HER regular customers knew her as Matt but her real name was Martha. Mrs Martha Douglas, 65 years old, was serving coffee at the Dennistoun Palais, Britain’s biggest dance-floor, long before many of them had even been born. She had begun working at the old Palais in 1928, which burned down in 1936. She joined the new Palais in January 1938, a month before it opened. What did she think of today’s young dancers, the Evening Times asked her in April 1957? “Styles have changed, clothes have changed,” she said, “but the girls certainly haven’t. They’re still as bonny as they were 25 years ago.” “You can say what you like about Continental beauties,” added Gordon Chalmers, the Palais manager, “but Glasgow girls top the lot.” The venue’s band leader, Leeds-born Lauri Blandford, said that while young people didn’t pay too much attention to the “strict steps of dancing”, they were certainly enthusiastic, and the pleasure they got from dancing was timeless. What sort of music did they like? “I give them everything,” he said. “Slow, fast, Dixieland and of course rock ‘n’ roll too. Our dancers make their own requests for particular numbers and we let them have them. Why shouldn’t we?”
The Palais girls had Lauri’s approval, too. “Of course, the girls are the pick of the bunch. I ought to know,” he added. “I married one.”
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