Lynn Chalk (1 of 1)

Disclaimer: This interview was conducted in 1995 and concerns memories of 1930s life; as such there may be opinions expressed or words used that do not meet today's norms and expectations.

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* Transcript ID: LC-95-204AT001

* CCINTB Transcript ID: 95-204-8a-ae

* Tapes: BC-95-204OT001

* CCINTB Tapes ID: T95-99

* Length: 00:43:47

* Bentley Day Centre, Harrow, 21 July 1995: Valentina Bold interviews Lynn Chalk

* Transcribed by Valentina Bold/Standardised by Annette Kuhn

* LC=Lynn Chalk, VB=Valentina Bold

* Notes: Second interview with Lynn Chalk (LC-95-204) on 21 July 1995; Lynn Chalk took part in an earlier group interview with other clients of Bentley Day Centre (BC-95-204) on 7 July 1995; Sound Quality: Poor.

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[Start of Tape One]

[Start of Side A]

[loud talk going on in background]

VB: 'Cause I was very interested about what you were telling me about the cinema.

LC: Well, as I say, I didn't know really a lot about cinemas, actually, but, eh, we used to go to the cinema, but, eh, well I've lived here sixty years so I should know a bit!

VB: Yeah.

LC: It all depends what questions you ask--

VB: Yeah. Yeah.

LC: You know.

VB: 'Cause you were saying that you didn't go quite so much after you were married. Is that right?

LC: Well, yes, we went, we used to go, we used to go more or less the same, you know, where we lived, with my mother 'cause she was left on her own so we didn't 00:01:00leave her, and we had a house when we'd just started courting.

VB: Yeah.

LC: So, you know, it was only my husband and I and Mum but, eh, we used to just go out the same as usual.

VB: Yeah.

LC: Obviously, after a time you'd get children and you can't go out.

VB: Aye, I see.

LC: But we did go out. [inaudible due to talk going on in background] And, erm, I don't think the Granada was there for a long, long time after, I think it was the Dominion mostly that we went to, and, I told you there was a small one, an Odeon down South Harrow.

VB: Mhm.

LC: Opposite Sainsburys. I can't remember all, somebody mentioned the Coliseum, but honestly, I don't remember that one.

VB: Yeah.

LC: So, and that, there weren't any more as far as I know of. So, [the rest was mixed up?].

VB: Was the Dominion your, your favourite out of these?

LC: Well yes. Cause it was a nice large one in a way--

VB: Yeah.

LC: And it wasn't divided up like it is now.

VB: Ah.

LC: It was a theatre on its own, and, you know, you had that big building on the bottom parts and if you wanted to go up in the Circle you went upstairs to the Circle which was all one Circle but now it's divided into three or four sort of small picture palaces--

VB: Ah, I see.

LC: Or whatever they are.

VB: Yeah.

LC: But I haven't been to the pictures for years now.

VB: Yeah.

[someone asks about drinks/cups]

VB: As long as it's cold, I don't mind. [laughs; loud background talk going on 00:03:00in background] 'Cause we didn't really have much of a chance when I came before to talk about things like stars--

LC: No.

VB: To any great extent. I mean [pause 1 second] did you have favourites yourself, film stars?

LC: Well I did but, let's face it, [inaudible] of it, aren't you, with me! [laughs] What Gregory Peck, and, erm, Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford.

VB: Ah.

LC: But I'm trying to think, oh, I'm mad about that, it's the names I'm trying to think of now!

VB: Well, I'm going to do just that then!

[both laugh]

VB: Well, I brought along this book, it's from 1935 I think.

LC: Just before I was married, Yeah.

VB: Just before you were married. [pause 3 seconds]

LC: Oh, I used to love him.

VB: Oh, Robert Donat, yes yes.

LC: Yeah, yes.

VB: What was it about him that you liked?

LC: Well, I don't know really, it's difficult to explain, isn't it?

VB: Yeah.

LC: I just don't know, it's difficult to say you know. I remember that name but I can't remember her.

VB: Jean Muir. Yeah.

LC: I didn't know her, I don't remember him a lot but I remember his name. It's just the ones that you-- [pause 2 seconds] Oh, he was always very good, yes. And 00:05:00I've seen him before. I remembered him as a young man but as he got older he was then confined to a wheelchair, wasn't it, that was Lionel [referring to Lionel Barrymore]. I think, you know, crippled with arthritis and that but he was a very, very good actor.

VB: Were there not more of the Barrymores. Erm.

LC: I think there were two or three of them, yes. I'm sure, I think this, I'm not sure Michael, but this is the one I remember obviously, you know.

VB: Yes.

LC: But there were two or three of them.

VB: Yeah.

LC: I don't remember her at all. [pause 3 seconds while looking through book]

VB: But Madeleine Carroll, you were saying, you liked her as well?

LC: Yes but you see, [pause 2 seconds] the girls, the actors and actresses and 00:06:00that, I mean if you ask me anything about anything now I wouldn't know anything because I'm not interested because, [pause 2 seconds] well people, well things alter so much.

VB: Mhm.

LC: Don't they, you know. I mean, this isn't my day when I was, well it was the year before I was married, and I was married when I was twenty-five so it was, this was, I was twenty-four so I can't go back all that many.

VB: Mhm.

LC: Oh Charles Laughton, oh yes, he was very good. In, in, he was a good actor but he wasn't really someone that you could say, "Ooh, I loved him."

VB: Mhm.

LC: I think that mostly, you see, it's just the parts that they take.

VB: Yes. Did you see that one, 'Henry VIII' [referring to The Private Life of Henry VIII]?

LC: Oh. I must have, yes. But I can't remember much about it, my dear, I'm not 00:07:00being very much helpful with all these because I'm not with it, I know. Oh yes, these were lovely, weren't they? I was trying to place his face but I, Clive Brook. You see they, they were all such good actors and actresses that it's difficult to pick out any really because, I mean you do have your favourites but, eh, they were so good in a way that, you know, in their own way. [pause 1 second; loud talking in background] Leslie Howard, yes, I remember him, he was like, he got killed in a plane crash, didn't he?

VB: Mhm.

LC: This one.

VB: Oh, The Scarlet Pimpernel.

LC: I can't see this very well--

VB: Yeah.

LC: What I'm looking at.

VB: Yeah.

LC: Oh yes, that's right. Yes. That was a jolly good film, it was very interesting.

VB: Did you like these, sort of historical films?

LC: Well yes, on the films they were, because they were very good, you know when they, they took them to the guillotine and all this sort of thing, you know, about that. That one, of course, was, yes. I did used to like those.

VB: I think that's, is that Gary Cooper there?

LC: I have difficulty in seeing, dear.

VB: Yes, it's quite, Yeah.

LC: Oh yes, that's, I don't remember her.

VB: Yeah.

LC: Yes, and of course, being very [young?], you know. But yes it is, it is Gary Cooper.

VB: I see it's Lives of a Bengal Lancer.

LC: Erm, well, that was so, [way back?], such a way back, that I can't.

VB: Yeah.

LC: Well, of course Marlene Dietrich she was, I don't, I can't see her.

VB: Mhm.

LC: That's not her, is it?

VB: I don't think so, no.

LC: I can just see that.

VB: Yes.

LC: You know, and it was during the war in the '40s which, of course, everyone was after her, really.

VB: Claude Rains.

LC: I remember Claude Rains. I don't know her. Claude was quite good. He wasn't one that you could, you know, 'cause he wasn't tall and debonair.

VB: [laughs] Right.

LC: So he wasn't that way, you know?

VB: Yes.

LC: He wasn't, he was a very good actor, yes.

VB: Do you think you were more interested in the men stars or the women stars or?

LC: Not really but I can't see any here that, you know? I mean I would never have recognised him! [laughs]

VB: [laughs] No, no! Charlie Chaplin without his hat!

LC: No, you see that was [inaudible] again, they were lovely girls, and they were so beautiful. I suppose if you go to films these days and you know, you know. I've not been for years and years.

VB: 'Cause you mentioned stars like Katharine Hepburn a minute ago.

LC: Oh well, she was lovely. Yes, there was Katharine and there was Audrey Hepburn as well. They were, Katharine used to act with Spencer Tracy. Eh, 00:11:00Audrey, cause she was, Audrey was a different type. Audrey was, she was beautiful and she was younger I think, anyway. But, yes, I did like those two.

VB: Mhm.

LC: Isn't that Jack Buchanan?

VB: Yes.

LC: I recognise that, without looking at the name!

[both laugh]

LC: He wasn't, he was, well it's true he was in films, I know, but he was on the stage more than on the screen really.

VB: Ah, I see.

LC: You know Jack [referring to Jack Hulbert], who was he with always? Mhm, oh it'll come back in a minute.

VB: It wasn't Cicely Courtneidge was it? Someone like that?

LC: Yeah, that's it, dear. Yes.

VB: Yes.

LC: Mhm. Oh dear, this is going back a bit! Isn't it. I'd say that [unintelligble] but I can't.

VB: Elisabeth Bergner.

LC: [pause 2 seconds] No, I remember the name but I can't remember anything about her, really.

VB: 'Cause I think we talked a bit about Bette Davis, the last time I was here.

LC: Yes, and you know, when you first saw films of her, when she first came to prominence she was so young and beautiful and she was, erm, as she was young she was all right. As she got a bit older she got, [pause 1 second] most, how can I say, erratic. You know what I mean? She was, her attitude and she was always twitchy and smoking but that was her, that wasn't put on, if she watched her, every time you saw her, you know, she was that sort of person, that, as a young 00:13:00woman, I'd say her acting age, you know, she was lovely, she really was and I think it's sad when you see them, in their old age, it's hard not to see them, when they're in their old age, to see how different they, they've altered so much. Yes she was, she was lovely.

VB: Someone was saying that to me about, eh, Ginger Rogers. That they wished she'd stopped making films. [laughs]

LC: I have never, I got such a shock when I saw her [pause 2 seconds] a while ago, at, quite a while ago. And I thought to myself, oh dear, if that'd been me, I would not've put my face in front of the camera. Because she was such a beautiful girl.

VB: Mhm.

LC: You know, she really was. And to see how she'd altered and got all--well, she was getting old wasn't she, eightyish--she'd gone so fat and flabby, that no way would I have put myself, had I been such a good looking and all that, in front of the camera then. But I suppose she didn't think she was.

VB: That's true.

LC: You don't really, when you get older you just really go with life, you know. But she was really lovely. Yes, it's going back some now. Anyway, I'll have a look.

LC: See, when I see them.

VB: Yeah.

LC: I used to love her too.

VB: Ah, Myrna Loy!

[both laugh]

LC: She used to act with, erm, who was with Myrna Loy.

[pause 2 seconds]

LC: Oh I've forgotten his name, it was called The Thin Man, or something like that.

VB: Oh, not Powell, the name, was it William Powell?

LC: Yes.

VB: Yes. And the little dog?

LC: Yes!

VB: Yes.

LC: Yes. You see, she was lovely, too. There's Katharine [Hepburn]. But I wouldn't have thought looking at that picture, now, it is too young because she is still around. She doesn't alter in her older years, I can't remember her quite as young as that.

VB: No, I, I would have thought of her as older, too.

LC: Yes. I usually know people by their eyes.

VB: Mhm.

LC: That's it, Loretta Young, 'cause she had lovely eyes.

VB: Yes.

LC: She was a lovely girl. But you see they were so good and so pretty, you can't, there was not a lot, you could choose or say about them, I don't like this one, I don't like that.

VB: Yeah.

LC: 'Cause we liked them all. You know? And him.

VB: Robert Young.

LC: Yeah. [pause 2 seconds] Sometimes, you know, it wasn't when I say, so long ago, I suppose it must've been a few years now, but I think when you go back and you do see a film, of what they used to be like, erm, he didn't seem to, to me, to have altered all that much as he got older. But he, yes, he really was lovely. [pause 2 seconds] She, she was an actress wasn't she.

VB: Mary Ellis.

LC: Not a star.

VB: Yeah.

LC: So I only know her more or less by her name.

VB: Yeah.

LC: I mean, we used to go up town and see shows.

VB: Aah.

LC: I used to love him. His singing. Oh, his singing was beautiful. He used to sing in a, not songs that you've heard and I've heard, that's all this pop nonsense. Really [pause 1 second] lovely songs like oh-- [pause 2 seconds] Mhm. No, I can't remember, his name'll come to me in a minute. But his songs were lovely.

VB: Richard Tauber.

LC: Tauber. Tawber or Towber, I don't realise. Yes, he did. But you probably don't remember that one, 'My Heart's Desire' [referring to 'You Are My Heart's Delight'], but, erm. Look at me, popping out all over. Austrian, an Austrian singer [reading out], yes, that's it. Yes, he was gorgeous.

[pause 3 seconds]

LC: Yes, I remember her too but the same, but not, that's going back a bit.

VB: But you say you went into the centre to see the shows sometime.

LC: We used to go up town.

VB: Yes.

LC: Oh yes, to-- We used to go up Oxford Street. My husband and I. And we did that when, before we were married again, but we did it all through the years so we'd no [inaudible]. We used to go up town and we used to go to [the Row?] and then we'd come out, and then we used to call (I don't know what they call them now), a Lyons Corner House and have a lovely meal which was served by waitresses who were called 'nippies'. And they were dressed lovely, as waitresses, you know?

VB: Mhm.

LC: A white cap and apron and all this sort of thing and that used to be a lovely evening out. We also did that as we got older and I'd got my little boy. We used to take him as well with us. I remember one day we went into a Lyons Corner House (they were big shops, not little ones, you know). And, eh, he had high cushions on the chair, you know, and he had a tu-, they used to call it tutti frutti, in a big long glass, you know, like that--

VB: Mhm.

LC: With jelly and ice cream and fruit and all this lot nonsense. You remember all those things, you see?

LC: But yes, the time was when but, of course, I've not been up there now for years and I don't think I would want to go, as the world is now, I could be wrong but I don't think so. But you weren't afraid to go out and meander, it wasn't just a thing that we used to do, we used 00:20:00to go up quite often, not just again, now and again, come what may.

VB: Yeah. But it sounds like there was a lot to do, a lot available.

LC: Oh there was. There was a lot. I mean, I don't know what goes on there now but it must be in a different way, mustn't it. I mean I don't know what they do now and, once again, when I see the prices of the theatres, it's a shock! Good gracious me! I mean, to be able to afford to do it, even though we weren't wealthy but we managed and that was lovely up there. We used to have a walk around and we used to go into the pictures somehow, the Leicester Square Piazza that was in the Square [referring to Empire Theatre].

VB: What was that like in the thirties?

LC: What, the picture house?

VB: The Leicester Square.

LC: [pause 2 seconds] Well, erm, when you say what was it like I can remember, well, what can I say, I don't know now, do I?

VB: No, but what was it like then?

LC: Well, it was the heart of London, you know. So that, you couldn't go up to Leicester Square every day. When you went to London, well, you went to London, had a mooch around as we used to call it, and that was all right 'cause there were a lot of theatres and picture houses round there then. But mostly we used to go to the Leicester Square Empire which was very nice and eh.

VB: Was it grander than the ones, the local cinemas or?

LC: I don't, honestly, I don't think they were, it was just the fact that it was 00:22:00in London, you know, grander yes in moneywise, paying money!

VB: [laughs] Yes.

LC: I don't think they were, it was just the fact that you'd gone to London that was, that was--

VB: Yes. [heavy hammering noises in background; tape is inaudible]

LC: To the locals, you know. You'd feel a bit big-headed really. Isn't it? Well, this is the way people looked at it.

VB: Yes.

LC: You know so, if you listen to that later on, you're going to say what my son said to me once, "All you keep saying, mum, is 'You know', you know!"

[Both laugh; banging noises increase]

VB: It sounds like you got a great deal of enjoyment out of going to the films then.

LC: Oh we did, we did, because it was more or less our life, you know. I mean I know I met my husband at a dance but, it's a funny thing but, unless you're way 00:23:00into dancing (I mean, I've always liked dancing) but unless you're way into it it's not something that you, well if your partner doesn't sort of keep up with you but, no that was our life. We'd go to the pictures and to go up town, you know, to make a break.

VB: Mhm.

LC: We'd go up town to go to a film or around theatres, etcetera.

VB: Mhm.

LC: So, I mean. Nice breeze coming in, wasn't it?

VB: Yes, it's a relief! [both laugh; conversation continues in background. pause: 2 seconds] I mean, were there any kinds of pictures you weren't so keen on, or? Did you like most of the films then?

LC: There were obviously, you know, films that we liked better than others so 00:24:00that if ones, or others, were on, we'd make a beeline for them. It was a [inaudible]. But if it was, sort of, something, probably actors, actresses didn't sound very interesting--

VB: Mhm.

LC: Well, we didn't bother.

VB: Mhm.

LC: You know? Because you've got to eh-- [pause 1 second] I know when I was first married 'cause Mum, we lived with Mother as well in Harrow, so, and, eh, you don't know Harrow as such?

LC: You wouldn't know back years ago. Where I lived, there used to be a cattle bridge, you know, it was all rough and ready, it's still called the cattle bridge but, of course, it's all built up now. But Mother and I used to go every Wednesday afternoon, over the cattle bridge we'd have to walk, right round to North Harrow where there was a picture house there [referring to the Embassy]. 00:25:00And we used to go in there, but, eh, it depends what was on, mostly, by the time I went there, Charlie Chaplin or Laurel and Hardy or [laughs] something like that! We used to do that, you know, practically once a week. But when it came to anything else further away, of course, I went with my husband then, going up town or something like that.

VB: Mhm.

LC: To the Dominion or whatever.

VB: Yeah.

LC: Life was quite simple then, mind you I don't know what it's like now for you young ones, you know? But you'll probably laugh, you know, but--

VB: No, not at all.

LC: We did, but that was our life, it was good!

VB: Yeah. [pause 1 second] No, I know what you mean. I like going to pictures as well. You know, it's [pause 2 seconds] something that takes you out of yourself, I suppose, really.

LC: Well, I liked, I know my son likes to do it now, 'cause the children are 00:26:00growing up, they're grown up. But, my son, I couldn't remember him taking his wife out before the children were born.

VB: Mhm.

LC: He might've done, I don't know. They didn't seem to go out like my husband used to take me out and about, let's put it that way. You know, and I used to say, say to him, "Well, when you get married, you don't want to give up everything, either of you. You want to keep your friends, and you want to make a point of going out, I don't know, p'raps once or twice a week, whatever." It all depends on the person really, doesn't it? You know, you can't tell other people what to do, can you?

[LC apologises for 'grumbling stomach'. had a serious operation and the way 00:27:00she's sitting aggravates it.]

VB: It's interesting that you say that--the importance of going out after you get married. Do you think that, erm--

LC: I think you should.

VB: Mhm.

LC: When I hear of, or indeed you hear of it on television, about young couples. [pause 2 seconds] My husband and I, we weren't jealous of each other, do you know what I mean? We led a good life, we were married sixty, I haven't got him now, unfortunately, but this August will be sixty years of married life but we 00:28:00were two years short of our golden wedding, it upset me, you know. But not that he used to worry me, because he didn't but, I mean, if he was going out anywhere on his own [that] I wasn't supposed to go, if I knew where he was going I would say, "All right then, I won't go" [inaudible] and the same with me. We weren't just sort of, "You can't do anything without me, we've got to do it together," because I don't honestly believe in that. I couldn't be [inaudible] if I didn't have my freedom. And this is what I tried to, I mean, my son's happily married and has been for years and I used to say to him when he was young, anyway, you know, bringing home girls, I said, "You just don't want to try the first one you meet," I said, "You want to try all the chocolates in the box!"

VB: [laughs]

LC: You know what I mean? You know what I mean? [continues this vein]

LC: So therefore I've only my memories to look back on, which are nice.

VB: It sounds like it.

LC: Nothing exciting really, I mean very [inaudible]. We always had a holiday every year and enjoyed what we did.

VB: Mhm.

LC: And apart from that, really, it was pictures, pictures and theatres, yes. I think.

[End of Side A]

[Start of Side B]

LC: I mean, we didn't see the world or anything, nothing like that but, well, it's what's mapped out for you, dear, isn't it, just about? Still.

VB: Mhm. As I say, it sounds like you had many happy times.

LC: Oh yes, I don't regret it. I don't regret it, and another thing is.

[LC has received other proposals of marriage but refused; she had a happy marriage and wouldn't want to be comparing husbands.]

LC: I was going to try and guessed but I did guess that was Jean Harlow.

VB: Oh right.

LC: Or the blonde bombshell as we used to call her, wasn't it.

VB: Mhm.

LC: Yes, that was years and years ago.

VB: Did you enjoy her films? Did you like her?

LC: Ye-es. She was, she was all right, I wasn't mad on her, dear, like, you know some people would, it all depends on your taste, doesn't it.

VB: Mhm.

LC: You know. [pause 2 seconds] Yes, I used to like Cary Grant.

VB: Yes.

LC: Yes. John Boles, he was a lovely singer, I'm sure he was, yes, right, yes that's right, yes, he had a beautiful voice. See, I remember all these stars.

VB: Mhm.

LC: But [pause 2 seconds] it's difficult to know, to choose, you know--

VB: Mhm.

LC: Because they were all so good. [pause 2 seconds] If you ask me anything 00:32:00about any actors or actresses now, I wouldn't be able to tell you a thing.

VB: Mhm. [pause 1 second] When did you stop going to the pictures?

LC: [pause 3 seconds] Well, there again you see Carol, my sight's been going for a long while, and it's nearly gone now.

VB: Right.

LC: But I can remember I used to go to the pictures on some afternoons when my husband was at work, they used to have matinees and they were for ninepence, if you know what ninepence is! [laughs] Anyway, that is beside the point. We used to do that but I know we went one evening into, it was the Regal, we lived in Wembley then, and when we got in there, I says to my husband, "This is useless, I can hardly see very much at all, it's all so dark," and it only [inaudible] 00:33:00'cause my eyes were drying and the light wasn't right and [pause 1 second] I know, I [inaudible] but it was a long while ago. But I know from then on we didn't go very much.

VB: Mhm.

LC: Because there's no use me going anywhere like that now.

VB: Mhm.

LC: Because going from one light to another you'd be blinded completely.

VB: Mhm.

LC: So, you know, my husband's been dead ten, eleven, years so I haven't been for eleven and long before that.

VB: Mhm.

LC: So that's about it. I wouldn't want to, really. Not these days. You see the point is, pet, you got television, dear, haven't you.

VB: Mhm.

LC: And this is what stops a lot of people from doing it, you see. 'Cause you don't have to seek it, you've got it coming to you at home. You watch what you 00:34:00want to watch.

VB: Yes.

LC: Apart from having it there, you were used to going out to the pictures, and that was about all, really, for the company, you know, and it was always full up, standing room only or, [pause half a second] whatever, you know, it was always full up and we used to, we used to queue for a long, long time outside, you know, the Dominion. Stand there in the cold, and wait, and then you managed to get in, but then when you came out again in the evening and go back along the road, you weren't afraid to walk home in the dark, like you are now.

VB: Mhm.

LC: So, you know [inaudible] I haven't a clue what it's like now. I haven't got a clue what a lot's like, when you can't see.

VB: Mhm.

LC: You just see [inaudible] too much. I mean, you're doing this project aren't 00:35:00you, you come from Glasgow, don't you?

VB: That's right, yes.

LC: And how long are you on this project for?

VB: Erm, it's two years.

LC: Two years! Really!

VB: Yeah.

LC: Ooh!

VB: So we're, erm, it involves going around a bit, eh, been talking to people in Glasgow and Manchester and I'm going to be going down to Suffolk and Norfolk next.

LC: Are you?

VB: Yeah.

LC: Ooh! Aren't you getting around!

VB: Yeah, I certainly am! [laughs]

LC: You really are!

[much background noise]

LC: I used to like him, he wasn't nice to look at.

VB: Oh, Peter Lorre.

LC: Because of his eyes, but, if he was in a film, I'd like to see it, because he was a good actor.

VB: Yeah.

LC: And it, you know, it sort of did something for the film and that. Peter Lorre, yes.

LC: I remember the names but I don't remember her.

VB: Mhm.

LC: Oh Charlie Chan, yes [referring to Warner Oland]. Yes, that was good too. [pause 5 seconds, looking through book; great deal of background noise] Yes, her.

VB: Jean Arthur?

LC: She was nice, yes. See they were all nice but you can maybe just pick out, you know, say, "Oh yes, I did like her perhaps a little bit more than that [inaudible]."

[pause 9 seconds; looking though book; great deal of background noise]

LC: Ooh, [pause 1 second] oh she was good, no I remember the names.

VB: Mhm.

[pause 4 seconds]

VB: Ah.

LC: You know who he is, of course, don't you!

VB: Yes.

LC: Clark Gable! Yes, he was very good. He was a lovely actor, too,

VB: He looks very young there as well, doesn't he?

LC: Yeah, he certainly does. Yes.

VB: I think he improved as he got older, actually.

LC: Well, you know you say that [inaudible], a lot of actors do and a lot of them don't and when, when you're watching television sometimes, you look at them and think, "I know her face, oh yes," and then you think he's got older and then 00:38:00you think, "Oh dear, I don't like him as he's got older," and erm, vice versa, you know. But then, once again I can't think imagine. Do you remember the name Dirk Bogarde?

VB: Oh yes.

LC: Well, I mean I can't remem-, I can't imagine that he's as old as he is. But of course, but he, I don't think he's got nice older, as he was when he was young. and I think there was somebody else I noticed, no, I don't know. Waterloo Bridge, do you remember that one?

VB: Mhm.

LC: [laughs] Mind you, it's a lark! [laughs] But I saw him once, as he was looking older, in a film, and it wasn't in the film, it was him himself. Getting older and yet he kept on pulling his tummy out! His stomach! I don't know. And that put me off. It's a shame, I mean you remember them as oh, lovely, glamorous 00:39:00and all this, that, all the girls when they were young.

VB: Mhm.

LC: But it alters, some alters when they're mature, better and others don't. So, eh, that's the same for the men and the same for the women as well--

VB: Mhm.

LC: Isn't it? I mean it was like poor old whatsisname we were just talking about. And also Bette Davis, she, [pause 2 seconds] she went on right to the last, but she looked so old and haggard.

VB: Mhm.

LC: And it was a shame because you live with your memories, don't you dear? Ever so sad.

[pause 4 seconds, great deal of background noise]

LC: I can't remember him.

VB: Did you ever get the film magazines? The 'Picturegoer' or?

LC: No, no. I was never a person to buy books, magazines, or anything like that, no.

VB: Yeah.

LC: No, didn't. No. [pause 2 seconds] That was going back a bit, wasn't it? [pause 3 seconds] I should say before my time, but I can't!

[both laugh]

LC: Yeah, oh dear. Oh he used to be a boy, Tom Walls.

VB: Ah.

LC: You'd go and see a film if you knew he was in it. 'Cause you knew you would get a good film, you knew, yes. [pause 2 seconds] And Yvonne Arnaud. She had, erm, I don't know if it was still there now, but she had a theatre up in London [inaudible] and I haven't heard of it lately.

VB: Mhm.

LC: It's probably gone, haven't got a clue. [pause 3 seconds]

LC: He was good too, Don Ameche.

VB: Mhm.

LC: Yeah.

[great deal of background noise; pause: 3 seconds]

LC: Ooh! He's looking at you, he's got cheeky eyes!

VB: He has, he really does! Yes, yes! He's looking back! [both laugh]

LC: I could pin him up in my bedroom! Yes, that would be nice! [both laugh]

[great deal of background noise; pause: 3 seconds, while looking through]

VB: Is it Olivia de Havilland, I think?

LC: Yeah, she is. I [inaudible], I knew who it was when you see it.

[pause 3 seconds, while looking; great deal of background noise]

LC: Oh Yeah! [laughs] She was ever so good!

VB: Marie Dressler.

LC: Yeah. She was very-- [pause 2 seconds] She wasn't young and beautiful--

VB: No.

LC: If you know what I mean. No. But she was a very good actress. Yes. Eh, I remember, oh I can't explain the parts she took but she was good. Yes. [pause 3 seconds] Have you watched these two recently, on the television?

VB: I think the last one I saw was Top Hat. With them.

LC: Aaw. You know, not so many weeks ago they had two or three a day of their 00:43:00films on.

VB: Aw.

LC: And it, oh, it was.

[person comes into room]

LC: Oh, when the dry ones come in, I'll have to go up and see [inaudible] about my laundry.

VB: Oh right.

LC: [laughs] I'm sorry I haven't been more helpful.

VB: Oh, you've been very helpful indeed.

LC: Aw.

VB: Absolutely.

LC: Well, as this is my last day.

VB: Well, I'm glad I caught you then.

[background noise overwhelming; totally inaudible for last 2 seconds]

[End of Interview]