Bertram Gutsell (February 10, 1887 - June 10, 1952), better known as Bertini, was a British dance band leader and composer.
Bertram Harry Gutsell was born in Southwark, London, England within the sound of Bow Bells in the Old Kent Road. His father, Charles, is recorded in the 1901 Census as a Hatter and his older brother, also Charles, an Engineer’s Draughtsman. Bert then 14 years of age was a ‘boy messenger’. His father was also Choirmaster at the local Baptist Church and led a small Band to accompany the Choir which included Bert’s Violinist brother. Bert borrowed his brother’s Violin and joined a ‘shilling a week’ Music Class, paid for by undertaking chores, becoming good enough to also join the Baptist Church Band – but not for long.
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| Royal Theatre, Bognor |
He ran away to escape from his apprenticeship as an ironmonger and ended up playing in a theatre in Ipswich. He led small bands on ships and cafes before becoming Musical Director of the Royal Theatre, Bognor in 1923. The following year he became the conductor for Archie Pitt’s touring show “A Week’s Pleasure”. The show included the Busby Boy’s Brass Band and Bert was put in charge of the youngsters. Over the next few years the band included many future stars of the Dance Band Era, including Nat Gonella and Freddy Wood.
They were in Blackpool in October 1927 when Bert was offered the leadership of the Blackpool Tower Band by the Musical Advisor, Frank Jepson, who suggested that the name Bertini would look good on posters and less Germanic than Gutsell. The band hardly changed personnel over the next nine years. They made their first records for Parlophone in 1929 and recorded for Piccadilly, Sterno, Broadcast and Regal Zonophone before a two-year contract with Crystalate’s 8 inch Eclipse label from mid 1933.
Bertini’s Eclipse recordings were made on monthly visits to London where they were expected to cut twelve sides at each session. Woolworths sold approximately ten million Eclipse records each year, which represented very good value at 6d (2 ½ p) each. They couples one hit tune of the day with a house number on the reverse to keep costs down. The vocalists used for recordings were the usual London-based singers of the day, such as Donald Peers. One of Bertini’s pianists, Jack Knowles, was the regular vocalist with the band when on their home territory but only sang on a handful of records.
It is possible that more people danced to Bertini than to any other band. His residency at the huge Blackpool Tower ballroom ran for almost ten years to a capacity audience of nearly 3000 dancers. In the 1930’s, Bertini’s band made broadcasts fairly regularly on regional and national radio. In 1936 the band was featured in the Mancunian Film “Dodging the Dole” with comedian Frank Randle. Bertini left the Tower in October 1936 but had to leave many of his musicians with Norman Newman who took over his place.
In November 1936 Bertini’s new band played in Liverpool and Manchester and over the next few years worked one nighters and occasional weeks including the Hackney Empire in October 1937. In April 1938 the band was back in Blackpool at the North Pier in “On with the Show”. Unfortunately, the venue was engulfed by fire and the band lost all their scores. The show moved to the Arcade at the pier entrance where the band had to play the parts from memory.
After the war Bertini was working on the north Wales coast until his death on 10th June 1952 just at the start of an engagement in Rhyl.
(Edited from liner noted from Charles Hippisley-Cox) (Some sources state that Bertini died in Edinburgh, Scotland)