She was the diminutive scene-stealing actress forever remembered as a fluttery and slightly dotty type in many British film comedies. With 30 years of stage and film experience she is surely best remembered for a handful of Carry On films. She plays Miss Cooling who helps to organise the various misfits that work for the Helping Hand Agency in Carry on Regardless. She is the tipsy table tennis-playing guest on the cruise ship SS Happy Wanderer in Carry on Cruising. And, perhaps best of all, Flo Sims who helps Hattie Jacques to organise the girls to run Glam Cabs in Carry on Cabby. On television millions laughed at her pure slapstick moments as Little Lil in The Rag Trade. Then in late 1963 she packed it all in, quietly retiring from show business and a couple of years later moving to France. She was, as far as the British general public were concerned, never heard from again. Her name was, of course, Esma Cannon.
Just ten kilometres north east of Chinon lies the village of Saint-Benoît-la-Forêt. Nestled in the Veude river valley the main village is dominated by the white tuffeau stone of the church and, in its shadow, is the Mairie. It is to Saint-Benoît-la-Forêt that Esma Cannon and her husband Ernst Littmann moved to escape the frenetic world of sixties London. They rented a house outside the main village up on the hillside in a farming hamlet called Le Châtelier. The locals knew nothing of her fame back in the UK. One girl who visited her grandparents in Le Châtelier, neighbours of the Littmanns remembered her as “a little good woman, bubbly, laughing, who seemed to have no history and who lived in harmony with her husband.”
Most
film-goers probably had little idea that Esma was in fact born in Australia. Together
with her mother Grace she’d moved to England around 1930. She started to work in
the theatre soon after, both acting and as stage manager. By 1936 she’d
obtained her first film role (most of her early roles were uncredited), made an
appearances on radio in 1937 and television the year after that. She met her
German-born husband when he was in the Pioneer Corps playing in an orchestra in
Salisbury in his spare time. She was touring in a play in the town. They
married in 1945 and a year later their son Michael was born. Ernst would go on
to run a plastics factory. Esma was a real home bird who made her own clothes –
she struggled to find clothes to fit her 4’9” frame- liked gardening and
searching antique shops. By 1958 they’d bought a house in Priory Road, Kilburn and they kept this house on when they moved to France, with Michael continuing
to live in it. I’ve found no clues as to why they ended up in France. Did they
holiday there? And is it mere coincidence that in 1961 she’d appeared in an
episode of Maigret in the role of
Mademoiselle Doncoeur?
Esma with some of her French neighbours
(from La Nouvelle Republique)
Sadly the
French dream came to an end on 18 October 1972 when Esma died, aged 66. She
would be laid to rest in the local cemetery. Many friends and family apparently
didn’t hear of her passing until the following year by which time Ernst had
moved back to their London house. There was no wider public acknowledgment of
her death until a Films and Filming ‘Where
are they now?’ article appeared some years later (exact publication date unknown).
Her gravestone bears just four words: Esma Littmann Nee Cannon.
(from cartes.gouv.fr)
Over the years we must have driven up the long straight stretch of the D751 between Chinon and Azay-le Rideau two or three dozen times but we’d never turned off to drive through Saint-Benoît-la-Forêt. We’ve visited both towns since moving to France and on Loire holidays before that. Surrounded by vineyards (I can recommend a couple of good producers we’ve bought from) Chinon is dominated by the hillside chateau that overlooks the town and the Vienne river. Azay-le Rideau is famed for its beautiful chateau that appears to float on the Indre river. After reading Graham McCann’s article about Esma Cannon just a few weeks ago I decided to make the deviation off the main road.
The centre
of Saint-Benoît-la-Forêt extremely well-kept. Beside the church is a car park with
a grassed area, picnic benches and public toilets. On the day we visited Parc
de la Pommardière there was a walking group in progress and some cyclists getting
ready to set off up the hill out of the village. 150 metres past the church is
the track to the village cemetery. Could we find Esma’s grave? Until about a
decade ago the grave was neglected and a note beside it read ‘Anyone who may
have information about this abandoned plot is asked to contact the Mairie’.
Fortunately a local resident decided to research the name and discovered who it
belonged to and eventually the mayor was persuaded not to destroy it.
The cemetery is dominated by the chapel for the Chatenet de Puységur family and we started our search on the right-hand side. Drawing a blank we continued on the left-hand side and after negotiating some closely packed plots finally, there against the back wall, was Esma’s resting place. First pulling out one of two weeds I took these photographs.
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As for
husband Ernst, he lived for another ten years or so, dying in September 1983.
Michael, who by now had emigrated to Australia, made the journey to Saint-Benoît-la-Forêt
to place his father’s ashes on Esma’s grave.
Esma Cannon
1905-1972
Further reading:
Graham McCann on The little Cannon that could for the British Comedy Guide
Rita Webb site with a very detailed review of Esma's career by Aaron Smith
