Typically these acts would last about ten minutes, and be repeated twelve times a week (matinee and evening performance, every day except Sunday) in variety theatres all over the country. In the UK they were regarded as one of the best 'speciality acts' – acts designed to balance and support the star of a variety programme. Their "Cleopatra's Nightmare" routine was performed in 1936 in Berlin and condemned by Joseph Goebbels as indecent. Wilson and Keppel perform their Sand Dance routine in 1934 She was among the first to report the suicide of Hermann Göring. Over the years there were between 8 and 12 'Bettys', most of these appearing during the act's later years: Betty Knox retired from the act in 1941 to go into journalism, becoming a war correspondent during the Second World War, and reporting on the Nuremberg trials for three years as a correspondent for the London Evening Standard. The act came to Britain to appear at the London Palladium for a few weeks in 1932 and stayed permanently. International celebrity Betty Knox (third from right) in 1944 as a war correspondent for the London Evening Standard She was brought up by her grandparents for the next 14 years while her mother worked firstly in a chorus line and then with Wilson and Keppel. Their daughter Jean Patricia Knox was born in 1923 in Salina, Kansas. She is said to have married mechanic Donald Knox in 1923 and to have divorced him after a brief marriage, but there are no records to confirm either event. By 1928 they were performing as 'The Bus Boys' and in this year Kansas-born chorus girl Betty Knox (Alice Elizabeth Peden, – 25 January 1963) joined the act at Des Moines, Iowa. In 1920 the duo travelled to Canada where they toured in a comedy tap dancing act, later also performing in vaudeville venues in the United States. On travelling to Australia he also joined Colleano's Circus, where he teamed up with Jack Wilson. After making his way to Australia he joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1914 and was discharged as unfit after almost two years. In 1912 he joined the Royal Navy, but was discharged after 5 months as being unfit. Joe Keppel ( – 14 June 1977) was born in County Cork in Ireland as John Joseph Keppel. During World War I Wilson served with the Royal Navy following which he travelled to Australia, where he joined Colleano's Circus in 1920. Jack Wilson (30 January 1894 – 29 August 1970) was born in Warrington in Lancashire as John William Wilson, the son of a tanner on leaving school Jack also worked as a tanner. The act included a soft-shoe routine performed on a layer of sand spread on the stage to create a rhythmic scratching with their shuffling feet and was usually performed to the familiar Egyptian Ballet (1875), by Alexandre Luigini.Įarly careers Wilson, Keppel and Betty photographed in 1928 The lithe and extremely lanky Wilson and Keppel, who wore long moustaches and make-up to emphasise the sharp angularity of their features and make them appear almost identical, demonstrated their impressive suppleness in adopting wild gestures and dancing in identical "stereo" movements, while Betty joined their antics. The " sand dance" that formed the highlight of their act was a parody of postures from Egyptian tomb paintings, combined with references to Arabic costume. They capitalised on the fashion for Ancient Egyptian imagery following the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Wilson, Keppel and Betty formed a popular British music hall and vaudeville act in the middle decades of the 20th century.
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