Marilyn Monroe look-a-like Kathy Kirby, Pat Kirkwood and Eartha Kitt were the songbirds of Blackpool’s golden era

Best remembered is Kathy Kirby (1938-2011) the girl with the Marilyn Monroe look and the big band singer's style, from her early career with the Ambrose Band.

She came to fame in ITV's Stars and Garters in the early 1960s and a Blackpool season was clinched by her Top Five hit in 1963 with a cover of Doris Day's chart topper Secret Love, from the 1954 film Calamity Jane.

Kathy was signed to co-star with Frank Ifield in 1964, in the second summer season show at the Blackpool ABC.

Veteran bandleader Bert Ambrose managed her and was never far from her side. They returned to Blackpool in 1967, when Kathy starred for a season at the Winter Gardens Pavilion.

Ambrose died, aged 74, in June, 1971, just before Kathy starred a season at the resort's South Pier. Without her Svengali, the singer's career slipped.

Pat Kirkwood (1921-2007) appeared in Blackpool area theatres over a span of 35 years.

She was billed as Britain's Schoolgirl Songbird at the old Blackpool Palace for a week in April, 1937, and again in March, 1939.

That same year the songbird married a Blackpool theatre executive and was often seen in the resort's shows, including the pantomime Aladdin at the Opera House in 1941 and a three-week stint at the Grand in 1942 on a tour of the Cole Porter musical Let's Face It, with Bobby Howes.

Then she was the main supporting act in comedian Harry Korris's Happidrome of 1943, the summer show at the Grand Theatre.

For a while she toured variety theatres and topped a week's bill at Blackpool's Palace Theatre in July, 1952.

After marrying actor Hubert Gregg she starred with him in the Philip King comedy Pools Paradise at the Grand in November, 1960.

Pat returned to the Fylde area in July, 1972, in the comedy thriller A Chorus of Murder, at the Ashton, St Annes.

American cabaret star Eartha Kitt's career was boosted by the 1954 Hollywood showcase New Faces, which was screened at the old Blackpool Hippodrome.

Two years later we saw her in person in the Opera House Whit Sunday concerts, when a Gazette reviewer said she showed a mastery of timing and gestures in songs like Old Fashioned Millionaire and The Day the Circus Left Town.

Eartha Kitt (1927-2008) made another visit to the Opera House in November, 1962, starring in a charity concert.

She topped the bill of a televised Blackpool Night from the ABC Theatre in August, 1965, but I didn't meet the lady in person until 1968, when I was in the "press pack" meeting her at Vancouver airport prior to her week in cabaret.

Her last Blackpool visit was as guest star in a Bachelor concert at the Opera House in June, 1971, and she extended her career by sending herself up in UK panto.

If needed.....

Next week: Comedy night with the Krankies and 1940s star Harry Korris.