Mary Rizza

It’s likely that the title of the 1961 film Spare the Rod, directed by Leslie Norman, means nothing to present-day audiences. The entire saying is ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’, a precept which originated in the bible and delivered the message that children need to be disciplined for their own sake, and that imposing discipline shows love.

The ‘rod’ is thought to refer to a shepherd’s staff, which is used to marshall and guide those in his care rather than wallop them with a cane. But in the film, as in real life, physical punishment is seen to be the default position of adults charged with the care of children. The film’s title comes from the 1954 book on which it is based (written by Michael Croft, the founder of the National Youth Theatre) and indicates that the issue of corporal punishment is at its heart.

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You don’t hear the word ‘petticoat’ much these days. It refers to the undergarment, full or half-length, which was designed to be worn under dresses and skirts for the purpose of ‘structure and modesty’. They are now usually called slips or control garments, and have a much sleeker look than the limp petticoats which were a staple of our wardrobes in the swinging decades when the concept of underwear as outerwear was yet to catch on. In fact, having your petticoat show beneath your hemline was such a crime against propriety that it was one’s duty to female solidarity to point out the malfunction by whispering the code ‘Charlie’s dead’ or ‘It’s snowing in Paris’.

The word was resurrected in the great title of the jukebox musical Dreamboats and Petticoats, a catchy phrase which brings to mind the starchy nylon slips which made your full skirt stick out in a pleasing bell shape. A good way to get optimum stiffness was to soak the garment in a thick sugar solution and hang it out to dry. Sometimes bees would cluster on it, creating quite a Daliesque effect.

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Karen Pelletier in
Quieter Than Sleep
by Joanne Dobson
(Published 1997)
SPOILER ALERTS

Academic institutions always provide fertile ground for murder mysteries, and Enfield College in New England is no exception. This elite college is home to a heady mix of colourful characters, big egos, sexual passions and dalliances, intellectual passions, professional rivalries and illicit relationships which are played out against the background of the fight to be the one to find a missing letter written by the 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson, a document which would lob a literary bombshell into the academic world.

And who better to lead us on this entertaining and engaging journey than one of swanky Enfield College’s own, Dr Karen Pelletier, Professor of the English Department and Emily Dickinson scholar?

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The 1963 Burt Bacharach and Hal David song Wives and Lovers melodically captures the mid-20th Century stereotype of a housewife. The ‘little girl’ is warned that to keep her husband’s interest she should take out her curlers before seeing him off in the morning, put on a pretty, city-type dress and slap on some make-up for his return, then dim the lights and pour the wine… The song doesn’t specify that she should keep the home immaculate, but that’s kind of assumed. And watch out, there are girls at the office just lying in wait…

Would this advice have helped the wife in the 1957 film Woman in a Dressing Gown?

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In a world of personal branding and image cultivation, your book is an accessory and it says as much about you as your choice of clothing or footwear or bag. Cue for pearl-clutching cries of is this what literature’s come to? Not in the slightest. Because, dear friends, many who painfully came of age in the decade in which there were only three television channels will recognise this phenomenon. Yup, we too had Performative Reading!

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Piccadilly Third Stop (1960)

Not every furniture range has star billing in a film, so hats off to the British company G Plan which is prominently featured in the opening credits of Wolf Rilla’s 1960 film Piccadilly Third Stop. The company began producing the particular style of modern furniture for which it is renowned in the 1950s, and the range continues to be sought after for its distinctive design, characterised as being stylish, innovative and adventurous.

It’s probably fair to say that the film doesn’t exhibit such qualities, but it’s a decent movie, interesting and engaging in its depiction of the shady way of life of a section of London society, which consists of unpleasant characters scraping a criminal living with the threat of violence ever present.

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Oh those madcap 1960s! Bliss it was to be young and alive in the decade that swung, with all the opportunities available to everyone, regardless of class and social and economic circumstances. Pity the older generation, stuck in its fuddy-duddy ways, born too soon to enjoy the brave new world of sexual liberation and easy affluence, not to mention groovy clothes.

On the face of it, this is the world presented in the 1963 film What A Crazy World, written by Alan Klein and produced and directed by Michael Carreras.

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I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason, by Susan Kandel

This is the first in a series of five mystery novels featuring the beguilingly named Cece Caruso. Cece is a 39-year-old resident of Los Angeles, a biographer of classic crime writers and an aficionado of vintage fashion. Now that’s a pie full of juicy plums if ever there was one. And there are more.

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The 1959 film Serious Charge, directed by Terence Young, may well have slipped beneath the radar of youth audiences then and later. It was promoted as being the debut movie role of Cliff Richard, a draw for some but by no means all of the teenage demographic.

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The recent death of the inestimable Glenda Jackson has prompted much discussion about her work in film and theatre (not to mention her political activities), much of which focuses on the diverse range and stunning impact of her stage appearances. In a retrospective which offers so much choice, John Schlesinger’s 1971 movie Sunday Bloody Sunday may be overlooked.

The film superbly evokes its time, the cusp of the 1960s/70s, and convincingly and in some cases excruciatingly presents the lives of London liberal, professional middle classes, a section of society which nowadays might be called the metropolitan elite.

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