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Twiggy
and The Shrimp
- By Bill Harry
Twiggy
was to become the most famous model of the 1960s and one of the most
familiar faces in the world. Her photograph was even encased in a time
capsule and sent into space.
Jean
Shrimpton was one of the world’s most famous models of the Sixties.
Born in Buckinghamshire in 1942, she was never really happy as a
model, even though she was internationally famous by the age of
eighteen, was working with all the top photographers on both sides of
the Atlantic and appearing on the covers of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar
and Vanity Fair.
Jean Shrimpton
Jean
Shrimpton's services were in great demand, yet she never made a
fraction of the sums earned by the supermodels of today. She has
commented, “Today’s models are more concerned with money. We were
not. We never earned very much.” She also pointed out that in her
day models were expected to arrive on time with their hair done and
make-up in place. “Unlike today,” she says, “there were no
hairdressers and make-up artists in the sessions.” Shrimpton
graduated from the Lucie Clayton modelling school and fell in love
with photographer David Bailey, a married man. The naïve girl from
the country and the streetwise cockney set up house together in a
scruffy London basement stuffed with animals and birds, including 24
finches and lovebirds and two dogs, Monie and Bertie. They worked
together as a team, travelling throughout Europe and America on top
fashion assignments.
Bailey obtained a divorce from his wife Rosemary in December 1963, but
by that time Jean, who was now known as ‘the Shrimp’, had decided
she didn’t want to marry him. She also hated the name ‘the
Shrimp’, saying, “Shrimps are horrible pink things that get their
heads pulled off!” By January 1964 she’d embarked on a three-year
affair with film actor Terence Stamp.
Although her face was famous throughout the world, her major
contribution to the fashion revolution didn’t occur until 1965 when
she was hired to present the prizes for the Melbourne Cup in
Australia. The fashion company Orlon, who hired her, didn’t brief
her on the assignment. They also sent her some inexpensive dress and
suit lengths, rather than ready-made outfits.
Jean was left to design what she wanted and had them made up. She
hired a dressmaker, Colin Rolf, who discovered there was not
sufficient fabric for her designs. He then said, “Oh, it doesn’t
matter. Make them a bit shorter – no one’s going to notice.”
“And that’s how the mini was born,” says the Shrimp. She settled
for four outfits, all above the knee.
On the day of the race she didn’t bother wearing any stockings, her
dress was short, she had no hat or gloves – and the organisers were
cross. The Melbourne Cup was the smartest event in the Australian
year; the conservatively dressed members of Australian society who
attended were shocked at her appearance, which they considered
insulting and disgraceful.
She was surrounded by photographers shooting upwards to make her skirt
look even shorter. She became a cause celebre. She appeared on the
front pages of newspapers throughout the world. It created a huge
controversy in Australia, with half the country for her and half
against – with the young people loving it. She was to say, “All
over Australia your girls started shortening their skirts. The
pictures, which the British newspaper had used, had the same results
back home. Suddenly the mini, which had had a half-hearted start in
Paris, became fashionable. “Mary Quant rode in on the back of it,
immediately making shorter skirts. Many people gave her credit for the
new craze, but the truth was that the mini took off because Orlon had
been stingy with the fabric.” In 1967, while in New York, she began
an affair with photographer Jordan Kalfus, who’d previously lived
with Ali McGraw, a model who had begun a new career as a film star.
The two lived together for two years, but Jean pined for London. She
ended the affair in 1969. She was now 26 years old and had been
modelling for eight years.
The new man in her life was Heathcote Williams, an anarchic and
virtually penniless writer for the Transatlantic Revue. Their
relationship proved to be a volatile one. Jean bought a house in
Darnley Terrace, Holland Park, in which there was a study for Williams
to work in. However, he kept a virtual open house. She was to comment
that he invited many of the people he was working with to stay; “but
they did not contribute to the household expenses, not even towards
the telephone calls they made. I suppose they couldn’t. I was the
only one with any money. I did not take too much notice at first, but
when the money began to run out and I was forced to look for work, I
began to think differently.” The two argued and split up. Malcolm, a
friend of Williams, arrived on her doorstep one day. She told him that
Heathcote didn’t live there any more, but invited him to stay. They
became lovers and the affair lasted for seven years.
They decided to visit Cornwall where Malcolm had studied at Falmouth
Art School. He also had a Cornish wife and a girlfriend who’d had
his baby, before leaving him. They initially rented a cottage near
Penzance, and then moved on to Wales for a time. The Shrimps’ money
was shrinking fast, particularly since she had Malcolm’s wife,
girlfriend and two children to consider. After two years in Wales they
moved back to London, sold the big house in Holland Park and bought a
smaller property near Ladbroke Grove. Malcolm became homesick for
Cornwall and because Jean had come to like Cornwall so much, they
decided to go and live there. To earn more money she phoned her agent
to ask for work and was booked for a modelling assignment in the
Algarve. She was working with another model, a young Dutch girl called
Willie, who was given the best clothes and more shots. Jean realised
she had been superseded. The house in Wales was sold and a cottage in
Camborne became their new home.
Jean was now 33 years old and realised her modelling days were over. A
friend suggested she open an antiques shop.
One of her customers was a tall, handsome blond man, Michael Cox. When
Malcolm had become involved with a group of Buddhists who had decided
to move on to Cambridgeshire, he opted to go with them. Jean stayed
behind in Cornwall and her affair with Michael began. He was to
divorce his wife Caroline and the couple were married at Penzance
register office in January 1979. Jean was three months pregnant at the
time. They held their wedding reception at the Abbey Hotel, an old
Gothic-fronted house that overlooked the harbour. Her pregnancy was a
difficult one because she has a condition called
hyperemesis-gravidarum, which causes acute dehydration. Soon after
their son Thaddeus was born, they heard that the Abbey Hotel was up
for sale and decided to buy it. That is where Jean, Michael and
Thaddeus live today and Jean is happier than she’s ever been.
She was never comfortable with the trappings of success – when David
Bailey used to take her to trendy nightclubs, she’d take her
knitting with her! – and loved running her hotel. The Abbey Hotel is
an enchanting place – and there is not one picture of ‘the
Shrimp’ as a model to be found anywhere on the premises!
Twiggy
From
the age of 16 when she was declared ‘The Face of ‘66’, by a
British newspaper, Twiggy has packed in a lot of living and a
multitude of careers – as a world famous model, recording artist,
film actress and author (her second autobiography ‘Twiggy in Black
And White’ was published when she was 48.)
Born Lesley Hornby in Neasden, London in September 1949, she was to
become the most famous model of the 1960s and one of the most familiar
faces in the world. Her photograph was even encased in a time capsule
and sent into space.
However, her career in films and on record has not been as well
documented as her modelling career under her boyfriend and manager of
the time, Justin de Villeneuve (an in-joke - his posh-sounding name
actually means 'New Town' in French and that's where he lived - in a
sixties new town.) Many people commented on the control he seemed to
wield over her and he was dubbed her ‘Svengali.’ She says, “A
Sevengali? I don’t think so, but he made sure he ran every aspect of
my life.” Twiggy has recorded more than a dozen singles and appeared
on seven albums. It was in 1966 that record label Ember approached
deVillieneuve offering a contract for her to make records. “I
don’t suppose they even knew I could sing,” she recalls,
remembering she’d only left school six months previously. When her
debut single was released in Japan it became a huge hit and she was
booked to appear at the prestigious Budokan Hall in Tokyo. Twiggy
paraded up and down the stage wearing different outfits while a
Japanese group played Beatles numbers.
Despite the numerous records she has made, Twiggy was only to enjoy
one Top Twenty entry, ‘Here I Go Again’, which was a hit for her
in 1976. Once Twiggy was established as a model she sought to expand
her career by becoming an actress. She and Justin thought that William
Faulkner’s ‘The Hanging Tree’ would make a good film project for
her and decided to approach the Beatles for backing. They met John
Lennon and Paul McCartney and she was to say, “For me it was like
meeting God…… Paul was the one who was my hero; he was the one
I’d stuck pictures of all over my desk at school and on my bedroom
wall. “At 13 it was him I’d screamed my head off for at the
Finsbury Park Astoria. I was so excited to be meeting him at last, but
trying to be cool. And he was lovely, just as I’d imagined, and he
was the one I became most friends with. The Beatles did like the film
idea, but we never managed to get it together.” However, Paul
suggested they contact movie director Ken Russell, and Twiggy was
later to star in his film musical ‘The Boyfriend’ in 1971, for
which she received two Golden Globe Awards.
In 1968 there were plans for Twiggy to tour Russia and Granada
Television intended making a documentary film of the trip.
Unfortunately, it fell through. Twiggy said, “Paul actually wrote a
song for that trip to Russia that didn’t come off – and it was
‘Back In The USSR’, which went on the Beatles white album.”
After ‘The Boyfriend’, Twiggy sought further roles, and a film
called ‘Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance’ was planned. The name was
inspired by the Gene Kelly song ‘Broadway Melody’, which contains
the words ‘gotta dance’ and the story was to be set on a cruise
liner in the 1930s.
Once again, Paul wrote a song for Twiggy, this time the title song.
The film was never made and Paul later used the number in his ‘James
Paul McCartney’ television special. In 1996 Twiggy released the
album ‘London Pride’ which was a collection of classics from
British musicals. She next released an album of Noel Coward numbers.
Her career in films hasn’t been spectacular, but it has provided her
with steady acting work over the years and her movies, following
‘The Boyfriend’, have included ‘W’, ‘There Goes The
Bride’, ‘The Blues Brothers’, ‘The Doctor & the Devils’,
‘Club Paradise’, ‘The Diamond Trap’, ‘Madame Sousatzka’
and ‘Istanbul.’
One of the most dramatic periods of her life occurred when she was
cast in the thriller ‘W.’ He co-star was 6ft 2ins former baseball
player Michael Whitney. The two fell in love, were married at Richmond
registry office and went off to Sardinia for their honeymoon. After a
miscarriage Twiggy became pregnant again and their daughter Carly was
born in 1978. Things began to go downhill when Twiggy discovered that
Michael was an alcoholic. His behaviour because so erratic that it
produced problems for the couple. She was to note, “It not only
affected Michael’s career, it affected mine too. Los Angeles is
Network City. If you’re not in, you’re out. People just didn’t
want to have to cope with him.” With no prospects for them in
Hollywood, they decided to move back to London.
Then, in 1983, Twiggy was offered the lead in the musical ‘My One
And Only’ in the States. By the time of the musical’s last try-out
in Boston, Michael’s alcoholism had become too much of a problem and
they split up. Michael was jealous of her success in the musical and
went into such a rage that he punched a hole through a wall and was
dragged away by police. In New York he turned up at the stage door,
completely drunk, resulting in Twiggy and Carly having to have
protection from a bodyguard. Twiggy realised that the addiction to
alcohol had killed her love for him, but she agreed that he should
continue to see Carly. When he turned up she was shocked. “The
handsome man I’d fallen in love with was long gone. Haggard and
thin, the muscles from his legs all wasted. His clothes hung on him.
His hands shook. His eyes were bloodshot and he had bloodhound-sized
bags under them.
Michael took Carly out on the eve of her fifth birthday to McDonalds
and they’d just finished their meal when he had a massive heart
attack. The staff took Carly out to the back of the restaurant while
the paramedics confirmed that he had died. A few years after the
tragic events, Twiggy met the Shakespearian actor Leigh Lawson. They
fell in love and were married in 1988. However, although he’s very
happy to be Mrs Lesley Lawson, she can’t escape the name by which
she has become so famous.
She commented, “I’m lumbered with the name Twiggy really. There
was a point a few years back when I thought I’d stop using it and be
Lesley Lawson. But every time I was written about it would be
‘Lesley Lawson, otherwise known as Twiggy.’ So my husband quite
rightly told me to stop worrying about it.”
Many thanks to
Bill Harry for this article
Mersey
Beat - Merseyside's Own Entertainment Paper
The Beatles, The Liverpool Sound, The Swinging Sixties...
It's still happening, man: http://www.mersey-beat.net
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