Will Hay Collection [DVD]

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Will Hay was a comic genius, years ahead of his time and we believe that he deserves to be remembered. a b Mobberley, Martin P.; Goward, Kenneth J. (April 2009). "Will Hay (1888-1949) and his telescopes". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 119 (2): 67–81. Bibcode: 2009JBAA..119...67M. Hay decided to become an actor when he was 21 after watching W. C. Fields perform a juggling act in Manchester. In the early years of the twentieth century Hay experienced some moderate success as a stand-up comedian and an after-dinner speaker. [5] Hay's first professional job came when he was offered a contract to perform at a theatre in Belper. [5] In 1914 Hay began working with the impresario Fred Karno who had previously helped Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin achieve success. He worked with Karno for four years. [5] He first performed his schoolmaster character in 1910 which he based upon a colleague of his sister, who was a teaching mistress. [4] The characterisation was initially performed in drag as a schoolmistress, but he transferred the character to a headmaster. [6]

Despite the majority of the film being set in Northern Ireland, none of the filming took place there; the railway station at Buggleskelly was the disused Cliddesden railway station on the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway, which had closed to goods in 1936. [1] Oh, Mr Porter! was filmed at Cliddesden between May and July 1937. All the interior shots were made at Gainsborough Studios, Shepherds Bush, during the August. [2] The windmill in which Porter and his colleagues are trapped is located at Terling, Essex, [3] and "Gladstone", the ancient steam locomotive, was portrayed by No. 2 Northiam 2-4-0T built by Hawthorn Leslie in 1899 and loaned by the Kent and East Sussex Railway to the film. The engine was returned to the company after completion of the film and remained in service until 1941, when it was scrapped. [4] [5] Hay kept his career in astronomy separate from his comedy career and published Through My Telescope under the name of W.T. Hay, using the same title when giving lectures on astronomy. [6] Hay was an advocate for education on astronomy and considered those who had an interest in astronomy "the only men who see life in its true proportion". In a 1933 interview with the Daily Mail he stated "If we were all astronomers, there'd be no more war." [33] He was a friend of William Herbert Steavenson, who would go on to become the President of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1957. [33] Hay, W.T. (1933). "The spot on Saturn". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 94: 85. Bibcode: 1933MNRAS..94...85H. doi: 10.1093/mnras/94.1.85 . Retrieved 11 May 2017.In Where There's a Will he has a short routine with the rotund Graham Moffatt who plays the office boy who reads western comics.

If you think the best Will Hay role isn't at the top, then upvote it so it has the chance to become number one. The greatest Will Hay performances didn't necessarily come from the best movies, but in most cases they go hand in hand. The Will Hay Appreciation Society was founded in 2009 by British artist Tom Marshall, and aims to preserve the legacy of Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt and to bring their work to a new generation of fans. As of June 2019, the organisation has over 4200 members. [6] The Will Hay Appreciation Society unveiled a memorial bench to Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt in October 2018, in Cliddesden, Hampshire the filming location for Oh, Mr. Porter!. The bench was unveiled by Pete Waterman. [7] In the mid-1940s he semi-retired from show business to become a publican with his wife, Joyce Muriel Hazeldine, whom he married in June 1948 and remained married to for 17 years until his death in July 1965. Together, they ran the Swan Inn at Braybrooke (near Market Harborough), followed by the Englishcombe Inn at Bath. Whilst landlord of the Swan Inn, Moffatt became good friends with local musician and actor Jim Dale who would often drink at the pub. [2]Greene, Graham (23 August 1935). "Where's George?/The Great God Gold/Boys Will Be Boys/The Murder Man". The Spectator. (reprinted in: John Russel, Taylor, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. Oxford University Press. p. 16. ISBN 0192812866. ) Pathé, British. " 'Star' Turns Star Gazer Will Hay Discovers Spot On Saturn. 'School-Master Comedian' Tells How He Located White Blemish On Planet". www.britishpathe.com . Retrieved 9 June 2021. a b c d e f g h i j k "Will Hay – Master of Comedy". YouTube. BBC Radio 4. 2 June 1976 . Retrieved 10 May 2017. The plot of Oh, Mr Porter was loosely based on the Arnold Ridley play The Ghost Train. The title was taken from Oh! Mr Porter, a music hall song.

The Chief leaves after Harbottle makes up a story about a Headless Horseman when questioned about his old looks. Dudfoot states that they need to arrest a criminal soon or else their police station will be closed down and Harbottle takes him to the library to look for books on crime. On their way the coastguard stops them and tells them his brother a lighthouse keeper wants a light hung up on top of the police station as his grandmother is very ill and he agreed to the idea that if he could see the light on the Police Station tower he'd know his grandmother was still alive. (Harbottle misunderstands this, thinking that the grandmother is alone in the lighthouse, causing him to sob uncontrollably whenever the matter is mentioned.) Unknown to the cops, this is connected to the smugglers. He was known to be a hypochondriac, and would often complain of illness to his colleagues when working. [6] The director Marcel Varnel considered the film as among his best work, [11] and it was described in 2006, by The Times in its obituary for writer Val Guest, as "a comic masterpiece of the British cinema". [12] Jimmy Perry, in his autobiography, wrote that the trio of Captain Mainwaring, Corporal Jones and Private Pike in Dad's Army was inspired by watching Oh, Mr Porter! [13] Legacy [ edit ] The title sequence uses scenes shot at a variety of locations on the Waterloo to Southampton railway line and also between Maze Hill and Greenwich in south-east London. The scene in which Porter travels to Buggleskelly by bus, while being warned of a terrible danger by locals, parodies that of the Tod Browning film, Dracula (1931). [6]In 1946 while on holiday, Hay suffered a stroke which left the right side of his body crippled and also affected his speech. He was told by his doctors that he would in all likelihood only make a partial recovery. [5] Following his stroke, he spent time in South Africa on the advice of his doctors, because of the climate. [6] His health had improved slightly by the following year, when he had plans to become a film producer but, in 1947, his friend Marcel Varnel, who had directed many of Hay's films, died in a car accident, and Hay postponed his plans. [5] Death [ edit ] The film was produced by Gainsborough Pictures, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and released on 28 August, 1939. Will Hay's new direction: My Learned Friend". The British Film Institute. 1 June 2015 . Retrieved 11 May 2017. In 2009 a biography of Hay by Graham Rinaldi was published with a foreword by Ken Dodd. Hay never published an autobiography during his lifetime; however, when ill in the 1940s, he had begun writing one, entitled I Enjoyed Every Minute. Excerpts from this unpublished autobiography were included in the 2009 book. [43] Colonel Stephens' New Locomotives". The Colonel Stephens Railway Museum, Tenterden, Kent . Retrieved 13 May 2011.