by Tony Papard » Thu Aug 16, 2007 1:27 am
Thanks Daniel, and Graham, for these very interesting articles.
I'd never heard about this planned return tour of the UK before in 1959, nor of the 6 planned films or TV appearances, including Jack Good's 'Oh Boy!'
What a pity this never happened.
It is clear from these articles how utterly shocked and mystified Jerry Lee was by the fuss over his marriage to Myra. It simply was very commonplace in the area where Jerry grew up at that time to marry very young indeed. All his family did so. Of course someone should have checked whether it was legal for Jerry to arrive in England with a wife of 13, but it seems Jerry was determined to bring Myra anyway.
I was myself 13 in 1958, but never heard or read any of this story in the media. I think I was more into the Beano and the Eagle comics at the time! And being hospitalized for much of 1958, I certainly couldn't have got to any of the shows even if I'd heard of Jerry Lee, which I hadn't.
Apart from that, my mother told me as soon as Bill Haley arrived on the scene that rock'n'roll was only for yobs, and she wouldn't have let me go anyway. TV didn't arrive in our home till rock'n'roll was on the way out, so I also missed all the '6.5 Special' and 'Oh Boy!' shows.
My pocket money would buy me 8 aniseed balls for one penny, or a Jamboree Bag for a few pence. It certainly wouldn't have stretched to the price of a ticket for a rock'n'roll show. And since we didn't have a gramophone or a record player, records were out of the question too.
A different world! Myra was married at 13, I was still very much a little child reading comics and watching cartoons and Flash Gordon at the Saturday Morning pictures. I never discovered sex for another 9 years, and rock'n'roll for another 6 years.
So Daniel and Graham have helped late developers like myself, as well as the younger generations, to catch up on the events of 1958/59.
Last edited by
Tony Papard on Fri Aug 17, 2007 12:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Long ago in Ferriday down in Louisiana, They all watched Jerry play and pump that old piana
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