Fenella Fielding

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a download from the Desert Island Discs archive.

Speaker 10:05

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in 1967.

Speaker 10:12

This is a recording as it was being broadcast, rather than the studio recording, and for that reason you may hear some interference, and some degradation in the sound quality.

Presenter0:23

Desert Island Discs

Presenter0:33

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

Presenter0:42

As usual, the castaway is introduced by Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:46

How do you do, ladies and gentlemen? Our castaway this week is an actress. It's Fenella Feely.

Presenter0:51

Miss Fielding, could you endure loneliness?

Fenella Fielding0:54

Oh, I don't think I could endure it for very long. I could only endure it with the prospect of it being suddenly interrupted.

Presenter1:01

Are you an optimist?

Fenella Fielding1:03

Oh yeah.

Presenter1:04

Apart from the loneliness, what would be the worst thing about being on a desert island?

Fenella Fielding1:09

No telephone.

Presenter1:11

It's usually the other way around. Most people go to a desert island to get away from each other.

Fenella Fielding1:15

Yes, but only for three or four weeks.

Presenter1:18

Now, we've heard you sing in in reviews and musicals and so on. Apart from that, are you a musician? Do you play an instrument?

Fenella Fielding1:24

Well, I now play the piano very badly indeed, just enough to irritate myself. I once played it not too badly.

Fenella Fielding1:32

I don't do anything else.

Presenter1:34

What do you want your record to do for you on the desert island? Cheer you up, event the past

Fenella Fielding1:39

Well, I want them to.

Fenella Fielding1:41

To cheer me up.

Fenella Fielding1:43

and to make me sad and cry if I feel like that.

Fenella Fielding1:46

and to make me think of things that are attached to some of them.

Fenella Fielding1:53

And without is simply two.

Fenella Fielding1:55

Make me fantasize about

Fenella Fielding1:59

Things it

Fenella Fielding2:00

I could never be like or never experience.

Presenter2:03

What's the first one?

Fenella Fielding2:06

Well, the first one is Morgana King, singing a taste of honey. Why do you choose that?

Fenella Fielding2:11

It's an incredible voice. I've never heard anything quite so wonderfully controlled without force.

Fenella Fielding2:18

So high at the top and so low at the bottom and so marvellous absolutely everywhere.

Presenter2:36

A cheese!

Presenter2:38

Fuck.

Speaker 12:43

But C.

Speaker 12:47

Much sweeter than woo.

Presenter2:54

The voice of Morgana King.

Presenter2:56

What's your second choice?

Fenella Fielding2:58

The girl from Ypfenim

Fenella Fielding3:00

With Gioberto and Astrid Gilberto and Stan Goetz.

Presenter3:07

Why do you choose this?

Fenella Fielding3:08

Well, it is

Fenella Fielding3:10

Which is one of the most romantic songs, the most romantic song I think that I've ever heard. And one must have at least one extremely romantic song on a desert island.

Fenella Fielding3:21

It's the song I heard when I first came back from Green.

Fenella Fielding3:24

Which was me?

Speaker 23:27

And uh

Speaker 23:34

And when she fances he smiles, but she doesn't see

Presenter3:55

Gilberto and Astrid Gilberto and Stan Goetz.

Presenter4:00

Where were you born?

Presenter4:02

Lund

Presenter4:03

Any

Presenter4:04

Theatrical background and your family?

Fenella Fielding4:06

No, none whatsoever.

Presenter4:07

Did you see a lot of theatre as a child?

Fenella Fielding4:09

Yes, we seem to go a great

Presenter4:11

Deal.

Fenella Fielding4:12

But I was very stage struck.

Presenter4:13

Mm. What did you do when you left school?

Fenella Fielding4:16

I first went on to the local newspaper. As what? Well, because I couldn't do shorthand, I was forced to write feature articles.

Presenter4:24

Cool.

Presenter4:24

What a splendid reason.

Fenella Fielding4:28

So I did.

Presenter4:29

How old were you when this happened?

Fenella Fielding4:31

Fourteen.

Presenter4:32

Were you also drama critics?

Fenella Fielding4:35

No, no, I I couldn't swing there.

Presenter4:37

How long did this last?

Fenella Fielding4:39

Oh, only a very short time, though it seemed ages then, you know.

Presenter4:42

Uh

Fenella Fielding4:42

Uh

Presenter4:42

Mm.

Fenella Fielding4:42

And while I was there I I decided I must learn shorthand because then I could graduate to the higher reaches of being an actual reporter.

Presenter4:51

Were you?

Fenella Fielding4:52

No, I never got to that because while I was learning shorthand, I thought I really ought to go on the stage. That's what I want to do. So I.

Fenella Fielding5:01

studied very secretly.

Fenella Fielding5:04

For a scholarship to Ryder.

Fenella Fielding5:06

And then I got it.

Presenter5:07

Did your parents encourage you in your stage ambitions?

Fenella Fielding5:10

Oh no, they were terribly against it. In fact, they took me away from Rada very quickly.

Presenter5:14

As a student, how did you see yourself? Did you envisage yourself as a review artist, or did you see yourself as header garbler?

Fenella Fielding5:21

Well, if you can go from one extreme to the other, I more saw myself as Hedda Garbler than as a review artist. Because I was just as snobbish as most extremely young people are, and I thought

Presenter5:27

Ah f

Fenella Fielding5:32

Review was probably a very low form of work.

Presenter5:35

What was your very first engagement?

Fenella Fielding5:38

Bye.

Fenella Fielding5:39

It was um the Chepstow Theatre Club in Nottinghill Gay.

Presenter5:42

Very small the Chepstow Theatre Club.

Fenella Fielding5:44

Very.

Presenter5:45

What we were doing.

Fenella Fielding5:47

I did two songs.

Fenella Fielding5:49

Comedy songs, one in each half.

Fenella Fielding5:52

I was sub sandwiched in between conjurers and

Fenella Fielding5:55

Yeah.

Presenter5:57

And after that?

Fenella Fielding5:58

After that I um

Fenella Fielding6:00

I very much wanted to begin at the beginning, so I began at the beginning second and went to the Bolton Theatre Club.

Presenter6:07

Rather larger.

Fenella Fielding6:08

Bravilaj

Presenter6:09

What were you doing there?

Fenella Fielding6:10

Yeah.

Fenella Fielding6:10

I was doing what they call ASMing, which is

Fenella Fielding6:14

Everything, it's dog's body. Make tea, sweep, shift

Fenella Fielding6:18

scenery and prompt ring bells and occasionally walk on.

Presenter6:22

Yes.

Presenter6:23

So you did tread the stage there? Yes.

Presenter6:26

And after that?

Fenella Fielding6:28

After that, I

Fenella Fielding6:29

Seemed to be airs aiming somewhere else, and then suddenly

Fenella Fielding6:33

By a series of marvellously thrilling accidents, got into a theatre club revue. And then of course did lots of other theatre club reviews.

Presenter6:41

Yes. What was your first appearance in the West End?

Fenella Fielding6:44

Well this was also a review called Cockles and Champagne.

Fenella Fielding6:48

It had more women in it than I've ever seen in anything, and only one man.

Presenter6:53

Where is it?

Fenella Fielding6:53

Billy.

Fenella Fielding6:54

It was at the Saville Theatre in London.

Fenella Fielding6:56

And um I just saved lots of little tiny bits.

Presenter7:01

Well, we've got you into the West End, so let's break off here for your third record. What's that going to be?

Fenella Fielding7:06

It's um Fritzi Massey singing

Fenella Fielding7:09

Countess Mitzi from Operette. Why do you choose this?

Fenella Fielding7:13

Well, it was the song that made me first want to go on the stage. I heard it on the wireless and...

Fenella Fielding7:19

And I thought I like that, I must learn it.

Fenella Fielding7:22

So I did learn it, and then I rang up a friend who did amateur shows and said, Can I come and sing my song in your show? And he said, Yes.

Fenella Fielding7:29

And so I did. And

Fenella Fielding7:32

It was in its minute, unimportant way, a very thrilling kind of little success.

Speaker 17:53

We can family wealthy quiet, let's watch it people's life!

Presenter8:10

Fritzi Masser is singing.

Presenter8:12

Countess Mezzi from Operate.

Presenter8:15

Right, you were in cockles and champagne, your first West End appearance.

Presenter8:19

What does that lead to?

Fenella Fielding8:21

Well, another review.

Fenella Fielding8:23

And a pantomime.

Fenella Fielding8:26

And

Fenella Fielding8:27

Oh, lots of absolutely everything, like everybody does. Television and Radio of many different sorts, straight plays and comedy ones and light entertainment and voices for advertisements and oh, cabaret, lots of cabaret.

Presenter8:41

What do you look back on as your first big opportunity?

Fenella Fielding8:44

O Valmuth.

Fenella Fielding8:46

Very much definitely so.

Presenter8:47

Yes, in which you played a man eating lady.

Fenella Fielding8:50

Just

Presenter8:52

This began at at at Hammersmith, didn't it?

Fenella Fielding8:54

Yeah.

Presenter8:54

Uh

Fenella Fielding8:54

The nudity

Presenter8:55

Mhm. And then transferred to the West Air.

Presenter8:59

Then you had a a big success in the review that followed that.

Fenella Fielding9:03

Pieces of Eight with Kenneth Williams.

Presenter9:06

Now you were one of the top girls in Intimate Review by now, but you tried to break away from it, didn't you?

Fenella Fielding9:11

Well, I did for many reasons, but

Fenella Fielding9:14

Mainly because I thought it was running itself into the ground at that point, and that one could go on and on, just getting older and older and doing the same things again and again, and everyone would hate one in the end.

Presenter9:25

So what did you do?

Fenella Fielding9:27

Well, I tried to get into lots of plays.

Fenella Fielding9:30

And I went to lots of outlying places.

Fenella Fielding9:33

like the Little Theatre Bromley and the Pembroke Theatre in the Round and

Presenter9:37

Is

Fenella Fielding9:38

Things like

Presenter9:38

Yeah. Uh

Presenter9:41

And nobody offered you had a goblet.

Fenella Fielding9:43

Well somebody did.

Fenella Fielding9:45

But I was too scared to do it just then.

Fenella Fielding9:48

I did it much later on the radio.

Presenter9:50

So what to go back to?

Fenella Fielding9:53

Well, I suddenly got pushed into doing

Fenella Fielding9:57

Something that Johnny White and I had made up for a joke a long time before.

Fenella Fielding10:02

A satirical musical comedy.

Fenella Fielding10:04

about one of those very conceited ladies who writes long, loving autobiographies. What was this called? It was called So Much to Remember The Life Story of a Great Lady.

Presenter10:17

And then you just had a big success in in the Sardo play, Let's Get a Divorce.

Fenella Fielding10:21

Go back to

Fenella Fielding10:22

Lovely to do.

Presenter10:23

This was your first West End play, wasn't it?

Fenella Fielding10:25

Yeah.

Presenter10:26

What you up to now?

Fenella Fielding10:28

Really?

Fenella Fielding10:29

To a festival theatre.

Presenter10:31

Playing one.

Fenella Fielding10:32

misses Thullen in the Beaux Stratagem.

Fenella Fielding10:35

And

Fenella Fielding10:36

Viatrice in the sermon de True Masters. with Donnie Kaye.

Presenter10:41

Fine. Well, that's going to keep you busy for the summer. Let's have record number four.

Fenella Fielding10:45

I will miss you.

Fenella Fielding10:46

From Valmouth, sung by Cleo Lane and Doris Hare.

Presenter10:50

I won't miss these skies of grey that seem to happen every day.

Presenter11:00

I like a sky that's permanent

Speaker 211:07

But I will miss you, Mrs. Took, yes I will Mrs. Took, miss you.

Presenter11:17

A number from Valmouth, sung by Cleo Lane and Doris Hare. We haven't talked about your films and television appearances. What about films? Were any of them important to you, the ones that you've done?

Fenella Fielding11:29

Well, they were very important to me as a means of learning.

Fenella Fielding11:33

How to be in films, which isn't the same as being

Presenter11:34

Yeah.

Fenella Fielding11:36

On stage.

Presenter11:38

And television?

Fenella Fielding11:40

Television again is a great exercise.

Fenella Fielding11:43

The thing I really did enjoy most was

Fenella Fielding11:46

A series.

Fenella Fielding11:48

Stories from Saki.

Presenter11:51

And radio, of course, gave you the opportunity to play Header Garbler at last.

Presenter11:55

Now what's for the future after Chichester? What would you like to happen, the day you arrive back in London? What would you like the telephone to ring and say, as it were?

Fenella Fielding12:05

Well, ideally, which of course doesn't ever happen, but ideally I'd like...

Fenella Fielding12:10

to be offered a modern play.

Fenella Fielding12:12

That had

Fenella Fielding12:13

More drama than comedy.

Presenter12:18

Your career hasn't had a very definite pattern, has it? In fact, it seems you rather fought against it taking a pattern, but it seems to be taking a sort of shape now.

Fenella Fielding12:28

Yeah.

Fenella Fielding12:29

I just suddenly decided that if anything was going to make it change, I must make it change.

Presenter12:34

Now this very distinctive, very attractive voice of yours, this cross between a coo and a gurgle.

Presenter12:41

Do you find that this restricts your accommodation?

Fenella Fielding12:43

Well, it could do.

Presenter12:44

Yeah.

Fenella Fielding12:44

Uh

Fenella Fielding12:45

Because I think at the very beginning I was pushed by lots of people to using only one special part of it, which was sort of funny and unusual. But I've got lots of parts of it. And anyway, I talk like that a lot sometimes because I'm shy.

Presenter13:00

I don't believe it.

Presenter13:03

Let's have record number five.

Fenella Fielding13:06

It's um

Fenella Fielding13:08

A Dance from Tapsikery by Michael Pretoria.

Presenter13:12

Hmm.

Presenter13:13

Why'd you choose this?

Fenella Fielding13:15

Well, it's very early music, it's Renaissance, and it's marvellous to know that it's complete as it was then, and that...

Fenella Fielding13:24

Usually one thinks of very early music as being rather sad, and this is very, very jolly.

Fenella Fielding13:31

Very dancey and happy.

Presenter14:34

A dance from Terpsecore by Michael Pretoris.

Presenter14:38

What's your sex record?

Fenella Fielding14:41

I'll Follow My Secret Heart, sung by Yvonne Prenton.

Presenter14:46

Why do you choose this?

Fenella Fielding14:48

I've never heard a soprano voice.

Fenella Fielding14:51

So touching is this one.

Fenella Fielding14:53

I'm not very fond of very full-bodied sopranos. I like the ones that sound like little birds and very easy.

Fenella Fielding15:01

Yeah.

Fenella Fielding15:02

That's what she sounds like.

Presenter15:04

Mm-hmm. With narrow card.

Fenella Fielding15:05

Ignorant coward with a French accent.

Fenella Fielding15:09

You ask me to all the discovery war, When she's already out of the world, But what if I need with a sweet up so sweet, What may we wanna go?

Fenella Fielding15:25

A singular one that you may find

Presenter15:28

Then we shall have to go away.

Presenter15:39

An excerpt from Conversation Piece, Yvonne Prentin and Noel Card.

Presenter15:45

Miss Fielding, or may I call you Vanilla, are you practical and resourceful?

Fenella Fielding15:50

I am very practical and very resourceful, but there are limits.

Presenter15:54

But well, um

Presenter15:56

Could you, for example, build a shelter?

Fenella Fielding15:59

Mm, I suppose if I had to I sort of would, so I didn't really think one would need one on a desert island.

Presenter16:05

It rained.

Fenella Fielding16:06

Yes, well I think I'd probably try and tie some of the palm leaves together to form a canopy.

Presenter16:12

What do you go to eat?

Fenella Fielding16:14

Well, apart from coconuts, I hope to have lots of mangoes and passion fruits and yams, whatever they may be.

Fenella Fielding16:23

A lot of melons.

Presenter16:23

And

Presenter16:25

You'll be content with throat.

Fenella Fielding16:27

Yes, and perhaps an old fish.

Presenter16:31

Could you copy it?

Fenella Fielding16:32

Oh yes, I'm a very good cook.

Presenter16:34

Fine.

Presenter16:36

Suppose a craft of some sort was washed up a raft or something of that sort. Would you try to escape?

Fenella Fielding16:42

Yes.

Presenter16:42

Uh

Fenella Fielding16:42

Yeah.

Fenella Fielding16:43

I would.

Presenter16:43

You take off into the unknown.

Fenella Fielding16:45

Yes, I would, because the unknown at least would be the unknown, whether whereas the desert island itself would be too known a quantity by then.

Presenter16:52

Yes, right.

Presenter16:54

Let's have record number seven.

Fenella Fielding16:57

I like to have long, long summer.

Fenella Fielding16:59

Played by Dizzy Gillesp.

Fenella Fielding17:01

What?

Fenella Fielding17:03

Well, because I should think sitting around on a desert island all by oneself

Fenella Fielding17:08

One has so much energy to work off suddenly and this is a marvelous

Fenella Fielding17:14

piece of music that makes you want to dance and it's very stylized.

Fenella Fielding17:19

as well as being free in a kind of way and it's very ecstatic, it's very splendid, I love it.

Presenter18:29

DC Gillespie, Long Long Summer.

Presenter18:32

What's your last record going to be?

Fenella Fielding18:35

Who taught her everything she knows from Funny Girl? Kay Medford and Danny Meehan. Why?

Fenella Fielding18:42

Well, because it contains the whole essence of that gaudy thing called Showbiz.

Fenella Fielding18:50

And I think to any actress it's a very dear thing.

Fenella Fielding18:54

I taught her everything she knows. I taught her everything she knows. That mischievous smile, the devil may care. You don't pull such mannerisms out of the air. The men who are older might prefer.

Fenella Fielding19:14

The original manufacturer It hurts me to say it, but why not be fair? When you see around the stage, you see

Presenter19:26

Who Taught Her Everything She Knows sung by Kay Medford and Danny Meehan from the Broadway cast of Funny Girl.

Presenter19:33

If you could take only one of the eight records you've played us, which would it be?

Fenella Fielding19:37

I think it would be delegalized.

Presenter19:41

And one luxury to take to the island with you.

Fenella Fielding19:45

Well, to wear in the cool of the cool tropical evenings, I think I'd like

Fenella Fielding19:52

So extremely beautiful, extremely fine and soft.

Fenella Fielding19:56

French silk lined leather glove.

Presenter20:00

These would make you feel sort of well groomed and soignier, wouldn't they?

Fenella Fielding20:03

No, it's not bad. It's just that they feel so absolutely beautiful.

Presenter20:08

Right, you shall have several dozen.

Presenter20:10

And one book.

Presenter20:12

Apart from the Bible and Shakespeare.

Fenella Fielding20:14

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.

Presenter20:17

Mm-hmm. Right, well thank you Fanella Fielding for letting us hear your desert island discs.

Fenella Fielding20:22

And thank you for my lovely desert hyphen.

Presenter20:24

Goodbye everyone.

Presenter20:43

The guest in today's program, first broadcast last Monday, was Fanella Figleding.

Presenter20:49

The interviewer was Roy Plumley and the producer Monica Chapp.

Presenter20:53

Vanella Fielding is a member of the Chichester Festival Company.

Speaker 120:58

You've been listening to a download from the Desert Island Discs archive.

Speaker 121:02

For more downloads, please visit the Radio4 website.