Theatre and Dance Previews

Melvyn Hayes

Interview: Melvyn Hayes

Melvyn Hayes shot to fame in films in the 50s and 60s and was a regular in some of those great Cliff Richard films including Summer Holiday.

But he became a household name when he took on the role of Bombardier 'Gloria' Beaumont in the classic BBC TV comedy "It Ain't Half Hot Mum".

This month you can see him on stage in Cash On Delivery, a comedy written by Michael Cooney, son of the farce master Ray!

He told us all about it.

Cash on Delivery sounds like a classic farce, can you tell me a bit about it?

Melvyn: Well I'd love to tell you about it but I've read it three times and I don't understand it! It's so complicated, but it's one of the funniest farces I've ever been involved in. The clever thing about it basically, is that instead of meeting a bunch of characters and following them through a story, right the way through there are new characters appearing, even right to the end, there are new characters coming in all the time.

Basically, the story is about a man who really gets himself into all sorts of scrapes with Social Services and the more he wants to give them money back, the more they're piling money onto him. It's based on real life I think! You suddenly read in papers about somebody's who's earning £500k a year because of the way they're working the system and this guy really, really works the system. It's the farce thing where you think you're thinking of one thing and it's completely different!

So there's a lot more to this than just the farce? There's real life as well?

Melvyn: Basically it's a guy who's got his life so arranged that his wife doesn't even know the situation. And there's clever dialogue - Ray Cooney's son, Michael, has written this one.

My agent phoned me up and said "Melvyn it's a very physical part" and I said "oh that's fine". I was alright with that but I need a fortnight's holiday already! It's very physical for me, I didn't know I would have my head pushed into a dustbin or be tied up in a washing machine - I didn't know that when I read the contract! But where it's fun for me is that I haven't toured for years. I decided I didn't want to go away anymore. When you come back to it it's amazing.

So you'll enjoy being back on the road?

Melvyn: Yes - because it's such a lovely cast and a lovely management, Ian Dickens has got his finger on the pulse, there's no messing around and he doesn't start rehearsing until lunchtime which is great!

Have you had a bit of a break from all kinds of acting then?

With Windsor Davies in It Ain't Half Hot Mum

Melvyn: No, I did panto in Worthing and just finished doing some television work in Scotland and I did two series of Revolver for the BBC which was a sketch show. Then of course I had a session as Dot Cotton's boyfriend / driving instructor in EastEnders. My agent phoned me up and said I've got you a romantic lead at last after all these years! I said that's wonderful, who's the bird?! He said Dot Cotton! But underneath that is June Brown who was so good to work with.  
 
I saw an episode [of EastEnders] last night about her packing up smoking and I couldn't believe it - maybe Dot Cotton is but I don't think June Brown is. But she's so funny and talented to work with. It was like getting on an express train that didn't stop in a railway station - you didn't know when to jump on because everybody had been on this train for years and you think if I jump now I might be making a mistake, but it went alright.

Is this your first time back on stage with a live audience for a while then?

Melvyn: Yes, apart from  one nighters, "An Evening With" sort of thing - all very gentle. Then I did the pantomime season which is very hard work - the first show is at 10.00am and the second show is 7.30pm, who else would do hours like that?!

So you're kind of in training for the physical nature of farce then?

Melvyn: Yes, and over the years I've done many many farces, toured with them and done summer seasons.

And people do like to see people that they recognise from TV don't they? Can you hear a murmur when you come out?

Melvyn: Like, 'oh God it's him'! Yes because they know you, you've been in their living room, in their home and they get to know you. I have letters from all over the world picking up on something I might have done 20 or 30 years ago and they think they know you as a friend. I did a series a long, long time ago called the Double Deckers. I was Albert the Dustman and I co-wrote the title song, I was also dialogue director and I wrote some of the episodes and I thought it was all finished, then I received a letter from Germany this week saying they are bringing out a re-recording of all the music from the Double Deckers!  

And with things like UK Gold they all come back to haunt you don't they?

Melvyn: Yes, I got an invitation to be interviewed regarding a film I did called The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957. I played young Frankenstein (Peter Cushing as a boy) and it's 50 years ago and they wanted to celebrate it! I'd forgotten I'd even done it! I can also say I'm the only actor who's played Frankenstein and Tarzan and I'd forgotten about that one as well, until somebody wrote to me from the Netherlands about it!

You've done so much, how did you first get into acting?

Melvyn: You're not going to believe it. I did the Indian Rope Trick. It was at the Comedy Theatre in London and I was 15 years of age and they were looking for a boy to disappear twice daily, and I applied. I was very good at gymnastics and climbing ropes and I got the job so I started in show business disappearing in the Indian Rope Trick for about £4 a week in the West End. Then I decided to learn what it was all about and went into repertory all over the country and learnt my trade.

That's an unusual start, but what do you consider to be your big break?

Melvyn: There were a few. In the 50s I did a film called 'No Trees in the Street' with an 'Introducing Melvyn Hayes' billing and then there were all those Cliff Richard pictures in the 60s - Summer Holiday, Wonderful Life and The Young Ones. They were great fun days. And then there were highlights including when I was at the London Palladium with Windsor Davies doing pantomime and Eamon Andrews walked onto the stage with a big red book and said "Melvyn Hayes, This is Your Life - that was an exciting moment.

But it's all changed now. If you were on television people discussed it the next day, now there are so many channels nobody knows when anybody's on!      

Yes, in the 1970s you knew when a programme was on, it was always on at same time every week and the family would gather to watch it. You became a household name during 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum', what do you remember of that time?

With June Brown in EastEnders

Melvyn: It was a great series to be involved with, they were a great bunch of fellas. When we did the pilot I remember the director David Croft saying to us 'don't play it for laughs, play it as we've rehearsed it and if it dies on its bottom then it's our fault'. Just play it straight down the line and that's all we ever did. We never had to say can we alter this line because it doesn't ring right because it just read straight off the paper. They wrote such clever dialogue and the characters were brilliant. My mate Windsor [Davies], now there was an actor who took hold of a character and made it his own. He was wonderful. We've lost a few of them I'm afraid like my mate Don Estelle. It was great fun and we were all great mates for a long time  - nine or ten years.

And it lives on today?

Melvyn: Yes, I don't know why they don't repeat it, it's got nothing to do with political correctness. You can't sit and watch television with your grandmother anymore or your grandchild because you don't know what they're going to say next. Our programme had nothing like that but people said it was politically incorrect. It wasn't, it was a piece of history.

It sounds like a cliche, but they don't seem to make programmes like that any more do they?

Melvyn: No, it's got to be the quick, sharp laugh and yet by the same token you do get the odd one that comes out and you think it's good. I thought Little Britain was brilliant but then I got to a point where I'd seen enough of it and I think they realised that. They knew when to stop. I think there's some smashing stuff on except you never know when it's on or where it's on.

Now, the last time I saw you, you were running a pub in St Albans?!

Melvyn: Yes, well my wife was, I've got no head for business! It was the White Hart Tap, then we went on and got another one and then another one until at one point in one of them we were catering for 200 people for lunch on a Sunday and I said this is absolute madness. One - I can't stand it and two - I'm hating it and three - we're making a lot of money so why are we doing it? But apart from that we met a lot of nice people and we had a lot of fun!  

When we arrived there I didn't realise and walked into the main White Hart Hotel and was shown around and I said 'for this price, it's unbelievable'. He said 'what are you talking about, we're not selling!'  I showed him the piece of paper from the estate agent and he put me right saying, 'this is the White Hart Hotel, your's is the little kasi round the corner. Dick Turpin stayed here the night before being taken to London to be executed and his horse stayed at your place! Which was true - it was where the horses stayed - and it smelt like it too!

Finally then - why should people come and see Cash On Delivery?

Melvyn: Cash On Delivery is a play which has got everything in it, it's funny, it's clever, and it's got a great company - it's a funny piece, it really is, and I'm having a ball with the guys!