Jessie Matthews
Encyclopedia
Jessie Matthews, OBE
(11 March 1907 – 19 August 1981) was an English actress, dancer and singer of the 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period.
, London, in relative poverty, the seventh of sixteen children (of whom eleven survived) of a fruit-and-vegetable seller. She debuted on stage on 29 December 1919, aged 12, in Bluebell in Fairyland
, by Seymour Hicks
, music by Walter Slaughter
and lyrics by Charles Taylor
, at the Metropolitan Music Hall, Edgware Road, London, as a child dancer; she made her film debut in 1923 in the silent film The Beloved Vagabond.
. When Lawrence fell ill, she took over the role and was given great reviews. Matthews was acclaimed in the United Kingdom as a dancer and as the first performer of numerous popular songs of the 1920s and 1930s, including "A Room with a View" and London Calling!
by Noël Coward
and "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love
" by Cole Porter
. After a string of hit stage musicals and films in the mid-1930s, Matthews developed a following in the USA, where she was dubbed "The Dancing Divinity". Her British studio was reluctant to let go of its biggest name, which resulted in offers for her to work in Hollywood being repeatedly rejected.
Matthews' fame reached its initial height with her lead role in the 1930 stage production of Ever Green
, premiered at the Alhambra Theatre Glasgow
, a musical by Rodgers
and Hart
that was partly inspired by the life of music hall star Marie Lloyd
, and her daughter's tribute act resurrection of her mother's acclaimed Edwardian stage show as Marie Lloyd Junior. At its time Ever Green was the most expensive musical ever mounted on a London stage. The 1934 cinematic adaptation (Evergreen
) featured the newly composed song Over My Shoulder which was to go on to become Matthews' personal theme song, later giving its title to her autobiography and to a 21st-century musical stage show of her life.
Her distinctive warbling voice and round cheeks made her a familiar and much-loved personality to British theatre and film audiences at the beginning of World War II
, but her popularity waned in the 1940s after several years' absence from the screen followed by an unsatisfactory thriller, "Candles at Nine".
Post-war audiences associated her with a world of hectic pre-war luxury that was now seen as obsolete in austerity-era Britain.
After a few false starts as a straight actress she played Tom Thumb
's mother in the 1958 children's film, and during the 1960s found new fame when she took over the leading role of Mary Dale in the BBC
's long-running daily radio soap, 'The Dales', formerly 'Mrs Dale's Diary
'.
Live theatre and variety
shows remained the mainstay of Matthews' work through the 1950s and 1960s, with successful tours of Australia and South Africa interspersed with periods of less glamorous but welcome work in British provincial theatre and pantomimes. She became a stalwart nostalgia
feature of TV variety shows such as The Night Of A Thousand Stars and The Good Old Days
.
Jessie Matthews was awarded an OBE in 1970 and continued to make cabaret and occasional film and television appearances through the decade including one-off guest roles in the popular BBC series Angels
and an episode of the ITV
mystery anthology Tales of the Unexpected
.
She took her one-woman stage show to Los Angeles in 1979 and won the United States Drama Logue Award for the year's best performance in concert.
and Sir Henry Lytton
the doyen of the Savoy Theatre
. They divorced in 1929. The second and longest marriage was to actor-director Sonnie Hale
; the third to military officer, Lt. Brian Lewis. All of her marriages ended in divorce and were marred by affairs and a series of unsuccessful pregnancies.
With Hale she had one adopted daughter, Catherine Hale-Monro, who married Count Donald Grixoni on 15 November 1958; they eventually divorced but she remained known as Catherine, Countess Grixoni.
. A high-court judge denounced her as an "odious" individual when her love letters to Hale were used as evidence in the case of his divorce from his wife, actress/singer Evelyn 'Boo' Laye
.
It took some time for Matthews' popularity to recover from this scandal
. "If I ceased to be a star", she wrote in a piece for Picturegoer in 1934, "all that interest in my home life would evaporate, I believe. Perhaps it is the price one has to pay for being a star".
In one of her last interviews, she was asked whether she would like to live the same life over again. "You're joking!" she answered bitterly.
in the 1960s, and a posthumous biography from the BBC's 40 Minutes
(1987), Catch A Fallen Star.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(11 March 1907 – 19 August 1981) was an English actress, dancer and singer of the 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period.
Early life
Jessie Margaret Matthews was born in SohoSoho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
, London, in relative poverty, the seventh of sixteen children (of whom eleven survived) of a fruit-and-vegetable seller. She debuted on stage on 29 December 1919, aged 12, in Bluebell in Fairyland
Bluebell in Fairyland
Bluebell in Fairyland is a Christmas-season children's entertainment described as a "a musical dream play", in two acts, with a book by Seymour Hicks, lyrics by Aubrey Hopwood and Charles H. Taylor, and music by Walter Slaughter. It was produced by Charles Frohman. The creators sought to...
, by Seymour Hicks
Seymour Hicks
Sir Arthur Seymour Hicks , better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, screenwriter, theatre manager and producer. He married the actress Ellaline Terriss in 1893...
, music by Walter Slaughter
Walter Slaughter
Walter Alfred Slaughter was an English conductor and composer of musical comedy, comic opera and children's shows. He was engaged in the West End as a composer and musical director from 1883 to 1904.-Life and career:...
and lyrics by Charles Taylor
Charles H. Taylor (lyricist)
Charles Henry Taylor was a British lyricist, best known for his lyrics for early 20th century West End musical comedies and a comic opera, Tom Jones.-Life and career:...
, at the Metropolitan Music Hall, Edgware Road, London, as a child dancer; she made her film debut in 1923 in the silent film The Beloved Vagabond.
Career
Matthews was in the chorus in Charlot Review in London. She went with the show to New York, where she was also understudy to the star, Gertrude LawrenceGertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence was an English actress, singer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End theatre district of London and on Broadway.-Early life:...
. When Lawrence fell ill, she took over the role and was given great reviews. Matthews was acclaimed in the United Kingdom as a dancer and as the first performer of numerous popular songs of the 1920s and 1930s, including "A Room with a View" and London Calling!
London Calling!
London Calling! was a musical revue, produced by André Charlot with music and lyrics by Noël Coward, which opened at London's Duke of York's Theatre on September 4, 1923. It is famous for being Noël Coward's first publicly produced musical work and for the use of a 3-D stereoscopic shadowgraph as...
by Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
and "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love
Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love
"Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" is a popular song written in 1928 by Cole Porter. It was introduced in Porter's first Broadway success, the musical Paris by French chanteuse Irène Bordoni for whom Porter had written the musical as a starring vehicle...
" by Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
. After a string of hit stage musicals and films in the mid-1930s, Matthews developed a following in the USA, where she was dubbed "The Dancing Divinity". Her British studio was reluctant to let go of its biggest name, which resulted in offers for her to work in Hollywood being repeatedly rejected.
Matthews' fame reached its initial height with her lead role in the 1930 stage production of Ever Green
Ever Green
Ever Green is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart and a book by Benn Levy, based on an idea by Rodgers and Hart. This was the last of three musicals written by Rodgers and Hart in London....
, premiered at the Alhambra Theatre Glasgow
Alhambra Theatre Glasgow
The Alhambra Theatre Glasgow opened on 19 December 1910 at the corner of Waterloo Street and Wellington Street, Glasgow under the direction of Sir Alfred Butt and was acknowledged as one of the best equipped theatres in Britain, planned to accommodate 2,800 people.The Theatre was designed by...
, a musical by Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
and Hart
Lorenz Hart
Lorenz "Larry" Milton Hart was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart...
that was partly inspired by the life of music hall star Marie Lloyd
Marie Lloyd
Matilda Alice Victoria Wood was an English music hall singer, best known as Marie Lloyd. Her ability to add lewdness to the most innocent of lyrics led to frequent clashes with the guardians of morality...
, and her daughter's tribute act resurrection of her mother's acclaimed Edwardian stage show as Marie Lloyd Junior. At its time Ever Green was the most expensive musical ever mounted on a London stage. The 1934 cinematic adaptation (Evergreen
Evergreen (film)
Evergreen is a 1934 Gaumont British musical film, starring Jessie Matthews as a music hall singer, based on the 1930 musical Ever Green, also starring Matthews. Matthews had a dual role as both mother and daughter....
) featured the newly composed song Over My Shoulder which was to go on to become Matthews' personal theme song, later giving its title to her autobiography and to a 21st-century musical stage show of her life.
Her distinctive warbling voice and round cheeks made her a familiar and much-loved personality to British theatre and film audiences at the beginning of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but her popularity waned in the 1940s after several years' absence from the screen followed by an unsatisfactory thriller, "Candles at Nine".
Post-war audiences associated her with a world of hectic pre-war luxury that was now seen as obsolete in austerity-era Britain.
After a few false starts as a straight actress she played Tom Thumb
Tom Thumb
Tom Thumb is a character of English folklore. The History of Tom Thumb was published in 1621, and has the distinction of being the first fairy tale printed in English. Tom is no bigger than his father's thumb, and his adventures include being swallowed by a cow, tangling with giants, and becoming a...
's mother in the 1958 children's film, and during the 1960s found new fame when she took over the leading role of Mary Dale in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's long-running daily radio soap, 'The Dales', formerly 'Mrs Dale's Diary
Mrs Dale's Diary
Mrs Dale's Diary was the first significant BBC radio serial drama. It was first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on 5 January 1948, and subsequently transferred to the newly formed Radio 2 in 1967, where it ran until 25 April 1969...
'.
Live theatre and variety
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
shows remained the mainstay of Matthews' work through the 1950s and 1960s, with successful tours of Australia and South Africa interspersed with periods of less glamorous but welcome work in British provincial theatre and pantomimes. She became a stalwart nostalgia
Nostalgia
The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , meaning "returning home", a Homeric word, and , meaning "pain, ache"...
feature of TV variety shows such as The Night Of A Thousand Stars and The Good Old Days
The Good Old Days
The Good Old Days is a popular BBC television light entertainment programme which ran from 1953 to 1983.It was performed at the Leeds City Varieties and recreated an authentic atmosphere of the Victorian–Edwardian music hall with songs and sketches of the era performed by present-day...
.
Jessie Matthews was awarded an OBE in 1970 and continued to make cabaret and occasional film and television appearances through the decade including one-off guest roles in the popular BBC series Angels
Angels (TV series)
Angels was originally a British television seasonal drama series dealing with the subject of student nurses and was broadcast by the BBC between 1975 and 1978. The show's format then switched to a twice weekly soap opera format from 1979 to 1983. The show's title derived from the name of the...
and an episode of the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
mystery anthology Tales of the Unexpected
Tales of the Unexpected (TV series)
Tales of the Unexpected is a British television series originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. Filming began in 1978.The series was an anthology of different tales...
.
She took her one-woman stage show to Los Angeles in 1979 and won the United States Drama Logue Award for the year's best performance in concert.
Marriages
In 1926 she married the first of her three husbands, actor Henry Lytton, Jr., the son of singer and actress Louie HenriLouie Henri
Louie Henri was an English singer and actress, best known for her many roles in the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. She married Henry Lytton, who eventually became the company's longstanding principal comedian.Henri's career got off to an early start when she joined Florence St...
and Sir Henry Lytton
Henry Lytton
Sir Henry Lytton was an English actor and singer who was the leading exponent of the comic patter-baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas in the early part of the twentieth century...
the doyen of the Savoy Theatre
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
. They divorced in 1929. The second and longest marriage was to actor-director Sonnie Hale
Sonnie Hale
Sonnie Hale was an English theatre and cinema actor and director.John Robert Hale-Monro was born in London, the son of Robert Hale and Belle Reynolds. His father and sister, Binnie Hale were actors. He worked chiefly in musical and revue theatre, but also acted in several films with occasional...
; the third to military officer, Lt. Brian Lewis. All of her marriages ended in divorce and were marred by affairs and a series of unsuccessful pregnancies.
With Hale she had one adopted daughter, Catherine Hale-Monro, who married Count Donald Grixoni on 15 November 1958; they eventually divorced but she remained known as Catherine, Countess Grixoni.
Controversies
Matthews had several romantic relationships conducted in the public eye, often courting controversy in the newspapers. The most notorious was her relationship with the married Sonnie HaleSonnie Hale
Sonnie Hale was an English theatre and cinema actor and director.John Robert Hale-Monro was born in London, the son of Robert Hale and Belle Reynolds. His father and sister, Binnie Hale were actors. He worked chiefly in musical and revue theatre, but also acted in several films with occasional...
. A high-court judge denounced her as an "odious" individual when her love letters to Hale were used as evidence in the case of his divorce from his wife, actress/singer Evelyn 'Boo' Laye
Evelyn Laye
Evelyn Laye, CBE was an English theatre and film actress.-Early years and career:Born as Elsie Evelyn Lay in Bloomsbury, London, Laye made her first stage appearance in August 1915 at the Theatre Royal, Brighton as Nang-Ping in Mr...
.
It took some time for Matthews' popularity to recover from this scandal
Scandal
A scandal is a widely publicized allegation or set of allegations that damages the reputation of an institution, individual or creed...
. "If I ceased to be a star", she wrote in a piece for Picturegoer in 1934, "all that interest in my home life would evaporate, I believe. Perhaps it is the price one has to pay for being a star".
Theatre
- Bluebell in Fairyland - 1919
- Max Box Review - 1923
- Charlot Review - 1924
- Charlot Show of 1926 - 1926
- One Dam Thing after Another - 1927
- This year of Grace - 1928
- Wake Up and Dream - 1929
- Ever Green - 1930
Filmography
- This EnglandThis EnglandThis England is a quarterly magazine published in England. It has a large readership among expatriates, especially the elderly. It concentrates on the traditional values and customs of the English people, particularly those of rural and small-town England....
(1923) - The Beloved VagabondThe Beloved Vagabond (1923 film)The Beloved Vagabond is a 1923 British romantic drama film directed by Fred LeRoy Granville and starring Carlyle Blackwell, Madge Stuart, Jessie Matthews and Phyllis Titmuss. The wealthy Gaston de Nerac decides to live as a tramp until he falls in love...
(1923) - Straws in the WindStraws in the WindStraws in the Wind is a 1924 British silent drama film directed by Bertram Phillips and starring Betty Ross Clarke, Queenie Thomas and Fred Paul.-Cast:* Betty Ross Clarke as The Wife* Queenie Thomas as The Woman* Fred Paul as The Husband...
(1924) - Out of the BlueOut of the Blue (1931 film)Out of the Blue is a 1931 British musical film directed by Gene Gerrard and starring Gerrard, Jessie Matthews and Kay Hammond. It was Matthew's first major film role. A baronet's daughter falls in love with a radio star who is engaged to marry her sister. The film was not a success, but led to...
(1931) - The MidshipmaidThe MidshipmaidThe Midshipmaid is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Albert de Courville and starring Jessie Matthews, Frederick Kerr, Basil Sydney and Nigel Bruce.-Cast:* Jessie Matthews - Celia Newbiggin* Frederick Kerr - Sir Percy Newbiggin...
(1932) - There Goes the BrideThere Goes the Bride (1932 film)There Goes the Bride is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Albert de Courville and starring Jessie Matthews, Owen Nares, Carol Goodner, Basil Radford and Roland Culver...
(1932) - The Good CompanionsThe Good Companions (1933 film)The Good Companions is a 1933 comedy film directed by Victor Saville starring Jessie Matthews and John Gielgud. It is based on the novel of the same name.-Cast:* Jessie Matthews - Susie Dean* Edmund Gwenn - Jess Oakroyd* John Gielgud - Inigo Jollifant...
(1933) - The Man from TorontoThe Man from TorontoThe Man from Toronto is a 1933 British romance film directed by Sinclair Hill and starring Jessie Matthews, Ian Hunter, Kathleen Harrison and Herbert Lomas. After an inheiritance is left to them if they marry an Englishwoman and a Canadian must meet for the first time to investigate the other -...
(1933) - Strauss's Great Waltz (aka Waltzes from Vienna) (1933)
- Friday the ThirteenthFriday the Thirteenth (1933 film)Friday the Thirteenth is a 1933 British drama film directed by Victor Saville and starring Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale and Muriel Aked. The film depicts the lives of several passengers in the hours before they are involved in a bus crash.-Cast:...
(1933) - EvergreenEvergreen (film)Evergreen is a 1934 Gaumont British musical film, starring Jessie Matthews as a music hall singer, based on the 1930 musical Ever Green, also starring Matthews. Matthews had a dual role as both mother and daughter....
(1934) - First a GirlFirst a GirlFirst a Girl is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Victor Saville and starring Jessie Matthews. First a Girl was adapted from the 1933 German film Viktor und Viktoria written and directed by Reinhold Schünzel...
(1935) - It's Love AgainIt's Love AgainIt's Love Again is a 1936 British musical film directed by Victor Saville and starring Jessie Matthews, Robert Young and Sonnie Hale. A chorus girl masquerades as a big game hunter to try and boost her showbiz career.-Cast:...
(1936) - GangwayGangway (film)Gangway is a 1937 British musical film directed by Sonnie Hale and starring Jessie Matthews, Barry MacKay, Nat Pendleton and Alistair Sim. A young reporter goes undercover to unmask a gang of criminals who are planning a jewel heist.-Main cast:...
(1937) - Head Over Heels in Love (1937; aka Head Over Heels)
- Climbing HighClimbing High-Plot:Nicky Brooke is as an aristocratic young man engaged to be married. He falls for Diana Castles , a model and makes attempts to woo her by pretending to be despite his engagement.-Cast:*Jessie Matthews as Diana Castles...
(1938) - Sailing AlongSailing AlongSailing Along is a 1938 British musical comedy film directed by Sonnie Hale and starring Jessie Matthews, Barry MacKay, Jack Whiting, Frank Pettingell, Noel Madison and Alastair Sim. A barge-owner's adopted daughter falls in love with his son, and gives up her chances of stardom to be with him....
(1938) - Forever and a Day (1943)
- Candles at NineCandles at NineCandles at Nine is a 1944 British mystery film directed by John Harlow and starring Beatrix Lehmann, Joss Ambler and Jessie Matthews. A wealthy man jokes about being murdered for his inheritance, but is then found dead...
(1944) - tom thumbTom thumb (film)Deliberately uncapitalised, tom thumb is a 1958 fantasy-musical film directed by George Pal and released by MGM. It was based on the fairy tale of the same name...
(1958) - The Hound of the BaskervillesThe Hound of the Baskervilles (1978 film)The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1978 British comedy film spoofing The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It starred Peter Cook as Sherlock Holmes and Dudley Moore as Dr. Watson...
(1978)
Death
She had suffered from periods of ill-health throughout her life and eventually died of cancer, aged 74.In one of her last interviews, she was asked whether she would like to live the same life over again. "You're joking!" she answered bitterly.
Legacy
Matthews was the focus of a British episode of This Is Your LifeThis Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
in the 1960s, and a posthumous biography from the BBC's 40 Minutes
40 Minutes
40 Minutes was a BBC TV documentary strand broadcast on BBC Two between 1981 and 1994.Some documentaries in the original series were revisited and updated in a 2006 version, Forty Minutes On....
(1987), Catch A Fallen Star.
External links
- Biographical article - Daily Mail by Michael Thornton
- British Pictures biography
- Radio Days biography (includes audio clips)
- BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Centenary programme
- All Music and All Movie Guide profiles
- Their Record Speaks for Them in-depth article about her recording career