This is something of a random post on what is something of a random subject. It all began when I chanced across the movie called Cheer Boys Cheer, a British movie from 1939.
It was the last Ealing movie before the outbreak of the Second World War and considered by some to be the ‘first’ Ealing Comedy of a certain type that went on to launch the careers of such silver screen legends as Alec Guinness.
The movie itself is largely forgotten now, but at the time it was seen as something of allegory or even satire on the differences between western democracy and the rise of Nazism. The film hinges on the conflict between two families, the gentle and more traditional Greenleaf clan and the Ironsides who are about to take over their business.
The film starred Nova Pilbeam (pictured above top) who according to one synopsis is a bit bratty and after a short acquaintance with John Ironside, is spanked over the wing of her car. The picture above is at the start of the conflict just before she is spanked.
Now what has all this got to do with the price of soap?
Well, after hearing about this film, which I had never heard of before, I did a bit of digging and could find no pictures or clips of it or the spanking scene. I did however chance upon a dozen publicity stills of spankings from movies that had no spankings in them.
The spanking scene above is an example of this. It comes from the 1947 movie Dear Ruth, which is included just illustrate the point as there is no spanking in this movie.
So what has this got to do with the 1980s British pop group Haysi Fantayzee?
I told you this was random, but it is a post about surfing and a chain of information uncovered while searching 1930s movies and spanking led me inexorably to John Wayne.
Kate Garner, pictured above, was part of the singing due Haysi Fantayzee, who in 1983 released a record called John Wayne Big Leggy.
I remember this song because of the allusion to spanking and the fact that John Wayne was a spanker, which on some versions of the record was obscured by a rather irritating electronic sound.
In the video at the point where they sing, “I know a trick we can try, turn right over and you’ll why,” Kate Garner gets on her hands and knees in a pose rather like the one depicted above and offers her bottom suggestively to Jeremy Healy. He then uses her to climb out of the cage they are locked in to escape there by excluding the spanking from the publicity as pictured.
These are all random connections to a century of cultural spanking but if anyone does come across a relevant clip or a still from Cheer Boys Cheer then point us to it. Meanwhile here is that song.
