Shot out of a cannon… but, 70 years on, Moxon Girl June still won’t reveal how it was done

FROM high kicks and bullet tricks to being shot from a cannon into the gods at Edinburgh’s Empire Theatre, 90-year-old June Don Murray has had her share of thrills.

So stepping on stage in Edinburgh this month will be a tamer affair for the former Moxon Girl who starred with iconic music hall entertainers Lionel Blair and Lex McLean.

Seven decades on, June will return to the stage alongside her fellow variety-era dancers Marie Duthie, 94 and Doreen Leighton-Ward, 85.

June will never forget performing in tricks, disappearing acts and the cannon shoot during her time as the assistant to famous Australian illusionist, The Great Levante.

“I was chosen because I was small and dainty,” says June of the role she took up in 1955.

“I was shot out of this cannon and went way up in the air, up to the balcony and landed in a basket.

“My mother nearly went to pieces. I told her it was my job and I was getting paid for it. They paid me danger money but it wasn’t much.

“But I can’t tell you how it was done – I’m still sworn to secrecy by the Magic Circle!”

For the past 18 months, June, Marie and Doreen have taken a twirl down memory lane for a project run by choreographer Janice Parker and the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh.

And later this month, the trio will perform alongside two younger generations of dancers in the theatre’s Empire Rooms as part of Luminate, Scotland’s Creative Ageing Festival.

Their new show, An Audience With… will see them share their favourite dance routines and memories of the golden age of variety theatre in Scotland, which spanned the 1940 to ’60s.

It also aims to give the variety girls recognition and explore their impact on dance in Scotland.

This is especially true of Doreen, who was instrumental in securing a wage rise for her fellow dancers in the early 1950s and helped push for official dance contracts in Scotland.

But her efforts saw her fired by one theatre manager out of spite.

“I was Head Girl with The Hamish Turner Group at the Gaiety Theatre in Edinburgh, when I went to a meeting with actor Alex McCrindle, who founded the actor’s union Scottish Equity,” she recalls.

“I learned the ‘four pound 10’ we were paid at the time was much less than other dancers. None of the girls in Scotland had contracts either, so I organised a strike and told the Gaiety’s manager we weren’t going on unless we were paid an extra 10 shillings a week.

“He was furious and said he would never be held to ransom in his own theatre.

“But eventually he agreed because you needed the girls in the background, the pretty things that held the show together.”

But she paid a price for her efforts. All the girls were then called separately to his office and signed a new contract.

“But he didn’t give me a contract to sign. He said I would never work in his theatre again, and I didn’t. I could still perform in the troupe and have no regrets because that was the beginning of contracts in Scotland.” After training with Madam Ada’s Dance School in Edinburgh, they went on to perform with the Adeline Calder Girls, the Hamish Turner Dancers and the Moxon Girls.

June recalls: “I loved being in the Moxon Girls. We danced all up the east coast, Inverness, Perth, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow too. The theatres wanted us back every year.”

But it was a demanding role.

“We would perform two shows a night, six nights a week with a Sunday off. And you’d be rehearsing steps for the next week’s show while trying to remember what you were doing that night.

“Sometimes we wouldn’t be finished until after 11. My mother would say, ‘my daughter’s not coming home at that hour without an escort’. Escort? I had about four or five fellas wanting to see me home every night!

“It was hard work, and we didn’t get very well paid for it, but it was the happiest time of my life.”

Chorus line dancers like June and Doreen were the backbone of the popular variety theatre shows, in which they supported the nation’s top entertainers, such as top comedians Lex McLean, Johnny Victory, and Lionel Blair.

“There was a special guest one night and it was Lionel Blair himself,” adds June.

“He started playing and singing. It felt like a dream. I nearly forgot my steps!

“I love being back in the theatre. It’s a laugh a minute and I feel like I’m with my ‘ain folk again. There’s no business like show business after all!”

An Audience With… will be performed in the Festival Theatre’s Empire Rooms on October 21, 26, 28. Tickets are free and can be booked at www.edtheatres.com