Visit our new page of Exhibitions and Talks and don’t forget that ‘Mike Gray – In Black and White’ photography exhibition is at Chats Palace bar throughout the Summer 2015 as well as the ‘Photographer Unknown’ next door in Chats gallery. Have a lovely Summer!
Michael Leslie Gray – Hackney historian and community activist: born London March 3rd 1938, died Toledo 10th January 2015
Mike Gray, who has died in Spain at the age of 76, said that his life was defined by three locations Dulwich, Hackney and Mora de Toledo, Spain. He was a lifelong community activist and animateur, who was the first Chair of Chats Palace and who will be most remembered for his leading role in saving Sutton House Hackney. Read more
David Fox and Martin Goodrich on Mike Gray at Chats Palace:
Mike Gray also discovered the Elizabethan Sutton House and fought a successful campaign to have it restored and turned into another Hackney miracle. His portrait was/is on the staircase in Sutton House.
Mike Gray
Brian Walker adds:
I am so sad to hear that our good mate Mike Gray has died. Although he has been very ill for the last couple of years it is still a shock. Mike was a good friend and a very fair and dutiful Chairman of Chats Palace. We never realised at the time what a great campaigner and forward thinking organiser he was. He made such an impact on Homerton and Hackney, but to many of us he was just our friend and companion, Mike. Thank you! RIP Mike.
From the April 1981 Chats Palace programme:
Born in Detroit, Will Gaines is one of the few remaining tap dancers of the Vaudeville tradition. Himself a bill-topper at the London Palladium, Will has toured with a host of stars whose names read like a showbiz Who’s Who of the last forty years, including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lenny Bruce, Aretha Franklin, Billie Holliday, Judy Garland, Charlie Watts and Ian Dury. A night not to be missed. £2.00. (80p OAPs/kids)
Brian Walker remembers…
Will Gaines was a black American Tap Dancer whose gimmick was to tap dance in a pair of heavy working boots. He appeared at Chats Palace Music Hall quite a few times, and at our shows in Victoria Park etc.
My home is my shoes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs2HFu6_xIs
©David Corio. Tap Dancer Will Gaines performing at the Wag Club, Wardour Street, London on 21 October 1984
David Corio adds…
The Will Gaines show I photographed was at the Wag Club around the time that the new jazz scene was becoming very hip and fashionable (early 80’s). Will Gaines and Slim Gaillard were the two US veterans who had been in London on and off since the 60s and although they were now getting on in years were still full of enthusiasm and energy for the scene and their music. Will Gaines came on with baseball cap pulled down low and a rectangular piece of plywood under his arm, placed it on the floor, sat on a stool, shut his eyes and started to tap. He was accompanied by sax, guitar and double bass. As the show progressed he became more animated standing up and filling out the musical gaps with great swirls of seemingly effortless tap dancing interspersed with stories about his days with Cab Calloway and the jazz scenes of Harlem and Chicago in the 1950s. Now in his 80s he still makes occasional appearances.
A short conversation with Will Gaines: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPOZChw7EA0
Brian Walker again…
The mysterious Bubba Gaines was another American dancer and actor who came to Chats Palace many years ago, if my memory is correct he was on a tour of London venues, sponsored by the GLC. He was a very genial black man who charmed the about 100 people who attended. I have seen him in a few Hollywood films over the years.
Phil Sawyer remembers Bubba Gaines and Honi Coles performing at Chats Palace:
Alan Rossiter contributes…
Bubba Gaines and Honi Coles were a tap dancing duo and were sponsored by GLAA (Greater London Arts Association no longer in existence). It was one of the most magical nights at Chats as these were genuine Hollywood hoofers, the last remaining pair of the famous Copasetics. They demonstrated ‘buck and wing’ and asked if anybody in the audience had heard of this and there was a guy from Victoria Park who said he did and he had brought his tap shoes with him. Bubba Gaines invited him up on stage and they all danced together. It was brilliant and I am sure that man was totally thrilled and never forgot that amazing evening.
Cookie, Coles and Gaines 1974: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_FimMfUdVg
Mike Gray concludes…
Leslie Bubba Gaines died in 1997 and had an obituary in the New York Times.
He was part of a tap dancing group called Copasetics. That was the name which we used for publicity for his appearance in Chats. The two Gaines must be related in some way. Hope I am still dancing at 82!!
Brian Walker recalls the days of Music Hall at Chats Palace:
In the early days of Chats Palace, Mike Grey, a local historian and stalwart of the community, was instrumental in getting a Blue Plaque placed on a house in Graham Road where Music Hall superstar Marie Lloyd once lived. To celebrate this historic occasion Chats staged an ‘Old Time Music Hall’, and so it began. So popular was it that it was decided to make it a regular event.
Unveiling of the Blue Plaque to Marie Lloyd, 1977 © Mike Gray / Chats Palace
Soon regular customers and people from all over London turned up every month, and a group of local families became involved in supporting the shows and in time formed The Homerton Volunteers. This support continued for nearly 16 years. Eventually the Volunteers were responsible for running the Music Hall.
At first all performers were professional, but local and would be entertainers were encouraged to take part. However the success of the shows meant that many professional artistes asked to appear and eventually Chats had a reputation for fun and audience participation. It became so popular that at one time that Saturday night shows were repeated on Sundays as well.
Many famous people came to perform, faces seen on TV brought a bit of glamour to Homerton, amongst these were the legendary Clive Dunn of Dad’s Army fame, and believe it or not, the whole Muppet Company. Many old Variety turns found a place to perform their nostalgic acts bringing a lot of traditional skills that younger people had never seen before, but our local performers still had a chance to get up and do their bit.
The Homerton Volunteers with Animal the Muppet, 29 March 1980
The Music Hall was taken to many local festivals and venues, working at The Hackney Show every year, The GLC shows and even on the back of a lorry in The Easter Parade at Battersea Park. When The Hackney Empire was reopened, Chats Palace Music Hall put on one of the first Traditional Variety shows to be staged there.
What wonderful happy days! Marie Lloyd would have loved it!
See here for a selection of posters publicising Music Hall nights.
It may not be common knowledge that one of the earliest community festivals in London (Hackney Marsh Fun Festival) was organised for many years from Chats Palace.
In April 1974 a group of local people met in the Golden Shoe pub in Hackney to discuss the possibilities of organising a community festival. Just three months later Hackney’s first neighbourhood carnival was a reality. Thousands of visitors attended the two day event and in spite of the inevitable poor weather, a genuine spirit of fun, friendship and co-operation prevailed.
Building on this initial success the 1975 festival theme, “Hackney Marsh on Sea” was an attempt to recreate the East Enders’ traditional seaside beano. Everything from Bathing Belle dance to the pierhead and promenade site layout was designed to enhance the holiday atmosphere. Up to 20,000 people were entertained with Music Hall, a rock concert, almost 30 floats and a Viking Pageant! As was to be expected, some events did not take place as planned, whilst contests such as the inter-pub tug of war occurred spontaneously.
In 1976 Mike Gray welcomed participants to the ‘East meets West Show’ with the message that the Hackney Marsh Fun Festival’s aim of reviving the traditional East End community spirit, encouraging people of all backgrounds to get to know and understand each other, was to be pursued throughout the year in a new programme of theatre, music hall and dance at the old library on Chatsworth Road…
There are several hours of footage of the Festival in the Chats Palace archive, shot over several years, in several different film formats. Here is just one three and a half minute Super8 reel, shown in its entirety. If anyone knows who shot this particular reel please do get in touch, we would love to talk to you.
What is Chats Palace? 