The Beat Room

The Beat Girls were choreographed by Gary Cockrell and co-managed by Cockrell and Valerie Hyman. They are most famous today for providing most of the dancers who formed Pan's People though most joined after the Beat Room period. They were based out of the Dance Centre.

The line-up from July to October 1964 was:

• Ann Chapman
• Babs Lord
• Jo Cook
• Jenny Ferle
• Lynn Wolseley
• Ruth Pearson

This line-up is seen on the remaining publicly available footage of the Beat Girls on the Beat Room performing to Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On[6]

They also appeared in the film Gonks Go Beat.[7]

Jo Cook's period in the group ended in October 1964 due to an allegation of already being under contract; however by the following month she had formed the Go-Jos for Top of the Pops, winning the work ahead of the Beat Girls.[8] Carlotta Barrow replaced her as a regular member having already done some performances in the group.[9]

Performing on the weekly Gadzooks shows with the later Beat Room line-up.

The Beat Girls (1966), from left, Dee Dee Wilde, Lorelly Harris, Babs Lord, Diane South, Flick Colby, Penny Fergusson

The Gadzooks programmes finished in August 1965, and the group ceased to appear on a regular UK music programme. Carlotta Barrow quit the group to appear in films and then film set design.

In October 1965, the Beat Girls start appearing on a new Dutch AVRO show, Moef Ga Ga.[10]

In early 1966, several of the original dancers quit. Ann Chapman first went into films and later joined the Dougie Squires' Young Generation, following him into the Second Generation. Ruth Pearson, Lyn Wolseley and Jenny Ferne left and formed a new group, Tomorrow's People which, as well as working in the UK, appeared on Aaah-Dele in the Netherlands.

Several new dancers joined. Flick Colby joined in January 1966, followed by Dee Dee Wilde in March, and Lorelly Harris and Penny Fergusson in May.

The lineup by mid-1966 was:

• Flick Colby
• Diane South
• Dee Dee Wilde
• Lorelly Harris
• Penny Fergusson
• Babs Lord

An AVRO Dutch programme, 'Felicity', based around Flick Colby was made in May[11] and shown on 6 September 1966. This was an entrant to the Munich film festival.[12]

The appeared on the ATV Dickie Valentine show in July–August 1966.[13] Lesley Judd also appeared in this programme.

However the Dutch performances led to a dispute over wages and allowances for the UK-based dancers, and in December 1966, all the dancers except South quit, forming Pan's People.

April 1968: Manfred Mann with the Beat Girls on Moef Ga Ga.[14]

Following the walk-out of the now Pan's People dancers, six Dutch dancers are recruited in open auditions, and with Diane South as both dancer and choreographer, the group continued to appear on Dutch TV shows.[15]

The original lineup in January 1967 was:[16]

• Anke Luthart
• Hannah de Leeuwe
• Elsa Voelker
• Rita Gardeslen
• Rosa Ebbeling
• Linda Kraay
• Diane South

In January 68 Penney de Jager joined the group.

January 1968: Penney de Jager speaking to choreographer and fellow dancer Diane South (far left) in the Beat Girls with group The Honest Men on Moef Ga Ga.

Moef Ga Ga ended in May 1968, to be succeeded by Toppop with Penney de Jager as choreographer. The Dutch Beat Girls also ended with Moef Ga Ga.

A different UK-based line up, with Diane South also appearing, occasionally did performances including a BBC show with Jimmy Tarbuck[17] and with Bob Monkhouse.[18] The Bob Monkhouse performers were:

• Mandy Rawlings
• Diane South
• Alison Minto
• Maggie Vincent