Norman Wisdom talks to his fans – archive, 9 June 1960
An excited crowd of children, a sprinkling of housewives, and a few solemn-faced policemen were milling around outside the stone-built corner terrace house in Belgrave Road, Darwen, yesterday morning.
In the side street, a continuity girl in pale blue slacks sat busily typing at a desk on the pavement and nearby stood some huge vans bearing the sign of the man with the gong. Men in long pullovers scurried about carrying important-looking papers clipped to wooden boards, someone was shouting instructions through a mega-phone and a “starlet” was busily signing autographs.
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This was Darwen’s view of the film industry and the film industry’s view of Darwen and both sides seemed to be getting along fine together. Inside the house sitting in a comfortable armchair was Norman Wisdom the star of the film, which is to be called “There was a Crooked Man.” Mr Wisdom, although not entirely unaware of the excitement outside the house, was having a cosy chat with Mrs Margaret Mason who has lived at 48 Belgrave Road with her husband, Tom, for five years without anything particularly thrilling happening.
“Very nice”
She was enjoying every moment of Mr Wisdom’s presence – “he is very nice, not a bit snooty” – and talked animatedly with him for some moments. Mr Wisdom had been filmed that morning arriving, entering, and leaving the house; now he had to go as it was time for the next scene outside the entrance to a wallpaper factory farther down the hill. The stars drove the 250 yards in large cars with the children easily keeping up with them, since this was a steep hill and there were many people about trying to glimpse Mr Wisdom.
The shower scene from There Was a Crooked Man (1960).
While Mr Wisdom signed numerous autographs and kissed a few mill girls – on the cheek – the rest of the company gathered together the local extras who were to be pictured entering the mill.
There were three rehearsals, although most of the extras had been entering one mill or another for some years and knew exactly how to do it, before Mr Wisdom retired to his hotel to get into his “working” suit and battered trilby.
“There was a Crooked Man” tells the story of Mr Wisdom, released from prison, going to Darwen to work in a mill, finding the owner is crooked so he brings in some of his underworld colleagues to save the town from ruin. They arrive dressed as American officers with a story about this being just the site for a rocket base.
This is an edited extract, read on here.
The Guardian, 9 June 1960.