In loving memory of Jackie Toaduff
Jackie Toaduff
1933-2023
Jackie resided within The Chantry Hotel for over 50 years and was always happy to meet customers old and new. He is dearly missed by all at The Chantry, his friends, and local residents. His memory lives on within The Chantry and his book, written in 2009. You can read all about Jackie's life in showbiz in his autobiography, Coaldust to Stardust, available second-hand and on online platforms.
See the Gallery tab for more pictures of his amazing life.
Coaldust to Stardust Forewords
My father danced on a table, a chair, a piano, a bar top and on the ceiling but he never danced on a barrel. How I wish he could have seen Jackie Toaduff do so on a moving ship! Daddy would have loved it. A story of hope and determination, it is also heartwarming and highly entertaining and I'm sure you will enjoy this voyage with Jackie Toaduff as much as I have.
Ava Astaire McKenzie
Jackie's true story for working in the coal mines for 13 years while clog dancing every chance he could, is truely magical. 'Billy Elliott' pales in comparison. It is the ultimate feel-good story and will inspire a whole new generation of struggling artists who might have never dreamt that they could escape their small towns and have their dreams come true.
Rick McKay, Producer/Director: "Broadway: The Golden Age"
During my years at MGM I was privileged to know many of the great singers and dancers of the day from when Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly to Mario Lanza and Jimmy Durante. When I first saw Jackie perform I felt that he would have been right at home with these other great entertainers. Jackie's fabulous collection of stories and reminiscences of his life and career, from coalminer to headliner, enchants and fascinates.
Margaret O'Brien, Academy Award-winning Actress.
Coaldust to Stardust Synopsis
Throughout my long career I have had the pleasure of performing to, working with and befriending some of the biggest names in showbiz, politics, television, film stars and royalty. The autobiography bears witness to the full and interesting life I have enjoyed. It contains a fund of humorous anecdotes, as diverse as discovering that I was sitting on Veronica Lake's ashes - to being entertained in the sumptuous palace of the Sheikh of Bahrain, while I was wearing only swimming trunks. There are chapters on my friendship with Ruby Keeler, Ginger Rogers (who asked me to marry her) the American singer Margaret Whiting (who also proposed marriage), Margaret O'Brien, Margot Fonteyn and Jane Russell, with whom I worked in Australia. Tales of my encounters with Princess Margaret, Merle Oberon, Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich, James Cagney, Dr. Christian Barnard, the Sultan of Salangor, Archbishop Makarios and a whole host of other movie stars, celebrities and dignitaries are also included.
The autobiography begins in the 1930's, in the mining village of South Moor in Stanley, County Durham, where I spent my formative years. Although I worked for eleven years as a miner, my over-riding dream was to entertain professionally. However, because this went against family tradition, I met with tremendous opposition during my childhood and young working life. In spite of this, I was determined to fulfil my ambition.
At the same time as working in the mines, I was becoming well known in tap-dancing and clog-dancing circles and made seventeen solo appearances at the Royal Albert Hall; I also became British Clog-Dancing Champion. When Princess Margaret asked me to dance with her on two separate occasions, the events received front-page national and international newspaper coverage.
In my early twenties, I won a talent competition, which eventually enabled me to leave the pit and become part of a double act, entertaining in theatres and clubs worldwide. My partner and I enjoyed considerable success onstage and were asked by the War Office to headline several shows abroad for the Combined Services. We were later invited to work for two weeks on the QE2 - an engagement that immediately led to twenty years of entertaining with our own shows on the QE2 and other prestigious liners.
The autobiography will keep you captivated with tales of intrigue, suspense and mystery as well as a heart warming story about a boys dreams becoming reality through hard work, determination and a passion for singing, dancing and entertaining. There are murder mysteries, humorous tales, and whirlwind romances with proposed marriages and fights breaking out over me, from the biggest names on the Silver Screen, Ginger Rogers and Ruby Keeler. Stories of how Patrice Munsell ended up performing on stage wearing my clothes after her luggage was lost and many more captivating tales that you will have to read about in my book.
My story ends at the Chantry Hotel, which my stage partner and I bought when we were entertaining on the cruise ships and where we now enjoy a busy retirement.
Show Reviews
Allan Cole - Show Review in the "Bermuda Sun" - They held an audience of mainly Americans in the palms of their hands, jinked them around like dice and then rolled them out for a jackpot of TWO STANDING OVATIONS. That was the experience of the Toaduffs at the Bermudiana’s ‘Talk of the Town'.
Ivan Clifford - Show Review in the "Bermuda Mid Ocean News" - Hats off to the Toaduffs. They seem to have the ability to bring the audience into the act without even asking them to participate. Hand clapping, foot tapping, laughter, nostalgia – they’re all there if you look around the nightclub tables. This is Real Entertainment. After Jackie does his famous clog dance on top of a small table (If it had been in a movie, you would swear the film had been speeded up), Roy brings the house down with his hilariously exaggerated imitation of Elvis Presley singing ‘Such a Night’. Here is a show no one should miss. Already they ARE the Talk of the Town!
Peter Hepple - Show Review in "The Stage" - Out at The Barn in Braintree last week-end, where apparently the whole of metropolitan Essex congregate to judge by the volume of business, occurred a raiding foray into the Home Counties by that remarkable Northern act, Roy and Jackie Toaduff. Why remarkable? One reason is that they are better known in Australia and South Africa than they are in London. Another is that they have the enviable ability to create an instant party atmosphere, based not so much on what they do but how they do it. The act has immense heart, vitality, gaiety and magnetic professionalism. It’s one of the best acts I’ve ever seen and London doesn’t know what it’s missing.
Gus Dana - Show Review in "The Sun Reporter" - The Singapore crowd gave Roy and Jackie Toaduff not one but six standing ovations and would not let them off the stage - and they deserved it too. They have a rare unity on stage, aided by the deliberate use of only one mike, which forces them to stay together even when they are gliding around the stage.
The Stage Magazine - Show Review in "The Stage" - Roy and Jackie Toaduff were an immaculate act in appearance and performance. The Dorchester audience just would not let them go.
Pictured: Jackie, Ginger Rogers, and Roy.
Roy and Jackie with their stage crew, the Erwing Davies Dancers.