Paula Wright (Springall)

Forename/s: 
Paula
Family name: 
Wright (Springall)
Work area/craft/role: 
Industry: 
Interview Number: 
55
Interview Date(s): 
22 Aug 1988
Interviewer/s: 
Production Media: 

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Interview
Transcript

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Speaker 1  0:05  
Present day. Let's begin at the beginning. Could you say when you were born and where? Yes,

Speaker 2  0:09  
I was born at a little place, coward, in 1919, where was that near Plymouth? And my mother was in the profession, and my father and my grandmother,

Unknown Speaker  0:24  
what did they tell me about your father and mother? My mother

Speaker 2  0:27  
was singer. She She played the bell in the bell of New York, and she was in Florida from the country girl. My grandmother was a singer, and my father was a singer and my great grandfather was a violinist.

Speaker 1  0:44  
Tell me what your mother's professional name was Gabrielle Gordon,

Speaker 2  0:49  
and your father's my father? Well, he was Montague Wright, not he wasn't so well known, not like my mother, but I have a book that Jay banister Howard wrote, who was my mother's brother in law, and all about her, I still haven't he had

Unknown Speaker  1:06  
a lot to do. Master heart had a lot to do with theater, didn't he?

Speaker 2  1:08  
Yes, he did. He he was. He used to put on several productions at Daley's theater in Leicester Square, and she played the bell, and she, she had a beautiful voice. I still have all the photographs and the write ups of her, about

Unknown Speaker  1:30  
her so you, you were born into, I suppose,

Speaker 2  1:32  
so really, but she didn't want me to go into the profession. But somehow I got in. I went into the theater. I was a dancer and show

Unknown Speaker  1:42  
girl. When did you do that?

Speaker 2  1:45  
I worked at the Prince of Wales Theater in London and the London Hippodrome, and I was on tour for moss empires. And then I don't, I can't quite remember it. There was a little production at Riverside Studios where they wanted Hawaiian girls. And I forget, I was trying to think of the name of, I'll remember, in a minute, the name of the film. And it sort of triggered off from there. And then I was at the film Artists Agency in London, we're recording. And so one thing went to another, and I just suddenly found myself in the film industry doing stunt work, standing in doubling and so forth. And then we did a lot of big productions dancing, mostly old time dance, not old time, but when they did the big ballroom period pictures, and it just went on from there. Well,

Speaker 1  2:56  
going back a bit, Paula, what sort of age were you when you started in the theater, doing as a dancer when I

Speaker 2  3:03  
was 16. But when I went into the film industry, I really can't remember how old I was, because it was when the film industry, there was a Lowell, then I used to go back into the theater, and when there was a quiet time, I'd go back into the industry, and then I did a summer season down at Brighton in a bright in a variety show. And then I thought, Well, I think I've had enough now, and I stayed in the film industry, and that's where I was until I gave up.

Speaker 1  3:40  
You don't remember yet what the film was at Riverside, which was your first demo

Speaker 2  3:46  
just come to me, demobbed, who was the director? Could you follow? I can't remember from there, but you enjoyed that. I enjoyed I've enjoyed every film I've been on. And I've been in hundreds, every one, some of the last ones. Was Scrooge, and then I went to Goodbye Mr. Chips. I was at Sherborne on contract there, and Caroline lamb, many other the big productions, Oliver and everyone, I mean, apart from the hard work, I can't say that there's anyone I haven't enjoyed great and down at Bray studios, you really got had an incredible experience. And denim, of course, I was in the big epic there, Caesar. Oh yes, Pascal,

Unknown Speaker  4:34  
what happened on Caesar? Did you enjoy that particularly? Well,

Speaker 2  4:36  
it was a very big production. I was on it all through. Yes, I did.

Unknown Speaker  4:41  
When you say, all through, how long would that have been? Well,

Speaker 2  4:44  
I don't know. I seem to have been on it for months. I seem to have been it seemed to be my second home. I never seemed to come off it.

Speaker 1  4:52  
But it went on much longer than was originally. Yes, it did,

Speaker 2  4:55  
yes. Very sad to see the some of the studios now. Yeah, it's all very sad to see them all disintegrating, isn't it?

Speaker 1  5:03  
Going back again to Riverside at that time. Was the film artists Association formed then?

Speaker 2  5:09  
Well, not as such. We used to have a in Kingley court. Oh no, Archie Wolfe was the original one in opposite the Garrick theater, and where we used to get our

Speaker 1  5:21  
day's work. That was an agency, yes, and

Speaker 2  5:25  
he used to give the work out like, sometimes there's a little narrow staircase that used to lead up to the office, and there used to be an awful lot of people there. They used to hang around, you know, wanting a day's work. And eventually, used to give the calls out by calling out of the window. He used to look to see who was down there. I mean, for instance, he might see Paula down there, come on up girl, he used to say. And he used to give you work. And that's how, then, in all those years ago, we used to get our work.

Speaker 1  5:51  
Now, would you do that the day before? Or, well,

Speaker 2  5:55  
we used to go there every day, yeah. And they used to be a little little place called the Express dairy that was nearly next to nearly opposite, just by the Garrick Theater, where we used to go in for coffee and keep popping over to Archie, hoping that the calls would come in from the studios where we used to get work. That's how we started, and we were getting a Guinea a day. But

Speaker 1  6:21  
how did we get onto onto the idea of getting into films and going to the film artists? Well, I

Speaker 2  6:26  
suppose it was then we had Miss bacon, who was at Kingley court, just off Regent Street. It's a difficult thing to say. How did you get there? Because we it somehow you heard about it, and you went and you registered, and that's how it started.

Speaker 1  6:46  
Well, so people you worked with in the theater would have known, yes, yes. How did you go? For instance, well, Riverside wouldn't be so difficult to get to from there. No,

Speaker 2  6:56  
I lived on Putney Hill. Oh, did you so I used to get the little trolley bus because we didn't have a car or anything, then it used to be a trolley bus that used to run from Putney straight to Hammersmith. What

Speaker 1  7:06  
about Denham? When you went out to Denham? Well, that was very difficult,

Speaker 2  7:11  
trying to remember how we used to get there. You'd have to go by train. Yes, I used to have to go by train. I mean, sometimes, like when I was at Pinewood, we used to go to Uxbridge, and they used to have a studio bus that used to meet the train in That's right, there was a regular bus, yes, that used to take you from Uxbridge to the studio. It all

Unknown Speaker  7:32  
depends. Sorry, sorry. It

Speaker 2  7:34  
all depends what time you were called. I mean, if it was a big production, sometimes you get called at half cross six for makeup and hairdressing and wardrobe, and it was a very, very long day. But even then, it was wonderful. I loved it. And a lot of locations in London, you

Speaker 1  7:52  
preferred it to theater. Yes, yes. Why? Particularly,

Speaker 2  7:57  
I think because it was so much variety you were always meeting so many different people, and you never knew what was going to happen. Sometimes the artists turned up, and sometimes they didn't it. I loved the theater. I really loved them both, but it was an entirely different work.

Speaker 1  8:18  
Tell me about how you got you said you did some stunt work. Yes, tell me how you got into that, because that could be very hazardous. And yes,

Speaker 2  8:24  
I went down to bray studios one day, and Connie Tilton was the head Well, rather than the stunt girl there, and the girl hadn't turned up, there was a prison scene where in the kitchen, where there was going to be a fire. And I was down there, and they were in a bit of a tour, and they said, Well, would you like to do it? I said, Well, I don't know anything about stunt work. They said, Well, you haven't got to do anything. We put some stuff on your skin too, and protective clothes in case of burning, and you just catch light, and then you're doused when you come off. And I thought, well, I thought this was great. This was really something exciting. Anyway, I did it, and I got very well paid for it. And I thought, well, if anything else comes up, I'll do it. Well, the main lot of the work I did was on the Titanic down at Pinewood Studios, jumping off boats and things. And we did some stunt work at Rickmansworth leader, rascal leader, it had to be in November, because they wanted the the breath, you know, at the night air, you know, yeah, and going into the leader icy cold you know, supposed to be a, you know, when you jumped off the boat into the icy water, and they built the boat, a boat at Pinewood Studios, where we used to jump. We jumped off the top into a tank, and then it was all very i. Hazardous, but very exciting, yeah.

Speaker 1  10:02  
Do you remember the first time you did a stunt? Do you remember anything at all about the actual money you got paid?

Speaker 2  10:12  
It was what the world when we were burnt? No, I don't remember that, but I remember the Titanic. It was so much a foot then, and I don't think they even had an insurance. I can't remember. We didn't have, should have, I mean, now it's also organized that we used to jump. We did. We did some jumps into cardboard boxes and mattresses and standard thing. A lot of the stunt boys there that I knew, I don't know where they are now, going back to

Speaker 1  10:48  
the film artists Association. And when did it? When did that get formed out of the casting agency?

Speaker 2  10:53  
Yes. Now I don't know the, I can't remember that, Mr. But you were around at

Speaker 1  10:58  
that time. I was around, yes. And did you get, did you take an active part in the in the association? Yes,

Speaker 2  11:04  
I did, because eventually I went on to the committee, and I was a shop steer, and I used to help Mr. Branigan enormously, because Mr. Branigan used to be in the crowd, and he used to do something, yeah, this is how we got various friendly

Speaker 1  11:20  
he got injured, didn't he? Yes, because he had to limp around. Yes,

Speaker 2  11:23  
arthritis very badly. But then eventually we bought the house as an investment in miles Road, which, of course, yes, I think it was bought for 20 odd 1000 then and now. Wonderful investment.

Speaker 1  11:41  
How was the association finance? Did it still continue to take a sort of part of the the money? Or did you have a stand that you earned? Or did it have a stand we paid so much

Speaker 2  11:55  
entrance fee and we paid so much a year, but the actual agent was the film casting association that gave you the work and anything over and above the rate you could take permission to the film casting Association, yeah, film casting Association and The film artists Association were always at loggerheads, yeah, because maybe they didn't give enough work to people. They gave too much work to the same person. But Mr. Branigan, he fought tooth and nail right through. He was a wonderful man.

Speaker 1  12:36  
He was the original secretary. Gave his life to the industry

Unknown Speaker  12:39  
a wonderful chat.

Speaker 1  12:43  
I have great admiration for him, and he's still alive. He's still

Speaker 2  12:47  
alive. And at the moment he's, I think he's in Ireland on a short holiday, but as I say, he still remains on the committee of the

Speaker 1  12:57  
association. Who's the secretary Now, Mike

Speaker 2  13:01  
Ray. Now, I hadn't, sort of met him, because I never go to London. Now, I haven't been to London for years. I only wish there I'm still a member and I'm still a member of equity. I only wish they had a scene where it was often where you lie in bed

Speaker 1  13:23  
as a member of the Committee of the association? Were you involved in any big sort of problems about negotiating money with the employer? Oh yes, yes. Tell me about some.

Speaker 2  13:33  
Well, we used to have the ACTT meetings. This is where our new Bert bachelor, Betty bachelors, husbands, fighting over this, fighting over that, problems all the way. And then, of course, recently, is the amalgamation with all the various. Yes, it's. It was a very worrying time, a very hard working time, and I used to work as well. And it's a very difficult when you've got a lot of people that have never which, as you well know, they're never satisfied with the money they get or what they're doing, or just the people that were in it for money. I mean, I must admit. I mean, although I was paid and paid, well, I It wasn't so much the money, you see, it was just the business that I loved. I loved every minute of it. And now, as I sit, sometimes as I I can't see and I can't read because my sight is impaired. I do am able to look back on my life, and then I have the equity journal that comes in that's read to me, and I they read out the people that are no longer with us, because everybody seems to in my group. They're all. Dying so quickly. What

Speaker 1  15:01  
did you feel about the amalgamation with equity? Did you think it was a good

Speaker 2  15:04  
thing? Well, I wasn't quite sure. Really, I hadn't read enough about it. I think something needed to be doing, because I felt the film artist Association. It's such a tiny little Union. It needed something, but I can't you see Mr. Brown again, was coming down here. There's so much I had to catch up on, because I used to go to the office every day when I lived near London, and we used to go through all these things. And he used to explain everything, but now he's not the secretary anymore. I don't get any literature from the from the office. Well, I could ring up Mike, I suppose, and ask him to inform me a bit more. But we used to get all the newsletters, and Sean used to write and tell me what was going on. But now I don't know anything. I did go down a lot some while ago, I suppose, about five years ago or six years ago, when I was living in Sussex, and they rang me to ask me if I would do a day's work at Powell, which is was quite near to Lewis, where I lived. And I went down to Lord gages house, where they were doing this location on Glenda Jackson on the, I think it was called the return of the soldier, yes, yeah. And when I got down there this there was a remark made, because there were several of the older members that I knew there, but there was mostly new members. And when I walked on to the set, and I was costumed, and I walked on, and some of them said, Oh, hello, Paul, Isn't it lovely to see you. I haven't seen you for so long, but some of the new members said, look at the age. They're letting in the members now. And I thought that was rather a lovely remark, and I played up to it, yes, and I was asking them questions. And and, of course, Ned Lynch, who's been in the industry a very, very long time, who's also offended sure he had to walk away because the tears are running down his face. And I was saying, you know, really, what do you do when you when, when the there's a they wrap up. What does that mean, wrapping up, and where do you get your money? And what do you do? How do you get it? And they said, Oh, it's about time something was done about these old people being bought into the business. And of course, I loved that. I enjoyed that very much. You

Unknown Speaker  17:40  
mentioned Ned League. She was the five, oh, sure. Very

Speaker 2  17:43  
promising young act. Yes, yes. Unfortunately, yes, I know that Ned is losing his sight now too. You see, if you lose your limb, you're not your limbs. But if you're not able to walk or or you become wheelchair bound, you sort of accept it. But when you can't see and you can't get around, as I say, I've got this practical asthma, and it catches me when I don't even know about it, this is what upsets me very much, because there's so much reading to be done about the industry. There's so much to know. My husband's not being attached to the industry, but he does read a bit, but he doesn't really understand the people

Speaker 1  18:35  
going back what happened? What were you doing during the Second World War? Were you involved?

Speaker 2  18:40  
I went with ENSO as a dancer with the maple leaf. We went round with the shows.

Unknown Speaker  18:50  
Did you go abroad? Yes,

Speaker 2  18:51  
we went to Germany and to to Belgium and to Holland. Hard. We worked hard, and we had a raffle, which we have a raffle every year here at Cleveland. And a couple of years ago, Vera Lynn came down to draw the raffle, and she remembered me, have you worked with Yes, yes. And we were having nearly a few tears, and I also worked with her in the show, and she remembered, and I thought that was

Speaker 1  19:32  
fantastic. Can you remember back to your very early days, you know, when you first became a dancer? Anything interesting? There anything about some of the interesting people you met as a girl.

Speaker 2  19:42  
Well, I've met so many people. I when I first went into the theater, I was at the Prince of Wales Theater, where we worked from 12 in the day till 12 at night, which was non stop. I worked a lot. I worked with Sid field. We. You work with should feel well, he was in the show. He did an act in there with his golfing act, where he used to, well, the expression was making the tea, and it used to, it was hilarious, but of course, nobody would laugh at it. Now, lot of these things don't become funny anymore to people who not

Unknown Speaker  20:22  
mentioned. Was a great era of non stock shows, yes,

Speaker 2  20:27  
yes, I couldn't work at the wind mill because I was too tall. Yes, because it's such a tiny little theater. And of course, Mrs. Van Dyke, she wanted me to do nudes. And of course, then I wasn't all that keen. No, I was much too tall and seen I used to do ballet, but I grew kept getting taller and taller and taller. And of course, I got too tall, so I used to settle for just ordinary dancing, tap dancing. Well, I'd met all the leading artists. I was very, very friendly with Peter Finch and Kenneth Moore. All the class was

Unknown Speaker  21:15  
a nice man. Oh, he was great. I

Speaker 2  21:19  
used to work with him a lot of pilots and of course I knew Kay candles.

Unknown Speaker  21:28  
I wish my memory was better, but

Speaker 1  21:30  
it sounds pretty good for me. Could be a lot better. What is your main What if you had to pick one or two main memories of your career? What would you what would you pick?

Unknown Speaker  21:43  
What the work that I've done

Speaker 1  21:46  
about people, most of you looking at acts?

Speaker 2  21:49  
Well, the film industry meant most to me and some of the odd films that I worked in, I worked in quite a few of the carry on the I think the Titanic was, it was a great film. And

Unknown Speaker  22:04  
which Titanic films?

Speaker 2  22:07  
This was the one with Kenneth Moore, the one done playing the studio. Nice to remember. I need a bit of prompting. Oh, that way. It was wonderful, and the set superb. It didn't seem possible, really, that they could have especially when the boat was listed, the host, yes, out on the lot they listed it, you know for when it was something that really was something, because you could almost feel the feeling that the you were on show, yes, the people must position what they were. Did

Speaker 1  22:57  
you ever get any bad accidents when you were stunting?

Unknown Speaker  23:01  
Oh, yes, bad

Unknown Speaker  23:03  
bruising and broken shoulders

Unknown Speaker  23:09  
and things seem to seem to feel any pain. But when

Speaker 1  23:12  
you when your princess broke your shoulder, was that did the studio or the

Speaker 2  23:16  
production? No, it was my own fault. Really it was. Yes, it was my own fault. In what way? Bad judging and not doing as I was told.

Unknown Speaker  23:30  
So, how long did that day you up? Oh,

Speaker 2  23:35  
two or three months, that's all. But I didn't, I mean, I could work, but not doing any stunt work. I could just do ordinary crowd work, but

Unknown Speaker  23:45  
you were able to go on resume doing stunt work after that,

Speaker 2  23:47  
yes, but I didn't do it a lot. I didn't make it my livelihood. It was just the odd things that came up. I mean, Connie, who she used to do, jumping out of airplanes and things like that picture, and I didn't do anything. No, it was a wonderful life. I just wish there were more people down here at residence that were more on the side that I was I am, that I could talk to the one that we did have, that I knew and were had worked with chippy. He died quite recently. I used to often go up to the house and have long chats with him,

Speaker 1  24:32  
going back quite early. What did you do about schooling? Were you still at school age when you started dancing? No, no,

Speaker 2  24:39  
I left school at 14. Where were you at school? Out of school, at the convent in Cavendish square.

Unknown Speaker  24:46  
What are you most like studying there?

Speaker 2  24:50  
Music, music. I wasn't a very good scholar. I'm afraid at least I'd miss it. You

Speaker 1  24:57  
said earlier that your mother. Wasn't particularly keen on your going into the business. But what did she want you to do?

Speaker 2  25:05  
She wanted me to be a buyer. There used to be a shop in Regent Street called Jays. It was on the corner of Regent Street and Oxford Circus. It was a very exclusive dress shop, and she wanted me to to to take an apprenticeship as a buyer and then eventually travel. That's what she had in mind. But I had other thoughts. Yeah, yeah. I like the people. I liked, the atmosphere I liked. I like everything about it, and I still do that, says it must have changed an awful lot of play. No, in fact, my upbringing, when I was at school, I was a boarding school, it was very

Unknown Speaker  26:03  
proper that

Unknown Speaker  26:06  
probably by contrast, it may be more

Speaker 2  26:13  
and more determined again, very glad to be here. How did

Unknown Speaker  26:24  
you get to be here? Well,

Speaker 2  26:25  
I came, I was went into hospitals, very ill, and it was Sean bannigan. He said to me, why don't you go down to Cleveland and and have a fortnight convalescent? And that's how it all started. We put our name in for to come here, and we waited about two or three years, and then we we got a cottage, very nice, two two years, four months. Quite one of the new, newer cottages. But it, I suppose, really, when you see some of the residents up at the house, so very, very elderly, it's so sad when people keep passing. There are 12 since I've been here. It Well, yes, well, this is it. But I'm one of these people. It upsets me so much. Can you remember

Unknown Speaker  27:35  
anything about when

Speaker 2  27:38  
you first started? Yes, well, in the, in the, well, I was in tanto, mine at New cough, Len par, and we got two pounds, 15 shillings a week for 16 performances a week. And the at my earliest recollection on the film industry was a Guinea a day. That would be on of time, what year? No, no, just the sort of the beginning before I because I went overseas from that pantomime. So it was then, because I remember they had all the guns and where our digs were, and we used to have a double combined room, my friend and I, and after that money, we used to have to pay the rent and our food and everything. 12 and six a week for the two of us. We were in the patent line run by Tom Arnold, and we used to, then we used to like an odd cigarette, and we used to toss up whether we should have a which we had to queue the kiosk used to open only for an hour. We'd queue up, or rather, we'd toss up whether we should have a pack of cigarettes for lunch or roll and button. And they used to be a little place next to the Empire theater called lock off. And when Tom arms used to come down to see the rehearsals, some of the girls used to play out while they rehearsing, because it had no clue. You see, it wasn't a much money. And when there was no there was no they used to have what they called an Isha contract that there was really no covering because we did a fortnight's rehearsal without money. So all the right through the penta mine, we were borrowing money from our next week's wages, so we were always in debt when we all owned the

Speaker 1  29:37  
association, before the association became another agent of

Unknown Speaker  29:42  
equity. Did you personally have to have

Speaker 2  29:51  
both cars as an Equity Association? Yes, yes, which and I still hold iLife member of equity now, and the film model I still. Old birthday class, and I wouldn't part wasn't for anything,

Unknown Speaker  30:05  
yes, and they stood. No, none at all, just the film artist. Well, I think the sort of theater really was more of a sideline. The film artist was my work

Speaker 2  30:25  
we'd have the meeting once a month, and I used to travel sometimes the meeting, it was in the evening, so if we were working, we used to go straight from the studio to the meeting, and we used to get the bus back from Cromwell Road, back home, I thought nothing of it. Thought nothing of it at all. Yes, and we used to pack even after that. We used to go to the little pub in Marlowe's road and then catch the 74 back to Putney. And when I moved to Hertfordshire, I used to get the green line. I see them come up. I travel anywhere. Bricket wood near St, Albans,

Speaker 2  31:18  
lovely for El st, former shout about Wood. Mr. Samuelson is keeping yes, no, I'm a veteran now. And I go, Yeah, and I went to the veterans meeting last time. And also we went to the annual general meeting, I believe them to take us and bring us back the veterans. I saw Mrs. Danielson still Looking very dapper.

Unknown Speaker  32:02  
Looking back, you don't ever regret Michael

Unknown Speaker  32:04  
and become a buyer. No,

Speaker 2  32:08  
I didn't. I mean, I made a bit of money, but I spent it, but no, I was I loved the work I was doing.

Unknown Speaker  32:18  
Looking back at any really outstanding people that you like to remember,

Speaker 3  32:22  
maybe people

Speaker 2  32:28  
that you like to remember, professionals, directors. Well, Carol for Carol Reed, I think yes, he did, yes, and he did a kid for two farming and trying To remember the director that did Scrooge.

Unknown Speaker  32:55  
Yeah,

Speaker 2  33:02  
his name was mentioned on the radio. It'll come to me. It always does. Usually comes to me late in the evening when I'm doing my thinking.

Speaker 2  33:21  
Wendy toy, when coy? Yes, I worked with Wendy coy, and I can't remember names. I remember we were on location for several weeks at the Tower of London because I knew her into the choreographer, and then I met her again when she was directing. I can't remember the name of the film. On stage, she was great. And then we used to go down to the studios at Merton Park. Yes, is that Jen little one? No Greenwood? Yes, yes. I have been around a bit, but that needs another couple of hours for my memory to get really going. I can't remember that directors name there, the one I'm trying to remember. Oh, and of course, poffer. I

Unknown Speaker  34:27  
No, it wasn't,

Unknown Speaker  34:39  
I did work. Wasn't, I did work on that Tom. Tom wasn't very

Unknown Speaker  34:53  
nice and interesting.

Speaker 2  35:00  
Yes, I have done, I only wish which, of course, you always do. I suppose people do is they get, oh, my god, take more notice of everything, like producers and directors. But then when you're working, everybody's working to the Hill that you're doing your job, they're doing you're there. And you don't think of things. Do you what it will be like in the future if you wanted to write a book or something like that? You don't think of those things when you're younger. I met some great people. Great,

Speaker 4  35:41  
yes, I'd be very curious about two things, if you can develop them, one of the studios, memories of the studios and the atmospheres that existed, how different they were, one to another, and then the other is really an extension of what Sid was saying. I'd love to go into season as much detail. This isn't really

Unknown Speaker  36:01  
Scott, oh Gabrielle, oh, yes, so I

Speaker 2  36:20  
found him very difficult in what way? Well, I think that there were a lot of people on the set and people that weren't doing as they should do, and having to keep repeating things, and needed to get a very, very short tempered with people. It's it's such a long time ago that I can't really remember a lot. You asked me about the director. Another one was

Unknown Speaker  36:53  
Anne evil, Herbert world. He hated the press. He hated the church. They made his pictures, but he hated me. I don't know. He never liked me. Oh yes, yes, we did quite a lot of we did a big production for him, Associated British with ABP

Speaker 2  37:19  
and without the crowd. We couldn't have stopped the film because we were doing the apes and real in example, which was an enormous, big ballroom scene. But I somehow they never seem to like the crowd. She was very nice. Yes, very nice. I worked on several seasons the some

Unknown Speaker  37:47  
all the roads,

Speaker 2  37:50  
every road that there was, they were all members, and those that weren't were made members because they needed the people you see, they needed, they had to have these enormous time. Well, they were buying and selling, bringing them watches and everything was sort of under the Townsville. And they used to come and check in. You know, get red kid in the morning, and they disappear during the day and not do what they should do, and not work. And, oh, it was a terrible job. Oh yes, oh yes. I don't remember now, but I mean, let in the latter part of the industry all well. That is why they started having the shops do, as you see, they used to send down the shop to do and for each production, and to keep the production office from not having any aggro, to control the people. I don't remember a lot about that film at Denham. I was there, but I don't remember. I noticed. I know, well, I would say not the whole time, a lot of the time, the test that

Speaker 4  39:17  
I remember was the Alexandrian seaside set on the lot was

Speaker 2  39:22  
the Well, I only worked on the lot, right? I was on the lot mostly all the time. It was a fantastic film. I mean, they did one with Elizabeth Taylor at Pinewood, but it was nuts. Yeah, night shots on that, but it was Megan Paris, and was it Richard Burton? None

Unknown Speaker  39:51  
of that was ever used. No

Speaker 1  39:59  
on your. A point that Brian raised the difference between the various studios you worked at. Did you have any studios

Unknown Speaker  40:07  
writing more than any other Pinewood? I think probably because I worked there the most comfortable addressing Yes, it was a nice studio, very nice studio, but then I liked Shepparton studios too.

Unknown Speaker  40:34  
I don't think I really had any special choice of studios, I think, really just glad to get the work.

Unknown Speaker  40:51  
Yes, yes, locations I used to like,

Speaker 2  40:59  
I think, at Sherborne On Goodbye Mr. Chips, with Peter at all. And for Tula Croc, they made the sort of musical

Unknown Speaker  41:13  
they're down there for four months. Lovely, beautiful, very pretty little town. Yes, very nice. Where were you put up when you were on one

Speaker 2  41:28  
location? No, we were put in. Sure, this was a little pub, like the Hoffman hotel. It was called

Unknown Speaker  41:36  
in the pub, and some of the artists took rented houses, and we were in a pub come Hotel. Yes, great, but they didn't want the sun. They wanted the clouds. And it did nothing but sun. Did nothing but shine,

Unknown Speaker  42:00  
but a lot of it was done inside. And of course, we used a lot of the shared bomb boys.

Speaker 4  42:14  
Yes, it was a wonderful,

Unknown Speaker  42:22  
oh, yes, I went with David. The picture was with with his wife, his then wife, when she did, Noel Todd, no, the parentheses,

Unknown Speaker  43:00  
remember,

Unknown Speaker  43:11  
I do Morning, I

Unknown Speaker  44:40  
publications, and the.

Unknown Speaker  45:00  
Very good. I.

 

Biographical

 Paula Wright interviewed at Glebelands the Union home .born 1919 . Mother a singer Belle of New York . Fathers was a singer. Dancer Showgirl in West End. Stunt woman and double. Started at 16 on stage. An extra on Scrooge Goodbye Mr Chips Peter o'Toole Petula Clark Oliver & Ceasar at Denham.Daily call for work. near Garrick Theatre .12p a day. First stunt job was being set alight. Titanic at Pinewood Studios.Jumping off Boat in to water. No insurance in early days. Film Artists Association on Committee.ENSA in WW2 Belgium Holland. Sid Fields. Too tall for Windmill not keen to be nude. Peter Finch Kenneth More Kay Kendall.  Carry on Films Night to Remember. Many injuries as stunt woman. Left school Convent at 14. \'a3 2 15shuillings a week . 21 shillings a day in film. Rehearsal no money. Kid for two Farthings.Wendy Toye worked with Merton Park. MGM. Yellow Rolls Royce.Herbert Wilcox ABPC Anna Neagle . Shop Steward on set. Elizabeth Taylor at Pinewood. David Lean & Ann Todd