Sunday 30 January 2011

Carry on Sex


I take pleasure in new discoveries, of books, of movies, of places, of ideas and of people. Thanks to a fellow blogger called Glen, who, amongst other things, writes about individuals and events associated with Kent, his home county (Kent Today & Yesterday), I became aware of Hattie, a biopic about the late Hattie Jacques, a British comedy actress, broadcast earlier this month by the BBC.

I confess the name meant nothing to me, though in fact I recognised her from watching occasional appearances in episodes of Hancock’s Half Hour, a classic comedy show which I bought on DVD last summer with the intention of reviewing. In contrast I remembered John Le Mesurier, her husband and fellow actor, quite clearly from television repeats of an old sitcom called Dad’s Army, focusing on the comic antics of a Home Guard unit during the Second World War. In this he played Sergeant Wilson, a rather louche, languid sort of chap, obviously public school, a sharp and amusing counter-point to Captain Mainwaring, the pompous and pretentious lower-middle class commander, so obviously discomforted by his subordinate’s effortless social superiority.

I finally managed to see Hattie on BBC iPlayer, followed by a brief spot of research on Jacques herself. A fat, matronly sort of figure, she clearly played up to this, making her name in a long run of British comedy films with the title of Carry On this, that or the other. I mean no disrespect when I say that these movies are prime examples of British working class humour, lots of double entendres and sexual references of a sort of naughty seaside postcard variety, the kind of thing that does not, I imagine, travel all that well.


Hattie, which I take to be a true account of part of the actress’ life, focused principally on a love affair she had with one John Schofield, such a contrast in every way with Le Mesurier, lower class and roughly spoken, not at all the gentleman.

Now, I should say that I’m not easily discomforted when it comes to matters concerning sexual relationships. I’m tolerant of others and I’m adventurous myself. Having said that, I found the relationship between the three people depicted in the drama risible and oddly bizarre. If I say that Schofield, by his own demand, moved in to the master bedroom with Hattie in her own home, while Le Mesurier was shuffled off to the attic, all while their two young sons were living under the same roof, you may have some idea why I felt like this.

She wanted John to stay; he did not want to go; he did not want to damage her career by the scandal of a divorce. But, my goodness, surely the persona of the unflustered gentleman can be pushed too far? What kind of man, I have to ask, would tolerate such a situation in his own home; what kind of woman would find such an arrangement tolerable? Am I being naïve; are there people like this; is there some kind of vicarious sexual pleasure in humiliation? I felt both sorry for Le Mesurier, for his discomfiture, and angry, for his lack of assertiveness, at one and the same time.

In the end, for all the sexual novelty, the whole silly ménage a trios was just so chintz curtains, furry lavatory seats and mock-Tudor suburbia, all so vulgar and petty-bourgeois, a farcical and comic slice of real life that might very well have served as a script for a Carry On movie.

29 comments:

  1. There was a golden age of English comedy, from around the end of WW2 until about 1980. Music Hall entertainment evolved into new forms for film, wireless, and television and there was plenty of talent to fill the new niches. It's well worth exploring the full range . . . not just because it offers a fascinating sidelight on social and political events and attitudes of the period . . . but because they are still incredibly funny. Future scholars of arts, history, politics, sociology, will mine the riches of English comedy for generations - and have a lot more fun than the poor sods exploring the deserts of kitchen sink drama and social realism. Don't look back in anger, have a good laugh, instead.

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  2. This gives me an unpleasant feeling too (though of course biopics can never be trusted). John Le Mesurier was an icon of a certain period of English film and TV. Sad that his carefully cultivated persona has been sullied. I want to draw a larger lesson from all this, but can't quite frame it... Something about the real reality being the fiction? No. Arthur Lowe (who played Captain Mainwaring) never took his scripts home to learn. "Wouldn't have that rubbish in my house," he said (or words to that effect).

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  3. Calvin, yes, you are right. The Carry On genre doesn't appeal to me but there is still a lot of good stuff. I've been enjoying my forays into Hancock's Half Hour, a gentler, more naive yet somehow more authentic comedy than I am used to. Hattie seems to be part of a general debunking of old cultural icons. Last year I saw similar dramas, one based on the life of Enid Blyton and other the traumas behind the making of Steptoe and Son, another classic comedy.

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  5. Mark, yes, I agree that biopics should be treated with caution (poetic licence and all that), though the substance seems to be largely correct here, at least according to Robin le Mesurier, their son.

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  7. Some bad people take advantage of others, but love never must endure this treatment, John Le Mesurier should did not right thing because he must moved away his wife but who knows what he was thinking, life sometimes is not fair but I believe all three were not happy, for the fault of Hattie and the weakness of John, but a couple of times love make you fall in strange situations, equal nothing justify this form of live. A kiss. Mario.

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  8. Since this is the first time to my knowledge that I have ever written about Hattie Jacques I'm not quite sure how "mocking her personal life" has become "something of a religious past time" for me. Thank you very much for your past contributions, which I have valued.

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  9. Mario, can you get BBC iPlayer where you are? It's still showing.

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  10. I dont know, I dont know how use BBC Iplayer, It is 12: 30 am in England ah? What city of England?, here in my country is 3:34 am.

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  11. Mario, it's now 8.40 in the morning here. Just Google BBC iPlayer and then pick TV and look for Hattie. It may not be available in your region though.

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  12. Yes, I tried. It is not available in my region. But it is interesting, like a movie, maybe in the future I can see it about the crude life of comedian Hattie Jacques. I am going to sleep, tomorrow I must wake up to 8: 00 am. A big kiss.
    Mario.

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  13. Back in the day, the carry on films, Monty Python Etc. I would attribute a great part of my irreverence on the English,as I spent a great deal of time watching "Benny Hill" I couldn't get enough!, loved it!.

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  16. Anthony, you really surprise me. I honestly thought that this type of British humour did not travel at all well. American humour is generally quite different.

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  17. Rehan, it was indeed. Did you really mean to write that you could understand someone being cuckolded like this? :-)

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  18. If love did not exist in so many different varieties, religions would not need to waste so much time proscribing most of them. Actors are performers, in all kinds of ways, and they didn't come by their reputation by accident. All artists are non-standard by definition . . . and most scientists, too. To pretend otherwise is willful disregard of evidence in plain view.

    Meanwhile, the play Hattie is a work of drama. Whatever truth it contains has been filtered through memory, the dramatist, the actors, and the director. It would be dangerous to mistake it for life.

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  19. Calvin, I have no argument with that, though here the factual basis seems to be sound. I hope I'm not being judgemental - that's the last thing I wanted -, it's just that the arrangement struck me not just as unconventional but ludicrous. Still, if that's how they wanted to live.

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  20. Our local PBS public broadcasting systen, carries ouite a bit of BBC programing, educational and world travel, arts and nature programs as well.

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  21. I'm sure that there is plenty of evidence for the domestic arrangements as described - but given our knowledge of the private lives of other artists I'm simply surprised anyone is surprised! Perhaps I've had more contact with performers and artists than many people have. I recall during the 1980s and 1990s how many people were stunned by revelations that well-known performers were gay - but that particular closet has been open most of your life.

    Have you seen "Prick Up Your Ears" - a movie about the life of playwright Joe Orton? Now, there was a fellow with an unusual private life.

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  22. Does that have Alexi Sayle as Kenneth Halliwell? If so, yes, I have. Actually, Calvin, I love biopics, biographies of all sorts, true or not. :-)

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  23. Gosh, Ana, this is a story from the swinging sixties when discussion about open relationships of all kinds, including the ménage à trois, was fleetingly de rigueur.

    I think there was more than just a whiff of S&M about those couples that actually dabbled.

    But then, I speak only for the Kings Road, Chelsea and environs :-)

    PS - technical hitch - my second attempt to post - not sure of the outcome from your end!

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  24. CI, not much has changed on the King's Road, except people are much more open about their pastimes. :-)) I'm glad you made it through.

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  25. Yes, I can, Ana. Very Strange arrangement though. Reminds me of the family set-up of the Agapemonites.

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  26. Ah, right, thanks for that clarification. :-)

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  27. Hi Ana, your post has certainly prompted plenty of comments :-)

    Glen

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  28. Including yours, Glen. :-) Thanks so much for drawing my attention to this drama. I would have missed it otherwise.

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