Cliff Gordon: 1920-1964: Scriptwriter, impresario, actor …and Welshman!

 

Cliff Gordon : The Welsh Icarus

“Wales is not a country, it’s an emotion…”

 WHO DIED TODAY 16 OCTOBER 1964 AGED 44

A FORGOTTEN WELSHMAN

Cliff Gordon was born ( Clifford Thomas Moses)  in Llanelly,  West Wales in 1920 and died in Hastings in 1964. He found fame as an actor and playwright and a musical impresario.  Best known for his play “Valley of Song” (about two feuding Welsh choirs, which was made into a film) Cliff often found himself on the wrong side of the law, because he was a homosexual. In the world on stage and entertainment Cliff was secure and protected.

 

After serving in the army with ENSA he worked almost non stop in London shows, with his own musical reviews at the famous Windmill Theatre. He also toured with Ivor Novello and with Donald Houston (in Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood) and did a good deal of work for BBC Wales, earning a high regard.

 

He also made several feature films. After the death of Dylan Thomas in 1953, Cliff’s closest friend and confidante was Thomas’ widow, Caitlin, the two of them drunk each other under bars in London and in Italy.  Dubbed “ The Welsh Icarus” Cliff’s career was affected by alcoholism and depression and he drove himself  far too  hard .

 

In the mid-late 1950s Cliff saw Shirley Bassey perform in Cardiff Bay and later invited her to tour with two of his shows, thus effectively giving Bassey her first ‘big break’ into show business. Ill- health overshadowed Cliff his whole life, but in his last years he settled into marriage with Margaret, a devoted wife. A sad, brave but often amusing tale of a talented Welsh man, but born before his time who burnt the candle at both ends in pursuit of his dreams. He is hardly remembered by anyone, and is long overdue a tribute.

 

Cliff died 60 years ago today, 16 October 1964, aged 44.

 FOR MORE DETAILS EMAIL  WILL CROSS

 

williecross@aol.com

 

CLIFF GORDON

 

SOME OF THE SCRIPTS AND SHOWS OF CLIFF GORDON

Scriptwriter, Librettist, impressionist, impresario, actor, song writer, cabaret artist…and Welshman!

“Wales is not a country, it’s an emotion”

Hon. Gwyneth Ericka Morgan ‘ A Beautiful Nuisance’ A Crime Revisited 100 Years On

 

A TALK THIS AFTERNOON AT OAKDALE CENTRE, BLACKWOOD, SOUTH WALES

ON THE HONOURABLE GWYNETH ERICKA MORGAN

Hon. Gwyneth Ericka Morgan ‘ A Beautiful Nuisance’

A Crime Revisited 100 Years On : From William Cross, FSA Scot

“..and all that’s best of dark and light meet in her aspect and her eyes” Byron

Hon. Gwyneth Ericka Morgan: 1895-1925 was one of the richest and as a debutante of 1914, one of the prettiest and alluring of girls. The daughter of Lord Courtenay and Lady Katharine Tredegar of Tredegar House, Newport, and, only sibling of the notorious Evan Morgan, the last Viscount Tredegar.

Gwyneth was wayward and unpredictable. She had an adventurous streak and a reputation for being something of a bohemian in the era of the ‘Bright Young Things’. After a chequered childhood, WW1 & difficult struggle in her 20s and after a period of foreign travel including recuperating from ill health Gwyneth suddenly walked out of a house in Wimbledon on 11 December 1924 where she lived with a housekeeper & maid. She left in a thick London fog with £70 in her pocket. She told no one where she was going. After being missing for five months a rotting corpse, was pulled from the River Thames on 25 May 1925. It was claimed as Gywneth’s. But was it? Who benefited by clearing up Gwyneth’s fate?

We'll never really know for sure what happened to Gwyneth Morgan. After spending 7 years investigating her disappearance her biographers Will Cross and Monty Dart reached various conclusions but never found finality & peace.

"One of the saddest things about Gwyneth's death" "was the turquoise amulet found on her body. It had been given to her by her brother Evan ( perhaps to ward off evil influences ) , it was held together by a piece of wire from a ginger beer bottle. It must have meant a lot to her."

Today, as we near the centenary of Gwyneth’s strange disappearance, Will Cross offers some new evidence he’s gathered behind the whole mystery with some unanswered questions and sinister overtones.

FOR MORE INFORMATION YOU CAN CONTACT WILL CROSS BY E-MAIL

williecross@aol.com