A Toe on the Ladder

by Molly Weir

vg 1st Pan 1975 edition paperback. In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Mary Weir, known as Molly Weir was a Scottish actress and author.

Reviews

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third volume of Molly Weir's memoirs, and there are apparently as many more. I am always surprised by the voluminous memoirs written by British entertainers, and it's interesting that the farther we go into Weir's adult life, the longer the books are.
These are the pre-war and war years, during which she worked as a shorthand typist and spent evenings doing amateur theatricals until she is drawn into BBC radio plays. Her dream, as usual for a star struck young woman in the late 30s and early 40s, is to go on the stage, but she soon discovered that wasn't as easy as it sounded. She became well known in Glasgow, but she knew if she hadn't conquered the West End she was nowhere. The tale of her first theatrical success in an admittedly small part is well-sprinkled with theatrical coincidence and ends with her casting as a member of the post-war version of ITMA.

[Lucy Lang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. You journey with Molly as she strives to make a start on her acting career first in Glasgow, then London. She did not come from an acting background, so had to suffer the constant sneers of disapproval form her mother and others, as she tries energetically to put her toe on the ladder. It's a lively read with nice references to a 1940s Glasgow.