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Gracie Fields AI simulator
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Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 1898 – 27 September 1979) was a British actress, singer and comedian. A star of cinema and music hall, she was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the highest paid film star in the world in 1937. Fields was known affectionately as Our Gracie and the Lancashire Lass and for never losing her strong, native Lancashire accent. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and an Officer of the Venerable Order of St John (OStJ) in 1938, and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1979.
Fields was born Grace Stansfield, a daughter of Frederick Stansfield (1874–1956) and his wife Sarah Jane 'Jenny' Stansfield née Bamford (1879–1953), over a fish and chip shop owned by her grandmother, Sarah Bamford, in Molesworth Street, Rochdale, Lancashire. Her great-grandfather, William Stansfield (b.1805), of Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, was a descendant of the Stansfield family of Stansfield, Yorkshire.
Fields made her first stage appearance as a child, in 1905, joining children's repertory theatre groups such as "Haley's Garden of Girls" and Clara Coverdale's "Nine Dainty Dots".[citation needed] Her two sisters, Edith Fields and Betty Fields, and brother, Tommy Fields, all went on to appear on stage, but Gracie was the most successful. Her professional debut in variety took place at the Rochdale Hippodrome theatre in 1910, and she soon gave up her job in the local cotton mill, where she was a half-timer, spending half a week in the mill and the other half at school. Early newspaper clippings show her appearing locally in venues such as Todmorden (December 1913), Milnrow (February 1914), and Burnley (July 1914), with an appearance at The Palace in Blackpool in April 1914. The Burnley newspaper described her as “The Girl with the Double Voice”.
Fields met the comedian and impresario Archie Pitt and they began working together in Percy Hall's touring show Yes, I Think So. Pitt gave Fields champagne on her 18th birthday, and wrote in an autograph book to her that he would make her a star. Pitt began to manage her career and they began a relationship; they married in 1923 at Clapham Register Office. Their first revue together, written by Pitt, was called It's A Bargain! in 1915, and the two continued to tour Britain together until 1931.
Throughout the period 1918–1924, they appeared in the revue Mr Tower of London, which took Fields to the West End for the first time. Other shows following with Pitt in subsequent years, were The Show's The Thing and Walk This Way.[citation needed]
Pitt was the brother of Bert Aza, founder of the Aza Agency, which was responsible for many entertainers of the day including the actor and comedian Stanley Holloway, who was introduced to Aza by Fields, and Betty Driver who was discovered by Archie was a replacement cast member in Mr Tower of London. Fields and Holloway first worked together on her film Sing As We Go in 1934 and the two remained close friends for the rest of their lives.
Fields came to major public notice in Mr Tower of London, a show staged in London's West End. Her career accelerated from this point, with dramatic performances and the beginning of a recording career with the His Master's Voice. She was one of the most successful recording artists at the label, her first record, My Blue Heaven sold 500,000 copies in 1928. In 1933, His Master's Voice produced the four millionth Fields record, which was pressed by the singer herself on camera and celebrated with a special 'Lancashire Lunch' at the Trocadero .
At one point, Fields was playing three shows a night in the West End. She appeared in the production SOS with Gerald Du Maurier, a play staged at the St James's Theatre.[citation needed]
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 1898 – 27 September 1979) was a British actress, singer and comedian. A star of cinema and music hall, she was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the highest paid film star in the world in 1937. Fields was known affectionately as Our Gracie and the Lancashire Lass and for never losing her strong, native Lancashire accent. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and an Officer of the Venerable Order of St John (OStJ) in 1938, and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1979.
Fields was born Grace Stansfield, a daughter of Frederick Stansfield (1874–1956) and his wife Sarah Jane 'Jenny' Stansfield née Bamford (1879–1953), over a fish and chip shop owned by her grandmother, Sarah Bamford, in Molesworth Street, Rochdale, Lancashire. Her great-grandfather, William Stansfield (b.1805), of Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, was a descendant of the Stansfield family of Stansfield, Yorkshire.
Fields made her first stage appearance as a child, in 1905, joining children's repertory theatre groups such as "Haley's Garden of Girls" and Clara Coverdale's "Nine Dainty Dots".[citation needed] Her two sisters, Edith Fields and Betty Fields, and brother, Tommy Fields, all went on to appear on stage, but Gracie was the most successful. Her professional debut in variety took place at the Rochdale Hippodrome theatre in 1910, and she soon gave up her job in the local cotton mill, where she was a half-timer, spending half a week in the mill and the other half at school. Early newspaper clippings show her appearing locally in venues such as Todmorden (December 1913), Milnrow (February 1914), and Burnley (July 1914), with an appearance at The Palace in Blackpool in April 1914. The Burnley newspaper described her as “The Girl with the Double Voice”.
Fields met the comedian and impresario Archie Pitt and they began working together in Percy Hall's touring show Yes, I Think So. Pitt gave Fields champagne on her 18th birthday, and wrote in an autograph book to her that he would make her a star. Pitt began to manage her career and they began a relationship; they married in 1923 at Clapham Register Office. Their first revue together, written by Pitt, was called It's A Bargain! in 1915, and the two continued to tour Britain together until 1931.
Throughout the period 1918–1924, they appeared in the revue Mr Tower of London, which took Fields to the West End for the first time. Other shows following with Pitt in subsequent years, were The Show's The Thing and Walk This Way.[citation needed]
Pitt was the brother of Bert Aza, founder of the Aza Agency, which was responsible for many entertainers of the day including the actor and comedian Stanley Holloway, who was introduced to Aza by Fields, and Betty Driver who was discovered by Archie was a replacement cast member in Mr Tower of London. Fields and Holloway first worked together on her film Sing As We Go in 1934 and the two remained close friends for the rest of their lives.
Fields came to major public notice in Mr Tower of London, a show staged in London's West End. Her career accelerated from this point, with dramatic performances and the beginning of a recording career with the His Master's Voice. She was one of the most successful recording artists at the label, her first record, My Blue Heaven sold 500,000 copies in 1928. In 1933, His Master's Voice produced the four millionth Fields record, which was pressed by the singer herself on camera and celebrated with a special 'Lancashire Lunch' at the Trocadero .
At one point, Fields was playing three shows a night in the West End. She appeared in the production SOS with Gerald Du Maurier, a play staged at the St James's Theatre.[citation needed]
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