In the last 12 months of scouring archives to find traces left by Raoul Reginald de Veulle I have been frequently surprised and occasionally shocked by his activities and the connections that he made.
It was obvious from those few images that remain of his dress designs that he had a talent in designing for the stage and the diaphanous creation the Billie Carleton was pictured in and subsequently wore to the Victory ball on the final night of her life showed that he had an understanding of the female form.
Yet my recent discovery that Reggie was also a songwriter was especially gratifying. In 1923 after the furore and character assassination of the Billie Carleton trial was yesterdays news. Reggie wrote the music and a lyric in French for his 'Mysterious Waltz'. It is a surprisingly sweet tune in 3/4 time which laments a lost youth and loves past. Reggie would have been about 42 years old at the time and it is easy to imagine his melancholy at what he might have seen as a lost youth.
The song had an English lyric by one Harry Bullock which struggled to rise above the heights of 'Moon and June' "Do you remember the dancing..." The song was dedicated to Irene Vernon Castle. One of the most famous dancers of the day when she and her late husband - Vernon Castle and been transatlantic superstars. She was American and her English husband had been a pilot in the first world war and was killed in peacetime whilst training American pilots.
The song, as far as I know, is the only one published by Reggie but I actually wish there had been more..
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