My Father and Me

I was a year old when this photograph was taken in our front room which was only used on special occasions.

My mother told me that I was named after Dennis’s son, John Michael, but with the names switched round I became Michael John.

My first memory of Uncle Dennis is from when I was about 7 or 8. He visited the UK and there was a get-together at his mother and father’s house in Birmingham. I only have a hazy memory but it revolves around a piano with Uncle Dennis by the side of it, singing. I am told that he would have been accompanied on the piano by his sister, my Aunty Marie. That is all I can remember but it obviously made an impression on me.

At some stage I became aware of the scrapbook that my father kept about his brother. I was aware that Dennis was a star but I didn’t see any evidence of that until the fifties when Fra Diavolo was shown at a local cinema – The Alhambra on the Moseley Road in Birmingham.

The main reminder of Dennis when my father was alive was the hamper that arrived at Christmas from him. I pictured it coming from the States but it probably came from a supplier in the UK. It was full of things that we wouldn’t normally have (like tinned tongue!) and it was great fun to unpack and to consume.

I have an idea that Dennis visited my family home twice but I only really remember the last time. It was after my father died. Dennis came in a chauffeur-driven car. He was well dressed, wearing a hat, possibly a bowler. My mother invited him into our front room and he sat by the window almost where I am in the photo above. He commiserated over the loss of his brother, my father, and said how close he was to him when he was growing up, even walking him to infant school in Dennis Road, Moseley, Birmingham. I remember his imposing voice and his bearing and he left a lasting impression on me.