Jim Henson: Master of Muppets

It was 75 years ago today that Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets, was born. There can be no dobut that he is the most famous puppeteer of the 20th Century. And his creations, the Muppets, are still promoted and merchandised to this day. Indeed, in November the Muppets will star in a new theatrical movie, The Muppets.

Jim Henson was born on 24 September 1936 in Jackson, Mississippi. He spent his early childhood in Leland, Mississippi. It was in the late Forties that his family moved to Hyattsville, Maryland. As a child he was heavily influenced by ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy Charlie McCarthy, who were very popular on radio in the Forties. After his family bought a television set he would be influenced by Burr Tillstrom, the puppeteer who created Kukla and Ollie on the series Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, as well as Bill Baird, the creator of Charlemane the Lion.

Jim Henson was still very young when he received his first job as a professional puppeteer on television. He was still attending Northwestern High School when he created puppets for the WTOP-TV children's series The Junior Morning Show. He was a freshman at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1955, when he created the five minute puppet show Sam and Friends for WRC-TV. Sam and Friends starred a balding, human puppet named Sam, as well his friends Yorick, Harry the Hipster, and the earliest version of Kermit. The original Kermit had been made from turquoise coat that his mother had thrown in the waste can, with ping pong balls for eyes. Although today Kermit is known as a frog, at the time he was more or less a lizard like creature of an indeterminate species. It would be ten years later, in 1965, that Kermit would officially became a frog after Johnny Carson referred to him as "Kermit the Frog."

The term Muppet had also yet to be coined either. That would come about in 1956 when Jim Henson created the term for his creations which were not quite hand puppets, but not quite stick puppets either. Precisely how Mr. Henson came up with the term is a bit of a mystery. He has often told the story of how he developed the term by combining the words marionette and puppet. That having been said, on other occasions he has said that it was simply a term that he liked and as a result used for his act.

Regardless, Sam and Friends would prove very popular. In its earliest days the puppets primarily lip-synched to current songs. As time went by, however, the puppets would perform in written sketches, many of which were parodies of current television shows. Working with Jim Henson on the show was his future wife Jane, as well as Jerry Juhl, later the head writer on The Muppet Show. Sam and Friends proved very popular, lasting for six years.

Despite the success of  Sam and Friends, it would be some time before Jim Henson found sustained success on a national level. Much of the Sixties would find Mr. Henson and his Muppets making guest appearances on various television shows. It was in 1956 that he first appeared on The Tonight Show, then starring Steve Allen. He would also appear on Steve Allen's primetime show, The Steve Allen Show, in 1956 and 1957. One of the earliest breakthroughs for the Muppets would come in the form of The Jimmy Dean Show in 1963. Rowlf the Dog would be a regular on the show and proved so popular that he even received more fan mail than Jimmy Dean. While Kermit may have been the first Muppet, Rowlf was the first one to enter the national consciousness.

Much of the rest of the Sixties would spent making guest appearances on various shows. The Muppets would appear fairly frequently on The Ed Sullivan Show starting in 1966. Muppets also appeared frequently on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. In fact, it was on the 31 December 1965 episode that Johnny Carson referred to Kermit, still an indeterminate creature, as "Kermit the Frog." Muppets would also appear on  The Hollywood Palace, The Mike Douglas Show (which they co-hosted for a whole week in 1966), and Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall.

While much of Mr. Henson's work in the Sixties consisted of guest appearances, two pivotal events would occur during the decade that would guarantee the Muppets' success in the future. It was in 1961 that Jim Henson first met then 17 year old Frank Oznowicz. In 1963 Frank was hired by Jim Henson to help bring Rowlf the Dog to life on The Jimmy Dean Show. It would be Jimmy Dean who was the cause of Frank Oznowicz becoming Frank Oz. Unable to remember his name, Mr. Dean introduced him by saying Oz and mumbling the rest of his name. Mr. Oz kept it as his stage name. Frank Oz would prove pivotal to the success of the Muppets. On Sesame Street he introduced the characters Bert, Grover, and the Cookie Monster. On The Muppet Show Frank Oz was the Muppeteer behind Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and Animal. He also became one of Jim Henson's closest friends. While Mr. Oz would branch out to other projects beyond the Muppets, he remained friends with Mr. Henson until Mr. Henson's death in 1990.

The second pivotal event in Jim Henson's career would come in the form of a children's show that debuted in 1969. Mr. Henson was asked to participate on the show Sesame Street. He brought Kermit the Frog to the show, and was also responsible for the creation of Muppet characters specifically for the show. Among these were Ernie, Oscar the Grouch, and even Big Bird. It was while Jim Henson was working on Sesame Street that he created and directed a series of specials under the umbrella title of Tales from Muppetland. Among these specials were Hey, Cinderella; The Frog Prince; and The Muppet Musicians of Bremen.

By the mid-Seventies Jim Henson worried that because of Sesame Street the Muppets might be regarded simply as a children's act. Producer Lorne Michaels invited Jim Henson and the Muppets onto the first season of Saturday Night Live as regular performers. This took the form of a series of sketches known as "The Land of Gorch." Unfortunately it would not prove to be a good experience for Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and the rest of the Muppets team. None of the Muppets' writers were hired to write the sketches on Saturday Night Live, and the Saturday Night Live writers were not particularly happy to write for the Muppets. Fortunately, the Muppets would not have to remain on Saturday Night Live for long, as their biggest success was just ahead of them.

Concerned that the Muppets were being typecast as a children's act, Jim Henson conceived of a variety show that could be enjoyed by people of all ages. He shopped the idea to the various networks, and ABC even ordered two specials that could serve as pilots for the prospective series. The first was the The Muppets Valentine Show. The second was The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence. ABC ultimately passed on the series. Jim Henson had not considered syndication, for fear that the show could fail without a networks backing. Fortunately, Lord Lew Grade of ATV in the United Kingdom came to the rescue. Lord Grade proposed to Mr. Henson that he could finance the show and so it would be able to enter syndication in the United States and other countries with very high production values.

The Muppet Show debuted in 1977 and proved to be a smash hit. It introduced a whole new generation of Muppets who would become superstars all their own, including Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, and others. Because of the show's success it was able to get many big time guest stars, including Vincent Price, Milton Berle, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Steve Martin, George Burns, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Danny Kaye, and Gene Kelly. No guest star ever appeared on the show twice. The success of  The Muppet Show would also lead to a huge amount of merchandising.

It would also be the success of The Muppet Show that would lead to the Muppets' first feature film, The Muppet Movie, in 1979. The Muppet Movie would prove very successful and it was largely because of that success that the still popular Muppet Show ended its run in 1981 as Jim Henson decided to concentrate on feature films. Over the next several years the Muppets would appear in such films as The Great Muppet Caper (1981), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), The Muppets Treasure Island (1996), and Muppets From Space (1999). Since then they have appeared in the television films It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie and The Muppets' Wizard of Oz.

It would also be largely because of the success both The Muppet Show and the various movies that Jim Henson was able to expand beyond the Muppets. From 1983 to 1987 he produced the children's fantasy show Fraggle Rock for CBC. He would later produce the series The Storyteller for HBO. Still later he would produce the short lived Jim Henson Hour for NBC. Mr. Henson also worked on two non-Muppet fantasy films: The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986).

Sadly, Jim Henson would die only four years after Labyrinth and almost a year after The Jim Henson Hour. Mr. Henson fell ill and on 15 May 1990 was admitted to New York Hospital. On the morning of 16 May 1990 Jim Henson died. The cause was organ failure resulting from Streptococcus pyogenes. It was a mark of Jim Henson and the Muppets' popularity that there was an enormous outpouring of grief rarely seen even for the best known actors. Jim Henson and his creations were not simply legends. They had become icons.

As to why Jim Henson achieved such superstardom, that is a difficult question to answer. It was not simply that Jim Henson had created puppets that could be enjoyed by young and old alike. Burr Tillstrom (who had been a huge influence on him) and Bob Clampett (creator of the puppet show Time for Beany)  had both created puppet shows that were very popular with adults in their day. Burr Tillstrom's puppet shows, with Kukla and Ollie, relied on very sophisticated wit and word play. Bob Clampett's Time for Beany relied on a sophisticated blend of satire and irreverence. The Muppets would be different from both in that they were much more visual. In some respects the Muppetry of Jim Henson and Frank Oz could be compared to the comedy routines of Ernie Kovacs, relying heavily on sight gags. Example of this are the early "inchworm" sketch (in which Kermit is chewing on what he thinks is an inchworm, but which turns out to be the tongue of a large monster) and the various "Mah Nà Mah Nà" sketches. At the same time much of the humour of the Muppets could be very absurdist.

Of course, much of the reason for the success of the Muppets is the same reason as the success of Kukla and Ollie, and Beany and Cecil. All of them were such well developed characters that it was hard to believe that they were merely puppets. Indeed, children have been known to address Muppets themselves as real individuals, even when the Muppeteer is visible. Even adults tend to treat the Muppets as if they are real--Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog each have their own stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Because the Muppets are actually fairly sophisticated characters, they achieved success that had lasted literally decades.

Another factor in the Muppets' success could also be the fact that, both on The Muppet Show and in their many films, they have consistently been portrayed as underdogs. On The Muppet Show the ragtag troupe was always scurrying to make sure the show went off without a hitch. In their movies the Muppets were often struggling to put on some show or another, or they were at the mercy of villains with far superior resources. No matter what happened, however, the Muppets would always succeed in the end. At the same time that the Muppets were always portrayed as underdogs, it must also be pointed out the Muppets were a diverse group. The Muppets troupe consists of everything from frogs to pigs to dogs to humans. Despite these differences (or perhaps because of them), it is very clear that the Muppets are all friends who care very much for each other.

That a ragtag troupe of diverse performers could overcome incredible odds perhaps should not be surprising coming from Jim Henson. He was a man with an incredible amount of hope and positive attitudes. He once said, "Life's like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending." In a guest post on the Official Google Blog his son Brian Henson said of his father that, "One of his life philosophies was that we should love people not for their similarities, but for their differences." Jim Henson always looked for the best in life and always appreciated people for not how much they were like him, but for how different they were from him. It was reflected in his work with the Muppets, who could come together to put on a show each week despite disparate personalities and a good number of obstacles. Jim Henson also said once, "My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here." There can be no doubt that he did.

The Knack...and How to Get It Theatrical Trailer

Tonight I do not feel particularly like making a full blog post, so I thought I would leave you with the theatrical trailer to one of my favourite movies. Here is the trailer to The Knack...and How to Get It.

My Beloved Max

"Of all God's creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat."~Mark Twain

My cat Max died the morning of 19 September 2011. It was the week before last that he developed a blood clot that robbed him of the use of his hind legs. He had been doing fine until this weekend, when he had a stroke that cost him his life. I am only now writing of his passing as this is the earliest I could do so without breaking down into tears. Indeed, I find myself fighting them back even now.

I had gotten Max when he was a very little kitten. He was only about six weeks old. I had lost my previous cat to a heart attack only a few months before, and my postman's cat had just had kittens. She brought over a little yellow furball, who was part Maine Coon and part American long hair. My youngest niece insisted on naming him "Max." Since I had already had a cat named "Max (for Maxwell Smart)," I decided Max's full name would be "Maximilian." He would come to answer to both names.

Even as a kitten Max could be a handful. In those days I had a screensaver that consisted of the cartoon character Underdog flying across the screen. Max loved to get up on top of the monitor to try to catch Underdog. He also liked to play with my small collection of Hot Wheels toy cars, as well as the number of balls we had about the house. More than one set of Venetian blinds fell to his paws. He loved to climb trees, and even as he got older he would spend hours sitting in the big maple in our front yard. He also enjoyed lounging in our flowerbed.

Even as a kitten Max could be demanding. Like most cats he would demand food when he was hungry. Unlike most cats Max would demand water, even when there was water in his bowl. Max seemed to under the impression that water goes stale in a matter of hours. He was also a very difficult cat to give medicine. He would fight if we tried to give him a pill or even liquid medicine. Mixing medicine in with his food would not even work. If he suspected we had put any sort of medicine in his food, he would refuse to eat it. That having been said, Max was one of the easiest cats to apply flea and tick treatment there. He would just sit there as I applied it. He was also one of the few cats I had who always behaved when I took him to the veterinarian. He never once offered to scratch or bite our vet, no matter what he did to him.

For all that Max could be demanding (I think he thought of us as his pets rather than vice versa), he was one of the most loving cats I ever had. When he wanted attention he would place his paws on me and meow with that trilling meow unique only to Maine Coons. Other times he might roll on his belly and purr loudly as if to say, "Notice me." Max was also the only cat I know who liked to pet humans. He would take one paw and stroke me just as if I was a dog. He also liked to hold my hand between my paws. Like most cats he liked to touch noses and give kitty kisses. For all his size, he loved to be held and carried in my arms. I think he had the loudest purr of any cat I have ever known.

While Max enjoyed playing and exploring, I think he enjoyed the company of humans most of all. He could sit on me for hours as I watched some film or another. Not that Max was ever able to tell me, but I also thought he liked action movies the most. He would put whenever I watched V for Vendetta or The Dark Knight. He was also very sensitive to the health and emotional welfare of the humans in the household. Whenever I was sad Max would come and sit on me, in an effort to cheer me up.  He helped me through the passing of my best friend Brian in June.  When I went through an extended illness in 2008, he never left my side. He slept with me in my room and stayed with me when I was in the living room.

Max was a very large cat at 20 pounds (and none of it fat). He was also a very good hunter. He kept our garden free of rabbits. He would also drive away the bluejays who tried to chase off our songbirds each year (he also knew to leave the songbirds alone). He would chase away any cats that threatened any of the other feline members of our household, as well as stray dogs. In many ways Max was very much the lord of the manor and took his duty of defending its inhabitants seriously.

Max loved milk and anything made from milk. Unlike many cats, he was not lactose intolerant. He would gladly drink a bowl of milk dry or eat any piece of cheese offered him. That having been said, his favourite food was turkey. Indeed, somehow Max knew when Thanksgiving was approaching, as he would keep a careful eye on the kitchen.

I suppose many who have never had a cat for a friend may not understand the level of grief I am experiencing now. But I would argue with anyone who insisted that Max was "just an animal." I loved Max as much as any other member of my family and as much as any of my friends. And I know my love was returned by Max. Even on his last day he wanted nothing more than to be petted and to hold my had one more time. I miss him so terribly and I know that, wherever Max is now, he misses me.

Justice Starring Margaret Lockwood

In the United States it was not unusual for once popular movie stars to appear in their own television series. Jimmy Stewart starred in his own sitcom, The Jimmy Stewart Show, and in the mystery series Hawkins. Doris Day found herself starring in The Doris Day Show only a few years after she was the top star at the box office. It was not only in the United States that once popular movie stars headlined their own TV programmes, however, as it was also true of the United Kingdom. Margaret Lockwood, the top box office star in Britain in the Forties, starred in two television shows. The first was The Flying Swan with her daughter Julia. The second and more famous of Miss Lockwood's series was Justice. Justice ran from 1971 to 1974. Three series were made for a total of 39 episodes.

The origins of Justice can be found with two television programmes that aired on ITV in the late Sixties. One was the anthology series ITV Playhouse. On 14 July 1969 Margaret Lockwood starred in the teleplay "Justice is a Woman." Miss Lockwood played barrister Julia Stanford, who must defend a young man accused of murder. "Justice is a Woman" would serve as the inspiration for Justice. The other series that would lead to Justice was the programme The Main Chance. The Main Chance starred John Stride as solicitor David Main, who leaves London to set up his own practice in his hometown of Leeds. Produced by Yorkshire Television, the show proved very popular. In fact, it was so popular that Yorkshire Television's head of drama, Peter Willes, decided to gamble on another legal drama. He assigned legal consultant John Batt, writers Edmund Ward and James Mitchell, and directors John Frankau and Christopher Hodson, to the new Yorkshire Television legal drama, Justice.


Although inspired by the teleplay "Justice is a Woman," Justice was not a continuation of it. On Justice Margaret Lockwood played Harriet Peterson, who must work as a barrister for a living after her husband is sent to prison. Like David Main on The Main Chance, Harriet worked the northern court circuit in the first series of Justice. Romantic interest on the series was provided by Dr. Ian Moody, played by Miss Lockwood's real life partner John Stone.  For the second series of Justice she moved to London and the cast of the programme grew as well. Added to the show were empty headed secretary Rose, clerk bill, and head of chambers Sir John Gallagher. The third series would see one more character added, that of barrister James Elliot.

While each episode saw Harriet defend someone accused of a crime, her clients and cases could vary greatly. One week she might defend someone accused of drunk driving, while the next week she might have a case involving international espionage. Her clients ranged from average, middle class Englishmen to Greek shipping magnates. Her relationship with Dr. Ian Moody, very much on again and off again, provided subplots running throughout the series. By the final episode Harriet had been made a Queen's Counsel. She also finally accepted one of Dr. Moody's marriage proposals.

Justice has been repeated a few times since its original run went off the air in 1974. In the Nineties it was rerun on Carlton Select and Bravo. Sadly, it has never aired in the United States. In fact, I rather suspect most of Miss Lockwood's fans have never seen any of her work on British television. I know I would very much like to, particularly Justice. Sadly, Justice has not yet been released on DVD. If it is ever released on DVD, I rather suspect it will only be available in Region 2. Having never aired in the United States, it is very doubtful that it would be released in Region 1.

Regardless, Justice was a bit of a last hurrah for Margaret Lockwood. Following the end of the programme's run, Miss Lockwood would appear only one more time on screen, playing the stepmother in the film The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella (1976).  In some respects it would be fitting that Justice would be her last well known work. From all reports in many ways Harriet Peterson was very much like the roles Miss Lockwood had played on film: strong minded, independent, and intelligent.

Margaret Lockwood 95th Birthday Blogathon.

Today is Margaret Lockwood's 95th birthday. To celebrate, A Shroud of Thoughts is hosting a blogathon. I'll be adding the links to the posts from various blogs in the blogathon throughout the day. Also, if you want to participate, it is not too late to do so. You can post on any aspect of Maggie's career. You can discuss one of her movies, her television work, or even just give an overview of her career. And here I must say that if you simply want to post pictures, that is fine as well!

Here at A Shroud of Thoughts I wrote an overview of Margaret Lockwood's career, "Margaret Lockwood's 95th Birthday." Over at True Classics Brandie has an excellent review of Miss Lockwood's film The Stars Look Down (1940). Again here at A Shroud of Thoughts is a summary of the show Justice starring Margaret Lockwood, published tomorrow.

I want to thank everyone who participated. I realise that this blogathon didn't have many participants, but then I do not think that there can be any argument that while the quantity of posts may have been low, the quality was quite high!

Margaret Lockwood's 95th Birthday

(Since tomorrow is Margaret Lockwood's birthday and A Shroud of Thoughts is hosting the Margaret Lockwood 95th Birthday Blogathon tomorrow, I thought I would do my entry for the blogathon tonight.)

It was 95 years ago today, on 15 September 1916, that English actress Margaret Lockwood CBE was born Margaret Mary Lockwood Day in Karachi, British India (now a part of Pakistan). Her father was a clerk for a British railway company.  Her mother was a rather strict, domineering woman of Scottish descent.  She was three years old when she and her brother Lyn moved with their mother to London. Given her mother's temperament, it should be little wonder that young, shy, and sensitive Margaret Lockwood would escape into the make believe world of the theatre. Indeed, as history shows, Miss Lockwood would make a very good living at what had begun as mere escapism.

Indeed, at the height of her fame in the Forties, Margaret Lockwood was the top grossing star at the box office in the United Kingdom. While in the United States Miss Lockwood was merely a British star of some fame, in the UK she was a veritable phenomenon. At personal appearances throughout Great Britain in the Forties it was not unusual for Margaret Lockwood to draw the sort of mobs that Frank Sinatra did in the United States at the time or The Beatles would twenty years later in both the U.S. and the UK. It was little wonder that the dark haired beauty was called "the Queen of British Hearts."

Margaret Lockwood began her path to stardom while still very young. She attended the Italia Conti Academy in London as a young girl. She made her stage debut at age 12 as a fairy in a production of A Midsummer's Night Dream at the Holborn Empire. In 1933, at the age of sixteen, she enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She was at the Royal Academy performing in a production of Hannele when she was spotted by agent Herbert de Leon. From there Miss Lockwood got a screen test and not long after that the role of Annie Ridd in Lorna Doone (1934).

For the next few years Margaret Lockwood would appear primarily in ingénue roles in films such as The Beloved Vagabond (1936) and Doctor Syn (1937). It would be two films that would change the course of Miss Lockwood's career. The first was Carol Reed's drama Bank Holiday (1938). While the character of nurse Catherine Lawrence was not too different from the ingénues Miss Lockwood had been playing, the movie was very successful in the United Kingdom and established her as a star. The second film would have an even greater impact on Margaret Lockwood's career. That film was Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938). In the film Miss Lockwood played Iris, a young woman who was independent, strong willed, intelligent, and resourceful. Indeed, it would be Iris who would suspect a conspiracy when elderly Miss Froy (played by Dame May Whitty) disappears. The film would not only cement Miss Lockwood's stardom in the United Kingdom, but establish her fame in the United States as well. Indeed, in the United States, Margaret Lockwood may be best known for The Lady Vanishes (1938).

With the success of The Lady Vanishes Margaret Lockwood would find herself in Hollywood. Sadly, Hollywood not treat Miss Lockwood well. The first film she made there was a Shirley Temple vehicle, Susannah of the Mounties (1939), in which she got third billing to Miss Temple and Randolph Scott. In Frank Lloyd's Rules of the Sea (1939) Miss Lockwood was at least the lead actress. Unfortunately the film was rather forgettable and Miss Lockwood's part not particularly remarkable. After only two pictures Miss Lockwood left Hollywood for the greener pastures of England and Gainsborough.  It was perhaps the best career decision she ever made.

Indeed, the first film she made after her return to England was another Carol Reed movie. In The Stars Look Down (1940) Miss Lockwood played selfish, manipulative Jenny Sunley. The role was a departure for Miss Lockwood and arguably the first truly wicked character she ever played. She would follow The Stars Look Down with another Carol Reed movie, this one a thriller. In Night Train to Munich (1940) Miss Lockwood played the daughter of a scientist who finds herself in a Nazi concentration camp. If there was truly a turning point in Miss Lockwood's career, however, it was perhaps the Regency period piece The Man in Grey (1943).  In the film Margaret Lockwood played the scheming Hester Shaw, a woman so amoral that she even betrays her best friend (played by Phyllis Calvert).  The Man in Grey inaugurated the era of the Gainsborough Gothic, melodramas that sometimes pushed the envelope with regards to sex and sin.

In fact, what may have been the most famous of the Gainsborough Gothics may also be Margaret Lockwood's most famous film besides The Lady Vanishes. In The Wicked Lady (1945), Miss Lockwood played Barbara Worth, a nobleman's wife who takes up a life of crime as a highwayman. It would be one Gainsborough Gothic which proved rather too hot to handle for Hollywood's Breen Office. The Breen Office ruled that the actress's costumes showed far too much cleavage (even though they were based on actual Restoration fashions) and also demanded changes to dialogue which the Hollywood censors thought a bit too risqué. Because of the demands of the Breen Office, Miss Lockwood actually had to postpone a vacation in order to re-shoot whole scenes before the movie could be released in the United States. Regardless, the film would prove incredibly successful in the United Kingdom, with an estimated 18.4 million people going to see it (this places it at #9 in the top ten biggest films in the UK according to the British Film Institute). The Wicked Lady  would not see such spectacular success in the United States, but it would do respectably well there. In the wake of the success of The Wicked Lady, Margaret Lockwood would be at the top of the United Kingdom's box office for the following five years.

Quite naturally Margaret Lockwood would play more femmes fatales after The Wicked Lady, most notably a serial poisoner and black widow in Bedelia (1946).  Eventually she would drift away from the wicked ladies for which she was known to other roles. She played a gypsy servant accused of murder in Jassy (1947), the warden of a home for wayward girls in The White Unicorn (1947), and a British Embassy employee in Rio de Janeiro who marries the wrong man in Look Before You Love (1948). 


Unfortunately, as the British cinema declined in the late Forties and early Fifties, so too did Margaret Lockwood's popularity. This may well have been complicated by some bad choices on her part. She turned down an offer from Hollywood to star in Forever Amber (1947) and later the film adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play The Browning Version (1951). In the Fifties Miss Lockwood would not see the success on the silver screen that she had in the Forties. Her only remarkable film from the era would be Cast a Dark Shadow (1955), in which she co-starred with Sir Dirk Bogarde. It would be one of her best performances.


Miss Lockwood would return to the stage. She would play the title role in Peter Pan, star in Noel Coward's Private Lives, play Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion, and other plays ranging from Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband to Agatha Christie's Spider Web (which Miss Christie wrote for Margaret Lockwood). She would also appear on television, on such series as ITV Play of the Week, ITV Playhouse, and Whodunit. She would appear alongside her daughter Julia in the series The Flying Swan. Miss Lockwood's most famous television work may have been the series Justice, which ran from 1971 to 1974. The series featured Miss Lockwood as barrister Harriet Peterson. Miss Lockwood would make her last appearance on screen in The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella (1976). 

Margaret Lockwood was dubbed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1980. She died on 15 July 1990 at the Cromwell Hospital in London. 

Margaret Lockwood would be the last wholly English star to dominate the British cinema. What is more, she was an actress who attained a modicum of fame in the United States without appearing in Hollywood movies. To some degree it is very easy to understand why Miss Lockwood would be so successful. There can be no doubt that she was beautiful. She was of the same class of brunette beauties as Vivien Leigh and Gene Tierney, women so stunning it was hard not to stare at them. And there can be no doubt that she was talented. Although Miss Lockwood is now best known for playing femmes fatales, she played a variety of roles throughout her career and did so convincingly. She played everything from a music hall star (I'll Be Your Sweetheart-1945) to fatally ill pianist (Love Story-1944) to a serial killer (Bedelia). It must be pointed out that in British cinema of the Forties there were other actresses who were fantastically beautiful and other actresses who were extremely talented as well. Why then was Margaret Lockwood the centre of such devotion in the United Kingdom in the Forties that she became a phenomenon?


Part of this could be explained by the nature of British cinema in the Forties, as well as possibly Margaret Lockwood herself. In 1946 62% of the British movie going audience was female. This means that the majority of Miss Lockwood's fans at the time could well have been women. While most of Miss Lockwood's fans may have been female, Gainsborough producer Edward Black said, "Margaret Lockwood had something with which every girl in the suburbs could identify." It would seem then that most women could identify with Miss Lockwood, and this is reflected in many of the roles she played. While perhaps prettier, more intelligent, and more resourceful than most, Iris Henderson in The Lady Vanishes is essentially an average girl from the upper middle class. Similarly, Catherine Lawrence in Bank Holiday was an average working class girl in a profession common to women at the time--she was a nurse. Although very beautiful, Miss Lockwood was very adept at playing the "average" woman.


That having been said, it would seem that Miss Lockwood's appeal had to go beyond the average woman being able to identify with her. Indeed, it is hard to see how any woman could identify with Barbara Worth from The Wicked Lady, let alone Bedelia in the movie of the same name. It would then seem that in addition to playing roles with which the average woman could identify, she could also play roles in movies that were pure escapism for the average woman. This is particularly true of the Gainsborough Gothics, costume melodramas with often lurid plots that sometimes pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable. Margaret Lockwood played these roles as convincingly as those of the "average" women she played, putting her at an advantage over many actresses of the era, who were often typecast in one sort of role or another.


So far I have only discussed Miss Lockwood's appeal to women. Speaking as a man, I must say that she must have appealed to men as well. Miss Lockwood was obviously beautiful and well shaped. There is no doubt that she was appealing to the male eye. What is more, many of her films were so blatantly sexual that they pushed the envelope of what was acceptable at the time. Indeed, in the case of The Wicked Lady the Breen Office in the United States thought Gainsborough had gone well beyond what was acceptable. In real life Margaret Lockwood may have been an average (if extremely beautiful), middle class woman, but on screen she could absolutely ooze sex appeal. Combined with the sometimes racy scripts of the Gainsborough Gothics, I would rather be surprised if Miss Lockwood was not the object of sexual fantasy for a few British men in the Forties.


While women may have identified with Margaret Lockwood and men may have wanted her, there could be a reason that both women and men in the United Kingdom of the Forties adored Margaret Lockwood. With but few exceptions, Margaret Lockwood played intelligent, independent women. In fact, her two most famous roles are examples of this. In The Lady Vanishes Iris Henderson knows something is wrong when Miss Foy vanishes. What is more, she sets out to investigate what has happened and lets nothing stand in her way as she does so. In The Wicked Lady Barbara North not only seduces Sir Ralph Skelton into marrying her, but launches herself into a successful life of crime as a female version of  Dick Turpin. Many of Margaret Lockwood's characters shared these qualities of intelligence and high spirit with Iris and Barbara. From music hall star Edie Storey of I'll Be Your Sweetheart to Lucy of The White Unicorn, whether good or bad, Miss Lockwood's characters were always intelligent and they were never pushovers. Both women and men could appreciate characters who were bright, independent, and strong willed. 


Regardless, Margaret Lockwood would be the queen of the British box office in the Forties and perhaps the last fully English star to dominate British cinema. Furthermore, she has maintained popularity worldwide, even in the United States where Hollywood movies have tended to predominate. I rather suspect that the qualities which made her popular in the Forties have maintained her popularity since that time and will continue to do so in the future.

Spartacus Star Andy Whitfield Passes On

Andy Whitfield, who starred in the Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand, passed on 11 September 2011 at the age of 39. The cause was non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Andy Whitfield was born in Amlwch, Wales on 17 July 1972. He studied engineering at the University of Sheffield and moved to Australia where he worked as an engineer in Lidcombe, New South Wales. In 1999 he moved to Sydney where he attended Screenwise Film and TV School for Actors. He made his television debut in an episode of the Australian TV series All Saints in 2004. He made his movie debut playiing the lead role in the Australian dark fantasy film Gabriel (2007). He would go onto appear in the TV series The Strip, Packed to the Rafters, and McLeod's Daughters. His last film was the Australian thriller The Clinic (2010). Mr. Whitfield would become famous in the United States for playing the title role in the Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand. He had taken a temporary leave from the show in the hope that he could recover to do a second season. Sadly, Mr. Whitfield never recovered. It is said that he died in the arms of his wife Vashti.

I must say that I am truly saddened by Andy Whitfield's passing. As the star of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, he was central to the show's success. Mr. Whitfield played the legendary Thracian warrior with a pathos rarely seen in previous portrayals of the historical figure. He brought humanity to the character of Spartacus, tormented by the loss of his wife and the loss of his freedom. At the same time, however, one could see in Mr. Whitfield's performance the steel inside Spartacus which would lead him to spark the most successful slave revolt in Roman history. Andy Whitfield was a fine actor who could well have gone to a highly successful career had he not developed cancer. Brief though his career was, he will be remembered.