She Was A Very Generous Soul Was Hattie Jacques

Hattie Jacques was obsessively conscious of her size. I know this because sat on a wall with her at the front of Tolly Rothwell’s house she told me not to worry that I was overweight.

Hattie said that people always stared at her. Those around her were kind and said she was so well known as an actress that people were just indulging in a second take.

But Hattie knew better. They were alerted by the weight first and familiarity of her face second. Subsequently, her confidence was low. She didn’t want me to suffer the same anxieties. That was sweet. She was a very generous soul was Hattie Jacques.

As a Carry Oner Hattie’s often remembered as a buxom, fire-breathing matron. See, size first and great comedic acting skills second. Maybe she had a point!

In truth everyone rated Hattie except herself. The image I retain of her sat chatting to me on Tolly's wall, was a woman who would rather have been anywhere else than in that house full of people. And not just any old bunch of everyday folk, but the theatrical kind, Carry On stars a plenty; all competing, all playing a game of social musical chairs. Sadly, Hattie seemed to have fallen at the first round.

 
We sat for at least an hour. She told me how she loved the bright lights, the adrenalin that came with the shout of ‘action’. The nervous giggles from the wings, the ‘showtime’ knock on the dressing room door. Hattie loved showbiz, but thought little of herself.

It seemed, from the remembered fragments of our conversation, that she’d been happiest during her ‘hungry years’, those early lean ones, when work was scarce and praise had to be fought for.

Hattie’s formative years, when she became a regular in music hall revues, made her eyes glaze over and her face break into a broad smile. Those long since passed blissfully innocent and carefree times were but a moment in her adult life when she liked herself.

They were also the days where she fine honed her skills as a comedian. She even returned for a second bite of the cherry, when having already tasted success in radio, television and film, Hattie went back to her first company, the Players', but this time in the elevated capacity of performer, writer and director.

Before joining the Carry Ons, Hattie worked with Norman Wisdom on two of his most famous films, The Square Peg and Follow a Star.

But it was in the company of Kenneth Williams, Sid James (and later Eric Sykes) et al that she is best remembered .. not for her size, but for her exceptional talent. That would have brought a broad smile to Hattie Jacques’ face. 

A Write Carry On (Wholepoint Publications)

available 1st May 2012.


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Contact the author at editor@brighton.co.uk