Saveen

Albert Saveen (born Albert Edward Langford; 27 May 1914 – 14 April 1994), usually credited mononymously as Saveen, was a British ventriloquist who, with his puppet character Daisy May, was the first to have a national radio series on the BBC Light Programme.[1]

Albert Saveen
Born
Albert Edward Langford

(1914-05-27)27 May 1914
Southwark, London, England
Died14 April 1994(1994-04-14) (aged 79)
Worcester Park, Surrey, England
OccupationVentriloquist
Years active1940s–1980s

Biography

Born in Southwark, London, he worked for a printing company before being injured in a bomb explosion in the Second World War. While recuperating, and exercising using only one lung at a time, he developed a ventriloquism technique that produced a girlish voice, with which he entertained his fellow troops. He made a tiny wooden schoolgirl dummy, Daisy May, and was discovered by impresario Val Parnell.[2]

He made his first BBC radio appearance in 1945, and in 1950 had his own regular show, Midday with Daisy May. He also made frequent appearances on television in the 1950s and 1960s. He used 14 different puppet characters in all, including a cockney boy dummy "Andy the Spiv", and incorporated into his act two dogs (one dummy and one real). The puppet dog used to say "Drop Dead!" in a very droll posh voice whenever Saveen spoke to him.[2] At the end of the act, the puppets would be packed into a suitcase, and appeared to be heard arguing with each other as Saveen left the stage.[3]

The act was often billed as "Daisy May assisted by Saveen". Daisy May had her own bank account and telephone number. Roy Hudd wrote that, on one occasion, he rang to speak to Saveen; "Daisy May" answered the phone and insisted that Hudd could not speak to Saveen, but that she would pass a message on for him to ring Hudd back.[4]

Saveen later became a theatrical agent. He died in Worcester Park, Surrey, in 1994, aged 79.[4]

"Daisy May" is identified as the origin of Royal Navy slang "Daisy" for a sailor named May.[5]

References
  1. Street, Seán (21 April 2015). Historical Dictionary of British Radio. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781442249233 – via Google Books.
  2. Claire Lark, "Ventriloquists and the art of saying it without moving your lips", The Gazette, 22 October 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020
  3. "Daisy May assisted by Saveen", Whirligig. Retrieved 31 December 2020
  4. Roy Hudd and Philip Hindin, Roy Hudd's Cavalcade of Variety Acts, Robson Books, 1998, ISBN 1-86105-206-5, pp.162-163
  5. Andy Greenwood, "Navy nicknames: What’s yours and where did it come from?", Plymouth Herald, 24 August 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2020


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