Weston-super-Mare

24^th April – 29^th April 1967

Appearance

Webbington Country Club – Loxton, near Weston-super-Mare

Jayne appearances at the Webbington Country Club followed those by a number of stars of the time. The club’s owner Alan Wells had booked many stars to appear there during the 1960s including Gene Pitney, Bob Monkhouse, and The Drifters. Jayne’s support acts for the dates were comedian Ken Wilson and an exotic dancer by the name of Jojo Jagoo. Interestingly it was also reported that a number of Irish fans had made the journey across to see Jayne having been denied the previous night following the cancellation of her Tralee date.

A good record of Jayne’s time at Webbington comes from another TV interview. Jayne handles herself well in a tough interview where her tour and reputation are put under the spotlight.

There is also grainy footage available on another interview clip which must have been recorded on Jayne’s first day at Webbington. She is asked about the controversy in Ireland the previous day so we can assume that the interview takes place when she has arrived back in England. The clip also features some rare footage of her performances during the tour, although it is impossible to tell which venue this was filmed in. This clip used to be available on YouTube but has been removed. If it reappears I will add it.

Additionally another interview is available from this time. Although no location is given, it is highly likely that this took place during Jayne’s run of shows at Webbington.

Although there aren’t many more details of Jayne’s performances at Webbington, once again scandal wasn’t far away, as newspapers reported a fight at an after-show party on Saturday 29^th April. Following Jayne’s last performance, Alan Wells had organised a party which according to newspaper reports was due to end at 2.00am to allow Jayne some rest before her trip to Leeds the following day. At 3.00am a reported scuffle broke out between Alan Wells and Sam Brody, with Brody insisting that Jayne needed to rest. Both Wells and Jayne denied this happened when interviewed by reporters the next day.

This was the end of Sam Brody’s stay in the UK as he caught a train from Bristol to London, and then flew back to the USA. Meanwhile Jayne, now accompanied by Alan Wells, flew from Bristol to Leeds on Sunday 30^th April.

In February 2022 I was lucky enough to be contacted by Vivienne, a long-time supporter of this site, who provided me with a private photo of Alan Wells with her mother when they dated in the 1970s.

Vivienne recalls ” I don’t know how mum met Alan but he was a well known businessman in the West Country as was my grandfather who knew Billy Smart and Billy Butlin and so it’s likely my grandfather knew Alan. Even as a child I was aware of Alan’s showbiz- like glamorous image which was unusual for the location and I am sure he dined out for years on the fact that he dated Jayne Mansfield!”

Here is Alan pictured with Vivienne’s mother Betsy Tucker.

Alan Wells and Betsy Tucker