High kicks & trysts with Ol' Blue 注目する，もくろむs: The 発覚s of a Tiller Girl

By IRENE HOLLAND

Published: 00:01 BST, 27 July 2014 | Updated: 00:02 BST, 27 July 2014

As a ダンサー with the world-famous Tiller Girls, Irene Holland 成し遂げるd with a host of Hollywood heart-throbs during the 1940s and 50s. But, as she 明らかにする／漏らすs here, it wasn’t all smiles and sequins…

The Tillers had up to four 衣装 changes for every 業績／成果 - here they are dressed as ponies

I was born in 1930 in South London. My father was a cellist and my mother Kitty a violinist. They met in an orchestra 炭坑，オーケストラ席 playing music for the silent films when my mother was 17. Sadly, I don’t remember my dad apart from the one time when I visited him in hospital where he died of TB when I was two. We were left destitute. There were no social services then and my mother couldn’t work because she had me, so we moved in with my grandparents in Battersea.

I always knew I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be a ballet ダンサー and in 1942 Mum made the biggest sacrifice of her life to help me reach my dream. She sat me 負かす／撃墜する and told me she had joined Ensa, the Entertainments 国家の Service 協会, a group of performers who travelled around the world to entertain the 軍隊／機動隊s and keep up 意気込み／士気. ‘The 支払う／賃金 is good and a 正規の／正選手 行う is the only way I can put you through 行う／開催する／段階 school. It means I will be away but you can stay here with Granddad and Grandma.’

A publicity 発射 of Irene when she 成し遂げるd in Aladdin at the London Casino

When she left for Egypt to play in a quartet, I felt utterly alone in the world as I watched her coach 運動 away. I was used to 存在 on my own but it felt very 脅すing having nobody to look out for me, no one to give me a kiss or a cuddle or put me first, for my grandparents never did. They weren’t 利益／興味d in me.

Not long afterwards I was 受託するd by the Italia Conti 行う／開催する／段階 school and I loved every minute. It 緩和するd the 苦痛 of 存在 parted from Mum. As soon as I walked through the door and heard the tick of the metronome or the tinkle of the piano, I felt 安全な・保証する. It was my 聖域. The war was 激怒（する）ing, my mother was thousands of miles away but in there I felt 安全な and I could spend all day doing what I loved, which was dancing.

After the war, Mum （機の）カム home with a new boyfriend and I left Italia Conti and looked for work. After several 悲惨な 職業s I saw an advert in The 行う／開催する／段階: Girls needed to 成し遂げる in a new Tiller troupe at a 最高の，を越す West End theatre. Only 井戸／弁護士席-trained ダンサーs need 適用する.

The Tillers were かもしれない the world’s longest-running and most famous dance troupe. 設立するd by John Tiller in 1886, they were known for their 32-and-a-half kicks a minute and their 正確な, synchronised 決まりきった仕事s. Out of curiosity, I went to the audition. I knew lots of girls would turn up for a plum 職業 like that and sure enough the hall was packed with young women all dressed in their dance tunics, clutching ballet and tap shoes.

The Tillers dressed as 著作権侵害者s for one of their 業績／成果s

Two spinsters took the auditions: 行方不明になる Doris, who was in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of troupe 管理／経営, and 行方不明になる Barbara, a choreographer. They were probably only in their 50s but they looked like two grannies in their tweed skirts and cardigans. There was nothing glamorous or theatrical about them at all. They were looking for 25 girls to form a new troupe at the London Palladium. ‘It’s all about discipline and uniformity,’ 行方不明になる Barbara told us. ‘Every movement must be perfect. You have to dance together like you are one woman. And remember to smile, girls, please.’

I couldn’t believe it when I got the 職業! Rehearsals were hard work. The perfect 高さ of a Tiller Girl kick was to hip 高さ and not any higher. Everything had to be 正確な and the same, even 負かす／撃墜する to the way we linked our 武器. ‘I 推定する／予想する nothing but perfection, ladies,’ said 行方不明になる Barbara. ‘Now, 長，率いるs up and smile!’

After a few hours my feet 傷つける and my 直面する ached from smiling. There was so much to remem ber and I knew they had high 基準s, and not only in the way we danced. ‘It’s important that you understand that we are very particular in the type of girl we take on,’ 行方不明になる Doris told us. ‘We need hard-working, 井戸／弁護士席-behaved young ladies and we certainly don’t want to 危険 bringing the Tiller 指名する into disrepute.’

The （人が）群がるs outside the London Palladium when Frank Sinatra was headlining in 1950

We were told that anyone with a boyfriend had to bring them in so that 行方不明になる Barbara and 行方不明になる Doris could check they were decent. It was （疑いを）晴らす they were going to be keeping a motherly 注目する，もくろむ over us girls. 行方不明になる Doris with her 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 直面する seemed warm and approachable. 行方不明になる Barbara was bristly and stiff.

As the Palladium Tiller Girls we would open the show, の近くに the first half, open the second half and の近くに it at the end with a Hollywood 星／主役にする. There would be a 衣装 change for each dance, two shows a night every day except Sunday and then every two weeks we would have to learn a new show for the next American 星／主役にする. There was no 疑問 about it, it was damn ha rd work.

Irene (far 権利) and the Tillers with （頭が）ひょいと動く Hope at a charity concert for 負傷させるd servicemen

We opened with Danny Kaye in 1948. He looked like an ordinary bloke to me, but it was very exciting to think I was インチs away from a Hollywood 星／主役にする as we 列d for tea and coffee in the green room after our last rehearsal. I was busy 星／主役にするing at him and he 明白に hadn’t seen me standing behind him. When he turned around he bumped into me and spilt hot coffee 負かす／撃墜する the 前線 of my brand new, hugely expensive silk dress. I yelped in 苦痛 but he didn’t say a word and just wandered off.

Irene with her husband Kate on their wedding day, March 1952 - she was 支援する at work at the Palladium the next day

I panicked, knowing that 行方不明になる Barbara was going to kill me because my dress was 廃虚d. The girls told me to go to see Rosie, the Palladium’s in-house wardrobe mistress who was in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of day-to-day 修理s. Her 直面する fell when she saw my dress. She couldn’t clean the 構成要素 because it was too delicate so she 削減（する） out the 前線 パネル盤 and 取って代わるd it.

On our first night we 軍隊／機動隊d 負かす／撃墜する the stairs in our cuban heels. As the velvet curtain began to rise slowly, I was 攻撃する，衝突する by an 圧倒的な mix of light, sound and colour. I’d never experienced anything like it. The lights were dazzling and I could feel their 激しい heat on my 肌. They were so powerful I could hardly see anything, but I could make out the red of the curtain and the ornate gold of the boxes glinting in the スポットライトs. I couldn’t see anyone but I could hear the loud 賞賛 of the 2,000-strong audience as we high-kicked our way to the 前線 of the 行う／開催する／段階.

The adrenalin 殺到するd as I danced as if my life depended on it, turning my 長，率いる in perfect synchronisation with Sylvia on one 味方する and Dorothy on the other. As I danced, all I felt was unadulterated joy. It didn’t 事柄 that my tube 旅行 had been long, that I had a 位置／汚点／見つけ出す on my nose or that my mother’s boyfriend had been getting on my 神経s. As soon as I stepped on to that famous 行う／開催する／段階, nothing 事柄d except the music and the dancing. I didn’t need to remember to smile, I was grinning 自然に, enjoying every exhilarating minute. That’s when it finally 攻撃する，衝突する me. I was a ダンサー. This was what I was born to do.

A lot of people thought we were silly just because we were ダンサーs. They were surprised when you had an opinion on things. One of the girls, Betty, was from Yorkshire and she was very left-wing like me. Her 十分な 指名する was Betty Boothroyd and years later she became the first woman （衆議院の）議長 of the House of ありふれたs. Proof indeed that you could be a Tiller Girl and have brains!

Irene with her mother in Scarborough, where she was doing a summer season

Irene 老年の 16, dancing in Aladdin at Exeter Theatre 王室の

The 急上昇するs Orchestra were the jokers in the theatre. They teased us or played tricks on us whenever they could. The worst was the day they deliberately played our music 二塁打 time. It was during a matin?e 業績／成果 and we knew straight away that something was wrong. It was hard enough to get all the kicks into our 決まりきった仕事 anyway, never mind at 二塁打 time. Our 脚s must have looked a blur as we tried 猛烈に to keep up. We were so cross, but we couldn’t let the audience see that there was anything wrong ? we had to keep dancing with grins plastered across our 直面するs. But we could see the 急上昇するs laughing at us from the 炭坑，オーケストラ席 and were furious. By the time we （機の）カム off 行う／開催する／段階 we were exhausted 同様に.

The day Frank Sinatra joined us for a two-week run I arrived at the theatre for rehearsals and there was already a 抱擁する （人が）群がる outside the 行う／開催する／段階 door hoping to get a glimpse of him. There was no such thing as 護衛s or 安全 staff in those days and most 星／主役にするs just travelled with their partner and いつかs their 経営者／支配人. We’d never seen anything like this before.

Irene with her fellow Tillers in Dortmund - the Tillers were the first British dance troupe to 成し遂げる in West Germany after the war

The whole cast and 乗組員 were buzzing about the arrival of Ol’ Blue 注目する，もくろむs. We were in the 中央 of rehearsals that afternoon when we saw him standing in the wings 存在 introduced to the backstage staff. He was in his 30s, an older man compared to us girls. He had a bit of a 評判 for 存在 a womaniser and I could see why. ‘He is much more handsome in real life,’ I whispered to Peggy.

Jack the 行う／開催する／段階 経営者／支配人 brought him over to where we were standing. We were 完全に starstruck and just stood there like lemons with big grins on our 直面するs. ‘Hello, ladies,’ he said. ‘I am looking 今後 to seeing you in 活動／戦闘.’

‘Hello Mr Sinatra,’ we chorused.

‘Isn’t he small?’ whispered Peggy as he wandered off 行う／開催する／段階. ‘Not much bigger than me,’ I replied.

The excitement was building for his first night and the atmosphere in the theatre was electric. It was standing room only in the 立ち往生させるs and the minute the curtain went 支援する to 明らかにする／漏らす Sinatra reclining on a velvet chaise longue, the audience 爆発するd with whoops, 元気づけるs and whistles.

We all had autograph 調書をとる／予約するs but nobody dared take them to the dressing room to get Sinatra to 調印する them ? except ジーンズ and me. Before that time I had never been in awe of any of the 星／主役にするs. We just 扱う／治療するd them as part of the show and got on with it. But I felt a little nervous as I 長，率いるd to his dressing room and my 手渡すs were shaking as I knocked on the door.< /font>

‘Come in, girls,’ he said, smiling when he saw us standing there.

‘We wondered if you’d be so 肉親，親類d as to 調印する our autograph 調書をとる／予約するs, Mr Sinatra,’ I asked.

Irene in 2000