Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
2 appearances
British comedy actress best known as Eth in The Glums and June in 'Terry and June'.
On the island
Eight records
This was the play at the Duke of York's Theatre. I'm taking this record because it reminds me of my very first paid job in the theatre.
The Man in Black (three short plays by John Dickson Carr)
Working with Dame Irene Vanbrugh was quite wonderful. She was the sort of person that you wanted to curtsey every time you passed by.
The Cure for LoveFavourite
Wilfred Pickles taught me a lot about comedy, like waiting for laughs. I'll never forget him hissing 'Wait for the laugh' in my ear on the first night.
I was Cinderella herself, doing pantomime with Wilfred Pickles.
Working for Noël Coward was magnificent. I've never met anyone who knew so much about everybody's job and could do it better than they could.
Joyce Grenfell, Lizabeth Webb, Max Adrian, Julian Orchard, Jimmy Thompson, June Whitfield
Penny Plain was a review with a very distinguished cast.
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
I went into South Pacific after Penny Plain, but not for very long because I had an opportunity to go to America.
Hugh Martin (music), Jack Gray / Timothy Gray (lyrics)
Love from Judy was the musical version of Daddy Longlegs, which Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray wrote.
it takes me back to those great days when there was the Café de Paris and all the marvellous artists who appeared there and many games of Canasta that we all used to play.
The Trolley SongFavourite
I would love to have been Judy Garland when I was young, so I have to have her singing the trolley song. Also, because it was written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine, and I afterwards worked for a musical that Hugh wrote.
this is a reminder of an absolutely brilliant lady, Joyce Grenfell.
takes me back to my youth… reminds me of my father. He used to sing funny songs and this man did an awful lot of them.
during all those weeks you heard any number of opera singers. Sadly not this one, because I think perhaps he was he was too young then. But I would have on my island Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma.
Maybe this is the one that I would play as I left the island.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:08Did any theatrical tradition run in your family?
Not as such. My mother always wanted to be an actress, but her father wouldn't let her, and she's always been a very keen amateur actress, and I think that's uh she's encouraged me, you know.
Presenter asks
0:23Where did you study [to become an actress]?
I studied at um Rada, and before that I studied privately with a lovely lady in Streatham called Miss Massey, who I believe also coached uh Dame Edith Evans at one time.
Presenter asks
0:37As a student, what parts did you want to play?
As a student, I didn't have much choice because there was a war on, and they were very short of men. And we always seemed to be doing Shakespearean numbers, and I was sort of second gravedigger in Hamlet and Peter Quince in Midsummer Night's Dream. And you know, if there was any sort of old rubbish, I seemed to do it … I think very early on … if I had any dreams of being uh Ophelia, that other people had other ideas, and I thought, well, Really, they might laugh anyway, so it's really much better to do something they're meant to laugh at.
The keepsakes
The luxury
my alternative would be uh an endless supply of cocoa butter to keep the sun off.
Presenter asks
8:13Which [male] comics appealed particularly to your own sense of humour?
That's a very tricky one. I love Morecambe and Wise. Haven't worked with them.
Presenter asks
8:47Why do you think there are so few female comedy practitioners?
I really don't know. I I've never asked myself. I'm just delighted that there are very few.
Presenter asks
9:11Is [your daughter Susy] going to follow in mama's footsteps?
I think she might. She has leanings in that direction. But I tell her to Get a few O levels and A levels under a belt first, just in case. In fact, my father, my Yorkshire father, you know, every time I took him a bigger and better contract, he used to say, I hope you're keeping up your shorthand and typing.
Presenter asks
1:23Have you never wanted to be the star, the one who gets all the laughs?
I don't think I really have. If anyone had pressured me into it, I probably would have had a go. But nobody ever has, and I've been quite happy to sail along as number two, you know?
Presenter asks
2:26Who has been the funniest? Who's the one with whom you've corpsed the most?
Eric and Ernie and Eric Morecambe just finished me. I mean… No, he is a real corpse. So Dick Emery was another one. And dear old Arthur Askey, he made me giggle a lot.
Presenter asks
5:35Were you always set on going on the stage?
I think I grew up with a conviction that I would, mainly because my mother was a very keen amateur actress and her father wouldn't let her go on the stage and I think she was determined that I would.
Presenter asks
12:43Tell me about the Glums, and how that came about.
The glums came about when I was in Love from Judy… I was suggested for the great list of people to replace Joy Nichols in Take It From Here. And one day I had a phone call at home… And in the end they wisely decided to take her for the singing and me for the talking. … Eth was just a sketch that came in one time. It was just this family that they'd written about. And it somehow took off.
Presenter asks
15:55Do you think those kinds of shows could still survive today?
I mean, the writing of Take It From Here was witty and pani and silly. And I love that sort of humor. And you know, one has to say, it was never filthy. They didn't have to use four letter words the whole time. They make people laugh without doing that, which I think is cleverer, really.
Presenter asks
29:07How would you sum up what your professional life has given you?
a tremendous satisfaction from hearing people laugh. I mean, that gives me more than anything. But people say, don't you want to play some grand tragedian or a part? Not really. I think life is quite hard enough, and I think it's marvellous to have been able to have been part of making people laugh.
“I think very early on … if I had any dreams of being uh Ophelia, that other people had other ideas, and I thought, well, Really, they might laugh anyway, so it's really much better to do something they're meant to laugh at.”
“I've never met anyone who knew so much about everybody's job and could do it better than they could. You know, wonderful man.”
“I've never met anyone who knew so much about everybody's job and could do it better than they could. You know, wonderful man.”
“if I can't go to sleep I start counting comics instead of sheep. So we go, you know, Arthur Askey, Bernard Braden, Charlie Chester, Frankie Howerd, Tony Hancock, Ben Hill, Terry Scott.”
“My father, my Yorkshire father, you know, every time I took him a bigger and better contract, he used to say, I hope you're keeping up your shorthand and typing.”
“I don't think I really have. If anyone had pressured me into it, I probably would have had a go. But nobody ever has, and I've been quite happy to sail along as number two, you know?”
“Eric and Ernie and Eric Morecambe just finished me. I mean… No, he is a real corpse.”
“I think I grew up with a conviction that I would, mainly because my mother was a very keen amateur actress and her father wouldn't let her go on the stage and I think she was determined that I would.”
“I suddenly thought this is Terry and June and I the tears ran down my face.”
“I think the only advice I'd ever give anybody is take what comes. Don't hang on for the big moment, because it may never come. So take what comes and see what you can do with it.”
“a tremendous satisfaction from hearing people laugh. I mean, that gives me more than anything.”