The Lamppost of Beauty

On 11 June 1956, 46 year old Arnold Machin and his 34 year old wife Pat of number 15 The Villas, Stoke, took a stand against the encroachment of post-war brutalist architecture and what they saw as the insidious spread of ‘subtopia’ near their home. When they heard that morning that a gang of workmen were coming later that day to remove an old Victorian lamppost from the centre of their estate and replace it with a modern streamlined concrete electric lamppost, they were appalled that such a fine bit of street furniture was being usurped simply in the name of progress. So, the Machin’s decided to make a stand and promptly sat themselves in front of the lamp for the next six hours. It was a hot day, so they hunkered down under an umbrella and tellingly sat reading The Seven Lamps of Architecture by John Ruskin, (an essay that outlined the principal demands of good architecture) and waited to see what transpired.

Arnold Machin was no mean intellect when it came to the subject of form and beauty. Born in 1911 at Oak Hill, he had begun his working life as a china painter at Mintons, but moved on to study sculpture at the Art School in Stoke, followed by a stint at Derby Art School and then the Royal Academy in London. He was later retained as a designer for Wedgwood and worked a teacher at the Burslem School of Art and in the same year that he made his stand over the lamppost, he was elected as a member of the Royal Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. And as his record showed, like many a seemingly straight-laced academic, he had a strong rebellious streak and was prepared to stand up for his beliefs come what may. Sixteen years earlier Arnold Machin had done just that and served time in prison during World War Two for being a conscientious objector. Now, when the workmen turned up he stuck to his principles once more, saying: " I forbid you, as a token protest on my part, to remove this ornamental gas-lamp centrepiece."

Faced by the prickly couple and not sure what to do, the workmen politely withdrew and put in a call to the city surveyor, Mr D. F. Brewster who soon arrived on scene. In response to the official, Mr Machin merely turned to Chapter IV "The Lamp of Beauty." of Ruskin’s work and carried on reading. When shortly after this a police inspector and a sergeant also appeared, seeing what was afoot Machin put down his book, threw his arms around the lamppost and his wife slipped a chain around his wrists and padlocked him in place. Mr Machin then proclaimed to the police: "This is my protest against the destruction of all the beautiful things which is going on in this country." 

The officials paused to have a quick conference then offered Mr Machin a compromise, saying that he could have the lamppost to have in his garden. He was satisfied with the suggestion, so Pat unlocked him. A crane arrived a short time later, pulled the lamp out of the ground, carried it 40 yards to the Machins’ house and dropped it neatly outside their front gate. Undaunted by the large post with a sizeable block of concrete at the bottom, the Machin’s said they were going to mount a commemorative plaque on it, find somewhere to put it in their garden and surround it with flowers. 

Reference: Daily Mail, 12 July 1956.

Hanley Goes to Hollywood

Hanley Stafford, c.1945
Source: CBS Radio, Public Domain
via Wikimedia Commons

Alfred John Austin had been born in Hanley on 22 September 1899, the eldest child of George and Emily Austin, he had a younger sister named Ann. In 1911 the family emigrated to Canada, settling in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where the father George initially worked on the railway and later as a caretaker. Their settled life, though, was interrupted by World War One. It seems that young Alfred was keen to go to war as on 16 August 1915, he attested for the Canadian Army, claiming he was 19, though he was actually a month shy of his 16th birthday. Two days later his father George also attested for the army, though the two were posted to different units, Alfred joining the 79th Cameron Highlanders of Canada with whom he went to serve in France. In 1916, his father George Austin was killed in action, while Alfred for his part is said to have been wounded in the Third Battle of Ypres and his papers indicate that in 1917 he also suffered from shell shock. It was also in 1917, whilst probably visiting friends and relatives in the Potteries, that Alfred married his first wife Doris Roberts at St George’s Church, Newcastle-under-Lyme on 23 December. He returned to France, eventually rising to the rank of Company Sergeant Major, but got through his remaining service unscathed.

Returning home to Canada with his new wife in 1919, he settled back in Winnipeg where he and Doris had a son, Graham, born in 1920. He had started acting with the Winnipeg Permanent Players on his return and through them, he got a job with a summer stock company that toured western Canada, but when the company folded he had to make a living in other ways, taking jobs working in wheat fields, hauling freight and working as an office stenographer. In search of more acting work, in 1922 he took his family to live in the USA, settling in California. Five years later on his application for US citizenship, to give himself a memorable stage name and in a nod to his place of birth, he stated that he wished to be known henceforth (in the States, at least) as Hanley Stafford. He then played in summer stock productions for eight years and then in tent shows. He was appearing in radio plays in Los Angeles by April 1932 and briefly went to Phoenix to manage a stock theatre company, but returned to Los Angeles in August to resume his stage and radio work. His career was going well, but at the expense of his marriage it seems and in 1934, he and Doris were divorced. The next year he married his second wife Bernice Bohnett.

After starring in the New York radio detective series Thatcher Colt from September 1936 to March 1937, Stafford again returned to Los Angeles and there took on a number of radio roles, providing voices for amongst others Speed Gibson and The Shadow of Fu Manchu. In December 1937, he also landed the role of Lancelot ‘Daddy’ Higgins, the oft-harassed father of mischievous Baby Snooks, a young girl played convincingly by a grown actress, Fanny Brice, originally in a series of sketches on The Good News Show and later on The Baby Snooks Show. It was the role that made his name and alongside his other work Stafford continued playing the part until the final broadcast on 22 May 1951, two days before the sudden death of star Fanny Brice. In 1939, Stafford also took on another notable role as J. C. Dithers, the boss of Dagwood Bumstead, in the popular radio comedy Blondie, again a part he would play for many years. That year, his second marriage failed and in 1940 he married Veola Vonn, who played Dimples Wilson in Blondie. They would stay married until Stafford’s death.

Between 1950 and 1963, Stafford also appeared as a guest star or in bit parts on various television series, these included The Popsicle Parade of Stars and Hollywood Premiere Theatre, episodes of  Cheyenne, Maverick, Shirley Temple’s Storybook, Sugarfoot, and 77 Sunset Strip, The Brothers, The Betty Hutton Show,  Angel, The Millionaire. and The Lucy Show. He also appeared in minor roles in several light-weight films such as Lullaby of Broadway starring Doris Day, A Girl in Every Port, Just This Once, Tell it to the Marines, Francis Covers the Big Town and The Affairs of Dobie Gillis. These, though seem simply to have been strings to his bow, radio being his preferred medium. In 1960 for his radio work, Hanley Stafford was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This was unveiled on 2 August 1960 at 1640 Vine Street, Hollywood, California; the venue was fitting as in Stafford’s heyday, the area around the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street was known as ‘Radio Row’ housing the four large radio stations in the city where he had worked for the past two decades.

Hanley Stafford, born Alfred John Austin, died at home from a heart attack on 9 September 1968, in Los Angeles, California, USA, aged 68. He was cremated and his ashes placed alongside those of his mother in the Columbarium of Heavenly Peace, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, Los Angeles. 

Reference: Wikipedia entry for Hanley Stafford; IMDb entry for Hanley Stafford; Find-a-Grave entry for Hanley Stafford.