Above:  From the opening shots of the film The Black Knight starring Alan Ladd and made in England to the famous Walt Disney British made The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men 1952 starring Richard Todd and Joan Rice,  we see clips of Elton Hayes appearing – and mainly singing his way through each respective role. He was very good.

This is one of his friends Evelyn Branston’s wonderful Elton Hayes obituary:

“At the age of 86 Elton Hayes died peacefully in his sleep at the West Suffolk Hospital after a long illness borne with great courage.

As soon as you met Elton you realised that he was a man who would always keep a promise. There was an old-world courtesy about him. A smart dapper man with a penchant for bow ties: “The real thing not these clip-on or elastic things.” With a twinkle in his eyes and his charming easy going manner he won many friends wherever he went.

A lifelong fan of Elton, I was indeed fortunate to make contact with him again about six years ago. We corresponded for a while; then, following the stroke, which made writing difficult for him, we continued our friendship by telephone.

The seriousness of his last illness was known only to his closest friends, so the news of his death was quite a shock. Elton left me his own ‘Short Biography’ and his friends, Bill and Sallie Walrond, who cared for him until his death, have entrustred me with his personal collection of photographs, press cuttings and other memorabilia, including 3 bow ties!

Born of theatrical parents on 16th February 1915 at Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, Elton faced the footlights at a very early age. The curly-haired, blue-eyed little boy first sang on stage when he was four. Aged not quite 10 years (illegally, being under age and having no permit), he appeared in the prologue of a pantomime at Canterbury, Kent in 1925/26, whilst also employed as a call-boy and stage manager, at the all-in salary of 5/- a week.

He was also studying music under Professor Fritz Keinly of Austria with a view to becoming a serious musician and concert violinist.

In his early teens he won a scholarship to Fay Compton’s Academy of Dtamatic Art where he received an extensive theatrical education, from Shakespeare to Operetta, tap dancing to ballet and theatrical production. Not being prepared to sit around waiting for ‘the big break’ into theatre, Elton returned to the family tradition of variety, plus juvenile character parts in rep and chorus dancing in musical comedy. He demonstrated his amazing versatility with a speciality act, singing, playing the violin and tap dancing all at the same time.

As ”Eltonio’ he entertained at one night venues such as social clubs etc. He then joined three brothers in a musical variety act, ‘The Four Brownie Boys’. Elton said that he was very fit in those days. He needed to because in Cine Variety he sometimes gave five performances a day, plus late night cabaret, finally getting home after dawn. He toured Cornwall in 1937 with ‘Musical Cheers Co’ where he met his wife Betty Inman (ex Stuttgart Ballet). At the outbreak of war all theatres immediately closed, so driving a delivery van around the home counties became the means of paying the rent until ENSA invited him to put together one of their first mobile units.

He enlisted into the Army in October 1943. His decision to take his guitar with him was to influence the whole of his future career; within 6 weeks of army life he was entertaining his companions at army concerts. He was first a gunner in The Royal Artillery and later gained a commission in the Royal West Kent Regiment.

He was posted to South East Asia Command, and, while serving in India, contracted severe rheumatic fever and spent many months in hospital. Elton foresaw the end of his dancing and guitar playing days. With typical courage and determination, in his hospital bed he would lie on his back painfully strumming his guitar. Eventually, his fingers grew more supple and he found the tunes coming fairly easy. At Rawalpindi he formed a trio with a trumpet player and a pianist. They played as ‘Bugs Rutter and his Rug Cutters.’

The Commanding Officer of ENSA India and SEAC, Col Jack Hawkins, requested that Major Hayes should join his Command and Elton became O.C. ENSA N.W. Frontier Provinces, India. Eventually he took over Jack’s job and had the task of closing down all the troops’ entertainment centres in Central Provinces India before demobilisation.

Shortly after arriving back in England, Elton visited Broadcasting House to renew his acquantance with the Children’s Hour Dept. He was asked to write and perform a short series of programmes based on Edward Lear’s Nonsense Poems and a spot on ‘In Town Tonight’ was arranged. The favourable reaction to the song he chose to sing, ‘The Jumblies,’ led to a guest appearance in the Carol Lewis Show. During the rehearsal of the show, Elton suggested to the BBC an idea for a one-off programme. To his great surprise it was not only accepted, but came with a contract for 13 weekly programmes of Elton Hayes ‘He Sings to a Small Guitar.’ The opening refrain began: “Sweet music and a small guitar, bring joy no matter where you are.”

After the success of those first programmes there followed the late night series, ‘Close Your Eyes’, in which Elton invited you to close your eyes and listen to some music to start you dreaming. These two series alternated and ran for more than 10 years. This was in addition to spots in all the popular variety programmes of the day – Midday Music Hall, Worker’s Playtime, Henry Hall’s Guest Night, Top of the Town, Just Fancy, etc. etc.; also Housewives’ Choice, both as presenter and popular choice, the most requested being ‘Whistle My Love,’
‘Greensleeves’ and ‘The Spinning Wheel’. On Uncle Mac’s Children’s Choice it was usually ‘The Owl and the Pussy Cat’ or ‘The Jumblies.’

Yet another series was ‘A Tinker’s Tales’ in which Elton, as an itinerant tinker, narrated a story which he and other actors dramatised as a musical play. Interspersed with radio came TV, both light entertainment and drama. Television proved the Elton’s personality was as important to his act as was his small guitar. He took over the 15-minute period originally scheduled for ‘The Harding Interviews’ during Gilbert Harding’s absence. He also introduced and sang in the ‘Centre Show’, was a frequent guest on the Leonard Sachs’ ‘Good Old Days’ olde time music hall, appeared in the series ‘The Minstrel Show’ and travelled with the BBC Children’s Caravan for three summer seasons, composing and performing special original material. Surprisingly to some viewers, he was cast in a straight acting role in Chekhov’s ‘Three Sisters’ for which he also wrote the music.

In 1949, afetr seeing Elton in the play ‘Maya’ (with Freda Mayne) at the Arts Theatre, the actor manager, John Clements invited Elton to join him in the revival of the Restoration Comedy ‘The Beaux Stratagem.’ The production was a huge success and ran for 18 months, first at the Phoenix Theatre, Charring Cross Road, then the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. The last night was as big a sell-out as the first. Elton said that he had just one small regret: “On the corner of the theatre, high above the entrance was a huge poster which could be seen from way along the street. On the poster in yellow letters two feet tall was a single name. Mine! How I wish I had taken a photograph.”

When Walt Disney’s ‘Treasure Island’ was made Elton had the task of arranging the old sea shanties sung on board the Hispaniola. This was followed by the job of researching ancient ballads for their forthcoming production of ‘Robin Hood.’ The producer, Perce Pearce asked him to assist in another actor’s screen test, then sprang the surprise that it had been Elton on test and the part of Alan-a-Dale was his! So good was he in that role that, although it started as a few lines, it developed into one of the main parts in the film.

The success of the film led to a nineteen-city tour of the USA and Canada, making 113 radio and TV appearances in 8 hectic weeks.

Sadly his second film The Black Knight did not enjoy the same success. One of the film ‘extras’ inadvertently wore Elton’s costume and was conspicuously killed in an early scene. Continuity failed to notice. Consequently all Elton’s scenes were later consigned to the cutting room floor.

He sang in the Light Music Festival at the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Film Performance at the Empire, Leicester Square, innumerable other concert appearances, private functions and then trips to the continent for recitals of higher academic standard to music societies, universities, international musicians etc. The nervous tensions of the concert platform began to take their toll and Elton realised that it was time for a change of career. Being a confirmed country lover the choice was easy; he became a farmer.

He bought a 47-acre farm at Hartest, near Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk and soon built up a prestgious herd of pedigree pigs. He now found time to return to his youthful hobby of horses. This brought him into contact with the members of the British Driving Society and the art of Carriage driving. Like everything else, Elton threw himself into this new interest with enthusiasm and was soon skilled enough to win awards for driving tandem (two horses, one behind the other).

This led to him learning to play and compose music for the Post and Coach Horns. Sadly a severe stroke in 1995 put an end to these activities and Elton had to give up his farm and move to live with friends at nearby Cockfield. With characteristic courage and determination he overcame many of the difficulties associated with the stroke but lost the brave battle he had with his final illness.

His funeral took place at the West Suffolk Crematorium, Bury St. Edmunds, on 3rd October [2001]. The sun was shining and the chapel was filled with friends and family who had come not just to mourn, but to celebrate the long, interesting and fulfilling life of ELTON HAYES: He Sang to a Small Guitar.”

William Roache qualifies for the Films of the fifties site because he actually was in films in the late 1950s – One such film was a small role in the  film Behind the Mask 1958 starring Michael Redgrave, Tony Britton, Carl Mohner, Vanessa Redgrave, Ian Bannen, Brenda Bruce, Lionel Jeffries and Miles Malleson – so he was in a very good company of film actors here. It was a hospital drama.

He was, later on,  in The Bulldog Breed 1960 with Norman Wisdom.

He was today cleared and found not guilty of a number of allegations of sex abuse from years ago in a much publicised trial in England.

He is the World’s longest running actor in the same role, playing Ken Barlow in the very famous British TV Coronation Street continuously from 1960 and still going strong.

Above – In a very early episode of Coronation Street.

This is an interesting scene from one of the very first transmitted episodes of that famous British soap opera.

Interesting also in that it shows much of the set and the lighting.

She was one of the great stars of Hollywood’s golden age and I find it difficult to think of any other film star whose career spanned the great days of both the British and Hollywood film world and the life style associated with it, as she does.

Mystery has always surrounded Merle Oberon’s early life, not least because of the version of events given by the actress herself.

She claimed she was born in Tasmania and then moved to India to live with her aristocratic godparents after her distinguished father died in a hunting accident. Her Who’s Who entry in the 1970s listed her birthplace as Tasmania and her father as a British Army officer.

Dark secret: Merle Oberon was aHollywoodgreat and appeared with Laurence Olivier inWutheringHeights(1939), left. But the woman she thought was her sister actually gave birth to her aged 12

A dark moor haunted by secrets: The actress with Laurence Olivier in Wuthering Heights in 1`939

Now, however, records have been published that confirm for the first time that she was actually born in India – and that the woman she knew as her sister was really her mother.

A project between the British Library and ancestry website findmypast.co.uk has published records from the time of the Raj online, including Oberon’s birth certificate.

It shows she was born Estelle Merle Thompson in 1911 in Bombay and her father, Arthur Thompson, was a railway engineer from Darlington rather than an Army officer.

It names her mother as Constance Selby, who was only 12 at the time of the birth.

Controversially, Constance was the daughter of Thompson’s girlfriend Charlotte Selby. Charlotte, a Eurasian from Ceylon with partial Maori heritage, had had Constance by an Irish tea planter when she herself was only 14 and living in Ceylon.

Merle died in 1979 and took the secret to her grave, saying her father had been a distinguished Army man

Above: Merle in That Uncertain Feeling (1941) with Ernst Lubitsch. She continued acting inHollywoodthroughout the Second World War, sometimes in propaganda films

Charlotte was around 26 when Merle was born and raised her as her own. The girl grew up thinking Constance was her sister rather than her mother.

In 1914 Thompson joined the British Army and later died of pneumonia on the Western Front during the Battle of the Somme.

Literary inspiration: As Cathy inWutheringHeightswith Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff

Constance went on to marry a man called Alexander Soares and had four other children, Edna, Douglas, Harry and Stanislaus. All grew up believing Oberon was their aunt rather than their half-sister.

Her brother Harry discovered the truth and tried to organise a meeting with her, but she refused to see him.

Throughout her successful career Merle Oberon, who died in 1979, lied about her mixed-race heritage, a controversial subject at the time.

She became famous for her roles in Hollywood and British films of the 1930s and 1940s such as The Cowboy And The Lady and The Private Life Of Henry VIII. She was nominated for the best actress Oscar for The Dark Angel in 1935. Her career peaked as Cathy in Wuthering Heights in 1939. She married four times, had a relationship with actor David Niven and had two children.

However she could never bring herself to admit to her heritage and told everyone that she was born in Tasmania – which back then must have seemed so removed from Europe and the US that her secret would not be discovered.

She claimed that all early records of her birth were destroyed in a fire. In 1978 she even accepted an invitation to the Tasmanian capital Hobart to see her ‘birthplace’.

However, the story began to come out as friends remembered her growing up in Bombay.

Her birth certificate is among 2.5million records covering 200 years of British rule in India which are being made available online for the first time. They can be viewed by purchasing a findmypast.co.uk subscription or pay-as-you-go credits.

Merle of course has her star in the Hollywood Hall of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard – as indeed she should have – as one of the stars of that golden era  :

Republic Pictures was an American independent film production and distribution company with studio facilities, operating from 1935 until 1959, mainly specialising in westerns,  serials and B films usually combining mystery and action.

I rather like the above colour logo that Republic used – it is sort of classy in an old fashioned way – but I expect that if they ceased to exist as long ago as 1959 then it would look a little dated !!

The studio was also responsible for financing and distributing  several of the films of John Ford during the 1940s and early 1950s. It was also notable for developing the careers of John Wayne, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.

In 1991 there was a documentary film made about Republic  as follows :-

There is a terrific TV documentary on the History of REPUBLIC PICTURES which was clearly lovingly crafted and well edited with dozens of clips from every genre of feature film made at the studio from 1936 to the mid 50s. The serial chapters and the musical chapters are possibly the most interesting. This film is a must for any collectors of B movie magic.

The way the studio was formed and why it collapsed in 1958 is told here.  Anyone who watches this film  will find it fascinating.

Above – An aerial view of the Republic Studios – Looks like one of the sets for a John Wayne film.

As the demand and market for B-pictures declined, Republic began to cut back,
slowing production from 40 main films annually in the early 1950s to 18 in 1957.
A tearful Herbert Yates informed shareholders at the 1958 annual meeting that
feature-film production was ending; the distribution offices were shut down
the following year. In the early 1960s, Republic sold its library of films to Television.
CBS bought Republic’s studio lot but they had in fact been using these facilities for some years.
Republic Pictures is one of the first major independent movie studios best known for creating B-movies. Founded in 1935 by Herbert Yates as a merger of several smaller “poverty row” studios, Republic produced memorable feature films and launched the careers of John Wayne, Gene Autry, Rex Allen, and Roy Rogers.

Republic Pictures earned its greatest reputation for its numerous serials, which were generally considered the best in the business. The company introduced choreographed fight scenes, and excelled in the special effects of model work, explosions, and simulating superheroes’ ability to fly.

Republic exploded into national prominence with its focus in westerns, movie serials and B-films emphasising mystery and action, the staples of Saturday afternoon matinees. The studio rocketed serials like The Adventures of Captain Marvel and Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe into the public imagination throughout its fabled 24-year history. Notable Republic Pictures include Under Western Stars (1938), Flying Tigers (1942), Macbeth (1948), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), The Red Pony (1949), The Quiet Man (1952), and Johnny Guitar (1954).

Out of interest Under Western Stars (1938), was the first film for Roy Rogers.  He had been in a number of films before this – under his own name Leonard Sly and the last two as Dick Weston but Republic decided that for his first starring role he would be Roy Rogers – and that was how he remained.

Above:  Roy Rogers – Under Western Stars.

The original Republic Pictures as a feature-film production unit closed down in 1959. NTA (National Telefilm Associates) acquired the Republic library for television. In 1967, the Republic studio facilities were sold to CBS, and their location today is part of CBS Studio Center in Studio City, California

Billy Fury was auditioned during one of Larry Parnes touring stage shows in the late fifties, and he was then, quite incredibly, pushed out onto the stage and performed his own song – and one of my own favourites – Maybe Tomorrow.

The rest is history. He joined that show and for a number of years was one of Britains finest Rock n Roll artists – equally well known on  record, TV and film – and this was his very first film and was directed by Michael Winner who always spoke very highly of Billy Fury.

This is not quite a Film of the Fifties but Billy was discovered and released records towards the end of that decade so I am cheating a bit but it seems a good idea to include someone of his stature.

This is a film I have to admit – from the fifties – that I do not remember at all.

It does however have some quite big stars in it so maybe I should take a look. I have in the meantime been helped by this synopsis :-

WOMANS’S WORLD  has everything a Fox film of the 50’s had. CinemaScope, colour, stereo sound, all star cast, New York settings and a sensational musical score. The seven stars really shine here. Clifton Webb, Cornel Wilde; Fred MacMurray and Van Heflin couldn’t be better. The women are even better. Lauren Bacall is her usual sophisticated self and is at her best, even better than in HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE. June Allyson is a delight as the not-so-in with it wife, and Arlene Dahl steals the show with her red hair and ample figure. Although I think Marilyn Monroe might have really excelled in the role.  The plot line is fun and quite exciting as to who will be the new general manager of a car company. Who gets the job and why is a nice twist to the story

Jon Hall made 52 episodes of this a very popular TV series.

 Even had a Ramar of the Jungle comic in those days.

With the coming of television, the smaller Hollywood studios, which had specialised in low-budget B  movies and serials, were pushed out of Cinemas, but found a new market ideally suited for the disciplines of their ‘assembly-line’ productions (short shooting schedules for each episode, reliance on standing sets and stock footage, simple action-oriented plots) in the new media, and many series appeared. “Ramar of the Jungle” was one example, and while it didn’t enjoy the success of “The Adventures of Superman” or “The Lone Ranger”, it was still a fast-paced, exotic-looking adventure show which captivated younger viewers.

Jon Hall, best-known for his RKO ‘Arabian Nights’ swashbucklers during WWII, starred, as Dr. Tom Reynolds, a man dedicated to healing (‘Ramar’ was a native term for ‘Medicine Man’), who seemed to spend most of his life working out of his tent in the middle of the jungle. His partner, Prof. Howard Ogden (played by happy-go-lucky Ray Montgomery, another film veteran), had a habit of getting the pair into hot water, but also had the scientific skills to get them out trouble. There were evil hunters and thieves who would come to the jungle to plunder, Reynolds would always arrive in the nick of time to defend the African natives, and save the day.

It wasn’t a particularly intellectual show, but it was fun, and Hall and Montgomery had an easy-going chemistry together (and they looked very cool, dressed in khakis!)

The early days of Television.

The Last Command  is a 1955 Trucolor film about  the fall of the Alamo  in 1836. Filmed by Republic Pictures, it was an unusually expensive undertaking for the low-budget studio.

Pinewood is the Home of some of the Very Best of British Films – and today the studios produce globally targeted films as well as shows for TV.

This is a very interesting film clip on the Link below – a visit to Pinewood with Richard E. Grant :-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGc7YLLsoeI&feature=player_detailpage.

The James Bond set at Pinewood Studios was destroyed in a fire  in 2006 during the making of Casino Royale.- See picture below.

Luckily no-one was hurt.

 This is an interesting picture of the fire at Pinewood from outside the Studios back in  2006.

John Ford’s Rio Grande (1950) is one of the major 50s Westerns.  This photograph shows John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara and the crew shooting a scene. John Ford’s not visible in this shot – but he must have been around and closely by.

I always like to see this sort of picture showing the camera track and camera and lighting – even in an outdoor scene – as this is