The Fabulous Alexander Brothers

In a career spanning more than 50 years, Tom and Jack,

the Alexander Brothers,

entertained audiences all over the world.

# There's 100,000 welcomes...#

Packing them in all over America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.

The kilt, the hairdo...

-"Come in, come in, it's nice here..." And you go...

-HE GASPS

They sold more records than The Beatles at one point.

Whatever it was, they had it.

From humble beginnings

they became one of the most popular acts in variety entertainment.

True ambassadors for Scotland.

Jack Alexander said to me,

"Just think Frank Sinatra walked this stage!"

There was only one act, The Alexander Brothers!

# Will ye not come back again...#

62 Cambusnethan Street.

This is where Jack and I were brought up, literally.

My dad bought me an accordion when I was about nine.

A couple of years later Jack started lessons on the piano.

My dad was working for a fiver a week

and it was a fair drain in his resources, as he would say.

Erm, sending Jack and I to lessons.

And sister Bet, she, of course, she was at the tap dancing

and we went out as The Alexander Trio, just church events,

things like that.

There were several heats in this one talent contest down in Dumfries

and first prize was £75.

We get in at about two o'clock in the morning

and my mother was sitting up, as she always did,

and my dad said,

"Gee whiz, Nelly, they were robbed again."

As he always did.

And then he threw the £75,

my mother burst out crying, you know.

Performing at these talent contests

would be a great apprenticeship for Tom and Jack

and this early experience

would stand them in good stead for what was to come.

The audiences at workingmen's clubs

were notoriously difficult to please, as Tom recalls.

It went by applause.

It was the audience that actually decided who won the first prize.

They were very critical. Oh, highly critical.

We were always tense before we went on stage.

Wondering how we would perform because, I mean,

at the end of the day, when you walk onto a stage,

you're always slightly nervous.

And it depends on how your nerves react,

whether you were going to do a performance or not.

Nine times out of ten we, more or less, performed quite well.

The talents of Tom and Jack didn't go unnoticed.

In the late 1950s, others in the business

were starting to become aware of the ambitious young duo.

I went through to Dunbar with my wife.

Suddenly I see a big bill,

"The Fabulous Alexander Brothers,

"direct from the Cafe de Paris."

I said to Kitty, "Who the hell are the Alexander Brothers?"

And eventually I found out, maybe a year or so later,

that Tom and Jack Alexander

were two painters from Cambusnethan

and the Cafe de Paris was an ice-cream shop in Wishaw.

If things didn't work out, you could put he box in its box,

the accordion box.

Jack would sort of wash his hands off the piano

and they'd get out with the brush and the paint and hang the paper.

But painting and decorating

was far from the minds of the Alexander brothers,

as in 1958 they secured a part in a variety show

at the Webster Theatre in Arbroath.

But their act wasn't quite fully formed.

We didn't have any Scottish content in the act at all.

Nothing.

Like I said, you know,

we were playing things like the Carnival Of Venice,

Orpheus In The Underworld,

the Point Pleasant, Jack's piano concerto in B flat minor.

And not doing very well.

I mean, the audience just looked at us as if we were daft.

Joe Gordon and his Folk Four, they were coming through big

and so was Andy Stewart.

# In the land called Caledonia

# There are certain words you'll say...#

They were being televised on the White Heather Show.

We decided this Scottish kick

might be the right thing for us.

The following programme,

I think Jack put in The Road And The Miles To Dundee,

and the difference in the audience reaction was just incredible.

# Cold winter was howling

# O'er moor and o'er mountains

# And wild was the surge on the dark rolling sea...#

Jack was the showman

and Tom was much more laid-back

but, between them, they were a great act.

You could tell right away there was a great future ahead.

# That asked me the road and the miles to Dundee...#

They did a lot of the cabaret clubs,

the Gartcosh Club and the Danderhall Miners in Edinburgh,

which was like a nightclub atmosphere.

And they paralysed them, they were terrific!

# But if you permit me

# To gang a wee bittie

# I'll show you the road and the miles to Dundee...#

Both of us made a decision

that we're going to have a bash at this show-business lark.

And I remember the day and hour that I left the boys

and I said, "Boys, I'm going away.

"I'm going to have a bash at this show business..."

And, "Oh, you'll be back, you'll be back next week."

HE LAUGHS

At that time the Glasgow Metropole Theatre

was owned by Scottish performer and impresario Jimmy Logan.

Both he and the Metropole would play a key role

in further establishing the Alexander Brothers' act.

We got to know Jimmy, Jimmy Logan very well.

He'd just cut his first record,

which he was quite proud of at that time.

He looked after our needs in the show.

He was very down to earth.

He was one of the nicer guys in show business.

The boys had served their apprenticeship at smaller venues.

Now it was time to take to the big stage in Glasgow,

a daunting step for the aspiring performers.

Absolutely terrifying,

we were...you have to remember

we were just coming from our first summer season in Arbroath

and here we were, the two kind of amateur boys from Wishaw

in the famous Metropole Theatre.

We always opened up with the Uist Tramping Song.

We latched onto that particular song

and that's how we always opened our act.

# Come along, come along

# Let us foot it out together

# Come along, come along

# Be it fair or stormy weather

# With the hills of home before us

# And the purple o' the heather

# Let us sing in happy chorus...#

The established stars of the day were always supportive -

on and off the stage.

I remember Jack was coming to me and I said,

"Have you not got any make-up on your face?"

And he said, "What have I got to put make-up on for?"

I said, "You're going on stage!"

I said, "And as soon as the lights hit you,

"You'll be drained of colour.

"You've got to wear a stage make-up."

And he said, "Have you got any, pet?" And I said, "Yes".

So, I gave him pancake make-up and he put it on.

Then, one night, the door knocked and I said,

"Oh, you're here for make-up." "No, just an eye-brow pencil, pet."

# Come along, come along

# Let us foot it out together

# Come along, come along...#

Tom and Jack's popularity continued to grow

and one of the biggest agents in Scottish show business

was determined to ensure the boys would achieve

the success he thought they deserved.

Ross Bowie was a huge influence on the boys.

Ross was trained by Tom Arnold's company in England...

back stage, sound,

lighting, everything,

and he did a bit of producing as well.

So, as well as being a manager,

he was very well equipped to know what looked good from the front.

# There's a wee bunch here

# And a wee bunch there

# There's Hielan bunches everywhere

# They come from Skye and they shout "Och-aye"

# At the Hielanman's Umbrella! #

Managers like Ross Bowie knew

that it was important to maintain momentum

and moving up the theatre bill was essential.

From being third on,

we finished up, I think,

maybe closing the first half.

And then we were placed

in the second half of the programme.

We were moving up in the right direction.

I was doing the summer season in Larks,

I'm only getting ten minutes for my spot

and I feel as though I can't establish myself.

"Could I have 15 minutes?"

Ross Bowie said, "Listen, hen,

"when you can pull the crowds

"the way the Alexander Brothers can, I'll give you 15 minutes."

Cheeky swine!

# For there's no place on Earth

# Like the homeland of my birth

# Oh, my Scotland I am coming home to you. #

'Ross was our manager for 34 years.'

He was a great mentor. You know.

He was quite superb,

and nobody, but nobody could sell LPs like Ross Bowie.

Now a well-established act in theatres across Scotland,

it was time to spread their sound even further.

One day I got a call from my managing director, Louis Benjamin,

and he said, "Come into the office,

"I want you to beat Ross Bowie."

Met Ross Bowie, and he was the agent for a couple of lads

who were doing well in Scotland, called The Alexander Brothers.

And Louis says, "We need them for our catalogue.

"We need them for our labels around the world.

"They're doing well already, they're great.

"We're not going to pay them very much,

"cos we don't pay very much anyway,

"but we're giving them the grand opportunity."

And so we signed The Alexander Brothers.

I mean, don't forget he was writing things like Downtown

and things like that,

and then suddenly you hear The Muckin' O' Geordie's Byre.

It was a culture shock for Tony.

# The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen

# Mean home, sweet home to me... #

The very first album, Highland Fling,

I really let them choose everything that was going to go on the album.

And even the running order

and everything about that whole album

was a reflection of their popularity in the theatre.

If anyone were to say which song you think they'd be remembered for,

from the singing point of view

I think Nobody's Child, you couldn't beat it.

We heard Nobody's Child at this ceilidh, and Jack liked it,

and we decided to put it in in one of our performances in Perth.

And the audience reaction was just...

I mean, it was absolutely fantastic.

# As I was slowly passing

# An orphans' home one day

# I stopped there for a moment

# Just to watch the children play... #

And as soon as they started Nobody's Child,

the applause was there before they performed it, you know.

And, of course, the record did take off in a big, big way.

When I heard it, I mean, I just wanted to burst into tears.

# I know they'd like to take me

# But when they see I'm blind

# They always take some other child

# And I am left behind

# I'm nobody's child... #

It did outsell The Beatles in Scotland.

The lyrics of the song and the tune,

they just paint a picture that's indelible, isn't it?

Once they've started singing about the orphan kid,

you really can't get him out of your mind, can you?

# ..I'm nobody's child. #

This is the Woodside Library...

..and next door to that, that block of flats, that was the New Metropole.

And I remember - this is Georges Road -

I remember where we were in the Winter Show there,

buses were lined up right up both sides.

Incredible.

And this is where we were

when These Are My Mountains LP got into the British charts.

Albeit it was number 29.

# For these are my mountains

# And this is my glen

# The braes o' my childhood

# Will know me again

# No land's ever claimed me

# Though far I did roam

# For these are my mountains

# And I'm coming home. #

Success followed success for the boys,

and there was no shortage of demand for new material and recordings.

One album in particular captured the atmosphere of a live performance.

-# I'm Sandy MacKay

-I'm Andy MacKay

# Two Highland lads are we

-# I'm Sandy MacKay

-I'm Andy MacKay

# We're fond of company... #

Tom and Jack said, "Get hold of the London Scottish Club.

"They're mainly our fans.

"There'll be about 100 of them there."

And so we got these guys in,

and we laid out a special area for them.

And the only thing Tom and Jack said was,

"You must get whisky and beer in."

"You don't have to pay them anything,

"but you must entertain them,

"and they'll be fantastic."

And so we got the whisky and the beer out,

and we recorded side one.

# I love a lassie A bonnie, bonnie lassie

# She's as pure as the lily in the dell... #

And I listened to it, and it sounded good.

and then we recorded side two.

Well, by then, we've had more whisky and beer.

And by the end of side two I said,

"I think we're going to have to record side one again."

Because the atmosphere is now so sensational,

it's so happy. So buoyant.

# ..Till McGinty and the foreman hauled him oot upon a shutter

# Frae McGinty's Meal and Ale whaur the pig ga'ed on the spree... #

And of course at the end of that I said, "Look, it's so fantastic now,

"this is better than side two. Let's do side two again."

And so we recorded the whole album twice in about four hours.

It was amazing.

Come on, Tony! Come on, give us one. Come on, give a wee hand, come on!

MUSIC STARTS UP

# I know two Scottish lads

# And, girls, you must be wary

# For one is tall and handsome too

# And the other's short and hairy. #

CHEERING Well done, Tony!

The theatre shows got bigger and more prestigious.

In 1965 they appeared alongside Shirley Bassey

at a Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium.

# There was a soldier, a Scottish soldier... #

They were always invited out to big dos and things,

cos they looked good

and they were gentlemen, they were very presentable.

They were approached by this sort of dowager...

very posh kind of thing,

and this woman, she said,

"What did you do before you came into show business?"

Jack said, "Oh, as a matter of fact we were painters."

"Oh, really?" She said, "What was your medium?"

Jack says, "What?"

"What did you paint in?"

"Mostly emulsion and, you know,

"gloss for the woodwork."

"Oh, yes." By that time she was halfway down the road.

# The Scottish soldier who wandered far away... #

The boys were on the march.

By now, eight albums, a top-selling single

and an album in the UK charts.

Next stop, the TV studios.

Francis Essex was the boss at Scottish Television.

He always liked what he saw of Jack and I.

HE SINGS

Now well-established as stars of theatre and the small screen,

they attracted the attention of Scotland's showbiz elite

and a transatlantic tour beckoned.

Andy Stewart has phoned about a tour abroad.

The boys I think were in the theatre at the time in Glasgow.

He said, "I'm going to ask the Alexanders as well,"

which, really, normally would have been Andy Stewart

and then supporting cast,

but because it was the first show,

it was like two tops of the bill...

Andy Stewart, who was a huge star at the time,

over there as well as here,

and the boys were special guests, basically.

Andy had bought the tour by that time,

and decided to take Jack and I over

to tour Canada and the States.

We did very well over there.

When they went abroad, especially to Canada and America,

you had people who just,

between the war, the end of the war and the early '50s, had emigrated.

The Alexander Brothers epitomised what they missed.

They saw the kilt, the hairdo,

"Come in, come in..." And you go, "Oh."

# Auld Scotch mother mine

# You are with me

# All the while... #

Jack Alexander said to me,

"Just think, Frank Sinatra walked this stage!"

I said, "Little did he know it was going to be

"the Alexander Brothers!"

Touring North America was new territory for the Lanarkshire boys,

and US Border Control took a bit of getting used to.

As it so happens,

this part of the tour in Canada used to finish in Windsor, Ontario.

There's a big tunnel there that goes through to Detroit and the States.

They'd go through customs, the immigration part of it.

The customs guy stopped them and said...

"What's in there? What's that?"

And Tom said, "Well, it's my box, pal."

These guys in America are very abrupt,

cheeky and everything. They don't take any snash.

He says, "I can see it's box, but what's in the box?"

He said, "My box is in my box."

-He hasn't got the message.

-The guy said to Jack...

"Where are you guys from, then?"

"Cambusnethan."

Tom says, "Don't be so stupid. He won't know where Cambusnethan is."

"You should've told him we came from Wishaw."

As if they would know where Wishaw was!

The boys' popularity had reached dizzy heights,

and they were in demand far beyond the theatre stage.

-Must have cost you a fortune.

-No.

-Where did you buy it all?

Agnew's. Much cheaper.

Most of Agnew's whiskies are still at last year's prices.

Help yourselves.

They epitomised Scottishness,

and everybody wanted to be associated with them.

Don't play the piano. I'm hiding my whisky in there.

This is almost like a commercial for Agnew's stores.

Meanwhile, their TV series went from strength to strength

and was a regular part of the TV schedules.

They filmed one of Scotland's first colour location recordings

on the Isle of Arran.

# My dear bonny Scotland

# Oh, rowan tree, oh, rowan tree

# Thou'lt aye be dear to thee... #

The boys worked relentlessly.

At home they balanced theatre shows

with TV and recording commitments,

while internationally the reputation continued to grow

as they were invited to perform

at some of the world's most prestigious concert venues.

Just to appear on that stage in the Opera House,

just to walk on.

As a matter of fact, I've still got...

They give you a brass plate on number one dressing room.

I've still got that.

To think that Jimmy Shand and Ian Powrie were number two!

It was only then that Jack and I started to realise,

"I think we've made it."

APPLAUSE

Ladies and gentlemen, the Alec Sandy Brothers.

'Very memorably impersonated by Stanley Baxter.

'Rather than be in any way offended,

'both of them took it as the ultimate compliment.'

No longer were they just two lads from Wishaw,

but it was a stamp of recognition, nationally.

I can well remember our first engagement.

It was in the Miners Institute in Talishugal.

We got 30 bob and a cold pie.

How things have changed.

Aye, we've got hot pies noo.

Quite flattered at the time, you know,

to see a comic of his stature

doing a take-off of Jack and I.

He looked like Jack

and he even sat at the piano,

because Jack was always quite erect when he was playing the piano.

He had me off to a T, because I had the dark eyebrows then.

# Alone a boy was standing

# So sad and destitute

# I said, would you mind moving, son

# You're standing on my foot. #

As we moved into the '70s,

the TV portrayal of Scottish variety acts began to change.

When Elvis died, for six months we had nothing but Elvis records on the radio.

When Bing died,

for six months with nothing but Bing records on the radio.

We all hope that Tom and Jack will live forever.

The Alexander Brothers!

The danger is that there was an element of send-up

of the Scottish music scene.

It didn't always sit comfortably with me, that aspect of it,

because I don't like to downplay the significance of our music.

But fun is fun and that's all,

so you mustn't be too sensitive in this business.

Somebody made fun of them,

they just shrugged it off, took it as a compliment and on they went.

# Pass me if you can, my name is Dan

# Sure I'm your man

# Pass me if you can! #

But nothing, it seemed, could catch Tom and Jack.

Throughout the '80s and '90s, they remained in great demand overseas,

while at home they combined theatre work

with guest appearances at special events,

like this New Year party from Blair Castle.

# Johnny, lad

# I'll dance the buckles off my shoes for you

# My Johnny lad... #

When the new Scottish music series Northern Nights

came on the air, the boys were regular feature,

and they hadn't lost any of their onstage persona.

We used to bounce about like an idiot.

People were always amazed.

Even into his late 70s,

he was still dancing about there.

# When I'm getting old and grey. #

When they got the MBE, they were very pleased

and highly honoured to get it.

But they didn't flaunt it in any way.

You had to ask them about it.

I suppose if you hang in there long enough...

Something's going to happen.

Few acts can claim a 50-year career in show business.

Tom and Jack passed that milestone in 2008.

He said, "The only thing is now, I'm going on and I can't remember

"the words of some of the songs."

I said, "It comes to us all."

They had excelled in every aspect of their careers.

As musicians and entertainers,

they had taken Scotland's music to audiences all over the world.

But in 2013, Jack's health began to decline.

We were in front of the band

and Jack forgot some of his lyrics.

I remember going home that night, thinking...

"Maybe it's time that we called it a day."

So...

That's where we ended up.

After a period of ill health,

Jack Alexander passed away on 2nd November 2013.

MUSIC: "By The Loch Side" by Andy Stewart

# In the spring When the world was young then

# And the sweet songs of youth were sung then

# By the loch side I met a maiden

-# And my heart yearned to call her mine...

-#

The actual funeral was something that Jack would've loved.

Jack realised he'd had a very good, full life,

doing what he loved doing,

entertaining people, doing his wonderful act with his brother, Tom.

# But I would wait 1,000 years now

# I would shed 1,000 tears now

# No more sadness and no more fears now

# If the lass let me call her mine... #

The church was absolutely jam-packed.

900 people there.

But when the cortege left the church,

the people were standing applauding.

I can't remember that ever happening

for anybody else in our business.

# Yes, I would wait 1,000 years now

# I would shed 1,000 tears now... #

Couldn't really be sad in that situation,

because you really were genuinely celebrating a vibrant life

that had taken place.

I don't think by shedding sadness it was in any way disrespectful.

If anything, it was even more respectful to his memory.

He was the star man.

He was the blue-eyed, blonde-haired guy

that bounced about the stage like a lunatic.

People used to marvel at him.

He was quite incredible.

MUSIC: "These Are My Mountains"

# Here I'll be free

# For these are my mountains

# And this is my glen

# The hills of my childhood

# Will know me again

# No land's ever claimed me

# Though far I did roam

# For these are my mountains

# And I have come home. #