Duane Eddy in 1960: Australia, Britain and the Package-Tour Circuit

In the first four months of 1960 Duane Eddy worked two circuits. One was Lee Gordon's Australian package operation in January. The other was a British theatre tour promoted by Arthur Howes with Leslie Grade in March and April, six nights to a town, with a printed running order and a compere.

He was billed differently in each.

January 1960: Lee Gordon's All-American Rock Spectacular

The Australian tour had a name, and the advertising printed it in capitals: LEE GORDON PRESENTS The All-American ROCK SPECTACULAR! It ran in The Canberra Times through the last days of January and into February, and in Brisbane's Telegraph from 22 January.

The Canberra advertising also printed who was on top: "Starring CRASH CRADDOCK", with his record `"Boom, Boom Baby"` under his name, then Johnny Restivo with `"The Shape I'm In"`, then the Diamonds. Duane Eddy is not in that line. The Australian Women's Weekly of 27 January called the whole thing `Craddock's five-State Australian tour with Lee Gordon's All-American Rock Spectacular show`.

Brisbane sold it differently. There the Telegraph advertised `ALL AMERICAN ROCK SPECTACULAR!! 13 Handsome Young Americans Compered by DIG RICHARDS`, and gave Eddy his own flash: `DUANE EDDY! With his twangy guitar`. A preview in the same paper on 12 January had the bill `supported by Duane Eddy's group, The Rebels, and Australian rock 'n roll stars`.

The Brisbane advertising sold the show as thirteen Americans; the Canberra advertising sold Craddock's name. The cast, as the Brisbane paper listed it on 28 January, ran to Eddy and his guitar group, the Diamonds, Johnny Restivo, Santo & Johnny, Floyd Robinson and `singer Crash Craddock, one of America's current teenage` idols, compered by the Australian Dig Richards; Johnny Devlin & the Devils came over from New Zealand.

Where the press puts them

Two of the Australian engagements can be read in the papers of the week.

Festival Hall, Brisbane, advertised through January and previewed on the 12th for the last Thursday of the month. On Friday 29 January the Telegraph put the arrival on its front page under the headline `Crash here`, and listed the party as `Crash Craddock, Johnny Restivo, Duane Eddy and his group, the Diamonds, Floyd Robinson`.
Queanbeyan, 3 February. The Canberra Times of 29 January announced `The group led by "Crash" Craddock` for `Queanbeyan next Wednesday night`, and named the Diamonds and Johnny Restivo. The Queanbeyan Age reviewed it on 5 February and described `the star, Mr "Crash" Craddock`, on stage. Neither the advertisement nor the review mentions Duane Eddy.

Gordon had been running packages of this kind through Australian venues since the mid-fifties; the same operation had taken Little Richard, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran around the country in October 1957.

The twang

The records are instrumentals, and the method on them is consistent: the melody picked out on the bottom strings of the guitar, drowned in tremolo and echo, a saxophone over the top, handclaps and shouting behind. Three of them are the three the British programme would print under his name.

March and April 1960: Britain, under Bobby Darin

Six weeks after Queanbeyan he was in England, second on the bill to Bobby Darin. Under them came Clyde McPhatter, Emile Ford & the Checkmates and Bob Miller & the Millermen, who backed the show.

The tour programme survives, and it names the thing. The cover is red, with five faces set in white brushstroke rings and Arthur Howes in association with Leslie Grade presents across the top. Inside, the show has a title: "The Biggest Package Show Ever". The running order:

Bob Miller and the Millermen — "direct from B.B.C.'s 'Parade of Pops'"
Alan Field, the compere, introduces
Clyde McPhatter, "the American Recording Star", with "Bless You" and "Lets Try Again"
Emile Ford and the Checkmates, "Britain's Sensational New Singing Star"
Intermission
Bob Miller and the Millermen open the second half
Duane Eddy — "From America first time here!", with "Some Kinda Earthquake", "Forty Miles of Bad Road" and "Peter Gunn"
Bobby Darin — "America's Top Disc Singer, first time here!", with "Mack the Knife", "Dream Lover" and "Beyond the Sea"
God Save the Queen

Eddy opened the second half and Darin closed the show. The programme puts `first time here!` against both American names.

The itinerary

Seventeen engagements, several of them full weeks:

18 March — Gaumont Palace, Lewisham.
19 March — Regal, Edmonton.
20 March — De Montfort Hall, Leicester.
21-26 March — Empire, Glasgow. Six nights.
27 March — City Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne.
28 March - 2 April — Empire, Liverpool. Six nights.
3 April — Hippodrome, Birmingham.
4 April — Colston Hall, Bristol.
6 April — Odeon, Leeds.
7 April — Gaumont, Sheffield.
8 April — Odeon, Manchester.
9 April — Trocadero, Elephant and Castle.
10 April — Odeon, Guildford. Bobby Darin did not appear.
11-16 April — Finsbury Park Empire, London. Six nights.
17 April — Gaumont, Cheltenham.
18-23 April — Empire, Liverpool. Six nights, the second week there in four.
24 April — Granada, East Ham.

Two packages on one circuit

While Eddy worked the list above, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran were touring the same British circuit for Larry Parnes. In six cases the two bills used the same building, weeks apart.

Empire, Glasgow — Cochran 1-6 February, Eddy 21-26 March.
Gaumont, Sheffield — Cochran 7-12 February, Eddy 7 April.
De Montfort Hall, Leicester — Cochran 18 February, Eddy 20 March.
Hippodrome, Birmingham — Cochran 7-12 March, Eddy 3 April.
Empire, Liverpool — Cochran 14-19 March, Eddy 28 March: Eddy opened there nine days after Cochran's final night, and came back to the same stage on 18 April.
Finsbury Park Empire, London — Cochran 4-9 April, Eddy 11-16 April: Eddy opened two days after Cochran's final night.

Three six-night runs overlapped:

21-26 March — Eddy at the Glasgow Empire, Cochran at the Newcastle Empire.
28 March - 2 April — Eddy at the Liverpool Empire, Cochran at the Manchester Hippodrome.
11-16 April — Eddy at Finsbury Park, Cochran at the Bristol Hippodrome.

That was Cochran's last week. He died on 17 April 1960. That day Eddy played the Gaumont in Cheltenham; the tour then continued to Liverpool and East Ham.

A note on sources

Australia, January 1960, from contemporary Australian newspapers in the National Library of Australia's Trove collection:

Advertising for the tour: The Canberra Times, 28, 29 and 30 January and 1 and 2 February 1960, which prints the tour's name and the "Starring Crash Craddock" billing; and Brisbane's Telegraph, 22, 25 and 27 January 1960, which prints "13 Handsome Young Americans" and the Duane Eddy flash.
The Australian Women's Weekly, 27 January 1960, pages 37 and 42, for the tour's name and for "Craddock's five-State Australian tour".
Brisbane's Telegraph: 12 January 1960, page 19, for the Festival Hall preview and the Rebels as support; 28 January, page 10, for the cast list; and 29 January, page 1, for the arrival.
The Canberra Times, 29 January 1960, page 12, and the Queanbeyan Age, 5 February 1960, page 1, for the Queanbeyan engagement and its review.

Britain, March and April 1960:

The tour programme, The Biggest Package Show Ever, Arthur Howes in association with Leslie Grade, for the cover, the billing and the running order.
American Rock n Roll — The UK Tours, `http://www.americanrocknrolluktours.co.uk/`, which draws on the book American Rock n Roll — The UK Tours 1956-1972, for the seventeen engagements and for the Rebels as backing group. The same source underwrites the 1960 Parnes itinerary used in Eddie Cochran on the Road, which is where the Cochran dates in the comparison above come from.