Gert and Daisy’s Weekend *** (1941, Elsie Waters, Doris Waters, Iris Vandeleur) – Classic Movie Review 12,640

Elsie Waters and Doris Waters are very amusing as cheery cockneys in the merry 1941 British comedy film Gert and Daisy’s Weekend. Gert and Daisy volunteer to escort a group of evacuee children from Blitz-torn London on a weekend in the country.

Elsie Waters and Doris Waters, aka the Waters Sisters, are very amusing as cheery cockneys Gert and Daisy looking after young tearaway evacuees on a weekend in the country in World War Two and finding themselves in trouble when a posh lady’s jewels disappear. So they all set out to uncover the identity of the robbers.

The 1941 British comedy film Gert and Daisy’s Weekend is very British and extremely dated, but comes with its fair share of nostalgic entertainment, humorously creaky old jokes and merry concert-party jollity.

Director Maclean Rogers helps to pen the unambitious but still genially wacky script (with Kathleen Butler and H F Maltby) and keeps the atmosphere lively and the pace jolly. They sing their own songs ‘She Was a Lily’ and ‘Won’t we have a Party’. Iris Vandeleur co-stars as Ma Butler, and reappears in the sequel Gert and Daisy Clean Up (1942).

It is shot at the British film studio Welwyn Studios, at Broadwater Road, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, which operated between 1928 and 1950.

The sets are designed by art director William Hemsley. 

The two Waters Sisters appeared in three films together. Sequel: Gert and Daisy Clean Up (1942), followed by It’s in the Bag (1944). were all produced by Butcher’s Film Service.

The cast are Elsie Waters as Gert, Doris Waters as Daisy, Iris Vandeleur as Ma Butler, Elizabeth Hunt as Maisie Butler, John Slater as Jack Densham, Wally Patch as Charlie Peters, Annie Esmond as Lady Plumtree, Aubrey Mallalieu as Barnes, O B Clarence as Vicar, Noel Dainton as Detective Inspector, Arthur Denton as Village Policeman, Vi Kaley as Old Lady Whose Son Is to Be Evacuated, David Keir as Magistrates’ Clerk, Jack May as Old Man Dancing on Tube Station, Gerald Moore as Tommy, Johnnie Schofield as Policeman at Town Hall, Leonard Sharp as Small Boy’s Father, Jack Vyvyan as Village Policeman, and Ben Williams as Sam the Fishmonger.

London East End comic actresses and singers Florence Elsie Waters (19 August 1893–14 June 1990) and her sister Doris Ethel Waters (20 December 1899–18 August 1978) performed as a highly successful double act in British music hall and variety. They were the sisters of Jack Warner, who was born Horace John Waters.

In 1959, the sisters appeared as landladies of a theatrical boarding house in the ITV television series Gert and Daisy, created by Ted Willis, who also created Jack Warner’s Dixon of Dock Green TV show.

Other East End gangsters nicknamed the Kray twins Gert and Daisy in the 1960s.

Gert and Daisy’s Weekend is directed by Maclean Rogers and Reg Taylor (assistant director), runs 79 minutes, is made by Welwyn Studios and Butcher Empire Productions, is distributed by Butcher’s Film Service, is written by Kathleen Butler, H F Maltby (dialogue) and Maclean Rogers, is shot by Stephen Dade, is produced by E S Laurie (production manager), is scored by Percival Mackey.

Release date: 16 February 1942.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,640

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Iris Vandeleur co-stars as Ma Butler.