A goodwill message is being sent to Keighley Amateurs by the original star of the show that they perform this month.

Betty Jane Watson was the leading lady in the first English production of the frontier musical Oklahoma! in 1947.

Keighley producer Keith Marsden this week spoke on the phone to the American actress at her home in Florida.

She reminisced about her own time performing with fellow US actors at the Theatre Royal, in Drury Lane, London.

And she promised to send a letter or card wishing the Keighley cast good luck as they take to the stage at Victoria Hall, on October 16.

Oklahoma! was the first musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein, who were also responsible for The Sound of Music and The King and I. The popular musical, which portrays life and love in the Old West, is widely regarded as the first in which songs played a vital role in pushing the story along.

Betty Jane performed in London opposite Howard Keel, who went on to super-stardom in many stage and screen musicals.

One person who watched the original London staging was Geoffrey Rundle, the chairman of Keighley Amateurs. He saw it while on leave from the services.

Keith Marsden contacted Betty Jane through a mutual friend who recently stayed with him in Keighley.

Keith says: "She couldn't have been friendlier and more interested. I'm hoping to display the letter in the hall when we perform Oklahoma!

"Betty Jane recalls food rationing when she was in London. The cast found a little place by Drury Lane where they could get steak and egg after the show.

"She recalls the pea-souper fogs. Sometimes when the show was over, they'd go out eight or ten hand-in-hand to find their way to the eating place."

During his phone call Keith discovered that Betty Jane is still in regular contact with Howard Keel. She has always called her former co-star simply "Keel", since the powerful MGM film studios forced him to change his first name from Harry to Howard.

Oklahoma! runs from October 16-21. Book tickets at Keighley Information Centre in the town hall.