This is part of a new series of blogs looking back at the stars of the original Carry On film, Carry On Sergeant. 2018 marks 60 years since Sergeant was made and released so what better time to turn the focus on all those brilliant actors who brought our favourite series of comedy films to life? I'm continuing today with an actor who became a household name in the 1970s for a legendary situation comedy, Jack Smethurst.
Role in Carry On Sergeant: First Recruit
Other Carry On roles: Sergeant was Jack's very first film role. Sadly he didn't appear in any further Carry Ons although he did play a Sailor in Watch Your Stern in 1960, produced by Peter Rogers and directed by Gerald Thomas.
Other notable film performances: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) as a Waiter; A Kind of Loving (1962) as Conroy; Please Sir! (1971) as Bus Driver; For the Love of Ada (1972) as Leslie Pollitt; Man About The House (1974) as himself and Chariots of Fire (1981) as a Sleeping Car Attendant.
Best remembered for: Jack Smethurst is best remembered for his long running role as "socialist bigot" Eddie Booth in the Thames Television comedy series Love Thy Neighbour. The show ran to 54 episodes a feature film between 1972 and 1976.
Did you know?: Jack appeared in four different roles in ITV soap Coronation Street between 1961 and 2001. He played a drayman in 1961; an out of work man who conned Elsie Tanner in 1967; a bin man friend of Eddie Yeats who appeared for three years in the early 1980s and finally as an allotment keeper during the summer of 2001.
What happened to him?: Jack is thankfully still with us at the age of 86.
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 Crooksand the 1954 domestic comedy starring Dirk Bogarde, For Better For Worse Today we're moving away from the 1950s to cover another classic British comedy film, this time from 1971. The hit school-based sitcom Please Sir! had been running very successfully on the small screen since 1968. This being the era of the big screen spin off, it was only a matter of time before Please Sir! made its way to the cinema.
Who's in it?
Please Sir! stars John Alderton as teacher Bernard Hedges and features a supporting cast of Noel Howlett, Joan Sanderson, Erik Chitty, Richard Davies, Peter Cleall and David Barry.
Carry On Faces?
Deryck Guyler reprises his role as the janitor Potter. He appeared in a cameo role in Carry On Doctor as well as featured roles in Nurse On Wheels and The Big Job. Carol Hawkins grabs her first starring role in a film here as Sharon, going on to enliven Carry On Abroad, Behind and two episodes of Carry On Laughing. Patsy Rowlands, already part of the Carry On team by this stage, plays domestic science teacher Angela Cutforth. There are also cameos from Jack Smethurst (who played a recruit in Carry On Sergeant) and Brenda Cowling (Carry On Girls and Behind).
What's it about?
The film expands on the same themes from the television series. A bunch of overgrown, unruly inner city London school children battling through life with the help of their green around the gills teacher, Hedges. Bernard Hedges continues to battle against the strict authority of Miss Ewell (brilliantly played by the peerless Joan Sanderson). The film takes the established characters out of their usual classroom based surroundings at Fenn Street as the cast goes on an outward bound week where they clash with rival schools and cause all sorts of havoc. The outward bound location looks very much like Black Park, next to Pinewood Studios ;) The film also introduces Bernard's future wife Penny (Jill Kerman, who would go on to play Maggie, the florist who came between Ken and Mike in Coronation Street) while he bats off the advances of a very eager Miss Cutforth -Patsy Rowlands on terrific form. The film is harmless early 70s fluff, entirely good natured and suitable for all.
Best Bit?
For me the highlight of the film is the unrequited love Patsy Rowlands' character has for Hedges. It runs throughout the film and it's deftly, affectionately played comedy brought to life by two great actors in Rowlands and Alderton. Sadly Patsy wasn't a regular in the television series as I'm sure she would have added a great deal! It's also good to see Patsy given more to do in a film - at the time her roles in the Carry Ons were very uneven and often reduced to a maddeningly small amount of screen time. In Please Sir!, Patsy is a joy.
Did you know?
Carol Hawkins replaced Penny Spencer who had played the character of Sharon in the original television series. After her breakthrough role in this film, Carol would play Sharon again in the Please Sir! spin off The Fenn Street Gang, which followed the antics of the Fenn Street pupils in the world after school. It ran until 1973.
Also, watch out for a very brief appearance from future EastEnders actor Todd Carty as a young school boy who has a bit of an accident in the assembly at the very start of the film!
The film also boasts a very catchy theme tune, very much of its time:
A few weeks ago I finally got to view some of the interviews which formed part of the wonderful Take Two series filmed at Elstree Studios for Talking Pictures TV. The series sees Elstree's Chairman and well-known film and television historian and broadcaster Morris Bright bring some famous faces from Elstree's past back to the studios to chat about their lives and career.
It's a joy to hear more from these actors, many of whom have Carry On connections. So far I've seen five of the interviews and they are all superb and wonderfully entertaining. So here's a quick review of some of my favourites.
The first episode I watched featured Carry On favourite Angela Douglas. Angela is a beloved star of four Carry Ons and a real fan favourite with a long and successful career in film, television and stage. She was also married to the great actor Kenneth More until his death in 1982. Angela reminisced about her time working at Elstree on the likes of The Avengers and Jason King as well the brilliant children's comedy film Digby, The Biggest Dog in the World with Carry On co-star Jim Dale. She also talks about her friendships with the likes of Kenneth Williams and Peter Butterworth. Angela speaks very fondly about her marriage to Kenneth More and the story of how her autobiography, Swings and Roundabouts, came to be.
You can read my blog interview with Angela Douglas here
Next up was the gorgeous Valerie Leon, star of six Carry Ons as well as two Bond films and the lead in the classic Hammer Horror film, Blood From The Mummy's Tomb. It's always great to hear from Valerie and it was great to hear both how she started in the business and what she would like to do next. It was also fascinating to hear more about her marriage to the late BBC producer Michael Mills.
You can read my blog interview with Valerie Leon here
Another episode which is well worth a watch features Morris chatting with Love Thy Neighbour star Jack Smethurst. I had forgotten that Jack actually features in a small role in the very first Carry On, Carry On Sergeant in 1958. I remember seeing Jack pop up several times in Coronation Street over the years but this interview highlighted what a diverse career he has had with a bit of everything from Arthur Miller plays and For The Love of Ada with Irene Handl to A Kind of Loving and Casualty!
Two others to quickly mention - the gorgeous Madeline Smith chats with great relish about how she became an actress back in the 1960s and with great fondness about working with Frankie Howerd on the film version of Up Pompeii. It was great to hear Madeline say how thrilled she was to be in Carry On Matron and how she wished she had done more of the films. I would have liked that too! You can read my blog interview with Madeline here.
And finally, Goldfinger and Carry On Nurse actress Shirley Eaton goes back over her long career in film and television which takes in so many classic British titles. It was really interesting to hear why Shirley decided to retire from films at such a young age in 1969 but I'm glad she is still a presence in the business today. So if you haven't yet checked out this great series of interviews, please do. Let's hope another series is in the offing.
You can read Part 1 of my recent interview with Morris Bright here and Part 2 here You can follow Talking Picture TV on Twitter: here Morris Bright is on Twitter here Elstree Studios is on Twitter here
As
you know, I like to keep fellow Carry On fans up to date with the
latest news on all of our favourite Carry On actors. There have been
announcements on public appearances from Valerie Leon and Fenella
Fielding recently and now here's something for all fans of the lovely
Angela Douglas.
Angela,
the star of Carry On Cowboy, Screaming, Follow That Camel and Up The
Khyber, will be appearing at "What Another Carry On in Ealing" on Sunday
25 September. This event is being organised by the fabulous "The
Whippit Inn" team (do check them out on Facebook!). Angela will be
attending to talk about her long and illustrious career in film,
television and on the stage and will be sharing memories of her time
working with the Carry On team. Joining Angela will be Carry On Sergeant actor Jack Smethurst and Carry On Nurse actress Christine Ozanne.
The
event will take place at The Grange in Ealing. According to the
announcement on Facebook, further guests will be announced shortly as
well as information on how to book tickets for the event. I will keep my
eyes peeled and update this blog as soon as more information becomes
available.
I
am a massive fan of Angela, love her performances in the Carry Ons,
really enjoyed her autobiography and it's great to see her on Twitter.
Sadly I missed out on the last event she took part in up at Elstree so
hopefully I'll make it along to a Carry On in Ealing in September!
