Carry On Faces in Different Places: Sailor Beware!

Here we go with a brand new series of blogs looking at some of the cream of British comedy film making from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Although this blog is all about the Carry Ons, believe it or not, there were some other joyous comedy films made away from Peter Rogers Productions. However, given the quality of the actors Peter employed to make his series, it's no wonder that most of them popped up elsewhere.

So far I've looked at the wonderful 1959 crime caper Too Many Crooks , the 1954 domestic comedy starring Dirk Bogarde, For Better For Worse , the big screen spin off Please Sir! and the wonderful Up Pompeii and the brilliant John Gregson and Diana Dors vehicle, Value for Money.
  
Today we're going to cover another classic British comedy film, Sailor Beware! a 1956 British romantic comedy film directed by Gordon Parry. It was released as Panic in the Parlor in the United States.

The film is an adaptation of the successful stage play of the same name. It follows the story of a sailor betrothed to be married, but wary that home-life may echo that of her parents: a hen-pecked husband and battle-axe mother.

Carry On Faces?

The star of the film is the wonderful, larger than life Peggy Mount. Peggy had played the role of Emma Hornett on the stage and it became the role which made her name. Peggy would of course go on to star with Sid James in the ITV sitcom George and the Dragon. Playing Peggy's daughter is Carry On original Shirley Eaton. We all know Shirley from her roles in Carry On Sergeant, Nurse and Constable. Playing Aunt Edie Hornett (more on her later) is the gorgeous Esma Cannon, who added energy and laughter to four Carry Ons - Constable, Regardless, Cruising and Cabby.

Also, look out for Ronald Lewis as Albert Tufnell. Although Ronald never appeared in a Carry On, he did work for Gerald Thomas and Peter Rogers in two films - Twice Round The Daffodils and Nurse On Wheels, both opposite Juliet Mills. You can read more about why I think Ronald should have made a Carry On here: Carry On Blogging: When Leslie and Terence Didn't Carry On

And I can't finish without mentioning the wonderful Gordon Jackson, seen here playing Albert's friend Carnoustie Bligh. Gordon, a long-time friend of Kenneth Williams, has always been a favourite of mine, for his roles in films like The Great Escape and Whisky Galore to television in The Professionals and Upstairs, Downstairs.

What's it about?

Royal Navy sailor Albert Tufnell is to marry Shirley Hornett the next day. He and his best man, fellow sailor Carnoustie Bligh, travel to the Hornett household.

However, Albert begins to have second thoughts when he spends the day with her family. He has no problem with her father Henry or with meek spinster aunt Edie, but her domineering mother Emma is another matter entirely. (Meanwhile, Carnoustie and Shirley's beautiful cousin Daphne Pink are attracted to each other.) When Albert announces that he and Carnoustie are going to see their pals that night, Emma objects strenuously, as does Shirley, but they go anyway. Later, Emma sends Henry to fetch them, but it is they who have to bring back a thoroughly drunk Henry.

Edie lets slip plans for the couple to live in a house three doors away, plans made without consulting the bridegroom. Albert gives Shirley a chance to inform him, but she does not do so, which concerns him.

Best Bit?

Without a doubt the best bit of this film is the character of Edie Hornett, played by the glorious Esma Cannon. Esma appeared in many, many films during her career but often was restricted to cameo roles or small supporting parts. In Sailor Beware, Esma has a brilliant starring role and works so well with Peggy Mount. The very visual different in their stature and shape provides instant comedy but of course, the way the characters look is also reflected in the way they behave. I love Esma's dithery, twittery performance - it's an absolute joy.

Did you know?

The film features an uncredited performance from a young Michael Caine. Very new to the profession and in one of his earliest appearances on film, Michael plays a Sailor who can be seen very briefly, so keep your eyes peeled!

There are also uncredited roles for future stars Henry McGee, playing a milkman and future Good Life and Yes Minister star Paul Eddington, playing a Bearded Sailor. 

  
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Joan Carries on in The Naked Truth

 

I've just caught up with one of my favourite old comedy films from the 1950s, the superb The Naked Truth. The film, first released in 1957, is yet another classic comedy shown on the brilliant Talking Pictures Television. I saw The Naked Truth many years ago but it has not been shown on terrestrial telly for ages, a great shame I think. 

Featuring an all star cast including Peter Sellers, Peggy Mount, Terry-Thomas, Dennis Price, Joan Sims and Shirley Eaton, this Mario Zampi film tells the story of the attempted blackmail of several high profile public figures and their collective attempts to basically bump him off! This film is a little-known classic of its kind and definitely deserves much more acclaim due to the calibre of its cast and the quality of the script. The film fairly whips alone, shot in glorious black and white and featuring just the right mix of clever dialogue, sparkling performances and out and out slapstick.

At the centre of the tale is the slimy Dennis Price, playing very much to type as the slippery blackmailer Mr Dennis. His targets are a rum bunch of comedy favourites. Terry-Thomas plays a caddish Lord who is trying to hush up many ill deeds from his suspicious and disapproving wife, Georgina Cookson. Peter Sellers plays "Little Sonny MacGregor" a rather twee Scottish(!) television personality with a dubious sideline as an East End landlord. Shirley Eaton is the glamorous model Melissa Wright, again attempting to hide shocking scandals; while the glorious Peggy Mount plays crime writer Flora Ransome, desperate to hide a past of ill repute! 

 

When such a cast is involved it's hard to pick out favourites but I do love Sellers in this film. His role as MacGregor allows him many Goon-like touches, particularly a wonderful range of silly voices pretty much taken from some of his radio performances. He also glories in a range of absurd disguises and characters with many dodgy fake noses and beards involved in the deception! It's a tour de force and no doubt this film led to him starring in many of the wonderful film comedies that followed.

At the heart of The Naked Truth is the great double act of Peggy Mount and Joan Sims as her timid daughter and unwilling accomplice, Ethel. Joan is very much the downtrodden character doing all her scheming mother's donkey work which involves mistakingly drugging Terry-Thomas, carting about a heavy trunk from pillar to post and even a dunk in the river! Poor Joan, always suffering for her art. Peggy and Joan are superb and I only wish they had acted together again in other pictures. Joan is eye-catching in her supporting turn, twitching and twittering with beautiful comic timing. Although only 27 at the time and capable of much more glamorous performances, this is an early indication of Joan's willingness and natural ability to tackle a wide range of challenging character parts.

Joan herself mentioned The Naked Truth in her autobiography, High Spirits. In her memoirs Joan fondly recalled working on the film with her fellow cast mates and obviously saw it as a turning point in her career. At the time she had been playing a series of small-ish cameos in a never ending stream of British films. With The Naked Truth she moved into more substantial featured roles and within a year she would make her debut with the Carry On team in Carry On Nurse as Stella Dawson. Joan also became friendly with the director and producer of the film, the Italian Mario Zampi. Sims and Zampi got on like a house on fire with Joan even joining Mario and his wife on holiday in Italy once the film had been completed. 

 

So if you get the chance, do check out The Naked Truth. It's well worth a go!



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They just don't make them like they used to!

It's a question I often ask myself but it seems the likes of Joan Hickson, Joan Sims and Irene Handl really just aren't around any more. For me this is very sad. I understand that for years they dominated the very best of British film and television and that they could not be around for ever. It's just such a shame that nobody has really come along to continue their legacy. 

The Carry Ons made the very most of some of our wonderful, formidable character comedy ladies. Joan Sims, one of the very finest, starred in twenty four of the films while her close friend Hattie Jacques was also a leading player. The films also featured some amazing talent in smaller roles or guest spots. The likes of Patsy Rowlands, Joan Hickson, June Whitfield, Pat Coombs, Esma Cannon, Marianne Stone and Renee Houston appeared time and time again and really were just a cut above. Reliable, dependable yes, but also stars in their own right. The audience knew what to expect and the producers, keen on watching the pennies, knew what they were getting. They quite simply added class to everything they appeared in and saved many a dodgy production!

Three of the best as far as I am concerned are the late great Peggy Mount, Irene Handl and Esma Cannon. Peggy never made a Carry On however she did work closely with Sid James for several years in the brilliant ITV comedy, George and The Dragon. They loved working together and it showed. Peggy also starred in the wonderful 1956 film Sailor Beware alongside familiar Carry On faces Cannon and Shirley Eaton. Irene Handl did pop up, albeit briefly in two early Carry Ons - as Bill Owen' bumbling wife in Carry On Nurse and a year later, as a distraught mother looking for her Willy in Carry On Constable. Irene made countless film appearances at the time, one of my absolute favourites being that of Fred Kite's wife in I'm All Right Jack. 

Finally the delightful, diminutive Esma Cannon, long a favourite of mine. Her four Carry On roles (Constable, Regardless, Cruising and Cabby) were an absolute joy and she brought a unique contribution to so many British films over the years. Something of a mysterious, private figure, she suddenly retired from the profession at the peak of her fame in the mid 1960s. I really wish she had stayed with the Carry Ons for a few more films.

Anyway, I digress. The clip below is not actually from a Carry On, it's from the 1960 comedy, Inn for Trouble. The film stars reliable names in Leslie Phillips and Charles Hawtrey, but for me the three wonderful character actresses featured below steal the show. So sit back and enjoy some peerless comedy acting from Irene, Peggy and Esma. They don't make them like that anymore maybe, but at least we can still enjoy their fantastic legacy.

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How They Came To Carry On ... Shirley Eaton

 

The glamorous girl next door Shirley Eaton enlivened several early, rather coy black and white Carry On films. She was the young female lead in the very first in the series, Carry On Sergeant, playing Mary Sage, the new young wife of lead character Charlie, played by Bob Monkhouse.

In a very male dominated National Service comedy, Eaton's performance stood out and it was no surprise to see her back later in 1958 for a starring role in the smash hit, Carry On Nurse. Released in 1959, Nurse performed strongly not just in the United Kingdom but also on the other side of the Atlantic. As Nurse Dorothy Denton, Shirley shone and her romantic storyline alongside Terence Longdon added a strong backbone to all the knockabout comedy provided by the likes of Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams and Joan Sims. Shirley made her final Carry On in late 1959 when she came back to Pinewood for a cameo role as Sally Barry in the police comedy, Carry On Constable.

 

Shirley only had two or three scenes in Constable, however Rogers and Thomas were obviously keen to feature as many familiar actors in the film as possible. Her scenes with Leslie Phillips were great fun and the pair had delicious chemistry. Sadly Shirley did not appear in any further Carry Ons. I remember the actress saying she didn't think the characters she played would have fitted with later, ruder entries in the series, and I can understand that. However I wish she had appeared in a few more early 1960s Carry Ons. Of course Eaton retired from acting by 1969 so there would have no 1970s Carry Ons for her anyway. 

However, what brought Shirley Eaton to the attention of the Carry On producers in the first place? How did she come to Carry On? Acting from a very young age, Shirley trained at the Aida Foster's school in North London, taking to the stage as a girl. Breaking into television in the early days of the medium, Shirley appeared frequently with the duo of Terry Scott and Bill Maynard in Great Scott! It's Maynard! Before Shirley came to work for Peter Rogers, she first of all acted in films produced by his wife, the legendary Betty Box. 

Shirley has spoken of how Betty spotted her playing the small role of a harem girl in the 1954 comedy film You Know What Sailors Are. On the basis of that small role, Box cast Shirley in the first ever Doctor comedy, Doctor in the House, released later that same year. Playing the small role of Milly Groaker, Shirley shared scenes with Dirk Bogarde as Simon Sparrow and Joan Hickson, playing her mother. This eye-catching guest role led to Box casting Eaton in a further Doctor film, Doctor At Large, in 1957. In this film she had the larger role of Nurse Nan McPherson. There is no doubt that becoming a reliable actress in the Doctor comedies played a part in Rogers and Thomas adding Eaton to the line up for their own fledgling comedy series.

If Peter Rogers went regularly to the cinema in the 1950s, and I believe both he and Gerald Thomas did, he would have seen Shirley star in a further two important and popular broad comedy films. The first of these, Sailor Beware! was a translation of Falkland Carey's successful stage play. Eaton played Shirley Hornett and the film centred on the plans for her wedding to Albert Tufnell, played by future Nurse On Wheels star, Ronald Lewis. Peggy Mount played the formidable mother, Emma and she was ably assisted by the likes of Esma Cannon, Gordon Jackson and Geoffrey Keen. The film was a huge success as was the wonderful comedy The Naked Truth, released in 1957.

 

The Naked Truth is a glorious British comedy, directed by Mario Zampi. The Naked Truth sees the editor of a famous scandal magazine and focuses on the attempts of various high profile figures to despatch the troublesome Nigel Dennis, before he can ruin their careers. Dennis played by the reliably suave Dennis Price. Shirley Eaton plays the young starlet Melissa Right and is given superb support by the likes of Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Joan Sims and Peggy Mount. Quite a cast! 

Given the films Shirley was making and the people she was working with, it was surely only a matter of time before she worked for Peter Rogers. Of course this is all with the benefit of hindsight, but I'm glad Peter did cast Shirley in those early Carry Ons. In doing so he began a fond tradition of the Carry On blonde. While the likes of Liz Fraser, Angela Douglas and Barbara Windsor would follow, Shirley Eaton was the first and a proper Carry On original.

 

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Sid's Sitcom Successes: George and the Dragon

The other week I began a short series of blogs looking at some of Sid James' many successful situation comedies. Sid became a star of the small screen thanks to his many years as Tony Hancock's right hand man. He branched out on his own in the early 1960s and never looked back. 

I have already reminisced about the classic 70s domestic comedy, Bless This House. Today though I am going back a little bit further, to 1966 to be exact. Do you remember that wonderful comedy series, George and The Dragon?

George and the Dragon ran for four wonderful series on ITV between 1966 and 1968. The basic premise of the show was quite simple. Sid played to type - the loveable rogue, always up to no good with a dodgy past to boot. His nemesis came in the formidable form of Peggy Mount, again playing to type as the gorgon who took no prisoners! Sid was George, the chauffeur and handyman to John Le Mesurier's rather posh Colonel Maynard (again playing to type). Peggy was Gabrielle Dragon, Maynard's housekeeper. She was employed after George had seen off sixteen previous housekeepers with his rather dubious behaviour! Making up the cast was Keith Marsh as the gardener.

The entire series was pretty much made up of George attempting to get away with murder and Gabrielle always catching him out or suspecting he was up to no good. George was normally trying to get rid of the Dragon in an attempt to bring in someone more to his tastes. Sid is very much the Sidney Balmoral James of the Hancock era here and that's absolutely fine, it's a role he plays to perfection. Peggy Mount is more than able for him though and gives Sid a serious run for his money. From the episodes I've seen Mount is most definitely the star of the show.

It is evident from watching the series that James and Mount got on. They were quoted in the press both during and after the series was made highlighting just how well they got on. Peggy found Sid very affable and easy to work with while Sid claimed that Peggy reminded him of his mother! I hope Ms Mount took that as a compliment!

After four series, Sid moved on to another successful project while Peggy Mount would go on to continue her successful stage career. Sadly, Sid suffered his first bout of ill health during the filming of George and The Dragon. During the filming of the second series in 1967, Sid suffered a heart attack which put him out of action for a time. This meant he missed Carry On Follow That Camel and was subsequently only able to film a supporting turn (mainly in bed) in the next Carry On in the series, Doctor, later that year. 

Thankfully, unlike many similar series from that golden era of British television, George and The Dragon survives in its entirety in the archives and has been released on DVD. Sadly it's yet another of those old black and white series we just don't see broadcast any more, either on terrestrial television or on one of those channels claiming to show classic series. 

You can relive episode one of George and the Dragon here:

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