Even the most devoted cinephile could be forgiven for not knowing the name of Lydia Hayward, but at her peak in the 1920s she was one of Britain’s foremost screenwriters, praised throughout the industry for her witty, structurally precise romantic comedies. She may have since fallen into obscurity, but the modern renaissance in silent film has offered another chance for her work to be seen, reassessed and appreciated. Instrumental in the attempt to revive the reputation of this early great of British cinema is the curator of silent film at the BFI National Archive Bryony Dixon, who rediscovered the work of Hayward and has championed her films ever since. Lydia Hayward is the subject of Bryony’s upcoming talk at the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival in Bo’ness, which will be followed by a screening of one of her films, The Boatswain’s Mate. There will also be a screening of the Hayward-scripted feature, Not for Sale. We spoke to Bryony Dixon about Hayward’s career and the unfairly neglected status of British silent film.
Could you tell us about Lydia Hayward and why she’s an important figure in British film?
As many people will know, women don’t figure very largely in the credits of feature film production until recently. Here was a woman working in the business from around 1920 who was extremely well-regarded, and is always credited for her work, which is very unusual. She was regarded as something of an expert in her field of writing scenarios. All her work is very highly regarded. If you looked through the trade magazines of the film industry at the time, they always pick out her work and mention how well-crafted the scenarios are for these particular films. This is unusual, because as you know, directors tend to get credited for films rather than writers. In this case, she’s nearly always mentioned. This is significant in that it shows she was really very good.
How did you first encounter Hayward, and what is it you like about her films?
I’ve been working at the BFI national archive for many years; and I set up with some friends a film festival to look at British silent cinema, which has always been rather poorly regarded in comparison with French cinema, German cinema, and American cinema of that period. We thought, ‘Is that [comparison] really true, and has anyone really actually seen these films?’ so we set up this festival. We screened pretty much all the surviving films, though most are lost of course, but among the surviving films it was very noticeable that the films we were looking at – such as the adaptations of W.W. Jacobs’ stories – were particularly good. They’re not big films. They’re small and domestic and made for British audiences. They’re not made as big international films. But they are incredibly well-crafted, and elegant in their structure, and the thing they all had in common was [Lydia Hayward]. That’s how we first became aware of her. And its was unusual that it was a woman. There are other screenwriters of the time who are very good, like Eliot Stannard who worked with Hitchcock, but this was the only woman that we could find. People pursued her career quite avidly. [One of those] is Professor Christine Gledhill, who did some research on her for the Women Film Pioneers Project, which is a big international project in academia, hosted by Columbia University in New York. And it was part of that big project which has been going on for 20 years to really look at the work of women filmmakers.
What kind of condition were the films in when you went to screen them for the first time?
Brilliant! It’s a terrible irony that the best-known films are quite often in the worst condition in the archives. For instance, the Hitchcock silent films were so popular people kept going back to view these films until they wore out. The Lydia Hayward films are absolutely pristine because they were released, they were seen in their day for probably a couple of years, and then went back on the shelf where they stayed for 100 years.
People think of romantic comedies beginning around about the time of It Happened One Night. To what extent to Hayward’s comedies differ or resemble the rom-coms we’re familiar with?
They’re generally speaking adaptations of British writers. [Hayward] specialised in those as these were properties that the film companies had secured from very popular authors. So you’ve got people like Jerome K. Jerome who wrote Three Men in a Boat, you’ve got W.W. Jacobs, who in his day was exceptionally popular. And she worked with Noel Coward adapting one of his plays. These are texts that have already got an inherent track record if you like, and they are romantic comedies. But they are not, on the whole, farces. It Happened One Night is what you’d call screwball. It’s more farcical and faster-paced than these rather gentle British comedies. If you compare P.G. Wodehouse with the Marx Brothers, it’s that sort of difference. It’s less frenetic.
Why do think recognition of the contribution that Hayward made has waned down the decades, given she received such acclaim at the time?
Just because British silent film has been forgotten. If these things are not constantly revived, they’re just forgotten and she would have been forgotten along with them. People didn’t think these were great works of art that would last through the centuries. There is a canon of silent film that’s really quite limited. That’s partly to do with the fact that so much is lost, and it’s partly to do with the fact that silent film with live music is relatively newly revived. It’s not that long since archives began restoring these films and people began to play them again; after people like Kevin Brownlow tried to revive them. And then the canon developed, which is kind of understandable. People want to pick the great classics to show people first, so you get the great German expressionist films and stuff like that. These little domestic films which are so charming [get left out]. The equivalent today would be something like Brassed Off and that sort of domestic drama. It’s not going to have a massive resonance with international audiences, but will be well-loved and well thought of in its own country. [Hayward] is sort of in that field really, so her work is never going to rise to the top as being massive classics.
And they’re coming from more of a literary tradition to begin with too.
Yes. That as well. You can imagine people being really fond of [these films], but not putting them in the same breath as Hitchcock. You might think more of TV in our generation, actually. People tend to watch those kind of adaptations on TV; that’s where they live culturally.
I believe Hayward actually started her career as a theatre actress?
She did indeed. Again, it’s really interesting, but when she appears in something they always pick her name out. The say things like, ‘An exceptionally clever little actress,’ or, ‘Brilliantly portrayed by,’ even though she isn’t playing big, big roles. She gets come Shakespeare roles, but generally speaking she’s in an ensemble cast. But they pick her out because she’s particularly good. It seems to be a theme throughout her career; as being exceptionally good, and exceptionally clear-headed. These are the kind of words that are then used in relation to her scenarios. They called her our best scenario writer because she really understands how to get across the story in gestures and in very few words.
Do you have any personal favourites of the films that she wrote?
I do. My absolute favourite is a little two-reeler called The Boatswain’s Mate, which stars the American actress Florence Turner, who was in Britain and made a little career here for a while. And Victor McLaglen who goes on to be famous in John Ford westerns. It’s just a charming little story about a soldier who comes home from active service. He’s wandering around the countryside and bumps into this guy who wants to pretend burgle a pub as he wants to then come to the rescue of the landlady so she’ll marry him. It’s a silly little story, but it’s so beautifully done. It’s absolutely charming. It’s like a little miniature rom-com. You get the ‘meet cute’ and the ironical illustrated titles with little figures doing animated actions. It’s great.
Lydia Hayward and The Boatswain’s Mate takes place on Sat 19 Mar 22, followed by a screening of the feature Not for Sale as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.