Mary Burgoyne

[edney]

Hello one and all. I'm new to the forum though I have been a part of the Costello Mailing list for many years, mainly as a casual observer.

So as an introduction I thought I'd post a question that I asked on the Mailing list which still remains unanswered.

Mary Burgoyne. Does anyone know what happened to her? I know that she worked as a DJ with the London radio station GLR but she certainly don't work there anymore. Incidentally if you do a Google image search for "Mary Costello" there is a publicity photograph from the 80's featuring Mary in a pair of over-sized Horn Rims that look suspiciously like the sort that El wore/wears. Judging from the somewhat self-conscious pose and the fact that the specs are WAY too big, it looks like a deliberate attempt to cash in on her famous ex-husband's image.

If this has been discussed before, apologies. Just point me in the right direction if this is the case.

DavE

[johnfoyle]

Thanks for reminding me . I remember noticing this imge before I knew how to paste stuff here .

Here it is -

http://www.tellytunes.com/djphotocards/glr/glr_mc.jpg



The same search has this -

http://curvesguitar.com/artists/cng/Gar ... 0Young.jpg


Mary Costello, Nick Lowe and Gary Brooker

The same lady , I presume.

Otherwise , nothing to report , sorry.

[IStandAccused]

Hello one and all. I'm new to the forum though I have been a part of the Costello Mailing list for many years, mainly as a casual observer.

So as an introduction I thought I'd post a question that I asked on the Mailing list which still remains unanswered.

Mary Burgoyne. Does anyone know what happened to her? I know that she worked as a DJ with the London radio station GLR but she certainly don't work there anymore. Incidentally if you do a Google image search for "Mary Costello" there is a publicity photograph from the 80's featuring Mary in a pair of over-sized Horn Rims that look suspiciously like the sort that El wore/wears. Judging from the somewhat self-conscious pose and the fact that the specs are WAY too big, it looks like a deliberate attempt to cash in on her famous ex-husband's image.

If this has been discussed before, apologies. Just point me in the right direction if this is the case.

DavE

Hummmm, did it ever dawn on you that maybe she wore the glasses first? I've never seen Mary indicate in any way that she was trying to cash in on anything. The opposite actually- she keeps a low profile and I'm sure she is living her life happily.
She sure is an attractive woman. She looks a little like Carlene Carter to me.
I also thought her radio show was very good.
Isn't that really all anyone needs to know?

[edney]

"Hummmm, did it ever dawn on you that maybe she wore the glasses first?"

Actually, having seen the 2nd photograph (the one with Lowe & Brooker) it becomes obvious that she DID wear glasses so I guess my little theory (and that's all it was) was wrong. As for enquiring as to her whereabouts - just curious that's all. Don't worry, I'm not about to check her out in the telephone directory.

DavE

[BlueChair]

Sounds like a perfectly reasonable curiousity to me.

[Paul B]

I filmed Mary interviewing Townes Van Zandt in the mid 90's for a doc about him that never got completed, though some of the other material shot for it was used in the later cinema release film about him, 'Be Here To Love Me'. There's a picture of him and Mary from around that time here http://www.townesvanzandt20yearshfe.com/photos/photo-1/. I can't say I even spoke to Mary myself but she was an attractive and commanding if strident figure. She asked Townes some very direct questions, like 'Are you happy?', which he found very difficult to answer - he did suffer from chronic clinical depression most of his life.

Seemed to me that Mary would've been more than a match for Elvis at the point when they were together: emotionally, she knew her music too and I don't imagine she took much cr*p about his 'heady new found fame' carryings on. I also wonder if there's been a rapprochement between them since, not least on account of their son. I know it's none of my business but Elvis is more than good enough at what he does to inspire biographies in years to come, when we're all long gone.

[Otis Westinghouse]

I met a low rent music journo a few years back who claimed to know her and insisted that EC's Liverpool roots were entirely invented, he never went to school there and was entirely from London and the semi-Scouse accent faked. Whilst I put this down mostly to him being plain thick, he did seem to insist he had this on the good authority of Mary B. Add a dash of sour grapes then? Always seemed a weird thing for him to insist on.

[Man out of Time]

I met a low rent music journo a few years back who ... insisted that EC's Liverpool roots were entirely invented, he never went to school there and was entirely from London and the semi-Scouse accent faked.

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkenhead Elvis moved to Birkenhead in 1971,

In the song "Jimmie Standing In The Rain", there is a reference to "The Argyle", as a theatre where Jimmie might have played. The Argyle Theatre was a music hall theatre in Birkenhead between 1868 and 1940 (when it was bombed), so I think it a fair bet that Elvis had this in mind when writing "Jimmie".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyle_Theatre

Remember also that Elvis' father was from Birkenhead and Elvis claims to have been christened at the Church of the Holy Cross in the North End of Birkenhead. See more on that here:

http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3 ... p?p=118617

Whether all that is enough to give Elvis a "scouse" accent, I am not sure. Certainly if you listen to live recordings of him from the 1970s, the accent is distinctly West London, not the Wirral. However, these days, there is more of a Scouse lilt to him and clearly he feels attachment to Liverpool and Birkenhead where his mother still lives.

MOOT

[Paul B]

Thanks MOOT, interesting stuff. I'd only add that Otis West made the initial point you quoted above, not me!

[johnfoyle]

The various narratives about Elvis' early, pre-public personality years do tell of him dividing his time between Liverpool and London. Until his parents break-up in the late 1960s he spent part of school holidays etc. with relatives in Liverpool. After the split he moved permanently to Liverpool with his mother , ending up spending holidays in London with his father. Hence the accent that can seem chameleon like at times. I can't remember if Thompson's bio , that was based on interviews with classmates , made the point but I seem to remember an account that mentioned that Elvis had the wit to realise that it was prudent to adopt accents that would be less likely to antagonise the more forceful personalities in school situations ie. not get beat up by bullies,' that character forming' element that was so prevalent at the time.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Clear that the accent betrays a mixed upbringing but has essentially shifted from London to Liverpool across his adult life. I don't believe that the clearly incorrect insistence that Elvis never lived in Liverpool actually came from Mary B, why would she? Maybe she just made fun of it based on the accent, etc. I just put it down to the journo's lame mind I've seen him around but not spoken to him since as he was rude about my insistence that Elvis did indeed move to Birkenhead being wrong.

Thanks Paul B for correctly attributing my quote! Not quite sure how you managed that one, MOOT!

[Paul B]

Interesting discussion and I might not have noticed it otherwise. I always had a bit of an issue with the American inflections Elvis's accent took on at times in the very early 80s, maybe he was a bit of a chameleon though.

[johnfoyle]

A discussion elsewhere of Ms Burgoyne has shown that some of the images in this thread are out of date or missing - here are new versions.

[johnfoyle]

At orginal 'Galway Memories' f/book posting -

' on the step of the car is Victor Burgoyne'

And this comment -


Vic Burgoyne was a terrific saxophone player and played with the Des Fretwell Orchestra in the early days as well as with the Johnny Cox band. He was a barber by profession and he operated over what was then Stewarts corset company later Cummins Chemists now Flanagans Chemist, beside Eason's. he was my barber for many years and used to cut the hair of every musician in the town. Eventually things got a bit slack here in the 70s and he and his family went to live in England. His daughter was the first wife of muscian Elvis Costello.


An earlier link for this no longer works -

http://cart.kennys.ie/News/OldGalway/04 ... alwayJazz/



The Arabians, late 1950s. from the left: Vic Burgoyne, sax; Kieran Dooley, trombone; Jimmy Cox, clarinet; Jimmy Dooley, drums; Tim Colleran, vocals; Cyril Dooley, cornet & Maxie Dooley, piano.

[sulky lad]

Did Cyril play with Bill Haley as well ??

[johnfoyle]

Thanks - I've just edited in 'cornet' - 'comet' is in the original text - I presume its a error!

[johnfoyle]

Kind of related. Here's a cutting from Hot Press, January 1980. It indicates that Elvis visited his Irish relatives in Galway in late 1979. The photo looks like one from a Stiff promo session in 1977. I haven't noticed it anywhere else - it's a bit awkward!

[johnfoyle]

http://www.iangallagher.com/DesFretwellBand.html

[erey]

Kind of related. Here's a cutting from Hot Press, January 1979. It indicates that Elvis visited his Irish relatives in Galway in late 1978. The photo looks like one from a Stiff promo session in 1977. I haven't noticed it anywhere else - it's a bit awkward!

This has to be January 1980, not 1979, as the story in the left column (nastily) references the Iranian-US hostage crisis, which started in late 1979.

[johnfoyle]

Indeed! Well spotted , I'll edit in a correction, thanks.