"A Scattered Garland: Gleanings from the lives of Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler" is a compilation of newspaper snippets, articles and criticisms, taken from a wide variety of sources, interspersed with my own comments expanding on particular events.
The compilation covers Anne and Webster’s musical and theatrical ventures from Webster’s first professional engagement with D’Oyly Carte in the early nineteen-twenties to Anne’s final broadcast towards the end of the century. The book is over 300 pages in length and is liberally illustrated.
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By Jean Collen
Oct 8, 2011
A Scattered Garland: Gleanings from the lives of Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler, uploaded on Lulu in November 2008, is a compilation of newspaper snippets, articles and criticisms, taken from a wide variety of sources, interspersed with my own comments expanding on particular events. Although the book is primarily an informal reference work rather than a story or biography, it shows the progress of Anne and Webster’s careers. It gives an interesting picture of the early career of Webster Booth after he left the D’Oyly Carte Company before he was firmly established on the road to success. It also lists a variety of engagements of his second wife, Paddy Prior, who went on the stage as a dancer, comedienne and soubrette while still in her teens. When she and Webster married they undertook a number of joint engagements, but these ceased towards the end of 1936 when their marriage broke down because of his relationship with Anne Ziegler. Webster and Anne went on to attain international... More > fame, while Paddy’s career remained static. She was a competent and talented performer and was rarely out of work, but she did not progress beyond after-dinner engagements, pantomime, concert party and occasional radio broadcasts. Webster was born in 1902 so was not eligible for military service during the war. He and Anne reached the height of their fame during the war on the Variety Circuit, in a series of Harold Fielding concerts, and in several lavish musicals and films, while Paddy worked for ENSA and entertained troops in the Middle East. She and her friend, Bettie Bucknelle left for Australia in 1948. Paddy’s brother Hubert had settled in Sydney, so presumably she went to Australia to join him. Although Bettie Bucknelle sang on Australian radio and was a regular vocalist with Jay Wilbur’s band, I have been unable to find any details of Paddy Prior’s work in Australia. The compilation covers Anne and Webster’s musical and theatrical ventures from Webster’s first professional engagement with the D’Oyly Carte Company in the early nineteen-twenties to Anne’s final broadcast towards the end of the century. The book is over 300 pages in length and is liberally illustrated.< Less
