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ROAMIN' IN THE GLOAMIN' 83
then. We forgot all about the matter for a week or so but at the end of that time I received a telegram — the first I had ever received, by the way — asking me to interview The Kennedys at an address in Glasgow. I found them to be a husband and wife who were pretty well known as the organizers of concert tours round the smaller Scottish towns. Their annual summer journey was due to commence in a few days' time. Would I take the place of a comic who had let them down at the last minute? The tour had been planned for fourteen weeks, covering some of the nicest little towns in the prettiest districts of Scotland. The salary offered was thirty-five shillings a week. For this I would be expected to play three turns on the programme every ''show" and also act as baggage-man, bill-inspector, stage-carpenter, and also check-taker for the cheaper parts of the house. The Kennedys were careful to point out that this would be a great chance for a young comedian and they urged me to consider the pros and cons. Everything was fixed up there and then.
But my head was in a whirl all the way back to Hamilton. When I told Nance what had happened the tears came into her eyes. I think we both "grat" a bit that night. It was a risk, an adventure, a parting of the ways between the coalpit and the footlights ! For hours after we went to bed Nance and I talked and talked over this sudden and unexpected change that had come into our lives. When she fell asleep, wearied and worried, I continued to con over all the possibilities, whether of success or failure, of the new life that lay before me. After all, I finally decided, my heart was really in my singing rather than in the drab, hard, soulsearing toil and moil of a collier's existence. Besides, if I failed I could always go back to it ! But my mind was made up — I would do or die !
The tour was due to start at Beith, in Ayrshire, on the following Monday. I worked right up till mid-day on the Saturday and then staggered the under-manager by inform