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In looking back at the career of Ryan Davies, his national recognition first came with his teaming up with Ronnie Williams. Mike Evans, Ryan's personal manager, recounts Wales' top comedy duo
It should have been one of the easiest but rewarding weeks in our entertainment calendar - a week in Wales' top cabaret venue, the Double Diamond in Caerphilly. It doesn't have the ring of the Sands in Las Vegas, but at the time this venue brought some of the greatest entertainers from around the world to the nightly audience of over 2,500 people. This was their fourth visit to the Club, yet by the end of that week in 1975, Wales' most popular comedy duo - Ryan & Ronnie, had come to an end.
Wales has always been blessed with a rich seam of singers and actors, but comedy has had a more inconsistent history. To find a popular comedian was very rare; to be faced with a Welsh comedy duo was a totally unknown phenomenon. Perhaps it was the strict regime of honing their art over many years which had put many aspiring duo's off their ultimate goal. This was the time when Morecambe and Wise were at their peak and to have achieved that, they had spent many long years treading the boards from their humble beginnings (ironically) at the Empire Theatre in Swansea. Comedy duos, in the tradition of things, weren't born overnight - they had to mature over a period.
Yet Ryan and Ronnie had not only founded and gone on to establish a successful Welsh duo, they surprisingly had not come through the traditional breeding ground of variety theatre. In some ways, they could be categorised as being manufactured in a TV studio, but Ryan had fully served his apprenticeship in a most traditional Welsh way. From a young age, his natural talent for music-making was recognised and encouraged through school, chapel & Eisteddfods.
Although his career path took him to London as a teacher, he still maintained a presence back in Wales. Ultimately it was BBC Wales who were to sew the seeds for his entertainment career. Ryan was offered a full-time contract, the first ever under the auspices of the new Light Entertainment Department. I'm sure that you will not be thinking that I am making a profound point on the current state of Welsh entertainment by stating that BBC Wales no longer has such a department!
Such was Ryan's versatility that he was employed on a whole range of programmes until it was decided to create a new series of variety shows. In the same building was one Ronald Williams, a Continuity Announcer and all-round broadcaster, who some thought would be ideal foil for Ryan's comic antics. This 'straight man' role has always been under-estimated, but imagine an Eric without an Ernie or, come to that, a Ryan without a Ronnie! One aspect has always been indisputable, Ryan's greatest fan was Ronnie.
The series was launched and what should have taken years to perfect was achieved in just a matter of months - an intuitive relationship which is the cornerstone of any double act. A success on their own terms, but how would they be received by the Welsh public? Not even Ryan and Ronnie could have expected the manner in which their intrinsically Welsh brand of humour was embraced across Wales.
Their special recipe was the key to years of success which saw them through several series in both English and Welsh, two network series broadcast across the UK, plus countless cabaret and concert performances. Perhaps an interesting reflection on how they endeared themselves to the public was the creation of the longest - running pantomime in the whole of the UK at the Grand Theatre, Swansea. Starting on Boxing Day, the run would continue until mid-March producing over 140 performances each year, although the sound of Christmas songs did sound rather out-of-place toward Easter! An incredible achievement for the mid -70's, but even more remarkable is the fact that 25 years on, this record still stands.
Adding to their achievements is how their performances avoided one of the most contentious issues of the time - that of the Welsh language. Against the backdrop of this political minefield, they managed to slip effortlessly from one language to the other without ever being accused of 'selling out'. Perhaps Ryan's sentiments toward the subject eloquently reflected their policy: Laughter sounds the same in both languages.
The highest tribute I can pay Ryan actually concerns this language issue. The countless people who said to me that they enjoyed watching his Welsh language output, yet could not understand a single word was quite remarkable. I find that very 'Chaplinesque' with the visual appreciation totally overcoming the lack of understanding of the language. I refer to this as a tribute because he was, in fact, a great fan of Charlie Chaplin and I am sure he would have been touched by such a comparison.
So why at this peak did this great Welsh comedy duo come to such an abrupt end? It was mid-week of their run at the Double Diamond and Ronnie had contacted us to set up an urgent meeting. And there over coffee in this vast, empty auditoria Ronnie delivered the devastating news to an unsuspecting Ryan. Yes, we had noticed that Ronnie was not looking well, but we had put that down to him taking full advantage of the alcoholic facilities at the Club that week. In fact, it had masked a more longer term illness which Ronnie had sought medical advice for that morning.
The specialist had diagnosed that Ronnie was suffering from a severe depressive illness and advised him to stop work that very day! This came as a shock to us all, but in fairness to Ronnie he implored the specialist to, at least, allow him to see the week out at the Club. And the following Saturday, the era of Ryan and Ronnie came to a sad end.
Sad, in several senses of the word, for a remarkable chapter in Welsh entertainment to be finished so abruptly; but on listening again to the personal recording I still have of that night, it is obvious that Ronnie was ill. The hallmark timing was no longer there and, at times, his general demeanour can best be described as rambling. These tell-tale symptoms were, in fact, going to continue throughout the rest of his life and ultimately take it. It was a fate which Ronnie did not deserve.
Their own version of 'My Way' had brought the curtain down on the career of Ryan and Ronnie. Ronnie walked away from the business altogether, but for Ryan it was the start of a total solo career ...and he had just 4 days to perfect this new act!
Michael Evans was Ryan's Personal Manager and is Secretary to the Ryan Davies Memorial Fund which, for 24 years, has been assisting young performers in Music & Drama.
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