A friend of mine locally has just built this ‘pier’ at a lake nearby and it struck me immediately that I could just see Johnny Weissmuller sprint along this walkway and plunge headlong into the pool below – no doubt along with Crocs and Hippos – he would see the crocodiles off

That same friend – although not a film fan at all also acquired ths large scale model of a galleon that had been used in Hornblower.

BELOW – here it is floating on his pond – it is just small enough to fit

B

Starring Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo, Raoul Walsh’s 1951 adaptation of some of C.S. Forester’s classic seafaring novels is stirring stuff!

Here are some stills from the film – by no means one of my favourite films but OK

Filmed in Technicolor, and released by RKO Radio in their new Superscope wide screen process, this was

Dale Robertson who was borrowed from 20th Century Fox and Mari Blanchard borrowed from Universal starred but it was Vincent Price who stole the show

Plot: Sinbad, accompanied by his friend Omar Khayyam, is on the search for beautiful women and the legendary substance known as Greek Fire.

“Son of Sinbad” is a highly entertaining adventure with a funny story and a incredible cast of beautiful actresses, including Kim Novak in an uncredited role.

Son of Sinbad (1955)

Son of Sinbad (June 2, 1955)
Cast:        Dale Robertson as Sinbad
                Vincent Price as Omar Khayyam
                Sally Forest as Ameer
                Lili St. Cyr as Nerissa
                Mari Blanchard as Kristina
                Leon Askin as Khalif
                Jay Novello as Jiddah

Written by Jack Pollexfen, Aubrey Wisberg & Jeff Bailey
Directed by Ted Tetzlaff

In this film Sinbad is really more of a womaniser than an adventurer.

The real shining element here is Vincent Price, who is charming and very funny as Omar Khayyam. He’s basically a colleague of Sinbad but he ends up really being the star of the film. There is also the never ending array of scantily-clad women, including some very seductive dances. It’s a well-made and very colorful film, perfect matinee

Trivia:

• The film was shot in 1953 but delayed until 1955 due to Lili St. Cyr’s controversial belly dance. It was originally shot in 3D but by the time it was released, 3D was no longer popular and it was converted to the Superscope format. The dance scenes were supposedly censored but remain very risqué, especially for a film from the 1950s.
• While Vincent Price was only a supporting character in the film, his legendary status has helped elevate his performance as the standout of the film. He starred in this the same year House of Wax (1953) was released.
• Sally Forest is also known for The Strip (1951) with Mickey Rooney and The Strange Door (1951), also starring Charles Laughton and Boris Karloff.
• Mari Blanchard also played Queen Allura in Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953).
• Leon Askin is best known for his role of General Burkhalter in Hogan’s Heroes (1965-1971).
• Jay Novello had 207 film and TV credits, including The Lost World (1960) and The Mad Magician (1954), as well as countless television appearances.
• Kim Novak is uncredited as one of the harem girls. She made her film debut the same year this was filmed and is best remembered for such films as Picnic (1955), Vertigo (1958) and Bell, Book and Candle (1958).
• Woody Strode is uncredited as one of the palace guards. He had made his film debut in 1941 but was still a few years away from achieving greater recognition at the time this was filmed in 1953. He is best remembered for such films as Tarzan’s Three Challenges (1963), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Pork Chop Hill (1959).

After it’s initial very successful release way back in 1952 – then known by it’s full title ‘The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men’ – this film seemed to just be forgotten. It was re-released in the mid Seventies under it’a later title as a Double Feature with Scandalous John another Disney film but I seemed to have missed that release and until recently didn’t know about it.

So we then awaited a Video release which came about in 1986 – I remember buying it and seeing it again after all those years – I had never forgotten it. Wonderful !!

Now ‘Talking Pictures’ have taken on the film and it has been shown quite a few times. In fact it was shown on Sunday 25 May and I watched it again and this time concentrated more on Joan Rice’s acting having remembered the cruel comments about her from Ken Annakin and more so by Richard Todd. It is rare in my experience to hear such criticism of a fellow actor – even more cruel when I think that Joan Rice was only 20 years old when this film was made.

I published this a couple of years ago and since one of her best remembered films has just been shown it is probably more topical now.

Here it is again :-

THE BULLYING OF JOAN RICE

Yes – this is a hard hitting title I know but this is very much what I think when it comes to discussing the making of ‘The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men’ at Denham Film Studios in the summer of 1951

It is well documented that Richard Todd and Ken Annakin did not respect Joan Rice as an actress and this is confirmed in a number of interviews Richard Todd gave – he said ‘She wasn’t an actress at all’ and impled that she was out of her depth.

Ken Annakin in his Autobiography states that she was poor and accident prone and much more.

He says that Joan Rice was ‘ a cross he had to bear’ and that she was ‘dumb and accident prone’ and he describes her ‘going off crying again’ following insults thrown at her by one of the crew.

He then says that Walt Disney visited the set and had his picture taken with a few of the actors and some with Joan Rice on the Archery set – and he declared that he had made the right choice in casting her as Maid Marian. Ken Annakin said that he and others , Richard Todd no doubt, did not agree with him and thought he could have done better

During the filming Joan had said amid tears that ‘if she wasn’t good enough then she would go back to being a waitress’ – however she had one very powerful ally in Walt Disney who chose her – in my view for her looks and how she fitted his own picture of Maid Marian. He was right – the public loved her in this role and still do

Ken Annakin says, again in his Autobiography, that he recalls one incident where one of the crew – an electrician – was walking past him and Joan Rice as Ken Annakin was going through her lines with her and the crew member in a loud whisper said ‘ She’s nothing but a big soft milk tart, Governor. Big boobs and and no drawers’. This again made Joan run off and cry until she was persuaded to come back.

This should never have been allowed and the crew member should have been reprimanded but the culture was such that this type of offensive behaviour to a very young girl was just let go,

What makes it even more galling for me is that Richard Todd had recommended James Robertson Justice for Little John – but here was someone who was not trained as an actor – and in fact was a fantasist and story teller on a grand scale – who seemed to get through each role by shouting his lines. He had a terrible Scots accent in Rob Roy although he claimed to be Scottish and born on the Isle of Skye which he wasn’t.

To add insult to injury Ken Annakin also in his Autobiography – says how well he got on with James Robertson Justice who, he said was ‘larger than life’ and always entertaining. In fairness to him, James would not have been pushed around and treated badly by Ken Annakin and Richard Todd – as Joan Rice was.

James Robertson Justice was a former public schoolboy as was Richard Todd, and as such had that confidence which Joan Rice with her poor upbringing did not.

It has also to be remembered that in the summer of 1951 when the film was made, Joan Rice was only 20 years old

Ken Annakin and Richard Todd I am sure looked down on her maybe because of this and treated her with disdain throughout the filming – maybe Ken Annakin, to be fair, was better to her than Richard Todd.

Richard Todd had nothing to do with her after the film was finished – he could have helped her but didn’t.

I sometimes think that if a different actress had been given the role – and I am pleased that they weren’t – she would have stood up to Mr Todd or maybe if Joan Rice had been a little older she would have.

Joan Rice was cruelly treated in the making of ‘The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men’ by these two

Joan Rice went on to make ‘His Majesty O Keefe’ with Burt Lancaster out in Fiji and I hope that she was treated better there. It was another ‘big’ film.

Before she was cast in this film, Diana Dors had been approached for ‘His Majesty O Keefe’ but did not get the part – If Diana had worked with Ken Annakin and Richard Todd, she would have more than competed with them. She would have stood up to them

I did write this in an earlier post :-

Richard Todd said in a recent BBC radio interview that Joan Rice wasn’t really an actress although she was a very lovely girl. He also said that he didn’t know why Walt Disney and others had chosen her. In fact in Ken Annakin’s autobiography (and he directed the film) he states that Joan Rice was the choice of Walt Disney himself and Walt insisted she was in, having seen previous rushes of her films. He was absolutely right of course. She looked the part and acted pretty well – so much so that she got a major part in His Majesty O’Keefe opposite Burt Lancaster next.
Walt Disney knew what the public wanted instinctively. Joan Rice IS Maid Marian!!!

I wish Walt Disney had been around much more for the filming – he would not have allowed the bullying of this lovely young girl who was just making her way in the film world – and this one was about as big a film as you could get at the time.

AND THEN ANOTHER POST I DID ON THE SAME SUBJECT :-

Ken Annakin in his Autobiography and Richard Todd in some of his later interviews were particularly unkind in their remarks about Joan Rice after she had been the leading lady in ‘The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men’ which as we all know Ken Annakin Directed and Richard Todd starred in.

They thought that she was a poor actress.

Walt Disney on the other hand was her admirer – he knew that she just looked the part and was determined that she would be IN. What he said went. He knew his audience so well – he knew that they would love her in the role – and we all did.

The film was a financial success worldwide

Next from Walt Disney came ‘The Sword and the Rose’ and then ‘Rob Roy The Highland Rogue’ – Ken Annakin directed the first one and Richard Todd starred in them both. They both had Glynis Johns in the lead who was well approved of by these two.

However neither film performed well at the Box Office – Rob Roy did OK in Britain but fared less well in the USA and other parts of the World.

So it seems that Ken Annakin and Richard Todd were pretty poor judges on actor’s abilities and their Box Office pulling power

Rob Roy was chosen for the Royal Film Premier that year – 1953. It was later reported that the Queen had not been particularly impressed by it – it is an opinion of mine that in the film the King was referred to by Rob Roy as ‘German Geordie’ – I have a feeling that the Queen would not have liked that

I remember going to see this film at our local cinema but I think that it was after 1959 – the year that it is shown as being released. As always I went with some excitement for a new Tarzan film but I have to say how disappointed I was.

It was made by MGM so you would expect it to have a decent budget and production values. This was not the case.

Certain dramatic sequences used the original 1932 Johnny Weismuller version footage and it was quite poorly tinted – certainly not colorised as we see today. It really did look so poor.

Denny Miller to be fair, was OK as Tarzan and he had Joanna Barnes as his ‘Jane’ – she was a good actress and had quite a long career.

The Film Trailer makes it look so thrilling – maybe I have mis-judged it and will have to view it again :-

Tarzan

Tarzan and his friends

Tarzan and Jane enjoy a swim – ABOVE

Tarzan – A PUBLICITY STILL

Tarzan IN ACTION above

The film was made at the same time as another Tarzan film, Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure – although that was filmed at Shepperton Studios in England and Kenya – both being produced by Sy Weintraub. MGM had kept the remake rights to the 1932 Tarzan the Ape Man, enabling them to make this film. The rights to the bulk of the Tarzan stories were owned by Sy Weintraub

I must view this film again

It is great to realise that Cinemas are still wanted and even better to see this underlined with the news that a brand new complex is being built in the town of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire – and in the Town Centre at that

The New Cinema will be called The Savoy

Coming Shortly

Soon we shall see the finished cinema – as below

ABOVE – An artist’s impression of what it will be like

Construction work on a new cinema in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire is well underway this summer.

Scheduled to open in June 2025, the four-screen cinema complex and attendant leisure and retail development are the anchor properties at the heart of the multi-million pound initiative by West Lindsey District Council to regenerate Gainsborough’s historic town centre.

Gainsborough is the third Lincolnshire location – the others are in Grantham & Boston – for Savoy Cinemas Ltd, a growing regional chain whose other locations include two in Nottinghamshire, one in Northamptonshire and another in South Yorkshire.

James Collington, Managing Director, Savoy Cinemas Ltd, added, “We’re glad to be adding Gainsborough as the newest location to our growing portfolio of cinemas across this part of the country.  The fact that our new complex gives new life to a derelict site and is at the heart of the revival of the town centre gives the project extra significance for all involved.”

Moving back in time 71 years t9 1954 Gainsborough had the Gaumont Cinema – and some very well known actors visited :-

None other than Joan Rice accompanied by Donald Sinden who had starred together in ‘A Day to Remember’ visited the lovely town of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire – a town situated on the banks of the River Trent.

The cinema had been re-named the Gaumont in 1949 and was modernised in early-1954, Reopening on 29 March 1954 with Edward G. Robinson in “The Glass Webb” showing.and with film stars Joan Rice and Donald Sindon making personal appearances.

I haven’t been able to locate any pictures of the visit which is a shame – but above we the Two stars together.

However there have been references to this visit on Facebook by people who remember it and were there as young children. At that time Joan Rice was quite a big name after The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men  and His Majesty O’Keefe.

Donald Sinden though had yet to make his mark in film terms but of course he had a much longer and more varied career than Joan Rice.

I understand that there was quite large crowd out to see them in the Town. One woman from Gainsborough seems to remember a Norman Wisdom film being the first one shown after the Cinema re-vamp – and she could well be right because it would be at the time when one of his films was on release – and in fact Joan Rice had been the female lead in that – the film was One Good Turn although on checking this was not released until February 1955.

Anyway – if anyone reads this and was there at the time, or has photographs of this visit –  please do let us know.

BELOW – that same Gaumont Cinema in Gainsborough givng these youngsters an exciting Saturday morning no doubt.

I remember seeing the Trailer to this in the Cinema at the time, and what stood out for me was, again the fabulous Technicolor and I have even viewed the trailer again recently and I can see why – it just looked so good.

As I have remarked so often on this Blog, the Technicolor of that era has never been bettered – that time to me represented the pinnacle of Colour photography in films.

The Painted Hills 1951

The Painted Hills 1951

The Painted Hills 1951

Shep looks frightening

The plot of the film – an aging prospector living in the California hills during the gold rush days. Paul Kelly’s character has spent a long time in the hills eking out a meagre existence, following his gut instinct that there must be a rich vein of gold nearby.

While continuing to dig for treasure, he is joined by his faithful companion Shep. They are like two peas in a pod and go everywhere together. One place they visit at Christmas is the home of his godson (Gray) whose father recently died. Gray forms an attachment to the dog, and he joins Kelly and the animal in their digs.

Meanwhile, a lawyer has learned that Kelly found some small nuggets and may be close to striking more. The role of the lawyer is played by MGM contract player Bruce Cowling, who usually specialised in villainous characters. This is no exception. The lawyer is a crook and while befriending Kelly, the boy and the dog, he plans to take all the gold for himself.

Kelly suspects the lawyer plans to file a claim with an assayer behind his back. He also worries that the lawyer may do something dangerous, so he sends the boy away.

In the next sequence, the lawyer leads him to a hilltop where he insists he found the gold. But there is no gold there, just a confrontation between the two men. Shep watches as the lawyer pushes the old prospector off the cliff in a horrifying scene. The lawyer then decides to get rid of the dog, and he poisons Shep’s food. Shep survives because some concerned Indians find him dying along the road and nurse him back to health.

Gray learns the dog nearly died, and he returns to the cabin. He does not find his godfather, only the lawyer. Shep shows the boy where Kelly’s body was buried. The lawyer insists the old man died because of an accidental fall. The boy spends the night at the cabin, but this is not a safe environment. The lawyer still wants to get rid of Shep.

A pastor stops by the cabin the next day but doesn’t believe the boy’s story about a possible murder. Also, the boy is at the mercy of the lawyer, but is somehow spared. When the boy leaves with the pastor, to return to his mother, it is up to Shep to carry out justice. There is a climactic finale, where Shep is chased up the hill by our gun-toting villain who intends to blast him to smithereens. However, Shep is too smart and lures the big bad man to the edge of a snowy peak, so he will fall off the cliff the same way the old man did.

A good Technicolor Film

Well, although this superb BBC dramatisation was well out of the fifties era as regards when it was shown, the actual play and West End production was in 1950.

It was the type of play I love – lovely setting with fascinating characters where not a lot happens but it is our getting to know the people involved and their interaction and eventually how the story works out that holds our interest the whole time. Absorbing.

Also at this time the BBC were very good at staging this type of production – I think of ‘Mary Rose’ around the same time which featured a small Scottish Island with water all around and a small boat – all Studio work

‘Waters of the Moon’ has the setting of a small Devon Hotel in Winter and again the Studio set was marvellous with a large outside formal garden covered in snow where a lot of the action later in the play takes place

ABOVE – Virginia McKenna

As the story starts we are introduced to the relatively the dull lives of a group of people in a residence hotel in Devonshire.

There’s the retired colonel (Richard Vernon) and an Austrian Jew (Ronald Pickup), and two women at opposite ends of the pole: Mrs. Whyte (Virginia McKenna), a brittle upper-class woman who has fallen on hard times financially , and Mrs, Ashmore (Joan Sims), a jolly type.

The hotel is run by the dour Mrs. Daly (Dilys Laye) and her adult children.

Then as if to upset the applecart – on a snowy night, in comes Helen Lancaster (Penelope Keith) with husband and daughter who come to the Hotel after their car skidded off the road and they are stranded.

She immediately takes over the household, asking for rooms, hot soup, and a place by the fire.

As the storm rages and the days go by, Helen Lancaster is still there and disrupting the lives of the residents. She plays particular attention to the displaced Austrian and chats about Old Vienna and music and art. As New Year’s Eve approaches, she decides they must have a party.

The party does not go well. Mrs. Whyte becomes more and more resentful of the breezy Helen. Mrs. Daly’s daughter (Lesley Dunlop) also grows weary of the obvious wealth Helen displays, and the sickly son (Dean Allen) gets drawn into the talk about continental travel and skiing in Switzerland with Miss Lancaster (Clare Byam-Shaw).

On New Year’s Day, the weather changes and a thaw means the Lancasters may soon be leaving. As they pack up to leave it becomes obvious that Helen’s casual invitations to visit London are meaningless. The lives she has disrupted are already forgotten as she stresses about meeting city friends for lunch.

Ronald Pickup ( Mr Winterhalter) seems to have fallen for Helen Lancaster (Penelope Keith ) but on leaving she just casts him aside

All this time Mrs Daley’s daughter played by Lesley Dunlop has been in love with Mr Winterhalter the Austrian but nothing has ever materialsied between them – but maybe as the Play closes we realise that things could change in that direction

In this adaptation the whole cast are terrific. The outside set of terraced garden and house exterior is excellent as can be seen from these stills.

I just love this BBC TV play

A few days ago on Good Friday ‘The Robe’ was shown on BBC2 in the UK along with ‘King of Kings’ with Jeffrey Hunter, and so I thought it was appropriate that we should post pictures from the film on this site.

Below:  Victor Mature in a superb piece of acting in the film. My Dad loved this scene and the acting performance of Victor Mature – and so did his co-star Richard Burton who was also full of praise describing Victor as a ‘wonderful man’ after having played opposite him in The Robe

I have said before that producers loved Victor Mature because all the films he appeared in made money – and here is a classic example.

The Robe was the highest grossing film of 1953 – and the next one Demetrius and the Gladiators was 4th biggest of 1954. We must also remember that only a few years before in 1949 he had played Samson in Samson and Delilah which again was the biggest grossing film of that year.

This was a big film – and went equally big at the Box Office.   I remember my Father taking us to see it on the huge Cinemascope Screen – with Stereophonic Sound – and it did not disappoint in any way. Tremendous Film.

Richard Burton spoke very highly of Victor Mature calling him a ‘wonderful man’ – and I have to say that he lifted the acting honours with his convincing performance.

I have read that it was estimated that Victor Mature’s fee for the film would have been 100,000 US Dollars equating to 1.2 million now.

The follow up ‘Demetrius and the Gladiators’ he was estimated to have been paid 80,000 US Dollars and then of course ‘The Egyptian’ came very quickly after these two.

Trouble in the Glen is a comedy set in the Scottish Highlands and featuring Orson Welles as the new laird who seems to stir up some of the locals. He is from South America and has purchased of inherited the Highland Estate.

This film did ok at the British Box Office – it is packed with Film Stars of the time including none other than Orson Welles – plus Forrest Tucker, Margaret Lockwood, Victor McLaglen and John McCallum.

I have to say that I like this film

The film was shot in TruColor and it certainly looked good. Scottish Highland scenes are just made for Colour.

It was made at Elstree Film Studios for Republic Pictures  – with location filming in Perthshire

I remember seeing this at The Gaumont Cinema in St.Albans when very young – and remember bits of it.

My Brother and I went with My Uncle and Aunt who lived in the City – as we had gone on holiday to their home at the time which  we often did in the Summertime.  I loved it there.

In the Film Forrest Tucker’s Daughter who was crippled following Polio, is played by Margaret McCourt who had quite a busy career through the Fifties as a child actress – She was in The Invisible Man

ABOVE – Margaret McCourt in Trouble in the Glen

ABOVE – Margaret McCourt in The Invisible Man

Margaret McCourt, Margaret Lockwood and Forrest Tucker

Orson Welles

‘Trouble in the Glen’ was planned to attempt to replicate the success a few years earlier of Republic’s biggest hit “The Quiet Man” – same writer and same formula. It didn’t quite do that though

I don’t think that Orson Welles helped this film – he seemed well ‘over the top’ in his acting and stifled some of the actors around him – Victor McLaglen who had a prominent part in ‘The Quiet Man’ however could hold his own against him – but I am not sure that Forrest Tucker could.

Forrest Tucker came to England quite often to make films.

In the film he and Margaret Lockwood play the romantic leads.

A set of Stills from the film – I used to love these and gaze at them when passing the cinema on my way to School for whichever film was showing that week – sometimes two programmes per week though -in the town  I have seen better than these but nevertheless these are good examples of what we would see.

Forrest Tucker

Margaret Lockwood with Forrest Tucker

Trouble In the Glen

BELOW – Orson Wells

I did notice that Ann Goodrun was in this who later became Goodrun Ure. She appeared in a lot of films through the fifties when she was billed as Ann Goodrun – including this one

Eileen Bennett who starred with George Formby in one of my favourites ‘Much Too Shy’ has died at her home in the USA a few days ago – at the age of almost 106

I hadn’t realised that she had a son – in fact two sons – but her son Nicholas Hammond was also an actor and he achieved lasting fame playing Friedrich Von Trapp in ‘The Sound of Music’

Eileen Bennett

Eileen Bennett BELOW – On the cover of ‘Illustrated’ at the time that she had just finished ‘Much Too Shy’

Eileen Bennett

After ‘Much Too Shy’ she made one other film and about that time must have met her future husband who was a High Ranking Officer in the US Army and stationed over here in the latter stages of the Second World War.

She then travelled back to the US and lived there for the rest of her long life

Eileen Bennett, who has died aged 105, was known to George Formby fans as his love interest in the 1942 comedy Much Too Shy and, during the war, played the ingénue lead, from 1942 to 1945, at the Strand Theatre in the West End production of Arsenic and Old Lace, when she was described by one critic as “the very essence of blonde pulchritude”.

In July 1945, however, she married Col Thomas Hammond, an American soldier stationed in London as an adjutant to General Eisenhower, and gave up her acting career for family life.

Eileen Mary Bennett was born in London on July 8 1919. Her father had been killed in the First World War and her mother Phyllis worked at the Royal College of Midwifery. From St Christopher’s School, Letchworth, she trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1936. During the war years she performed in BBC radio plays, had mostly small roles in films, and was one of the first on-air announcers for the BBC’s early television broadcasts.

In ‘Much Too Shy’ she played Jackie, a milkmaid who catches the eye of Formby’s handyman-artist. She recalled the production as a hand-to-mouth affair: “We even did our own hair and make-up,” she told the George Formby Society website. “Wartime rationing meant few precious clothing coupons so we had to provide our own clothes. Luckily I owned a smart Hyde Park riding outfit consisting of some good-looking riding boots and breeches, so I became one of the best dressed milkmaids in England.”

Eileen had a Hillman Minx and was allowed just enough petrol coupons to get her to and from the studios at Borehamwood, so she would give other cast members a lift.

Filming took place under the watchful eye of Formby’s famously domineering wife Beryl, but Eileen recalled that when Beryl had to go to a dental appointment, Formby’s manner underwent a dramatic change: “George and I were sitting in the milk wagon… Suddenly [he] started uttering all sorts of endearments and moving closer until our legs were touching.

“He was trembling with emotion. Poor man, he was so frustrated. I was petrified that Beryl would appear and could see that the crew knew what was going on by their winks.”

Eileen appeared in one more film, the comedy Thursday’s Child (1943) starring Sally Ann Howes and Wilfrid Lawson. Otherwise her main memory of the war years was being bombed out twice: “Fortunately I was out both times. The second time I was out gallivanting. I came back… and found the street cordoned off, my flat completely demolished, and my dog killed.”

She recalled that actors and audiences became quite insouciant about bombing raids. One day during a matinee performance of Arsenic and Old Lace, the theatre received a direct hit: “There was a tremendous explosion. The dust… was so overwhelming that we couldn’t see each other. We just waited for it to settle a bit and then continued. No one on stage or in the audience had moved.”

Eileen left Arsenic and Old Lace after her marriage, in September 1945. Postwar she followed her husband around military postings, to Paris and the US, and brought up their two sons, of whom Nicholas would follow his mother into acting, starring as Friedrich von Trapp in the film version of The Sound of Music (1965).

In 1970, soon after retirement in Washington, Thomas Hammond died from a heart attack. Eileen remained in Washington working as a guide for visiting foreign diplomatic families and at the Hillwood museum, home to a large decorative arts collection. Later she moved to an army retirement community