1926 -

Contributed by Sam Henderson

Towards the end of May, 2000, Stanley Baxter slipped as effortlessly into his seventy-fifth year as he had a couple of years ago when he retired from theatre and film work. But his meticulous mimicry skills are not entirely lost to us. He still ekes out the pension by doing voiceovers of Maisie the Cat in the popular children's TV series "Meeow Stories".

Stanley Baxter was born into a non-showbiz family from Maryhill, Glasgow. His sister also followed him into the business becoming that fine character actress, Alice Dale. But it was probably his wartime experience of working in Forces Radio in Malaya that decided him on a stage career. It was there too that he met and forged a lifetime friendship with comedy actor, the late Kenneth Williams.

After wartime service Stanley joined the Citizens Theatre in his native Glasgow as an assistant stage manager. Company star at that time was Duncan Macrae. Eventually he rose to understudy and then succeed the lugubrious Mr Macrae. Probably his first appearance in a major production was when he played a small part in Tyrone Guthrie's famed 1948 Edinburgh Festival production of 'The Thrie Estaites'. The ascent continued.

He co-starred with Jimmy Logan in the Scottish Radio series 'It's All Yours'. From that he got his own radio show. In 1952 he signed with Howard & Wyndham who were trying to breathe new life into the long-running Half-Past-Eight summer shows in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Again the link (and seeming rivalry) with Jimmy Logan was to be exploited. This period, for me, was the vibrant highspot of fast-moving Scottish revue theatre which only caught fire again when Jack Milroy and Rikki Fulton stamped their Francie & Josie characters all over 'Five-Past-Eight' in the seventies and eighties.

For the opening of Commercial TV in Scotland, STV featured, among a glittering array of stars, Stanley Baxter (with Jimmy Logan of course). So closely were their careers intertwined at that time, a popular gag going the rounds had Jimmy L showing off his new Bentley to Stanley B and pointing out, wonder of wonders, a telephone beside the driver. Not to be outdone, and the very next day, Stanley had a carphone fitted. Speeding along the Great Western Road, Stanley duly dialled the Logan car number. A strange voice answered. "Could I speak to Jimmy, please" quoth Stanley. The strange voice replied "I'm sorry Mr Logan's on the other phone". (That joke was told to me twice in eight days - with the roles reversed).

In 1959 Stanley Baxter at last heeded the call from the south when he went into London's West End in 'The Amorous Prawn'. He has based himself in London ever since. The sixties saw him pursuing a film career as a light comedy actor in such films as 'The Fast Lady' and 'Crooks Anonymous' still staple fare on latenight TV from a station near you. He also started experimenting with TV. His award-winning nationwide shows, produced by Jimmy Gilbert also transferred to the stage.

Another landmark in his TV work was the very popular Parliamo Glasgow segment. Known by many as 'Glescaranto' (analogous to Esperanto) it involved the Glaswegian habit of slurring words together, interspersed with the odd slang word. They say that the London Cockney invented slang. I'm not that sure. For as long as I have known them, almost every Glasgow comic has had his own form of Glescaranto. I must confess, when in humorous mood, I very often start a letter with 'Hullawrerr, China' (Hello there, my friend, for the uncultured among us).

The seventies and eighties saw the remarkable Stanley Baxter Picture Show TV series. This was a riot of colour, fabulous sets, costuming and very funny scripts. The only problem was that each show took so long to plan, film and produce. For budgetry reasons not that many were made. Thankfully, some are now preserved on video for posterity.

Thank goodness for Panto. Stanley Baxter will long be remembered as the classiest Panto Dame of them all. The years leading up to his retirement always featured his annual Panto appearance. One year Glasgow, the next year Edinburgh. An invitation for the theatre managements to dust down and put out the House-Full boards.

In "The Good Auld Days" (Published 1977, Jupiter Books, London) Gordon Irving's superb take on the Scottish Variety scene at that time (sadly now out of print but heavily featured in most Web auction sites) a full chapter is devoted to Stanley Baxter, Mimic Supreme. And he captures him to a T, be-spectacled, serious, easily mistaken for a middle-aged professor. Nowadays Stanley lives quietly with his wife of many years, Dumbarton-born Moira in London, slipping over to his other house in Cyprus a few times a year.

It is no secret that Stanley still receives, and rejects, offers of stage and film work. He is quite happy to visit his local gym a couple of times a week, nip away for the odd holiday and help pay the mortgage by doing the odd voiceover. But then, he put in a pretty full shift. And he, as much as anyone, deserves to sit in his London garden and smell the flowers.

Contributed by Sam Henderson, May 2000