The One and Only Phyllis Dixey

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In 1957 he married the crime writer Ann Goodman, and the couple lived for many years in the Northamptonshire village of Blakesley. Ann survives him, along with two daughters, Harriet and Emily, and a son, Matthew. Roye: "Phyllis in Censorland", 1942, Elstree Publications Ltd. and The Camera Studies Club, a larger edition 1950s. Today, Phyllis Dixey is thought of as a fan dancer but this was only a part of her life on the stage and film. For a declining number of the British population the variety artiste Phyllis Dixey is remembered for her “ Peek a Boo” revues. Phyllis Dixey started her career as a child dancer in pantomime. Later, Phyllis secured a job in the chorus line with the impresario Wallace Parnell. This was a time of the grand revues and Wallace Parnell was famous for his glamorous productions. Later Phyllis found employment with the comedian and actor-manager Ernie Lotinga and toured Britain in a show called, “ The Means Test“.

His first experience of television drama came when his second novel, a downbeat story of espionage and defectors, Four Days to the Fireworks, published in 1964, was adapted the following year in ITV’s Play of the Week series, with Denholm Elliott starring. Philip then adapted the story Calf Love for the BBC’s Wednesday Play slot (1966), and contributed an episode to ITV’s successful drama series A Family at War (1971).Philip Purser and Jenny Wilkes: "The One And Only Phyllis Dixey", 1978, Futura Publications, London; ISBN 0-7088-1436-0 Phyllis Dixey’s life was immortalized in the 1978 film The One and Only Phyllis Dixey and in a 2009 play called Barely Phillis. And this plaque, placed on her former home after much controversy:

From the mid-1990s Jenny cared for Bradley, who developed Alzheimer’s disease. She studied drama therapy at the (now Royal) Central School of Speech and Drama, to help them cope, and, combining her old and new skills, she shot more than 200 hours of film with Bradley to show the effectiveness of drama therapy. At the time of her death, she was editing this material into short training films and a documentary, A Love Story, to show how their relationship had deepened during his illness. Bradley died in 2012. Jerry Roberts Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors, Lanham Maryland & Plymouth, UK: Scarecrow Press, 2009, p.600 Phyllis Dixey (10 February 1914 – 2 June 1964) was an English singer, actress, dancer and impresario. Her earlier career was as a singer in variety shows in Britain. During World War II, she joined ENSA and entertained the British forces. She sang, recited and posed in naked tableaux which were very popular.It was during the last few months of her life that she turned to the comfort of the Catholic Church. She was received into the Church during a visit in Guys Hospital from Father Crispin in April 1964. At the end of that month she returned home to “The Retreat” for the last time. Phyllis Selina Dixey Tracy died at home on Tuesday 2 June 1964 aged 50. In 1978 Thames Television produced a drama documentary on the life on Phyllis Dixey. The documentary was televised and had a memorable performance by Lesley Anne-Down in the role of an adult Phyllis Dixey. Phyllis’s mother was known as Selina who died aged 87 in 1978. Phyllis’s father worked away a lot as a ship’s steward and later as a train carriage attendant.

In 1946 she appeared in the film Dual Alibi with Herbert Lom. The following year she closed her Whitehall show on the heels of five years of success. For several years she and Tracy toured her revues through Britain and Scandinavia. By the mid-1950s competition from similar revues plus the advent of television had taken their toll and she was forced to stop headlining and producing her own vehicles. In 1956, billed as “The One and Only Phyllis Dixey”, she appeared with Paul Raymond’s touring revue. She danced professionally through 1958. In 1968 he produced what many consider his best thriller, Night of Glass, about four Cambridge undergraduates, one of them, like him, a provincial grammar school boy, who turn a rag-week dare into a genuine attempt to break a prisoner out of Dachau concentration camp in 1938. Phyllis Dixey is not forgotten today, her legacy in revue theatre was glamour and style. A play on Phyllis Dixey called, “ Barely Phyllis” was produced in March, 2009 and staged at the Pomegranate Theatre in Chesterfield.His Bafta-nominated drama documentary The One and Only Phyllis Dixey (1978) for Thames TV celebrated the life of the woman once labelled “Britain’s queen of striptease”. A new British tour was arranged but there were many new touring companies with tableau and fan dancing routines. A young Paul Raymond had entered the world of the nude tableau show in 1951 and there were also a number of competing revues. The 1950’s were the last years for many provincial variety theatres which were closing down due to the onslaught of television and many artistes were leaving the theatre at this time. During 1943 Phyllis appeared in Brighton in a straight play called, “ Trilby” and then in the play, “ While Parents Sleep“. There came now a period Phyllis is most remember with her time in London’s Whitehall Theatre. War time revues at the Whitehall Theatre were ,” Good Night Ladies’!”, Heydays Hotel (1976) for Granada, starring a young Nigel Havers, was, he maintained, an experiment in trompe l’oeil television; a conventional period drama turning unexpectedly into something quite different. Phyllis and her brother were first educated at Fircroft Road Elementary School Tooting before the family moved to Surbiton Surrey.