Girls Will Be Boys, Boys Will Be Girls
Exhibition of Ken Russell’s Teddy Girls Series and unseen images by Alan Vines of the oldest established all-male revue company that emerged from the British Army in WWII, The Lucy Bell Gallery, Norman Road, St Leonards
Before finding fame as a film director with Women in Love, Tommy and The Devils, Ken Russell worked as a freelance photographer. His series The Last of The Teddy Girls explores London’s teddy girl subculture in the 1950s, capturing the suits and slick-backs that epitomised the genre. Few people know that Ken Russell originally wanted to be a serious fashion photographer, but as he himself admitted, he was hopeless and couldn’t connect with his subjects. His genius lay in his interaction, first of all with the teddy girls and later with his actors, all of whom would do anything for him.
Johnnie Ross Performing ‘Daddy’ 1954
PICTURE: Topfoto / Alan Vines
When asked about his teddy girl pictures, Russell remembered “No one paid that much attention to the teddy girls before I did them, although there was plenty on teddy boys. They were tough these kids, they’d been born in the war years and food rationing only ended in 1954 – a year before I took these pictures. They were proud. The dressed-up teddy girls were quite edgy and that interested me. They were rebellious, but good as gold. They thought it was fun getting into their clobber and I thought so too”
Alan Vines’ work which is also on show includes a series of hitherto unseen images exploring a day in the life of the oldest all male revue, This Was The Army, which ran for nine years after it was founded during WW2. It was devised by soldier/comedian Jack Lewis in the army, where entertainment was improvised and the men compensated for the shortage of women by dressing up. Back in civvy street he set out with his wife Hazel to turn the joke into a commercial proposition. Jack provided the raw knockout army sketches and Hazel (a former dancer) trained the chorus ‘girls’. It was the1950s equivalent to Everyone’s Talking about Jamie or RuPaul’s Drag Race both of which came more than 60 years later. The drag show was poular and audiences were treated to an evening’s entertainment where, as the poster said, “Every Lady is a Perfect Gentleman.”
Teddy Girls
PICTURE: Ken Russell
These two great photographers, young meteors of 1950s Britain, never met, but here converge with two separate photo essays. Both had very different career trajectories, one – Ken Russell -became a global filmmaking superstar whose photographic work has now inspired the Creative Director at Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri, as well as the former head of Burberry, Christopher Bailey. The other, Alan Vines, has largely slipped from the history books but is long overdue the recognition his superb work deserves. Lucy Bell gallery are exhibiting the two series together for the first time and prints will be on sale.
• Exhibition: runs from 21st September to 26th October 2019. Private View 21st September
• For more information email [email protected]
www.lucy-bell.com/exhibition/girls-will-be-boys-boys-will-be-girls
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