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NEW
Celebrating the STARS we love
PUCKER UP The 10 most
memorable movie kisses
BOLDLY GOING
How Star Trek
explored new
TV frontiers
EALING
COMEDIES
The films that
healed a nation
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GRACE
KELLY
The princess &
her secret despair
CARY GRANT &
the woman who
broke his heart
PLUS… >> A FINE ROMANCE Paul Newman
& Joanne Woodward >> VE DAY How the nation
marked the end of war >> HEY HEY! THEY’RE
THE MONKEES Looking back at a pop sensation
>> TOY WONDERS Back to the 1950s with Meccano
and Subbuteo
PLUS Test your wits with our Laurel & Hardy quiz

CATCH UP WITH A CLASSIC
Inside your FREE digital download…
Welcome…
Are classic movies your antidote to anxiety?
Then you are not alone! What better way
could there be to relax and unwind than to
watch a favourite film or TV show? I’ve seen North
by Northwest so many times I know most of the
dialogue - but I’d always happily follow Cary on his
heart-stopping adventure again. There’s something
inordinately reassuring about nostalgia, particularly
in the uncertain times we find ourselves in now – it’s the
comfort of familiarity that feels as good as wrapping
yourself in a cosy duvet.
We appreciate that Yours Retro readers share our
passion for glamorous old Hollywood, British film
stars and classic cult TV shows. In the spirit of sharing
we wanted to bring you this free digital download
magazine - featuring some articles from our first few
issues (which are now out of print). It’s our gift - as a way
of saying thank you to all you kindred spirits out there
helping to keep the memories alive.
Stay well, stay safe...
Sharon EDITOR
Cary Grant in Hitchcock’s
North by Northwest: taking
social distancing to the extreme
Yours Retro relax & rewind… try our 4-step lockdown guide
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Pick up Retro
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Local newsagent
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04Carry On Laughing… Famous one liners from a
great British comedy institution
06 The Eternal Grace Kelly… The timeless beauty
who quit Hollywood when she married a prince
10 1950s’ Toy Wonders… Most wanted childhood
games from Meccano to a Dan Dare Planet Gun
12 Sheilah Graham… The East End orphan who
became a Hollywood gossip columnist and fell in love with
America’s jazz-age novelist F Scott Fitzgerald
16 To Boldy Go… Star Trek pushed the TV frontiers
for a new generation and inspired the creation of real-life
technology
20 Pucker Up… 10 lingering movie kisses
22 Here They Come… How The Monkees became the
perfect 1960s pop band
26 The Birthplace of Rock ‘n’ Roll… Discovering
London’s coolest coffee shop
28 Legendary Ealing Studios… Looking back at the
classic films that made the studio’s fortune
31 Enduring Love… The lasting marriage of
Hollywood couple Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
34 Hear the People Cheer… A thankful nation
celebrates Victory in Europe
38 The Debonair Cary Grant… The lonely charmer
who found love and happiness elusive
2
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RETRO Remember with a smile
Sid James King Henry VIII: ‘Has she been chaste?’
Kenneth Williams Thomas Cromwell: ‘All over Normandy’
n Sid James played Henry VIII while Kenneth
Williams played Cromwell in Carry On Henry
(1971). The coat worn by Sid is the same
one used by Richard Burton in Anne of the
Thousand Days, filmed two years before.
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RETRO
n Although the script
for Carry on Cleo (1964)
was credited to Talbot
Rothwell, Kenneth
Williams’ most famous
line was written by Frank
Muir and Denis Norden
for their BBC Radio
comedy series Take It From
Here. Rothwell apparently
asked their permission to
recycle the line before using it
in his script.
Kenneth Williams Caesar: ‘Infamy! Infamy!
They’ve all got it in for me’
Famous for one-liners,
and uniquely British
humour, here are our
favourite Carry On quips
Joan Hickson Sister: ‘It’s Matron’s round’
Bill Owen Percy Hickson: ‘Mine’s a pint!’
n Carry On Nurse (1959) saw the debut of Joan Sims
who became the longest-serving female member of the
Carry On team, appearing in 24 of the series.
Carry On
laughing
Sid James Rumpo Kid: ‘Once
talked peace with a Sioux – but
you can’t trust them… one
minute it was peace on, the
next – peace off!’
n As Carry on Cowboy (1965)
was filmed on the Pinewood lot,
the stagecoach scene, where
they’re racing across open country,
was actually shot near Esher in
Surrey. Don’t be fooled by the
dust flying up from the wheels,
it was one of the wettest days on
location and a crewman had to sit
in the coach with a powder gun to
make it look dry and dusty.
Sid James Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond: ‘Tell Major
Shorthouse to call me an elephant’
Joan Sims Lady Joan Ruff-Diamond: ‘He needn’t
bother, I’ll do it. You’re an elephant!’
n Carry On Up The Khyber (1968) was filmed in Snowdonia, but
it was clearly a convincing substitute for the Khyber Pass because
when the film was released, an old soldier who had served in the
area wrote to the film studio, saying he recognised the area at
once. The wording on the sign at the gateway of the Khyber Pass
reads ‘Please Shut The Gate’.
This feature first appeared in Retro issue 1
Harry H. Corbett Detective Sergeant Bung: ‘This ear was
found in Slocombe woods’
Fenella Fielding Valeria: ‘What, this ear?’
Bung: ‘Yes, that there’
n Harry H Corbett played
Detective Sergeant Bung in
Carry On Screaming (1966).
Sid James had to pull out
of filming because he was
unwell – it was Harry’s only
Carry On role. To reference
Corbett’s most famous
character Steptoe, the theme
was used when he rides in the
horse and cart.
Phil Silvers Sgt Nocker: ‘Hold it baby. How about
giving us the Dance of the Two Veils?’
Anita Harris Corktip: ‘You mean seven veils’
Sgt Nocker: ‘Why bother with preliminaries?’
n The camel used in the film Carry On Follow That Camel
(1967) came from Chessington Zoo. Called Sheena the Camel,
it had never walked on sand before and corrugated material
covered with sand had to be placed on the floor.
n Carry on Camping
(1969) premiered
in Hull and people
were literally queuing
around the block
to see the film. We
loved it – this was the
highest grossing film
in the UK in 1969.
Eric Barker Captain Potts: ‘Your rank?’
Kenneth Williams James Bailey: ‘Well,
that’s a matter of opinion’
n The first film in the series, Carry
on Sergeant (1958) starred Dr Who’s
William Hartnell, who had also appeared
in TV’s The Army Game. The National
Service recruits, who should be in their
late teens or early 20s, were all played
by actors who were over 30 at the time
of filming (in fact, Charles Hawtrey was
over 40!).
Amelia Bayntun Mrs Fussey: ‘Joan may
think you’re a gentleman but personally
I’ve got sore misgivings’
Sid James Sid Boggle: ‘You ought to put
some talcum powder on them’
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5

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Screen icon
Grace
eternal
Renowned for her timeless beauty and as the very
essence of everyone’s fairytale bride, Grace Kelly was
driven to succeed to prove her father wrong
A
favourite of director Alfred
Hitchcock, one of Grace Kelly’s
standout performances was in
Rear Window, alongside James
Stewart. During the film, Hitchcock gently
teases the flawless image of her when
Stewart’s character L B Jeffries says: “She’s
too perfect, too talented, too beautiful,
she’s too sophisticated, too everything but
what I want.”
Considered by many to be one of
the most beautiful actresses of all time,
Grace Kelly had an undeniable elegance
and poise and by 1956 it seemed she had
it all… worldwide fame and the love of
a real-life prince. But was the fairytale
quite all it seemed?
Grace’s parents had frequently
disapproved of her relationships and life
choices so she must have hoped that
Prince Rainier was a match they would
finally endorse. However, her father,
John ‘Jack’ Kelly was not impressed
by the sizeable dowry (said to have
been $2 million) he was asked to pay to
accompany Grace to Monaco. Luckily,
as a self-made millionaire, Jack could
afford it.
STRUGGLING TO SHINE
Born in 1929 in Philadelphia, Grace’s
family were all energetic athletes. Jack
was a three-time Olympic gold medal
winner for the US rowing team and
her mother Margaret had been the first
woman to teach PE at the University
of Pennsylvania.
However, Grace was a frail and timid
girl who was often ill and would avoid
confrontation. She struggled to be
noticed among her three robust and
sporty siblings and her father felt she
didn’t have the Kelly determination to
win. But what Jack didn’t realise was that
Grace was determined – to be an actress.
Grace loved performing from a young
age and after she graduated from high
school, she enrolled in the American
Academy of Dramatic Arts in New
York, despite her parents’ objections.
According to one of her close friends,
Jack Kelly thought acting was ‘a slim cut
above streetwalker’. Jack apparently only
gave his permission because he thought
she had no chance of succeeding.
The arts weren’t completely unknown
to the Kelly family though; her uncle
Walter was a vaudeville performer,
and uncle George, a prize-winning
playwright, both had a huge effect on her
with George particularly encouraging
and mentoring her.
A sporty family: Grace, aged 5, with her parents, sisters Margaret and Elizabeth and brother John,
who followed in his father’s footsteps to become an Olympic rowing champion
‘My father had a very simple
view of life: you don’t get
anything for nothing. Everything
has to be earned,
through work, persistence
and honesty’ | Grace Kelly |
This feature first appeared in Retro issue 1
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RETRO
Screen icon
‘Mr Hitchcock taught
me everything about
cinema. It was thanks to
him that I understand
that murder scenes
should be shot like love
scenes and love scenes
like murders’ | Grace Kelly |
Grace helped fund her drama school
studies through modelling and appeared
in ads for Old Gold cigarettes and on the
covers of magazines like Cosmopolitan.
After graduating and with some stage
and TV experience, 22-year-old Grace
made to move to Hollywood for a part
in her first movie, Fourteen Hours. But
it was when she was spotted and given
the role of Amy Kane in the western
High Noon alongside Gary Cooper the
following year, that she really became
famous.
Her poise and beauty was clearly
attracting the attention of the opposite
sex. While shooting her next film
Mogambo it was rumoured that she
became more than good friends with her
co-star Clark Gable, gossip that was all
but confirmed when she commented,
“Well, what else is there to do when
you’re alone in the tent with Clark
Gable?”
GRACE IN CONTROL
Despite her controlling parents’
disapproval, the flirtatious Grace
continued to live her life her own
way, dating whom she pleased when
she pleased. Her love life was largely
kept from the public eye but she was
rumoured to have had affairs with
almost all her leading men, including
Gary Cooper, Ray Milland and William
Holden. Grace wasn’t like other Fifties’
Hollywood starlets – she didn’t have
voluptuous curves, pouting lips and
heavy make-up – instead she had an
almost virginal beauty.
But that didn’t stop all the hotblooded
males falling at her feet and
her romantic entanglements were not
hampering her talent for making good
films. After two successful films for
Hitchcock – Dial M for Murder and Rear
Window – she won a Best Actress Oscar
for her role opposite Bing Crosby in The
Country Girl, an event which astounded
her father.
The following year, Grace met Prince
Rainier at the Cannes Film Festival and
agreed to leave Hollywood behind for a
new life as a princess. Her final film, High
Society with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra
and Louis Armstrong, mirrored Grace’s
real life – planning a glamorous wedding
amidst media scrutiny.
Grace was rumoured to have
had affairs with almost all her
leading men including Gary
Cooper (above) in High Noon,
Clark Gable (right) in Mogambo,
Ray Milland (far right) in Dial M
for Murder and Bing Crosby
(below right) in High Society
– despite them all being more
than 20 years her senior.
A FAIRYTALE WEDDING
On April 19, 1956, a radiant but nervous
Grace Kelly walked down the aisle of
the cathedral of Saint Nicolas, Monte
Carlo, on the arm of her father Jack and
watched by an estimated 30 million
TV viewers. Although Prince Rainier
banned her films from being shown in
Monaco, Grace’s superstar status put
the small principality on the map and
she settled into married life. Grace took
her royal duties seriously, setting up
charities, founding a ballet school and
building convalescent homes.
Sadly it’s only in fairytales that
princesses live happily ever after. Grace
died aged 53 when, in September 1982,
she suffered a stroke and lost control of
her car on a narrow mountain road.
In a ironic twist that wouldn’t have been
out of place in a Hitchcock script, Grace
was only driving instead of her usual
chauffeur, because there was no room
as she’d laid her new season’s dresses
on the back seat to stop them from
creasing.
Grace’s funeral was attended by
people including Princess Diana and her
To Catch a Thief co-star Cary Grant. In
his eulogy, James Stewart said: “I just
love Grace Kelly. Not because she was a
princess, not because she was an actress,
not because she was my friend, but
because she was just about the nicest
lady I ever met.”
A SHORT BUT MEMORABLE CAREER
Grace Kelly only made 11 films over her six years in Hollywood
1951: Fourteen Hours
1952: High Noon
Her first major film
1953: Mogambo
Won Grace a Supporting
Actress Golden Globe and
an Oscar nomination
1954: Dial M for Murder,
Rear Window, Green Fire,
The Country Girl, and
The Bridges of Toko-Ri
Grace began working
with director Alfred
Hitchcock and secured an
Oscar and Golden Globe
for The Country Girl
1955: To Catch A Thief
Filmed largely on location
in the South of France
1956: The Swan and
High Society
Happily married James Stewart (left)
always denied that he and Grace were
ever more than friends but that didn’t stop
her describing him as, “one of the most
masculinely attractive men I ever met.”
DID
YOU KNOW…
Grace’s engagement ring
was a 10.47-carat emerald-cut
diamond with a platinum band. In
High Society, her final feature film,
she wears the ring throughout, at
one point causing Bing Crosby
to quip: “Some stone, did you
mine it yourself?”
8
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RETRO
9

RETRO
The big picture
1950s’ toy wonders
The way
we played
For most of us, life in the Fifties still had a
very definite gender divide,
and toys were no different. Girls wanted
to be just like Mummy, so our baby
dolls, dressed in hand-knitted clothes, were
tucked into prams and paraded up and down the
street. Or we could try our hands at creating an
imaginary culinary masterpiece with the Philip
Harben cookery set. This came complete with
rolling pin, cookie cutters, mixing bowl, rotary
whisk, wooden spoon, scales and miniature toy
packets, as well as cans of food such as peas,
carrots, Nestlé tinned milk and Ovaltine.
For boys, playtime was all about cowboys
and spacemen. You could pop a six-shooter in
your holster and ride off to adventure like the
Lone Ranger or, sporting a ray gun and walkie
talkie, you could fly into space like Dan Dare.
WHAT’S ON THE BOX?
The ever-popular Dinky toy cars now had two
rivals. Corgi cars were a huge hit because there
were the only ones that included transparent
plastic windows. While Matchbox were so
named because their 75 different vehicles were
each packaged in a small box designed to look
just like a matchbox.
With the growing popularity of television,
family games with TV tie-ins were everywhere.
You could all sit down and play Double
Your Money, Take Your Pick, Dixon of
Dock Green or Jimmy Edwards’
Whack-O!
10
DID
YOU KNOW...
The early Subbuteo sets
weren’t supplied with a pitch
– instead, you were given
chalk and instructions
on how to mark out
the playing area on to
a blanket
This feature first appeared in Retro issue 2
RETRO
11

RETRO Hollywood insider
Sheilah Graham
East End
orphan to
friend of
the stars
Roger Harvey reveals the extraordinary
life of the Hollywood gossip columnist
who fell in love with The Great Gatsby
novelist F Scott Fitzgerald
Showbusiness
writer Sheilah
Graham married
her third
husband, Stanley
Wojtkiewicz, at
her Beverley HIlls
home in 1953,
surrounded by
Hollywood greats
such as Stewart
Granger and Jean
Simmons, top
right, and Marilyn
Monroe, below
Who would believe an
orphan from the slums
of London could become
a household name on
both sides of the Atlantic, reporting the
gossip of Hollywood stars and falling in
love with one of the greatest writers of
the 20th Century?
Sheilah Graham, born Lily Sheil to
Ukrainian Jewish immigrants in 1904,
has a life story that’s stranger and more
compelling than many of the Hollywood
films she knew so well.
Her autobiography, Beloved Infidel,
reveals the struggles of a young
and ambitious woman surviving
and succeeding in ways she could
never have imagined, including her
relationship with F Scott Fitzgerald. An
instant bestseller, the book was also
turned into a biopic starring Deborah
Kerr as Sheilah and Gregory Peck as the
writer she adored.
Although intelligent, golden-haired
and good-looking, the infant Lily
seemed doomed to a life of poverty and
hardship when her father died and her
mother, ill with cancer and struggling
in menial jobs, sent her to a Jewish
orphanage. Initially degraded by a
12
RETRO
This feature first appeared in Retro issue 1
shaven head and a harsh regime, she
did well at this austere school and was
training as a teacher when she returned
home to nurse her dying mother.
A CAREER IN SALES
Aged 16, Lily began working in sales,
demonstrating toothbrushes in a
London store. She was spotted by the
handsome and debonair John Graham
Gillam, an army officer who had started
a ‘fancy goods’ business. He believed a
girl as pretty as Lily could sell anything
and took her on as a salesperson.
Lily and Gillam fell in love as he
guided her career and oversaw her
social education, teaching her how
to behave in restaurants, to dress
elegantly, to visit the hairdresser and
have manicures, to say ‘débutantes’
instead of ‘debuntees’ and ‘raisins’
instead of ‘rysins’.
Although Lily and Gillam were
happy together she found it impossible
not to dally with other men. Their
business did not go well and the fancy
goods, which included items as oddly
matched as car polish and table lamps
was soon in financial difficulties. Gillam
eventually went bankrupt but not
before he had married Lily and enrolled
her in RADA acting school. He also
encouraged her to change her name
to Sheilah Graham (he told her the ‘h’
added elegance) and secured work for
her as a chorus girl.
Showbusiness didn’t come easy to
Sheilah, she had little confidence as a
dancer or actress but Gillam supported
her with devotion, agreeing she should
keep their marriage a secret and helping
her to secure a starring role in Noël
Coward’s This Year of Grace. At the
same time, Sheilah began her freelance
writing career with the acceptance of an
RETRO
13

RETRO Hollywood insider
article by the Daily Express, Stage Door
Johnnies, by a Chorus Girl, for which she
received what she considered to be the
very generous sum of two guineas.
Thanks to Gillam’s coaching, Sheilah
was accepted by society and, when
presented at Court, she was delighted
that the Prince of Wales winked at
her. She rubbed shoulders with many
noble families including the Mitfords;
but she knew she must tread warily,
hiding her humble origins behind an
invented past, never daring to reveal the
truth that would expose her as a fraud
and destroy her new-found happiness.
The Marquess of Donegall fell in love
with her and proposed marriage,
which would have made Sheilah a
Marchioness.
HOLLYWOOD CALLS
At the same time Sheilah was offered
the opportunity of a lifetime – to go to
America as a journalist. Gillam agreed
to an amicable separation and
eventually divorce while she established
herself in New York and later flew to
the West Coast, where she wrote a
gossip column from Hollywood.
After some false starts reporting
the world of desperate film stars
and ruthless movie moguls, Sheilah
became hugely successful. Her column,
Hollywood Today, ran for 35 years and
was syndicated to 178 newspapers,
beating the output of her famous rivals
the formidable Louella Parsons and
Hedda Hopper. Yet, always aware of
her own humble beginnings, she felt
out of her depth in the presence of the
many talented writers she met… but
not the impeccably mannered and
quietly charismatic F Scott
Fitzgerald. They met at a
party in 1937 and after only
one dance a fatal magic
worked between them and
they fell in love.
Sheilah broke off
the engagement with
the Marquess, became
Scott’s lover and was
his companion for the
remainder of his life.
Terrified of rejection
by the man she adored,
she felt the need to drop all pretence
and pour out every detail of her humble
origins and the deceptions she now
regarded as shameful. Her confessions
only served only to increase Scott’s
admiration and love for her.
Scott brought demons of his own to
their relationship. The once-celebrated
author of Tender is the Night and The
Great Gatsby was now considered
somewhat passé. Readers continued to
make bestsellers of his contemporaries
Hemingway, Wolfe and Steinbeck,
but Scott was now in Hollywood
struggling to write film scripts. He
found it demeaning work which he only
pursued to fund the care of his tragic
wife Zelda, who had been confined to
a mental hospital, and to educate his
daughter, Scottie.
Sheilah tried everything to bolster
his confidence while he enrolled her
in what she called his ‘College of One’
teaching her about poetry, drama,
philosophy, politics, music and art. As he
helped her educate herself, she helped
him with his writing. Perhaps inevitably,
she became the model for Kathleen,
the English journalist
beloved of Hollywood producer Stahr in
Fitzgerald’s final novel The Last Tycoon,
on which they collaborated and which
was unfinished at his death.
Their love was dramatic, romantic
and enriching, but Scott’s depression and
his drinking clouded their relationship.
In their story, the vulgar and all-toocommonplace
battles between a decent
person and a drunkard were somehow
elevated to greater tragedy because
these talented, charming, creative people
were blessed (or perhaps cursed) with
glamour and fame.
LIFE AFTER FITZGERALD
Beloved Infidel ends with Sheilah’s
devastation after Scott’s death from
a heart attack in 1940. She became
an unlikely war correspondent but
continued to find success interviewing
luminaries of the time, including
Winston Churchill and George Bernard
Shaw. In 1941 she married Trevor
Westbrook, whose business interests
included the manufacture of Spitfires
for the RAF, and had two children.
Divorce and American Citizenship
followed. In 1953 she married
Stanley Wojtkiewicz but divorced two
years later.
Throughout the Fifties, Sheilah
commanded a huge salary and became
a radio and television personality as
a forerunner of today’s celebrity talk
show host. She died of heart failure in
Palm Beach in 1988, having written
many more books and continuing her
journalistic career into old age.
SHEILAH’S LEGACY
It is unfair, as some have attempted,
to dismiss Sheilah Graham as an
adventuress living on her wits and
charming or seducing her way to
spectacular success, first through
the ranks of British Society and then
through the jungle of Hollywood
showbusiness. If she was a hard-working
and sometimes ruthless opportunist,
she was also a remarkable talent, not
only as a journalist and commentator,
but as a supportive and inspirational
companion to F Scott Fitzgerald
through some of his darkest moments.
Sheilah never became the aristocratic
wife with the titled privileges she had
once desired, but her choice of love
rather than status and the depth and
honesty of her feelings for Scott elevated
her humanity in a different way.
She also earned the respect of a great
writer who recognised that Lily Sheil’s
voyage from ignorance and obscurity
to love and fame was as extraordinary
and romantic as anything he had
created himself.
Deborah Kerr, left, played Sheilah
Graham, above, in the film of her life,
Beloved Infidel, with Gregory Peck,
below, playing F Scott Fitzgerald
THE GREAT GATSBY
n Despite winning rave reviews from the likes of TS Eliot and
Edith Wharton, Fitzgerald’s 1925 masterpiece The Great Gatsby
was never a bestseller in his lifetime. It performed poorly
compared to his first two novels, selling just over 20,000 copies
and only turning a meagre profit for its publisher. Popular
interest in the book didn’t spike until the Second World War,
when some 150,000 copies were shipped to US servicemen
overseas. Combined with other posthumous re-releases of his
work, this ‘Armed Services Edition’ helped revive Fitzgerald’s
literary reputation and secure for The Great Gatsby a place
among the most beloved American novels. The book now sells
around 500,000 copies each year.
14
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F Scott Fitzgerald with
his wife Zelda, who
became mentally ill
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15

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Cult TV
To boldly go...
The final
frontier
Captain Kirk’s five-year
mission to explore the
galaxy is still going
strong more than
50 years later
The first season
of Star Trek aired
more than 50 years
ago, but the story of
its development began two
years earlier.
In April 1964, former Air
Force pilot and police officer,
Gene Roddenberry, prepared
a pitch for a new science
fiction show, which he
loosely described as ‘Wagon
train to the stars’.
Set in a non-specific
future, each episode would
mix action and adventure
with a morality tale. The cast
would be multi-cultural,
representing Gene’s Utopian
vision of a future where
racial stereotypes and
discrimination were a thing
of the past. Original
characters included a female
first officer, and Mr Spock,
a ‘probably half Martian’
lieutenant serving under
Captain Robert April,
travelling on the SS Yorktown.
The show didn’t have an
easy start. It was picked up
by Desilu, a production
company best known at the
time for Lucille Ball’s comedy
show, and NBC commissioned
a pilot, The Cage, even though
it was sceptical about Desilu’s
ability to produce anything
more ambitious than a sitcom.
By the time filming began
on The Cage, Captain April
had become Captain
Christopher Pike, played by
Jeffrey Hunter, Spock had
become half Vulcan, and the
ship renamed USS Enterprise.
NBC rejected the pilot
as being ‘too cerebral’ but
was impressed enough to
commission a second
attempt. However, this was
with the stipulation that
two characters should be
dropped: Spock, played
by Leonard Nimoy, due
to worries that his faintly
demonic appearance would
offend bible belt audiences,
and Number One (played by
Majel Barrett), as they
felt a woman in such a
high-ranking position was
too implausible.
Gene decided to try for
a compromise, and pressed
to keep the Vulcan and marry
the woman in real life. Majel
often said she and Gene
married “because Gene didn’t
think Leonard would have it
the other way around!”.
Later in the first season,
Gene found a role for Majel
as Nurse Christine Chapel,
having traded her dark brown
hair for platinum blonde.
She also voiced the Starfleet
computers, in both the
original show and all the
spin-off series, and later
played the recurring character,
Lwaxana Troy, in Star Trek:
The Next Generation and
Deep Space Nine.
WHERE NO MAN
HAS GONE BEFORE
In the meantime, Jeffrey
Hunter decided against
reprising his role, so for the
second pilot, Where No Man
Has Gone Before, a new
captain was needed.
Canadian William Shatner,
with his Shakespearian
background and larger-thanlife
persona, was chosen for
the new, more dynamic
Captain James T Kirk.
Below, Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike and Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock in The Cage.
Below right, the crew are joined by Peter Duryea (Lieutenant Jose Tyler) and Majel Barrett
The USS Enterprise – best known
as the Starship Enterprise – made
its inaugral flight in 1966. The
iconic shape was the result of
Gene’s insistance that it shouldn’t
look like a rocket ship
Spock, who had been
quite sensitive in The Cage,
was now a highly logical,
unemotional being – the
perfect foil for the new
captain’s more flamboyant,
swashbuckling attitude. The
new episode did feature more
action – and introduced Kirk’s
tendency to rip his shirt
during fight sequences – but
still remained intelligent and
thought-provoking.
The new pilot was a
success and work on the first
regular episode began. The
Corbomite Maneuver would
introduce a third major
character, Dr Leonard ‘Bones’
McCoy, played by veteran
character actor, DeForest
Kelley. The timeless chemistry
of friendship between these
three leads would become
one of the best-loved aspects
of the show.
TO SEEK OUT
NEW LIFE
Along with Kirk, Spock and
McCoy, Star Trek’s multicultural
supporting characters
were unusually well drawn
and memorable. Along with
Majel’s Nurse Chapel was
heroic helmsman Sulu
(George Takei), exasperated
DID
YOU KNOW...
Original pilot The Cage
was not broadcast or released
in its original form until 1986.
However, in a clever, cost-cutting
move, the episode was woven
into the two-part season one
story, The Menagerie
This feature first appeared in Retro issue 2

RETRO Cult TV
engineer Scotty (James
Doohan), exotic
communications officer
Uhura (Nichelle Nichols),
sultry yeoman Janice
Rand (Grace Lee
Whitney) and, from
season two, Russian
navigator, Pavel Chekov
(Walter Koenig). All
would prove to be just as
popular and enduring as
the three stars.
The strong cast and
some of the finest sci-fi
writers of the era allowed
the show to rise above
the occasionally dodgy
special effects and props
that the tight budget
afforded. Throughout
its short three-year run,
Star Trek’s writers used
sci-fi analogies to tackle
the moral and social
issues of the day, such as
civil rights, war, slavery
and bigotry – something
a more straightforward
drama would have been
unlikely to get away with
in the late Sixties.
WOBBLY SETS
AND WARP DRIVES
While some of the props
didn’t stand close scrutiny,
Star Trek did feature a huge
number of iconic designs and
costumes. The Enterprise
was designed by a pilot, Matt
Jefferies, in consultation
with Gene, who didn’t want
a typical rocket-type design.
The ingenious concept of the
transporter that could ‘beam’
crew members to the planet
surface, allowed Matt the
freedom to design a craft that
was born in space and never
had to land.
Designer, Wah Chang, who
had previously worked on
Disney’s Pinocchio, created
many outstanding props,
masks and puppets for the
show, including phaser
pistols, tricorders and
Clockwise from top left, the 1966 cast; on the set of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979;
DeForest Kelley as Dr McCoy; crew members Sulu and Chekov; Lieutenant Uhura
It’s one of the most repeated
quotes from the show, but
Captain Kirk never actually said
“Beam me up Scotty”
communicators. Wah also
created, among many others,
the sinister Balok puppet for
The Corbomite Maneuver,
the reptilian Gorn (Arena),
and the cute, but superreproducing
Tribbles.
SAVED BY THE FANS
The original show ran for
only three seasons, from
1966 to 1969. In fact, under
threat of cancellation at the
end of both the first and
second seasons, it only
survived at all because of
direct intervention from its
small but dedicated fan base.
But Star Trek would
become something of an
institution with an ever-
growing cult following. An
animated series, 13 movies,
four long-running spin-off TV
shows (with a fifth on the
way in 2017), countless
novels, comic books,
merchandise and fan events
now exist within the Star
Trek universe.
Star Trek has also inspired
the creation of real life
technology, including mobile
phones and tablet computers
as well as countless
affectionate parodies,
comedy sketches and spoofs.
And, with a new feature film
due out this summer, it looks
as though Gene’s wagon
train is showing no sign
of stopping…
NOTABLE GUEST
STARS…
With new locations
and scenarios to
‘boldly seek out’
every week, Star
Trek amassed a
huge roster of guest
actors including:
n Joan Collins
in The City On The
Edge Of Forever
n Ted Cassidy,
best known as Lurch
from the Adams
Family, stared in
What Are Little Girls
Made Of, and as
the voice of Balok
in The Corbomite
Maneuver
n David Soul
in The Apple
n Sally Kellerman
in Where No Man
Has Gone Before
n Elisha Cook Jr
in Court Martial
DID
YOU KNOW...
Spock was supposed to
have ‘reddish’ skin, but test
footage revealed that on black
and white TVs, Nimoy, in red make
up, appeared black. They decided
to go for green instead, settling
for the Max Factor colour,
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‘Chinese Yellow’
18 RETRO
RETRO 19

RETRO
Movie moments
FIREWORKS
Hitchcock favourites
Grace Kelly and Cary
Grant team up in To
Catch A Thief (1955).
Censors often rejected
kissing scenes that lasted
for more than a few
seconds, so Hitchcock cut
in footage of fireworks
to ramp up the passion.
Despite their obvious
chemistry this was Kelly
and Grant’s only film
together but cemented a
genuine friendship that
would last a lifetime.
20
Pucker up
10 lingering
screen
kisses
The hidden stories
behind these
passionate clinches
from your favourite
films…
RETRO
‘LET’S PLAY SOMETHING ELSE!’
Losing at chess doesn’t suit Thomas
Crown (Steve McQueen) so he grabs
Vicki Anderson (Faye Dunaway) for a new
game. Accompanied by jazz trumpets,
swirling cameras and psychedelic
lighting, this kiss is certainly a memorable
one. The one-minute scene in The
Thomas Crown Affair (1968) reportedly
took eight hours to film.
RUMBA ROMANCE
The chaste peck Johnny (Patrick
Swayze) places on Baby’s (Jennifer
Grey) nose in the climactic scene of
Dirty Dancing (1987) belies the sexual
chemistry in the rest of the film.
“I’M NOT GOING
TO KISS YOU…”
“…but you should be kissed,
and often and by someone
who knows how,” says Rhett
Butler (Clark Gable) to
Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien
Leigh) in Gone With
The Wind (1939).
Later he decides he’s
the man for the job,
but kissing heavysmoker
Clark was
not a pleasant
experience.
MAKING WAVES
The script for the
kissing scene in From
Here To Eternity
(1953) called for the
lovers to be standing,
but Burt Lancaster
had the idea of lying
in the surf with
Deborah Kerr for a
sea-soaked embrace
which was considered
quite risqué.
RAIN-SOAKED
ROMANCE
In the closing scene of
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
Holly Golightly (Audrey
Hepburn) and Paul Varjak
(George Peppard) finally
seal it with a kiss while
searching for Cat in the
pouring rain. Hard to imagine
now but Marilyn Monroe
was originally in line for the
part of Holly until her acting
coach talked her out of it
saying the ‘call-girl’ nature of
the role would be bad for
her image.
SPECS APPEAL!
“I want mine to wear glasses!”
announces Sugar (Marilyn Monroe)
when asked about her ideal man in
Some Like It Hot (1959). Joe (Tony
Curtis) dons a pair of glasses, assumes
a Cary Grant accent and poses as a shy
millionaire to woo Sugar… she soon
gets his specs all steamed up.
DID YOU
KNOW…
The spectacular scene of
Cleopatra’s entry into Rome,
which required thousands
of extras, had to be reshot
because an extra could be
seen on camera selling
ice-cream
This feature first appeared in Retro issue 2
CROSSED WIRES
Womanising songwriter Brad Allen (Rock
Hudson) and interior-designer Jan Morrow
(Doris Day) share a ‘party’ phone line in Pillow
Talk (1959). Their frustration with each other
leads to some hilarious exchanges but there’s
definite chemistry when they meet in person.
FAIRYTALE ENDING
Julia Roberts’ character, Vivian, has a strict
‘no kissing’ rule while working as an escort
in Pretty Woman (1990), so when she does
kiss Edward (Richard Gere) we know she’s
fallen for him.
START OF A
SCANDAL
Behind schedule and
hugely over budget,
Cleopatra (1963)
was no stranger to
controversy but most
scandalous was the
suggestion the stars,
Elizabeth Taylor and
Richard Burton, were
having an affair.
Despite denials it
became hard to
hide their passion –
especially when as
the director shouted
‘Cut!’ at the end of love
scenes, they would
just carry on kissing…
RETRO
21

RETRO Remember with a smile
They were the
perfect Sixties pop
band – and we
could swoon over
them on TV every
week! We reveal the
amazing story of
Mike, Micky, Davy
and Pete
Their TV show was a big hit and featured them in all sorts of madcap situations, not just singing!
Hey hey
we’re the
Monkees!
It was 1966 and onto our tellies came
a madcap series about four young
guys who live in a beach house, get
chased by villains and are in a rock ’n’
roll band. For most young girls watching,
only one boy stood out. Dark hair, big
brown eyes and even prettier than Paul
McCartney – Davy Jones was the perfect
heartthrob. Better than Paul, he was on
telly every week, falling in love with girls
who we could fondly imagine were us.
We were hooked!
The series hit all our young teen
buttons. The boys in their kaftans
and flowery shirts captured the hippy
freedom vibe – and sang new songs
every week at a time when all we had
was Top of the Pops. It was an instant
success. Millions rushed out and bought
their first UK single, I’m a Believer,
which spent four weeks at number
one. Once we saw his face, we were all
believers – that one day, we would meet
and marry Davy.
MONKEE FAN FEVER
When the Monkees finally toured
Britain in 1967, it seemed as though
every one of their female fans were
there to greet them with that purpose in
mind. That same year the Monkees sold
more records than the Beatles and the
Rolling Stones – put together!
So how on earth did it all start?
They were the brainchild of two
producers. Impressed by the success of
the Beatles’ films, A Hard Day’s Night
and Help, they thought they could turn
the format into TV gold – but with a
made-up group. In September 1965 they
put an ad in a Los Angeles newspaper:
A young Davy Jones played the Artful
Dodger in the musical Oliver on Broadway
“Madness!! Auditions. Folk & Roll
Musician-Singers for acting roles in
new TV series. Running parts for four
insane boys.”
FORMING THE BAND
They had already earmarked 19-yearold
Davy Jones, appearing on
Broadway in Oliver as the
Artful Dodger. Davy
not only had good
looks – coming from
Manchester he had
the cheeky appeal
of the Beatles. But
from the 400 other hopefuls they chose
Micky Dolenz, also an experienced
actor, Peter Tork and Mike ‘woolhat’
Nesmith who both had folky musician
backgrounds.
But telly didn’t tell the whole truth.
Although all the boys could play
instruments, the producers decided
who should do what on the show. As
Micky said, “I was an actor playing a
musician.” So although Davy Jones,
5ft 3in, could actually play drums, the
producers decided he would look too
small behind a drum-kit and made him
the lead singer. Micky Dolenz had no
drumming experience, and actually
sang more of the vocals, but sat behind
the cymbals. Similarly, Peter Tork, not
Mike Nesmith, was the better lead
guitarist, but it was decreed he should
be on bass. And because the shows
took 12 hours a day to record, on their
early albums, for convenience, all the
instruments were played by session
musicians.
They created classic pop
hits – Neil Diamond’s
22
RETRO
This feature first appeared in Retro issue 1
RETRO
23

RETRO
Remember with a smile
I’m a Believer, Goffin and King’s
Pleasant Valley Sunday and, of course,
Daydream Believer. Their first album
went to Number One. But the boys,
especially musicians Mike and Pete,
were unhappy about their nickname
‘The Pre-Fab Four’. They wanted to
play on their albums, write more
material and choose their songs.
Cracks started to appear; Davy’s
fans were heartbroken when in 1968 it
was revealed that he was now married,
with a baby. The TV channel, tired
of the constant arguing, cancelled
the show. And a subsequent strange
feature film, directed by a young Jack
Nicholson, flopped. Without TV, the
hits dried up. Peter, then Mike, left the
group and, although Davy and Micky
sometimes toured, the phenomenon
of The Monkees had come to an end.
We were heartbroken
when Davy married wife
Linda and had a baby
daughter, Talia
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REVIVAL AND NEW FANS
It was MTV in the Eighties that sparked
a revival and when the original series
was reshown, it brought a whole
new group of fans. They started
touring again, mostly without Mike
and occasionally without Pete, but
generally to sell-out tours.
Ever the showman, Davy Jones was
performing solo at a small New York
club on February 18, 2012. After singing
Daydream Believer he invited the
crowd to join in, which they did. Just 11
days later, on February 29, he died of a
heart attack, aged just 66.
The remaining three toured after his
death using recordings and a video of
Davy. In February 2019 Peter Tork also
died, aged 77.
H is bandmate Michael Nesmith
spoke emotionally about the loss of
Tork in a statement: “As I write this
my tears are awash, and my heart is
broken. Even though I am clinging
to the idea that we all
continue, the pain
that attends
these passings
has no cure.”
24
RETRO
DID YOU
KNOW…
The producers of The
Monkees decided it would be
easier to create a group they could
really control – hence the animated
series The Archies in 1968. Their
biggest hit, Sugar Sugar, stayed
at Number One for six
weeks in 1969
Above (clockwise): Davy
in Corrie 1961 as Ena
Sharples’ grandson;
Mike Nesmith in 1966;
Peter Tork in 1967 and
Micky Dolenz, child star
of US TV’s Circus Boy
Before Monkee mania
Davy Jones
Before: Child actor in
Corrie and musicals.
Trained as a jockey
Before his death: Owned
several racehorses.
Micky Dolenz
Before: Child actor in TV’s
Circus Boy, band singer
Now: Acts, directs and
produces. Writes
children’s books
Peter Tork
Before: Greenwich
Village folkie
Before his death: Had his own
group, Shoe Suede Blues
Mike Nesmith
Before: Singer/songwriter,
heir to a fortune (his mum
invented Liquid Paper)
Now: MTV founder and
music video pioneer,
with own group
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RETRO
25

RETRO The big picture
How a humble coffee shop at
59 Old Compton Street became the
coolest place in London…
The birthplace
of Rock ’n’ Roll
The iconic 2i’s was the
ultimate hang out for rock
‘n’ roll fans and attracted
many big names over the
years. Stars such as Pete
Murray, Wee Willie Harris,
Tommy Hicks (better known
as Tommy Steele) and Cliff
Richard and were among
those who graced its tiny
stage
First run by two brothers, Freddie and Sammy Irani
– hence the name 2i’s Coffee Bar – it was just one of
many cafés that sprang up all over Soho after actress
Gina Lollobrigida had opened the UK’s first espresso
bar nearby. The Irani Brothers soon moved on and Australian
wrestlers Paul ‘Dr Death’ Lincoln and Ray ‘Rebel’ Hunter took
over the lease in 1956.
To drum up trade in a crowded market they started
putting on live skiffle bands on a tiny 18in stage in the
basement. One night, vocalist Tommy Hicks got up to sing
between sets of resident band, The Vipers. He was talentspotted,
signed to Decca Records and became the first British
Rock ’n’ Roll star – Tommy Steele!
THE PLACE TO BE SEEN
The story turned the 2i’s into a goldmine
and a string of aspiring musicians turned
up with their guitars in search of fame
and fortune. The 2i’s also became the
place for singers to search for backing
musicians; Cliff Richard and The
Shadows (formerly The Drifters) met by
being regulars at the club.
Over the next six years
many of the great names
of the British Rock scene
and even American acts
such as Gene Vincent
and Jerry Lee Lewis
performed on the same
stage. Sadly though,
despite the big-name
bands the tiny capacity
of the club meant profits
were poor and the coffee
shop closed its doors at
the end of the Sixties.
26
RETRO
The 2i’s location
is now a bar
and restaurant,
so we can still
pop in for a
coffee!
Pictured right: Marty
Wilde (Reginald
Smith), Billy Fury
(Ronald Wycherley),
Adam Faith (Terry
Nelhams), Joe Brown
(then) and Vince Eager (Roy Taylor)
n Albert Lee and Ritchie Blackmore
(later guitarists of Deep Purple
and Rainbow) also served their
apprenticeship in the cellar of the 2i’s.
This feature first appeared in Retro issue 1
lFamous names who p ayed
Down a flight
of steps, Tom
Littlewood, the
cellar manager,
charged eager
teenagers 1s
entrance fee
27
RETRO

RETRO Movie magic
More than half a century since Ealing Studios
closed its doors, Robert Sellers looks back at the
films that made its fortune
Ealing
…the little
studio with a
big heart
Sir Michael Balcon, director of
Ealing Studios, standing in front
of 13 years of classic Ealing
film-scripts in 1951
It's hard to believe that a
studio tucked away in
the leafy green suburb
of Ealing, west London,
so small that its back lot was
barely large enough to turn
a car in, was responsible for
some of the best and most
fondly remembered British
comedies of all time.
It was Passport to Pimlico
in 1949 that really established
the studio's reputation as the
purveyor of a very definite
type of English humour
with its tale of a group of
residents who declare a
state of independence
in the heart of London.
Running through the film
is a yearning nostalgia for
the social unity of the war
years, remembered fondly as
Britain's 'finest hour.' Indeed
the ravages of war is very
much evident in many of the
outdoor scenes that were
shot in parts of Lambeth,
not Pimlico, and which still
resembled a huge bombsite.
Whisky Galore followed
just two months later and
was a fictionalised account
of a real event that occurred
in 1941 when a cargo ship
laden with 50,000 cases of
whisky ran aground in the
Outer Hebrides and much
of the booty on board was
appropriated by a group
of Scottish islanders. Shot
largely on location, atrocious
weather put the film behind
schedule and debut director
Alexander Mackendrick was
convinced the whole thing
was doomed.
“I remember getting up
in the middle of the night
and crawling on my hands
and knees to the only public
phone box on the island
to call my fiancée to say I
was thinking of committing
suicide. Instead of sympathy
I got a bawling out: ‘It's only
a stupid film,’ she said. So I
went back to sleep thinking,
she was an ideal wife for a
movie director.”
The Ealing lot was tiny compared to the Hollywood studio lots of today but it
produced quality films with a very British feel. Right: A camera crew in action,
filming a special angle shot for Passport To Pimlico on the custom-built set.
Below: Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway in the Lavender Hill Mob.
Centre: Gabrielle Blunt, Gordon Jackson and James Robertson
Justice in Whisky Galore
Mackendrick
needn't have
worried, Whisky
Galore was another
Ealing hit, although the
American censor insisted
on a coda being inserted
at the end stating that the
stolen whisky brought
nothing but unhappiness to
the islanders, even though
quite the opposite was true
in real life.
BLACK HUMOUR
Ealing finished 1949 on a real
high with Kind Hearts and
Coronets, which surely ranks
as the first 'black' comedy
made in Britain. Dennis Price
stars as a shop assistant who
murders swathes of the same
family in order to inherit a
dukedom. It could even be
cinema's first film about a
serial killer.
With three hit comedies
in the same year, Ealing were
hailed around the world as
Ealing Studios:
Modest but prolific
DID
YOU KNOW…
In Kind Hearts and
Coronets Alec Guinness
played eight members of the
D’Ascoyne family. The scene
where six of the family are seen
together took two days to
film using a specially
built camera
28 RETRO
This feature first appeared in Retro issue 3
RETRO 29

RETRO Movie magic
Hollywood romance
RETRO
having, 'a genius for civilised
humour,' in the words of the
New York Times. Perhaps the
secret behind the success of
the Ealing comedies lay in
the fact that they took place
against a realistic background
audiences understood and
could relate to, and in the
words of studio head Michael
Balcon, “reflected the
country's moods,
social conditions
and aspirations.”
They were also
seen by many
as a reaction
against post-war
restrictions and
government enforced
austerity. “The country
was tired of regulations and
regimentation, and there was
a mild anarchy in the air,”
said Balcon. “In a sense our
comedies were a reflection of
this mood, a safety valve for
more anti-social impulses.”
A YOUNG STAR
Next along the comedy
pipeline was The Lavender
Hill Mob (1951) about a
timid bank clerk, played
by the irrepressible Alec
Guinness, teaming up with
an enterprising maker of
souvenirs, played by Stanley
Holloway, to pull off the
perfect gold bullion robbery.
Next time you watch it,
look carefully at the girl who
appears in the opening scene
and you might recognise a
very young Audrey Hepburn.
Although she only had
one line, Guinness was so
impressed by her that he
got on the telephone to his
DID
YOU KNOW…
Ealing boss, Michael
Balcon was made a
Knight bachelor in 1948 for
services to film. He is also
the grandfather of Oscar
winning actor Daniel
Day-Lewis
agent. "I don't know
if she can act, but a
real film star has just
wafted on to the set.
Someone should
get her under
contract before we lose her to
the Americans." The advice
was ignored and Audrey
slipped through Ealing's
fingers. Within two years
Hollywood launched her
as a world star in the Oscarwinning
Roman Holiday.
Released in 1951, another
Alec Guinness Ealing comedy
classic, The Man in the White
Suit, satires both boardroom
idiocy and trade union
intransigence in its tale of
a hapless scientist whose
invention of an indestructible
fibre puts millions of factory
jobs at risk. But arguably
Ealing's most famous rib
tickler was The Ladykillers
(1955), featuring Guinness yet
again as an evil mastermind
plotting a robbery in the
house of a sweet old lady.
Part of the gang was a young
Peter Sellers, fresh from
his success on The Goon
Show, but The Ladykillers
was his film breakthrough.
Everyone knew he was going
to be a star, except Sellers
himself who was desperately
insecure and often asked the
director after a take, "Was it
alright? Am I any good?"
The Ladykillers was really
Ealing's last hurrah. The
following year the studio
tried to create another
comedy star out of a young
Benny Hill, but Who Done
Kind Hearts and Coronets
starred Dennis Price and Joan
Greenwood (left) and was
nominated for a BAFTA Award
for Best British Film in 1950.
Below: Alec Guinness in the
making of comedy crime caper
The Ladykillers in 1955
It? was a poor imitation of
the great Ealing films of the
past. By this time the studios
themselves had become a
ghost. With a steep decline in
cinema attendances and the
growth of television, Ealing
sold their studios to the
BBC in 1955 in whose hands
they remained until 1992. In
more recent years Ealing has
become a hive of filmmaking
activity again. The Simon
Pegg comedy, Shaun of the
Dead, was shot there as were
most of the interiors for
Downton Abbey. But it is for
their classic comedies that
Ealing retain their place in
cinema history.
The Newmans:
For better,
RETRO READER OFFER
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for worse
Hollywood’s golden couple
spent 50 years together
– but what was the secret
of their enduring love?
30
RETRO
This feature first appeared in Retro issue 2
RETRO
31

RETRO Hollywood romance
Any marriage that
survived for
half a century
will have had its
rough patches,
and the fabled partnership
of Paul Newman and Joanne
Woodward was no exception.
They became friends in
the early Fifties when they
were both acting in the same
play in New York, but their
love affair didn’t take off until
a few years later when they
met again in Hollywood.
It was obvious to everyone
who met them that the
couple were passionately
in love, but before they were
able to marry in Las Vegas
in 1958 Paul had to obtain a
divorce from his first wife,
Jackie, with whom he had
three young children.
The break up was painful
for Paul, who said: “I feel
guilty as hell about it, and
I will carry that guilt for the
rest of my life.” The enduring
guilt inevitably added to his
grief when his first child and
only son, Scott, died of a drug
overdose in his 20s.
NEW BEGINNINGS
After honeymooning in
England and Scotland,
Paul and Joanne returned
to California, but soon
left Hollywood for a less
glitzy lifestyle in the
seaside town of Westport,
Connecticut. They bought
an old farmhouse with an
orchard and a river running
through the garden where
they brought up their three
daughters, Nell, Lissie and
Clea, and also made a home
for Paul’s children, Scott,
Susan and Stephanie.
Joanne, who had won
an Oscar for her brilliant
performance in the film The
Three Faces of Eve, focused
on being a mum. She said:
“We were raised in a certain
way, that you were supposed
to stay at home with your
children.” Many years later,
in 1981, she admitted that
this hadn’t always been easy.
“I curtailed my career
because of the children,”
she said. “Paul was away
on location a lot. I wouldn’t
go because of the children
– I did once and felt
overwhelmed with guilt.”
SHOCK NEWS
One time when Joanne must
have bitterly regretted not
going on location was when
her husband was filming
Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid in Mexico. It
was there that he met Nancy
Bacon, a divorced journalist
with whom he had an
18-month affair. The liaison
was exposed by a gossip
columnist, who wrote that
‘the Paul Newmans are living
apart’ and predicted they
would soon be divorced.
The couple’s response
was to place a defiantly
worded advertisement in
The Los Angeles Times,
before withdrawing from
public life to mend their
marriage. Looking back,
Joanne commented: “Being
Mrs Paul Newman has its
good and bad days. Since
we’re still together, obviously
most of them have been
good. But it hasn’t been easy.
I don’t think any valid
relationship is.”
Their shared humanitarian
values and political beliefs
no doubt contributed to the
couple’s abiding respect for
each other.
When they could, they
liked to work together on
various acting projects.
Paul directed his wife in
Rachel, Rachel, a critically
acclaimed film about a lonely
school teacher’s search for
love. She said: “With all due
respect to all the other
wonderful directors I’ve
worked with, it was just
heaven to work with Paul.”
When asked about their
working relationship, Paul
replied: “We had several spats
and quarrels – big ones. There
are never little ones in our
family. But it had nothing to
do with work. In terms of
actually working, Joanne and
I never had one harsh word.”
Things didn’t go so well
when he directed Joanne in
the clumsily titled The Effect
of Gamma Rays on Man-inthe-Moon
Marigolds (1972).
She played a neurotic virago
and later confessed: “The role
had an effect on me during
the shooting and afterwards.
At home, I was a monster,
and Paul and I avoided each
other as much as possible.”
No doubt this was one
of the occasions Paul had
in mind when he told an
interviewer: “I’ve packed up
and left a few times. Then
I realise I have no place to go
and I’m back in ten minutes.”
THE ART OF
COMPROMISE
One person who knew the
Newmans well was their
Westport neighbour and
lifelong friend, A E Hotchner.
In his memoir, Paul and Me,
he described the mutual
compromise that made the
marriage work.
When Paul took up car
racing at the age of 44, Joanne
worried for his safety, saying
she was too young to be made
a widow. But as the years
passed and Paul proved his
mettle, he worked out an
agreement: he would go to
the ballet and opera with
her in exchange for Joanne
tolerating his racing.
Hotchkin, as Paul
affectionately called him,
was present when the couple
cut the cake at their 50th
anniversary in January 2008.
He recalls: “Putting aside the
cake knife, Paul took both
of Joanne’s hands in his and
drew her close to him. They
looked at each other with
intimate conspiracy and
Paul said, ‘Joanne, being
married to you has been the
joy of my life’.”
Nine months later, Paul
tragically died of lung cancer.
Joanne, who now suffers
from Alzheimer’s, continues
to live at their family home
in Westport.
Main: The couple share
a moment while taking
a break from filming
Exodus in 1960.
Above: with their
daughter, Nell and
(right) Paul on set as
Butch Cassidy.
LOVE AND LAUGHTER
A shared sense of humour
was a vital ingredient in
the Newmans’ marriage.
Paul said: “I never ask
my wife about my flaws.
Instead I try to get her
to ignore them and
concentrate on my sense
of humour.” While Joanne
reflected: “Sexiness wears
thin after a while, but to
be married to a man who
makes you laugh every
day – now that’s a real treat.”
32
RETRO

RETRO
V for Victory
HEAR THE
PEOPLE
CHEER
On Tuesday 8 May 1945, dressed in red,
white and blue, and waving Union
Jack flags, people celebrated Victory in
Europe Day full of hope and gusto
After almost six years, in a war that had cost
the lives of millions, and brought suffering,
rationing and bombing, the Ministry of
Information announced that Tuesday 8th
May 1945 would be treated as a holiday and be called
“Victory in Europe Day”. Although the war wasn’t
completely over, parades and street parties took
place across the whole of the UK, with the largest in
London, particularly in Whitehall, Trafalgar Square,
Piccadilly Circus and outside Buckingham Palace.
The celebrations were bitter-sweet – many were
mourning the loss of loved ones – but the relief was
overwhelming. A carnival-like atmosphere ensued:
villages and streets were lined with bunting and flags,
the pubs were full, bonfires were lit, gramaphones,
accordions and barrel organs supplied the music, the
conga was danced and patriotic songs such as It’s A
Long Way to Tipperary were belted out with passion.
WHERE’S CHURCHILL?
Did you spot the wartime
leader in among the
cheering crowds? Not
content with merely
addressing the people
from a balcony in
Whitehall, Churchill got in
amongst them to witness
their jubilation first hand.
All across London,
crowds gather, with
the general public
partying alongside
servicemen. Right:
Joyce Digney and
Cynthia Covello,
friends who had first
met in the Women’s
Land Army in the
summer of 1944, had
promised each other
that if they were alive
at the end of the war,
they would make the trip to
London to join the celebrations.
True to their word, the friends
took the early train to the
capital, said prayers at St Paul’s
Cathedral for the family members
they had lost in the war, then
reached Trafalgar Sqaure, where the
atmosphere was electric. As it was a
warm day, Joyce and Cynthia cooled off in
the fountains, where they were shortly joined
– and soaked! – by two sailors. The fountain image
became iconic as a symbol of the euphoria that
swept Britain on VE Day.
34 RETRO
This feature appears in Retro issue 26
RETRO 35

RETRO V for Victory
Above: Churchill gave his famous Victory
sign from the balcony of the Ministry of
Health in Whitehall while addressing crowds
of 50,000 people. “In all our history, we have
never seen a greater day,” he said. “This is
your hour. This is your victory… It’s a victory
of the great British nation as a whole.”
LEADING THE
NATION’S
CELEBRATIONS
Buckingham Palace was a
centre of celebrations
on VE Day. Vast crowds
gathered from the morning,
and Churchill’s arrival, to
have lunch with the King
and Queen, drew great
cheers. The crowd chanted
“We want the King” and
was rewarded by the arrival of King George VI, in naval
dress, on Buckingham Palace’s gold-and scarlet-draped
balcony. He was then joined by the Queen, Princess
Elizabeth in her khaki ATS uniform, and Princess
Margaret. The delighted crowd flung their hats in air and
sang “They are jolly good fellows”.
Following pleas from the crowds, the Royal family
returned to the balcony a total of eight times on VE day,
twice joined by Churchill – once in the afternoon, then
again in the evening when he conducted the singing of
Land of Hope and Glory. At 9pm the King made a speech,
broadcast on radio across the Empire, and listened to by
the Buckingham Palace crowds in silence. “Armed or
unarmed, men and women, you have fought and striven
Far right: American
servicemen and civilians
dressed in their finest
celebrate together.
Right: St Paul’s Cathedral
held ten consecutive
services, giving thanks
for peace, and each was
attended by thousands of
people. Landmarks across
London were floodlit – two
searchlights were placed
behind St Paul’s to make the
famous Victory V sign.
and endured to your utmost,” he said. “No one knows that
better than I do, and as your King I thank with a full heart
those who bore arms so valiantly on land and sea, or in the
air; and all civilians who, shouldering their many burdens,
have carried them unflinchingly and without complaint.”
By evening, 100,000 people gathered beneath the
balcony and, escorted by Guards officers, Princess
Elizabeth and Margaret mingled among them. They
apparently danced the conga, the Lambeth Walk and the
hokey-cokey. Elizabeth described it as “one of the most
memorable nights of my life.”
36
RETRO
This feature first appeared in Retro issue 1
RETRO
37

RETRO
Star secrets
Chris Hallam explores the real-life romances of
Hollywood’s most eligible leading man and tries
to discover why happiness seemed so elusive
Few people have ever combined charm, wit and
sophistication as effectively as Hollywood heartthrob,
Cary Grant. Tall, dark, handsome and with a distinctive
English accent which hinted at his humble origins in
Edwardian Bristol, it is little wonder Grant charmed countless
numbers of women both on screen and off.
Over 30 years, Grant appeared in more than 70 films, more
often than not playing the guy who got the girl by the end of
the final scene. But the reality for Grant was very different.
He married five times, four of his marriages ending in divorce.
Grant was suave and handsome and, by most accounts,
thoroughly decent too. So why was he unable to achieve an
enduring romantic relationship?
Cary Grant
The
lonely
charmer
THE REAL CARY GRANT
In many ways, Cary Grant was surprisingly similar off screen
to on. “Oh my God. He talks just like he does in the movies!”
exclaimed a starstruck Clint Eastwood to the rest of the room
on meeting him. Others report that the only real difference was
that the genuine Cary Grant laughed far more in real life than he
would ever have got away with on screen.
But who was ‘the real’ Cary Grant? He had changed his
name from the distinctly unglamorous ‘Archibald Leach’.
“Archie just doesn’t sound right in America,” the studio told
him. “It doesn’t sound particularly right in Britain either,”
Grant admitted. Such name changes were not uncommon.
But while never ashamed of his past, the working-class Bristol
boy Archie Leach completely reinvented himself as the suave
and debonair Cary Grant.
THE TALK OF THE TOWN
Grant emerged as a star in the Thirties at a time when the typical
Hollywood man was a much tougher character. As Bob Hope
joked: "A James Cagney love scene is one where he lets the
other guy live."
Grant soon faced rumours that he was homosexual or at
least bisexual. These rumours grew strengthened after Grant’s
decision to live with fellow actor Randolph Scott, sharing a
beach house in Malibu with him for 12 years. Grant seems less
concerned about what was said about him than most, perhaps
fanning the flames of gossip in the process.
In later years, however, he spoke out: “If someone wants to
say I am gay, what can I do? I think it’s probably been said about
every man who’s been known to do well with women. I don’t
let that sort of thing bother me. What is important, is that I know
who I am,” adding later. “Now I don’t feel (it’s) an insult. But it’s
all nonsense”.
Maybe it was. But Cary Grant had a dark secret in his past
which would affect his relationships with women forever.
This feature first appeared in Retro issue 13

RETRO
Star secrets
MR GRANT AND MRS LEACH
Cary Grant’s mother had vanished when her son was just nine
years old. He had returned home from school to find her gone.
His father, an alcoholic, told him his mother had taken a short
holiday. Over time, the young boy came to realise his mother
was never coming back. He later assumed his parents had
simply split up.
Grant only learnt the truth more than 20 years later when
his father died in 1935. His mother was still alive and his father
had had her committed to a lunatic asylum. Grant, by now a
rising Hollywood star in his 30s visited Britain and, finding
his mother relatively well, moved her into a house in Bristol.
Now effectively strangers, they enjoyed a slightly awkward
relationship for the rest of her life.
Grant’s mother had always been eccentric. However, it seems
likely his father had her institutionalised at least in part to free
himself up to continue his relationship and ultimately start
a second family with his mistress. The absence of a mother
figure at such a crucial period in Grant’s life, must surely have
impacted his future relationships with other women. Grant
himself certainly thought so. “(I made) the mistake of thinking
that each of my wives was my mother, that there would never
be a replacement once she had left.”
VIRGINIA AND BARBARA
The news that his mother was still alive came soon after the
failure of his first marriage to actress Virginia Cherrill. The
beautiful actress was best known for playing a blind girl in
Charlie Chaplin’s film, City Lights. “My possessiveness and
fear of losing her brought about the very condition I feared;
the loss of her,” Grant later said. The marriage lasted barely
seven months.
At this point in 1932 Grant had been on the cusp of stardom.
By the time of his second marriage to Barbara Hutton in
1942, he was a full-blown star. Hutton was an immensely rich
woman, having inherited the Woolworth business fortune.
Some dubbed the couple ‘Cash and Cary’. In fact, although it
was not made public at the time, Grant had signed a prenuptial
agreement which ruled him out from claiming any stake in
her fortune, should they ever divorce as they, in fact, did in
1945. Grant disliked Hutton’s upper class “phony noble” friends
and expensive dinner parties. They were essentially living in
different worlds. Hutton ultimately married seven times and
by the time of her death was close to bankruptcy. She did
however say, “Cary Grant had no title and of my husbands, he
is the one I loved most… he was so sweet, so gentle. It didn’t
work out, but I loved him.”
NEW HORIZONS
Cary Grant’s third marriage to actress Betsy Drake in 1949 led to
some big changes in his life. He had announced he was quitting
acting forever and soon after that, he was experimenting with
drugs. Neither of these developments were to prove as dramatic
as they sounded. They were not decisions he took because of
Betsy Drake, although she certainly did exert a big influence on
“When I’m married I want to
be single, and when I’m single I
want to be married” Cary Grant
The many wives of Cary Grant: Top Virginia Cherrill
(married to Grant for just seven months) Barbara Hutton
– who had seven husbands in total – and Betsy Drake,
below. After his marriage to Betsy, Grant began to
experiment with LSD
In what was always an enigmatic relationship, Grant lived
with actor Randolph Scott for 12 years
Cary comes home…
DID YOU
KNOW…
“Why don’t you come up
some time and see me?”
Mae West delivered her
famous line to Grant in
the film, She Done Him
Wrong (1933)
Travel to Bristol this November
(23-25) for a weekend of events
celebrating the life and work of
one of the city’s most famous
sons. Festival attractions include
film screenings, a Looking for
Archie walking tour of Bristol,
expert-led panel discussions
and lectures and a chance
to see the award-winning
documentary Becoming Cary
Grant.
Tickets (from £5-£20) go
on sale mid-September.
To book or find out more visit
www.carycomeshome.co.uk
him at this point.
Grant’s ‘retirement’ from filming in fact proved very shortlived.
But he was determined to make his third marriage work.
Perhaps experiencing something a mid-life crisis as he entered
his late 40s and 50s, he experimented with yoga, mysticism
and LSD, at the time a drug legally sanctioned by the US
government.
Grant took the hallucinogenic drug more than 100 times in
the hope of enhancing his ability to connect with women. “LSD
made me realise I was killing my mother through relationships
with women. I was punishing them for what she had done to
me,” he theorised.
For a while, he was a strong advocate of the drug claiming:
“I learned to accept the responsibility for my own actions and
to blame myself and no one else for circumstances of my own
creating… At last I am close to happiness.”
In time, Grant came to feel, "taking LSD was an utterly foolish
thing to do but I was a self-opinionated boor, hiding all kinds
of layers and defences, hypocrisy and vanity. I had to get rid of
them and wipe the slate clean."
It also did not save his third marriage. He and Betsy split up
in 1958, divorcing in 1962. It was easily his longest marriage,
at 13 years, but still some way off the enduring permanent
relationship he sought.
BRINGING UP BABY
In the mid-Sixties, Cary Grant really did quit the movie business
for good. Although remarkably well preserved, Cary was getting
older. But he had also “discovered more important things in
life”. He had finally fulfilled a long-term ambition. At 62, he had
become a father.
“She is my best production,” Grant said of his daughter
Jennifer. "My life changed the day Jennifer was born… To leave
something behind… That's what's important."
Grant proved a devoted father but sadly his marriage to
Jennifer’s mother, actress Dyan Cannon, some 33 years his
junior ended in a bitter and public court case in which Grant’s
use of LSD was cited. As might be expected, Grant showed little
concern for his own reputation or for pursuing any campaign
against Dyan. His main abiding fear was the possibility of losing
access to Jennifer. Happily, this didn’t happen. He married
just once more in 1981, to Barbara Harris, a British hotel public
relations executive, some 47 years his junior. The two remained
together until his death in 1986, aged 82.
Grant tended to be his own harshest critic
where the failure of his marriages was concerned.
Speaking after his third divorce, he said, “They all
left me. I didn’t leave any of them. They all walked
out on me. Maybe my marriages were all heavily
influenced by something in my subconscious that’s
related to my early years and the way I envisioned
my mother… Maybe they just got bored.”
Whatever the truth in this, he was definitely
wrong. Too boring? Cary Grant was certainly
never that.

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