The ENSA Years of ‘The Norris Trio’ Part 1 - ‘Sinbad
the Sailor’
By actiondesksheffield
People in story: Pansie Marjorie Muriel Hepworth Norris, Maisie Norris, Max Norris,
William Maxwell Mason, Albert Modley
Location of story: Birmingham
Unit name: Entertainment National Service Association, E.N.S.A.
Background to story: Army
Pansie Marjorie Muriel Hepworth Norris in ‘Sinbad the Sailor’
This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Roger Marsh of the ‘Action Desk –
Sheffield’ Team on behalf of Andrew James Senior and has been added to the site with the
author’s permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
The ENSA Years of ‘The Norris Trio’
By
Andy Senior
Introduction
The following story is an extract from the biography ‘The Music hall World of The Morris
Trio’ written by Andy Senior:
“I found myself after the sad passing of a dear friend of the family Muriel Mason, looking
through her many old photographs. I was besotted by not only how many she had, but
also how far back in time the pictures went. I was going back into the past at an alarming
rate. I spent a full day just looking at some of the sepia photos dated in the eighteen
hundreds. Posters from the early twenties, photo albums about the travels to Cyprus, and
South Africa and written accounts of times during the Second World War. Then various
other items that were loose. I knew from the beginning of this epic journey into the world
of the music hall, that it would take me a long time to sort through all the fantastic stuff I
had collected.
”So this being my first attempt at writing a book on someone else's life story, you must
excuse any errors that might appear.
”I have two people to thank before I start Muriel herself, for the many items and my dear
Mum, who I am indebted to. For when I got stuck on various pieces, I would phone her up
several times in one afternoon.
Yours Andy Senior.
Two weeks before Christmas 2004.”
By way of further introduction
Muriel Mason was born Pansie Norris on October 4, 1903.
Muriel was the eldest child and started in show business at 10 years of age in ‘Little Miss
Muffet’ at the Royal Theatre Birmingham. Muriel had stated that, “Coming from a musical
family, I suppose its only natural that we, my late brother, sister and myself should
eventually land in show business.”
‘The Norris Trio’ comprised Muriel (Pansie), Maisie and Max Norris. Maisie was two years
younger and Max four years younger than Muriel. Another sister Ruby, who was six years
younger than Muriel, had died aged five years.
On August 9, 1931, Pansie Marjorie Muriel Hepworth Norris aged 27, married William
Maxwell Mason aged 31. They were divorced on June 12, 1939, shortly before the start of
World War II.
There is little information from the Decree Absolute document in 1939 until 1942, except
for some photographs dated 1938 & 1939 to 1941 of Max, Maisie and Muriel performing in
‘On with the Modley’ which starred Albert Modley. Also amongst the collection of
documents is a programme and song sheet from the Max Norris Production of ‘Brighter
Nights’. ‘The Cure for the Black-out Blues’, described as ‘Their New 1940 Super Revue’,
was even brighter than our 1939 success ‘Bright Nights’.
Muriel died at 101 years of age in 2004, and neither she nor her brother and sister had
had any children, and so, because Andrew James Senior’s mother had been a close friend
of Muriel, Andrew inherited Muriel’s large collection of scrapbooks, photos and notes. At
the time of putting this extract of the biography on to the web site it remained
unpublished.
Roger Marsh
BBC Action Desk Sheffield
Part 1 - ‘Sinbad the Sailor’
We take up the story sometime in 1942.
In 1942 my late brother Max who was producing and managing shows at the time, decided
to put on ‘Sinbad the Sailor’, which is seldom played, as it supposed to be an unlucky
subject in the profession. The favourite pantos being, Cinderella, Mother Goose, and
Aladdin, these being the most popular ones. However, my Brother ignored the superstition
and decided it was to be ‘Sinbad the Sailor’, and I was to he principal boy. "
Well, the first thing that happened at rehearsals and just before we opened was, one of
the characters, ‘The old man of the sea’, was taken ill, so my brother sent a telegram to a
friend in London asking him to travel up straight away to take over the part. Luckily he
was at liberty and came. Well! Of course he was very tall, 6ft, and also broad (the previous
man was only short) & I had to capture him and carry him on my back! So you can
imagine how I felt, as I'm only 5ft 2 ½ inches. On the opening night, l was dreading this
bit, I fell down centre stage with our friend an my back! And the curtain had to be lowered.
There's more to come. We had hired the scenery and I required a small casket to be filled
with jewels from the bottom of the sea. As they had no casket available, they sent a large
box. We wondered how on earth we were going to fill that with prop jewellery. Then I got
a brainwave to fill the box with tinsel and a few pearls and diamante on the top, thinking
this would be quite effective and shine on stage and in the lights. Well One child in the
gallery spotted this camouflage and shouted out, “Them's not jewels it's tinsel!” much to
my embarrassment.
Then finally I was supposed to be, flown up to Fairyland, and had wires and rope fastened
on my back so they would not be noticed in the audience (like Peter Pan). The man in the
flies had to haul me up with rope and then it was the interval, and when the curtains were
drawn, I was hauled down again. Well on New Year’s Eve, the men were all in a hurry to
get a drink. I suppose, they hauled me up, tied me off and left me dangling in midair. After
hearing my screams, they realised what they had done, and let me down. Much to my
relief? No wonder "Sinbad the Sailor" was said to be an unlucky Pantomime.
The photo is of Muriel as ‘Sinbad the Sailor’. The date on the back is 1942, so the trio were
still entertaining during the first years of the war, many theatres at the time had to close
due to restrictions, and the call up for many members of shows. The next part of the trio’s
life is when they joined E.N.S.A. The real name being Entertainment National Service
Association.
(We once again take up Muriel's narrative. She left several notebooks, and it seems clear
whilst reading through them that she would pause for sometime before continuing with the
story. This was written when she was 92.)
"Well I've had a very interesting life, meeting people and some Stars, who unfortunately
are no longer with us. I am very thankful for my good health and also that I was able to go
and entertain the forces in India and Burma during the World War 2, but that's another
story, I am now 92, retired of course, but with many happy memories & lovely friends. I
hope you enjoyed reading my ‘Peep behind the scenes’, so bye for now. "
Pr-BR