All the fun of Carter's Steam Fair

For a taste of the 50s, pop over to the Circus Mania blog and read a three-part feature about the time-travelling fairground rides of Carter's Steam Fair.

Or click the icon on the left to download my fairground romance, The Fairground Girl.

Children's books for Christmas

If you’re looking for a Christmas present for the 8-14-year-old girl in your life, look no further than the Olivia books by the Guardian's theatre critic-turned-author Lyn Gardner.
Beginning with Olivia’s First Term, the six books follow the adventures of two circus girls - Olivia and her younger sister Eel - who are billeted at their grandmother’s London stage school while their dad Jack, the Great Marvello, busies himself with such stunts as walking a high-wire between the towers of Tower Bridge.
Read a full review on my (br)other blog Circus Mania.

Dress to Impress

Vintage events organiser
Bettina Scarlett
- interviewed in this month's
Classic American

One of the reasons I write is to enthuse people about things, so it was gratifying to hear that Polka Dot Dreams, the adventures of vintage girl Natty Smalls, has inspired short story writer, blogger and keen jiver Wendy Clarke to buy a Natty-style rockabilly dress of her own. Read all about it on her blog, Wendy’s Writing Now.

If you’re looking for vintage-inspired clothes and accessories of your own, don’t forget Bettina Scarlett’s Mid-Century Christmas Fair on December 14 at:
The Hammersmith Club
11 Rutland Grove
Hammersmith
London W6 9DH

Be there or dress square!

Oh, and you can read my in-depth interview with Bettina - a girl raised on rockabilly - in the current issue of Classic American - the No1 mag for fans of American cars and all things Americana.

Vintage clothes and where to get them!

From the forces sweetheart look of the 1940s to the full-on rock'n'roll style of the 1950s, Natty Smalls the heroine of Polka Dot Dreams has a fabulous vintage or reproduction outfit for every day of the week. But where does she get them? And if reading Polka Dot Dreams gives you the urge to buy some retro threads of your own, where will you find them?

I asked three queens of the vintage scene which emporiums of mid-century style they recommend.

Kai Hoffman, the swinging singer with Kai's Cats and the hostess with the mostess of London's premier swing night, Live and Let Jive (Upstairs at Ronnie Scott's on the first Thursday of every month) gets all her stage-wear and just about everything else she wears from reproduction 40s and 50s fashion designers:
Vivien of Holloway
294 Holloway Road
London N7 6NJ
Tel: 020 7609 8754
www.vivienofholloway.com

Jazz zinger (and that's not a spelling mistake) Kitty La Roar recommends long-established vintage shop Blackout II on Endell Street in Covent Garden.

Vintage fashion event organiser Bettina Scarlett suggests the following vintage-inspired designers:

Outerlimitz www.outerlimitz.org for evening wear and Lady K Loves www.lady-k-loves.com for good value day clothes.

You might also like to pop along to Bettina's Christmas mid-century vintage market at The Hammersmith Club, 11 Rutland Road, Hammersmith on December 14.

So now you know where to get an outfit just like Natty's in Polka Dot Dreams a vintage clothes romance by Julia Douglas. Click here to try before you buy.

Jazz alert!

Hot on the heels of my last post in which Kitty La Roar talked about her role in Sinatra Sequins & Swing, along comes this new CD by SSS front man Kevin Fitzsimmons - and boy is it a dilly!

Kevin has such a perfect voice for Sinatra songs that he's been a voice stand-in for Old Blue Eyes in TV and radio ads. But the great thing about this disc is that he's even better when he's just being himself, especially on the original songs that sit snugly alongside such covers as a cool and quirky reading of The Beatles' Norwegian Wood.

He had me from the first line, "I'm back on the blues again..." and from there the disc just gets better.

The Fitzsimmons original Views From The Quayside, Slightly Intoxicated is about messing about on the Thames and it swings like crazy, thanks to some accelerating ivory playing by Leon Greening.

Elsewhere, there's razor sharp jazz accompaniment from trumpeter Steve Fishwick and sax men Alex Garnet and Derek Nash. But it's Kevin's effortlessly slick vocals and witty writing on songs like the title track, Show Me The Way that make a great hour of jazz.

Pre-order Show Me The Way by Kevin Fitzsimmons here. Better still, put on your zoot suit and scoot along to the launch party at the Spice of Life in Soho on Wednesday October 2.

See also: Julia's Jukebox for Polka Dot Dreams.

Kitty La Roar - Queen of the New Jazz Age

Kitty la Roar and Nick of Time
Putting on the jazz style

She sang in the bath for an EDF TV ad, but Kitty La Roar also rocks a neat line in vintage jazz age dresses, whether backed by a full orchestra in the touring theatre show Sinatra, Sequins and Swing, or in hip London cabaret clubs like the Cellar Door with her pianist husband Nick of Time.

In this interview which recently appeared in The Stage, Kitty told me all about the vintage jazz scene.

How did you get into vintage jazz?

I got seriously into it when I was about 8, growing up in Bolton. I was a strange child, but I loved Ella Fitzgerald’s voice - that soft, intimate vibrato that was really pleasurable to listen to. I also like the sophistication of the melodies in the great American songbook. There’s something whimsical about it, but something dark as well.

The cat's meow
Kitty La Roar in
Sinatra, Sequins & Swing

Where did you get the name Kitty La Roar?

I did a drama degree at Goldsmith College and a couple of us were trying to come up with camp alter egos for cabaret work. We came up with the name between us. I’m planning a new jazz project in a couple of months and I was actually thinking of changing the name in case it wouldn’t be taken seriously. But having talked to a few people from musicians to promoters, everyone seems to like Kitty La Roar, so it’s probably something I’ll stick with.

How did you meet Nick?

I saw him playing piano at The Edge in Soho. He was inviting people to get up and do a song, so I got up and sang My Funny Valentine. We did a few gigs and kind of circled each other for a while. It was the usual worry of can you have a working relationship with someone you’re involved with? But it’s worked out really well. We’ve got residencies at the Savoy and the Dorchester. Then we play a little place called the Cellar Door in Covent Garden where we experiment with our jazz stuff. It used to be a gents toilet and it’s tiny. It holds about 40 people, which is nice, because you can see people’s reactions and when they like a song it’s lovely to see.

How big is the vintage jazz scene at the moment?

It’s becoming more and more popular. It used to be that rockabilly was the counter-culture look, but now it’s more of a Hot Club, 1920s and 30s look. We’ll get 18 and 20-year-olds coming to gigs and they look immaculate. The interesting thing is, when we started playing the Cellar Door we were doing cabaret but we’ve shifted to more of a jazz profile and the audience has got bigger.

How did you get involved with Sinatra, Sequins and Swing?

I met Kevin Fitzsimmons, who has a lovely tone for Frank Sinatra songs, when we were both doing gigs at a racecourse. He was telling me his plans for the show and thought I’d be good for the glamorous sequin element. It’s a lot of fun. I get 8 costume changes and it’s rare to get the opportunity to sing songs like Marilyn Monroe’s Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend with the full arrangements. There are Rat Pack shows that don’t sound anything like the quality of a big band, and it’s the big band people go to see, really.

For details of Kitty's gigs with Nick of Time and Sinatra, Sequins & Swing, go to www.kittylaroar.com

For a fictional look at the vintage scene, meanwhile, try Polka Dot Dreams by Julia Douglas. Click here to try before you buy.

Behind the scenes of Polka Dot Dreams

The new Writers' Forum is out - and includes the concluding part of a two-part feature on how I wrote the rock'n'roll romance Polka Dot Dreams.

If you've ever fancied writing stories for womens magazines, there's also a feature in which I talk to four top fiction editors about what they are looking for in new writers... and what will put them off a manuscript.

To read the opening chapters of Polka Dot Dreams before you buy it, click here.