Thursday, October 09, 2014

Queenie Watts on the Isle of Dogs



The BFI website describes Portrait of Queenie as a
Short on the music provided by the landlady in a dockland pub in London. The story of Queenie Watts, blues singer of the Ironbridge Tavern, East India Dock Road. Whilst she sings, flashbacks show where she and her husband, Slim, were born, not more than a mile apart and tell of their meeting at school, separation in the war and of Slim's long struggle to earn enough money to buy the Ironbridge Tavern. Some of the professional and part-time performers at the pub are seen entertaining the visitors, many of whom come from far afield.
I remember delivering on the Isle of Dogs in the days when the Liberals ran Tower Hamlets and I really liked the place. But that was before the rich moved in.

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