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For six years Mrs Barry Hansard was head of make-up at Wembley. Then last August she vanished, almost overnight. Fusion decided that her experiences with the company and since leaving might he of interest, so a search was started. It went on a long time, the victim even changed her name in the process, although we are prepared to take her word for it that this was not because Fusion wanted an article. Eventually the search ended a few weeks ago in Birmingham … not the one in the Midlands but the one 16 miles from Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A, and here is the result …

It must have come as a shock to a number of my friends to whom I was unable to say good-bye, to find that I had suddenly departed from Associated-Rediffusion and England to find a new life in the U.S.A. Now that I have settled down as a housewife in Birmingham, Michigan, I can review my career in television make-up over the last 15 years and feel gratitude, particularly for the past six years with Associated-Rediffusion, when I worked with the nicest bunch of girls any head of make-up could be lucky enough to choose.

I remember so clearly the hot day in May, 1955, when the late Capt. Fisher interviewed me. I had been nine and three-quarter years with BBC television make-up and was shortly due for my 10-year bonus, so it was a big decision to make – whether to give up the BBC security and my 10-year bonus, for Associated-Rediffusion, a lot of hard work and an unknown future. However, largely due to the charm of Capt. Fisher, I signed on for Associated-Rediffusion and a few days later was handed £5 in cash by Lloyd Williams (a chum from the BBC days) in order to buy some basic stock to start a make-up section of one – me.

All through the scorching summer I started laying the groundwork for what many artists and directors have told me is ‘the best make-up section in television’. It did wonders for my figure – I lost nearly a stone in weight. One day I created what must be a record in making-up 88 artists for auditions in our tiny Kensington studios at that time. Gradually things righted themselves – three girls joined me from the BBC and helped to train the newcomers.

At this stage I was interviewing everyone who wrote in and the result was a very low rate of acceptability, but the girls I did pick turned out very well. Of our first three trainees, two are still with Associated-Rediffusion, having risen to become senior make-up artists (Wendy Liley and Maureen Jenkins) and the other, Gillian, is married to sound balancer Tony Field, having a family of two young boys. Of my three girls from the BBC, Pam Elliott is now head of makeup in my place, Edna Bonsey is now Mrs Don Furness and make-up supervisor, and Yoletta Tomlins left to become Mrs Bob Gray.

I wonder how many of the present Associated-Rediffusion staff remember the Granville Melodramas (the director, Cyril Butcher will, and Edna Furness). They were a great scramble for us as make-up time was never scheduled in those days. Then there were the late night revues at the Granville (Peter Croft directing) which were excellent shows and great fun to work on, except that the cleaning-up seldom finished before midnight. This made a long day for girls who had started at 7 a.m. with make-up for the daily serial ‘Sixpenny Corner’. But they were a wonderful crowd and never complained of hard work.

It was not without a tinge of regret that I resigned, but opportunity knocks only once and if one is not ready to answer, the chance will not return. My job was working smoothly, with none of the creative effort needed in previous years, and my marriage was in the doldrums. Suddenly a lot of things started happening at once, the result being that I decided to start a new life with a new husband in a new country. In the middle of it all the smallpox injection I had to have made my leg swell so that I couldn’t walk for a week.

Six days after leaving Associated-Rediffusion I flew direct to Detroit from London Airport. Then I had two weeks in Birmingham meeting the parents of the man I was to marry – Brian Pollard, an executive with Burroughs Corporation, to whom I had once been engaged many years ago. Next stop was Las Vegas where a divorce takes just six weeks to obtain. It is a pretty horrid place and I was very glad to leave it, clutching my divorce papers after four minutes in court.

I flew out on the midnight plane which arrived at Chicago O’Hare airport an hour late at 6.58 a.m., giving me two minutes to catch the 7 a.m. plane on to Detroit … and I was due to get married at 3.30 p.m. They kindly held it up while I sprinted through corridors and swing doors and up escalators. We took off at 7.10 a.m. and arrived at Detroit at 8 a.m. Brian met me and we drove straight to Pontiac (60 miles) to get our medical check-up and marriage certificate. Then we rushed into Birmingham to buy the rings and meet the rector who was going to bless the marriage. A quick lunch followed before I was off at 1.30 p.m. to buy a dress in which I could be married. It had to be altered, finally arriving at 3.20 p.m.

We spent our honeymoon in Niagara (of course), which really is as fabulous as everyone says. The beginning of December we went to New York and met a lot of friends from England – Paul Scofield, George Rose and Keith Baxter (all appearing in ‘A Man for All Seasons’), and William Squire who had taken over the lead from Richard Burton in ‘Camelot’.

At the beginning of this year we flew to Los Angeles and had a week in Pasadena where Brian’s company has a plant … the wives of his colleagues made sure I saw all the sights, including Disneyland. Afterwards we flew to Denver and went on by road to Aspin, Colorado, where we had a week of fabulous ski-ing. I have spent most of my leave for the last five years ski-ing in the Tyrol at St Anton in the winter and I didn’t think any place could beat it, but Aspin does. There are more runs, more chair lifts and more space than any other ski-ing place I know.

Life in Birmingham is very pleasant and dispels the illusion that America is all hot-dog stands, billboards, neon signs and litter. I’m afraid I cannot comment on the television programmes as we don’t have a set, but we have seen some color (sic) television which is excellent.

We hope to be in London in October for a few days on our way to a conference in Nice and I will look up some of my old friends then. But if anybody cares to write in the meanwhile I would be delighted to hear from them. The address is 946 North Adams Road, Birmingham, Michigan.