave us with the creation of the Mermaid Theatre at Puddle Dock. A contribution, I felt, too soon forgotten. The response was remark able. Letters and calls poured in ...

... Leonard Bernstein LEONARD BERNSTEIN, who only a few days previously had announced his retirement from the concert'platform, died on October 14, aged 72. He will go down in theatre history for writing the music for one of the most influential of all sxage musicals, vvesx aiae Story, as important as was Oklahoma a decade earlier. But he was also a brilliant communicator of music, not merely ...

... It is appropriate that the last review that wrote (on Tippett's new opera at Glyndebournel before he died suddenly on August 4 should be for The Stage. For it was this newspaper that Frank joined when he first came to London in the early 1950s from his native York where he was born on June 3, 1923. At that time The Stage was in Covent Garden and edited by Eric Johns and Frank's early ...

... act in hotels and nightclubs throughout the world She was one of the first lady magicians to meet the rigid qualifications for pro fessional magician membership in the famous Magic Castle of Hollywood. After early ballet training at the Royal Academy, where she passed out with honours, her professional career began as one of the Tiller girls in the fifties. She later joined various variety ...