Wendy Toye was born almost exactly 106 years ago, on 1 May 1917. Perhaps more importantly, she was born almost exactly where you are now, in Hackney. At the age of just four she made her first professional appearance as a dancer at the Royal Albert Hall. By the time she was ten, she was a prize-winning dancer and a successful professional choreographer. The fact that she was such an accomplished dancer should come as no surprise to any viewers of her later films. She choreographs her actors’ movements beautifully; just watch how the stranger moves through the town in exquisite synch with Hugo Alfvén’s Swedish Rhapsody No. 1. And it is not only the actors who move with lyrical, musical precision; the camera, too, is a dancer, often weaving and waltzing its way through a scene, as can be seen in some of the dynamic cinematography in We Joined the Navy.
In 1931, Toye enjoyed her first taste of the film life when she appeared as a dancer in Anthony Asquith’s film Dance Pretty Lady. It wasn’t until after the Second World War, however, that she had her first experience in the director’s chair. During the war, she met George K. Arthur while working on a show for American troops. In the early 1950s, she agreed to help Arthur cast a film he wanted to make called The Stranger Left No Card. Toye recommended Alan Badel, who had not acted on film before, for the lead role. Arthur, a huge supporter of Toye’s, said that he wanted her to direct the film. She agreed. At first, although the film was liked, no one really knew how best to exhibit a short and it languished on a shelf, acquiring dust. When it finally saw the light of day, it was hugely popular and went on to wow the judges at the Cannes Film Festival, including Jean Cocteau. As a result, Toye was put under contract to Alexander Korda and then, when he died, to the Rank Organisation. Many of her subsequent films are more mainstream and less experimental than The Stranger Left No Card, but she did make other delightful and inventive short films, including On the Twelfth Day… and The King’s Breakfast.
Although her filmography is not substantial and her first love was the theatre, Toye was one of only two women working prominently in 1950s British cinema. She and Muriel Box between them inspired the next generation of female directors and continue to inspire women today. Up until her death, she worked tirelessly to support students and young performers. The brilliance and range of her talents remains awe-inspiring and we are delighted to be celebrating her at LOCO in the borough in which she was born.
In an interview with Wheeler Winston Dixon in 1992, Toye said: “I love filmmaking. All the crews were so wonderful. And I think one of the reasons that they were so good to me was because of my work as a choreographer. I think I was sensitive to people. I knew how to place them, how to move them, how to keep things moving on the screen. A lot of people ask me now, ‘as a woman, did you find it very tricky in those times?’ I didn’t at all. Some of the women who worked in films in Britain… hated every minute of what [they were] doing… I had a blazingly happy time in my career and absolutely enjoyed every moment of it…”