Despite two of my recent items about Petula Clark, my pal Denro has accused me of neglecting her. So I’ll remedy that with a link to an excellent interview with Pet from a year ago on Irish TV. I can’t embed it, so click on the link and you’ll see where to find “Petula Clarke” [sic]. From there you’ll have to click PLAY CLIP 14:54 for the interview, and the 2:54 clip is of Petula at the piano. Note: The video is in Real format, and you may need to install some plug-ins, but it’s worth the trouble and waiting.
A fascinating aspect of Petula Clark’s career is that she reinvented herself several times. Beginning as a child star in England, she went on to films and television before establishing herself in France. Petula’s childhood chum Julie Andrews was a Broadway star for eight years before she was in “Mary Poppins,” but when Pet first appeared here in America in late ’64 we had no idea she had been in show business for twenty years.
Something I didn’t know about Petula until recently is that she’s something of an icon for gay men. Sincerely, that was news to me, and I can’t even say I understand why she has that status, because she’s neither tragic nor kitsch, and as far as I know her father wasn’t gay. Judy Garland impersonations are, of course, a staple of gay revues. Something that Judy Garland and Petula Clark share was appearing on screen with Fred Astaire. In this scene from “Easter Parade,” Judy and Fred perform “A Couple of Swells.”
Petula, sounding very bright and young, can be heard in a duet with one of England’s great dance band leaders, Billy Ternent, doing their own version of “A Couple of Swells.”
And here I must do the only sort of singing I can do — singing praises. Because I would have had no idea who Billy Ternent was without Clare Teal on BBC Radio 2. Since getting my Logitech Squeezebox WiFi Radio, I have become a big fan of Clare’s big band show.
