Dave Moncur has written to tell me the great news that yesterday the PETition to request Petula Clark be granted the title of Dame passed the 1000 mark! Thanks, Dave, and thanks to everybody who signed!
At the moment the signature count is 1010, and the list includes writer Alan Moore, creator of V for Vendetta, and other comic book stories that have been adapted into movies. His graphic novel from 20 years ago, Watchmen, superbly illustrated by Dave Gibbons, is currently in production. Moore can be seen in Jonathan Ross’s documentary for the BBC, In Search of Steve Ditko. You’ll find it in seven parts here on DogRat.com, starting at this link.
Something I’ve discussed previously about Petula Clark are the many styles and persona she has assumed in her career over the years. She suited herself perfectly in whatever the era was she performed. I like to think that Pet is more than merely versatile — she’s multi-faceted, even complicated. And for me that’s a big part of her appeal, because it’s always been there, enhancing her performances. It’s an understatement to say there’s always been more to Pet than meets the eye.
Here are a couple of pictures of Pet you can click to enlarge. She’s the picture-perfect wife next door, as if anybody could ever hope to have her living next door …
… and here Pet presents two other sides of herself. One more business-like, the other decidedly show business-like.
Petula was an adorable child star, then later she was an ingenue in film, but we knew nothing of that when she first appeared in America. In Paris she was sultry and sexy, and we didn’t get to see that either in America. Yet here in the States she fit in perfectly with the go-go fashions of the Swinging Sixties teen music scene, and from there she gracefully transitioned to a more adult audience, as seen in the Dean Martin shows, and her own TV specials. I would suggest that men of the adult married variety were particularly interested in her during this phase of her career. I consider Pet’s appearance in the video I posted here to be one of the sexiest, and most contagiously fun, performances I’ve ever seen.
Hello, Petula! I love your name, too! Your last name sounds vaguely familiar; is it English? or do you live stateside? Dave, congratulations to you and everybody who worked so hard to get our Pet the requisite thousand signatures. Your Highness, get moving! Your nation awaits the inevitable. We WILL not be denied. OK, I’m not one of your subjects but AM rife with English blood! You gave Paul HIS knighthood, and he certainly didn’t age as incredibly well as Petula, did he? Pet has a charisma, a talent, a way around people that is felt by both men and women, and I mean that as an extremely heterosexual woman! You just KNOW you’d easily end up having a short lunch engagement turn into a great afternoon of laughing and classy talk over a bottle of expensive bubbly. OK, OK, throw in Anderson Cooper and Stephen King, and I’d be over the moon. The Amazing DogRat has already had the incredible good fortune of meeting the FUTURE DAME and having her ask him to scoot over closer to her for a picture! That shot is one of my desktop screensavers.
WOW THAT’S A WONDERFUL PICTURE.AS U CAN SEE MY NAME IS ALSO PETULA BECAUSE MY DAD WAS IN LOVE WITH YOUR SONGS HE NAMED ME AFTER YOU.PEACE OFF.
I think the way it works is that the PM, Mr. Brown, would be the one to recommend Petula’s name to Her Majesty. The quota is a psychological one. The online PETition concept is new, and hasn’t really been tested before. Here’s to success!
Of course she won her quota! Queen Elizabeth, your subjects (as well as Pet fans around the world) DEMAND you do your duty!
I’d just like to add that one of the reasons I love Petula so much is her incredible versatility. There are many artistes who, with the passage of time, or because of opportunities offered to them, have stepped outside of their particular genre. An opera singer who sings some jazz, an actor who makes a pop record, a singer who takes a role in a film…whatever. In almost every case, they look and sound like what they are… a little out of their depth maybe. Good but not at home.
Petula over the years has re-invented herself so many times. Child star, 50s British starlet, late 50s pop singer, French ye ye girl, European pop singer, American pop idol, Hollywood film actress, Las Vegas cabaret star, musical comedy star in London and New York, concert performer, tv star, radio presenter, dj, writer, composer….. and on and on. Every time Pet sounds like she was born to do that job.
There’s hardly a type of popular music she hasn’t sung, (and that in 5 languages) and once again, she sounds like what she has put her mind to being at that moment, rocker, crooner, country and western singer, musical comedy singer, comedienne, jazz singer.. ..Petula never sounds like she’s stepped out of her range.
Even today in her concerts she ranges across musical comedy, jazz, pop, rock, and even a poem. And she tells us stories and jokes…… A mass of talent wrapped up in 5ft of blonde beauty.
Then you meet her backstage dressed in jeans and a t shirt, and she’s the girl next door, asking you about who else speaks French in Edinburgh, or how your mum is, since the last time she saw her, or whatever little bit of trivia, having left the bright lights of Hollywood, Paris, New York, Geneva, Montreal behind with the expensive robe in the dressing room, she becomes our Pet.
What a delight she is, and how lucky we are to have her.