William Thomson Hay (6 December 1888 – 18 April 1949) was an English comedian best known for playing authority figures with comic failings in several films, most notably as a schoolmaster. His film Oh, Mr Porter! (1937), made by Gainsborough Pictures, is often cited as the supreme British-produced film-comedy, and in 1938 he was the third highest-grossing star in the UK. The family moved to Lowestoft in Suffolk when he was less than a year old. By his late teens, Hay had become fluent in Italian, French and German and secured employment as an interpreter.
Career
Early career
Hay decided to become an actor at the age of 21 after watching W. C. Fields perform a juggling act in Manchester. In the early years of the twentieth century Hay experienced some moderate success as a stand-up comedian and an after-dinner speaker. Hay's first professional job came when he was offered a contract to perform at a theatre in Belper.
The acts in which Hay performed the schoolmaster sketch became known as "The Fourth Form at St. Michael's". Hay toured with the act in the United States, Canada, Australia and South Africa (where he added Afrikaans to his languages). His wife Gladys often played a schoolboy or the character Harbottle in his sketches. The Harbottle character was one of the most appreciated in Hay's act, a dim-witted, nearly deaf old man who is still in school because of his backwardness.
Hay published a magazine piece entitled Philosophy of Laughter, in which he discussed the psychology of comedy. In the essay he rhetorically asks, "Why does every one of us laugh at seeing somebody else slapped in the face with a large piece of cold custard pie? Is it because we're all naturally cruel? Or is it because there's something inherently funny in custard pies? Or in faces? Or in throwing things? No, no, and no! The real reason why we laugh is because we are relieved. Because we are released from a sense of fear. Wherever we may happen to be – in the cinema, theatre, or music-hall – we tend to identify with the actors we are watching. So that when a custard pie is thrown we fear for a moment that it has been thrown at us. And then, immediately we realise that it hasn't hit us, we experience a feeling of relief, and we laugh".
From 1934 to 1943, he was a prolific film star in Britain and ranked as the third highest grossing star at the British box office in 1938, behind George Formby and Gracie Fields. He is widely regarded as one of the most prolific and influential British comedians of all time. while the writer Jimmy Perry cited the film as an influence on key character development for Dad's Army.
Hay often portrayed incompetent authority figures who attempt to conceal their incompetence but whose true traits are gradually exposed. As well as being incompetent, his characters are often immoral; for example, a clergyman involved in horse betting in Dandy Dick, a fraudster who lies about his career as a distinguished sea captain in Windbag the Sailor, and a prison warden, Dr Benjamin Twist, in Convict 99, who obtains his job under false pretences. He is often compared to W. C. Fields, who typically portrayed characters similar to those of Hay, being misanthropic, self-centered scoundrels who nevertheless remain sympathetic.
Elstree Studios
Hay had become interested in film making while touring in the United States in the 1920s, although, at the time he doubted he had a future in this field. Having returned to Britain, Hay started work at Elstree Studios in 1934 where he made three films, Those Were the Days, Radio Parade of 1935 and Dandy Dick. He particularly thrived under the studio management of Ted Black.
His first film for the studio was Boys Will Be Boys, with the screenplay written by Hay himself. The movie's satire on the public school system was loosely based on the Narkover vein of humour in the work of Daily Express columnist, Beachcomber. Hay's film was widely seen as subversive towards authority, and it was granted an 'A' (adult) certificate by the British Board of Film Classification. Many years later, the Radio Times Guide to Films gave Boys Will Be Boys three stars out of five, observing that the film contains "the blend of bluster and dishonesty that makes his films irresistible".
During his time with Gainsborough Hay worked with Marcel Varnel, Val Guest, Charles Hawtrey, and Marriott Edgar, as well as Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt, who were Hay's straight men in a number of his films. Moffatt played Albert, the overweight, insolent schoolboy reminiscent of Billy Bunter, while Marriott was the toothless old Harbottle. The trio appeared in six films together between 1936 and 1940, Windbag the Sailor, Oh, Mr Porter!, Convict 99, Old Bones of the River, Ask a Policeman and Where's That Fire?
Hay's 1937 film alongside Moffatt and Marriott, Oh, Mr Porter! is often considered as one of the greatest British comedy films of all time. The British Film Institute included the film in its 360 Classic Feature Films list; Variety magazine described the movie as "amusing, if over-long", noting that there was "no love interest to mar the comedy"; and the cult website TV Cream listed it at number 41 in its list of cinema's Top 100 Films. The director Marcel Varnel considered the film as among his best work, and it was described in 2006, by The Times in its obituary for writer Val Guest, as "a comic masterpiece of the British cinema". Jimmy Perry, in his autobiography, wrote that the comedy trio of Captain Mainwaring, Corporal Jones and Private Pike in Dad's Army was inspired by watching Oh, Mr Porter.
Both Moffatt and Marriott were absent from Hay's 1938 film, Hey! Hey! USA with American comedy actor Edgar Kennedy being cast as Hay's sidekick instead; the film was a (somewhat unsuccessful) attempt to break into the American market. In his Gainsborough films, Hay wore a wig, which made it appear as if he was balding. He had also expressed concern that Moore Marriott, who portrayed Harbottle, received a bigger reaction from audiences than he did. Also in 1942, he made an appearance in the propaganda film, The Big Blockade among other prolific actors of the time, including Leslie Banks, John Mills and Michael Redgrave.
His final film, My Learned Friend in 1943 has been described as a masterpiece of black comedy and has been cited as paving the way for the future Ealing comedy films Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) and The Ladykillers (1955). Due to ailing health, My Learned Friend was Hay's final film.
Hay's tenure with Ealing was a box office success and his films were critically acclaimed, but have been described as not at the level of his Gainsborough films with Moffatt and Marriott.
Astronomy
In June 1932 Hay joined the British Astronomical Association; in November of the same year he also became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He is noted for having discovered a Great White Spot on the planet Saturn in 1933.
Hay kept his career in astronomy separate from his comedy career and published Through My Telescope under the name of W.T. Hay, using the same title when giving lectures on astronomy. He was a friend of William Herbert Steavenson, who would later become the President of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1957.
The asteroid 3125 Hay is named in his honour.
Personal life
In 1907 Hay married Gladys Perkins (1889–1982), whom he had known since he was 15. They legally separated on 18 November 1935, although they never divorced; the reason Gladys gave for this was that she was a Roman Catholic. and Joan Athol Hay (1917–1975). Following his separation from Gladys in 1935, he began a long-term relationship with Randi Kopstad, a native of Norway.
He was known to be a hypochondriac, and would often complain of illness to his colleagues when working.
In 1946, while on holiday, Hay suffered a stroke which left the right side of his body crippled and also affected his speech. He was told by his doctors that he would in all likelihood only make a partial recovery. Those who were present at Hay's final appearance described him as having shown no sign of illness, and said he had discussed his plans for the future. Eric Morecambe, Tommy Cooper, Harry Worth, The Will Hay Appreciation Society unveiled a memorial bench to Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt in October 2018, in Cliddesden, Hampshire, the filming location for 'Buggleskelly' in Oh, Mr Porter!. The bench was unveiled by Pete Waterman.
The humour of Hay's films has been described as subversive and similar to that of fellow English comedian Frank Randle. His films are often characterised as exhibiting traits of anti-authoritarianism and having a satirical approach towards how authority figures are portrayed. This is notable with Hay himself, who often played an incompetent authority figure who struggled not to be found out, but whose idiocy was discovered by those around him.