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Archiver > WARBRIDES > 2005-07 > 1120850829


From: Michelle Rusk <>
Subject: Re: WWII Movies?
Date: Fri, 08 Jul 2005 13:27:09 -0600
References: <42CC88E8.3060207@telus.net>


Hi Hazel,

Good question. And as I tend to do - here is one of my long responses.

From my Mum's 1944 diary, it is apparent that the movies were an important form of entertainment for her during World War II. Since the diary is only 4 inches tall and 3 inches wide and maybe 1/3" thick - the notes are quite cryptic. Although cryptic it is amazing how they bring me into her life and what extraordinary times she and so many others were living through. Following are just some of the entries on days she mentions a movie. I've included a couple of extras hoping that I might hear here from someone on here about who was Rosie O'Grady or the Comedy Theatre, or some of the places she mentions seeing films. Now that I've been to London, I do realize how far from Edgeware she came to work in Whitehall and to return from a theatre in Leicester Square. After Aug 23 she had no entries about movies - just the events happening in Britain & Europe, and what was happening within her family, and during her pregnancy.

There were other entries that speak to me poignantly about the times which I'll possibly post another time or add to my website when I finally update it. They include items about raids and buzz bombs, her 1st anniversary, working by candle light, (couldn't resist including the D-Day entry here even though it is off the movie topic), the long stretch with no letters after Dad lands in France, and when she nearly loses the baby (my oldest brother), the convoy to Freeland House in Oxford where my brother was born in November, and the balance of the year. One of the spring/summer entries mentions her mother finding a 4-leaf clover and giving it to her - and it is still in the diary although rather fragile after 61 years!

Here are the entries that mention movies:

Jan 29: 9 - 12 Lloyd starts leave 48 hours. Edith over for weekend. Out with Marj & Keith (very nice). Rosie O'Grady at Plaza Belmont
Jan 30: Uptown with Bob & Eve. "Golden Hour" & "Come Lassie" at Metropole Good. Stks & Chocs From Lloyd
Feb 20: Very Cold. Bob & Eve, Mum & I went to Plaza. Good show. Heavy raid. Fires & Bomb 9:30 to 10:30. Mrs. Bowd came in and Mr. Bowd & Trevor went to Post.
Feb 26: Leicester Square Theatre with Miss Roland. "His Butler's Sister" Good. No Raid
Feb 29: Babs to stay with us. Off at 5-5. Ritz. Lloyd met me. Raid. "This is the Army" pictures.
Mar 3: Show at Comedy Theatre Paton St.
Mar 4: Photo's Today. Not Ready. Shopping. Raid. Odeon "Sahara". Good.
Mar 7: Firewatch. Took Babs with us to "Odeon" Leicester Square. Saw Mr. & Mrs. Siers. Good laugh.
May 2: Saw Ray Milland in "The Uninvited" Good!!
May 9: Edith's Anniversary. Letter from S. Stringer. "The Beautiful Cheat" grand film. Put in plants. Mummy bought me 2 dresses.
May 13: Went to Ritz " Song of Russia" "Buses ____" Very good. Rain. Saw Pat & S. Sharp.
May 20: G. Norman 21st & Engagement. Letter from Wembley Hospital. H.S.A. 3-4. Ritz "A Guy Named Joe" very good. Mother's Day.
June 3: Parcel from Red Cross. LOE went to "Coffee Squash" Lloyd home for few hours - Out of Bounds.
June 4: Row with Lloyd. Am terribly sorry - he's such a dear. Went to Plaza. Had to leave at 6:30 (late).
June 5: Went to Savoy. "Cargo of Innocents" & "No Time to Love" Letter to Lloyd.
June 6: DAWN. INVASION STARTED. KING SPOKE. Going well. Letter to Lloyd. Letter from Edith. Shopping with Mum (Note from Michelle: Mum wrote Dad a letter that day, expressing her love to him and belief in him. He carried that letter in the lining of his Soldier's Service & Pay Book until the end of the war, and it was still in that book when it was found in his bedside drawer after he died in May of 1996.)
Aug 12: To Odeon "This Happy Breed". Sent ring & cards to Wales. Knitting. Dad went to Farm.
Aug 14: Raids. Sent 200 Churchmans. Letter from Lloyd & to Lloyd. Potter. "Man in the Iron Mask" "Up in Mabel's Room"
Aug 23: Letter from Dorothy House. Edith came over, went Odeon & saw "A Canterbury Tale" with Eric Portman. Paid Edith ?2. Paris Free. Bad raids.

I hope they rekindle good memories for some of you.

Regards,
Michelle Rusk
Daughter of a Canadian War Bride from London:
Olive (Rayson) Cochrane

----- Original Message -----
From: <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 7:44 PM
Subject: WWII Movies?


> I thought it might be interesting to find out what WWII movies you have
> enjoyed/ been moved by the most.
> My top choices are:
> In Which we serve
> The Cruel Sea
> Gregory Peck in Twelve o'clock High
> Dangerous Moonlight (featuring the Warsaw Concerto) It was called
> Suicide Squadron in the USA.
> I enjoy Hope and Glory (a more recent movie) because it reminds me so
> much of our streets in London and the kids climbing through all the
> rubble; evacuation to the country etc.
> I disliked: Mrs. Miniver because it was so unrealistic. She never had a
> hair out of place even the midst of a bombing raid and her clothes were
> magnificent, unlike our war-time clothes. I also find her English accent
> to be a bit too posh (refined).
> We laughed at the John Wayne WWII movies during the war because they too
> were quite unrealistic - galloping through the ocean on a torpedo boat etc.
> Would you like to add to the list or make comments?
> Hazel
>
> ______________________________
>

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