Gerard Hoffnung

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a download from the Desert Island Discs archive. This section of the original programme is the only material remaining in the BBC archives. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen fifty seven, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Speaker 10:18

Yeah.

Gerard Hoffnung0:21

Yeah.

Gerard Hoffnung0:22

Uh

Presenter0:22

Yeah.

Gerard Hoffnung0:22

Okay.

Presenter0:24

Let's go back to the beginning. Which came first in your case, music or drawing?

Gerard Hoffnung0:28

I think clear drawing. I made my first drawing when I was one and a half.

Presenter0:32

And you've never stopped. Did did you set out to be an artist? Did you go to an art school?

Gerard Hoffnung0:36

Yes.

Gerard Hoffnung0:37

I was expelled from my art school on some No no no.

Presenter0:40

Yes. No, no, no. Is it a reason that you can tell us?

Gerard Hoffnung0:44

Oh yes, I was experimental for caricaturing the principal. I caricatured him every day.

Gerard Hoffnung0:49

Until I was expelled.

Presenter0:50

Yeah.

Gerard Hoffnung0:52

Oh, then I went to a different art school.

Presenter0:54

Mm.

Gerard Hoffnung0:55

And uh they were very nice. They let me do what I liked.

Presenter0:58

We were happy though.

Gerard Hoffnung0:58

We're happy though. I was very happy, yes. Except the models didn't like me because I caricatured them.

Presenter1:03

What's the video after that?

Gerard Hoffnung1:04

Oh, after that I tried to earn my living.

Presenter1:07

Mm-hmm.

Gerard Hoffnung1:07

Pi.

Gerard Hoffnung1:08

Well, my first job was uh I was a bottle washer at the dairy.

Presenter1:12

We're good at that?

Gerard Hoffnung1:13

Magnificent. I I I washed I don't know how many bottles, milk bottles.

Presenter1:18

We didn't break anything.

Gerard Hoffnung1:19

Oh yes, I broke the lot. Uh-huh. But uh it didn't seem to matter very much.

Presenter1:24

They didn't matter.

Gerard Hoffnung1:24

Uh oh yes, they did mine, but uh I didn't say any for for very long.

Presenter1:29

So after it sailed at Bottlewater, what what become then? A head cook?

Gerard Hoffnung1:31

Okay.

Gerard Hoffnung1:33

No, oh no, no, I became a school mom, so I'm gonna leave it.

Presenter1:36

What to give?

Gerard Hoffnung1:37

I talk about and and and uh German.

Presenter1:39

Yes, I trust you weren't categorized in your terms.

Gerard Hoffnung1:42

Oh, yes. I was I was taking to'em all the time.

Presenter1:45

Well you were teaching art and German. What went wrong with that?

Gerard Hoffnung1:49

Oh, nothing went wrong. The only thing is I I I I was drawing while I was teaching and I had an offer from one of the London evening papers to go and join them. It was a staff appointment. Yes, you had. And I had I left teaching because of that.

Presenter2:00

Yeah, you had I know

Gerard Hoffnung2:03

Were you happy then? Well, I was very happy at first, but I couldn't draw every night. I had to do a drawing every nearly every night, and I'm not the that sort of uh artist who can do that. I I just couldn't do it, it was impossible because my work, especially in those days, was highly detailed. Uh, I found it too much of a strain and

Speaker 12:18

Uh

Presenter2:18

I

Gerard Hoffnung2:21

I um

Gerard Hoffnung2:23

David Dahl.

Presenter2:24

What to do then?

Gerard Hoffnung2:26

Then I had a very hard time.

Gerard Hoffnung2:29

Uh I couldn't find any work. Uh uh I had this embarrassing business of having to go round with my portfolio and trying to sell my drawings. After that, uh when I found it impossible to do anything,

Speaker 12:32

Barely.

Gerard Hoffnung2:39

I went to New York.

Gerard Hoffnung2:41

And I tried my luck there. And I I was very fortunate. I I was offered a very, very good job with an American magazine, one big American magazine, and they brought out a a new magazine which I I joined.

Presenter2:53

Yeah.

Gerard Hoffnung2:54

I had a contract in my pocket which enabled me to come back to Mecca once a year, spend six months in New York, six months in London, but the thing flopped.

Gerard Hoffnung3:02

Oh yeah. Yes, I I don't know whether it is'cause my drawings.

Presenter3:05

Oh no, it will make one

Gerard Hoffnung3:06

But uh I anyway it slopped and again I was out of a job.

Presenter3:12

And you were back in London though?

Gerard Hoffnung3:12

And you will

Gerard Hoffnung3:13

I'll be back in London.

Presenter3:15

There.

Gerard Hoffnung3:16

Well, I I um freelanced, uh things were getting a little better.

Gerard Hoffnung3:21

Uh I've seen a lot of freel um magazine work, advertising and so on.

Presenter3:26

Yeah. And then you started those delightful books of the of musical drawings.

Gerard Hoffnung3:30

Oh no, they didn't come for for a long time. Th those I started doing uh about four years ago when the first one came out.

Gerard Hoffnung3:38

Uh but um

Gerard Hoffnung3:39

In between that and then uh a lot of other things.

Gerard Hoffnung3:43

I was very closely associated with Ravel's opera, La Filet Sophilaires. When I first heard it, I I was so charmed by the whole thing that I made some illustrations. So I worked very long on those and I I took them along to Colette, old Madame Colette, just before she died.

Presenter4:01

That's it.

Presenter4:02

She had written the library.

Gerard Hoffnung4:03

She wrote the original libretto and this led to a collaboration between her and myself. It was a wonderful experience. She was a wonderful old woman.

Presenter4:15

Gerard, when did you start staying with Tuba?

Gerard Hoffnung4:17

I started playing Cuba about six years ago.

Gerard Hoffnung4:20

And uh I I took it up, uh very seriously.

Gerard Hoffnung4:25

You want to know why I took up playing Cuba?

Presenter4:27

Yeah.

Gerard Hoffnung4:28

Yes, now I'll tell you. I'll tell you.

Presenter4:30

Thank you. You're a good time.

Gerard Hoffnung4:32

Yeah.

Gerard Hoffnung4:32

I took up things to her because I felt it was an excellent instrument and I felt

Gerard Hoffnung4:38

But it was a very beautiful instrument at the same time. And that is why I took out playing

Presenter4:43

Even if it's a bit of a news missed button.

Gerard Hoffnung4:46

Oh, emergency.

Gerard Hoffnung4:47

Terrible

Presenter4:49

About the the Halftone Music Festival, which was such a alluring success just a few weeks ago. I think the most horrific moment of

Gerard Hoffnung4:56

Yeah. By the

Presenter4:56

Yeah.

Gerard Hoffnung4:56

Uh

Presenter4:56

Yeah.

Gerard Hoffnung4:56

Live

Presenter4:57

It it's a great distinction to have your own music festival at the festival hall. How does the whole thing happen?

Gerard Hoffnung5:01

Well, I always felt that there is a place for caricature and music, you see?

Gerard Hoffnung5:07

And we started planning very seriously. Uh uh I think my wife and I.

Gerard Hoffnung5:13

And the whole thing was made possible, yeah.

Presenter5:15

Yes, I don't know. Is this going to be an annual event, the central?

Gerard Hoffnung5:18

If we can find enough material, I think so.

Presenter5:21

Uh

Speaker 25:21

Good luck.

Gerard Hoffnung5:22

Um

Gerard Hoffnung5:24

Oh f

Speaker 25:24

But what are your thoughts now, faithful desert island exile?

Gerard Hoffnung5:28

I think it's a very good thing. Uh excellent. I think everybody ought to be on a desert island at one time or another. Very good for the morale.

Gerard Hoffnung5:36

Give people a chance to go into themselves and and and think of the things they might have done instead of leading their own selfish, miserable lives.

Presenter5:46

You might be able to have some sort of tent on the island, dear Rod. Are you particularly fond of cats?

Gerard Hoffnung5:50

I love that.

Gerard Hoffnung5:53

I love kids.

Gerard Hoffnung5:55

I think they're the most beautiful creatures in the world.

Presenter5:55

Uh

Gerard Hoffnung5:58

I will have a cat on the island.

Presenter5:59

Well I h I hope to find one. Something of the sort in the

Gerard Hoffnung6:02

Oh yeah, there's bound to be one.

Presenter6:04

Gerard, what kind of a castaway do you think you are going to be on this island? How efficient?

Gerard Hoffnung6:08

Oh, I don't think I'll be very good at that.

Presenter6:10

Yeah.

Gerard Hoffnung6:10

But I think I'm going to train all the animals to do things for me on the island. I shall have a a c a cook monkey.

Presenter6:14

Yeah.

Speaker 16:15

Uh

Gerard Hoffnung6:18

And an octopus. No, a a moose who's going to put on my record.

Presenter6:20

Oh

Presenter6:23

Yes, I can't guarantee any moose if that's the plural of moose. Two mees.

Gerard Hoffnung6:28

Bye.

Presenter6:29

Until you've got these animals trained, how are you going to manage? Can you build a

Gerard Hoffnung6:33

Oh, I'm going to start training them right away. You see, because uh otherwise I'd be just hopeless. I'd never be able to do it.

Presenter6:40

You couldn't build a hut.

Gerard Hoffnung6:41

No. Have you ever camped out? Oh yes, many times.

Presenter6:45

Successfully? Yeah.

Gerard Hoffnung6:46

I can't remember.

Presenter6:48

Oh, not well it sounds as if it might have been successful at the first.

Gerard Hoffnung6:51

Yes, I think it was.

Presenter6:53

Then you're not such a bad calculator, making sure.

Gerard Hoffnung6:54

No, I've not.

Presenter6:55

No. Can you

Presenter6:58

Can you cook yourself?

Gerard Hoffnung7:00

I can I'm a wonderful cook. I can boil an egg.

Gerard Hoffnung7:04

Better, I think, than most people.

Gerard Hoffnung7:07

Really? I mean that

Presenter7:07

Really, I mean that. Um you can also show or trap

Gerard Hoffnung7:10

Oh, I don't fish. I think it's cruel. I think I'd become a vegetarian if I was on that island. Yes. Yes. I think I would have enough conviction to become a vegetarian.

Presenter7:20

I've never more firmly refused.

Presenter7:23

Uh to award a cut with that.

Presenter7:26

But that's Gerard came to get one, I don't think, on that evidence. Well, there's one more question I have to ask you, Gerard, and that is what luxury articles you chose to take on this island.

Presenter7:38

Uh

Gerard Hoffnung7:38

I think I I'll probably take the tuba.

Gerard Hoffnung7:41

No, I think I'll take my paintball.

Presenter7:44

Well look, I your your paint box is so much a a a part of your personality. Let's assume that you've got that in your pockets.

Gerard Hoffnung7:50

Very good.

Presenter7:51

And you can take your tubers.

Gerard Hoffnung7:53

There you go. But uh

Gerard Hoffnung7:55

So well I'll take the tuba then.

Presenter7:57

Yeah.

Presenter7:58

But you must promise not to live here.

Gerard Hoffnung8:00

Oh, I couldn't because you don't know what I keep in that tuber.

Presenter8:03

I hate to think. Well, many thanks, Jerry Offman. Say goodbye, everyone.

Gerard Hoffnung8:08

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