POST-WAR YEARS
0005 - SID - 1945 TO 1960
At a time when - through the extended families which were then at the heart of much of society – aunts and uncles were often almost as close as your parents, one the biggest influences on my childhood was my uncle Sid. During my school holidays I saw a lot of him – almost as much as I did of my father. This was because, when my father came home for lunch, Sid joined us for a cup of tea and a chat. He took his actual lunch in the canteen at Prices, where they both worked, but then came up to relax with us for half an hour or so. It was during this time that I had many long debates - and even arguments - with him; and he shaped much in my view of life. After his wartime experience, described elsewhere in his diaries, Sid had become a supervisor in the office of Prices; which was a chemical manufacturing subsidiary of Unilever where he and my father, and another uncle, Bob, worked. Sid eventually progressed to be the manager running most of this office, and – as with so many of us white collar workers - this work represented the prime focus of his life.
He was a confirmed bachelor, never marrying, but that did not mean he was gay – as would typically be the assumption these days – but in fact, if the rumours were to be believed, he was quite the ladies man.
Our lunchtime debates revolved around many different subjects. His experience in the war had broadened his horizons more than most. Even after the war he and his friends used to take their holidays in the form of driving to Switzerland, then the ideal holiday destination; but only for the privileged few. Very few of even the middle class then ventured far beyond the traditional beach holiday. Accordingly, his stories about their exotic travels fascinated me, and prepared me for my own later travels.
He also ran the local, Prices’, amateur dramatic society. This was in many respects the centre of social life for our part of the community. Indeed the ultimate social highlight of the year was the Unilever amateur dramatic contest, for which my uncle always directed the local contribution. My mother was also roped in, usually as prompter but occasionally to help with the costumes. It was a family venture; though, surprisingly I never followed in their thespian footsteps!
The amateur dramatic society was a fairly close-knit community. There were the leading ladies, as temperamental as they still are, and the leading men also performed very much to stereotype. The others, including my mother, were just the supporters!
I remember in particular, though, attending one final in Warrington where three other leading, dramatic companies within Unilever put on one act plays. The whole thing was somewhat dramatised for us by the fact that the travel to and from the event was through thick fog; which was often the case before smokeless zones were created. When we got home my mother found that the kettle had been left on the hot plate and its aluminium bottom had melted through.
The acting was at quite a high standard for amateurs. One memory is of Marie Haynes, as the older prima donna, and another younger actress, who was simply - but accurately - known as 'the body', competing to be leading ladies. One of my fonder - later - memories was of playing as a (tennis!) doubles partner with 'the body'! We lost by a wide margin, but I didn’t care!
The direction by Sid was quite professional; though of course the resources available were limited. I remember another one act play where they had to have a ghost scene. This was accomplished by the simple expedient of putting a transparency in the canvas tent -- it was set in a circus -- which was lit up at the suitable time revealing the ghost. All in all it was interesting experience. As I said above, I never actually participated but I was excited, though ultimately diappointed, when I was about to be selected for one of children in 'Dear Octopus'. Due to my homework commitments, I wasn't allowed to do it.
Indeed, school work always took precedence over all other activities. My school even demanded that we should not belong to youth clubs, in case this distracted us from our homework. Even so, I guess Dear Octopus was one of the defining moments which shaped my interest in theatre in general.
[The best biographical information about Sid is contained in his 'war diary'. This was based on the log Sidney Lane kept throughout the Second World War. The log ran from the 16th. July 1939 to the 24th. May 1945. In addition, the first part is an account, from memory, of his year prior to the start of the log. The log itself was not a diary, in that it did not record every day but only those days when significant events happened or he felt he had important comments to add. Thus, some of the entries are weeks or even months apart. But, in these he writes about his views and feelings on what has happened in that time. Of necessity it was kept for parts of the time, while he was in action overseas, in note form; which he wrote up when he was able to. He finally edited the log, and supplemented it with material from letters (presumably from those he sent to his parents, though the source is not spelled out), when he returned to England after the war.]
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