Maytime in Mayfair (1949)

95mins . Technicolor. Cert: U

A Wilcox-Neagle Production

Imperadio/ A British Lion release

Filmed at MGM Studios , Boreham Wood, England

Cast: Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Peter Graves (*), Nicholas Phipps, Thora Hird.

[* Peter Graves appeared in many West End musicals, including: After the Ball, Arc De Triomphe, Careless Rapture, Crest of the Wave, The Dancing Years, Dear Miss Phoebe, Gay Rosalinda, The Glorious Days (with Anna Neagle - 1953)]

Dancers: Teddy Lane (Photographer), David Ellis, David Gardner (Attendants), Pat Clare (Fitter), Pam Kail, Monica Francis, Pat Dare (Fan Girls), Sabina Gordon, Cynthia Williams, Eugenie Sivyer, Paddy Johnson (Assistants)

Producer/Director : Herbert Wilcox

Photography: Max Greene

Recorded by: Peter Handford (Western Electric Sound)

Screenplay: Nicholas Phipps

Dances by: Philip and Betty Bouchel

Anna Neagle's Dresses by Kitty Foster

Wedding Gown by Norman Hartnell

Featuring Fashions from the following members of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers: Hardy Amies, Charles Creed, Hartnell, Mattli, Molyneux, Digby Morton, Bianca Mosca, Peter Russell, Victor Steibel, Worth of London

Musical Director (Conducting the New Symphony Orchestra) : Robert Farnon. Featuring the following Robert Farnon compositions: "Melody Fair" (fashion parade sequence), and Robert Farnon's arrangement of "Early One Morning"

Songs

"Amor Amor" (Music:Gabriel Ruiz/Words:Ricardo Lopez Mendez/English Lyric:Sonny Skylar) (Southern Music Pubs.)

"Do I Love You" (Music:Bruno Bidoli/Words: David Heneker) (Peter Maurice Music Pubs.)

"I'm Not Going Home"(Music:Fred Prisker/Words: Kermit Goell) (Peter Maurice Music Pubs.)

"Maytime in Mayfair" (Music: Harry Parr Davies/Words: Harold Purcell) (Chappell and Co.)

Summary

Maytime in Mayfair is set in the magical world of Mayfair's haute couture and the creators of ladies fashions. Eileen Grahame (Anna Neagle) is the designer-manageress of one of Mayfair's exclusive dress salons. She creates designs for the rich - the lovely and the 'unlovely' alike: the dresses and accessories which dictate the style of the whole fashion world. Across the street is a rival establishment run by suave singing playboy D'Arcy Davenport(played by West End musical star Peter Graves). Between them Eileen and D'Arcy are the despots of womens modes and moods. D'Arcy would love Eileen to give up her own salon, and merge with his business.

Michael Gore-Brown (Michael Wilding) appears on the scene. Irrepressible, insouciant and impoverished, he finds himself by means of a legacy, heir to the salon which Eileen runs. He is encouraged to sell the business by his cousin, Henry (Nicholas Phipps), who is totally distainful of the fashion business, who sees this as an opportunity for Gore-Brown to sell and make some money.

Michael and Henry go to check the salon over, and are pleasantly surprised by Eileen, as they were expecting to meet, in Henry's words 'a battleship in black satin'. To Henry's disgust, Michael decides to take a lively interest in running the busines with Eileen. Reluctantly, he is supported by the well meaning Henry, who brings the threat of disaster to the salon: surprised that Darcy belongs to the same 'gentleman's club' as himself, he allows himself to be inveigled by D'Arcy into a drinking session, which ends with Henry in the custody of the police, and D'Arcy gaining the secrets of Eileen's latest "New Look" designs. He discloses these secrets to the press, with a view to ruining Eileen's business.

Michael is also in romantic pursuit of Eileen, who initially, is not unreceptive, but later she mistakenly believes that it is he who leaked her trade secrets. In disgust, she leaves her salon, and travels to Paris to view the latest collections. Darcy goes as well. Michael pursues her to Paris, but Eileen and D'Arcy move on when the latter discovers that they are being followed. Michael dispondently returns to London, and is on the point of selling the business to two fashion 'spivs' (acting on D'Arcy's instructions), when in walks Eileen,who has returned poste haste, after learning of D'Arcy's betrayal.

Eileen and Michael send the spivs packing, and Michael decides to settle the score with D'Arcy, the result of which he finds himself at the police station. Eileen arrives to bail him out, and 'takes charge' of him herself, as wedding bells ring..............

Herbert Wilcox's film, made at MGM Studios, Boreham Wood, is a Technicolor follow up to 'Spring in Park Lane', one of the top UK box office successes of 1948. It has the same stars (his wife Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding, in an very mannered performance), songs, the same musical director (Robert Farnon [the score features Farnon's composition "Melody Fair" (for a fashion parade sequence), together with his arrangement "Early One Morning"] and screenwriter (Nicholas Phipps). However, whereas 'Spring' was a deliciously light souffle concoction, albeit in black and white, this sequel is more of a stodgy Technicolor pudding. Thora Hird makes a good impression as a rather 'refined' receptionist at the salon. 'Maytime' features a fashion show of top UK designs of 1949, which is of interest to fans of the 'New Look', and (as in the earlier film) Neagle and Wilding dance in the style of Astaire and Rogers. In an era of ration books and postwar austerity, it is not difficult to see why films such as 'Maytime in Mayfair' were popular, particularly with female audiences, to whom the characters and their world must have epitomised "glamour". Robert Farnon's luscious orchestrations are a tremendous asset in this regard, being the epitome of late 1940s escapist musical style. As a contribution to the late 1940's fantasy/glamour cycle of films ('The Red Shoes' is another example), 'Maytime In Mayfair' is therefore not without interest.