Interview, 2012
This interview with Shirley appeared in the Norrice Leader' the new magazine of the HGSS synagogue that replaced the Hagan magazine that Shirley edited until 2012. It appeared two months before she passed away in November 2012.
Shirley Kleiman
After over twenty years at the helm with Alfred, and then on her own since 2006, Shirley Kleiman is stepping down as Editor of Hagan the magazine of HGSS. It has been an eventful time. She talks with Hilary Halter.
Early Days – living through the Blitz and an finding an unusual job
Shirley was born and brought up in New Cross, south London and went to Hebrew classes at the shul there. She still uses a set of Routledge Machzorim given as a prize and signed by Reverend Bornstein who later became the Minister of HGSS. When war broke out, together with her younger sister, she was evacuated with her grammar school, Addey and Stanhope, to Sussex. However, after six months they returned home.
“I arranged to take a course at Pitman’s College, Lewisham. At this time there were already air-raids on London. One morning I arrived to find that a bomb had flattened the place! Looking back, I am amazed, that life went on ‘normally’ through the air-raids. We went to school or work and even to the cinema. But one abiding image of that time was the day that became known as Black Saturday – 7 September 1940.
“The siren had gone and we were standing in the entrance to the shelter, which was in the garden, looking up at the sky which was totally obliterated by German planes. We learnt later that 1000 planes had stacked up over the coast and followed the line of the Thames to drop bombs and incendiary bombs on London. The Surrey Docks were very near us and soon were ablaze from end to end with the acres of timber stacks which were stored there. The daily Blitz on London had begun.”
The family went to stay with relatives in Edgware – in the country! – and then bought a house there. Shirley then did a two-year course at Pitman’s in Finchley and subsequently started work at the age of sixteen. This was, quite by chance, in the offices of RKO films which had evacuated to Elstree. Having friends in the film production studios in Elstree, she later found a job as a Production Secretary with British Nations Films (long gone). Through observation she became adept at Continuity and moved on to become a Continuity Girl with the Rank organization in Lime Grove Studios, Shepherds Bush.
What is a Continuity Girl?
“She plays a vital role in the shooting of a film, sitting next to the cameraman and noting down everything the camera sees and does. You see her there with the script and a stop-watch. You have to check that the actors keep to the dialogue and note every gesture and action they make. After a suitable ‘take’ has been shot – and usually there are numerous ‘takes’- I would type out exactly what had been said and done, plus technical information (lens – time taken – etc) and list the number of ‘takes’ and what was wrong with them and which two were to be used. This is all important because it is the only record of what has been shot and it is what the Editor works from, otherwise it would mean sifting through miles of film strips.”
Her first film was Holiday Camp, directed by Ken Annakin, which has become something of a classic and is often shown, on daytime television. It starred many household names of the time – Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison with Jimmy Hanley as their son. They were the Huggett family which had a spin-off into a series of The Huggetts on television. There was also Dennis Price, Flora Robson, Alfie Bass, Maurice Denham and Diana Dors in a cameo jiving scene – her first film and she didn’t even get a credit . . .
“We started filming on location at Butlins Holiday Camp at Filey which was the first one to open after the war. Fortunately, the crew stayed in a hotel in Scarborough. We were shooting the film in the studio in a very cold winter and in the scene around the pool for the Beauty Queen parade, the girls were blue with cold, in their bathing costumes. And I recall the impression Diana Dors made on everyone – she was only an ‘extra’ but everyone could see she was special.”
Shirley’s next production, also directed by Ken Annakin, was Broken Journey, probably the first disaster movie ever made. It starred Phyllis Calvert and David Tomlinson plus a host of well-known actors, James Donald, Derek Bond, Margot Grahame, Raymond Huntley, Francis L Sullivan and others. It tells the story of a plane crash on a glacier in the French Alps and the location shots were in the mountains above Chamonix.
“We had to take the cable car to get to the hotel. The first week there became a holiday for most of us because the Dakota plane we were shooting (no wings) kept slipping down the mountain and the carpenters had to fix it. Then, back in the studio, we had a lot of trouble trying to match the real snow with false stuff. We ended up with salt – tons of it.”
I asked Shirley if her name appeared on the credits.
“No – on Holiday Camp there are five names of the production team, for example. There was nothing like the lists you get today – it is a joke.”
I also asked if going on location was as glamorous as one imagined.
“Actually no – it is very hard work. It involves sitting up most of the night typing up the results of the day’s work as you cannot do it on the spot”.
What was the reaction of her parents to her going on location – not the usual thing young girls did at that time?
“My mother was very supportive. Although she was clever at school, she had been restricted to helping in the family business. My father was not exactly enthusiastic but I tended to do whatever I planned to do!”
Married life and communal work in the Suburb
Shirley met Alfred at a friend’s party. Their first ‘date’ was a charity dinner and dance and Alfred was MC – and that proved to be the pattern of their life together! They were engaged within six months and had arranged the wedding, when Shirley was offered a film about Columbus with location in the West Indies. Alfred promised to take her there; so, after some consideration, she declined the film. They were married, by Dayan Lew and Reverend Freilich, at HGSS, in August 1948. The celebrations were at The Brent Bridge Hotel (long gone) and, just before the wedding, the wartime restrictions on what food could be served at functions were lifted. So they had the first chicken dinner at a function since 1939! However, although they travelled to many places, they never got to the West Indies.
They lived, first, in a flat at Henly’s Corner but came to HGSS where Alfred was already a member. His parents had moved to the Suburb in 1936. He had spent seven years in the army and, sadly, shortly after his demob, his mother had died.
Shirley continued to work for nearly two years but the film industry was changing – fewer films were being made. By this time she was expecting their first child, Paul, and she stopped work. The industry did revive, but with a totally different work structure.
Alfred was always heavily involved in communal work. As soon as he was out of the army, he became Chairman of the Egerton Aid Committee which had been established by his aunt, Sarah Winer at the shul in Stamford Hill. They had many fund-raising functions in the 50’s and 60’s.
In 1950, because of Alfred ‘s involvement with the JNF, they visited Israel where they were treated as special guests. The JNF organised two tours for them by car with a driver/guide. While in the north, Alfred took the opportunity to visit Kfar Blum to catch up with old Habonim friends. It was an interesting visit . . . ”Alfred, you should come and join us here” . . . but Shirley could see immediately that kibbutz life was not for her! In the South, they stopped at a one-street ‘village’ with a store/shop with a rail for tying up horses or camels. That was Be’er Sheva!
Alfred became very active at HGSS. In the 60’s and 70’s he served on the Board of Management and worked for education and Kerem as well as for Ravenswood. He served as Warden with Bernard Taub from 1978-81 and then again from 1985-88, first with Irving Grose and then with Charles Landau. He was a great believer in encouraging younger people to take office. Being Warden could not interfere with his great love of tennis and nothing could lure him into the shul office before l2 noon on a Sunday morning. He was instrumental in getting Rabbi Jackson to come to the Suburb. He chaired the local community of The British Friends of Israeli War Disabled who hosted disabled IDF veterans in their homes for two-week holidays in London. Together with Louis Taub , he founded the Lech Lecha Club for those who had that Sedra for their Barmitzvah. In 1984 he chaired the organising committee for the 50th Anniversary celebrations, the highlight of which was a dinner at the London Marriott Hotel when he was the MC. He was Chatan Bereshit in 1955 and again in 1998 – the only layman to have been accorded that honour twice.
Family life and further education – making up for lost time
During this time his business began to expand – he was a cloth merchant dealing in men’s suitings from the mills in Yorkshire. The exporting side also expanded especially to the Far East and this necessitated increased foreign travel, Shirley often accompanying him. When Shirley gave up work she decided to pursue her education which had been interrupted by the war. For example, she did not take her school certificate (Matriculation).
“I did various courses – mainly English Literature plus various Jewish lectures. Then, I decided to do more ‘structured’ learning by doing two A levels but I had to find tutors to do this because they were school exams. I did one book of the Bible and early Jewish History, and then I did ancient Greek and Roman History and did well in all four papers! After that, I went to the first Spiro course in Modern Jewish History which was held in their flat with Robin Spiro participating. The lecturer was Professor Katz from Israel.”
All this time, they were both still working on the Hagan magazine and Alfred took over as Editor in 1988 when then editor, Jonathan Lauffer, left the district to teach at Carmel College. The Rosh Hashanah 2005 edition was the last one Alfred worked on – he sadly passed away in January 2006 and Shirley then stepped in. Now she feels she has earned a rest.
Shirley and Alfred had three sons, Paul, Robert and Michael who all attended Kerem House and Kerem School. Paul, who did a degree in Theatre Design and recently completed a PhD, works for the Higher Education Academy dealing with all teaching and learning in Drama, Music and Dance at UK Universities. His wife, Jo, originally from Canada, also works in the education/university field. Their daughter, Sarah, has just finished her course at the Dartington College of Art with a First Class Honour’s Degree in Contemporary Music and their son, Jacob, is at Sheffield University. They live in Manchester.
Robert went on aliyah after university and is married to Carine, originally from France. They live in Jerusalem and run the Jerusalem Tallit Studio, – Robert also runs the Kleiman Realty. Carine makes hand-woven tallitot on special looms (quite a few of them can be seen at HGSS). She also designed the blue parochet with the fruit/flowers border which adorn our Aron Hakodesh and Bimah. They have two children and two grandchildren.
Michael is the only one living in London and who went to university in London. He is married to Susie (from Manchester) and he is a commodity broker specialising in oil. Susie works professionally for the CAB as an advisor. They have three sons, two are married and the youngest is now at Manchester University. The eldest, Aron, was chosen for the Teach First Project after his Degree from Leeds University and he successfully taught at a tough school for a few years but is now working in the City. His wife, Emma, is a Speech Therapist. Joshua did his Degree at Manchester and, after working successfully for Tribe, he has joined Michael in the commodity broking field. His wife, Leanne, did her Degree in Pharmacy, also at Manchester.
It was sad that, because she was ill, Hagan did not appear at Pesach, and it was not expected that her retirement would be so sudden. She says:
“As can be seen, HGSS has played a big part in my life mainly via Alfred’s involvement here. I find it wonderful that any Shabbat I am in shul someone will tell me something they remembered about him, especially how he encouraged them to write for the Hagan, and his sense of fun. I must thank all the people who responded so willingly in writing articles for the magazine over the years. I do hope a new editor can be found to continue the magazine’s tradition because it is the most interesting and rewarding work. It would be a pity to lose all the local talent that went into it – and finding new talent. Surely there is room to continue some thoughtful and challenging writing in our community.”