David Poulson – cars, sun & shorts

David Poulson – Dad – worked in the theatre most of his life which may account for his focus on appearance, both his own and other people’s. Creating your public image by how you dressed, what stories you told, what accessories you could flaunt (think car, watch, jewelry, cigarette holder) was part of who he was – and it went beyond his professional need when casting a play to assess whether someone “looked right” for a part. Toddler David (around 1928) didn’t choose the sweater and knitted shorts – conventions used to be that little boys wore shorts and you advanced to long trousers at the right age (11-ish). Utterly daft concept (why should little kids have cold legs?) . Once he was old enough to make his own choices, a very different (less cuddly, more jet-set) image took shape.

Continue reading David Poulson – cars, sun & shorts

Yvonne paints Wynne & Len

Yvonne Forster, my Mum, sketched, painted and drew for most of her life. Some scribbled drawings accompanied her diaries – abstract ideas or objects or decorated letters. This was from a notebook with various rough sketches or watercolors – Mum always preferred communicating with pictures. Some painting was for income – she didn’t do many commissioned portraits, but her graphic design work sometimes included freelance projects (a children’s illustrated guide to crochet stitches is one I still have). I would get watercolor birthday cards until shaking hands and poor eyesight made it too hard (she could still do it but wasn’t happy with the quality). One subject stood out from all others – trees.

Continue reading Yvonne paints Wynne & Len

Growing up with our grandparents

Rose & Margo, Lyme Regis

This is part II of the story of four generations preceding me and my four brothers – our parents growing up between the wars in England and somehow all ending up in the theatre. For Yvonne and David, I have written recollections. Yvonne left many – some illustrated – diary-like notes and a book, Mind Boggled. David left a stack of notebooks filled with a scribbled draft of a memoir he never finished – to his credit, he numbered the pages, books, and various inserts – in his near-illegible writing. It’s mostly theatre name-dropping and “funny stories” but parts are about his early years. A characteristic blend of gauzy generalities of an idyllic childhood and tales of David’s excellent adventures. Old newspapers add details – of piano competitions, school prizes or sports matches – plus there are stories we heard from them growing up. David’s “Progress Book”, written by Billie, and a few notes in an album by Wynne are the only accounts from the grandparents directly. Margo’s brother Harding kindly provided some childhood stories for her. I’d like to offer a sense of where they lived, went to school, what home life was like, and to sketch out their path from babies to the adults we knew.

Continue reading Growing up with our grandparents