Today a newspaper clip from 1962 when British singer Alma Cogan made a pilot for her new series ‘The Secret Keepers’ with Shirley Bassey as her principal guest. ‘The Secret Keepers’ was a comedy that was never materialised. Alma Cogan fans have been trying to locate the tapes for 50 years. Might it have been found among the Frankie Howerd‘s Lost Tapes who was also one of the principal guests? Of course it would be great for us Bassey fans also if the tapes ever were found and we could see the Dame’s part on the series.
Dame Shirley Bassey Blog 
What a terrific photo..I always felt Dame Shirley must have been influenced by Alma Cogan, in terms of style and presentation on tv…
Alma was certainly a terrific entertainer and with her ‘dress sense’ and great rapport with the camera led the way for some of the great British female entertainers.
I had no idea they’d worked together…thank you
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I STILL MISS ALMA TO THIS DAY, I HAVE A SUEDE BOX SET OF ALL OF ALMA,S RECORDINGS,,ON C.Ds ALSO,, L.Ps & 45s ONE L.P RELEASED IN 1962, CALLED [WITH YOU IN MIND] HAD ALMA SINGING MY FAVOURITE SONG, {YOU,LL NEVER KNOW } I HAD THE L.P BOUGHT ME BY MY WIFE AS A 22nd BIRTHDAY PRESENT ,,FANTASTIC ARRANGEMENT BY GEOFF LOVE & HIS ORCHESTRA , WHICH DAME SHIRLEY HAD RECORDED THE YEAR BEFORE 1961,, THERE FRIENDSHIP WAS WELL KNOWN, ALMA WAS SUCH A GREAT LOSS, AT ONLY 36/
I AGREE WITH YOU STEVEN, ALMA WAS A TERRIFIC ENTERAINER.BUT I OFTEN PLAY HER C.D.s EVEN 40 YEARS AFTER HER DEATH,
BUT THANK GOD WE STILL HAVE DAME SHIRLEY .AND AS YOU SAY A FANTASTIC PHOTO OF ALMA & DAME SHIRLEY TOGETHER, BEAUTIFUL.
DENNIS, JERESEY CHANNEL ISLANDS
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Thanks Pieter. Dennis I listened to your favorite song, nice. Now I have to look up Alma Cogan. Looks like a friendly, great individual from the picture above.
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Dennis, have you read Sandra Caron’s book on her sister, Alma? It’s OK but she claims in it that Alma and Shirley never got on. In fact, she actually states that Alma couldn’t stand Shirley! Yet, looking at the press and photos at the time they were great buddies, both having that same infectious sense of humour. Alma was indeed the forerunner of the 60′s females, including Shirley. Her recordings still sound as fresh today as they did then. A huge loss to British showbusiness
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Philip, Sorry about the delay in replying to your question, yes i have the book next to me 1991 going on 23 years ago,To Emmit & anyone who loves show business the information on the stars of that era is riveting.& the PHOTOS OF ALMA & her FRIENDS, just Beautiful.
If only the tapes of THE SECRET SEEKERS could be found,With DAME SHIRLEY they never found them with Frankie Howard,,But another Friend was the LATE BOB MONKHOUSE, He was Known to have had loads of TAPES & RECORDINGS from the BBC & ITV ARCHIVES Which they all thought was LOST But he had recorded them all for his own Personal use Just a thought,
Now Philip , Do you have the DELUXE 4 C.D BOXED SET 7243-5 35819- 23,Titled THE GIRL WITH A LAUGH IN HER VOICE ? its in a Pale Lilac Suede Box 100 TRACKS E.M.I ,,Released 2001,,, Also contains 10 previously UNRELEASED TRACKS,,,64 PAGE BOOKLET,, RARE PHOTOGRAPHS,& COMPLETE DISCOGRAPHY,I PAID £22 – 99 still have the Receipt DATED 30 NOVEMBER 2001,I would pay TWICE that much just to have it in my Collection It Stands next to My DAME SHIRLEY BASSEY Collection OF HER BOXED 5 C.D. SET 7243-8-31236 29 From E.M.I , UNITED ARTISTS 1959 -1979 RELEASED [1994] ,, 20 YEARS AGO ,PRICED £50- 20 ,I would pay TWICE that Much to have in my Collection as well, The PLEASURE I GET FROM BOTH THOSE TWO BOXED SETS MONEY COULD NOT BUY, you won,t regret it i,m Sure,CLAUDIA, Are you Listening , Go On TREAT YOURSELVES, ,,,,,,,
P.S THE BOOK IS CALLED, ALMA COGAN [A MEMOIR] BY SANDRA CARON ,,MY APOLOGIES for the LENGTH of this Comment SORRY,
DENNIS JERSEY CHANNEL ISLANDS .
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Dennis, have you read Sandra Caron’s book on her sister, Alma? It’s OK but she claims in it that Alma and Shirley never got on. In fact, she actually states that Alma couldn’t stand Shirley! Yet, looking at the press and photos at the time they were great buddies, both having that same infectious sense of humour. Alma was indeed the forerunner of the 60’s females, including Shirley. Her recordings still sound as fresh today as they did then. A huge loss to British showbusiness.
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you know every now and then someone comes along musically who just knocks you out. and after being away for awhile i got a chance today to catch up on some bassey blog news. after seeing all the comments by dennis, Claudia, steven and Philip, i had to find out what all the fuss was about, especially due to the praises of mr. dennis about this Alma Cogan woman whom I’d never heard of. so i tuned in on several youtube clips of her performing, and all i can say is everyone and especially dennis were absolutely on point about Alma Cogan. i was pleasantly astonished. this woman REALLY HAD IT!! and how sad she lie so many others of that era of style class and taste are gone. especially when they were so young, even today to soon, such as Judy Garland, Dinah Washington, Whitney Houston, Eartha Kitt, Amy Winehouse, Luther Vandross, Michael Jackson etc. But fortunately we still have there musical history to reflect on today. Thank you ever so much blog for this unveiling in connection with our Our Great Dame. I’ll be hunting Alma Cogan’s music down for sure now too.
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Emmit, I’m so pleased that you have someone new to listen to! I promise you you won’t regret it. There is such a wealth of material to listen to – she could do fun numbers but she was also a fantastic singer of ballads. Enjoy!
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Agree with you Emmit. So many died so young.
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ooooops, pardon my imperfection in commenting on the early departure of Alma Cogan. I meant to say, “how sad she left so early among so many of that era…” it’s been a long hard 10 days or so for me.
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Thank you Dennis, will look into those Boxed CD treasures you suggested and treat myself.
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