Memoir of an English Show Girl

My Father Was Carmen Miranda is the story of music hall showgirl Nena Jover Kelty--part of the renowned Jover family who entertained in circuses, theaters and music halls throughout the world for three generations. When her father's act, "The Two Jovers," broke up in 1939--Tommy Jover drafted his children to form a new act, "Tommy Jover with Nena and Raf," and they played all over Britain through the dark years of World War II, from 1939 to 1946. Although buzz bombs were falling, food was scarce, and travel often dangerous, nothing would frighten the Brits into giving up their evenings at the Music Hall. In the best tradition of British variety, Tommy Jover did a raucous turn as a female impersonator--and Music Hall patrons screamed with delight when he topped his head with a fruit basket and made like Carmen Miranda--much to the embarrassment of young Nena, who played straight to her father's comic antics. "My Father was Carmen Miranda" offers glimpses of well known British headliners like Max Miller ("Mary From the Dairy"), George Formby ("With Me Little Ukelele in Me Hand"), Tommy Trinder (Champaigne Charlie), Vera Lynn ("We'll Meet Again"), Flanagan and Allen ("Underneath the Arches), Dick Henderson (Tiptoe Through the Tulips), and Tessie O'Shea ("No One Loves a Fairy When She's Forty"), and is a vivid backstage look at the vanished world of the English Music Hall.