Celebrity Jukebox #34: Rita Tushingham

We watched the Edgar Wright movie Last Night In Soho recently, and I very much enjoyed the recreation of 1960s London, the retro soundtrack, and the performances of Thomasin Mackenzie and Anna Taylor-Joy. The film took a swerve into unnecessary melodrama towards the end, which I found a bit of a disappointment. I like melodrama, but this felt a bit rushed and didn't really match the tone of the rest of the movie. Still worth a watch though.

Among the cast was a cameo by 60s star Rita Tushingham, now in her 80s but still going strong... and those piercing blue eyes were still very much in evidence. (She won awards for her role in the movie The Girl With Green Eyes, but according to iffypedia, "as the film is in black and white the green eyes are never seen".)

Rita Tushingham made her screen debut in the 1961 adaptation of Shelagh Delaney's A Taste Of Honey, a movie which was hugely influential on a certain Stephen Patrick Morrissey. There are at least six Smiths songs on which Morrissey pilfers lyrics from Shelagh Delaney's script, including one of their best known tunes, This Charming Man. Morrissey's favourite movie was controversial at the time for a number of reasons, including one of the first interracial kisses seen on screen. How ironic. I've long stopped trying to convince anyone (including myself) that Morrissey isn't a tad racist. The truth is rarely black and white, but there are some ugly shades of grey. Unlike many former fans, I'm still able to disconnect and enjoy his old music on its original merits. If you choose not to anymore, I respect your opinion. Respect mine and we can send a message of tolerance and harmony to the man with the quiff that might one day change his ways.  

A Taste Of Honey isn't the only movie to connect Rita to The Smiths. The video to Girlfriend In A Coma also features clips from her 1964 film The Leather Boys.

While no Morrissey lyrics mention Rita Tushingham directly, she can be found in songs from another pair of John Peel's favourite acts. Firstly, Martin Newell's Cleaners From Venus, who cast her alongside a number of other 60s icons...

Rita Tushingham isn't smiling

Waiting for the green electric

Train to take her

Down to London

Where she will see Mr. Wilson

Standing by the iron railings

Opposite the chestnut palings

David Hemmings will be waiting

With a job for David Bailey

And secondly, here's Rita in one of Franz Ferdinand's very best tunes...

Great Western Wind catches in your Celtic hair

Flicks it round your face like flames around the sun

In the bright cold air you seem as innocent and fair

As Rita Tushingham in 1961