British film and music hall comedian WILL HAY was well known for his Schoolmaster roles -- He was born William Thomson Hay on the 6th December 1888 in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England and died in Chelsea, London on the 18th April 1949 (aged 60). His film career was relatively brief, indeed by the time he had made his first film he was already in his mid-40s and an established music hall artist - his last role came less than a decade later. Nonetheless between 1934 and 1943 he was a prolific and popular film comedian. This (originally silent)YouTube offering is a very rare piece of film courtesy of BritishPathe.com in which he appears in the guise of his famous Schoolmaster role. Will Hay had a favourite party trick for his friends, where he would write rapidly seeming nonsense on a blackboard, look at it thoughtfully with a puzzled expression, for a few seconds before turning the blackboard upside down, and there would be a perfectly written statement of some kind. This feat is repeated in this short film...
Keywords: Ealing, Gainsborough, Hay, Narckover, Schoolmaster, Will
