“They look like they’ve been on a night out without me!” Miss Hope Springs exclaims candidly as she wrestles the final locks of her golden hair into perfect 60’s house-wife place. There is a sultry glare into the mirror as one last curl refuses to sit and receives a solid thrashing from the comb. Then all is right again and I am warned to hold my breath as the hairspray comes out.

So this is what it’s like to be sitting in the dressing room of a former Las Vegas showgirl turned nightclub chanteuse. The mirrors shine all around us as evening sunlight streams in on the dressing table, dancing shadows and light over the foundation sticks, lipstick and makeup brushes strewn helter-skelter across the surface. Her hair done, Miss Hope graciously takes her seat and picks up a well-loved foundation brush.

Miss Hope Springs has been touring since 1972…