Joyce Irene Grenfell
OBE (''née'' Phipps; 10 February 1910 – 30 November 1979) was an English
diseuse
A monologist (), or interchangeably monologuist (), is a solo artist who recites or gives dramatic readings from a monologue, soliloquy, poetry, or work of literature, for the entertainment of an audience. The term can also refer to a person wh ...
, singer, actress and writer. She was known for the songs and monologues she wrote and performed, at first in
revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own duri ...
s and later in her solo shows. She never appeared as a stage actress, but had roles, mostly comic, in many films, including Miss Gossage in ''
The Happiest Days of Your Life'' (1950) and Police Sergeant Ruby Gates in the
St Trinian's
''St Trinian's'' is a British gag cartoon comic strip series, created and drawn by Ronald Searle from 1946 until 1952. The cartoons all centre on a boarding school for girls, where the teachers are sadists and the girls are juvenile delinquents ...
series (from 1954). She was a well-known broadcaster on radio and television. As a writer, she was the first radio critic for ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'', contributed to ''
Punch
Punch commonly refers to:
* Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist
* Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice
Punch may also refer to:
Places
* Pun ...
'' and published a volume of memoirs.
Born to an affluent Anglo-American family, Grenfell had abandoned early hopes of becoming an actress when she was invited to perform a comic monologue in a
West End revue in 1939. Its success led to a career as an entertainer, giving her creations in theatres in five continents between 1940 and 1969.
Life and career
Early years
Born in
Montpelier Square,
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End.
...
, London, Grenfell was the daughter of an American socialite, Nora Langhorne (1889–1955), one of five daughters of
Chiswell Langhorne
Colonel Chiswell Dabney Langhorne (November 4, 1843 – February 14, 1919) was an American railroad industrialist. He was the father of Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, Nancy Witcher Langhorne and the maternal grandfather of both Joyce Grenfell and ...
, an American railway millionaire, and of the architect Paul Phipps (1880–1953), the grandson of
Charles Paul Phipps and a second cousin of the
diseuse
A monologist (), or interchangeably monologuist (), is a solo artist who recites or gives dramatic readings from a monologue, soliloquy, poetry, or work of literature, for the entertainment of an audience. The term can also refer to a person wh ...
Ruth Draper
Ruth Draper (December 2, 1884December 30, 1956) was an American actress, dramatist and noted diseuse who specialized in character-driven monologues and monodrama. Her best-known pieces include ''The Italian Lesson'', ''Three Women and Mr. Cliff ...
, in whose professional footsteps she followed. The Phipps family were wealthy clothiers, whose success allowed them to join the gentry of their native Wiltshire.
Nancy Astor
Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess Astor, (19 May 1879 – 2 May 1964) was an American-born British politician who was the first woman seated as a Member of Parliament (MP), serving from 1919 to 1945.
Astor's first husband was America ...
was one of her maternal aunts;
[ Grenfell often visited her at the Astors’ home of ]Cliveden
Cliveden (pronounced ) is an English country house and estate in the care of the National Trust in Buckinghamshire, on the border with Berkshire. The Italianate mansion, also known as Cliveden House, crowns an outlying ridge of the Chiltern H ...
and lived in a cottage on the estate, a mile from the main house, in the early years of her marriage.
Joyce Phipps had an upper middle-class London childhood. Among her friends was Virginia Graham
Virginia Graham, born Virginia Komiss, (July 4, 1912 – December 22, 1998) was an American daytime television talk show host from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. On television, Graham hosted the broadcast syndication, syndicated programs ''Fo ...
, with whom she kept up a lifelong correspondence, and who wrote Grenfell's biography in the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
''.[Graham, Virgini]
Grenfell (née Phipps), Joyce Irene (1910–1979)
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press 2004. Retrieved 22 September 2021 Grenfell attended the Francis Holland School
Francis Holland School is the name of two separate private day schools for girls in central London, England, governed by the Francis Holland (Church of England) Schools Trust. The schools are located at Clarence Gate (near Regent's Park NW1) ...
in central London, and the Claremont Fan Court School
Claremont Fan Court School is a co-educational independent school, for pupils from 2½ to 18 years. Situated outside Esher, in Surrey, sixteen miles from London, it is located on the grounds of the Claremont Estate. It is a member of the Socie ...
, in Esher, Surrey
Esher ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole.
Esher is an outlying suburb of London near the London-Surrey Border, and with Esher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of the Greater London Built-Up A ...
. She then went to a finishing school
A finishing school focuses on teaching young women social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society. The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the education, wit ...
in Paris at the age of 17, After this she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Sen ...
in London, but found the hard work of learning the craft of acting less glamorous than she had imagined and left after a single term. She supposed at the time that this "was the finish of my dreams of becoming an actress".[ In May 1928 she was presented as a ]débutante
A debutante, also spelled débutante, ( ; from french: débutante , "female beginner") or deb is a young woman of aristocratic or upper-class family background who has reached maturity and, as a new adult, is presented to society at a formal ...
at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
.
In 1927 she had met Reginald Pascoe Grenfell (1903–1993), a mining executive and later a lieutenant colonel in the King's Royal Rifle Corps
The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...
. They were married two years later at St Margaret's, Westminster
The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey, is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster a ...
and remained together until her death nearly 50 years later.[ They were a devoted couple: Reggie Grenfell looked after his wife's financial and business affairs, and his encouragement gave her strong support.][ After she became a celebrity she unobtrusively made sure that he was never seen as a mere adjunct to her. They were unable to have children of their own.][Obituary: Reginald Grenfell]
''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', 3 April 1993
First professional years
In the late 1930s Grenfell contributed verses to ''Punch
Punch commonly refers to:
* Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist
* Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice
Punch may also refer to:
Places
* Pun ...
'' and helped to entertain her aunt's guests at Cliveden. After one lunch, J. L. Garvin
James Louis Garvin CH (12 April 1868 – 23 January 1947) was a British journalist, editor, and author. In 1908, Garvin agreed to take over the editorship of the Sunday newspaper ''The Observer'', revolutionising Sunday journalism and restori ...
, the editor of ''The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'', engaged her as the paper's first radio critic.[Hampton (2003), p. 95] At an informal supper given by the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in January 1939, she agreed to his request to entertain her fellow guests with a monologue of her own devising. This was "Useful and Acceptable Gifts", in which she played a gauche lecturer at a meeting of the
. The impresario
was among the guests and he invited her to perform the piece in his forthcoming
, London.