Carry on Love.
Very little makes me happier than an afternoon watching any of the Carry On films. I have bought the box set twice, and I record them from the television and watch them on a loop. They are nostalgia, happiness and silliness in equal measures. This past week I watched an old episode of This is Your Life featuring Hattie Jacques. Clearly a well loved woman, it was at times bizarre (a beloved chimp co-star), compassionate (Hattie was President for the East London Spastic Society) and as her husband sat beside, difficult and a little sad. Their home-life at the time was in turmoil, yet despite this, each made a valiant effort to keep up appearances.
Hattie Jacques.
Most of us of a certain age can picture Hattie Jacques without being shown her image. The Carry On female actors were broadly split between two types of women. The sexy, giggly sirens and the dour, frumpy wives and matriarchs. Hattie was, for the most part cast as the latter (with one exception being Carry On Camping, in which she is a flirtatious and giggly teacher, trying to lure an extremely reluctant Kenneth Williams into her bed).
She has played the boss of a taxi firm, a teacher, a nagging wife, a fiery Spanish cook, and arguably the most famous of all, several matrons, notably in Carry on Doctor, which was a huge success*.
Hattie was a mother hen to other cast members, becoming close to Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims and Charles Hawtrey. Joan describing her as both a sister and mother figure to her.
*The producer initially wanted Joan Sims to play this part, but Joan turned it down for a lesser role, arguing that Hattie’s performance in the role in Carry On Nurse, could not be bettered. Now there’s sisterhood for you.
Behind Closed Doors.
Hattie’s home was described by her friend Joan Le Mesurier as cosy and somewhere you would want to be. A keen cook and homemaker, away from the screen she was every bit the domestic goddess and hostess. But the bliss portrayed to millions of loyal Carry On fans, hid a far more unconventional set up.
In 1947 Hattie was introduced to the actor John Le Mesurier (later to find huge fame in Dad’s Army), John was married, but estranged from his first wife at the time. He and Hattie soon fell in love and a relationship began. In 1949 John was divorced from his first wife, and on the 10th of November that year, Hattie and John were married at Kensington Registry Office, followed by a honeymoon in Southsea.
In March 1953 Hattie gave birth to their first son, Robin. Followed by a second son, Kim in 1956. The images of a happy family were soon to be shattered when a certain cockney used car salesman called John Scofield, chauffeured Hattie to a charity event in 1962. Scofield was described as sexy, cheeky and charismatic. Hattie soon fell for his charms, as he lavished the attention on her, she felt was lacking from the much more sedate Le Mesurier.
By 1963 Schofield had moved in with Hattie and John, moving into Hattie’s bed, leaving John to retreat to the spare room. Desperate to keep his family together, John tried to wait it out, still loving Hattie, and also not wanting to leave his much loved children. It was during this time Hattie became the subject of Eamon Holmes’ This is Your Life. As was expected John was bought on to talk about Hattie, and knowing what was going on behind the scenes, it is a truly awkward moment on television.
Eventually John gave up on the idea of a reconciliation and moved out, proposing to a woman called Joan the very same day. John had met Joan previously at The Establishment Club in London and now John was finally ready to move on. Despite the pain around the breakup with Hattie, John Le Mesurier volunteered to name himself as the adulterer in the divorce proceedings, not Hattie. Even in turmoil he wanted to protect her, in a world that would not look fondly on a woman who dared to stray.
Shockingly for John, after only a few months together, Joan began a relationship with the comedian Tony Hancock and left John, only to return sometime after when Hancock’s drinking and violent outbursts became too much. They reconciled and remained married until John’s death in 1983. The pair also stayed close to Hattie until her untimely death at the age of 58 in 1980.
Life with John Schofield meanwhile became increasingly strained. In 1966 Hattie went to Rome to film with Peter Sellers. John joined her and began an affair with an Italian heiress and ended his and Hattie’s relationship. Hattie was, of course, devastated and didn’t cope well the rejection.
Despite personal pain and a turbulent domestic life, Hattie Jacques remained and remains a beloved figure in British cinema. There were of course many performances beyond the Carry On films, but it is these, slapstick, saucy, innuendo filled, funny films she will be most remembered and loved for, certainly by me anyway.
Sally-Anne x
The Clinic.
Here is the link to my debut novel, The Clinic, a dark story about women obsessed with losing weight, but at what cost?
