Kitty Bluett


Kitty Bluett was an English-Australian actress and singer for radio, television and film. She played Ted Ray's wife on the BBC radio show Ray's a Laugh from 1949 to 1961, the "longest running husband-wife radio show ever" with an estimated audience of 10 million. She appeared in several films, including A Son Is Born, alongside Ron Randell. Bluett was the first female radio DJ in Australia.

Early life

Kitty Bluett was the third child of vaudevillian performer Fred Bluett and dressmaker Catherine McKechnie. She had an older brother, Augustus "Gus" Bluett, a comedian, and a sister, Belle. When Bluett was 10 weeks old, her family moved to Australia. She attended school in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, as her family moved around performing.

Australian career (1916-1948)

Bluett first appeared on stage aged two-and-a-half in her father's vaudeville act at the Sydney Tivoli theatre, when she played "Boy Scout No. 5". As a child, she learnt tap dancing, ballet, singing and impersonation. When she was 12 she began doing impressions of Greta Garbo and ZaSu Pitts. She performed as part of her father's act for 15 years. Between 1940 and 1948, Bluett appeared on the Australian stage and screen. For the radio she was a Colgate-Palmolive radio artist where her professional partner was Dick Bentley.
She appeared on the front cover of Radio Pictorial of Australia magazine in April 1940 and the front cover of The ABC Weekly in November 1940. A 1941 newspaper article called her "possibly the leading comedienne in Australia to-day."

Film

Radio

  • 1937: A Cockney Cameo with Fred Bluett
  • 1940: Dr Davey, the Happiest Man on Earth Jack Davey's S'nday night show
  • 1940: Mirthquake
  • 1941: Out of the Bag with Dick Bentley and Joy Nichols
  • 1941: Bachelor Mother for 2GB Radio Theatre
  • 1941: Melody Riddles with Harry Dearth
  • 1941: Black Velvet at the Tivoli
  • 1941: The Cowboy and the Lady with Eric Bush and Pat Kennedy
  • 1942: Dithering with Davey with Jack Davey and Betty Bryant
  • Early 1940s: Rhythm Inn with Don Baker
  • 1949: Meet the Girl Friend with John Bushelle
In 1942 Bluett made front page news for a "risqué" on-air joke she made about "flimsy nightdresses" which led to the threat of her being removed from broadcasting. The Chief Radio Inspector had received complaints from the Good Film and Radio Vigilance League among others, and required Bluett to satisfactorily explain the joke, which she had made on Ladies First, compered by Jack Davey. The case was dropped within weeks. Of the incident, Bluett was reported as saying, "I think it’' silly. If people are going to thin' that way and see double meanings, they shouldn’' listen."

Live performance

Bluett would often play the role of soubrette (a 'saucy or flirtatious young woman’' in theatre productions.
Between 1943 and 1944, Bluett, together with Gladys Moncrieff, Bebe Scott and Flo Patonhe, were the first women to travel to New Guinea to entertain the Australian troops. While she was there, the American Marines made her an honorary Lieutenant.
In 1945 she appeared in Calling the Stars show, in support of the Fourth Victory Loan.
In 1952 she performed for R.A.A.F. Fighter Wing 78, based in Malta on garrison duties post-WWII. She also entertained troops stationed in Tripoli, Cyrenaica and the Suez Canal zone.

Hollywood

In March 1947 Bluett travelled to America for six months. Her final appearance in Australia before she left was at a variety show in aid of the Miss Australia Quest in Sydney Town Hall. Before leaving for the States she told an interviewer, "I feel completely frustrated in Australian radio. For some time, I have been relegated to straight roles. That’s not good for a comedienne."
Although the trip was ostensibly a holiday, while she was in the States, Bluett appeared in the following:
She also met Ginger Rogers, Esther Williams and Maureen O'Hara. She returned to Australia in September, "a bit disillusioned with Hollywood", but still returned to New York in 1948 to appear in a play.

England (1949-1963)

Bluett arrived in England on 1 January 1949 for a six-month holiday to visit her sister Belle, and to replace Belle in her brother-in-law Jimmy Jewel's act for a short time. Bluett's intention was then to carry on to America. However, Dick Bentley had sent her details to the BBC while she was en route to England, and, within a week of arriving, she had signed a contract to appear in Ray’s a Laugh. Before recording started, she squeezed in appearances in a number of shows including Caribbean Rhapsody, Variety Bandbox and Henry Hall's Guest Night.
While living in London, Bluett mixed with the stars of the day. In 1951, while in Paris, Humphrey Bogart and Hoagy Carmichael cut off a foot of her hair to create a "chop cut".

''Ray's a Laugh'' (1949-1961)

Bluett played the long-running role of Ted Ray's wife, Kitty, a "resigned and intelligent spouse" on BBC radio show Ray's a Laugh from 1949 to 1961. She played the role "for so long that listeners believed Ray was married to Kitty" in real life.
She appeared in all but one of the eleven series. In March 1950, Bluett was offered a role in a separate musical comedy at a "princely salary" but turned it down saying, "it would not be fair on the rest of the cast to leave so suddenly." One London newspaper columnist called this "one of the most unselfish actions this column has ever had the pleasure of recording." Bluett was promoted to Ray's co-star in 1952. In 1954, the Sydney Daily Telegraph reported that, on the strength of her acting in Ray's a Laugh, "the BBC… feels that Kitty Bluett will turn into a "British Lucille Ball."

''All My Eye and Kitty Bluett'' (1951)

In 1955, a spin-off show, All My Eye and Kitty Bluett, was created specifically as a vehicle for her talents. It first aired on 7 June 1955. The cast of All My Eye... included Stanley Baxter, Terry Scott and Patricia Hayes, and the script writers were Terry Nation and Dick Barry. The show was dropped after one series – called "a disaster" by Nation's biographer Jonathan Bignell – and Bluett returned to Ray's a Laugh for series seven.

Theatre

Bluett also held regular charity concerts in aid of the police force.

Television

Bluett did not appear frequently on television. In a 1951 interview, she said, "I don't like television very much. I don't like watching it. Rehearsals are very tedious. I find it confusing and unsatisfactory. It's neither one thing nor the other." She did, however, appear on the following TV programmes:
Bluett became a BBC Radio DJ in 1951. About her role she said, "I'll pick my own records – swing, orchestral and so on – and there'll be plenty of quiet string music for elderly people. I think too many record programme arrangers forget all about them." Her radio appearances included: