Description:(Interviewd for The Planet while filming at Five Ways for "Work Is A Four Letter Word" in 1967).
"Please explain to your readers that I don't normally dress quite like this. I feel a bit like a balloon in this mac!"
On location in Birmingham for her first film role in "Work...Is A Four Letter Word", 24 year old Cilla Black was happy to chat between shooting sequences. Her usual bouncing self, she is obviously enjoying the new experience of filming, and takes the whirring of the cameras, the to-ing and fro-ing of director Peter Hall and hoards of technicians in her stride.
I mentioned that I had overheard surprised remarks from amongst the crowds of onlookers at Auchinleck House, Five Ways, who hardly recognised her in a crumpled dark blue headscarf, three-quarter length turquoise mac, plain brown skirt and black flat-heeled shoes.
"This outfit really isn't me at all - but at least it proves I really am acting! So I don't mind what I am supposed to look like. In any case it's important that I shouldn't be "Cilla" in the film, but Betty Dorick who is rather a tough nut". "Normally I am very particular about what I wear. I simply love clothes and use a lot of makeup. But for the film I have to be kind of "de-glamourised". "It takes the make-up people an hour to give me an unmade-up look, but, even so, you can see my cheeks are beginning to turn rosy again as they usually are. Not to mention a red nose!"
Life is particularly hectic for Cilla during the two weeks location in Birmingham. She continues to appear in "Way Out In Piccadilly", at the Prince Of Wales Theare in London every evening. So there are early morning trips up the motorway with her manager, arriving in Birmingham at 8am on the days she is required on the set. She then has to return in time for the evening performance. "Lack of sleep catches up on you in the end of course, but starting out at 5:30 in the morning suits me fine. I never have enough hours in the day anyway". Apart from getting up early, the other highly unglamorous side of becoming a film star, to my mind, is all the waiting around. Especially when it's windy and wet, as on the day when I went along. Then only three brief shots were filmed all morning - which I am told is a good average.
"Actually I'm sure filming is a bit like working in an office. Lots of lon teabreaks with a bit of work in between!" she laughed. "It's marvelous". "The waiting around does not bother me at all. Mind you, if I ever have the chance of making another film, it would be nicer in a warm climate. But this mac has such a thick lining, only my hands get cold!"
"And the more dishevelled I become in the process of waiting, the better for the part. Look at my stockings! All these rain splashes I've picked up walking up and down Broad Street are just what I need!"