Joyce Grenfell - 'Comedy with Breeding' BBC
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- Опубліковано 13 вер 2022
- Copyright BBC Cymru Wales
In many ways Joyce Grenfell was the pioneer of British female comedy. Through her radio broadcasts, her St Trinian's films, and her regular appearances on BBC TV's Face the Music, Joyce was one of the most popular and enduring performers of her generation. But who was Joyce Grenfell and what was she really like?
Clive James, Maureen Lipman and Dillie Keane join a host of Joyce's friends and colleagues to paint a candid and affectionate portrait of this great British star.
Narrated by Cass Allen.
My wife’s grandfather used to live in Radlett Hertfordshire. He was the village copper and he and his wife lived in a cottage on the main road. Their pride and joy was their garden which was a riot of colour. One morning there was a knock at the front door. He answered it to find Joyce Grenfell standing there. She had stopped off on her way into town to thank him for all the pleasure that his garden gave her on her commute into work at the theatre and at the BBC. She became a regular customer of his for flowers, eggs and veggies. A truly lovely lady
A lovely story . Thank you
@tonyjauncey2373I'm so glad that you posted this. I am a real fan of Joyce Grenfell and it's lovely to know that - unlike many stars - she didn't have feet of clay, but was a genuinely nice person!
Thanks for sharing such a delightful story
Thank you for posting this truly delightful story. Can't you just picture her doing this?
Brilliant story, just makes me adore Joyce even more.
Joyce is (or was) my great Aunt and I was enormously fortunate to have spent quite a bit of time with her at a period when she was at the height of her powers. I learned a great deal from her about manners, humour and life itself. She would tell me, “William, whatever you do in this life, dear, do it wholeheartedly and do it in moleskin trousers.” I’ve never forgotten that sage advice. It saved me from a life of crime and I earnestly believe that my moleskin trousers protected me from Covid 19. Thank you, Joyce!
Love this comment 😂
I loved Joyce Grenfell she was a true artist. Her timing was impeccable. Bless her.
Joyce Grenfell was certainly a true artist but she was something more: she was a genius.
I wish her contemporaries would be a teeny bit more generous😢
She was heroic, and very funny (not still a "learner" after all those years!!).
Good on you, Joyce 🎉
Brain like a dried out sponge.
The words 'national treasure' are too easily applied these days, but Joyce Grenfell is truly deserving of the epithet.
What an absolute treat!
I have loved Joyce Grenfell since i was a tiny tot.
I was born in 1953 & so enamoured of her comedy & how she presented it that i wrote, aged 6yrs on my mums best writing paper & since i considered myself an excellent pen woman, used my Parker Pen with violet ink, to Uncle Mac who had a Saturday morning programme on the Radio just for children.
We could write in & request our favourite music & i asked for ANYTHING by Joyce Grenfell & was ecstatic for weeks when Uncle Mac read out my letter & played Joyces monogue of a nursery school teacher with naughty George & Sidney!
Wasnt Joyce a beautiful child!
My goodness! A veritable angel
Even as a young woman she could easily have become a top model
With her face, figure & beautiful eyes!
It would have been the entertainment worlds loss if Joyce had made a different career choice!
I dont think anyone can quite say succinctly, what it was that made everyone adore her!
She had an innocence about her & a genuine love for making people smile & feel happy
Without a doubt she was very talented in many genres but it was her slightly scatty Englishness that appealed & there was something else, thats indefinable, like a secret ingredient in a world famous food or drink brand & no one can guess what it is.
Im 70yrs now & have many of Joyce's work on film & tape recordings & both of my daughters love Joyce Grenfell
They were brought up listening & watching her.
My eldest girl was born the year Joyce died ( 1979) & my 2nd girl born in 1991 & both love Joyce so much.
Thank you for this docu! Its made my Sunday so happy!
There will never be another like Joyce, her breed have long gone but she was unique, a one off.
God Rest Her Beautiful Soul
Peace🕊
🇬🇧👧
Thank you for such a beautifully written response to this excellent documentary. Loved her🥰🇬🇧🙏🏼
Miss Grenfell was a friend of our Headmistress, Miss Margaret Miles at Mayfield School in London. We were extremely lucky to have a private performance by Miss Grenfell at school, and it was marvellous. We girls were enthralled and hugely entertained by her.
Death
If I should die before the rest of you,
Break not a flower nor inscribe a stone.
Nor, when I'm gone, speak in a Sunday voice,
But be the usual selves that I have known.
_Joyce Grenfell_
Great to see this. A very well written and well-produced programme, with some classic film clips I've never seen before. As her accompanist worldwide for 20 years, I dare say my dear old dad, William Blezard, probably would have been interviewed for it if he'd still been around, but sadly he died in 2003, three years before this programme was made.
Joyce died before I was born, but I grew up listening to my father's collection of recordings, which given that he was an outside broadcast engineer for Aunty Beeb were probably direct copies of the originals, and she is one of my favourite female comedians. Possibly second only to Victoria Wood.
My father had a Joyce Grenfell drawing, which he gifted Maureen Lipman, in return he received a lovely hand written letter...
I came across this accidentally, and am utterly excited to find any , and all of her work that's available!
Brilliant stuff! ❤❤❤
Joyce Grenfell was a great artist of the highest degree.
Thank you for posting this. Joyce Grenfell has been a long time favourite of mine, since my very early childhood.
Brilliant lady, incredibly multi talented and unique. Never ever will we have anyone like her agapn.
I loved her scene in The 1953 movie, “Genevieve”, in which she played a hotel proprietress of a most faded hotel. She was hilarious and the high point of the movie.
Yes I remember that too. I also used to love watching. I think. A BBC programme with a male presenter and three or four panellists about music. Was it Face the Music I think? Can we get them repeated unused to watch with my mum 😂
Even though Joyce didn't live to be awarded her damehood, surely she should be referred to as 'Dame Joyce'.
Joyce Grenfell, Kenneth Horne and Kenneth Williams are still my absolute favourites of this genre.
All three - painfully unfunny now. And let's add Frankie Howard, Noel Coward, Benny Hill, to the list. The only seriously funny members of this group were Beryl Reid and Dora Bryan - who were on another level.
Thank you for introducing me to this incredible woman.
Great documentary. I love her monologues, some poignant, some hilarious, but always with respect for her characters. One of my favourites is Lally Tullet, set in Virginia USA and based on her knowledge of American accent from her family. She’s given us so much pleasure for years and I hope my children can appreciate her, even though it’s from another era, Pete Hutley, Newcastle, Australia.
Gosh, thanks for that, I’ve been looking for Lally Tullet, but can you tell me where to find it? In which collection does it figure?
@@pamelacorbett8774 I think I just typed it into search on UA-cam under the heading Lally Tullet. It was only audio but that’s all you need with Joyce. I wonder if I can share it with you, regards Pete Hutley, Newcastle, Australia.
@@peterhutley4254 Thank you, Peter! I actually found it, virtually complete except for a bit clipped off at the end. Is your version complete? It comes from the Joyce Grenfell At Home recording, apparently.
@@pamelacorbett8774 No, as you say, the ending is clipped, but at least we have the core. Isn’t it wonderful !
Another favourite is Shirley’s girlfriend Holiday and The Giant Wheel (ie 2 different monologues)
What a lovely, talented lady she was❤
What a joy to see this! Thank you for posting
AGREE
I emphatically second this comment. 🙂
I love her. Always have. She is brilliant. John (Australia)
Never vulgar but hilarious
Grenfell’s wonderful lyrics reflect the influence of Gilbert and Sullivan which only adds to the enjoyment.
I'm American and knew nothing of this incredible woman. I'm so glad you posted this video. Now I'll go and find more on Joyce. She was a true humorist, the likes of which we don't see today. So refreshing!
Same here🎉
So memorably good in the Americanization of Emily
She was beautiful, always impeccably presented and her knowledge of music was very thorough. She and her husband were so very well suited, a lovely, lovely couple.
Have just remembered she was on a panel show Face the Music.
@@lucyfisher8347 she was! It was a great programme, I loved Joe Cooper and his silent keyboard, The knowledge of music was amazing.
Oh how I loved her when I was growing up. She was funny and real and quite, quite lovely. It’s wonderful to watch this video now I’m as old as she was when she died.
A wonderful artist. I loved Face the Music when I was a teenager.
Why was she loved.... she was genuine: no pretense, loved all peoples from all levels of society: and wanted to please all equally:
I read her biography. Such an interesting lady. Sadness in her life too. Such a brilliant performer.
Worthy of watching is the film 'The Americanization of Emily' with Julie Andrews and James Garner - a masterful cameo by Joyce Grenfell.
Fond memories of seeing her on TV and film. Nobody like her before or since. Truly unique.
yes, even here in the Netherlands I am (still) enjoying every minute watching Joyce
Victoria Wood stated that Joyce Grenfell is her earliest memory of television "formidable and larger than life"
I remember watching Joyce Grenfell when I was little in the 60s & 70s. She was always a great delight, bringing a ready smile. Simple humour which was always affectionate while portraying her characters.
Oh my goodness surely one of the finest comedian ever - male or female. I just loved her monologues. Thank you for posting.
A great tribute to a very accomplished and much loved entertainer!
Great to watch this story unfolding in such a sympathetic way. Joyce G was an icon and I do so hope that she will always be remembered by us all.
Trivia :-
Joyce Irene Grenfell: née Phipps:
B: 10 Feb 1910 - 30 Nov 1979:
Through her English family
she he was connected to
American relations:
She could satirise 20 different
women.
Joyce was born in an affluent
British family of clothiers:
Due to a serious eye infection in
1973, her eye was removed &
replaced with an glass-eye:
She became seriously ill & died
in 1979: Age 69 :
She & her husband Reginald
Grenfell were not able to have
children:
Rest in Peace dear Soul. ❤
I grew up listening to tapes of her 'George don't do that' monologues and listened to them so much I inadvertently learnt them. I absolutely love her humour and always have - clever, funny, immense understanding of people and never unkind. An absolute gem.
I have always loved this lady , read her interesting books & count her as one of the greats 👍🥰
I loved her books too :)
that was heartwarming from a world we no longer have
it makes me cry , how life and peoples attitudes were so much better those days
What, you mean like getting rid of the woman who had been like a mother to her without any warning or chance to say goodbye? I don't think so.
Saw Joyce Grenfell when she came to Australia. Thanks for program and memories of very talented Lady.💐
Canada here. I never heard of her -- she was very good!
I had heard of her name, but that was it. This was extremely appealing. Thank you! (from Canada)
Joyce Grenfell, Patricia Routledge these are women of a type, both absolutely talented at watching life and imitating it. I always associate Maureen Lipman with Joyce Grenfell because I've seen her to an act as Joyce and she's amazing. I'm pretty sure Daphne Oxenford had a programme on the radio. Was it women's hour? I remember her name from when I was younger. A lovely video this to bring back memories of a wonderful woman who sadly left the world far too soon.
Daphne Oxenford used to narrate children's TV - was it Muffin the Mule? Or Rag, Tag and Bobtail? I forget, but her name is very familiar, and I can hear her voice even now!
@@janetbarkwith I think Daphne Oxenford was the narrator and host of 'Listen With Mother' 1.45pm on the wireless for some years.
Don't forget Victoria Wood.
@@philattlee1I'm pretty sure Google would have the answer, but like you I can't be arsed to look.
I first heard her of her in Helene Hanff's autobiography of her first trip to London. Joyce and her husband were fans of her book 84, Charing Cross Road, and had invited her to attend the theater with them, and then dinner.
84 Charing Cross Road is a delightful book, Anthony Hopkins was in the film made of said book
Joyce fascinated me when I was 9yrs old. Elegant and decisive , face like a chameleon. Margaret Rutherford replica. Thanks all. Dave
If by “amateur” those who used that description meant that she performed for her love of it, then by all means. But if they were referring to a lack of professionalism, they were all wet. She was a brilliant creator and performer.
This video made that clear, and was a delight to watch! Thank you for sharing it.
That opener has always been my favourite of hers.
One of my favorite Actors. Thanks for all your work Joyce.
George….don’t do that. That is just a phrase that will stay in my memory forever.
Joyce Grenfell's comedic inventions were simply superlative. Her various character creations were hilarious and spot on.
Another great favourite in our family .my mother was once asked if she was joyce grenfall..!she certainly looked like her and spoke like her with her posh accent .
Loved hearing her on the wireless……wonderful documentary
Just love Joyce Grenfell, she always made me laugh! A brilliant person!!
Her books are well worth a read. Totally uplifting. Trying to pigeonhole her is impossible. Her skill was jaw dropping, and the deeper you go, the more impressive you realise she was.
Great vlog, really enjoyed it. One of a kind, what a sad demise
Vlog? This was a documentary made in 2006.
A terrific programme. I know that Joyce Grenfell could be classed at origin as an amateur performer, but she had some professional training, not just in piano and singing, but I believe she also spent one term at RADA before ( she said) Reggie swept her off her feet! Besides , amateur originally means doing something for love and even at the height of her professional career she shared love with her audience.
What a wonderful actress and performer.
We were lucky to have so many talented ladies from Joyce, June Whitfield, Pat Coombs great fun to watch and such entertainment that isn't around now
Classy
Wow I had no idea how talented Joyce was, and never got the credit, her films never did her any justice,or showed just how versatile she was.
What a beautiful woman and a great actress xx
I read her biography years ago. Enjoying this very much.
Oh my.... that was so good!!!!
8/23 My mother liked JG. Me too. Unusual and fitting for her time.
Some of her pieces were full of nuance and pathos. The one about the spinster whose family took her for granted
Cass Allen wondered why Joyce got upset at the idea of sharing the stage with a 15 year old. Perhaps Joyce worried that she would be introducing (and therefore sanctioning) a younger version who would replace her. She knew how easily the stable life she thought she had could be suddenly taken - thanks to her strange upbringing. I’m glad the friendship survived the argument. I am not judging, no one is perfect. This documentary shows she was an immensely funny, hardworking, kind, positive and talented role model of a woman, who knew her worth and deserves to be celebrated and remembered.
Perhaps Joyce Grenfell thought that Cass Allen was inappropriately “leveraging” their friendship in a way that exceeded its bounds. But there were probably gentler, kinder ways that Grenfell could have demurred, especially to someone who was still in her teens.
I have been a life long fan of this incredible woman, read all she has written and listened to the commercially available CDs etc. When I knew her life story and her background and some of the sadness she endured with her amazing and robust attitude, my admiration soared even higher.I think Cass Allan was Ill advised by Pat, the producer. Joyce had nothing to fear from her, she was far too talented and experienced. . However, I think it’s deeply regrettable to share a story, and facts about what she earned etc, when Joyce is not with us to speak for herself. So many of her friends commented on how kind and generous she was. For me personally, it took the shine off an otherwise outstanding tribute from warm and caring colleagues and admirers.
Fabulous treat. Like Joyce Grenfell herself.
A truly exceptional lady.
Now, that's going back a long time, when the picture used to flip, over and over. I can remember my attempting to fix that on the black and white telly.
one of the great originals and many were inspired .
This is not a performer I knew. She is very very good!
That was wonderful. Thank you for posting.
What a way to convince a child that everything is her own fault!
'But they'll call me Creepy Crawly ..😒😒.' . The wonderful Joyce Grenfell!!
Wonderful!
Now that,s a life well spent!
Does anyone remember a monologue she did, called, I think, Miss Matty. An old woman telling her story in a Virginian accent, absolutely spine-chilling, best thing she ever did, to my mind. I can’t find it mentioned anywhere and it’s a perfect gem.
Remember her performances with affection.
Whether without her 'connections' she would have had such a successful career is questionable?
It's not 'What You Know' but 'Who You Know' still.remains somewhat more than talent and good fortune.
@@davidkelly7272 It's certainly possible that - as with many stars - Joyce Grenfell's connections started her on the road to success. But I don't think she would have been successful in so many areas or had such an enduringly long career, had she not been so unquestionably and splendidly talented.
I could listen to her for ever
Love her - always
The books published in the 1990s that quoted directly from her private diaries make for a very interesting read. They show both the nice and not so nice sides to her personality. If you really want to know what she was really like (in her own words) they are well worth reading.
Readimng Noel Coward's diaries have a similar appeal.
Thank you for mentioning . I'll add these, as well as the biography mentioned in the programme, to my To Be Read List!'
I wonder if she was an influence on Penelope Keith?
Absolutely loved her...brilliant lady
Vry icpnic and very much a pommy comedian they were one of a kind each and everyone of them in a very special time period and entertaining english speaking people lifting all their splrits making light in some very serious years I loved the English comedians all of them nobody came near them as far as making fun and laughing at life ❤😂😂😂
Brilliant!
Highly Original and very entertaining.
Princess Margaret was quite the fan of Joyce Grenfell and under Grenfell's tutelage, did amateur mimcry of "types" as Grenfell had done. Grenfell was invited to Margaret's wedding, and Margaret attended Grenfell's memorial service in early 1980.
She was a brilliant lady.
Excellent
Joyce Grenfell Unforgettable as Agatha Femm in the movie "the old dark house" 1963.
Loved listening to her growing up.
I saw her for the first time in the film The Americanization of Emily, playing Julie Andrews's mother. I thought, who is this wonderful actress?! She jumped off the screen.
Superb.
I find her so very funny 😆. RIP JOYCE.
i dont understand how somebody who has multiple paid functions at lands most important broadcasting companies, radio and tv can be called an amateur.
I loved her.
I always loved Joyce Grenfell. She was the precursor to Bob Newhart. Her sketches were absolutely side splitting.
I married beneath me - all women do.
-Lady Nancy Astor [Joyce Grenfell’s aunt] (1879--1964) , speech, Oldham, England, 1951
A really great character actress.
She was wise not to pursue the Trinians role! Hilarious monologues & songs. Talent delivered perfectly. According to this documentary she was very self aware.
Totally agree with her , she played an under cover policewoman at trinians just to please her boyfriend ,who was the inspector at her station, she was besotted with him and knew that her undercover roll would be a disaster she was a wonderful actor, for some reason I can remember the roll she played as a PE teacher at St trinians
Ps she did play the roll srgt Ruby Gates in 3 St trinians films
Loved her from the first time I saw her