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Back to:
1943 - 1944 A Miracle Courtesy of Dr Anonymous |
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Nora |
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 Three
Waltzes, a play by Diana Morgan and with music by Oscar Straus,
opened at the Prince's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, in April 1945, just
as war in Europe was coming to an end. Esmond played the male lead next
to Evelyn Laye; or rather he played the male leads - Richard, Dickie and
Dick Wessex, three consecutive generations of the same family, with each
act set in a different period - Victorian, Edwardian and finally
Georgian. Fran was in the cast, as she had been in Crisis In Heaven,
to help Esmond familiarise himself with the stage, guide him to and from
his dressing room, and to make him up. The show
was a success and a huge boost to Esmond's professional confidence. He
achieved what he had always intended - a return to the West End theatre
in a lead role. His career was well and truly back on track, proving
wrong those who said it could not be done.
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April 1945 - on stage with (and
apparently about to strangle!) Evelyn Laye at the Princes Theatre in
Three Waltzes, the show that
proved Esmond could still play lead roles in a West End show.
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Evelyn Laye later gave an insight
into what it was like to work with Esmond on the show: |
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"He
was wonderful. He insisted that none of us should pay any attention to
his blindness. He spent hours learning every corner and distance of the
sets on the stage, so that he could move freely and play his part as
though he had no handicap at all". |
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 Unfortunately
the professional satisfaction of this achievement was marred for Esmond
by a deep crisis in his personal life. During the run of Three
Waltzes he quite suddenly made the decision to leave Fran and live
with Nora Swinburne who had been his mistress for the past eight years.
They had first met in 1937 whilst appearing together in Wise Tomorrow
at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.
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With Nora Swinburne in Autumn
Crocus at the King's Theatre, Hammersmith, 1939, in the early days of
their relationship.
Picture courtesy of Rosalind Knight
Married at the time to her second husband, actor Edward
Ashley, Nora fell for Esmond immediately and they became lovers. She
soon separated from Ashley, but Esmond found it impossible to break from
his wife and daughter (Rosalind was three in 1937) and he remained at
home. So they saw each other as much as they could as discreetly as
possible, neither wishing to cause undue unhappiness or scandal.
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Even so their
relationship was not entirely secret. Fran was aware of the situation
and under the circumstances showed a quite remarkable understanding and
sympathy towards Nora, with whom she retained a respectful friendship.
Nora wrote: "In some strange way I think she thought he was safer
with me than he might have been with some other woman." At times
Rosalind found it hard to sympathise with her mother's degree of
tolerance, but Fran would not hear a word of criticism against Esmond.
In fact she went so far as to discourage any self-recrimination on
Nora's part. At the time when Esmond was in Iceland recuperating from
his injuries, she wrote to her saying: "Please don't ever reproach
yourself, my dear. Your love for Esmond is a bond between us and
personally I have always valued your friendship so much."
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Nevertheless the period after Esmond returned home was
uneasy for all concerned. He resumed his relationship with Nora
immediately and she visited him while he was still recuperating at St
Dunstan's. Yet he relied heavily on Fran most of all, especially during
the two years of complete blindness.
 A
reason for Fran's deep understanding may have been a sense that having
suffered so much physically, Esmond deserved the happiness that Nora
could offer him as much as that of his family.
Esmond on stage in Three
Waltzes with Evelyn Laye, showing no sign of the anguish which he was
experiencing at the time in his personal life.
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When Esmond moved in with Nora in 1945, Fran packed his
bags and other belongings for him. Naturally Nora was delighted, but
practically it put her in a difficult situation - her flat in Townsend
Court was small and not really suitable for two, and she was not
prepared for the speed of Esmond's decision. She felt that he had not
thought the decision through entirely and indeed Esmond quickly
developed a strong sense of guilt about leaving Fran and Rosalind.
Doodlebugs were falling on London and he feared for their safety.
Furthermore there was the awkwardness of the fact that Esmond and Fran
were appearing together nightly on stage in Three Waltzes. Before
going on stage herself each evening in her own play, Nora took Esmond to
the Princes Theatre and handed him over to Fran who continued to help
him and make him up.
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After three weeks Esmond suddenly decided he simply had
to return home, feeling guilty, ashamed and utterly miserable. Nora was
left feeling wretched too. "All at once he was gone. The shock came
later when I realised it was all over, I simply went to pieces. I
suppose I had felt guilt too. How I managed to get through the play
every night for the next weeks I don't know."
For some months there was no contact between them. For
all intents and purposes the relationship seemed over and Nora started
to see an old friend, Roy Faulkner. They had always been fond of each
other and Faulkner soon proposed to her. She hesitated at first, but
then one evening at the Savoy Grill Esmond came and sat at the table
next to her. "He had his back to me and it was so awful to be so near
and yet be complete strangers. He must have seen me. As soon as I could,
without looking too obvious, I got up and left." The shock of the
encounter made her feel that she must cut away from her old life, and
she accepted Faulkner's proposal.
When
Esmond heard the news, he immediately phoned Nora and begged her to meet
him. She refused at first but there was panic in his voice and he was
very insistent. She agreed to meet briefly at the Achilles Statue in
Hyde Park and as soon as they saw each other they knew they still loved
each other very deeply.
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"Esmond was
shattered and madly jealous, he just couldn't take it. He said he had
never stopped thinking about me, was terribly unhappy and simply
couldn't let me go. The idea of marrying someone else was unthinkable -
and so it seemed to me sitting there after all those months of misery."
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 The
same evening, Nora told Roy Faulkner about her meeting with Esmond. He
was very understanding and sympathetic, and no doubt he had suspected
that she still loved Esmond. The next day Faulkner met with Esmond to
discuss the situation and as a result the engagement was called off.
Faulkner told him bluntly that he could not keep on changing his mind
about Nora, that he should face up to separating from his wife, get a
divorce and marry her.
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Nora Swinburne who in 1946 became
the second Mrs Esmond Knight.
Picture courtesy of Rosalind Knight
This time Esmond made the break permanently. Nora
found a house for them to live in together - 35 Bywater Street, Chelsea
- not too far from Fran and Rosalind who lived at Kings Court South,
also in Chelsea. Fran would not agree to a divorce immediately. She
wanted to be certain that Esmond had made the right decision, that he
was happy and settled and that things would work out for him with Nora.
Only then did she agree. Eventually, Esmond and Nora were married at
Chelsea Register Office on 4th October 1946. Ironically the same year
Nora starred in a film called They Knew Mr Knight!
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Relationships between Esmond, Nora and Fran remained
excellent throughout, and when Fran subsequently remarried in the 1950s,
to Nigel Hogg, the two couples socialised on a regular basis. Despite
the complexities under which their relationship began, Esmond and Nora's
marriage was an enduring one and lasted until Esmond's death more than
40 years later.
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Next:
1946 - 1948 One Success After Another |