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| Recollections from Jimmy's son |
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Jimmy Mesene's only son, James Messini, contacted us in August, 2007 after coming across the website for the first time. He has sent a number of e-mails that have meant that large sections of the biography page have had to be re-written. The essence of these e-mails is shown below: Greetings! My name is Jimmy Messini, born March 13th, 1933 in Cambois, Bedlington Urban District, Northumberland. I live in Australia near Melbourne. Jimmy Messini (Mesene) was my father and Al Bowlly was my godfather. My dad was of Greek descent, born in Cardiff, Wales where his father John was a ship's chandler. My dad's birth name was Dmitri Messinis. When he was about fifteen years old, his father sent to Greece to learn the ship trade. His mother and two sisters Hytho and Penelope, (aka Poppy), remained in Cardiff. During the Great Depression my grandfather went broke and committed suicide. My dad, who was always keen on music and was a genius on guitar, became a professional musician. His juvenile pet name was Dimi, (taken from Dmitri), so that became Jimmy and he dropped the 's' from his surname as that sounded better as a stage name. During World War 2 he thought the name Messini sounded Italian, (Italy was then the enemy), so he changed it to Mesene . I don't think any of this was done legally - he just changed the name for professional purposes. He met my mother, Emily Isobel Gilbert, later Messini, later Shepheard, now deceased in 1932. He married her about two years after I was born and Al Bowlly was Best Man. However my dad had an affair with a singer called Phylis Robins and my mother divorced him in the mid 1940s. He later married an Irish woman named Hilda, (don't know her maiden name). I sometimes stayed with them where they lived in Paddington during my holidays from boarding school. She was always nice to me. I don't know the date but my dad and his new wife went to live in Canada sometime in the late 1940s, (actually September, 1947), where he won a songwriting competition. Meanwhile, my mother, her second husband, my half-brother (George Shepheard) and I migrated to Australia in 1949. My Aunt Hytho told me dad died about 1970. My dad wrote some popular hit songs, most notably 'The sweetest sweetheart of all', dedicated to his mother. 'The greatest mistake of my life' and 'It costs so little but it means so much' and others that I can't recall. I had some scratchy 78s that I was forced to leave behind when we moved to Australia. Some of them comprised jazz duets with a famous pianist called Monia Litter (not sure about the spelling). I have inherited my dad's love of music and a passable voice but not his other skills. As a complete aside, my mother was a cousin of the well-known English composer, Eric Coates on her father's side. I can't tell you how delighted I was to find this website. Other e-mails have subsequently been received: My dad and Al Bowlly (Uncle Al to me) were partners when Al was killed in the London Blitz. I recall he died from the concussion from the bomb which hit the building. He was sitting in bed with a book and not a mark on him... I have dug out my mother's wedding certificate and can confirm that my mum and dad married on March 29th, 1934. One of the stated witnesses was Al Bowlly who was also Best Man. Dad gave his name as Dmetre Mesene, otherwise Jimmy Messini, which surprised me a bit as I always thought Mesene came later. However we should remember that you can transpose the Greek characters into English any way you like phonetically. I also dug out his christening cup, which my Aunt Hytho, (his sister), gave to me in 1975. It says 'Demetros Mesene, born March 6th, 1908'. Curiouser and curiouser!... He has more lineal descendants than you anticipated, namely myself, my two sons and my granddaughter, aged ten.... I am his only child.... He used to dedicate performances to 'My boy'.... I never had any contact with my dad after he and Aunt Hilda moved to Canada. All subsequent info I got came from my Aunt Hytho either directly or through my mum. I do know he often talked by phone with my cousin, Dorothy (Dolly) Vasilaikis (Aunt Hytho's daughter) who lived (still does) in the San Francisco area.... Aunt Hytho used to call me 'Dmitri mou' - my Dmitri, even though that was never actually my name.... My Dad was precluded from admission into the Armed Forces, due to his "back problem". In any case, a lot of entertainers were exempted on the grounds that they did more good during the dark days of the war by entertaining. e. g. Tommy Handley... I don't know what my dad did in Canada or which song he wrote to win the competition... I don't know why Dad and Hilda left UK. Fresh start sounds a bit trite but might be the reason... My Aunt Hytho (Jimmy Mesene's sister) died last year... I recall that the last time I saw my dad was at the Palace in Newcastle-on-Tyne, where he was appearing with a group called "Jimmy Mesene and the (or his) Melodists". This was in the winter of 1946/47. I remember the season as we lived along a gravel road which had collected snow and we had to have gumboots and a shovel to shift snow from under the car's sump. The car was a very low-slung 1935 Daimler. I guess my Dad and Hilda left UK not many months thereafter.To my best recollection, the group was a trio, including Jimmy. I think one played accordian. Back to biography... |
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