Original members of the Ivy Benson band, Gracie Cole, Dorothy Burgess and Silvia England

The blonde bombshells swing again

Alan Plater’s back with a play about an all-women band that lost an entire section to romance, writes Dan Carrier

THERE are three types of jazz, says playwright Alan Plater, hot jazz, cool jazz, and what time does the tune start? jazz.
Plater should know. Although he has 300-odd writing credits in TV, radio, theatre and cinema, he remains linked with his first love, the big band sounds of Duke Ellington – hot jazz, by his reckoning – the music of his youth.
Perhaps it was the success of the Beiderbecke Affair, which starred James Bolam and featured the music of the clarinet player Bix Beiderbecke.
The ITV series about Yorkshire teachers apparently uncovering a nuclear weapons conspiracy cemented his reputation as one of our finest writers.
Opening this week at the Hampstead Theatre is Plater’s latest work, the Blonde Bombshells of 1943, which draws heavily on the playwright’s fascination with swing music.
It tells the story of an all-woman band who earn a living touring the American bases in the English countryside during World War II.
Plater, who lives in Tufnell Park, is basking in the glow of seeing a play that he originally dreamt up nearly 20 years ago thrill audiences at its preview in Bolton.
Plater was inspired by the Ivy Benson all-girl band. Benson, who led the band for over 40 years, formed a nine-piece in 1939 which quickly earned a reputation as one of the best swing bands.
However, the war created problems: with American GIs in the audience, Ivy was known to lose an entire section overnight to romance and marriage.
Plater says: “That seemed like a good starting point – a band that loses half its membership to the American forces. They have to find four new musicians in time for a concert which is their big chance to get some radio air time, which back then would be the breakthrough.”
The show is a prequel. In 2001, his TV play The Last of The Blonde Bombshells, which starred Judi Dench, June Whitfield, Cleo Laine and Ian Holm, told the story of an all-woman band which reformed after 50–odd years apart.
The new show features an eight-piece band – which meant finding musicians who were actors: a problem that was solved by auditioning hundreds of actors until Plater was happy. But there was still one member of the cast that was proving hard to fill.
In the Last of the Blonde Bombshells, the role was played by Ian Holm – and using a man gave the plot a twist.
Plater explains: “We had to find a female jazz drummer, which was hard. Women are too sensible for it – you have to shlep drums about and practising annoys the neighbours. I did lots of auditions but without success.”
The problem was solved by reverting to the trick Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis used in Some Like It Hot
Plater cast a man as the drummer, decking him out in 40s female finery. It transpires that the character is attempting to dodge his call-up papers.
Using Ivy Benson as the inspiration provides a ready made soundtrack: Plater has filled the show with some of the defining numbers of the period.
He says: “It was the era of great songwriters. Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin. It was about big bands.”
And featuring songs from the likes of Glenn Miller and the Andrews Sisters, it draws on Alan’s love of the music of the era. He believes the music produced was a distinguishing culture feature of the conflict.
He says: “There is an incredible legacy of the music. It makes it stand out. Where is the Iraq War Song Book? The only other war since that has produced music is the protest songs from Vietnam. It was a reaction to the awfulness of war. There was this feeling that says it does not seem right there’s a war on but we are having a good time – but it is to stop ourselves from crying.”
And World War II still holds something special in our collective consciousness, which Plater has tapped into.
He says: “Post 1945, the conflicts since then have been fairly tacky. World War II was the last one you could say it was an honourable war, for honourable reasons even if it was the result of a series of political cock-ups.”
Plater believes this ability to see a silver lining is a uniquely British trait – and helped fuel the music produced during the war.
He says: “There is also something perverse about the British, the sense of humour that surfaces in tough times. When HMS Sheffield was sunk during the Falklands War, the sailors on board were singing “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life.”

• The show runs from July 10 to August 12. Tel: 020 7722 9301

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