Dancing the year away with Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding

After World War II, endearing Anna Neagle (1904-1986) provided glamour and sophistication to war-torn London audiences with the 'London films', the seven lightweight musicals and romantic comedies in which she sang and danced with Michael Wilding. Their two most popular pictures were Spring in Park Lane (1948) and Maytime in Mayfair (1949). Both were produced and directed by Neagle's husband, Herbert Wilcox, and were distributed by British Lion. Picturegoer published postcard sets for both films.

Spring in Park Lane (1948)

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 413. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Lana Morris and Michael Wilding in Spring in Park Lane (Herbert Wilcox, 1948).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 414. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, and Josephine Fitzgerald in Spring in Park Lane (Herbert Wilcox, 1948).

Spring in Park Lane (1948) was already the third pairing of Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding in the 'London Films', as the series of seven films came to be called. The film was based on a 1916 novel by American author and suffragette Alice Duer Miller, 'Come Out of the Kitchen'.

Anna Neagle plays Judy, the niece of a diamond merchant (Tom Walls). She falls for his new footman Richard (Michael Wilding) who is really an aristocrat, fallen on hard times temporarily. The posh family lives in Park Lane, an exclusive area of London. Only the butler knows Richard's real identity which he keeps secret but addresses him as "milord" whenever they are alone together.

The result is that the Park Lane family are astonished by Richard's savoir-faire and knowledge of the finer things of life. Richard can play the piano well and spot an art forger at 100 paces as well as being charming and witty to the family. Soon he has become irreplaceable as an employee and Judy begins to look to Richard for advice on non-footman activities.

The script of Spring in Park Lane has witty lines and amusing characters and Herbert Wilcox has directed it with an agreeably light touch. Michael Wilding and beautiful and radiant Anna Neagle have great chemistry together. Most of their films involve a couple of songs and dance numbers. As dancing partners, they are sublime here in the gentle romantic interludes which create lovely highlights to this charming, light comedy.

Spring in Park Lane (1948) was the most popular film in the United Kingdom for the year 1948. According to the British Film Institute in 2004, it had a fifth place in all-time ticket sales in the United Kingdom. As of 2017, its 20.5 million U.K. attendance was still the largest audience for any wholly British film. It was highly rated and well-received in the USA as well.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 415. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding and Nigel Patrick in Spring in Park Lane (Herbert Wilcox, 1948).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 417. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Michael Wilding and Anna Neagle in Spring in Park Lane (Herbert Wilcox, 1948).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 418. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Tom Walls, Anna Neagle, and Michael Wilding in Spring in Park Lane (Herbert Wilcox, 1948).

Maytime in Mayfair (1949)

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 711. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding in Maytime in Mayfair (Herbert Wilcox, 1949).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 712. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, and Peter Graves in Maytime in Mayfair (Herbert Wilcox, 1949).

The plot of Maytime in Mayfair (Herbert Wilcox, 1949) is reminiscent of Roberta (William A. Seiter, 1935). Michael Gore-Brown (Michael Wilding) is an English playboy gentleman, who is broke when he inherits London's leading dress store in the posh Mayfair district of London. His intention is to sell it as quickly as possible, but on meeting Eileen Grahame (Anna Neagle), chief designer and manager, he quickly changes his mind and turns his attention to pursue her.

Across the street, a rival dress-maker, D'Arcy Davenport (Peter Graves) is also after the shop, and Eileen, and is quite prepared to use whatever foul means are needed. Michael sets out to help make the salon a success so they can all make money. He and Eileen dance and romance, and there is a big fashion show as the climax.

Most critics agree that Maytime in Mayfair is weaker than its predecessor of a year earlier, Spring in Park Lane. The plot is not as strong and Anna Neagle appears a little too old for the part she plays.

However, the musical sequences, the British Technicolor, and the fashion plate poses and clothes are all gorgeous. In fact, the two musical dream sequences are the film's highlights. In one, Wilding imagines the beautiful Neagle as a famous model. In the other, Neagles imagines a slow-motion dance with Wilding. Both are well done. There's also a big fashion show sequence with all the major London designers represented.

The reviewers at IMDb also agree that Michael Wilding is a joy in the film, charming, funny, debonair, appears to be having great fun, and to be on top of his form. His provocative little asides and quick quips are marvelous.

The film also has a fine supporting cast, especially in Peter Graves as D'Arcy Davenport and Nicholas Phipps as Sir Henry Hazelrigg (Phipps also wrote the script for this film). Thora Hird is permitted to look incredibly glamorous as Neagle's secretary and the film also contains Tom Walls' last screen performance, as an Irish bobby. He died a few months after this film was released.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 713. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Anna Neagle, and Michael Wilding in Maytime in Mayfair (Herbert Wilcox, 1949).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 714. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Anna Neagle, and Michael Wilding in Maytime in Mayfair (Herbert Wilcox, 1949).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 716. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Anna Neagle, and Michael Wilding in Maytime in Mayfair (Herbert Wilcox, 1949).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Michael Wilding

British actor Michael Wilding (1912-1979) worked steadily in British films for nearly three decades. Though never a star of the first rank, he had leading roles in numerous films, including several musicals in which he co-starred with Anna Neagle. Wilding moved to Hollywood and was featured in two Hitchcock films, Under Capricorn (1949) and Stage Fright (1950).


British postcard, no. 256. Back: 'This is a real photograph'.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 356. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Productions.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 417. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Michael Wilding and Anna Neagle in the romantic comedy Spring in Park Lane (Herbert Wilcox, 1948).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 716. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding in Maytime in Mayfair (Herbert Wilcox, 1949).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 723. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production.

Never a star of the first rank

Michael Charles Gauntlet Wilding was born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England, in 1912. After leaving school, Michael wanted to be a portrait and commercial artist. He left home at age 17 and trained for the career by traveling around nightclubs and cafes in Brussels, Antwerp, and Paris, earning a living by sketching portraits.

In 1933, he approached a London film studio for a job as a set designer in the art department. Instead, they invited him to come to work as an extra due to his dashing good looks.

At age 21, he debuted as an extra in Bitter Sweet (Herbert Wilcox, 1933) starring Anna Neagle. He was sent to Austria to play opposite Mabel Poulton in Pastorale, which didn't get released.

Horrified at his performance he decided to go into rep theatre to learn his job properly and was accepted by Watford Repertory Theatre. In 1934, he made his stage debut in 'The Ringer'. A year later, he made his West End debut in 'Chase the Ace' (1935), and then he returned to films.

He had bigger film parts in the sports drama There Ain't No Justice (Pen Tennyson, 1939), Convoy (Pen Tennyson, 1940), and Tilly of Bloomsbury (Leslie S. Hiscot, 1940). He had a good role in Sailors Three (Walter Forde, 1940), and Sailors Don't Care (Oswald Mitchell, 1940).

Wilding worked steadily in British pictures for nearly three decades. Though never a star of the first rank, he had leading roles in numerous films, including a part in the classic In Which We Serve (Noël Coward, David Lean, 1942), the story of a British Naval ship, H.M.S. Torrin, from its construction to its sinking in the Mediterranean during action in World War II.


British Real Photograph postcard, no. 285.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 414. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, and Josephine Fitzgerald in Spring in Park Lane (Herbert Wilcox, 1948).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 711. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding in Maytime in Mayfair (Herbert Wilcox, 1949).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 713. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding in Maytime in Mayfair (Herbert Wilcox, 1949).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 941. Photo: British Lion. Michael Wilding in Into the Blue (Herbert Wilcox, 1950).

Featuring in two of Hitchcock's lesser efforts

Michael Wilding finally became a film name with Dear Octopus (Harold French, 1943), starring Margaret Lockwood. He followed it with English Without Tears (Harold French, 1944). After the war, he starred opposite Paulette Goddard in An Ideal Husband (Alexander Korda, 1947) based on the play by Oscar Wilde.

In the following years, Wilding co-starred with Anna Neagle in such musicals as Spring in Park Lane (Herbert Wilcox, 1948), and Maytime in Mayfair (Herbert Wilcox, 1948).

Wilding moved to Hollywood and was featured in two of Hitchcock's lesser efforts, Under Capricorn (Alfred Hitchcock, 1949) with Ingrid Bergman and Stage Fright (Alfred Hitchcock, 1950) starring Marlene Dietrich.

Wilding's last film role was a two-line cameo in Lady Caroline Lamb (Robert Bolt, 1972), in which he co-starred with his fourth wife, Margaret Leighton. Michael Wilding passed away in 1979 in London, England. An epileptic seizure triggered Wilding's fall down a long flight of stairs. The head injuries received in that fall proved fatal. He was 66.

He was married to Kay Young (1937-1951), Elizabeth Taylor (1952-1957), Susan Neill (1958-1962), and Margaret Leighton (1964 -1976 - her death). The first three marriages ended in a divorce and he had two sons with Elizabeth Taylor, Christopher Edward Wilding, and Michael Wilding Jr.

Allegedly, he had a homosexual affair with playwright Noël Coward in the mid-1930s. In 1964, Wilding filed a $3 million libel suit against gossip columnist Hedda Hopper for implying that he was gay in her book, 'The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth'. The suit was settled for $100,000.


British [?] signed photo.


British postcard in "The People' series by Show Parade Picture Service, London, no. 1037 Photo: Herbert Wilcox Productions.


British postcard in the Celebrity Autograph Series, no. 151. Photo: M.G.M. Michael Wilding in Torch Song (Charles Walters, 1953).


Vintage postcard. Photo: Lloyd Film.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 413. Photo: Herbert Wilcox Production / British Lion. Lana Morris and Michael Wilding in Spring in Park Lane (Herbert Wilcox, 1948).

Sources: Jon C. Hopwood (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.