Interviews with Tommy Kearins "the wee boy" from the Ealing comedy film "The Maggie"

[@davidrussellhulme2045]

Great that you got this recorded for all time. He's the real star of the film - one of the very finest juvenile perfomances, I reckon. Sad to hear Tommy has passed away - but little Dougie will surely live forever.

[@chrisshaw5316]

This is like being with my Grandpa and hearing him tell all of the stories about making the film. Philip - I can’t thank you enough for this memory ❤

[@carlmitchell9958]

My favourite film, watch it twice a year. Thanks for posting.

[@halcyon289]

Tommy was a natural. His performance never looked forced, it's a shame he never went on to work in other films.

[@davidsandz2186]

I saw this wonderful film for the first time in the Aldwych cinema, Paisley Road West, Glasgow in 1954...on the awning over the entrance there was a really big model of the Maggie...I was 9yo at the time and thought, and still do, that Tommy was terrific as "the wee boy"...as an adult I think the acting overall is top class...especially Alex MacKenzie, amongst the adults, who I've seen in other films and who is a brilliant totally believable actor...it's my favourite Ealing comedy by a country mile...and also the most under-rated and under-mentioned...I've just finished watching it again with the tears filling my eyes more than once...I decided to see what Wikipedia had to say about it and came across your film...what unbelievable luck...you've done a lovely job, all the better and more special because of your feelings for Tommy and the film...sad to hear about Tommy's death...what a brilliant example of a Glaswegian man...I know it's water under the bridge (!) but if Tommy had returned immediately to Glasgow, instead of staying in London, he may have stood a better chance of pursuing an acting career...but who knows...if he had he would probably not've met his wife Ena who, I get the impression from you, was the perfect partner for him...Thank you so much for the film and the memories...it should defo be on the dvd...Alexander Mackendrick also deserves special mention...what a great job he did...also under-rated and under-mentioned. Sorry to bang on so much, it's just that it's one of my all-time favourite movies...and I couldn't help myself. Best wishes Philip...hope you're safe and well.

[@philiphatfield2833]

Thank you David. Tommy hung around Ealing Studios for a while hoping to break into the film business on the production side but found it a bit of a "closed shop". This echoed my own experience as I used to write to the BBC regularly when I was around 16 to ask if I could be a film cameraman on their training scheme. I never got anywhere either. Tommy eventually returned home to Govan and worked in the shipyards which he blamed for his subsequent health problems. I now live 40 miles from the crinan canal where much of the movie was filmed. At present I'm scouting out locations for "The Bridal Path", 1959 starring Bill Travers. Unfortunately most of the cast are gone although I believe Fiona Clyne (Katie in the film) is still on the go and in her 90s. I've managed to find a local who watched the film being made and even met Bill and his future wife Virginia McKenna on the set. I may make another wee film ! Best wishes, Phil.

[@thomaskearins9208]

I cannot thank you enough for posting this. Any time I think about my Grandfather I watch this. Great reading some of the nice comments too.

[@philiphatfield2833]

Hi Thomas, so glad I made this little movie too. I remember being so nervous meeting up with your Grandad At Crinan back in 2001 but such a lovely man and your Gran too. Visited them in the Govan flat several times when Tommy was marooned on the top floor due to his health. So glad they were able to move to Irvine where doubtless the sea air helped. I think I was there four or five times too. I intend to visit your Gran, maybe this year. Best regards, Phil

[@philiphatfield2833]

Meant NEXT year of course!

[@juliaraeside7563]

Hi Thomas, I just found this film searching for entries to do with my dad, Jim Raeside. We lost him recently and I'd remembered him telling me of the Scout's gang show in Glasgow and how he and a boy called Tommy got down to the last two to play the boy in The Maggie. It's amazing to see this film of your grandfather and to think that he and my dad were friends as teenagers. Sorry to hear of his passing. Hope your family is well. Julia

[@cameronsharp3544]

My dad introduced this film to me in the 70's. I did the same to my lad in the 90's. The magic of Tommy entering the wheelhouse is something we both remember and treasure as wee boys. Tommy was a great young actor and was clearly a fine person in life too.

[@frankiedowds4202]

Just watched the movie today, wonderful and heart warming, loved all the actors Tommy stood out as a real talent.

[@Jomicallahan]

I love The Maggie and enjoyed this wonderful documentary. I often invoke that most powerful of blessings "good luck to you" on my less than friends and take some pleasure in knowing they are ignorant of its origin. God, what a wonderful movie. May it survive a thousand years and continue to teach people about what is important in this life.

[@philiphatfield2833]

+Jomicallahan Thanks for the nice comments. I hope you have the scots accent right: "Good luck tae you". I've just got back from Oban but due to the weather didn't have chance to visit the crinan canal which is almost 50 miles south.

[@Jomicallahan]

+philip hatfield I will be sure to adopt the proper pronunciation. I went from Oban over to the Hebrides in 1980 on my hitchhiking backpacking sojourn. Extraordinary trip which made the movie all the more meaningful when I first discovered it.

[@hughtierney9109]

I thought Maggie was a wonderful film with a great performance by Tommy Kearins so these interviews were very interesting to hear. Thanks for posting.

[@philiphatfield2833]

and thank you for the kind comments Hugh.

[@jma1009]

Thank you very much for posting this wonderful interview with Tommy. The film was on BBC2 today at lunchtime, and watched it from start to finish for the first time. A wonderful Ealing Comedy, and much neglected. It is just as good, if not better, than the The Lavender Hill Mob, The LadyKillers, and Kind Hearts and Coronets etc. Cheers, Julian

[@darrenburnfan]

"The boy actor Tommy Kearins gives a beautifully sincere performance, real and touching". The Monthly Film Bulletin review, April, 1954.

[@darrenburnfan]

Edited from the book Lethal Innocence, The Cinema of Alexander Mackendrick, by Philip Kemp, published by Methuen in 1991. Tommy Kearins’ performance in The Maggie is an impressive achievement, perfectly gauged in tone, likeable without cuteness, fresh and remarkably accomplished. As, for example, the brief scene on the quayside at Inverkerran where Dougie first encounters Calvin Marshall. Kearins, without a word of dialogue, conveys unmistakably that he knows who Marshall is; that he’s considering at least three possible courses of action, taking refuge in the puffer, feigning ignorance, or dashing off to warn the others and, quite incidentally, that the cabbage he’s holding was lifted from a nearby garden. All this with no recourse to close-ups or exaggerated reactions. This is acting, and direction of acting, of a high order, the more so for its lack of ostensation.

[@terencebennison6275]

Just watched the 'Maggie' today. A really funny film, the tension built and built , driving the american mad!

[@darrenburnfan]

The working title for Tommy's film while it was being made in the summer of 1953 was "Highland Fling" and it wasn't retitled "The Maggie" until it was submitted to the British Board of Film Censors for classification in early February, 1954. In America, the official title was "High and Dry", but some American lobby cards of the time show that it was also shown there under the title "The Maggie".

[@J7116R]

I've probably watched this movie a dozen times since I bought it 5 years ago. It's one of the best films in my collection. I just bought the book and it nearly reads like a script, although some small parts were left out of the film. I'm sorry about Tommy Kearns not going places in the movies. He had a lot of good talent. He was really the star of the film.

[@halcyon289]

It's a cracking good film. I

[@darrenburnfan]

I'll second that! It's a real classic!

[@nickworley1000]

thanks very interesting RIP Tommy

[@npandy1]

Great actor ... watch The Maggie several times

[@zackspaulding]

Amazing, this interview should have been added to the extras of the dvd/b-ray release from 2015,its these kind of little extras things that are needed/should be made....well done and its great to watch.

[@AlexanderLennox]

I don't know if Tommy is alive or dead but we knew one and another as kids I lived in Lettoch Street in the "Wine Alley" Govan and Tommy lived in Kella Street. I think he went on to work in the Govan shipbuilders and I went on to be a Docker ar Shieldhall Docks. Listening to Tommy has brought back memories.

[@philiphatfield2833]

Tommy died in 2012. He and his wife Christina moved to Irvine from Govan a few years before. He had chest trouble all the time I knew him, caused he reckoned from the shipbuilding industry. He gave me a copy of his autobiography which unfortunately was unpublished at the time. I may try and get it into print somehow with the family's permission. Christina moved back to Govan after Tommy's death to be near relatives and old friends.

[@jimmacbrayne3578]

My grandfather (same name as myself) was originally from Ardrishaig, and later owned a wholesale fish and game business, McKinney and Rafferty, in Glasgow. I have many fond memories of Argyllshire, and can attest to the particular canniness and wry humour of the inhabitants of the west coast of Scotland which this film so beautifully portrays. The Maggie (which I have watched countless times) was obviously very heavily influenced by the Para Handy tales of Neil Munro, but in my opinion far surpasses any of the television episodes of the latter. As has been said, The Wee Boy is a star of the film, but I must also single out Alex MacKenzie as the perfect Para Handy.

[@philiphatfield2833]

Hi Jim, yes I agree with all your points - the crew of the Maggie were perfectly cast. It's a shame that Tommy never managed to make any more movies, such a natural actor. I'll be up in Oban very soon and no trip is complete without walking the crinan canal.

[@gerardlacey9384]

Aw this is a gem of a film about one of my favourite of the Ealing films, it's great to see and hear Mr. Kearins. I d love to visit there sometime on my motorcycle. Many thanks and best wishes. Gérard lacey in Ireland.

[@darrenburnfan]

Wednesday, August 31st, 2016. Today would have been Tommy's 78th birthday.

[@waverley60]

My favourite Ealing Comedy (being from Greenock!) - superb documentary Mr Hatfield - and it helped with identifying locations - and the quality is 'Chust Sublime' Thank You

[@philiphatfield2833]

Hi Jim, many thanks for the kind comments, we're off to Crinan again in a couple of weeks - never tire of the place. I haven't yet stood on the pier head at Greenock to shout "You've tae telephone a Mr Marshall at the Central Hotel, Glasgow", but I will one day. Best regards, Phil.

[@wingco39]

+Jim Fergusson Many thanks Jim, wondered what had happened to wee Dougie. That seems to have been his only acting part, in films at least, so how did Tommy make a living ? He's a typical Glaswegian, friendly and open and so willing to talk about his experiences. Seeing the locations was very nostalgic for me as I was just a lad a year younger than Tommy, living in Glasgow although on the wrong side of the river in Scotstoun, mind my uncle Jimmy was a postie in Govan. A particular memory was the wee guy selling papers outside the door of the Central Hotel, he was genuine as I remember my dad buying his paper from him in the evening after work. He used to yell out " Times, News, Citeeezen " . Can you imagine Glasgow had three evening papers in those days - pre telly. Thanks again Jim for those great interviews, may the Maggie live on in cyber space.

[@waverley60]

+wingco39 I was born in 1948 - and I have a vague memory of the wee man in 'The Maggie' selling papers outside the Central Hotel in the early '50's ! - and his cries of " Times, News, Citeeezen " - this during our infrequent visits to Glasgow - usually to buy my mum another fur coat (a symbol of affluence for a Greenock housewife at the time) I'm so glad that you can confirm that he was real and not an actor....thanks for this I have an old 1980's Scots Magazine interview with Mr Kearins- when I can find it in my pathetic 'filing system' I'll scan it and post it somewhere like facebook or Google+ By the way - I have nothing to do with Mr Hatfield's excellent work - superb isn't it! Thanks Again Jim

[@philiphatfield2833]

+wingco39 Tommy stayed at Ealing for a while in an attempt to stay in the film industry, either as an actor or in production but found no openings so returned to Glasgow and eventually worked in the shipyard. When I met him his health was not too good - he suffered from chest disease brought on by poor working conditions over the years. He also had a battle with the bottle (quite open about that) which he won and was subsequently teetotal. Effectively marooned by the stair access to his top floor flat with wife Ena in Govan where the interviews were filmed, they sold up they moved" doon the watter" to Irvine where he lived out his final years.

[@BobBlanchett]

just wonderful to hear his memories of the cast and the shoot. thank you!

[@JimMcphillips]

You wouldn't think there was a camera Infront of him, beautiful to watch, went to school with his son, always remember him telling me his father was in the Maggie when in primary school

[@mikekemp9877]

lovely documentary. james copelands son james cosmo is still acting notably in got. i realised sadly watching this that the maggie was made just at the right time though of course they didnt know it.para handy and the clyde puffers of which this film is a very close realation to were 50 years earlier when the clyde was teeming with craft and cargo. the wily crew can just vanish for days at a time secure in the knowledge that the river is so busy that they will never be short of work.when this was made times were changing as reflected in the movie. when i was a boy london was full of foreign ships cork my home town a flourishing port like every port in the british isles and eire.sadly unions management and containers ripped the heart out of the traditional dockland culture by 1970 it was all gone worldwide. tilbury efficient as it may be will never show the romance of those days. so this is an important movie not just because of the brilliant plot acting and direction but because it shows the last gasps of a way of life soon to be gone forever.as a fan of both the maggie and neil munro thankyou.

[@philiphatfield2833]

Thank you Mike, I'm glad you enjoyed my "wee film", I've just found the original footage I shot in 2002 at Crinan with a few small bits edited out from this version. When I have time I'll compile them and post on KZbin as Tommy is no longer with us I feel I should publish everything I shot at the time on my little Sony Handicam. I saw Tommy's wife last year and she is managing OK but obviously missing him greatly - a loveley guy and I am pleased I could call him a friend.

[@mikekemp9877]

@@philiphatfield2833 cant wait thanks am rereading para handy as i type really is a lost world

[@mariner0]

One of my favourite films

[@carolinegray3150]

Nice video

[@philiphatfield2833]

Thank you Caroline - glad you liked it, I watched "The Maggie" yesterday on Blu Ray. It will always be one of my favourite films.

[@darrenburnfan]

The date and place of Tommy's death is now up on his page at the IMDb.

[@philiphatfield2833]

Thanks, I'll try and post those photos to Britmovie sometime soon.

[@darrenburnfan]

It looks very much as though Britmovie, which has been online for many years now, will be going offline permanently very soon, as another company has taken over the ISP server for the site and upped the quarterly payment to keep the site online by nearly 100% to £1,000 per quarter, making it financially too difficult to keep it going. I think it's paid up until October, but it could end sooner than like, like in September.

[@delux976]

The boy as the star of the movie for me

[@darrenburnfan]

Hi, Philip, many sincere thanks for what you did here. No doubt this is the only interview with him anywhere as an adult. Do you happen to know the exact date of his passing, as it's not mentioned anywhere on the Internet. If so, it should be put on the IMDb, as although his date of birth is given on there as August 31st, 1938, in Glasgow, his date of death is not included. If you do know, I would be much obliged if you would put it on here and then I will upload it onto the IMDb.

[@philiphatfield2833]

Hi Darren (I presume!), I tried to update IMDB myself and my report of Tommy's death was submitted but for some reason never appeared. I'm Facebook friends with his Grandson Thomas so I'll PM him to check the date. I'll post here when I get a reply. Best regards, Phil.

[@darrenburnfan]

Thanks for the reply, Phil. When you post the date, I'll try to upload it onto the IMDb myself. I don't know if I'll have any better luck than you, but I'll give it a go. I shall certainly include it on The Maggie thread on the Britmovie Forum. Tommy had a hard life after he left Ealing, failing to get further work there, even after the success of The Maggie, and went to work with his father in the Clydeside shipyards. On his first day there, so I read on Britmovie, he saw a man fall to his death from the prow of a ship. So not a very good omen on your first day at work. Best Regards from David, fan of the late Darren Burn, hence darrenburnfan.

[@philiphatfield2833]

Hi David, Thomas Kearins gives his Grandad's date as 5th July 2012. I have a typed copy of Tommy's biography which as far as I know was never published. I may ask his widow Ena if I can publicise it somehow - there are some great stories in it. Also I have some film still images taken on the set of the Maggie which deserve a larger audience somehow. Any ideas welcomed.

[@darrenburnfan]

Many Thanks, Phil. So he was 73, going on 74, when he passed away. But thanks to the film The Maggie, he will never die and will always by 14, going on 15, in it and he will always be Dougie. What a wonderful performance he gave. He stole the film from everyone else. I suppose you could always open a Word Press account on the Internet and publish his biography on there. As for the stills, you could always join Britmovie dot co dot uk and upload them onto The Maggie thread on the Your Favourite British Films section. But you would have to upload them onto Photobucket first and them download them onto Britmovie. Another way is to upload them onto your Facebook page. My Facebook page is under the name David Rayner and is open to the public. It has a small black and white head shot of me as a blond haired four year old in 1951 below a colour panoramic view of some picturesque countryside.

[@philiphatfield2833]

Can you post a link to your Facebook page, I can't seem to find it. Ta!