Editing Hattie Jacques (section)

===Early post-war work: 1944–1950===
In 1944, after being auditioned by [[Leonard Sachs]],{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=31}} Jacques made her professional theatrical debut as Josephine Jacques{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=40}}—adding a "c" to her birth name as she did so{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=24}}{{efn|Her brother also changed his name at the same time.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=23}}}}—at the [[Players' Theatre]], London in a revue called ''Late Joys''.{{sfn|Sheridan|1952|p=41}} Almost immediately she became a regular performer with the company, appearing in [[music hall]] revues and playing the [[Fairy Queen]] in their Victorian-style pantomimes.<ref name="D Tel: Lewis" /> Her biographer, Frances Gray, described the Players' as being Jacques's drama school, as she acted, directed, wrote lyrics and "developed the persona she was to use in pantomime for years, the large, bossy, but vulnerable fairy queen".{{sfn|Gray|2004}} It was while appearing in a ''Late Joys'' revue in June 1946 that she made her debut on television, when the show was broadcast on the [[BBC]].{{sfn|Merriman|2007|pp=40 & 224}} While appearing at the Players' in 1946 she acquired the nickname "Hattie" after performing in the [[minstrel show]] ''Coal Black Mammies for Dixie''. A member of the backstage staff compared her "blacked up" appearance with the American actress [[Hattie McDaniel]], known for her work in ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'', and Jacques adopted the name for the rest of her life.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=40}}{{efn|Although Jacques confirmed this version of the origin of her name, another story was that the dancer and singer Josephine Gordon named Jacques as such after the musical ''[[Panama Hattie]]'', while yet another version relates that she was given the name because of the extravagant hats she wore on stage at the Players'.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|pp=40–41}}}}

{{Quote box|bgcolor=#E0E6F8|align=left|quote="It was planned that I should play a character named 'Ella Phant'. Ted thought the laughs would come on the size gags but, being radio, and coupled with the fact my voice didn't have the timbre of a 'heavy', that didn't really work out&nbsp;... A large lady with a little voice hit the spot, so 'Sophie Tuckshop' was born—the terrible child who never stopped eating".|source=Jacques on her role in ''[[It's That Man Again]]''{{sfn|Kavanagh|1970|p=136}}|width=200px|salign=right}}

Jacques made her big-screen debut, briefly and uncredited, in the 1946 film ''[[Green for Danger (film)|Green for Danger]]'', directed by [[Sidney Gilliat]].{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=56}} In December that year, she joined the [[Young Vic#Young Vic Theatre|Young Vic Theatre Company]] and played Smeraldina in ''The King Stag''. The play ran at the [[Lyric Theatre (Hammersmith)|Lyric Theatre]] for a month before going on a five-month tour of the UK.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=44}} It received favourable reviews; the ''[[Gloucestershire Echo]]'' described the piece as "a noble play", and thought that Jacques was "very solidly in step".<ref name="Glos Echo: Stag" /> In March 1947 [[Alberto Cavalcanti]]'s film ''[[Nicholas Nickleby (1947 film)|Nicholas Nickleby]]'' was released, in which Jacques had her first credited big-screen role as Mrs Kenwick.<ref name="BFI: Filmog" /> While engaged at the Players' in June 1947, Jacques was introduced to the actor [[John Le Mesurier]] and the two began a relationship. Le Mesurier was married but estranged from his wife.{{sfn|McCann|2010|p=114}}

[[File:The Laugh!- the Recording of the Radio Comedy 'itma', London, England, UK, 1945 D24424.jpg|thumb|right|''[[ITMA]]'', during a wartime recording session]]
In August 1947 [[Ted Kavanagh]], the scriptwriter of the [[BBC Home Service]] show ''[[It's That Man Again]]'' (''ITMA''), visited the Players' and invited Jacques to audition for the series, which she did on 18 September, for a fee of five [[Guinea (British coin)|guineas]].{{sfn|Merriman|2007|pp=53–54}} She became so nervous during the audition that [[Tommy Handley]], the show's star, held her hand, which she found made her more nervous.{{sfn|Kavanagh|1970|p=136}} Jacques joined the cast of ''ITMA'' as the greedy schoolgirl Sophie Tuckshop,{{sfn|Merriman|2007|pp=54 & 223}} where she "would regale listeners with terrifying accounts of epic binges",{{sfn|Gray|2004}} before finishing her stories with the catchphrase "But I'm alright now".{{sfn|Gifford|1978|p=269}} Jacques started her run in ''ITMA'' in September 1947, at the beginning of series eleven, which ran for 38 episodes,{{sfn|Foster|Furst|1999|pp=37–38}} and was paid ten guineas per episode.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=55}}

For much of 1948 Jacques continued to record episodes of ''ITMA'' for half the week, while spending evenings in the Players' Theatre; she also found time during the spring to record the role of Flora in ''[[No, No, Nanette]]'' for the BBC{{sfn|Briggs|1961|p=206}} and appear at the [[Whitehall Theatre]] in ''Bates Wharf'' with the Under Thirty Theatre Group.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|pp=55 & 224}} Later that year she appeared as a singer at the Three Cripples tavern in the [[David Lean]] film ''[[Oliver Twist (1948 film)|Oliver Twist]]''.<ref name="BFI: Filmog" /> In September she started recording her second series of ''ITMA''—the show's twelfth{{sfn|Foster|Furst|1999|pp=37–38}}—before returning to the Players' for the Christmas pantomime, ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood''.{{sfn|Sheridan|1952|p=93}} In the latter performance, ''[[The Times]]'' commented that Jacques "must surely be among the funniest fairies" in her role as the Fairy Queen Antedota—which was one of her favourite parts.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=56}}<ref name="Times: Sleeping Beauty 1948" />

Tommy Handley died suddenly on 9 January 1949; the BBC decided that he was "so much the keystone and embodiment of the actual performance" of ''ITMA'', that they cancelled the show immediately.{{sfn|Took|2004}} Jacques later remarked that Handley was "one of the greatest radio performers we have ever known. I learned&nbsp;... so much from him".{{sfn|Kavanagh|1970|p=136}} Later that year Le Mesurier divorced his wife; shortly after the divorce came through, Jacques proposed to him, asking, "don't you think it's about time we got married?"{{sfn|Le Mesurier|1984|p=71}} The couple wed on 10 November that year, at Kensington Registrar's Office.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=60}}<ref>[[General Register Office for England and Wales|General Register Office]], ''England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes'', volume 5c, p. 2328.</ref> After a week's honeymoon in [[Southsea]],{{sfn|Le Mesurier|1984|p=71}} she returned to the Players' where she was engaged to appear as Marrygolda in the Christmas pantomime ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]''.{{sfn|Sheridan|1952|p=73}}