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DEATHS OF
TWO MUSIC HALL FAVOURITES Colin Murray (1904-1989) and
Grace (Clark) Murray (1905-1995)
Marriage
-1931 in Glasgow
GLASGOW HERALD Saturday 15 April 1989
Colin Murray, one of the great old troupers of the
Scottish and English music halls, who with wife Grace
formed the comedy duo of Clark and Murray — often
referred to as Mr and Mrs Glasgow — died yesterday at
the age of 84 at home in Ayrshire. They were the perfect
double act both in public and private life, although
there was a bit of role reversal. On stage, Colin always
appeared with a hang-dog expression, subjected to the
constant nagging of Grace. But Grace always maintained
that at home Colin was the boss. It was a love story
that started a long time ago when they were both young
seaside entertainers when Ma, Pa and the weans used to
go doon the watter for their holidays. Colin once told
me of their first meeting at a concert party in Dunbar
in the mid-twenties: ”It was on a bandstand in the park.
There were green folding parks deparment chairs. We
changed the programme every night and rehearsed every
morning. If it rained, we had to report to the Corn
Exchange.”
In those days Grace was a pianist, an accomplished
accompanist and singer, and Colin a singer. When it
rained a horse-drawn coal lorry came and they had to
load the piano on to it. Then they had to load as many
of the chairs as possible and ask the audiences to dry
them before sitting down. From the back of the lorry
they shouted: ’’Corn Exchange tonight!” as though they
were selling coal. They were appearing at the Victoria
Theatre, Dundee, when they got engaged on Christmas Day,
1929. ’’What a year we picked to get married,” said
Grace during that interview. ’’There was the depression
and the cinema talkies had just come in, murdering
showbusiness.” With Colin singing in his mellow baritone
and Grace at the piano, they continued as a straight act
until after the war when their comedy potential was
realised. They appeared on bills with artists like Will
Fyfe, Tommy Lorne, Harry* lauder and Ella Shields. On
the piano at their home one piece of music was always on
display — ’And
I Love you So'. ’’That’s our favourite song,” Colin
told me. "Every day of my life I sing it. And every time
Moira Anderson sees us — it could be in the supermarket
— she sings it out, loud and clear, And I Love You
So....”.
Grace (Clark) Murray, one of Scotland’s legends in
comedy, has died in a nursing home at Ayr, aged 90. Born
in Yoker, she was a concert pianist who emerged as a
bill-topping comedienne, partnering her late husband,
Colin Murray, in the music hall and variety theatre
double act of Clark and Murray at theatres in Scotland,
Belfast, and the Isle of Man. Grace met Colin when both
were solo acts — she a pianist, he a singer — in a
summer season at Dunbar in 1926. Their act switched from
music to laughter when Grace realised she could win
laughs playing the tough, tyrant wife in cross-talk with
a long-suffering husband. The twosome were awarded the
British Empire Medal in 1982 and had appeared at several
Royal performances in Glasgow. Comedian and actor Jimmy
Logan said yesterday: ’’Grace and Colin wrote a
wonderful page in the history of Scottish theatre. They
were the best of 100% family entertainment. ”On stage,
audiences saw Grace putting Colin in his place as a
martyred husband. In real life they lived for each
other, and Grace was lost after Colin died.” Grace’s
mother did not believe in people who were not married
travelling around in showbusiness together, claiming it
"wasn’t decent”, but she relented to the extent of
allowing the young couple to do their act, then travel
after the show to their respective homes. She later
allowed them to work outside Glasgow — but only if they
had a chaperone. Their domestic comedy was so popular
with audiences in the 1950s that they were labelled "Mr
and Mrs Glasgow”. A near classic sketch was their Bus
Stop, with Colin being harangued by an over-talkative
Grace for his behaviour at a social visit. "Aye, yer
mither!” she would exclaim, launching into a general
dissection of his character. In 50 years together on
stage, Clark and Murray worked alongside many of the
greats in music hall, among them Sir Harry Lauder, Will
Fyffe, Tommy Lorne, and Ham* Gordon. Grace lived in
retirement at Doonfoot, near Ayr. Like so many
entertainers, she did not take easily to leaving the
bright lights. Like so many others in her profession,
she was extremely sensitive about revealing her age.
Once, after a certain figure had been published, she
wrote a friendly letter to The Herald, pointing out that
theatrical people should keep to the old adage: "There
are two things a performer should never reveal — ages
and wages."
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