I awoke on Saturday to the sad news that our very dear friend Eric had passed away. Strangely, he had been on my mind as I lay in bed the night before and I intended to write to him in the morning. I had no idea that he had taken ill four days earlier and been admitted to the Royal Free Hospital, where he stayed until peacefully heading off on his final adventure.
I first met Eric on August 3rd, 1997 when I interviewed him for a Bela Lugosi biography I was working on with my friendFrank Dello Stritto called Vampire Over London: Bela Lugosi in Britain. Eric had the distinction of being the last actor to play the role of Renfield opposite Lugosi during the 1951 UK revival tour of the stage play of Dracula. They toured the length and breadth of the UK together for six months, during which time Eric received rave reviews. While researching the book, I had no idea which, if any, of the cast of Dracula were still alive or where they were, so I started a letter-writing campaign to try to track them down. One day I answered the phone and a voice said, “My name is Eric Lindsay. I understand you are wondering if I am alive or dead. I am happy to inform you that I am very much alive.” Once I had convinced Eric that I wasn’t a lunatic, we arranged to meet for an interview. I travelled down to London from my home in Bath to meet him in his flat, where he very kindly and patiently answered my many questions for a whole afternoon. He became so energized that he frantically paced the room acting out the scenes from his life. It was a magical private one-man show. At the time, I had no idea that it was the beginning of a friendship that would last for over 23 years.
After the interview, Eric would phone me almost every week to have a chat about the progress of the book and life in general. When I moved to Japan and he to Thailand, we kept in touch by letter and email. Although he had not met them at that point, he never failed to send birthday cards to my son and my wife. My son especially looked forward to the Christmas cards Eric sent to him every year.
I forget exactly when it was, but there came a time in the 2000s when the effervescent Eric that I knew appeared to evaporate. He became very frustrated with the inactivity of his life and the growing limitations imposed by age. By then fully retired, he simply didn’t have anything to keep that wonderfully creative mind of his occupied. I suggested writinghis life story, but he dismissed the idea. He said he didn’t have the ability to write and that no one would be interested in reading about “an old fart like me!” Undeterred, I persisted in trying to persuade him to put all of those marvelous adventures down on paper, but Eric wasn’t having any of it! Then, out of the blue, he came up with the idea of us writing a vampire novel together – he would write whatever came into his head and I could tart it up. As you can imagine with Eric, his idea for “The Reluctant Vampire” wasn’t for some flowery gothic tale, but something “a little pornographic and dirty” set in the coffee bars of Soho. We spent some time throwing ideas back and forth until Eric wrote the first couple of pages. It might have been wonderful, but the project ground to a halt right there because while we had been discussing ideas for the novel I had continued to pester Eric into recording his many adventures. He didn’t have the patience to write his biography, so I suggested blogging as the perfect medium for him to write about his life whenever he felt like it. Again he repeatedly rebuffed my efforts. He had mastered email, but blogging was a step too far.
Being ever bit as stubborn as Eric, I was determined to get him to set down his memories. So I offered to set the blog up for him and keep it going until he no longer needed my help. I think more to shut me up than anything else, he eventually agreed and we finally got this wonderful blog up and running in 2012. Despite his initial skepticism, Eric soon became a passionate blogger, leaving the idea of the novel to fade away. It was really rewarding to see how much pleasure the blog gave him, not only in sharing his priceless memories, but also in how it helped to reconnect him with so many friends from throughout his life.
I last saw Eric in October 2016 when he visited Tokyo. Despite the many things to see and do in Tokyo, he didn’t do any sightseeing. He just wanted to spend the time with my family, especially as his visit coincided with my son’s 14th birthday. We had an all too brief, but wonderful time with him. After he moved back to England and settled into life as a resident of the Charterhouse, Eric was enthusiastic about showing me around his new home when I was next in England. I would dearly have loved to have had the opportunity to see him one last time, but fate conspired against us.
Although deeply saddened by Eric’s passing, I am consoled that during his final years at The Charterhouse he seemed to find a contentment which had perhaps been missing since the loss of his beloved partner Ray Jackson in 1989. Eric didn’t realise his wish of passing away on October 25th, the date Ray passed away, but they are finally reunited.
Throughout the highs and lows of his life, Eric achieved so much, but I think that his greatest achievement was to simply be a wonderful human being. He enriched the lives of so many people, earning in return their fierce loyalty. He will truly be missed by us all. Happy trails, Eric!
I decided to see “Young Frankenstein” before it closed because I was enamored with the film, which I saw four times, and I think that Mel Brooks is a genius, a brilliant comic, a great writer, and a very clever film director. All that in just one small package which spells ‘MEL BROOKS’!
Mel Brooks
Well I should have saved my money. The best thing about the Show was the Curtain.
Nimax Theatres Ltd., I believe, is the company that owns the Garrick Theatre.
The Garrick Theatre
Instead of acquiring another theatre, as they seem to do like like a baby octopus, they should spend some of their shekels on cleaning up and refurbishing the Garrick Theatre. It is a disgrace! When you sit in the dress circle you expect the seats to be comfortable. Not at the Garrick! The padding has practically worn down to the wood, and those that are in a fairly good condition are even worse, because you can finish up with a spring hallway up your arse!
Last year when I saw Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon in “The Painkiller” at the Garrick, I sat in the dress circle, maybe it could have been the same seat, and finished up with arse ache! That was a ‘Real Painkiller’ and how appropriate! What a pun that is!
Well, things haven’t improved!
The usherettes stand at the doorway chewing gum and selling programmes, and they do not move. They’re busy talking! and talking! and talking! I think it was about the boys make-up! They are not interested in showing you to your seat. I was told ‘Row D, Centre!’ by he or she or it. I didn’t know what it was! All I do know is that usherettes are supposed to usher, move their arses, and take you to your seat. Not stand in the entrance talking and chewing and looking very bored. No wonder the show is coming off! Most probably they are in the same quandary as the audience because they also don’t know where the rows are. I entered the theatre and couldn’t see a bloody thing! Remember I’m 88, no spring chicken! After stumbling around I found Row D. The aisles and quite a few seats are not numbered. Just a few have faded numbers. So you finish up counting from a number you can see to find your seat.
Nimax Theatres Ltd.,do the bloody theatre up!!!
‘This is a fine start to my evening’s enjoyment’, I thought.
The Show itself was not good or really that funny. It was more like a No.1 touring version of the original West End production. In fact, I’ve seen better in the provinces. All I could think was that when Mel Brooks saw it, he quickly collected his money and caught the next plane back to the U.S.A. Very wise!
They were the best of the bunch, and even they seemed to be tired!
I was so disappointed with the show that I left at the Interval.
I don’t blame the cast or the production. If the seats would have been comfortable and the usherettes would have done their job, maybe I would have seen the whole show from a different prospective
But I have to blame the two usherettes and Nimax Theatres Ltd., who started it all, and got me really pissed off, and put me into such a bad mood!!! What a disaster!!!
I haven’t talked much about the show, because truthfully there was nothing really much of importance to talk about.
NOW “42nd. Street” at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. WOW!
That’s, what you call a Show!
I went from the ridiculous to the sublime! The show and the cast are fantastic! You just cannot fault it.
With a cast of over 50, it is a gem and should run for years.
I couldn’t believe that this was the same theatre that I played in when I was ‘ZEE and CO.” with Cannon and Ball when we made the T.V. Special so many, many, many years ago.
Lulu was excellent, you couldn’t fault her.
I left the Theatre a very, very, very happy bunny! That is what Show Business is all about! Great Theatre! Wonderful memories of when I was working there. and seeing a wonderfully spectacular show.
This is how I met Andi Brooks and how my Blog began.
MR. ANDI BROOKS
Andi and me having coffee in Tokyo
Around the time of 1996 my Agent Jamie Phillips of Trends Management told me that an advertisement kept appearing in the Stage Newspaper looking for me, or asking maybe if I was alive or dead? No such luck, I was still alive and kicking!
As I had time to spare and no one to talk to, I telephoned to the gentleman who placed the advertisement. His name was Andi Brooks who lived in Bath. That is how we met. He came to London and interviewed me in August 1997 for his future book that he was co-author with Frank Dello Stritto called “Vampire Over London” the whole interview is somewhere on my Blog. Through that interview Andi and I became friends and kept in touch with one another even after the book was published in 2000, and what a beautiful book it is too.
All this time I would talk to him about various things that had happened to me and he was forever telling me that I should write about it. But I kept explaining to Andi that Ray when he was alive was the writer. I never wrote anything. Ray would write to my parents, write all our business letters, and sign important papers. He got it down to a fine art, he could even do my signature on cheques,(which I had no problem with) until one day the bank manager called me into his office to say that my signature on our joint bank account seemed to have changed. So I explained that I had sprained my wrist and found it difficult to write properly. I told Ray that when he wrote my name he had to take his time with it and that a scrawl just didn’t work. I couldn’t keep on going back to the bank manager with excuses. That was the trust we had in one another. I trusted him completely. So when Andi suggested that I should start a Blog it took a great deal of persuading and convincing on his part over many, many years for me to even contemplate it.
In the year of the millennium 2000 by chance I was appearing in “Aladdin” at the Theatre Royal, Brighton and had the pleasure of meeting Frank Dello Stritto and his wife, who came to a matinée of the Show, before they left for America for good and also arrange the publication of their book “Vampire Over London”. So strange because it was at the Theatre Royal, Brighton that “Dracula” opened in 1951 and the whole story started. This intrigued Frank completely, to believe that he was actually in the same Theatre.
“Vampire Over London” was an enormous success and has now gone into it’s 2nd. printing. The publication is such excellent quality.
Well over the years Andi and I kept in touch, he told me that he had married a Japanese student named Kyoko and later they went off to live in Tokyo, Japan. All this time we kept in touch, and he was forever urging me to write a Blog about what I had done over the years. He explained that he would set it up for me with WordPress.com and do all my editing in fact the whole caboodle. In fact he has been faithful to his word and encouraged me 100% to write. I didn’t think I could do it, and I wasn’t sure that what I had to say would interest anybody. But the proof is in the pudding and “ericlindsay.wordpress.com” came into being in 2012 and by some miracle it seems to be a success. I don’t understand why because really I can’t write, at least that’s what I tell myself, so it’s all thanks to Andi Brooks. Bless him!
Meeting up with Andi and Kyoko in the Coffee Shop in Tokyo.
On the 7th of October 2016 I flew into Tokyo and met up with Andi, who I hadn’t seen since our first meeting in London in August 1997. Twenty years is a long time and we had plenty to talk about and we did non-stop. Later, Kyoko joined us and I had the pleasure of meeting her for the first time, and what a charming lady she is. Andi had done himself proud. To think of the young man who had interviewed me so many years back and now here he was with a full family.
What an amazing place Tokyo is, and I had two whole days to be with Andi and his family and talk. They also showed me part of Korean Town which was in the area of my hotel.
I was lucky enough to see a Geisha on the street.
Yui Brooks.
During the time that Andi has been living in Tokyo he has been blessed with a handsome son called Yui who is now 14yrs.old. Yui is a budding artist, and drew a quickie for me on my visit. I look a little beaten up, but it’s a great souvenir. He travels everywhere with his pencil and pad.
The top one certainly gives me a beaten up look.
Whilst I was there it was his birthday so I sent him a card in English.
YUI with his Birthday Card
Yui, me, Andi and Kyoko at Dinner.
Yui travels everywhere with his pencil and pad. He even took it with him when we had dinner together in a typical Japanese Restaurant.
Kyoko and Yui seeing my off at my Hotel.
Whilst I was there it was Yui’s Birthday, so I managed to find a card in English. The few days that I was in Tokyo I did no sight seeing whatsoever. I was just happy to spend all my time with Andi and his family. The happiness he has given me with my little Blog is amazing.
I have so much to thank him for, he has really given me a reason for carrying on.
YUI, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ONE YEAR LATER (a new photo which I have just received)
The truth about a show that some said was a flop, yet it ran for 24 weeks.
Bela Lugosi’s 1951 British revival tour of Dracula was written-off as a complete disater, supposedly closing after a few disasterous performances, by Lugosi “historians” for 50 years until my friend Andi Brooks published the true story in “Vampire Over England: Bela Lugosi in Britain.” The play toured for 24 weeks and received many rave reviews. I should know because I played Renfield opposite Bela Lugosi throughout the tour.
Around 1998 my agent contacted me to tell me that there was an Advertisement in the “Stage” paper. Someone was looking for me. By this time I was “Zee” and not a lot of people knew where Eric Lindsay was.
That is how I came to meet Andi Brooks, who has over the years become my very good and trusted friend. He was living in Bath, and he told me that he would come up to London to interview me for his up and coming book on Bela Lugosi which he was calling “Vampire over London.”
Andi interviewed me again earlier this year. This time we talked about my whole life and career.
I hope you enjoy his interview which you can read here:
ericlindsay 
Mel Brooks and his London Stage Version of “Young Frankenstein”.
I decided to see “Young Frankenstein” before it closed because I was enamored with the film, which I saw four times, and I think that Mel Brooks is a genius, a brilliant comic, a great writer, and a very clever film director. All that in just one small package which spells ‘MEL BROOKS’!
Mel Brooks
Well I should have saved my money. The best thing about the Show was the Curtain.
Nimax Theatres Ltd., I believe, is the company that owns the Garrick Theatre.
The Garrick Theatre
Instead of acquiring another theatre, as they seem to do like like a baby octopus, they should spend some of their shekels on cleaning up and refurbishing the Garrick Theatre. It is a disgrace! When you sit in the dress circle you expect the seats to be comfortable. Not at the Garrick! The padding has practically worn down to the wood, and those that are in a fairly good condition are even worse, because you can finish up with a spring hallway up your arse!
Last year when I saw Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon in “The Painkiller” at the Garrick, I sat in the dress circle, maybe it could have been the same seat, and finished up with arse ache! That was a ‘Real Painkiller’ and how appropriate! What a pun that is!
Well, things haven’t improved!
The usherettes stand at the doorway chewing gum and selling programmes, and they do not move. They’re busy talking! and talking! and talking! I think it was about the boys make-up! They are not interested in showing you to your seat. I was told ‘Row D, Centre!’ by he or she or it. I didn’t know what it was! All I do know is that usherettes are supposed to usher, move their arses, and take you to your seat. Not stand in the entrance talking and chewing and looking very bored. No wonder the show is coming off! Most probably they are in the same quandary as the audience because they also don’t know where the rows are. I entered the theatre and couldn’t see a bloody thing! Remember I’m 88, no spring chicken! After stumbling around I found Row D. The aisles and quite a few seats are not numbered. Just a few have faded numbers. So you finish up counting from a number you can see to find your seat.
Nimax Theatres Ltd., do the bloody theatre up!!!
‘This is a fine start to my evening’s enjoyment’, I thought.
The Show itself was not good or really that funny. It was more like a No.1 touring version of the original West End production. In fact, I’ve seen better in the provinces. All I could think was that when Mel Brooks saw it, he quickly collected his money and caught the next plane back to the U.S.A. Very wise!
I was so disappointed with the show that I left at the Interval.
I don’t blame the cast or the production. If the seats would have been comfortable and the usherettes would have done their job, maybe I would have seen the whole show from a different prospective
But I have to blame the two usherettes and Nimax Theatres Ltd., who started it all, and got me really pissed off, and put me into such a bad mood!!! What a disaster!!!
I haven’t talked much about the show, because truthfully there was nothing really much of importance to talk about.
NOW “42nd. Street” at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. WOW!
That’s, what you call a Show!
I went from the ridiculous to the sublime! The show and the cast are fantastic! You just cannot fault it.
With a cast of over 50, it is a gem and should run for years.
I couldn’t believe that this was the same theatre that I played in when I was ‘ZEE and CO.” with Cannon and Ball when we made the T.V. Special so many, many, many years ago.
Lulu was excellent, you couldn’t fault her.
I left the Theatre a very, very, very happy bunny! That is what Show Business is all about! Great Theatre! Wonderful memories of when I was working there. and seeing a wonderfully spectacular show.
Posted by scorpio13th on October 5, 2018 in 42nd. Street, Garrick Theatre, Joe Castle, Lulu, Mel Brooks, Nimax Theatres Ltd., Uncategorized, Young Frankenstein, Zee & Co
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