SpokenVerse | "The Loving Game" by Vernon Scannell (read by Tom O'Bedlam) @SpokenVerse | Uploaded February 2012 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Vernon Scannell is one of my heroes, there are many similarities in our lives. In case you didn't notice and because times have changed, the word "ring" at the end refers to courtship - which in those days involved an engagement ring. To put it crudely, a girl wouldn't "put out" unless she had a ring on her finger.
Fashion in the 50's was the Edwardian Style - better known as the Teddy Boy - but later influenced by the American Zoot suit, jackets were getting longer. On a tall man a "fingertip drape" looked good - that's when the jacket reached down to the tips of the extended fingers.
"The drape suit, or British Blade, is characterised by a full chest with drape at the sides and shoulder blades, sloped and unpadded shoulders that are slightly extended, a shaped waist (darted) and tapered hips. The effect is to make the chest look more muscular, your waist slimmer and your hips narrower.The drape cut is shown off best in a double-breasted model."
A popular hairstyle was the DA which stood for District Attorney - except that everybody called it Duck's Arse - in which the hair was long at the back and combed into a vertical pleat. This was a rebellion aginst the "short back and sides" of the older wartime generation. At the front would be a cluster of curls hanging over the forehead - in imitation of Tony Curtis. Yes, it's hard to believe Tony was once a heart throb; looking at his changing image over the years shows poignantly what nasty tricks time will play on us.
edwardianteddyboyassociation.com/page2.htm
The Loving Game was played in Dance Halls - every town or village had at least one of these, that were village halls or gymnasiums at other times of the week. There would be a dance band, maybe 6 players. The girls sat down one side of the room, the boys down the other. In some halls a girl wasn't allowed to refuse a dance, if the boy asked her politely. The dances were at arm's length unless a relationship had already developed. There was stilted conversation, e.g. "Do you come here often?", "Ain't the band lousy?" and "Cor, you don't 'alf smell nice".
When you walked a girl home after the dance, if you were lucky she's be willing to stop in a dark alley for a smooch. You might get luckier still, although girls were very concerned about their reputations. Tights - pantyhose - hadn't been invented so she would keep her stockings up with suspenders. Often the little push-through button had been lost - boys could be clumsy in their ardor- and it was usual to use an aspirin instead. The couple of inches of warm thighs above her stocking-tops were a delight to cold hands on a chilly night.
When you got her home you might be invited in, for a cup of tea, to warm you before your long walk home. You might get a kiss and cuddle on the settee in the parlour, but her mum and dad would be in the next room. Or, sometimes, knowing their darling daughter was safely home, they might go upstairs to bed,. But when you were making progress and she seemed to be getting excited - she would suddenly come to her senses and push you unceremoniously out of the front door, to walk home in the cold and dark, passing the ghosts of similarly disappointed lovers limping home. It was easy for her, she just had to go upstairs and slip into to bed. What she did then I never guessed at the time but I can guess now.
The picture is of the Stewart Granger, the movie actor, training with a well-loved boxer, Freddie Mills, in the 40's. They liked realism in their movies in those days. The hero had to know how to throw a punch.
Here's Vernon himself reading it:
poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=454
Vernon Scannell photograph by Layle Silbert 1972
npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw82471/Vernon-Scannell
A quarter of a century ago
I hung the gloves up, knew I'd had enough
Of taking it and trying to dish it out,
Foxing them or slugging toe-to-toe;
Keen youngster made the going a bit too rough;
The time had come to have my final bout.
I didn't run to fat though, kept in shape,
And seriously took up the loving game,
Grew moony, sighed, and even tried to sing,
Looked pretty snappy in my forty-drape.
I lost more than I won, earned little fame,
Was hurt much worse than in the other ring.
Vernon Scannell is one of my heroes, there are many similarities in our lives. In case you didn't notice and because times have changed, the word "ring" at the end refers to courtship - which in those days involved an engagement ring. To put it crudely, a girl wouldn't "put out" unless she had a ring on her finger.
Fashion in the 50's was the Edwardian Style - better known as the Teddy Boy - but later influenced by the American Zoot suit, jackets were getting longer. On a tall man a "fingertip drape" looked good - that's when the jacket reached down to the tips of the extended fingers.
"The drape suit, or British Blade, is characterised by a full chest with drape at the sides and shoulder blades, sloped and unpadded shoulders that are slightly extended, a shaped waist (darted) and tapered hips. The effect is to make the chest look more muscular, your waist slimmer and your hips narrower.The drape cut is shown off best in a double-breasted model."
A popular hairstyle was the DA which stood for District Attorney - except that everybody called it Duck's Arse - in which the hair was long at the back and combed into a vertical pleat. This was a rebellion aginst the "short back and sides" of the older wartime generation. At the front would be a cluster of curls hanging over the forehead - in imitation of Tony Curtis. Yes, it's hard to believe Tony was once a heart throb; looking at his changing image over the years shows poignantly what nasty tricks time will play on us.
edwardianteddyboyassociation.com/page2.htm
The Loving Game was played in Dance Halls - every town or village had at least one of these, that were village halls or gymnasiums at other times of the week. There would be a dance band, maybe 6 players. The girls sat down one side of the room, the boys down the other. In some halls a girl wasn't allowed to refuse a dance, if the boy asked her politely. The dances were at arm's length unless a relationship had already developed. There was stilted conversation, e.g. "Do you come here often?", "Ain't the band lousy?" and "Cor, you don't 'alf smell nice".
When you walked a girl home after the dance, if you were lucky she's be willing to stop in a dark alley for a smooch. You might get luckier still, although girls were very concerned about their reputations. Tights - pantyhose - hadn't been invented so she would keep her stockings up with suspenders. Often the little push-through button had been lost - boys could be clumsy in their ardor- and it was usual to use an aspirin instead. The couple of inches of warm thighs above her stocking-tops were a delight to cold hands on a chilly night.
When you got her home you might be invited in, for a cup of tea, to warm you before your long walk home. You might get a kiss and cuddle on the settee in the parlour, but her mum and dad would be in the next room. Or, sometimes, knowing their darling daughter was safely home, they might go upstairs to bed,. But when you were making progress and she seemed to be getting excited - she would suddenly come to her senses and push you unceremoniously out of the front door, to walk home in the cold and dark, passing the ghosts of similarly disappointed lovers limping home. It was easy for her, she just had to go upstairs and slip into to bed. What she did then I never guessed at the time but I can guess now.
The picture is of the Stewart Granger, the movie actor, training with a well-loved boxer, Freddie Mills, in the 40's. They liked realism in their movies in those days. The hero had to know how to throw a punch.
Here's Vernon himself reading it:
poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=454
Vernon Scannell photograph by Layle Silbert 1972
npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw82471/Vernon-Scannell
A quarter of a century ago
I hung the gloves up, knew I'd had enough
Of taking it and trying to dish it out,
Foxing them or slugging toe-to-toe;
Keen youngster made the going a bit too rough;
The time had come to have my final bout.
I didn't run to fat though, kept in shape,
And seriously took up the loving game,
Grew moony, sighed, and even tried to sing,
Looked pretty snappy in my forty-drape.
I lost more than I won, earned little fame,
Was hurt much worse than in the other ring.
