Margaret Lockwood

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Disc's archive. For rights' reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen fifty one.

Presenter0:24

The BBC presents Desert Island Disc.

Presenter1:04

In this program, a well-known person is asked the question, if you were to be cast away alone on a desert island, which eight gramophone records would you choose to have with you?

Presenter1:14

Assuming of course that you also had a gramophone and an inexhaustible supply of meat.

Presenter1:22

The programme's introduced by Roy Plum.

Presenter1:25

How do you do, ladies and gentlemen?

Presenter1:27

On our desert island on this occasion is Margaret Lockwood.

Presenter1:31

Three times winner of the National Film Award as the most popular screen actress in Great Britain, and very popular also for her excellent performances on the London stage.

Presenter1:40

Well, Margaret, what sort of cast weight do you think you'd be on a desert island?

Margaret Lockwood1:43

Depressed.

Presenter1:44

Yes, I should think so. What I meant to say was, um how efficient would you be at looking after yourself?

Margaret Lockwood1:49

Do you mean cooking?

Presenter1:51

Well, I mean cooking, yes, but lighting a fire first.

Margaret Lockwood1:53

Or are they completely useless in both?

Presenter1:55

Oh dear. Could you build a hut to live in?

Margaret Lockwood1:57

What a hope.

Margaret Lockwood1:59

I was drummed out of the brownies in my first fortnight. I'm afraid I wouldn't make old bones on a desert island.

Margaret Lockwood2:05

It'll be a short life and a miserable one.

Presenter2:07

I'm worried about you. Well, let's hear about this music that you've chosen that might make it last a little longer. What's your first record?

Margaret Lockwood2:14

The Eaton Boating Song

Presenter2:15

And it's why.

Margaret Lockwood2:17

Oh, it's always been a favorite of mine.

Margaret Lockwood2:19

It has grace and rhythm. It's a lazy sounding tune.

Presenter2:22

I'm not sure that it's meant to be, not for the poor chaps in the boat.

Margaret Lockwood2:25

Oh, they couldn't be working all that hard or they wouldn't be able to sing.

Presenter2:27

True.

Margaret Lockwood2:28

It always conjures up for me a very pleasant English scene.

Margaret Lockwood2:31

The river Thames in midsummer in the days before petrol launches.

Margaret Lockwood2:35

Lovely ladies in parasols and flowing white gowns, willow trees and whiskery gentlemen in straw hats and blazers, all the charm of the three men in a boat period.

Speaker 32:46

Master Russia.

Speaker 32:49

Come the Lord of me.

Speaker 12:50

Fuck me.

Speaker 32:55

When the most beautiful

Speaker 12:55

Let almost be magic.

Speaker 33:00

God will sleep and feed.

Speaker 33:06

Why must my shape except the love of mercy?

Margaret Lockwood3:13

Uh

Presenter3:15

Very pleasant you would expect.

Presenter3:17

What need?

Margaret Lockwood3:18

Something from my favorite opera.

Presenter3:20

Which is

Margaret Lockwood3:21

La traviata.

Margaret Lockwood3:23

I'd like to be able to say that I go and see every production of it in London. I'd like to.

Margaret Lockwood3:27

But somehow I don't seem to have a chance of seeing it.

Presenter3:30

Well, you're rather a busy person, aren't you? Which part of the offer do you choose?

Margaret Lockwood3:33

Oh, the prelude to Act One. This is a foretaste, or in my case, a reminder, of all the romance and drama and beauty that is to follow.

Presenter4:35

Sorry you can't have the rest of La Traviata.

Presenter4:38

Now what?

Margaret Lockwood4:39

I was always a great admirer of Ivanoville's.

Presenter4:42

Yeah.

Margaret Lockwood4:42

He was a very dear friend of mine, too.

Margaret Lockwood4:45

I think my favorite among his musical plays was King's Rhapsody.

Margaret Lockwood4:48

I remember the first time I went to see it, and I went several times.

Margaret Lockwood4:52

It was with Peter Graves.

Margaret Lockwood4:54

I was filming, I remember, and had an awful rush to get to the theatre in time.

Margaret Lockwood4:58

Well, neither Peter nor I had had anything to eat, and we were both ravenously hungry.

Margaret Lockwood5:02

The enchantment of the play made us forget all about it.

Margaret Lockwood5:05

We went round to see Ivor in the intervals and he fed us with biscuits in his dressing room.

Margaret Lockwood5:10

In his own special way Ivanovello had genius.

Margaret Lockwood5:14

He's a tremendous loss to our theatre and can never be replaced.

Margaret Lockwood5:18

I'd like to hear on my desert island.

Margaret Lockwood5:21

Some day my heart will awaken.

Margaret Lockwood5:23

Sung by Vanessa Lee.

Speaker 35:26

But my heart will wave.

Speaker 35:31

Some day the morning will break, music will open.

Speaker 35:52

Uh

Margaret Lockwood5:54

When I hear that I always wish I'd kept up my singing lessons, and then perhaps Ivo might have written one of his musical plays for me.

Presenter6:00

Have you ever appeared in a musical show?

Margaret Lockwood6:02

Not since I was a fairy in pantomime.

Presenter6:04

When was that?

Margaret Lockwood6:05

My very first job, I was thirteen years old.

Margaret Lockwood6:08

I've danced in one or two pictures, and I learned to fly to music in Peter Penn.

Presenter6:10

I know.

Presenter6:11

You played Peter Pan for two Christmases running, didn't you?

Margaret Lockwood6:14

Hmm. And perhaps that was the most rewarding experience I've had in my career so far.

Margaret Lockwood6:19

Children are a wonderful audience.

Presenter6:20

Did you enjoy the flying?

Margaret Lockwood6:21

Oh, I love this.

Margaret Lockwood6:23

I remember of one performance I was just going to make my entrance in the scene, where Peter flies onto the boat to rescue Wendy, you know?

Presenter6:29

Hmm.

Margaret Lockwood6:30

I don't think I'm giving away a really great secret when I tell you that Peter flies by means of a wire which is hooked on to a special harness.

Presenter6:36

I had an idea there was a trick in it.

Margaret Lockwood6:38

and I was standing on a high rostrum in the wings and the man came to hook on the wire.

Margaret Lockwood6:43

I realized to my horror I hadn't got my harness on.

Presenter6:46

No time to fetch it.

Margaret Lockwood6:47

No?

Presenter6:47

Yeah.

Margaret Lockwood6:48

All I could do was climb down from the rostrum, creep along the back of the stage, and climb up the side of the boat.

Margaret Lockwood6:53

I wish you could have seen the faces of the rest of the cast.

Margaret Lockwood6:56

There they were, all standing on the boat and looking up in the air to see me fly down, and I climbed up on board at their feet from the opposite direction.

Presenter7:04

Ha ha ha.

Presenter7:06

Well, um, talking about boats.

Margaret Lockwood7:07

Oh, back to the island.

Margaret Lockwood7:10

Well, next I'd like the Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Green Steves.

Presenter7:13

Well once again, why?

Margaret Lockwood7:15

Oh, because this music is tied up with my favorite period in history.

Margaret Lockwood7:18

The Elizabethan.

Margaret Lockwood7:20

Another of my ambitions is to make an Elizabethan film.

Presenter7:23

Would you like to say that again louder? We may give somebody an idea.

Margaret Lockwood7:25

Yeah.

Margaret Lockwood7:27

Well, incidentally, I rather believe the melody of Greensleeves was composed a little earlier than Queen Elizabeth's Day, but it certainly achieved its popularity then.

Presenter8:34

Beautiful.

Presenter8:35

Next.

Margaret Lockwood8:36

Skyboat Song

Presenter8:37

You're very keen on boating songs, Margaret. We've only just left each.

Margaret Lockwood8:40

Well, it's sheer coincidence. Nothing at all to do with any fondness of mine for boats.

Presenter8:44

Do I detect in that that you're a bad sailor?

Margaret Lockwood8:46

I'm the world's worst sailor. The thought of the scene turns me pea green.

Presenter8:50

I seem to remember a few years ago you were in the film about the sea.

Margaret Lockwood8:53

Rulers of the Sea with Douglas Fairbanks and Will Fifteen

Presenter8:56

Yes, I think that was it.

Margaret Lockwood8:57

I'm sure it was. So I've only ever been in one seed picture, and I hope I'm never in another.

Presenter9:01

U using a very old joke, the rulers of the sea hadn't ruled it smooth enough for you.

Margaret Lockwood9:05

Good.

Speaker 39:05

Yeah.

Margaret Lockwood9:05

Uh

Speaker 39:05

Hey, Olden.

Margaret Lockwood9:06

There's nothing.

Margaret Lockwood9:08

Well, the film was made in Hollywood, and my first scene in the picture took place on a lovely old sailing ship off Catalina Island.

Margaret Lockwood9:14

Well, for some hours the director tried to get the prostrate Lockwood on to her feet and in a fit state to be photographed.

Margaret Lockwood9:20

But when they did get me upright, they took one look at my face and decided the scene had to be faked in the studio.

Speaker 39:25

Okay.

Margaret Lockwood9:26

It's nothing to do with the C that attracts me to this tune.

Margaret Lockwood9:29

Perhaps it's because I'm mostly Scots by ancestry.

Margaret Lockwood9:32

I've never been to Skye, but that's another of my ambitions to press over while I'm on that island.

Presenter9:37

Let's take one island at a time.

Margaret Lockwood10:35

My next record's a favorite that I share with somebody else, my daughter, Margaret Julia, known as Toots.

Margaret Lockwood10:41

We've lots of gramophone sessions together.

Presenter10:43

She's already following in your footsteps in the theater, isn't she?

Margaret Lockwood10:45

Mm she started young, or a year younger than I did.

Presenter10:48

What's this favorite that you share?

Margaret Lockwood10:50

Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Ballet Music.

Margaret Lockwood10:53

Tutz's enthusiasm for this record dates from her very first visit to the ballet.

Margaret Lockwood10:57

She was very tiny at the time, but she was absolutely enthralled.

Margaret Lockwood11:02

It was the first time in her life I've ever known her sit quite still.

Margaret Lockwood11:06

listening and watching as though she were really in Wonderland.

Margaret Lockwood12:15

I don't think there's very much I can say about my next choice. I heard it first on the radio, and I went out and bought a copy.

Margaret Lockwood12:21

and I've been very fond of it ever since.

Margaret Lockwood12:23

It's a little Irish song called The Spinning Wheel.

Margaret Lockwood12:26

And it's sung by Delia Murphy.

Speaker 312:35

Mellor, the moonlight to shine is a beginning Close by the window young Eileen is spinning

Speaker 112:42

No, you like

Speaker 312:45

Bent o'er the fire her blind grandmother sitting Is croaning and mourning and drowsy.

Presenter12:56

Well, that was number seven. Now what's your last one going to be?

Margaret Lockwood13:00

Oh, I've saved for the end something grandiose and thrilling, the ride of the Valkyries.

Margaret Lockwood13:04

This music has the same effect on me as thunderstorms.

Margaret Lockwood13:08

It gives me a feeling of fear.

Margaret Lockwood13:10

a realization of the immensity of time and space, and a rather uncanny but pleasurable exhilaration.

Presenter14:19

Now you've one more choice to make, Margaret. As well as your eight records and your gramophone, you may have a luxury object. Any luxury you like mustn't be anything useful like a a frying pan or an axe.

Speaker 314:20

Hmm?

Speaker 314:23

You may

Margaret Lockwood14:29

Or an axe? Well, it wouldn't be any use to me anyway. Well now, let me think. Well, I think perhaps the most important thing to me would be, um, you know, something to keep my mind occupied, crossword puzzles.

Presenter14:40

Crossword purple. Some of those a set of those books of crossword purple.

Margaret Lockwood14:41

Some

Margaret Lockwood14:43

Yes, and a unlimited supply. I mean, if I'm going to be there for a very long time.

Presenter14:46

Do you want the answers or not?

Margaret Lockwood14:47

No, no answers.

Presenter14:48

Well, you'd better have a pencil. I think we'll give you a pencil.

Margaret Lockwood14:51

What

Presenter14:51

Well, here comes the rescue ship, and we've reserved a suite for you on A deck. Is that all right?

Speaker 314:51

Uh

Margaret Lockwood14:51

Uh

Margaret Lockwood14:54

Yeah. Yeah.

Presenter14:56

Well, thank you, Margaret, for being shipwrecked for us and letting us hear your choice of desert island discs. Goodbye, everyone.

Speaker 314:56

Yeah.

Margaret Lockwood15:01

Goodbye.

Presenter15:32

That programme, Desert Island Discs, was devised by Roy Plumley and introduced by him in the London studios of the BBC.

Speaker 115:42

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Islandists archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.