To learn how their success came about, I meet with Joe and Sally in their home in rural Ayrshire. When their front door swings open, they’re standing side by side with broad smiles, as if on stage, and just when I think they’re about to break into song, I’m welcomed inside.

Their home is a treasure chest of fascinating memorabilia collected from theatres and shows in which they’ve appeared. On the walls there’s a wide variety of posters and photographs ranging from their early days when they were individual acts, to when they formed the double act in 1966 and continuing to the present day. Framed photographs show them meeting members of the royal family … and there are numerous framed cartoons; the origins of which are explained later.

With their lives together in show business covering an amazing total of 120 years, I’m unsure of where to begin, so I ask how they started. They answer in harmony, as if on stage, finishing each other’s sentences, or when one hesitates, the other takes up the slack and fills in the details. Their recollection is wonderfully detailed.

Sally comes from a musical background. Her father Frank Logan was Clifford, one half of musical duo Clifford and Clinton, and sister Jean is known as chanteuse Anne Fields. (They’re not related to Jimmy Logan - real name James Short - whose parents were the music hall act Short and Dalziel). Every year at Hogmany, the extended Logan family would get together; first at their home in Carntyne and later when they moved to Queen’s Park. At these soirees, everyone had to perform - either singing, dancing or playing piano. As a result, young Sally grew up with no fear of performing in front of an audience.

She was twelve years old when she made her first stage appearance. “Dad had signed to compere and perform at the open air concerts held in Glasgow Parks’ bandstands,” says Sally. “These afternoon and early evening shows were very popular and drew large crowds. When dad asked if I’d like to appear with him, it didn’t take much persuading. After rehearsing together, I accompanied him onstage, harmonising and doing a soft-shoe shuffle, and because the shows were held during the summer months, they didn’t interfere with schooling.”

In the autumn, she entered the Evening Citizen’s talent competitions, competing in heats held at venues throughout Glasgow and at one of the heats, the promoter, Archie McCulloch, said he liked her rendering of the song “Finder Please Return”. He asked if he could hear something else from her repertoire and she obliged by performing a song and dance act to the tune of “Back in the Old Routine”. He suggested incorporating both the song, and the song and dance routine in the final at St Andrew’s Halls in 1952, which she did. And with pianist Harry Carmichael (later from the White Heather Club) accompanying her, she took runner-up title.

Around this time, Sally was attending singing lessons with teacher Mary Clements. Mary suggested the youngster should audition for BBC Radio’s Auntie Kathleen’s Children’s Hour hosted by Kathleen Garscadden. This led to Sally recording three of the shows. Once again, this didn’t interfere with her schooling, as the shows were recorded in the evenings.

Unbeknown to Sally or her dad, the earlier St Andrew’s Hall show had been recorded by the BBC and producer Pat Walker had been listening to the tapes. “Pat wrote to my dad offering me a radio show he was working on, singing with the Andy Currie Dance Band. I became the resident female singer throughout the series, with guest artists coming in to do one-off shows,” adding, “Payment for these shows was always made in guineas.”

By this time, Sally was approaching school leaving age and her mother didn’t like the idea of her going into a career in the theatre. “But dad was keen,” says Sally. “He was confident because he’d seen the audience reaction to me in the parks; so he arranged an audition with George Bowie, and from that, I was given my first professional summer season. It was at Barrfield’s Pavilion in 1955. There was a total of thirteen acts on the show, with Clark and Murray topping the bill. Mum stayed with me in digs in Largs throughout the season and each Saturday dad would drive from Carntyne, see the show, then take us home. On Mondays, mum and I would return to Largs by bus.”

“During that season, I did my first BBC Outside Broadcast. It was recorded at Bobby Jones’ Ballroom in Ayr,” she recalls “and led to a series of similar shows, all of which involved mum and I travelling by bus from Largs to Ayr, then rushing back to Barrfields in time for the first evening performance.”

Alex Fruitin of The Metropole saw Sally perform at Largs and offered her the four months winter show at Glasgow’s Stockwell Street theatre. “It was the first show in which Clark and Murray topped the bill at that theatre,” she says. “From there, Tommy Morgan booked me for his show at the Pavilion in Glasgow. He was a lovely man to work with and so professional. And when the show ended, Tommy transferred it to Edinburgh’s King’s Theatre where I found myself, together with Dave Willis and Tommy, on the bill of Meet Me At The Empire. These were wonderful shows to be in and when that ended its run, the show - minus Tommy, who’d been contracted to the Pavilion - moved once again; this time to Glasgow’s Empire.” By the end of the Glasgow show, she was now well established in show business … and she was only fifteen.

This was a time of great activity in the theatres Sally tells me. “Performers were constantly being auditioned for shows and while attending one of these at the Alhambra in Glasgow - for a musical called Wild Grows the Heather - I met another young hopeful. His name was Sydney Devine.”

Mention Sally nowadays, and most people think of Scottish songs. But in these early days, apart from the ‘tartan shows’ at the Metropole, her repertoire was from musicals, or musical comedies as they were then known: she’d sing numbers from The Flower Drum Song or Oklahoma and would often finish her spot with Oh My Beloved Father. In 1956, she moved to London for a couple of years in order to be available for auditions. It was a good move; Richard Afton and Freddie Carpenter gave her lots of TV work, including the outstanding Goodbye Gaiety. She also did a panto with Freddie prior to a long season touring Scarborough, Brighton and Bolton with Dickie Valentine.

Back in Scotland, she was delighted to be asked to appear in Andy Stewart’s record-breaking show during the 1961/62 season, before going south again. One of the London producers, for whom Sally auditioned earlier, offered her the part of Lili, a leading role, in the musical Carnival at the Lyric Theatre in London’s West End. And when that show ended its run, she returned to a busy schedule in Scotland.

Appearing with Bobby Pattison at Dundee’s Palace Theatre came first, then a short season at Walker’s restaurant in Edinburgh during the Festival, before joining Jack Milroy in the first of his Widow Krankie pantos at Glasgow’s Pavilion. “They were long seasons then - the Pavilion panto used to run well into February - and after that I did the three months summer season at His Majesty’s at Aberdeen with Andy Stewart.”

In the middle of that season, Andy was invited to do a one-night show at the World’s Fair in New York and he asked if Sally would like to appear with him. Would she?! “I stepped off the stage one Saturday night and Andy and I were driven straight to Prestwick Airport where we were ushered on to the first class section of an overnight flight to New York. Once there, we managed a quick rehearsal with the orchestra at the theatre before doing the Sunday evening performance. When the curtain came down after the show, a limo rushed us to the airport for another overnight flight, this time back to Scotland, and when we landed, the time difference meant we had little time to get to Aberdeen. However, a car and chauffeur had been laid on and sped us to His Majesty’s, arriving just before the first of the two Monday evening performances!”

The summer of 1965 saw Sally appear in Alec Finlay’s show at Perth Theatre. Also on the bill was a popular group - the Joe Gordon Folk Four. She’d worked with them before, on the White Heather Club, and liked them and as the season progressed she became friendly with the front man.

Joe’s path to stardom took a different route from Sally’s. “You could say my success came about by accident,” he says smiling. “It was my appearances with the Folk Four on TV that exposed me to audiences at home and abroad. The White Heather Club launched me on a road to fame that I could never have planned.” But what was he doing before that? To find out, we have to go back to his childhood.

Joe was born in the Springburn district of Glasgow and was six months old when his parents moved to London. It was seven years later when a curly fair-haired boy, who spoke with a London accent, returned with his parents to their former neighbourhood. “The accent didn’t last long,” says Joe. “Going to the local school soon knocked the cockney out of me.”

His early interests were drawing, keeping fit and running. Later, he joined the Springburn Harriers and drew posters and cartoons for the club; some of which came to the notice of Jim Bissell, a marathon runner who worked in advertising. And when a vacancy came up at Jim’s firm, he offered the job to Joe. “In addition to developing my art work, I learned about lettering, type-faces and the overall space required for layouts,” he says. ”And that experience proved useful years later, when I produced all the publicity material for Sally and I.”

“My interest in music began by listening to trad jazz on Radio Luxembourg and Voice of America stations. My first instrument was a mouth-organ and as soon as I bought, I was called up to do National Service.” He was stationed at RAF Swinderby in Lincolnshire and qualified as a medic, later being promoted to corporal. While there, he responded to an advert for musical acts, and with two other conscripts, formed a harmonica trio. “The other fellows also sang, and one night when they were singing Glowworm, I joined in the harmony. I suppose that was my introduction to singing in public,” he muses. “And during one of the shows, a singer/guitarist came on singing country songs and I remember thinking that it would be marvellous to do that.”

“So when I got back to civvy street, I bought a guitar - a Hofner - from McCormack’s music shop in Glasgow. I was working again as a graphic artist, so was able to pay for it … on the never-never.
I’d learned to play a few chords and was invited to join the Black Diamonds Skiffle Group but found the guitar increasingly difficult to play, and said so to Neil McCormack. When I showed him the chords I was playing, he immediately said the guitar I’d purchased wasn’t really suitable for playing professionally and suggested swapping it for another model. He selected a second hand instrument, which he modified before giving it to me, and it was a tremendous improvement.”

“The Black Diamonds got a lot of work and great exposure,” he recalls. “We played in a regular BBC radio series Break for Music which was transmitted each weekday evening. That was followed by the winter show at Glasgow’s Princess Theatre and during that season, we managed to fit in a recording for the television show Six Five Special … also on the show was a young Shirley Bassey.” A tour of Scotland with Chris Barber introduced them to venues from Inverness to Glasgow and in 1957, they were invited by Larry Marshall to appear in his summer show at Girvan. “It ran for three months with performances each evening plus a Saturday matinee” Joe remembers. “At that time, we all still had our day jobs and with travelling between Glasgow and Girvan every day by public transport, the strain began to tell and we decided to disband when Larry’s show ended.”

Glasgow promoter Andy Daisley learned of the break-up and booked Joe to play solo at interval spots, singing American ballads and jazz. “The first was at Kilbirnie Cinema” says Joe. “Then, at a jazz concert in St Andrew’s Hall, BBC producer Iain MacFadyen came backstage and said he thought I’d be good for a television show that was being planned and asked if I knew any Scottish numbers. I sang Johhny Lad and from that, was offered a three year contract.” He was to be the front man of a four piece group to be known as the Joe Gordon Folk Four. The show was The White Heather Club.

“I then had to find three other members and they had to be good musicians; able to learn fast and be capable of incorporating last minute changes that the weekly show would demand. Iain MacFadyen suggested guitarist/singer George Hill who played with the Radio Orchestra. And for bass player, my immediate choice was Dick Campbell of the Scottish Symphony Orchestra - also a former member of the Black Diamonds. I still needed someone with whom I could harmonise, so I contacted jazz band leader Jim McHarg and he recommended deep-voiced folk singer Callum Sinclair … and that was us. The Joe Gordon Folk Four was born.“

It was also necessary to have a constant supply of new material, so Joe called on Norman Buchan, who was well-known on the folky scene (and later went on to become a full-time politician) to seek his advice. “Norman suggested the Music Room at Glasgow’s Mitchell Library” recalls Joe. “So I became a regular visitor to the library, sifting through manuscripts of Scottish folk songs and selecting suitable tunes. This was before photocopiers” says Joe, idly musing. “So all the lyrics and snatches of melodies were copied by hand. I’d often change some of the arrangements before handing my scribbles to George Hill who had the ability to transform them into a form the group could play. The show became a huge success and exceeded all my expectations. I was still working as a graphic artist when the show started and had taken six month leave of absence, little realising how popular the show would become, but when it took off, I resigned from the art studio.”

The Folk Four went on to great success and were offered an extension to the TV contract, but Joe and the boys had already agreed to do the summer season in Aberdeen, followed by a tour of New Zealand with Robert Wilson’s White Heather Group. Once back in Scotland, they performed at weekend marquee dances, one night stands, tours to the Inner Hebrides and the Orkney Isles, and in 1966, the Folk Four went to Perth to appear on Alec Finlay’s summer show. “Sally was on the bill, and she and I got on well. The idea of forming a double act began to take root and we started learning some songs together and from that, emerged the duo … Joe Gordon and Sally Logan.” In the next edition of Stagedoor, Sally and Joe talk about developing a double act and speak of their 48 years performing together.

THE JOE GORDON AND SALLY LOGAN STORY. IN THIS, THE SECOND OF TWO ARTICLES, Norman Christie LEARNS ABOUT THEIR LIFE TOGETHER AS A DOUBLE ACT

In the last edition of Stagedoor, Joe and Sally spoke of their early years in show business - of how Sally began in a song and dance act with her dad, and how Joe, a commercial artist, became influenced by skiffle and jazz - and by the mid 1960s both were known internationally and were at the height of their respective solo careers.

In 1965, they were booked to appear as individual acts on the same bill of Alec Finlay’s summer show at Perth Theatre. Like all theatres, Perth’s stage microphone was linked by public address system to the backstage rooms. Sitting in his dressing room, waiting to go on, Joe found himself improvising and harmonising along with Sally’s voice, which was conveyed to his room, as she sang on stage. Slowly the idea of a double act took root and he put the idea to Sally.

“I knew Joe from 1960 when we both appeared on BBC TV’s The White Heather Club” says Sally. “He was always a suggestions’ man and when we tried the harmonies we liked the sound. At that time Joe was doing the likes of Leapy Lee’s Little Arrows and some of The Seekers’ numbers and I would be singing numbers from musicals, but the idea of doing a double had an appeal. It meant we could still feature individually yet come together for duets and harmonies. This was at the time when the formula of variety shows was changing. There were less acts on the bill and the management wanted acts who could do more time. Being a duo meant we could give more variety and do a longer spot.”

During the run of the Perth show, Andy Stewart phoned to invite them, as individuals, to join his forthcoming 1966 spring tour of Australia and New Zealand. “Both of us accepted” says Joe, “then I surprised Andy by telling him that for the same money, he could have three acts - Sally’s, mine and the double act of Joe Gordon and Sally Logan. He liked the idea and when I asked if he’d like to hear something from our repertoire, his response was ‘If it’s good enough for you son, it’s good enough for me’.”

So the following year saw them performing together in the southern hemisphere. “We did only a week in Australia” says Sally, ”but it was a hectic week, covering Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane, flying between the cities during the day. Then in New Zealand we did four to five weeks, because we were travelling by car a lot, taking in the cities and the smaller remote towns.” It was during that initial tour together, they made their first recording as Joe and Sally.

It came about when an EMI agent, who was in the audience at one the New Zealand shows, liked their sound and invited them to the record company’s studio. They showed up together with Ian Powrie’s Band - they were also part of Andy’s touring show - and recorded a number of songs. The result was a 45 rpm EP. It had five numbers, each selected to appeal to the New Zealand and Australian market; the title track, Up Among the Heather, was written by Andy. The record did so well in the New Zealand charts that, on returning to Scotland, they re-recorded all the tracks in Thistle Records’ studio for sale in the United Kingdom. From that initial seven inch extended play disc, they went on to record seven vinyl albums as a double act, plus CDs featuring songs from Sally’s early career, the Joe Gordon Folk Four and three dedicated to Joe’s ragtime banjo numbers.

When they returned from New Zealand, they couldn’t continue immediately with the double act because they had to honour individual bookings made prior to going on tour. Sally had arranged to do cabaret in and around Aberdeen, and Joe was booked for Andy Stewart’s early summer show at His Majesty’s in Aberdeen, playing a duo with George Hill - a former Folk Four member. During the run at His Majesty’s, singer Sheila Paton left to do a tour abroad and Sally was brought in to do her single act for the rest of the show. “When it finished in Aberdeen” says Sally, “I moved with Andy’s show to Dundee, then on to the new Metropole in Glasgow. Joe stayed in Aberdeen to do more of the series of Ski Night for Grampian Television. When Joe and George finished the Ski Night shows they joined the same Metropole show I was in.” And when that show finished, Joe and Sally played a number of clubs as a duo before making their first appearance on the stage of a Scottish theatre as a double act. It was in the 1966/67 Gaiety pantomime Babes in the Woods.

But they were still unable to commit themselves fully to being a twosome as each still had previous bookings as individuals. In the spring of 1967, Sally performed in Stephen Sondheim’s musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Lyceum in Edinburgh and Joe flew out with Andy Stewart for a Canadian tour. He returned in early spring when Sally’s show had ended and they were now able to commit themselves fully to being a double act. They did a short run in Edinburgh before setting out on their first summer season as Joe Gordon and Sally Logan.

“We finished in Edinburgh on a Saturday night and put the car on the Motorail overnight train to London” recalls Sally. “From there we drove to Southampton and this time put the car on the transporter plane and flew to Jersey where we were to appear for a six months season as top of the bill in the Plaza in St Helier.” Joe points out that it was only when they saw the showbills outside the venue that they knew they were top of the bill. “The agent who booked us didn’t mention that when we signed up” he says with an amused smile. “Nor did he pay us top of the bill money.” Sally is in harmony with Joe’s comments. “That’s true” she adds, “but it was a great season.”

Their next couple of summer seasons were in Aberdeen and Blackpool and during that time they’d established themselves on stage, television and on record and had become a sought-after act in clubs and theatres. Andy Stewart continued booking them for his overseas tours, and
in 1968, with their popularity spreading, they toured Europe; playing in Germany, Italy, Turkey and Greece. Until now, their repertoire comprised mostly popular international numbers but now the occasional Scottish song was being introduced to test audience reaction. Joe also began introducing some humour.

“When I started with the Folk Four, we were doing TV work and were given very tight time-slots, which meant that we simply sang the songs. But when we moved to live venues, I was able to introduce stories and anecdotes between numbers and discovered that the audience liked them. During a charity show, Jack Radcliffe who was on the bill, said he thought some of my stories were very funny and suggested adding more similar material … which I did. So when Sally and I formed our double act, it made sense to adopt the same format.”

In 1970, they were among the cast who entertained Princess Margaret at a Royal Performance on 29 Sept 1970 at Tiffany’s in Glasgow. “It was a sophisticated show” says Sally. “We were in evening dress and sang a medley of songs - not Scottish - and afterwards were introduced to her Royal Highness.” It wasn’t the first time Sally had met royalty. In 1958, as a teenager, she was introduced to the Queen and Prince Phillip, following her performance in front of them at the Royal Scottish Variety Performance in Glasgow’s Alhambra theatre.

In the early 70s, STV introduced Thingummyjg; a weekly production hosted by Jack McLaughlin, the Laird o’ Coocaddens, featuring Scottish acts. The series ran for a decade and Joe and Sally were regulars, singing traditional Scottish ballads. It was superseded by Shindig, a similar type of show, and once again, Joe and Sally featured on a regular basis.

Around 1974, a ventriloquist slot was added to their act. They were doing lots of clubs in England and, always on the lookout for something new, Joe had bought a vent doll from Tony Verrichio.
“I named him Grandad. Dressed in a cardigan and slippers, Grandad gave an old man’s observations on life” explains Joe. ”And the audiences liked him.” But Sally wasn’t so keen. “From the time I worked with my dad, I had a fear of vent dummies” she says. “If a ventriloquist was on my dad’s show, I had to ask that the dummy was kept in his case and not left sitting in the dressing room.”

They were probably at the height of their popularity, when their son Scott was born. They made the decision not to do any overseas tours while he was a small child. Nor did they take on summer seasons, apart from two weeks at HM Theatre in Aberdeen with Sydney Devine and a three week season at the King’s in Edinburgh. Instead, they worked six nights a week performing at dinner/dances and clubs while a babysitter looked after young Scott. And in 1981, the family moved from their home in Ayrshire and bought The White Heather Hotel in the village of Auchenblae where they ran the hotel, raised young Scot and somehow managed to continue singing together.

As two Glasgow-born stars, they enjoyed working in the Pavilion, but never played a summer season with Lex. “We just missed out” says Joe. “Lex McLean came to see us during our summer season in Blackpool in 1969 and said he’d like to have us in his Glasgow show. Not long after that, he suffered a stroke and it was a while before he was fit enough to return to the stage. He had another stroke and never recovered from it.” As Joe relates details of the meeting with Lex, he imitates the voice of the comedian. His depiction was so good, I reckon he could have added impersonations to his act. After all, he is a man of many talents; he sings, plays guitar, banjoand mouth-organ, yodels, is a ventriloquist, produces art work, draws cartoons and is a practicing hypnotherapist. Hypnotherapist?

“That came about through having had a heart attack in 1981.” He suffered another in 1983. “My recovery was slow and I wasn’t responding as I’d hoped” he says. “I was convinced that hypnotherapy could help me, which it did, and I became interested in the subject and attended a teaching course in London. After I graduated, Lou Grant invited me onto his radio show, where, as his resident hypnotherapist, I’d give advice to listeners”. Then musing, he adds “An agent once phoned to book me for a club, thinking I was a stage hypnotist who could put members of the audience under a spell. I had to explain the difference.”

Towards the end of the 1990s, Joe began to drift back to his jazz roots, and appearing as a solo act, would play banjo at jazz concerts during Edinburgh’s and Glasgow’s Jazz Festivals. For eight years, he took his show Joe Gordon’s Banjos to the Royal Overseas Club in Edinburgh and when he played the venue in 2013, among the band members on-stage was son Scott on drums.

These appearances were in addition to the double act, and in January 2001, Joe and Sally flew to Russia to perform in a number of events commemorating Robert Burns. They did a week’s cabaret in St Petersburg and another week in Moscow. “It’s the coldest weather I’ve ever experienced” says Sally, as Joe idly adds “But we were given a warm welcome everywhere we went.”

As the era of long-running summer shows was coming to an end, more time was spent in Scotland and England in cabaret and in clubs. They also toured the highlands and islands with their own show An Evening with Joe Gordon and Sally Logan which they’d adapted to suit local village halls and churches, enabling smaller communities to enjoy theatre-based entertainment.

Having worked onstage for a combined total of 120 years, I was keen to learn what their outstanding memories were. Joe says the one that comes immediately to mind, took place before he was full time in the business. He’d been flown to HMV’s studios in Abbey Road in London to record the song Dreamlover and the producer Wally Ridley was keen to have it rush released. He returned to Scotland with high hopes of a pop career, but the record wasn’t put on sale until four weeks later, by which time Bobby Darin’s version had topped the UK charts. “My cover version made it into the Scottish Top Ten” Joe recalls. “I was told later that a legal agreement had probably been put in place to withhold my record until the original had charted, which was fair enough … after all, Bobby Darin wrote the song. I was disappointed, but I can look back now and remember that incident as as an exciting memory.”

Another highlight took place in Carnegie Hall during Andy Stewart’s 1967 tour of USA and Canada. All the acts had to perform to a very strict time schedule - it cost money if anyone exceeded their time slot. I was given nine minutes exactly - which was good for a solo act in those days - and went off to great applause. But I was met on the wings by an excited Max Kay, Andy’s manager. ‘Get back on’ he shouted ‘and take your full applause.’ Apparently if the audience at Carnegie Hall like you, they’d feel affronted if they couldn’t get a chance to show their appreciation. So, I went back on and was overwhelmed by the sight and sound of the audience, on their feet and cheering and whistling.”

Among Sally’s favourite memories are the two occasions she performed in front of royalty. “They were exciting occasions” she assures me. “But nothing could match the time I performed at the 1964 World Fair at Queens in New York, because I’d never had such an experience before - and never had it again. You’re in a summer season in Scotland and suddenly you finish on a Saturday night and fly to New York and return after the show to pick up the Monday evening performance.”

I wondered who influenced them in their early years. In Sally’s case, it was initially her dad who she looked to for guidance and as she progressed, the director Freddie Carpenter impressed her with his attention to detail. “He knew how to dress a stage” she says. It was the jazz artistes he listened to on Voice of America radio who first influenced Joe. “Later, Jack Radcliffe unknowingly taught me a lot” he says.”He was adaptable and a very funny man.”

Their greatest achievement? Sally answers without hesitation. “Our son Scott” and Joe agrees, adding “And that couldn’t have happened if I hadn’t met Sally and shared the musical successes we enjoyed.”

Their last singing engagement was in the winter of 2012 when they featured in Mike Clark’s Hail Caledonia at the Citadel in Ayr. “After the show, I said to Joe that I was considering stopping. I had been singing for the best part of 60 years and felt I’d like to stop while still enjoying it” says Sally. “We were lucky to have had such a varied working life” adds Joe “And to have met so many wonderful people in the course of our long career.."

"A successful double act still in harmony!"