Double Acts

Christopher Biggins celebrates the English sister-double act of Elsie and Doris Waters, better known by their character names of Gert and Daisy.

Elsie and Doris Waters were born within the sound of Bow Bells at the turn of the last century. Elsie was the elder by ten years and their brother Jack became the famous actor Jack Warner of Dixon Of Dock Green fame. Their family was musical, and as young girls they got their first engagements in concert parties and music hall, coming up with the idea of Gert And Daisy in 1930.

This was a new kind of comedy; observational 'over the garden wall' gossiping, based on everyday life, their neighbours and their fictional other halves, Bert and Wally. The sisters moved onto BBC Radio, becoming regulars on Workers Playtime.

During World War II, they made three films together: Gert And Daisy's Week-end (1942), Gert And Daisy Clean Up (1942) and It's In The Bag (1944). They toured with Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) entertaining the troops in India and the Far East, and back home they were enlisted by the Ministry of Food and appeared regularly on BBC Radio's Kitchen Front, giving advice on how to make the best of the daily food rations, including recipes for such gastronomic delights as Woolton Pie and Christmas Murkey!

Elsie and Doris kept Gert And Daisy gossiping and singing on radio, TV and live shows until Doris passed away in 1978, followed by Elsie in 1990 at the grand age of 97. They were trailblazers for British female comedians, being one of the first highly successful female double acts who wrote their own material and songs.