One of the first newspapers I read regularly, from the late 1950s onwards, was the London Evening News. It was a populist broadsheet with all manner of readable regulars: eccentric columns by the Earl of Arran; daily court sketches by JAJ (Jimmy Jones); theatre and film reviews by Felix Barker; and memorable show business interviews by James Green.
Actor Kenneth Moore described Green as “the best show business journalist I have known”. He interviewed many of the most famous British and American stars of the time, such as Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Elvis Presley, Judy Garland, Perry Como, Max Bygraves, Harry Secombe, Liberace, James Stewart and Henry Fonda.
He was also one of the first newspaper journalists to become a daily TV reviewer.
As so often happens in this trade, I didn’t know Green was still alive until I read this week of his death, aged 88, on 6 May. The National Union of Journalists’ website carries the only obituary I can find.
It reveals that Green, who was born in 1926, started his journalistic career at Hulton Press, publisher of the photojournalism magazine Picture Post, during the second world war.
After naval service he became a reporter on the Star, the London evening title that was absorbed by the Evening News in 1960. It was there that Green turned to feature-writing and became one of Britain’s leading showbusiness writers.
He enjoyed a glittering life, attending West End premieres and opening nights, travelling the world, and often appearing on television.
When the Evening News was merged with the Evening Standard in 1980, he moved from journalism to PR by accepting an invitation from the impresario, Lord (Bernard) Delfont, to become head of press for his First Leisure company. One of his tasks was to promote London’s star-studded cabaret venue, Talk of the Town.
He never really retired. After leaving his PR job he worked on as a freelance, contributing to The Stage and various national papers, including the Daily Mail and the Independent.
But Green’s journalistic experiences at the Evening News remind us of an era when newspapers reigned supreme. They were hugely profitable, enabling staff to fly around the world.
Although television was in the process of challenging their monopoly on the news, it was not until the late 1970s that the effect on sales became obvious.
And it was also an era in which celebrities and journalists mingled so easily that they often spent time together. It was fair to call Green a friend to the stars.
He was not quite the last of his breed. One of his rivals, the Daily Mirror’s Donald Zec, is still with us, aged 96.
Green, always known as Jimmy, is survived by his second wife, Kathy, and his two daughters, Jackie and Caron.
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