Hugh McLauchlan(1917-2006)
- Camera and Electrical Department
Hugh McLauchlan, the male half of the adagio-dance twosome Babette and
Raoul, starred with his wife on stage and on TV. Their stylish
snake-charming act was much in demand by bookers around the world in
the fifties and early sixties.
Born December 2, 1917, he studied at Hamilton Academy, where he lit drama and music shows at the school. When he left, his first job was as an electrical engineer. Always acrobatic, as a youth he would also limber up on the banks of the Clyde in Scotland to build his strength.
Were it not for a wartime injury, the act which made Babette and Raoul a favourite with audiences worldwide might never have been created. McLauchlan was serving as an officer in the North African campaign when he was hit by an exploding shell, causing a crushed spine and shrapnel wounds. As he lay in his hospital bed, a snake-charmer who came to entertain the wounded gave the young Captain the idea for a new-style adagio-dance act with his wife, titled Jungle Fantasy.
Babette - who had been a dancing babe in church concerts and was one of the last to perform in the Glasgow music-hall, the Panopticon - became a writhing, wriggling snake, dramatically illuminated by ultra-violet lighting on a darkened stage. A suspended wire dropped her downwards, head foremost, to give the impression of a snake winding off a tree, with Hugh as the charmer, Raoul, playing the flute to recorded Eastern music. They went on to win lucrative bookings in major nightspots from Buenos Aires to Saigon and from the Folies Bergere in Paris to the Moss Empires circuit in Britain.
Diners in India's magnificent hotels enthused at the act's frightening realism and colourful costumes. Those who came to see it were prominent Indians such as the Maharajah of Jaipur and president Pandit Nehru.
Their 13-year success was broken on January 13 , 1961, when Babette, in pantomime at Bournemouth, slipped on stage and severed the Achilles tendon of her right heel. The couple retired from stage work, she to open a baby-linen business, he to return to electrics as a lighting director at Scottish TV, lighting shows featuring many of his former theatrical friends.
Also internationally known as a begonia grower, winning trophies and honours galore, McLauchlan was a former president of the flourishing Scottish Begonia Society after ten years as its vice-president, an intriguing adjunct to his varied interests.
Two years ago McLauchlan won audience applause in the USA, proving a star export from Scotland as a featured speaker, resplendent in the kilt, and screening well-produced slides of prize begonias at the American Begonia Society's mammoth convention in San Diego, attended by plant and flower growers from coast to coast.
His wife Betty died five years ago and in her memory he named a delicate pink tuberous Mrs Elizabeth McLauchlan. Another beautiful flower he titled The Sandra McLauchlan, in memory of his daughter Sandra, an air stewardess who sadly died of cancer at 46 and who, as a young girl, joined her parents on stage in their early theatre act.
A man of many parts, McLauchlan was still highly active in his late eighties and hoping to renew links with fellow begonia enthusiasts in America in March. His love of gardening was intense but this did not detract from his lifelong affection for live theatre and the buzz of the new television world in which he had latterly worked, both as a performer and a lighting technician. Known in show-business as Raoul, husband and partner of Babette, he had latterly, in retirement, edited his many colour slides of showbiz days and nights and was screening them in anecdote-filled talks to leisure and senior citizen groups.
McLauchlan died on January 5, aged 88, after a short illness.
This obituary was written by Gordon Irving in The Stage.co.uk on Monday, January 16, 2006
Born December 2, 1917, he studied at Hamilton Academy, where he lit drama and music shows at the school. When he left, his first job was as an electrical engineer. Always acrobatic, as a youth he would also limber up on the banks of the Clyde in Scotland to build his strength.
Were it not for a wartime injury, the act which made Babette and Raoul a favourite with audiences worldwide might never have been created. McLauchlan was serving as an officer in the North African campaign when he was hit by an exploding shell, causing a crushed spine and shrapnel wounds. As he lay in his hospital bed, a snake-charmer who came to entertain the wounded gave the young Captain the idea for a new-style adagio-dance act with his wife, titled Jungle Fantasy.
Babette - who had been a dancing babe in church concerts and was one of the last to perform in the Glasgow music-hall, the Panopticon - became a writhing, wriggling snake, dramatically illuminated by ultra-violet lighting on a darkened stage. A suspended wire dropped her downwards, head foremost, to give the impression of a snake winding off a tree, with Hugh as the charmer, Raoul, playing the flute to recorded Eastern music. They went on to win lucrative bookings in major nightspots from Buenos Aires to Saigon and from the Folies Bergere in Paris to the Moss Empires circuit in Britain.
Diners in India's magnificent hotels enthused at the act's frightening realism and colourful costumes. Those who came to see it were prominent Indians such as the Maharajah of Jaipur and president Pandit Nehru.
Their 13-year success was broken on January 13 , 1961, when Babette, in pantomime at Bournemouth, slipped on stage and severed the Achilles tendon of her right heel. The couple retired from stage work, she to open a baby-linen business, he to return to electrics as a lighting director at Scottish TV, lighting shows featuring many of his former theatrical friends.
Also internationally known as a begonia grower, winning trophies and honours galore, McLauchlan was a former president of the flourishing Scottish Begonia Society after ten years as its vice-president, an intriguing adjunct to his varied interests.
Two years ago McLauchlan won audience applause in the USA, proving a star export from Scotland as a featured speaker, resplendent in the kilt, and screening well-produced slides of prize begonias at the American Begonia Society's mammoth convention in San Diego, attended by plant and flower growers from coast to coast.
His wife Betty died five years ago and in her memory he named a delicate pink tuberous Mrs Elizabeth McLauchlan. Another beautiful flower he titled The Sandra McLauchlan, in memory of his daughter Sandra, an air stewardess who sadly died of cancer at 46 and who, as a young girl, joined her parents on stage in their early theatre act.
A man of many parts, McLauchlan was still highly active in his late eighties and hoping to renew links with fellow begonia enthusiasts in America in March. His love of gardening was intense but this did not detract from his lifelong affection for live theatre and the buzz of the new television world in which he had latterly worked, both as a performer and a lighting technician. Known in show-business as Raoul, husband and partner of Babette, he had latterly, in retirement, edited his many colour slides of showbiz days and nights and was screening them in anecdote-filled talks to leisure and senior citizen groups.
McLauchlan died on January 5, aged 88, after a short illness.
This obituary was written by Gordon Irving in The Stage.co.uk on Monday, January 16, 2006