Record

Performance TitleFarewell Parade and Stand-Down Party, Home Guard Concert
Performance Date3 December 1944
Performance DaySunday
Performance Time18.30
Main PerformersTommy Trinder,
Cicely Courtneidge,
George Robey,
Violet Loraine,
Bennett and Williams,
Jose Fearon and Charles Gillespie,
Elsie and Doris Waters,
Rob Wilton,
Vera Lynn - vocal
Orchestra or BandLouis Levy and His band of Fifty
ChoirsMonia Liter and a Chorus of Thirty
Set ListMessage from Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander

'If You Were The Only Girl In The World' (George Robey, Violet Loraine)

Recording - HM The King

Comedy skits and songs (Tommy Trinder)

'Lily of Lagoona' (Leslie Mitchell, Audience)
Performance NotesThe event took place after an earlier stand-down parade of 7,000 representative members of the Home Guard in Hyde Park, London. The citizen army paraded past HM The King, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.

"Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander signalled a message to the Home Guard gathering at the Albert Hall last night, organised by the Daily Mail, Sunday Dispatch, and the London Evening News. After giving greetings from Italy and the Mediterranean, it read: - "I can assure you that everybody in this theatre is working and fighting to the limit to ensure that his last parade in London shall not be long delayed."
(The Times, 4 December 1944)

Associated Press Archive holds B&W British Movietone footage of the event (Story No. BM45325).
Work
Ref NoTitleNo of Performances
Owsagosyt_KowlFarewell Parade and Stand-Down Party, Home Guard Concert1
Performers
CodeName of Performer(s)
DS/UK/1552Trinder; 'Tommy' Thomas Edward (1909-1989); CBE; English comedian
DS/UK/6550Courtneidge; Dame; Esmerelda Cicely (1893-1980); DBE; English actress, comedienne, singer
DS/UK/2899Robey; Sir; George (1869-1954); English music hall comedian
DS/UK/1809Loraine; Violet (1886-1956); English musical theatre actress, singer
DS/UK/2948Gert and Daisy (fl 1950s)
DS/UK/6551Smith; Robert Wilton (1881-1957); English comedian, comic actor
DS/UK/3507Lynn; Dame; Vera (20 March 1917-18 June 2020); CH DBE OStJ; English singer
Add to My Items