New Zealand-born variety artist Nancye Bridges began her showbusiness career with the Bridges Trio, performing at charity concerts in New Zealand during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Comprising Nancye (violin/vocals), elder brother Cliff on (piano/vocals), and younger sister Francis, aka Babe, (marimbas/harp/vocals), the trio later established a professional career playing both the Australia and New Zealand variety circuits.
The siblings remained a trio up until the Second World War, at which Cliff enlisted in the Air Force. He rejoined his sisters in 1945, but soon afterwards took up a position as music producer for the ABC. Apart from a four-year stint playing the English variety circuits and in Europe (1951-1957), Nancye and Babe continued performing in Australia and New Zealand up until the mid-1970s. In 1975, Nancye Bridges began organising a series of entertainments at the Sydney Opera House under the title Old Fashioned Shows. These concerts featured performers whose careers dated back to the old Tivoli circuit era. She later toured the concept around other Australian cities, before involving herself in the presentation of entertainment in hospitals and nursing homes.
In 1980, her memoirs, as told to writer Frank Crook, were published under the title Curtain Call. She and Crook later collaborated on Wonderful Wireless) (1983).
