Monday, March the 8th, 2004
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An unsigned email arrives from (I surmise) New York City, regarding the Father Hopkins SJ adaptation The Tall Nun Goes West (see “Films On Television”, 5th March):
Dear Sir : Please provide air date and time for the referenced feature. While I agree with you that it is the most faithful of the many Hopkins adaptations, I have a deep personal affection for The Cheery Beggar, despite the unfortunate miscasting of Aldo Ray as the Polynesian sponge-diver. Thank you for your consideration.
I am afraid that the schedule has not yet been finalised, so cannot say when this majestic piece of cimema will be shown. One point about The Cheery Beggar which my anonymous correspondent does not mention is that the film marked the screen debut of the great child Method actor Tad Wensleydale. At the age of seven, he had already taken Broadway by storm with his performances as Shylock, Lear, Mrs Miniver, Torquemada, Mike Hammer, Louis Pasteur and Clytemnestra, among others. Six years later, on the cusp of teenage hobbledehoyhood, his meteoric career was effectively over, but not before he had appeared in a second Hopkins adaptation, Felix Randal The Farrier. Wensleydale was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of the “big-boned and hardy-handsome” title character, stone dead at the beginning of the film, but the award that year went to Ricardo Montalban.