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WITH A LITTLE BIT 0' LUCK'

The Happy -Go-Lucky life story of Stanley Holloway-

THE MAN, THE MUSIC, THE MONOLOGUES

As the great man himself said, Stanley Holloway's glittering show-business career was peppered with 'little bits 0' luck.' But to attribute his phenomenal, life-long, love affair with both stage and screen simply to 'lucky breaks' would be to wholly overlook his most important quality.

Luckily, he was blessed with, arguably, one of the most enduring, endearing and totally unique talents ever to be presented before the British and indeed the world, public at large. He was, in the truest sense of the words, an 'international super-star' . From his early frolics with the irrepressible 'Co-Optimists', the concert-party entertainers, through his extraordinary association with the now legendary Ealing Comedies, to the pinnacle of his countless theatre and movie achievements, 'My Fair Lady',

'With a Little Bit 0' Luck' affectionately traces Stan's ever-upward steps on the seemingly insurmountable ladder to stardom which eventually found him rubbing shoulders with the cream of show-biz high society - from Crosby to Coward, from Chevalier to 0livier, Groucho Marx to Audrey Hepburn. Cosmotheka's Dave Sealey, sometimes narrator, sometimes as the man himself, takes us on a roller-coaster journey along the road to Stanley's fabulous rise to fame. And, on the way, we meet old favourites like Sam Small (who refused to 'pick oop tha musket') or Albert Ramsbottom (Yon Lion's 'et Albert).

The great classic monologues are lovingly re-visited: 'My word, you do look queer', 'Three 'appence a foot' and the timeless masterpiece, 'Brahn Boots'. not to mention the songs, 'With her head tucked underneath her arm', 'I'm getting married in the morning', and with a little bit of luck, 'With a little bit of luck" Dave even takes a look at Stanley's 'Bottom' -courtesy of William Shakespeare of course.

Only rarely does an entertainer manage to weave his or her way into the hearts and minds of the listening public. Stanley Holloway did just that, honestly and simply, delivering lines like this:

'But some day up at Heaven's gate
Poor Jim, all nerves, will stand and wait
Till an angel whispers, 'Come in, mate',
'Where's yer brahn boots'?

How irresistible is that?

Written and performed by Cosmotheka's DAVE SEALEY