Just Ask

May 11 2008 Margret Campbell

Q DID Alice Faye and John Payne make many films together? I think they were both in Tin Pan Alley. - John Andrews, Dalry, Ayrshire.

A YOU are right. The pair did appear alongside Betty Grable and Jack Oakie in the 1940 musical Tin Pan Alley, the first of four films they made together. The others were: The Great American Broadcast (1941) and Hello Frisco Hello (1943), both of which also co-starred Oakie, and Weekend In Havana (1941) with Carmen Miranda.

The pair were also due to star with Grable in The Dolly Sisters (1945) but Faye pulled out. Grable was seen as Faye's replacement as Hollywood's favourite musicalcomedy actress but the pair were good friends off-screen. Alice died in 1998 aged 83. Payne died of heart failure in 1989 aged 77.

Q ANY information on the singer Russ Hamilton and can you still buy his records anywhere? - Mrs D.J., Kirkcaldy.

A RUSS, who was born Ronald Hulme in Liverpool in 1932, was one of the first British singers to have a hit in America. His debut song We Will Make Love made it to No.2 in the UK charts in May 1957 but the flip side, Rainbow, caught on in the US after it was mistakenly promoted as the A-side.

Rainbow reached No.4 in the Billboard Top 100. At the time, Russ was working as a Butlins Redcoat but his chart success meant that for a time in the late 50s he "commuted" across the Atlantic to perform.

In September 1957, Russ again made it into the UK charts with Wedding Ring. He then moved to Nashville and signed to MGM records but he never quite hit the heights of those first songs. His records are very hard to track down but he remains more popular in America so check out Amazon's US site - www.amazon.com - and you may be lucky.

Q WHAT is the origin of the term big cheese, meaning someone important? - Robbie Hall, Dingwall.

A THE phrase has nothing to do with cheese. It comes from a Hindi word "chiz" meaning thing.

In the days of the Raj, it was common for Anglo-Indians to refer to something outstanding as "the real chiz" which gradually developed into the big cheese.

The phrase is the only one to use the word cheese in a positive way. It usually has a negative meaning such as cheesed-off meaning fed up and cheesy to describe something cheap or tacky.

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