Jessie
Matthews
OBE
(11 March
1907 - 19 August 1981)
Born and died in London
The Great Depression followed the Great War and
by the late 1920s, with Art Deco in full swing, audiences sought entertainment
on radio, on stage, and in the “talkies”. Enter Jessie Matthews...
Born to a large family in the slums
of Soho, Matthews the young street urchin grew up to become a glamorous pin-up
girl at the cornerstone of early cinema.
Dance came naturally to Matthews, but it was
eldest sister Rose who saw to it that “Our Jessie” danced better than anyone
else. Nothing was to hinder success, so Rose herself took up elocution lessons,
eventually replacing Jessie’s cockney with a Mayfair accent.
At age 16, Jessie’s ballet background gave way
to a place in a famed chorus line. Her screen debut began that same year, a bit
part in a silent film. By 19, she was a leading lady in West End and Broadway
musicals, one highlight being Ever Green (1930), co-starring Sonnie
Hale, her soon-to-be second husband.
~
Along with Jessie’s flair for
comedy, film producer (Sir) Michael Balcon was eventually convinced of the
potential in the girl with more than just “the loveliest legs in London”. He
contracted the rising star to Gaumont-British where her early films began to
stir interest at home and abroad.
Director Victor Saville had to overcome
Jessie’s initial lack of self-confidence in front of the camera. Making sure
her gamine face was photographed correctly, he encouraged Jessie to hone her
limited acting skills and focus on projecting her buoyant persona. Costumes
were carefully designed to show off as much of her body as censors would
permit.
~
Ever Green changed to Evergreen,
re-written with American cinemagoers in mind, and in 1934 became the first
British film to make it’s US debut at New York’s prestigious Radio City Music
Hall. In fact, it was the most successful British musical made before Oliver!
in the 1960s. The spectacular and controversial First a Girl
(1935) followed, bringing more champagne success. Then in 1936, It’s Love
Again became the first British film ever to premier outside of the UK,
opening instead at the Roxy Theater, NY.
This was Jessie Matthews at her peak – a time when her film
studio received fan mail for her from Europe, Africa, Asia (including Japan,
India, and China), North and South America, Australia, and even Greenland.
Hollywood tycoons threw offers her way, the highest being 62,500 UK pounds
(1930s value) for a single film in America. Jessie was dubbed the “Dancing
Divinity.”
After Saville moved on, Sonnie Hale took up the
direction of his wife’s showcase vehicles. Sonnie proved competent but lacked
his predecessor’s deft touch and technical virtuosity. Head Over Heels, Gangway
(both 1937), and Sailing Along (1938), were all reasonably popular,
despite fading attraction to the genre.
~
Gaumont-British by now faced
financial difficulty; Sonnie’s contract was allowed to expire after which
Jessie’s last film on contract, a rushed non-musical, flopped. Sonnie and
Jessie then poured their money into a full-scale stage musical, and promptly
lost it all with the outbreak of World War II. In Hollywood, yet another
attempt to star Jessie Matthews as Fred Astaire’s dance partner was stifled.
Sonnie walked out of their 12-year marriage, and a comeback film in 1944 was
poorly conceived.
The original waif with sex appeal remains forever a part of the blind optimism and gaiety prevalent in the 1930s. Belying the image – Jessie’s lifelong search for lasting happiness over psychological issues, nervous breakdowns, rape, abortion, two miscarriages, three divorces, attempted suicide, the passing away of her dearest friend, and estrangement from adopted daughter Catherine.
~
In 1963, Jessie returned from
relative obscurity to take over as lead character in the BBCs immensely popular
radio serial The Dales. She received an OBE in 1970; a biography and an
autobiography were both published in 1974. Jessie Margaret Matthews died of
cancer and lay buried in an unmarked grave in Ruislip, only rectified after a
BBC documentary brought this to light in the late 1980s. An updated biography
is due for release around the centenary of Jessie’s birth date in 2007.
“She had a heart. It photographed.” –Victor Saville
intro W biography
(still under construction 03.06.04)