Gracie Fields: Icon of Variety - A Newsreel Celebration (1938)
2h 0min
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- Synopsis:
From humble beginnings in Rochdale in Lancashire as Grace Stansfield, she made her first stage appearance at the tender age of five and went onto international super-stardom. The newsreels first filmed Gracie in 1923 in the Mr. Tower of London review which came to London s West End and launched her phenomenal career. Gracie s first film Sally In Our Alley was a major box office hit; but she found film-making very boring as she always craved a live audience. Such was her popularity, Gracie was honoured with the CBE at Buckingham Palace for Services to Entertainment in 1938 before becoming seriously ill with cancer in 1939. An irrepressible force of nature, Gracie recuperated sufficiently to get back to work with ENSA entertaining the troops throughout WW II even though her marriage to an Italian citizen meant that she had to leave Britain to reside in the US. Performance highlights of such shows were sharing the bill with the legendary Bob Hope and Arthur Askey, both seen here! Gracie Fields was the consummate professional entertainer and much in demand for a variety of public events from film premiéres, as a Miss World judge and judging dancing competitions. The newsreels covered examples of them all amongst several emotional returns to her beloved hometown Rochdale, visits to factories and interviews with Gracie herself. - Studio:
- Cherry Red
- Genres:
- Documentary, Special Interest