User talk:Squinny1911

Victor actually wrote in his book, "Express to Hollywood" circa 1934, that he was born in Tunbridge Wells, but I was told by his brother that he was born in the Mile End Road, in the East End of London Town, and I have seen his birth certificate. Why would he write that in the early 1930's? The reason is that the world was a very different place then. People who had the power were very snobbish and being born in the East End of London or near Limehouse was not good publicity. Victor's and of course Clifford's father, the man who worked so hard for the poor of London, became a Bishop and he ran a soup kitchen under St Martin's in the Field, and started the Silver Soup Kitchens on the Embankment, which used to be called Charing Cross. He also started the Boys Boot Blacking Brigade. He knew Dr Barnardo as well, and together they must have tried their best for the terrible poverty stricken children. My father said to me when I was a little girl,"You have no idea how terrible the poverty was. Little boys would wander the snow covered streets, in their bare feet, picking up horse muck to sell to burn on people's fires.London was supposed to be the richest city in the world, and yet there was this dreadful gap between rich and poor. The rich, mostly had no idea what it was like to be poor, and very often were not in the least interested. If people were poor, they reasoned, it must be their own ignorant faults, and this, from people who had often inherited their wealth from their own familys and did not have to work at all. Work was for the "Lower Classes" who it was thought were "lesser" folk than the fine upstanding "Upper classes". To understand this world, one really has to see that advancement was very difficult if you said you came from a particular background. One had to know and accept "ones place". Now, on can be proud that one has worked hard and overcome dfficulties to find some kind of success, like Michael Caine for instance. Victor could not say anything that would prejudice his way to succeeding in the world of showbusiness, so he chose the town of Tunbridge Wells which his father must have taken hin to many times because it is where Andrew McLaglen, who was clerk in Holy Orders actually studied. It is a beautiful town and one "takes the waters" there as it is a Spar Town where valuable healthy minerals were found in the water, as in the City of Bath. My father married a middle class lady, who was sometimes very snobbish, but had suffered just before the War (1939-45)and had begun to understand how to mix with everyone. She gradually learned over the course of her life time that what used to be, was no longer the same. She had to work very hard at her work and really understood what was the real lack of understanding of different classes for one another. In this country we are supposed to still be riddled with the class system. One section of society has nothing to do with the other half. I would even go so far as to say they are strange to one another and make each other angry JUST BEING WHO THEY ARE! However, actors, have to become all kinds of people and to "be" those characters they have to get inside their skin and be amongst all kinds of people to truly comprehend, to feel their outrage and their anger. This is what the Brothers McLaglen did in their profession. If one was found to be Not of the same order, one was simply "frozen out". What Clifford's wife found out was that there are pecking orders in all walks of life and bullying goes on everywhere so that the highest in the pecking order can have their own way. To do that they can be cruel and unreasonable. A very good reason for Victor to do what he did. Most of the sons had elecution lessons to get rid of their Cockney accents so that they could recite Shakespeare. That was what the world was like at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. Both Wars helped to get rid of the class system and water it down a bit because we all had to pull together.

Alex Kersey-Brown
Would you have further details about Alex Kersey-Brown? I've undertaking some orginal research, please see Talk:Alex Kersey-Brown. Best Regards. DynamoDegsy (talk) 08:14, 10 June 2013 (UTC)