The Tealady
& Albert
If
Laura and Alec wear the tragedy masks, Albert Godby (Stanley Holloway) and
Myrtle Bagot (Joyce Carey) wear the comedy ones. But is the thing that makes
them so amusing the idea that they are “at it” at their age?
If
a young sailor came into the refreshment room and tried to goose young Beryl;
that would be a matter of course in those days. But when old Albert gets frisky
with the middle aged Myrtle, it gives us all a good laugh (although of course
some of this is down to the excellent comedy talents of the actors behind the
characters). I wonder what the age difference is meant to be between the two
couples? It was more difficult to say in those days because everyone seemed to
look old after a certain point. I recently read a family memoir by one of my
favourite authors, Margaret Forster. She compares her own life to that of her
mother and grandmother in “Hidden Lives” and it is fascinating. She includes a
photograph of her mother at the age I am now – 45 – and she looks like a tired,
wrinkly old granny! These days we try harder to cling on to our youth and
embrace diversity in hairstyles and clothes rather than sink gracefully into a
pinny and perm. Back in the 1940s, it seems that once you had turned 30 you
accepted old age and surgical stockings and that was that. Also, life was
harsher and this showed in the face.
How
old are Alec and Laura meant to be? They have young children and Laura’s appear
on screen and look to be under 10 years old. Women tended to have children
earlier in their twenties back then so I think that this puts her a little
above 30. Alec also speaks of young children, he must be in his thirties too.
There’s not a lot to go on in terms of aging Myrtle Bagot. She’s been married,
divorced and seen off a gentleman ‘business partner’. Perhaps she is meant to
be 10-15 years older than Laura.
The
ages of the actors involved when the film was released are as follows:
Celia
37, Trevor 32, Joyce 47, Stanley 55. At 45 I certainly feel more of a Myrtle
than a Laura. If a young doctor started paying me attentions I’d tell him to
push off and leave me alone to drink tea and eat buns in peace. Myrtle holds no
doe-eyed romantic thoughts about Albert either. She’s going to make him work
hard to prove himself worthy of her and that’s where we get our fun.
 |
| The sugar's in the spoon... |
But
it wasn’t all fun being older and single back in the 1930s and 40s. Myrtle’s
life has obviously been unsettled while it emerges that Albert lives in
lodgings with a mad animal menagerie. A life in lodgings for a gentleman is
something that I looked at in my ‘Lavender Hill Mob’ post a few years back. I
mused:
"The Lavender Hill Mob" shows
the two main characters each having rooms in a lodging house (or 'private
hotel') which is shared by several people. This is how they meet and
formulate the robbery. This gives us a peep at how some single men of the lower
middle class lived then. I wonder how much of this situation was due to
the housing shortage, and how much was due to these men never having learned to
look after themselves? It would have been assumed in their upbringing
that there would always be a female in their life to see to domestic matters.
Neither of these characters are married so they have
placed themselves in the care of a landlady. In modern times, they
would most likely live alone in a small flat each (if not even still be at home
with parents!)
To
be growing old and not have a home of your own must have been awfully
depressing. No wonder Albert was so persistent in his pursuit of the hand that
baked those delightful Bath Buns. We can laugh, but old Albert and Myrtle seem
to get their happy ending after he saves her from the lippy soldiers – and they
will appreciate each other much more than Laura or Alec ever would.
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