THE woman clutching the harnesses of these horses in Glasgow’s St Enoch Square was once the highest paid film star with the most famous legs in the world. She is Betty Grable, the famous pin-up who, as her film career deflated, trod the boards, and was in Glasgow with the musical Belle Starr at the Alhambra.
The two characters beside her are Blayne Barrington who appeared as Billy the Kid and Ray Chiarella as Jesse James. I will leave it to the esteemed Jack House who reviewed the show for the Evening Times in April, 1969, who explained that the audience were on their feet applauding at the end, but added: “I was applauding too – partly out of sympathy, and partly because my friends were patting me on the shoulder and saying, ‘You don’t get great artists like that nowadays’. I never thought Betty Grable was a great artist at all, but you don’t like to be the odd man out.
“In my humble opinion Betty Grable can’t act for toffee and she can’t sing either, but she has personality and beautiful legs. Perhaps that’s enough.”
The Glasgow show was a try-out before London, and Jack predicted it would close within a month. He was being optimistic. It closed after 16 performances.
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