"Heavenly Creatures" FAQ v2.0 ( 01/15 )
John D. Porter
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"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 01/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
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********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
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There are living amongst two dutiful daughters
Of a man who possesses two beautiful daughters
The most glorious beings in creation;...
...And above us these Goddesses reign on high.
I worship the power of these lovely two
With that adoring love known to so few.
'Tis indeed a miracle, one must feel,
That two such heavenly creatures are real.
...And these wonderful people are you and I.
Pauline Yvonne Parker, 1953.
"The Ones That I Worship"
"This was a coldly, callously planned and carefully
committed murder by two precocious and dirty-minded little
girls. They are not incurably insane, but incurably bad."
Alan W. Brown, Crown Prosecutor
Christchurch NZ 1954/08/28.
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Compiled by John D. Porter.
Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995. All rights reserved.
The "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ/database provides information
about Peter Jackson's award-winning 1994 film "Heavenly
Creatures" and about the real people and events of New Zealand's
infamous, tragic and controversial "Parker Hulme" murder case.
Even more than forty years later, emotion still runs high about
the "Parker Hulme" case and opinions are still as divided as the
diametrically opposed quotations given above.
Readers only interested in the "Parker Hulme" case may want
to look first in section 7, where the bulk of the information on
the case has been collected. However, there is also background
information on the "Parker Hulme" case embedded in sections 3 to
5 where "Heavenly Creatures" is described and discussed. Sections
3 to 6 also contain social, cultural and historical material
which is useful for placing the events of the case in context.
There are no spoilers to "Heavenly Creatures" in sections 1
and 2 of the FAQ. Formally, there are spoilers for the film in
sections 3 - 7. But see the introduction to section 3 for more
about the almost spoiler-proof nature of the film. Section 7
contains spoilers to "The Cater Street Hangman" by Anne Perry.
Though not unique to this case, the issue of personal
privacy has emerged here as a particularly contentious one. The
"Heavenly Creatures" FAQ has been compiled, as far as possible,
in an atmosphere of respect for individual privacy, while
recognizing that there are legitimate and sometimes conflicting
issues of public interest and concern here, too. FAQ policy
regarding privacy is stated at the beginning of section 3.
The material contained in the FAQ has been drawn primarily
from the public domain, though there is also unique material
obtained by private communication and presented by permission.
Every effort has been made to present material in an informative,
neutral, academic and balanced tone. Nevertheless, some readers
may be offended by the choice of material presented here, or by
the way it is presented. They are encouraged to let their
opinions be known to the FAQ compiler and to the community of
people interested in the "Parker Hulme" case and "Heavenly
Creatures."
The film "Heavenly Creatures" contains material which may be
unsuitable for children and so does this FAQ.
Page numbering in the Table of Contents assumes a fixed-
pitch font, 75 characters per line, 52 lines per page. This is a
very long document. Save some trees and just download it to
floppy discs (it will fit onto two 1.44 MB or three 720 KB discs)
and read it using your favorite word processing program. You can
search for keywords that way. It will not be posted often. [jp]
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Table of Contents.
1 FAQ Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
1.1 Information on the current release of the FAQ.. . . .7
1.2 Highlights of new material in this release.. . . . .8
1.3 Contacting the FAQ compiler.. . . . . . . . . . .8
1.4 Submitting information for the FAQ. . . . . . . . .9
1.5 Requests for input and assistance. . . . . . . . 10
1.6 Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 Introduction to the film "Heavenly Creatures.". . . . . 13
3 Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.. . . . . . . . 15
3.1 About the film "Heavenly Creatures.". . . . . . . 17
3.1.1 Peter Jackson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.1.2 The actors.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.1.3 The Prologue.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.1.4 The characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.1.4.1 Names.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.1.4.2 The Riepers. . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.1.4.3 The Hulmes.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.1.4.4 Accents and social status.. . . . . . . 33
3.1.4.5 Imaginary characters.. . . . . . . . . 39
3.1.4.6 Authority figures.. . . . . . . . . . 43
3.1.4.7 Lodgers and lovers. . . . . . . . . . 44
3.1.4.8 School characters.. . . . . . . . . . 46
3.1.5 School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.1.5.1 Christchurch schools and the NZ system. . 47
3.1.5.2 Christchurch Girls' High School. . . . . 50
3.1.5.3 The importance of school. . . . . . . . 59
3.1.5.4 Lessons from teachers. . . . . . . . . 60
3.1.5.5 Observations about school scenes . . . . 61
3.1.6 The Riepers' home - 31 Gloucester St. . . . . 69
3.1.7 The Hulmes' home - Ilam. . . . . . . . . . 72
3.1.8 Diseases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.1.9 Diaries, letters and fiction. . . . . . . . 79
3.1.10 Arts and crafts.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
3.1.11 The relationship between Pauline & Juliet. . . 87
3.1.11.1 Questions and labels.. . . . . . . . . 87
3.1.11.2 Official pronouncements. . . . . . . . 92
3.1.11.3 Social and economic factors.. . . . . . 95
3.1.11.4 "Red Herrings" - misleading clues. . . . 98
3.1.11.5 Significant clues.. . . . . . . . . . 99
3.1.11.6 Conclusions about the relationship . . .107
3.1.12 The "Fourth World." . . . . . . . . . . .110
3.1.13 "Borovnia.". . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
3.1.14 Foreshadowing and allusion. . . . . . . . .114
3.1.15 Religious themes and death. . . . . . . . .117
3.1.16 Fantasies, images, dreams and symbols . .. . .119
3.1.16.1 Legs and feet and running.. . . . . . .120
3.1.16.2 Hands.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
3.1.16.3 Bricks and shrines. . . . . . . . . .123
3.1.16.4 Colours.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .124
3.1.16.5 Uniforms. . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
3.1.16.6 Bridges.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
3.1.16.7 Telephones.. . . . . . . . . . . . .127
3.1.16.8 Freud.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
3.1.16.9 Horses and unicorns. . . . . . . . . .128
3.1.16.10 Birds and butterflies. . . . . . . . .131
3.1.16.11 Borovnia, sex and violence. . . . . . .131
3.1.16.12 Water and bathing.. . . . . . . . . .132
3.1.16.13 The ship. . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
3.1.16.14 The pink gemstone.. . . . . . . . . .138
3.1.17 The murder.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
3.1.17.1 The aftermath (Prologue) . . . . . . .144
3.1.18 Good, evil, blame, conscience and love. . . .145
3.1.19 The music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
3.1.19.1 Mario Lanza. . . . . . . . . . . . .157
3.1.20 References to books, films, TV and Hollywood. .158
3.1.21 Settings and locations.. . . . . . . . . .162
3.1.22 Making the film.. . . . . . . . . . . . .162
3.1.23 Technical aspects and special effects.. . . .163
3.1.24 Favorite things and highlights.. . . . . . .164
3.1.25 Release information. . . . . . . . . . . .165
3.1.26 Miscellaneous questions. . . . . . . . . .170
3.1.27 Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170
3.2 About the real people. . . . . . . . . . . . .175
3.2.1 Names.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176
3.2.2 Hulme, Henry Rainsford.. . . . . . . . . .176
3.2.3 Hulme, Hilda Marion. . . . . . . . . . . .180
3.2.4 Hulme, Juliet Marion.. . . . . . . . . . .184
3.2.5 Parker, Honora Mary. . . . . . . . . . . .188
3.2.6 Parker, Pauline Yvonne.. . . . . . . . . .190
3.2.7 Perry, Anne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194
3.2.8 Perry, Walter Andrew Bowman . . . . . . . .196
3.2.9 Rieper, Herbert Detlev . . . . . . . . . .198
3.2.10 Real people missing from the film. . . . . .202
3.2.10.1 Parker, Rosemary and Templeton Farm.. . .202
4 Comparing the film to real life. . . . . . . . . . .205
4.1 The Epilogue.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205
4.2 Events before the film.. . . . . . . . . . . .206
4.3 Physical details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209
4.4 Events during the film but before the murder . . .209
4.5 Family situations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .215
4.6 Evidence about the girls' relationship. . . . . .217
4.7 The murder compared to real life.. . . . . . . .220
4.8 The narrative gap in the murder scenes. . . . . .221
4.9 Anne Perry's statements. . . . . . . . . . . .223
4.10 Opinions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .225
5 "Heavenly Creatures" Database. . . . . . . . . . . .227
5.1 Credits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
5.2 Crew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234
5.2.1 Peter Jackson. . . . . . . . . . . . . .234
5.2.2 Jim Booth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239
5.2.3 Hanno Huth.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .241
5.2.4 Frances Walsh. . . . . . . . . . . . . .242
5.2.5 Alun Bollinger. . . . . . . . . . . . . .242
5.2.6 Grant Major. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243
5.3 Cast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243
5.3.1 Melanie Lynskey.. . . . . . . . . . . . .243
5.3.2 Kate Winslet.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .244
5.3.3 Sarah Peirse.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .244
5.3.4 Simon O'Connor. . . . . . . . . . . . . .245
5.3.5 Diana Kent.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .246
5.3.6 Clive Merrison. . . . . . . . . . . . . .246
5.3.7 Peter Elliott. . . . . . . . . . . . . .247
5.3.8 Other Cast.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247
5.4 Locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247
5.4.1 Ilam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .248
5.4.2 Christchurch Girls' High School. . . . . . .249
5.4.3 Rieper residence. . . . . . . . . . . . .250
5.4.4 Canterbury University College. . . . . . . .250
5.4.5 Port Levy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .251
5.4.6 Victoria Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . .251
5.5 Special Effects.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .252
5.6 Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .252
5.7 Story and production.. . . . . . . . . . . . .254
5.8 Press articles about "Heavenly Creatures." . . . .254
6 Other art related to the "Parker Hulme" case. . . . . .258
6.1 "Daughters of Heaven." . . . . . . . . . . . .266
6.1.1 Background to "Daughters of Heaven.". . . . .267
6.1.2 Performance information. . . . . . . . . .268
6.1.3 Articles about "Daughters of Heaven." . . . .269
6.1.4 About the author. . . . . . . . . . . . .271
6.2 Other films dealing with murderous children. . . .271
6.3 Other films dealing with similar school themes. . .273
7 The real people and events of the "Parker Hulme" case. .274
7.1 List of people (by '54 names). . . . . . . . . .275
7.2 Basic facts of the "Parker Hulme" murder.. . . . .285
7.3 Time line of important events. . . . . . . . . .288
7.4 Quotes from diaries and writings.. . . . . . . .325
7.4.1 Fiction.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .325
7.4.2 Poetry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .326
7.4.3 Diaries.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .327
7.5 Statements and testimony . . . . . . . . . . .357
7.5.1 Ritchie, Agnes . . . . . . . . . . . . .357
7.5.2 Ritchie, Kenneth Nelson. . . . . . . . . .359
7.5.3 Rieper, Herbert Detlev . . . . . . . . . .360
7.5.4 Hulme, Hilda Marion . . . . . . . . . . .361
7.5.5 Perry, Walter Andrew Bowman . . . . . . . .363
7.5.6 Parker, Pauline Yvonne . . . . . . . . . .365
7.5.7 Hulme, Juliet Marion . . . . . . . . . . .367
7.6 Press articles contemporary with the "Parker Hulme"
murder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .371
7.7 Books with material related to the case. . . . . .423
7.7.1 Extract from "Crime in New Zealand.". . . . .427
7.7.2 Extract from "Famous Criminal Cases." . . . .429
7.7.3 Extract from "The Greatest Criminals of All
Time.". . . . . . . . . . . . . . .440
7.7.4 Extract from "Partners in Crime.". . . . . .441
7.7.5 Extract from "Encyclopaedia of Murder." . . .448
7.7.6 Glamuzina & Laurie "Parker & Hulme.". . . . .448
7.8 Scholarly articles related to the case. . . . . .453
7.8.1 Medlicott, R.W. 1955. . . . . . . . . . .458
7.8.2 Glamuzina & Laurie 1989. . . . . . . . . .481
7.9 Recent press articles. . . . . . . . . . . . .490
7.9.1 Darnton, NY Times 95/02/14. . . . . . . . .491
7.9.2 Gristwood, Australian Women's Weekly 1995/03. .495
7.9.3 Wickens, Maclean's 1995/03/27. . . . . . . .498
7.10 Extended biographies.. . . . . . . . . . . . .499
7.10.1 Hulme, Dr Henry Rainsford.. . . . . . . . .499
7.10.1.1 Extracts from "A History of the University of
Canterbury: 1873 - 1973" . . . . .509
7.10.2 Perry, Anne (aka Hulme, Juliet Marion). . . .519
7.10.2.1 Anne Perry's public appearances. . . . .521
7.11 Anne Perry's Fiction.. . . . . . . . . . . . .526
7.11.1 "The Cater Street Hangman" [spoilers].. . . .529
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1 FAQ Notes.
=================================================================
The "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ is meant to provide:
* information related to Peter Jackson's 1994 film "Heavenly
Creatures,"
* background information related to the real people and events
that were the inspiration for the film,
* a summary of critical appraisals of these materials.
Though it is 'unfinished' in many ways, this is intended to
be close to the final version of the FAQ. Updates will be
infrequent because the pace of research has slowed--I have
reached the hard grunt work, where progress is costly and
tedious. Suggestions for further work (and requests for
assistance) are given below.
The format of this FAQ is a combination of criticism and
analysis, in the form of 'traditional' Q&A presentation placed at
the beginning of the FAQ, followed by a database of selected
material culled primarily from the open literature.
The database has been included because there are relatively
few in-depth studies, scholarly or popular, of the film "Heavenly
Creatures" or its subject, the New Zealand "Parker Hulme" case.
There is a fascinating and controversial postscript to
"Heavenly Creatures," not mentioned in the film but included in
this FAQ. After the film had been completed and was being shown
in film festivals, an investigative reporter in New Zealand
tracked down one of the title characters and revealed her present
identity: she is mystery author Anne Perry.
This unexpected development makes available for the FAQ
additional public-domain information and it raises for discussion
interesting ethical issues related to art, justice, celebrity and
privacy. Anne Perry has made public statements recently about the
film "Heavenly Creatures," the "Parker Hulme" case and her life
since the murder and some of these have been included in the FAQ.
In general, the FAQ compiler has included material which is
in the public domain and which is directly related to the "Parker
Hulme" murder case and/or to legitimate issues of public concern
which have arisen from the case. There is also material in this
FAQ which is unavailable elsewhere, contributed by private
communication and authorized for release by the contributors.
Material which might be described as fully unsubstantiated
rumour, or which intrudes unnecessarily and unduly into the
private lives of real people still living, has generally not been
included in this FAQ. However, because of the extraordinary
public impact of this case, the dividing line between appropriate
and inappropriate material is not clear-cut.
Now that the preliminary work has been done, and some new
perspective has been achieved, the FAQ compiler is going to start
the process of putting together a book on the "Parker Hulme"
case. Opinions/encouragement/discouragement would be welcomed. As
would be criticism of the FAQ. Let me know what you think of it.
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1.1 Information on the current release of the FAQ.
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The FAQ ver 1.0 provided a first-draft structure and breakdown of
topics. It was released 1995/04/09.
The FAQ ver 2.0 incorporates corrections, additions and changes
to ver 1.0 made between 1995/04/09 and 1995/08/03. Most were the
result of input from FAQ readers. Version 2.0 will be close to
the final one. Infrequent updates are planned.
This is a long document (currently equivalent to nearly 530
single-spaced pages of plain ASCII text). Printing it out is not
recommended.
Version 2.0 will be announced using informational posts in the
following Internet newsgroups:
rec.arts.mystery rec.arts.movies.misc
alt.cult-movies rec.arts.movies.current-films
sci.psychology soc.culture.new-zealand
alt.true-crime soc.culture.british
rec.arts.movies.announce
The FAQ ver 2.0 will be posted to rec.arts.movies.misc in
manageable pieces (<128 KB), one time only, according to current
plans. Future versions will be posted similarly, one time only.
Copies of the FAQ will be made available upon request (see 1.3).
There is currently no dedicated public archive site for "Heavenly
Creatures" FAQ material. There are no graphics in version 2.0 of
the FAQ. There is currently no World Wide Web site or home page
dedicated to the FAQ ver 2.0 material. Volunteers?
A copy of the FAQ ver 1.0 was made available on 1995/04/11 at the
following WWW site by Ross Finlayson (thanks, Ross):
<http://www.best.com/~rsf/nz/heavenly-creatures-faq.txt>
and by anonymous ftp from: ftp.best.com
under:
pub/rsf/nz/heavenly-creatures-faq.txt
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1.2 Highlights of new material in this release.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* major corrections/additions to FAQ portion, including:
- description and analysis of prologue and epilogue
- background information about Christchurch in the 50s
- background info. on school life, esp. info. about CGHS
- analysis of scenes related to the girls' relationship
- analysis of ship scenes and other dreams and symbols
- analysis of music
- pop culture references
- more complete listing of errors and omissions
- comparison between the film and real life
- complete credits
* updated biographical material for Rieper/Parkers, Hulmes
* corrected and greatly expanded time line (unavailable
elsewhere)
* greatly expanded quotations from diaries and writings
* key articles by Medlicott, Glamuzina & Laurie
* information on "Daughters of Heaven" by Forster
* information about and preliminary discussion of "Parker &
Hulme" by Glamuzina & Laurie
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1.3 Contacting the FAQ compiler.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE DON'T send copies of the FAQ back in email replies!!!
Please DO refer to version number, section titles and section
numbers if you have comments, additions or suggestions.
Copies of the FAQ can be sent out by request. If you have trouble
getting the FAQ from rec.arts.movies.misc or have special needs,
other arrangements might be possible. Contact the FAQ compiler at
the following snailmail address:
Dr John D Porter
1742 Spruce St. #23
Berkeley CA 94709
USA
or at:
jdpo...@belfast.cchem.berkeley.edu
US residents can obtain a copy of the FAQ ver 2.0 as simple DOS
ASCII text files (readable by PC or Mac into any commercial
editor or word processor) by sending two 3 1/2" 1.44 MB floppy
discs in a stamped (sufficient postage), self-addressed envelope
to the snailmail address above.
New Zealand residents faced with exorbitant Internet connection
charges to download the FAQ ver 2.0 can get a copy on floppy
discs, too. Put sufficient NZ postage on your self-addressed
envelope and I'll mail FAQs back in batches to NZ, on your discs,
for re-mailing domestically.
The FAQ compiler is also willing to trade for free copies of the
FAQ. If you have anecdotes, artifacts, photos, personal stories
or recollections, newspaper clippings or copies, copies of
articles etc. etc. -- anything new and relevant to the FAQ -- get
in touch with the FAQ compiler for a FREEBIE copy of the FAQ. As
an added incentive for joining the ranks of FAQ contributors,
contributors to the FAQ database will receive the most recently
updated version-in-progress > 2.0, incorporating their new
material (and the material contributed by others), unavailable to
the general public. I am especially interested in getting the
items I have listed in section 1.5 and background information on
Dr Henry Hulme, Hilda Marion Hulme/Perry and Honora Parker from
residents in the U.K. who are willing to "enter into the spirit
of the thing greatly" and do a bit of digging at Cambridge,
Manchester, Birmingham, Southport, Greenwich and Liverpool (and
Aldermaston). And, as always, I am very keen to hear from New
Zealanders with background information and from Kiwis also
willing to do a little digging in libraries and archives.
I am also more than willing to enter into "completely off the
record" discussions about "Heavenly Creatures" and the "Parker
Hulme" case. Everything crossing my desk has not gone into the
FAQ, of course. Drop me a line.
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1.4 Submitting information for the FAQ.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Updated versions of the "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ are planned, but
release will be very infrequent. If you would like to submit
information for a future version of the FAQ, or if you would just
like to pass along or share information on the case, please drop
me a line at the above snailmail address.
The Table of Contents appears in the short first piece of the
posted FAQ. Please refer to version number and section number if
possible when submitting material for the FAQ.
Unsolicited submissions (and informal discussion) are welcomed.
Submit material for editing and inclusion in the FAQ (or for off-
the-record discussion) to my snailmail address above.
All FAQ material obtained from private discussion has been
included by permission. That would continue to be the policy in
any future versions of the FAQ.
Some sections of the FAQ cover controversial issues for which
there can be no one 'answer.' In those cases, especially, the FAQ
compiler tried to reflect breadth of opinion as well as consensus
in the FAQ entries. Discussion of FAQ-bound material in relevant
newsgroups prior to submission is encouraged, of course.
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1.5 Requests for input and assistance.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Although only infrequent future updates of the FAQ are planned,
here are some things that could still be clarified/added:
* Errors and omissions in version 2.0, both for "Heavenly
Creatures" and the "Parker Hulme" case.
* Analysis of foreshadowing, allusion, themes, symbolism and
technique in "Heavenly Creatures." (I made a start...)
* Other art, especially epigrams and short quotes, that touch on
related themes, for the new section 6.
* Other written works related to or based upon the "Parker Hulme"
case, even if unpublished. I have heard mention of some
unpublished plays, screenplays and novels and would like to
find out more and get in touch with the authors.
* 'Insider' contributions & corrections from New Zealanders:
anecdotes, reminiscences, Christchurch newspaper clippings,
"Canata" clippings, photos, info about the Royal Tour of
'53-4 etc. Informal communication not for FAQ incorporation
is also welcomed, of course.
* More information about Henry Hulme's academic and
administrative career at Liverpool and in New Zealand, at
Canterbury College. I would like to compile a complete,
official Curriculum Vitae and publication list for Dr Hulme.
* More background information on Honora Mary Parker and her
parents and family. Digging in Birmingham records might
yield important information. So little is known about Honora
Parker. I have yet to find a single picture of her, for
instance, and even her birth date isn't known.
* Background material listed in section 7 that hasn't been
obtained yet. There are some publications only available
readily in Australasia. Also, I don't have access to "Who's
Who" 1951, so can't get the listing for Rev. J. Reavley,
Hilda Hulme's father, on p. 117. He did not make it into
"Who Was Who," unfortunately.
* Description and analysis of Anne Perry's fiction, a listing of
the characters in her novels and biosketches of them,
discussion of recurring themes, especially loyalty, honour,
obligation, personal freedom, social pressure, and
description of the crimes etc. for section 7.11.
* Analysis, opinions and speculation concerning the real case,
especially psychological aspects.
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1.6 Acknowledgements.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Versions 0.1 - 2.0 were prepared by John D Porter, who wishes to
thank, first, the many anonymous contributors of discussion and
analysis who stimulated and helped shape the entries marked [jp].
Many sincere thanks for material contributed by:
Movie DataBase [MDB] [filmographies]
Adam Abrams [aa] [Can press kit, music, credits
info, analysis]
Arlene [a] [music info]
Gabe Baker [gb] [music info]
Christopher Beckett [cb] [Mason film info]
Henk Beentje [hb] [Biggles info]
Paul Bickerstaff [pb] [Christchurch info]
John Bierman [jb] [Perry quotes, background, book
info]
Wynter Blathwayt [wb] [3YA, credits info, HC crew
anecdotes]
Sandra Bowdler [sb] [background, Perry, crew, Jackson,
soundtrack info, analysis]
Merle Colebrook [mc] [NZ school, ChCh Girls' High
School, background info]
Angela Davies [ad] [Ilam, HR Hulme info]
ebenke [e] [Biggles info]
Howard Edwards [he] [NZ geography]
Sarah Ettritch [se] [Jackson, background, book, Perry
info]
Marsha K Fearing [mkf] [background, book, Perry, Winslet
info]
Michaelanne Forster [mf] ["Daughters of Heaven," background
info]
Glamuzina&Laurie [G&L] [authoritative book, see 7.7.6]
Eric Gregersen [eg] [analysis]
Carrie S Hafer [csh] [Biggles info]
William Hanselman [wh] [music info]
Diana K Harkness [dkh] [music info]
Jane EB Harrison [jebh] [NZ film info]
Steve Haynes [sh] [music info]
Karen Hedelund [kh] [Perry info]
Paul Henry [ph] [background info]
Ben Hoffman [bh] [Miramax info]
Miranda Kaye [mk] [background, Dr HHulme, NZ film
info, G&L]
Doug Johnston [dj] [music info]
Janet Leary [jl] [Ilam info]
Justine Lee [jlee] [ChCh Girls' High School info]
Ali Lemer [dp] [analysis]
John Mackin [jwwm] ["Daughters of Heaven," Perry info,
G&L analysis]
Nancy Marth [nm] [soundtrack & Perry info]
Margaret Mayman [mm] [NZ school info]
Jim McLennan [jm] [Jackson info]
Miramax Films [Mir] [US press kit]
Lilah A Moore [lam] [med and psych background info]
Anne Perry [ap] [anecdotes]
Karl Reinsch [kr] [music info]
Luisa F Ribeiro [lfr] [music & film analysis, Perry,
credits, script, soundtrack info]
Paula Salamone [ps] [Perry book info]
Andrew Salmond [as] [Jackson info]
Monica Smith [ms] [Perry book info]
Cedrick Stalpers [cs] [music info]
Elliott Swanson [es] [music info]
Harold Underdown [hu] [Biggles info]
usman [u] [Biggles info]
Lyndon Watson [lw] [NZ school, NZ and ChCh info]
Lee Whitman [lw] [music info]
MC Wilson [mcw] [NZ press, PYP & Jackson info]
Michael Witbrock [mw] [NZ geog]
Cho Yan Wong [cyw] [filmography]
Margaret Wong [maw] [NZ, ChCh, ChCh Girls' High School,
Templeton, Rieper info]
Michael Woodhams [mw] [NZ school info]
The numerous contributors to the "Other films dealing with
murderous children," section 6.2, and "Other films dealing with
similar school themes," section 6.3, are listed separately in
those sections.
[your name could be here, too...]
Some people listed above have been officially elevated to "HC"
Sainthood (and you have my special thanks--you know who you are).
=================================================================
2 Introduction to the film "Heavenly Creatures." [jp]
=================================================================
[According to the structure of the film, there are no spoilers in
this section.]
Peter Jackson's film "Heavenly Creatures" was released in
1994 to widespread critical acclaim, including an Oscar
nomination for Best Original Screenplay (1994). Although the film
is a work of fiction--dazzling, imaginative and intense--the
characters and events it depicts were inspired by real people and
by a puzzling, deeply disturbing and tragic murder: the New
Zealand "Parker Hulme" case.
As they were learned late Tuesday June 22, 1954, the bare
facts are these: Mid-afternoon, on a bright winter day, two
teenage girls were seen accompanying a woman into Victoria Park,
just south of Christchurch, New Zealand. Half an hour later the
girls returned alone, seeking medical assistance for the woman,
claiming that she had been injured in an accident. Over the next
two months, there was world-wide interest as a torrent of unusual
revelations followed, one after another after another.
Jackson was meticulous about using actual locations,
artifacts and even archival film footage in "Heavenly Creatures."
His stated goal was to recreate precisely the environment, the
known facts and the real people involved in the case. However,
"Heavenly Creatures" is not a straight documentary. Nor is it a
lurid, exploitative 'docu-drama.' There is no sensational,
gratuitous plot twist, no surprise mystery murderer, no heavy-
handed legal denouement, no smug courtroom moralizing.
And no pat answer to the central question: 'Why did the
murder occur?' Jackson provides his own version of the raw data
and it is up to the viewer to make deductions and draw
conclusions.
Jackson builds up the open framework of "Heavenly Creatures"
from the established facts of the "Parker Hulme" case. And he
reveals the bare facts up front, in effect giving away the plot
of a lesser film before the opening titles. Then he fleshes out
the bare framework he has laid out, with skill and panache, to
give deeper insight into the intriguing title characters.
The issues dealt with in the film are sophisticated and
complex ones--loneliness, friendship, attraction, repulsion,
genius, ambition, passion, confusion, despair, love, murder. They
are best suited to serious, quiet study and patient rumination.
But the viewer is given no chance to think in "Heavenly
Creatures"--Jackson demands the film be experienced viscerally
and interpreted by gut instinct alone. It is an unnerving ride.
"Heavenly Creatures" is an unorthodox mix of wildly-
inventive, exuberant character study and relentless, grim
tragedy. The film offers a kind of giddy, operatic, hyper-
ventilating portrait of adolescence which is bound to be familiar
to any viewer past childhood. And yet...
And yet, at some elusive point, the story begins to drift
from safe, familiar adolescent rites of passage. From then on,
the viewer is hurtled into very, very dark and unsettling
currents, with no chance to turn back.
The opening moments of "Heavenly Creatures" are jarring and
riveting--Jackson flings us head first into an overpowering and
confusing emotional maelstrom. Then, skillfully and methodically,
he shoves our heads back under these intense emotional waters
whenever we bob to the surface to gulp a breath, collect our wits
and take stock of our feelings and our perceptions. Before he has
finished with us, Jackson will let us frolic in the bright foamy
surf of innocent adolescence and then he will stand, laughing, as
we get sucked under by the riptide.
It isn't long before we are gasping and drowning, quite
willingly, in the wonderful imaginations, the swooning passions
and the crippling despairs of the two adolescent girls who are
the focus of our attention. We ride the vortex of their story,
with them, all the way down to its terrible, bleak center,
clinging tight to these brilliant heavenly creatures as if they
really could surface and fly away, to safety, with us in tow.
They can't, of course, and we know it and they don't, and therein
lies the terrible momentum and tragedy of "Heavenly Creatures."
Finally, cruelly, moments before we are dashed against the
hard, ugly conclusion, Jackson wrenches us back into our own
world, tearing us away from the story at the dreadful moment of
the sad, brutal, inevitable murder. We are flung back to our
comfortable shore, battered, stunned and haemorrhaging and deep
in shock. How could things have ever gone this far? How could
things have ever come to be so desperate? We are numbed and left
feeling deeply sympathetic for the victim, and for the murderers
we abandoned to their violent, lonely fate.
"Heavenly Creatures" concludes with many questions
unresolved and many points still open for discussion. As the
credits roll, to the last, bittersweet, ironic song from Mario
Lanza, we are profoundly dispirited and saddened by what we have
seen and what we have heard and by what we have felt under
Jackson's guidance.
And we are troubled by a vague, lingering suspicion that we
may have been manipulated, by Jackson, into our tremendous,
desperate compassion for these beautiful fallen angels. Were we?
And what really happened those many years ago?
*SNIP HERE*******************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 01/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
John D. Porter
*****************************************************************
"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 02/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
=================================================================
3 Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
=================================================================
** What was the rating of "Heavenly Creatures?" [jp]
"Heavenly Creatures" was rated 'R' in America (children
under 17 not admitted without accompanying parent or guardian).
The film was rated '18' in the U.K.
"Heavenly Creatures" deals with mature subjects, including a
brutal murder, a parricide (with formally off-screen violence),
in a frank, intense and very engaging manner. There are mature
erotic and sexual themes and situations depicted. There is brief,
partial nudity. There is brief, explicit on-screen violence
depicted. There is no full nudity, nor explicit profanity. There
are themes explored which may be offensive to persons with deep
Christian convictions.
If "Heavenly Creatures" does not sound like your kind of
film, then the "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ is probably not going to
be to your liking, either, and you are invited to stop reading.
** Which "Heavenly Creature" was unmasked by the press? [jp]
In July 1994 it was revealed by an investigative reporter
that Juliet Hulme is now living and working under the name Anne
Perry. Ms Perry is a successful and popular author of Victorian
murder mysteries. See 3.2.4, 3.2.7 and 7.10.2 for selected
biographical information and 7.11 for more information on Anne
Perry's fiction.
** What is the FAQ policy regarding data on Ms Perry? [jp]
Anne Perry chose to live her life in the public sphere and
has published biographical information for public consumption.
Since it was revealed, in 1994, that she was Juliet Hulme, Ms
Perry has made public statements about the film "Heavenly
Creatures," about the "Parker Hulme" case, about herself, about
other people connected with the film and the case, about her life
as Juliet Hulme and her life as Anne Perry and, of course, about
her work.
In general, the FAQ compiler has tended to omit most
material concerning Ms Perry's personal life since her release
from prison in 1959 and the adoption of her new identity,
although Ms Perry talks freely of her new life in interviews. I
have included some data from personal information supplied by Ms
Perry herself for publication in 'official' biographies.
The FAQ compiler believes that it is appropriate to consider
including Ms Perry's statements which concern people and events
from before her release from prison in December 1959. An
exhaustive compilation has not been made, of course, but
representative statements of Ms Perry have been collected and
presented here. In fact, Ms Perry has provided valuable input in
her recent public statements, clearing up several ambiguities and
correcting false information, as well as offering some insight
into her reasons for participating in the murder.
The FAQ compiler also believes that it is appropriate to
examine and discuss Ms Perry's published work.
** What is the FAQ policy regarding data on Juliet Hulme? [jp]
Juliet Hulme formally changed her identity in November 1959,
upon her release from prison. The FAQ compiler believes that it
is appropriate to consider for inclusion in the FAQ all
information on Juliet Hulme relevant to the "Parker Hulme" case
from dates prior to December 1959. This does not mean that all
information on Juliet Hulme is appropriate for inclusion, of
course.
** What about the other "Heavenly Creature?" [jp]
Pauline Parker has remained out of the public sphere since
being released from parole in 1965. Ms Parker has not identified
herself publicly since that time and she has not made any public
statements concerning "Heavenly Creatures" or the "Parker Hulme"
case. Ms Parker's privacy has been respected by the Press and her
new identity has not been revealed publicly without her
permission.
** What is the FAQ policy regarding data on Ms Parker? [jp]
Pauline Parker formally changed her identity in December
1959, upon her release from prison. She remained on parole until
1965, at which time legitimate public interest in Ms Parker
ended, in the opinion of the FAQ compiler. The FAQ compiler has
included only one piece of published information regarding Ms
Parker from after that date because it does not constitute an
invasion of her privacy and it has some bearing on the case, in
my opinion. The FAQ compiler believes that it is appropriate to
consider for inclusion in the FAQ all information on Pauline
Parker relevant to the "Parker Hulme" case from dates prior to
December 1959 and some information between that date and 1965.
This does not mean that all information about Pauline Parker is
appropriate for inclusion, of course.
** What is the FAQ policy regarding Pauline Parker's diaries?
[jp]
Until mid-1994, Pauline Parker's diaries for 1953 and 1954
were, in many ways, the most contentious aspects of the case.
Opinion is still very divided about whether or not publication of
diary entries is appropriate.
The FAQ compiler believes that publication of all material
entered into open evidence in the public trial is appropriate,
and that includes the diaries. The FAQ compiler has included all
diary quotations encountered in the open literature. Sources
include newspaper accounts of trial testimony, scholarly papers,
scholarly books, popular accounts and "Heavenly Creatures." This
FAQ contains the most complete collection of diary entries in the
public domain, with entries from more than 100 days so far, but
this still represents a small fraction of the total diary days,
537, and an even smaller fraction of the total material. Readers
are warned (and this is an important issue discussed in several
scholarly analyses) that the small set of available diary entries
may paint a distorted picture.
And readers should bear in mind that Pauline Parker's
diaries were declared in Court to be admissable as evidence
against Pauline Parker only, even though that was far from the
actual situation during the trial.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
3.1 About the film "Heavenly Creatures."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
** Are there spoilers to follow in the FAQ? [jp]
Formally, of course there are.
But, curiously enough, it is almost impossible to spoil
"Heavenly Creatures" by a plot outline. Indeed, I would argue
that knowing the main elements of the film actually heightens the
impact of "Heavenly Creatures"--the irony, the anticipation and
suspense, the creeping dread. In fact, the film has been
structured to take advantage of this strategy (see 3.1 below).
In this way, "Heavenly Creatures" is like a classical
tragedy or even a folk tale. It doesn't hurt to know the main
elements of the story, or even the basic story behind the story,
before seeing the film. And it may even add a new dimension to
the work. Many viewers have commented that "Heavenly Creatures"
is every bit as compelling the second and third time around.
** To whom is "Heavenly Creatures" dedicated? [jp]
The opening crawl says: "for Jim."
** Who is Jim? [jp]
"Jim" is Jim Booth, the producer of "Heavenly Creatures,"
who died in early 1994 before the film was completed (see 5.2.2).
** Where does the story take place? [jp,lw]
Christchurch, New Zealand.
Just a reminder: Because New Zealand is in the southern
hemisphere, seasons are about six months out of phase with those
in the northern hemisphere. This is a very important point for
northern-hemisphere viewers to remember. People's emotions are
often tied to the seasons, and "Heavenly Creatures" is a film
filled to bursting with emotion. The murder occurred on the
shortest, darkest day of the year in Christchurch.
The school year is also out of phase with the northern
hemisphere school year. The academic year coincides with the
calendar year in New Zealand (see 3.1.5 for more on school).
** What are the time period and events covered in the film? [jp]
The film covers the time period between early 1952, soon
after the beginning of the school year (Third Form) for Pauline,
aged 13 (almost 14), and Juliet, aged 13--and mid-afternoon
Tuesday June 22, 1954. It was on that bright, mid-Winter day that
the two girls murdered Honora Rieper in Victoria Park.
** Where is Christchurch and what was it like in the 50s?
[jp,lw,maw]
Christchurch is about 2/3 of the way up the eastern seaboard
of New Zealand's South Island. The city is bounded on the east by
the Pacific Ocean and on the south by the Port Hills, which
separate it from the port of Lyttelton, where the "ship" scenes
were filmed. Victoria Park lies near the crest of the Port Hills,
overlooking Christchurch and just south of the Christchurch
suburb of Cashmere (no longer an 'official' suburb name). Farther
to the south-east, past Lyttelton, are Port Levy, where the girls
first saw the Fourth World, and the hills of the Banks Peninsula.
Before European settlement, the city site was flat but
gently sloping eastward, from stony ground in the west toward a
coastal swamp drained by the meandering Avon and Heathcote
rivers. To some extent the present courses of those rivers have
been defined by drainage and channelling works made by the
settlers.
The town plan was drawn up before the Canterbury Company
settlers arrived in 1850. The original town was laid out on a
square grid about 2 km on a side, bordered by the four Avenues
(Bealey, Fitzgerald, Moorehouse and Rolleston), with Cathedral
Square being the planned centre for commercial development. The
main N-S axis of the central city is still Colombo St, with
shopping extending one or two blocks to either side. The city had
expanded well beyond the original town by the 1950s.
The old Christchurch Girls' High School (CGHS) was located
near the western border of the original town, and Hagley Park
lies just outside the original town on its western side. Pauline
Parker lived on Gloucester St, inside the western border of the
original town, and very near CGHS, Christchurch College and
Hagley Park. Juliet Hulme lived at Ilam, which lies about 4 km
west of Pauline's house, in the present grounds of the University
of Canterbury. The move of the campus from downtown to Ilam is a
very important element in the real life events (see 7.10.1.1).
The SW corner of the original town was always given over to
industry (light industry, now) and the more humble sort of
housing. Slightly less humble housing occupied the eastern side
of the original town, but the "best" residential district in the
early days was in the NW.
There was very little crime. [I lived in the outer suburb of
Hoon Hay. We never locked our doors at night. If we went out, we
would lock the front but leave the back open. It seems hard to
believe, now, but it was a different world then. maw]
The streets around the old CGHS were lined with rather grand
two-storied wooden houses built for the better-off settlers, set
in tree-filled gardens. Many of those houses and gardens still
remain (though not the Rieper residence), gradually being
occupied by professional offices such as architects and engineers
and by social services connected with the various hospitals.
Some, especially north of Gloucester St and along Park Terrace
are still private residences. Many houses that are no longer
residential were "student flats" in the 50s, occupied by students
attending the nearby Canterbury University College.
[In the early 60s, one of the houses behind CGHS had a
marvellous old walnut tree. Many of the others were old, wooden,
rather rundown dumps. There was a two-storey red house right next
to the school that some girls claimed was a brothel! Because I
didn't know about the murder when I was at school, I don't know
whether I have seen the Riepers' house or not. maw]
The summer holidays in Christchurch are generally hot
(temperatures into the upper 70s F [mid 20s C] rising to 80s in
January and occasionally the 90s [high 30s]) and dry. Frequently
there is no significant rain from October to April, and the
desiccating north-west winds often blow up dust storms in the
country. These are ideal conditions for the beach and rivers, of
which there are many in the area. Christchurch is bordered on the
east by a sandy ocean beach [note: Ironically called Brighton
Beach ... nothing at all like its cold, damp, pebble-covered
English 'namesake.' jp] which runs for 30 miles north, to the
point near Amberley where the hills come down to the sea.
[Christchurch weather sounds very similar to coastal
California, south of Monterey through to Los Angeles. jp]
The film's prologue provides detailed information about
Christchurch society in the early 1950s (see 3.1.3).
** Where can I get a map of Christchurch? [lw,jp]
New Zealand Minimaps Ltd print a first-rate, full-colour
street map of Christchurch and surrounding suburbs. They can be
contacted at:
New Zealand Minimaps Ltd
P.O. Box 2472 0800 80 2472 [toll-free in NZ]
Christchurch (03) 366 6653 office
New Zealand. (03) 379 1763 FAX
I found having a detailed map to be very useful for understanding
many aspects of the case. [jp]
** Why is the film structured the way it is? [jp]
The filmmakers were faced with the following fascinating
dilemma: The "Parker Hulme" case is so well known in New Zealand
and Australia that it has effectively become part of the folklore
and culture, even if it is not often discussed and the details
are muddled when it is discussed. The case is also very well
known in Britain. I had certainly heard of it before "Heavenly
Creatures" came to be. So how should the film be constructed,
when the 'mystery' was effectively spoiled?
Walsh and Jackson chose to tell the audience the rough facts
of the case in the stunning Prologue, and this was a critical
artistic decision. This device simultaneously removes the element
of cheap mystery from the story, and it imbues every word and
action in the film with a tremendous weight and resonance,
through powerful foreshadowing. In fact, the filmmakers heap more
and more foreshadowing on the audience all through the film,
until the sense of momentum and tragedy is almost unbearable (see
3.1.14).
In effect, Walsh and Jackson exploit the Prologue to
recreate for the audience what must have taken place in the homes
of quiet, safe, small-town Christchurch on the mid-winter evening
of Tuesday June 22, 1954...
Perhaps the radio is on as we come home from school, or from
work, and we sit down to evening tea. Our thoughts are far away.
Then, the tail-end of a sentence grabs our attention. What was
that? It was the report of a statement made by Mrs Agnes Ritchie,
who owns the tea shop in Victoria Park. She described what she
had seen, and what she had heard, when two girls came running out
of the Park this afternoon--and our hearts catch in our throats
and we get this horrible feeling in the pit of our stomachs. (I
certainly did: "It's Mummy! She's terribly hurt!" Didn't you?)
Something has happened, something terrible, and we suspect... But
wait a minute--we know these people. How could something like
this have happened? We know these people, or do we?
That's where we join the story. The film is constructed so
we find out about the story, and the people, the way the public
found out about the "Parker Hulme" case, in the days and weeks
following the murder.
** From whose perspective is "Heavenly Creatures" told? [jp]
The narrative of "Heavenly Creatures" is told almost
entirely from Pauline Rieper's perspective. The film may, in
fact, represent Pauline's version of reality, and hers alone.
** Who narrates the voiceover? [jp]
The film's voiceover is narrated by Pauline (played by
Melanie Lynskey). It consists of edited quotations from the real-
life writings and diary entries of Pauline Parker (see 3.2.1 for
an explanation of names and 7.4.3 for more extensive quotations
from Pauline's diaries).
** What is the time line of the narrative? [jp]
The narrative of the film follows a 'wraparound' time line.
The stunning opening scene in the prologue takes place at
approximately 3:30 p.m., on Tuesday June 22, 1954 in the moments
following the murder of Honora Rieper. This time comes from the
real-life trial testimony, not the film.
The narrative returns, through the titles and opening
credits, to approximately February 1952 and the day Juliet first
arrives at Pauline's school, "Girls' High."
The rest of the film follows a straightforward, linear, but
uneven time line, with two brief flashbacks.
The narrative comes to its emotionally devastating
conclusion in the minutes just after 3:20 p.m., Tuesday June 22,
1954, according to Jackson's speculation. "Heavenly Creatures"
ends in the first few moments of Honora Rieper's murder.
There is a residual gap between the events shown at the
film's conclusion and the events shown at its wraparound start.
The length of the residual narrative gap cannot be
determined solely from the film, but it can be estimated by
comparison with the real-life events. The narrative gap turns out
to be an interesting and important topic (see 4.8).
** What does the film tell about the real-life events? [sb]
By way of a printed prologue, (see 3.1.3 below) the film
informs the audience that Pauline Parker kept a detailed diary
and that the voiceover consists of quotations from Pauline's
writings.
The printed epilogue (see 4.1) informs the audience of the
conviction of the girls for Honora's murder, the terms of their
incarceration and the date and terms of their eventual release
from incarceration. It also explains the discrepancies between
the names used by characters in the film and those mentioned in
the prologue and epilogue (see 3.1.4.1).
** What does the film say about the girls' trial? [jp]
Nothing. There is no description of the sensational trial,
no mention of the world-wide publicity given to the case, no
mention of the howl of public condemnation raised against the
murderers and no mention of the tremendous flood of
editorializing unleashed by the murder.
** What does the film say about the fate of the girls? [jp]
Nothing beyond the fact that they were released from
incarceration in 1959, and the condition of their release.
** What is said about the fate of other characters? [jp]
The printed epilogue mentions that Hilda Hulme was living
abroad at the time of her daughter's release from prison (though
it does not give Hilda Hulme's new name at the time, or where she
was living). No other information is provided about the fate of
any of the other central characters in the film.
** Where can I find out about the real events and people? [jp]
That's one purpose of this FAQ. There are biographies of the
main characters seen in "Heavenly Creatures" in section 3.2.
There is extensive background information in section 7, including
bio-sketches of key characters not shown in the film, a time line
of important events, press clippings covering the trial, an
account of the trial and detailed biographies of Henry Hulme and
Anne Perry (aka Juliet Hulme).
** Were the filmmakers aware of the girls' new identities? [jp]
Although the filmmakers discouraged journalists and others
from 'hunting down' the title characters in their new, anonymous
lives, and Jackson and Walsh have been coy about the subject in
many interviews, it turns out that the filmmakers were aware of
the present identities of both Pauline and Juliet, through rumour
and their own research, as early as 1992.
This is an interesting and important fact, because it may
have influenced the writing and, especially, the editing of the
film for foreign release.
It should be pointed out that Walsh and Jackson were by no
means the only people who knew Pauline and Juliet's present
identities at that time. Press articles since the release of
"Heavenly Creatures" have characterized Pauline and Juliet's
present identities as being "open secrets" among academics and
the literati of New Zealand and Australia for many years. Indeed,
it appears as if Anne Perry, for one, had kept in touch with
several of her former acquaintances in New Zealand over the
years.
** What recognition has "Heavenly Creatures" received?
[Mir,aa,sb,mk]
Prizewinner, Silver Lion Award, Venice Film Festival, 1994.
Prizewinner, Critics' Prize, Toronto Film Festival, 1994.
Nominated for Best Original Screenplay Oscar, 1994.
New Zealand Film Awards (1995):
Best Director (Jackson)
Best Actress (Lynskey)
Best Supporting Actress (Peirse)
Best Screenplay (Walsh and Jackson)
Best Cinematography (Bollinger)
Best Foreign Performer (Winslet)
Best Film Score (Dasent)
Best Editing (Selkirk)
Best Soundtrack (Hopkins, Bell, Hedges)
Best Design (Major)
Best Contribution to Design (Taylor, Port)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.1 Peter Jackson.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** What were Peter Jackson's previous movies? [mcw]
(1) "Bad Taste" (1987). A simple tale of prospectors for an alien
fast food company, seeking new product: humans. Up against them,
the boys from the Alien Investigation and Defence Service whose
task is the defence of the earth (and the moon). The boys have to
rescue a captured phony priest, with the help of some Stirling
sub-machine guns, some pistols ("my turn with the magnum"), an
RPG-7 and a chainsaw. [mcw]
(2) "Meet The Feebles" (1989). A sordid tale of greed, violence,
drugs, sex, and soft toys. A puppet show prepares for its live
television debut but the tensions within the troupe are about to
explode in an orgy of violence. Features a hippopotamus running
amok with an M-60 machine gun. [mcw]
(3) "Braindead" (aka "Dead Alive") (1992). A simple tale of boy
meets girl, mother doesn't approve, follows them, gets bitten by
a vampire monkey and before you know it, ZOMBIES. Which all have
to be killed by the hero with a lawn mower strapped to his chest.
[mcw]
[note: Beware of excessively-censored versions of this film on
video. jp (passing on the warning of many Braindead fans)].
** How were they received? [jm]
"BORN TO BE BAD (TASTE).
// Horror Movie Takes NZ Film Down New Path"
Wellington, Sept 15, [1992] REUTER - A new blood-and-guts horror
movie, "Braindead," scorns New Zealand tradition of art films by
making even the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" seem like a fairytale.
"If you thought the '50s was all bobby-sox and innocence you
didn't live next door to Lionel," the film's publicity material
proclaims. Set in Wellington, "Braindead" is about 25-year-old
Lionel Cosgrove, whose life goes off the rails... But far from
clutching the sides of their seats in terror, the audience at the
premiere were rolling in the aisles with laughter. Director Peter
Jackson insists the film is a comedy.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.2 The actors.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Are some actors in the credits but not the film? [jp,lfr,mk]
Yes. An early version of the script [lfr] contains several
scenes that do not appear in the NAm version of the film. The
running time of the film at it's premiere was ten minutes longer
than the running time in the NAm version [lfr]. Many of the extra
scenes in the early script were obviously filmed and shown at the
premiere as part of the film, but were subsequently edited out
before wide international release. The characters in those scenes
are still listed in the film's credits. See 5.1 for the complete
credit crawl.
** Who were the newcomers? [jp]
The title characters were both played by newcomers. This was
the first feature film for Melanie Lynskey (Pauline) and Kate
Winslet (Juliet). See section 5.3 for more information on members
of the cast.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.3 The Prologue.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** What is the purpose of the opening 'newsreel' footage? [jp]
Jackson used archival film footage and archival radio
recordings in the brief but powerful Prologue. This was a clever
way of presenting important background information about
Christchurch and about Christchurch society and its values and
traditions, before the titles. He also used the Prologue to make
some sarcastic statements and to provide foreshadowing, as well.
** What is the archival voiceover during the prologue? [jp]
"Christchurch: New Zealand's 'City of the Plains.'
"Here, when Spring comes to Canterbury, daffodils bloom gay
and golden in the woodland of Hagley Park.
"Nearby are tall buildings, busy streets and the heart of
the city, Cathedral Square.
"Canterbury University College: Weathered greystone
buildings, shadowed cloisters. It was here Lord Rutherford began
a great career.
"The Girls' High School stands in Cranmer Square.
"And not far away are the broad acres of Hagley Park, with
playing fields for many sports.
"In Spring, Summer and Autumn, Christchurch gardens are gay
and colourful.
"Yes, Christchurch: New Zealand's 'City of the Plai...
(wooooshhh!)"
** What archival footage is shown during the voiceover? [jp]
The opening shot is a Douglas DC-3 (Dakota) flying over
neat, suburban, flat Christchurch.
Cut to beds of daffodils in Hagley Park, Spring, with an
artist and easel. Close-up of daffodils. Couple strolling through
daffodil beds of Hagley Park.
Downtown street, with trams, pedestrians milling on streets,
many bicyclists, people driving on the left, very slowly and
courteously.
The Cathedral, looking much older and more imposing than its
actual years, with trams, cars and pedestrians [this is
interspersed with new footage, aged to look archival].
Canterbury University College--the old buildings downtown.
Christchurch Girls' High School--the old buildings facing
Cranmer Square with peaked brick gables, girls in school uniforms
strolling outside the school.
Hagley Park playing fields: cricket, cricket again, 8-man
Crew on the River Avon.
A garden in an affluent suburb, with the man of the house
mowing the lawn and a toddler crawling happily over the lush
lawn.
An overview of Christchurch from the foothills of Cashmere.
** What is learned about Christchurch of the 50s? [jp]
We learn that the central events of "Heavenly Creatures"
take place in a very small area, downtown. The girls' school was
near Canterbury University College, where Dr Hulme was Rector,
and both were near the Cathedral and Hagley Park. The impression
we get is that Christchurch was very much a cozy, provincial,
'small town' kind of place, despite the voiceover's reference to
busy streets and tall buildings (gentle humour on Jackson's
part... nothing shown was over 5 floors tall).
The narrator has a 'pseudy'-BBC-Queen's English accent, and
we are shown images, sports and activities which tie Christchurch
firmly to the apron strings of Mother England. The Anglican
Church figures prominently in the newsreel footage and, it turns
out, in the real-life story.
** What was the influence of the Anglican Church? [lw]
The influence of the Anglican Church on the Canterbury
settlement should not be overstated. The Canterbury Company did
indeed have the backing of the influential people in the Church
of England and all of the first of the Company's colonists were
Anglican but, apart from having the site for their Cathedral and
other central-city churches set aside, the Church had no special
position in the colony. Presbyterian, Methodist and Roman
Catholic churches were also established in the new town in the
first few years of the settlement. Indeed, when the Canterbury
Company colonists arrived, they found that a group of
Presbyterian Scottish families had already done their own deal
with the Maoris and were settled on and farming the site of their
colony.
The Deans family, who are still prominent in public affairs,
had a grand establishment at Riccarton (now Riccarton Bush, an
estate between Hagley Park and Ilam) which they were eventually
persuaded to vacate with the offer of large tracts of land in the
country, much of which they still occupy. It was the Deans who
named the Avon River after a stream in Scotland, not after the
Avon of the Bard.
There is a joke that the Anglican settlers created Hagley
Park to insulate themselves from the dreadful Presbyterians of
Riccarton.
** What allusions and foreshadowing are in the newsreel? [jp,aa]
Daffodils: There is a famous photograph of a very young and
innocent Juliet Hulme, much reprinted at the time of the trial
and in true crime books since, where she is posing and smiling a
little self-consciously in a bed of daffodils. A copy of the
photograph shows up later in "Heavenly Creatures" on Pauline's
bedroom wall. [aa]
Gay and Golden: A bit of a cruel joke--this is how the
public would have described Juliet at the time of the trial, had
they been kind enough to use modern euphemisms.
Lord Rutherford: Lord Rutherford was a brilliant and famous
New Zealand physicist who, among other things, proved that the
nucleus of an atom existed, that it was positively charged and it
contained most of an atom's mass, but it was extremely small
compared to the size of an atom. Rutherford was, by definition,
the first true, modern nuclear physicist.
So, first and foremost, the reference to Rutherford is an
allusion to the real Dr Henry Hulme, who was a mathematical
physicist; Dr Hulme's academic discipline is never stated
explicitly in "Heavenly Creatures." (see 3.2.2 and 7.10.1 for
biographical information on Dr Hulme).
However, Jackson is being doubly or triply ironic in this
reference. Lord Rutherford is one of two famous New Zealanders
invariably brought up by proud Kiwis in casual conversation with
foreigners, the other being Sir Edmund Hillary, of course (see
7.3). However, Lord Rutherford left New Zealand to pursue his
career. His greatest triumphs came after he had gone elsewhere--
to England and Cambridge University, in fact. The word "began" in
the voiceover is a subtle jab at Christchurch provincialism.
Cambridge also happens to be the real Dr Hulme's alma mater.
Rutherford died in 1937 and Dr Hulme received his Ph.D. in 1932,
so the two, no doubt, had met. It is perfectly conceivable that
Lord Rutherford was an inspiration or even a mentor to the young
Henry Hulme. Lady Rutherford was actually a celebrated guest at
Ilam while Henry Hulme was Rector of Canterbury College. [G&L]
The real Dr Hulme, of course, came to New Zealand from
England, reversing Rutherford's journey in a kind of academic
pilgrimage back to the source. By late 1954, however, Dr Hulme
must have thought that his hopeful pilgrimage had ended in
humiliating failure, shocking betrayal, and an incomprehensible
murder. His bitterness was, by all accounts, unfathomably deep
and all-consuming and it must have seemed to him that his life
and, more importantly, his career had been utterly destroyed by
his wife, by his daughter and by "that... Rieper girl."
In fact, this was not to be the case, though the real Dr
Hulme couldn't possibly have known of his coming good fortune in
June 1954. As it happens, Dr Hulme's career was to arise like a
Phoenix, spectacularly and with the brilliance of the sun, from
the ashes of his life in Christchurch. See section 7.10.1 for the
surprising details.
There is, of course, a final, supremely ironic connection
with Rutherford in the real Dr Hulme's later scientific triumphs.
No doubt this was also appreciated by Walsh and Jackson.
Christchurch Gardens: Key events were to take place in the
gardens of Ilam, and in the imagined gardens of the Fourth World,
and in the wildwood of Victoria Park.
The Cashmere Foothills: The perspective of the newsreel
gradually moves from downtown Christchurch, through the pastoral
suburbs, to the Cashmere foothills.
At this point, the film cuts abruptly, violently and
ominously from the newsreel footage to the shocking and
disturbing shots of the girls running, just a short distance
farther up in the hills, in Victoria Park. The effect is like a
punch in the abdomen.
** What is shown in the screaming 'flight' sequence? [jp]
We see the two girls running up a winding wooded path,
emerging at the top to find Mrs Agnes Ritchie, proprietor of the
Victoria Park tea shop. This sequence is actually an accurate
depiction of part of Mrs Ritchie's courtroom testimony (see 7.6).
The short 'flight' scene is, of course, a very, very
important one to the film, to the story and to our understanding
of the real life events. It is discussed in detail in several
places in the FAQ, and a shot-by-shot description is given in
section 3.1.17.1.
** What does the printed prologue say? [jp,sb]
"During 1953 and 1954 Pauline Yvonne Parker kept diaries
recording her friendship with Juliet Marion Hulme.
"This is their story.
"All diary entries are in Pauline's own words..."
** Is that true? [jp]
Well--yes and no. 'Yes' the voiceover includes Pauline's
diary entries but, 'no', they are not all completely accurate.
Many were edited for dramatic effect, and there were many
significant omissions. See 7.4.3.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.4 The characters.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Which main characters are fictitious? [jp,jb,sb,ap,mc,maw]
Of the central 'real' characters identified by name in
"Heavenly Creatures," none are fictitious.
The only characters from the Rieper home who haven't been
confirmed yet are the boarders Steve Bayliss and Laurie. Boarders
named Ross and John have been confirmed from Pauline's diaries
(see 7.4.3). All Riepers have been confirmed (see 3.2 and 7.1).
All characters from the Hulmes' home have been confirmed
(see 3.2 and 7.1), including Mr Perry, though it isn't clear from
"Heavenly Creatures" that Mr Perry was actually living at Ilam.
Characters from school who haven't been confirmed yet
include the Geography(?) teacher Mrs Stevens, the Art teacher Mrs
Collins and the Gym teacher Mrs Zwortz(?) [note: All are
suspected to be real. Tentative confirmation of Mrs Zwortz. [maw]
jp].
Miss Stewart has been confirmed [ap,mc].
Miss Waller has been confirmed [mc,maw].
Of the authority figures, Dr Bennett has been confirmed (see
7.1) [mc]. Rev Norris has not been confirmed.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.4.1 Names.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** What is the origin of the name "Heavenly Creatures?" [jp,sb]
The term appears in a poem "The Ones That I Worship" written
by Pauline and recited by Melanie Lynskey in the film's voiceover
(see also 7.4). Pauline used the term to refer to herself and
Juliet, intending it to encompass all of their physical and
spiritual 'identities.' The girls did not use the term "heavenly
creatures" explicitly in any conversation in the film.
The term "heavenly creatures" appears in all popular and
scholarly articles written around or slightly after the trial,
though it does not appear in some articles written substantially
after the trial. The version of the poem used by the filmmakers
(and quoted widely by the press at the time of the trial) was
obtained from the version read into testimony during the trial.
** The two "Heavenly Creatures" go by many names. Why? [jp,lfr]
First, the two girls are called different names in the film
by different people--this is true to life but not often seen in
movies. Second, the girls invent names for the imaginary
characters who people their "Fourth World" and their imaginary
Kingdom of "Borovnia" and they address each other by those names
from time to time, and increasingly so as the film progresses.
The constant renaming of the girls throughout the film
suggests themes of continual rebirth and transformation.
** By what names is Juliet known in the film? [jp]
Juliet: Used by Juliet's parents, by Pauline's
parents, by teachers and authority figures.
Antoinette: Juliet's self-chosen name in French class.
There is an interesting real-life connection
between this name and Anne Perry, who has
maintained an abiding interest in the French
Revolution (see 7.10.2).
Julie: Used familiarly by Pauline in April, 1953 at
Port Levy and, significantly, in the
devastating final moments of the film.
Giulietta: Used familiarly by Pauline in May, 1953.
Deborah: Used as Juliet's "Fourth World" and
'Borovnian' name by Pauline and as her given
name from Christmas 1953 onward. The girls
pronounce it "deh-BORE-ah."
** By what names is Pauline known in the film? [jp]
Pauline: Used by teachers and other authority figures.
Paulette: Pauline's self-chosen name in French class.
Paul: Used familiarly by schoolmates and Mrs Hulme,
and by Juliet up to Christmas 1953.
Yvonne: Used by Pauline's family (her middle name).
Charles: Pauline's pen name in letters to Juliet when
Juliet was confined to the TB sanatorium.
Gina: Used by Juliet and by Pauline herself as her
"Fourth World" and 'Borovnian' name, and as
Pauline's given name after Christmas 1953.
Pauline demanded, unsuccessfully, that her
mother address her as Gina. Hilda Hulme did
use this name for Pauline. This name was used
by Juliet in the final "ship" scene.
** By what names is John-the-boarder known in the film? [jp]
John: Used by everyone but Pauline.
Nicholas: Pauline's 'Borovnian' name for John.
** Where does the family name "Parker" occur in the story? [jp]
Only one character is referred to by the name "Parker" in
the film, and she is 'Nana' Parker, Pauline's maternal
grandmother. Nana Parker is seen sitting quietly in the
living/dining room in several scenes, including the two
"Christmas" scenes, and at table for several meals. Pauline
recounts a story told to her by Nana Parker, during a quarrel
with her mother in the Riepers' kitchen.
** Who is Pauline Parker? Is she Pauline Rieper? [jp]
Pauline Parker is known as Pauline Rieper in the film. This
is true to fact--up until the murder took place, the real Pauline
used the family name Rieper and she was known as Pauline Rieper.
Since the film is only concerned with the time before and up to
the murder, Pauline's family name is Rieper in "Heavenly
Creatures." Dr Hulme, of course, referred to Pauline as "that...
Rieper girl."
** Why in real life is it called the "Parker Hulme" murder? [jp]
Pauline's mother and father were never legally married--a
fact revealed by the police investigation following the murder
but not known to Pauline or anyone else in the community (except
Nana Parker) up to that point. Hence, the legal family name of
Pauline's mother when she was murdered was still Parker, even
though she went by the name Rieper. In all official real-life
references to her in police reports and the press she is called
Honora Parker.
Similarly, Pauline's legal name at the time of the murder
was Pauline Parker because she was never legally adopted by her
father and that was what she was called in real-life documents
and reports after the murder.
This whole business of marital status and legal names must
have been tremendously humiliating and a cruel additional stress
for the already-suffering Rieper family. It was common in those
times to describe women by their marital status in news accounts.
For example, Hilda Hulme was referred to as "Hilda Marion Hulme,
a married woman,..." in The Press (Christchurch). Legitimacy was
still very much an important social concept in 1954, especially
in Christchurch, and Pauline was now publicly declared to be a
bastard on top of all the other labels she would acquire.
The press and public made two important concessions to the
Riepers, however, in recognition of their standing in the
community and in sympathy for their suffering. They may seem
small measures to modern sensibilities, but they would not have
gone un-noticed or unappreciated at the time. First, Honora
Parker was almost always referred to as Mrs Parker, in tacit
recognition of her being the de facto wife of Mr Rieper. Second,
neither she nor Mr Rieper were ever referred to as being the
'common-law' spouse, which would have been legally correct but
would have just drawn excessive attention to the fact that the
two were not legally married. However, newspaper accounts did not
refer to Herbert Rieper as "husband of..." but usually stated
that he had lived with Honora Parker as her husband for 23 years.
The number '23' was supplied by Herbert Rieper and has an
interesting story attached to it (see 3.2.9).
"Heavenly Creatures" is precise and correct in these
matters. The information presented at the start of the film
identifies Pauline as Pauline Parker, but most viewers don't
retain the surname at that point. By the time the end notes are
shown, the audience has come to know Pauline as Pauline Rieper.
The short statement used to explain why Pauline was charged as
Pauline Parker is then a poignant one.
** How might the Riepers' marital status have affected things?
[maw]
For Pauline to obtain a passport, she would have had to
register herself under her true, legal name. This would have
meant Honora and Herbert would have been obliged to admit to
their family that they weren't married and that all children were
illegitimate. It seems unlikely that Honora would have told
Pauline these things and they might have been powerful reasons
why she wouldn't allow Pauline to get a passport.
** Who was "The most hideous man alive?" [jp]
Orson Welles, of course. Or, was it? See 3.1.20.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.4.2 The Riepers.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Who were the members of the extended Rieper family? [jp]
'Nana' Parker Mother of Honora, grandmother of Pauline. She
is a silent presence in "Heavenly Creatures."
Honora Rieper Pauline's mother. She managed their boarding
house. According to Nana Parker, she "ran
away with" Mr Rieper when she was 17. Honora (Nora) is
portrayed very sympathetically in the film as a frugal,
hard-working, weary woman who loved her family and who was
genuinely concerned about their well-being and welfare.
Honora was the no-nonsense, practical partner in her
relationship. She was also the worrier and disciplinarian.
Honora wore a gold wedding band on her left hand and she was
known as Mrs Rieper.
Like most working poor of her generation, Honora seemed to
be determined her children would fare better than her, and
she saw education as the essential key to their better life.
She pushed Pauline to excel at school and was proud of her
daughter's achievements. Honora was bitterly disappointed
when Pauline's grades fell (or, did they? see 7.8.2). Honora
seems to have focussed on Pauline's relationship with Juliet
as being the cause of Pauline's changing moods, her
disrespectful behaviour and the slide in her grades. Her
challenge to Pauline to quit school and get a job comes
across as angry bluff--Honora had probably done just that
and lived to regret it. Honora was not a sophisticated woman
but she was proud, and Pauline hurt her deeply when she told
her "You're the most ignorant person I have ever known!"
Honora did not deal well with life's complexities. She
showed a working-class deference to (and slight contempt of)
her social, professional and intellectual superiors, with
tragic consequences in the film. We come to see that Honora
may have harboured homophobic fears and feelings. She is
murdered by Pauline and Juliet in the film's final moments.
Herbert Rieper Pauline's father. He worked at Dennis
Brothers' Fish Supply ("He's the manager!").
He is portrayed in the film as a jocular, good-natured,
patriotic and caring man. Bert Rieper obviously loved his
family and even doted on Pauline. If anything, Bert was even
less sophisticated and worldly than Honora. He was a little
slow off the mark when it came to worrying about Pauline's
relationship with Juliet. True to his times, Bert blamed
Pauline for John-the-boarder's amorous advances.
Wendy Rieper Pauline's pretty, blonde older sister. She
sold women's lingerie in a local department
store, where Sir Edmund Hillary was one of her customers.
She did not appear to have much to do with Pauline, or to
like Juliet.
Pauline Rieper At the chronological start of "Heavenly
Creatures," Pauline is portrayed as an
intelligent, imaginative, artistic and headstrong girl with
a serious, rebellious nature. She didn't appear to be
irreversibly antisocial, but she did appear to prefer her
own company. She daydreamt about horses, Mario Lanza and
escaping from her dreary, day-to-day, small-town life.
Pauline seemed to question authority constantly, but she
mostly kept her questions to herself. She had suffered from
a degenerative bone disease as a young child but seems to
have recovered and adapted quite well.
At the chronological end of "Heavenly Creatures," Pauline
kills her mother. "Heavenly Creatures" presents the
intervening story through Pauline's eyes and the film is
mostly concerned with trying to understand the connection
between those two different versions of Pauline Rieper.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.4.3 The Hulmes.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Who were the members of the Hulme family? [jp]
Henry Hulme Henry Hulme was Rector of Canterbury
University College, husband of Hilda and
father to Juliet and Jonathon. He is introduced as a
likeable, slightly absent-minded academic (discipline
unspecified but maybe a scientist: "I thought I smelled
sulphur..."), but his character develops a far harder, more
manipulative and cunning edge as the film progresses and his
personal problems mount. Dr Hulme was idolized, with tragic
repercussions, by Juliet and Pauline, and cuckolded very
publicly by Hilda. Curiously enough, if the film has a
villain, then it is probably Henry Hulme.
Hilda Hulme Hilda Hulme is portrayed as an intelligent,
chic, stylish, cultured and sensitive woman.
Hilda was a visible, and audible, pillar of the community.
In fact, her face and voice were probably better known in
Christchurch than those of her husband. Hilda is shown to be
a little bored with her life, but also terribly wrapped up
in herself and distracted by the escalating turmoil in her
personal life. Hilda obviously loved her daughter and was
concerned about her daughter's happiness. Her feelings
toward Henry were less obvious, but she clearly worried
about the health of her marriage through much of the film.
Hilda was sophisticated and had a progressive, liberal
outlook on life and sexuality. But... Hilda fell in love
with a married man and brought scandal, public scrutiny and
disgrace into Henry Hulme's home, and she dealt a severe
setback to Henry's career. Hilda was the unwitting catalyst
of many tragic events in "Heavenly Creatures."
Juliet Hulme At the chronological start of "Heavenly
Creatures," Juliet is shown to be a bright,
outgoing, precocious girl although, perhaps, more than a
little arrogant and disrespectful. We come to see that
Juliet hid considerable loneliness, insecurity and a
crippling fear of rejection and abandonment under this
confident and brash exterior. Juliet had suffered recurring
poor health as a child and her health plays an important
part in "Heavenly Creatures." At the chronological end of
the film, Juliet helps Pauline kill Honora Rieper. The
filmmakers want to know 'why.'
Jonathon Hulme The lively younger brother of Juliet, who
claimed, at Port Levy in April '53, to be
"almost ten," to which Juliet replied: "No you're not!
You're eight and a half, and incredibly stupid!" Juliet
calls him 'Jonsy.'
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.4.4 Accents and social status.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Are accents important in "Heavenly Creatures?" [jp]
They are extremely important, and Jackson was well aware of
their importance. His basic casting decisions (see 5.3) were
dominated by his stated desire to get the central characters
"right." Jackson insisted on casting the central British
characters with British actors, and the central New Zealand
characters with New Zealand or Australian actors, so accents were
a very important component of the casting decisions.
Beyond this, Jackson's choice of accomplished, seasoned
professionals for several key roles indicates that it is worth
examining accents in "Heavenly Creatures" in some detail.
** Why are accents so important in this story? [jp]
In British society, spoken language and accents are potent,
immediate indicators of social station and rank which are hard to
mask. In Britain, especially at the time depicted in the film, it
used to be possible to distinguish the following things about a
stranger from a brief conversation with them, even if the
subjects were never broached explicitly:
* where they were born, within a few miles (in exceptional
cases, to a given street),
* what type of school they attended as a child,
* what type of secondary school (if any) they attended,
* possibly the name of the secondary school, if well-known,
* if they attended University and what type it was,
* possibly even the name of the College in the University,
* their family income, quite precisely,
* their family's social status, quite precisely,
* their political affiliations,
* probably their religious beliefs.
Christchurch was an archetypal British colonial society (see
5.4.4) with significant social pretensions. Despite what the
glowing archival film footage said in the prologue of "Heavenly
Creatures," Christchurch was a small, cozy and rather isolated
community far from the revered Motherland, in 1954, and it took
its "Britishness" very seriously indeed. Or, rather, it's middle-
class Britishness very seriously.
Christchurch society would have been divided and categorized
quite neatly along lines defined by spoken accent.
People would have paid very close attention to these things
in their daily lives, and would have been very sensitive to these
and other, even more subtle, indicators of class and social
status.
In real life, there are several entries in Pauline's diaries
which indicate that she was acutely aware of accent as an
indicator of social status.
There are also antipodean accents, of course, varying with
geographic location and social circumstances, background etc.
** What did Pauline's accent say about her background? [jp,sb]
Pauline's accent identified her as a native, working-class
New Zealander. Within the context of the times, this might have
described Pauline's station in life for her entire life. However,
the times were changing rapidly and Pauline may have been able to
better herself considerably, through her education, especially at
CGHS.
In real life, going by comments in Glamuzina & Laurie (see
7.7), Pauline may not have had as thick an NZ accent as she was
portrayed to have in the film (but wasn't Melanie Lynskey's
accent great?), possibly because of her parents' backgrounds and
accents and possibly because she deliberately changed her accent.
** What did Juliet's accent say about her background? [jp]
Juliet's accent, by way of contrast to Pauline's, clearly
identified her as being genuinely English, not simply of British
stock (an important distinction in a colonial society that looked
longingly back to the Motherland and in which there were
religious and social distinctions made between English, Irish and
Scottish ancestry). Juliet herself emphasized that point (see
3.1.5) because it conferred extra social status.
Furthermore, Juliet's language and accent were consistent
with a background that was intellectually rich, even scholarly,
and permissive. It wasn't consistent with a long history of
privilege, so her family was not rooted deeply in the various
upper classes or minor aristocracies. Rather, Juliet's accent
placed her family squarely in the upper-middle class
intelligentsia. It would be necessary to listen to her parents to
pin down her family background any further.
See section 7.10.2.1 for a comparison between Kate Winslet's
accent in "Heavenly Creatures" and Anne Perry's accent in real
life.
** Would Pauline have been aware of these distinctions? [jp]
It can't be emphasized enough that, for Pauline, just
talking with Juliet would have blared out the inescapable social
differences between them. Just listening to Juliet and the other
Hulmes would have reminded her that Juliet came from a shining,
impossibly-distant social stratum which both societies would have
actively discouraged Pauline from aspiring to join. But aspire
she did.
Similarly, the accents Pauline encountered in her school
environment would have reminded her, a hundred times daily, that
she was starting at the bottom of the social totem pole. Even her
teachers (with one glorious exception, see 3.1.4.8 below) had
accents that defined them to be part of, or pretenders to, the
English establishment in Christchurch.
However, the 50s were a time of quite radical social and
educational reform in New Zealand, so things may not have been
completely grim for Pauline's future. Of course, Pauline was just
a schoolgirl, not a soothsayer, and she might have had little
appreciation of this fact at the time.
It is clear from her diary entries (see 7.4.3) that the real
Pauline Parker was extremely conscious of accents and their
social/cultural/class significance and that she manipulated and
changed her own accent to confer upon herself extra social
status. This is very important to understanding the case.
** Based on her accent, to what could Pauline aspire? [sb,mc]
I cannot agree that "Pauline couldn't even aspire to become
a school teacher" [note: speculated by me in FAQ ver. 1.0 jp]. My
reasoning is based on my own understanding of Australia in the
1950s, and an assumption that social mobility in NZ would not
have been terribly different.
The 50s were a time when education really did open up for
everybody; if you were reasonably smart and/or did reasonably
well at school, you could get a scholarship, especially to a
teaching college, and achieving schoolteacher was just about
inevitable from that point. There were, of course, schools and
schools, and someone from Pauline's background may well have
ended up teaching out in the bush somewhere (like Sylvia Ashton
Warner, portrayed in the 1985 NZ movie "Sylvia").
Given her intelligence, however, Pauline may well have
achieved entrance to University, and gone on to quite other
things if she had stayed in school, since she was in the top
'academic' stream (see 3.1.5). In real life, she may well have
done this anyway, with the BA she partly acquired in gaol and
which she completed later (see 3.2.6). I know lots of people from
quite humble backgrounds who followed this path in the 50s and
60s. (I could even cite myself: my father's father was a fitter
and turner, my father finished high school and became a white
collar worker, and I was the first in that line of the family to
get a tertiary education: typically upward socioeconomic
trajectory for the times, certainly in Australia).
I know of successful NZ academics in their 50s with NZ
accents you could cut with a knife, like Pauline's in the movie,
and the art teacher's, so her origins needn't have prevented her
from following her intellectual aspirations. [sb]
Re: Pauline aspiring to be a teacher. Most of the girls from
Form IIIA went to Teachers' College or to University. It was
extremely rare for any to go to Digby's instead, and dropping out
was unheard of. That class sat School Certificate after 3 years,
the rest of the school took 4 years (and the pass rate was higher
than for the other classes). [mc]
** What can be learned about Honora Rieper from her accent? [jp]
Sarah Peirse did a tremendous job with Honora's language and
accent in "Heavenly Creatures." She was able to paint a complex
and very sympathetic portrait of Honora by using her voice.
For example, Honora's accent was softer than Bert's accent
and Pauline's accent--consistent, in fact, with Honora being born
abroad in real life, in England (see 3.2.5), though that fact is
never mentioned explicitly in "Heavenly Creatures." However,
Honora's accent in the film was very far from the adenoidal,
sing-song accent of her real-life birth city, Birmingham. This
might be consistent with Honora having spent more than half her
life in New Zealand. We never hear 'Nana' Parker speak, so we
can't compare her accent with Honora's (possibly this was
deliberate because Birmingham is difficult to do right, and hard
for foreign ears to understand when it is. jp). Fresh off the
boat, Honora would have said she was from 'BEHH-ming-guhm' and
would have sounded like she had a permanent head cold (apologies
if I offend any Birminghamese).
According to Honora's softer accent, she may have sacrificed
some social status when she undertook her relationship with Bert,
in addition to taking on the scandal of running away with a man
far older than she. (Actually, in real life, there is evidence to
support this idea and the scandal was larger than even this,
since Bert was married, with another family, and never divorced.
See 3.2.9). Honora's family may have been living in an
environment that was socially lower than the one in which she had
grown up (there is convincing evidence for this--her father had
been a chartered accountant), or lower than the one to which she
had aspired. 'Nana' Parker's bitter comments to Pauline would
tend to support this history (See above. In fact, Pauline's
comments attributed to Nana Parker were not true. See 7.3).
Honora's background, especially her coming from England but
not being afforded the extra social brownie points awarded to the
Hulmes, would have made Honora particularly sensitive to issues
of class and status and quite prickly about them. There is plenty
of evidence in "Heavenly Creatures" that this was the case, and
that Honora never forgot her Midlands roots, steeped as they were
in bitter class conflicts extending back for centuries.
Honora's accent also adapted to her situation. For example,
her accent was raised in social tone whenever Honora was dealing
with her social superiors: in her conversations with Dr Bennett,
with Hilda Hulme and, especially, with Dr Hulme. Conversely, her
accent slipped whenever she was angry, or when she was rebuking
Pauline. When Honora showed John-the-prospective-boarder her
home, her social tone was raised a peg to tell him the house was
respectable; after he had been dismissed, in shame, her few words
were a wonderful mix of haughty, angry attitude and contemptuous
working-class tone. Wordplay involving the adoption of higher- or
lower-status accents is commonplace in British societies,
especially among the working class, and can convey important
information about attitudes, prejudices and agendas.
Honora's accent was a very important weathervane for her
attitude towards Juliet. It changed considerably, when talking
with Juliet or about her, between the time when Honora was
introduced to Juliet (more on that below in 3.1.14), and those
darkest days, for Honora, before Pauline's final visit with the
Hulmes. Compare those accents with her tone and accent in the
final scene in the Park--there, Honora's accent tells us she was
at last comfortable again and, she thought, in control.
** What can be learned about Bert Rieper from his accent?
[jp,jwwm,sb]
Bert was a working man who was comfortable with his lot in
life, according to his accent. Bert's words and language were
changed to fit the social situation, but his accent wasn't. He
was a man with no social pretensions.
To the trained antipodean ear [jwwm] Bert's accent has a
slight Australian feel and, indeed, in real life Bert hailed from
Tasmania. [sb] (see 3.2.9).
** What can be learned about Hilda Hulme from her accent? [jp]
Diana Kent is a seasoned and accomplished stage actor, so
the accent she gave Hilda Hulme was also deliberately tailored.
Hilda Hulme's accent spoke of an upper middle-class
background or, perhaps, slightly higher than this; landed gentry,
most likely [note: I have found out that in real life her father,
a prominent Anglican clergyman, was listed in "Who's Who." That
would probably put Hilda's family background at the landed gentry
stratum. jp]. Hilda had probably been raised by nannies and had
definitely been well-educated at 'good' girls' schools. In
Hilda's case this probably meant being sent away to an
academically accomplished boarding school, not a fluffy finishing
school that catered to the aristocracy. We get the impression
that Hilda had fond memories of her own school days and her own
deep adolescent friendships with other girls. She may well have
gone on to University, and may have met Henry there. We get the
impression from their accents that Hilda's social station, or at
least her family background, was higher than her husband's.
Hilda's accent wasn't modified and was never condescending
in her dealings with her social inferiors, which spoke of a
liberal attitude to class and social status, also consistent with
a landed gentry upbringing.
** What can be learned about Henry Hulme from his accent? [jp]
Clive Merrison also did a first-rate job at conveying subtle
cues about Henry Hulme through his language and accent.
Unlike his wife, Henry's accent and manner of speaking were
those of a consummate intellectual. His accent and manner had
been shaped almost entirely by his education, which had obviously
progressed to the rarified stratospheres of Oxbridge and beyond.
The status arising from his educational background, relayed
through his accent, would have been of utmost importance in
Henry's day-to-day professional life at the University.
However, Henry's accent did not possess that extra something
that would have indicated a privileged background. It is
difficult to read Henry's accent back any farther than his
University days, and this may be deliberate deception on Henry's
part. There is a hint of Midlands broadness to Henry's vowels.
And, unlike his wife, Henry modified his accent and tone
noticeably according to the social situation, most noticeably
when addressing his social inferiors. This paints a picture of a
man who was not only highly attuned to social distinctions, but
who actively sought to maintain them in their status quo, with
himself at or near the top. Given the lack of vocal evidence to
support a long history of social privilege for Henry, this
implies that Henry was a successful social climber who had scaled
to his present status through his own achievements and, perhaps,
by marrying slightly above his station.
** What can be learned about Bill Perry from his accent? [jp]
Bill Perry's accent was straight middle to lower-middle
class working professional and, according to his accent, he
probably hailed from the southeast of England [note: In real
life, Bill Perry was actually born in Canada. see 3.2.8]. He had
had a practical, even "red-brick" university education, not the
rarified Oxbridge education of Dr Henry Hulme. Given Bill's
profession, engineering, this probably meant Durham University,
or Manchester or, perhaps, Imperial College, London. Or, perhaps,
he had been trained on-the-job during the War.
Bill Perry owed whatever social status he had to his own
efforts and hard work. Unlike Henry Hulme, however, Bill's
abilities were not sufficient to let him scale the heights of
British society. Even though there was a turbulent, almost-
anything-goes period immediately following the War in Britain,
real social revolution in the U.K. would have to wait for the
60s. (When it came, though, it came with a bang.)
Hence, Bill Perry's social status was decidedly inferior to
both Hulmes and, in particular, it was inferior to that of Hilda
Hulme. This puts Hilda and Bill's relationship into a very
interesting light because, socially, they were quite distant from
each other. Getting involved with Hilda was effectively a big but
dangerous move up in the world for Bill, while it was a very
risky move, socially, for Hilda. Maybe this is an indication of
just how bored Hilda was with her life or, more intriguing, it
could be a little clue that there was more of an emotional
component to their relationship than there appeared to be from
the surface. See 3.2.8 for more on this fascinating aspect.
Bill Perry would have fallen, rationally, between Juliet's
and Pauline's stations in life. He would have been derided
mercilessly by both girls, of course.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.4.5 Imaginary characters.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Who was Charles? [jp]
Charles was the imaginary monarch of Borovnia. Pauline
occasionally adopted his identity, but only in the real world. As
Charles, Pauline wrote florid love letters to Deborah (Juliet)
when the girls were separated by Juliet's confinement in the TB
sanatorium. In Pauline's visions of Borovnia, Charles is always a
plasticine figure with the features, and dulcet voice, of a
youthful James Mason.
** Who was Deborah? [jp]
Deborah was the wife of Charles. Her identity was taken
exclusively by Juliet in the real world. In Pauline's visions of
Borovnia, Deborah starts off as a plasticine figure with Juliet's
features, but she eventually becomes a real vision of Juliet, in
the key 'seduction' scene with John-the-boarder (see 3.1.11.5).
Deborah was always dressed in romantic, flowing dresses and
gowns, and she was always smiling and laughing.
I have received many comments about how carefully-crafted
and beautifully-portrayed are the fantasy images of Juliet (Kate
Winslet) in her Deborah incarnations. Jackson went out of his way
to make Deborah a very appealing character for the audience.
** Who was Diello? [jp]
Fran Walsh: Diello was an imaginary character created by Parker
and Hulme. He was "a murderous teen-age prince who'd kill anyone
who was a problem to him."
Diello was the son of Charles and Deborah. According to
Juliet at Port Levy, Pauline thought up the name. Diello was
described by Juliet as "an uncontrollable little blighter who
slaughters his nannies." We witness Deborah (Juliet) give birth
to Diello (a cushion), assisted by Charles (Pauline), who
comments: "You're such an incredible woman, Deborah!"
In Pauline's visions of Borovnia, Diello is a plasticine
figure who clearly has the intense, scowling features and angry
voice of a young, svelte Orson Welles, even though the girls had
previously branded Welles "the most hideous man alive" and had
apparently banished him from their pantheon of the Saints. So
much for consistency. Ah, the vagaries of adolescent
infatuation...
Diello's costume has very prominent lapels, shaped in a deep
'V' (see 3.1.14).
Juliet is the first to imagine Diello crossing over to the
real world, where he saves her from Rev Norris in the TB
sanatorium. Pauline only imagines Diello once in the real world,
where he dispatches Dr Bennett (see 3.1.16.8).
Later, Pauline's visions of Borovnia include Diello more and
more frequently. Diello is shown murderously protecting Gina's
interests and, eventually, it is Diello who carries Gina off to
Borovnia, where he 'ravishes her.' Which, logically, would have
been a completely incestuous homosexual fantasy on Pauline's
part, since she had been his 'father', Charles... except this is
the impossibly-convoluted, gender-bending and identity-swapping
world of Borovnia.
** Ah! but who was Diello, really? [sb,cb]
In the film "Five Fingers" (1952) James Mason played the
part of Ulysses Diello, a suave and dangerous traitor and spy. Is
this where the girls got the idea for the name 'Diello?' Possibly
because, in real life, James Mason was the girls' principal
Saint. There was confusion about Diello's name during the real-
life trial (see 4).
** Who was Gina? [jp]
Gina was an "incredibly beautiful gypsy girl" in Borovnia.
This description is a clever allusion to real-life comments made
about the real Pauline Parker (see 3.2.6).
Gina was Pauline's preferred incarnation in her visions of
Borovnia. As Gina, Pauline wore long, red velvet gowns and was
very popular and an excellent dancer. Diello seemed to be devoted
to Gina, violently looking out for her interests in several
scenes. By Christmas 1953, Pauline preferred being called Gina,
though her mother wouldn't use the name.
And, in her final Borovnian vision of the film, Pauline
imagines that the flesh-and-blood Gina has, at last, turned into
a Borovnian plasticine figure. Gina gradually crosses over from
the ugly real world to bright Borovnia, in Pauline's fantasies.
** Who was Nicholas? [jp]
Nicholas was Deborah's tennis instructor in Borovnia, though
he "has his eyes on Gina." This is the Borovnian alter-ego
assigned by Pauline to John-the-boarder.
At first, Gina is convinced that Nicholas is madly in love
with her, and she with him. However, John-the-boarder's inept,
awkward, selfish and traumatizing performance as Pauline's lover
caused Nicholas to fall out of favor with Gina in the Borovnian
universe (see 3.1.11.5). Nicholas is then dispatched violently by
a lurking Diello in one of Pauline's Borovnian visions.
Nicholas is lured to his death by Diello, using a pink
gemstone from a ring. This scenario was used again in the murder
of Pauline's mother (see also 3.1.16.14).
In real life, Nicholas figured prominently in Pauline's
diaries (see 7.4.3) and in trial testimony (see 7.7.2).
** Who was the fool (the jester)? [jp,G&L,mf]
The fool was Henry Hulme's alter-ego in Pauline's visions of
Borovnia. The fool was initially a plasticine figure, but he
became flesh and blood later in the film, when Pauline declared
that they were all 'M-A-D.' At that point, she declared Dr Hulme
to be "as mad as a March Hare," an allusion to Lewis Caroll's
"Alice in Wonderland." This phrase does appear in Pauline's real-
life diary entries (see 7.4.3).
It is also possibly a rather cruel allusion by Pauline to
real-world rumours about Dr Hulme. The phrase actually refers to
the crazed behaviour of rutting male hares in springtime. In real
life, Dr Hulme was rumoured to have engaged in extramarital
affairs himself [G&L,mf]. In "Heavenly Creatures" Hilda Hulme as
much implies this when she declares that she had to accompany her
husband on his 1953 trip because "it's a long time for your
father and me to be separated."
** Who was Mario Lanza's alter-ego in the Fourth World? [jp]
Mario Lanza was himself. He was apparently an important
enough Saint for him to retain his own identity in the Fourth
World. He was invariably shown singing, on a pedestal, dressed in
a tuxedo. Mario begins as a plasticine figure, but he becomes
flesh and blood in the ecstatic 'loveliest night of the year'
during the girls' tumultuous final days together. Mario has a few
key scenes in which it is clear he is devoted to both Deborah and
Gina, his biggest fans.
** Doesn't Orson Welles appear as two different characters? [jp]
Yes. Diello has Orson Welles' features whenever he appears
in visions, irrespective of which world is shown. After the girls
see "The Third Man," they also imagine Orson Welles as Harry
Lime, but this incarnation of Welles only occurs in real-world
visions. It is as Harry Lime that Orson Welles, or 'IT,' is
finally elevated to the status of an official Saint.
The events in "Heavenly Creatures" which follow Orson
Welles' canonization are the source of much controversy, of
course (see 3.1.11.5).
** Who was Prince Ganymede? [jp]
Jonathon Hulme was playing the part of Prince Ganymede on
the first morning Pauline came to Ilam. Juliet tells Jonsy to
"Bugger off! We're not playing anymore!" when he breaks Pauline's
record.
** Who was Lancelot Trelawney? [jp]
Juliet first referred to Lancelot Trelawney in her story at
the dining table when she went to "Meet the Riepers" (see 3.1.9).
Later, Pauline dresses up as Lancelot in red velvet breeches
and crashes through the bushes at Ilam, scattering Dr Hulme and
his guests.
** Ah! But who was Lancelot Trelawney, really? [jp]
In real life, Lancelot Trelawney was an imaginary Cornish
soldier of fortune invented by the real Pauline. (Cornish = born
in Cornwall, the western 'foot' of England). Lancelot Trelawney
came to be Emperor of Pauline's imaginary Kingdom, Volumnia, in
her writings (see 7.4.1).
** Who were the nameless inhabitants of Borovnia? [jp]
The nameless inhabitants of Borovnia also tended to be
faceless, or have poorly-defined features. This characteristic is
used with disturbing effect in several visions of Borovnia. Their
identities are unknown.
The nameless Borovnians also make very unsettling, wordless
animal grunts and noises in several scenes. Very creepy and
effective use of sound by Jackson.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.4.6 Authority figures.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Who was the psychiatrist who examined Pauline? [lfr]
During his fireside chat with the Riepers, Henry Hulme
described Dr Bennett as a "good friend" and a general
practitioner with experience in child psychology. After his
examination of Pauline, Dr Bennett pronounced that she was
suffering from "h-h-homo-sexuality" in that ultra-closeup shot,
bad teeth and all.
There were several extra scenes featuring Dr Bennett and his
family in an early draft of the "Heavenly Creatures" script.
(Heavenly Creatures, Draft #5, February 7, 1993, Margaret Herrick
Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly
Hills, CA.) The Bennetts were portrayed as being close social
contacts of the Hulmes, and part of the Christchurch social
elite, which is, apparently, an accurate portrait of real life on
all accounts. In the draft script, the Bennett's son, Colin, was
volunteered by the adults to pursue Juliet and rescue her from
Pauline's charms, lest she be "lost to the world of men forever!"
He complied awkwardly and reluctantly. Naturally, our Juliet
shredded the hapless lad with her sarcastic wit and razor-sharp
tongue. (see 3.1.25)
Too bad those scenes hit the cutting room floor.
** Was Dr Bennett real? [jp,mc]
Dr Bennett was a real person and an important player in the
"Parker Hulme" case. He examined Pauline as shown in the film and
he was consulted twice by Henry Hulme about the girls'
relationship before the murder. Dr Bennett examined both Pauline
and Juliet after the murder and testified for the defense at the
trial. For a more complete description of Dr Bennett and his role
in the real-life events, see 7.1. [jp]
Dr. Bennett was a family physician. He was my mother's
doctor in Christchurch. [mc]
** Who was the priest? Were there inside jokes here? [jp,se]
The priest was Rev Norris, and he visited Juliet in the
sanatorium. The scene with Rev Norris was probably included for
three reasons.
First, it is a timely reminder of the religious themes that
permeate the film (see 3.1.15). Second, for irony. Rev Norris
attempts to 'comfort' Juliet with standard Christian fire-and-
brimstone rhetoric; taken literally, his words conjure up violent
and disturbing images, of course--hardly comforting for a sick
and lonely child. And his pamphlet shows a picture of a bloody
Jesus suffering under torture on the cross. Juliet imagines her
own salvation from this annoying man and it is comparably
violent--Diello dispatches Rev Norris by dragging him to Borovnia
and publicly beheading him.
Funny, but Rev Norris didn't seem to be pleased to be
meeting his Maker and Saviour...
The third reason was probably to illustrate and emphasize
Juliet's contempt for organized religion. Earlier in the film she
makes some withering comments about the distinction between
Heaven and The Fourth World (see 3.1.12). In real life, a
statement from Juliet concerning the concept of Hell was read
into testimony at the trial: Juliet said there was no hell--"the
idea is so primitive." And the girls' religious philosophizing in
real life was a much more significant part of their writings than
was portrayed in the film (see 7.6).
And, in real life, Dr Hulme was close friends of the Bishop
of Christchurch, and Juliet's maternal grandfather was an
Anglican clergyman.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.4.7 Lodgers and lovers.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Which boarder hated fish but liked Doris Day? [jp]
Steve wasn't too keen on fish, but he thought Doris Day was
"really talented." And, hey, who could disagree? That voice, that
enthusiasm, those perky dimples...
** Which boarder was told to leave before Juliet's visit? [jp]
Steve was told by Pauline that it was to be a "private
function" and to leave. The poor lad left hungry.
** Which boarder waited patiently for the bathroom? [jp]
That would be Laurie. Even his clothes were neatly folded.
Honora really had those boys whipped into shape...
** Which boarder was playing scrabble with Pauline? [jp]
That would be John. Of course, Pauline was getting ready to
score big points with "putrid."
** Which boarder admired Pauline's plasticine figures? [jp]
Yup, John again. He commented that "you girls are damned
clever."
** Which boarder was impressed by knitting patterns? [jp]
John remarked that some of them "looked damned complicated."
** So the boarder who said "damn" a lot was... [jp]
John. A clever little allusion by Walsh & Jackson to real
life. See Pauline's diary entries, section 7.4.3. I love these
little touches. W & J really did their homework.
** Which boarder became Pauline's lover? [jp]
John crawled into bed with Pauline, declared his undying
love for her, then got kicked out of the Riepers' house.
Later, he deflowered the poor girl in a very disturbing but
important scene that flashed between reality and visions of
Borovnia (see 3.1.11.5).
Finally, he was dumped, still proclaiming his love for
Pauline as he rode his bicycle into a policeman, when Juliet was
released from the TB sanatarium, in the all-important "The Ones
That I Worship" sequence.
** Who was Ross? [jp]
Must have been one of the two boarders who chatted at the
breakfast table the morning after John was evicted.
** What was the name of Hilda Hulme's lover-then-lodger? [jp,lfr]
Bill Perry, an engineer, first sought Hilda's services as a
marriage counselor. Hilda asked Bill to talk about his feelings,
and they came to fall in love. Perry eventually moved into Ilam
with the Hulmes "to live as a threesome." In real life, this
phrase was coined by Pauline in one of her diary entries and it
was entered into testimony at the trial, to become one of the
salacious tidbits reported worldwide in the international press.
An early draft of the script (Heavenly Creatures, Draft #5,
February 7, 1993, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA.) has several more
scenes involving Bill Perry and his impact on the disintegrating
Hulme household.
In real life, Bill Perry played a much bigger role in the
complete story than was depicted in the final North-American
release version of the film (see 3.2.8) and the time line
involving Bill Perry was quite different than depicted in
"Heavenly Creatures" (see 3.1.27 and 7.3).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.4.8 School characters.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** What was the real Miss Stewart like? [ap,mc]
Anne Perry confirmed Miss Stewart for me (see 7.10.2.1) but
gave a very different description of her than the way she was
portrayed in "Heavenly Creatures." Ms Perry did describe Miss
Stewart as being feared and respected by the pupils, however.
[ap]
Miss Stewart was an excellent French teacher who became
headmistress in approximately 1948. She continued the discipline
established at the school. During this period, NZ high schools
were run by the Head and one Secretary and it was a part of the
job of the Head to contact parents about academic and
disciplinary matters. There were no guidance counsellors. [mc]
** Who was the French teacher? [mc,G&L,maw]
The French teacher in "Heavenly Creatures," Miss Waller, was
my Latin teacher (and good). The others you list in section 3.1.4
must have been after my time. [mc (GHS 1946-1950, inclusive)]
Pauline Parker was remembered as having done very well in
Latin tests, and she took Latin by correspondence during her
incarceration in prison. [G&L]
Miss Waller was my French Mistress (teacher) in the early
60s and I sure remember her. Her portrayal in the film was
superb. I had Miss Renwick for Latin. The Headmistress in my time
was Miss Robinson. [maw]
** Can you believe the smock worn by the art teacher? [jp]
Yes. I have a picture of my own mother, in the same
occupation, at around the same time, pregnant (with me), in an
eerily similar white-with-bright-flowers smock and dark red
lipstick. Hey, it was the 50s. Oh, and wasn't the art teacher's
accent great? Accents are important in this film (see 3.1.5,
3.1.11.3).
** Ah, but who was the Art teacher, really? [jp]
The Art teacher was played by Liz Mullane, she of the
wonderful Kiwi accent. Ms Mullane has an ear for accents herself,
because she was also the New Zealand casting director for
"Heavenly Creatures."
** Who was Joan? [jp]
Joan was complemented on her artwork by the Art teacher.
Joan was the only other CGHS schoolgirl to be identified by name
in "Heavenly Creatures."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.5 School.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** What schools did the girls attend? [jp,mf,sb,lw,mm,maw]
At the beginning of "Heavenly Creatures," Pauline is in the
Third Form (the first grade of high school) at Christchurch
Girls' High School (CGHS), an academically well-regarded and
progressive state school in central Christchurch. Christchurch
residents still refer to it as "Girls' High."
Juliet joins CGHS near the beginning of the Third Form early
in the film. We are told by Miss Stewart that Juliet had been
attending St Margaret's [note: Confirmed to be the private
Anglican girls' school in Christchurch, now located just north of
Hagley Park. lw,mm. But Juliet Hulme's attendance in real life
has not yet been confirmed. jp]. Prior to that, Juliet had been
in Queenswood in the Hawke's Bay [note: Located on the east coast
of the North Island of New Zealand. See 3.2.4. jp]. And, in real
life, she had also been to Ilam School, an elementary school near
the Ilam homestead, though this isn't mentioned in "Heavenly
Creatures."
Later, Pauline is removed from CGHS in a critical sequence
of events, and she is enrolled at Digby's Commercial College
[note: Confirmed from PYP's diaries, trial testimony and other
sources. jp].
Digby's was a private vocational school where girls learned
shorthand, typing, bookkeeping and other skills necessary for a
clerical job. It is now closed, but it was in the central city,
not in Digby Place [note: Digby Place is in the east end of ChCh.
jp]. [lw]
Digby's was a secretarial "College" and certainly much
looked down upon. [maw]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.5.1 Christchurch schools and the NZ system.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** What was the school system in place in NZ? [lw,mc,maw]
Here is the English Public school system in place at the
time, as a point of reference [jp]:
Form: 3rd 4th 5th 6th Upper 6th
Ages: 13-14 14-15 15-16 16-17 17-18
English O-levels A-levels
Exams: (typ 7 subj) (typ 3 subj)
(some English Public schools called 3rd Form 'Fourth Form' and
4th Form 'Removes' and 6th Form 'Lower Sixth'.) The corresponding
'equivalent' "Heavenly Creatures" years would be:
"HC"
Year: 1952 1953 1954 (1955) (1956)
That is also right for NZ, except for the examinations. I'm
not absolutely certain about the early fifties, but a decade
later there were three external examinations:
(a) School Certificate at the end of the 5th Form (normally
5 subjects, to pass required (i) at least 30% for English and
(ii) 50% average for English and the top 3 other subjects.
(b) University Entrance at the end of the Lower 6th Form
(normally 5 subjects) passed mainly by "accrediting" (internal
assessment)--the examination was only for those who were refused
accreditation, and few of them passed it.
(c) Junior and National Scholarship for the intellectual
elite at the end of the Upper 6th Form (again 5 subjects).
Many went to University direct from 6th Form. Those who went
back for the Upper 6th (now called 7th Form), and lasted the year
out, more or less automatically got Higher School Certificate
which entitled them to the basic bursary allowance at University.
Those who sat and passed the Scholarship exam (bloody hard, I can
tell you) got generous living allowances at University.
(There was a different system of exams, including the
Matriculation and Public Service exams, in the 1930s, but I think
the later system would have been in place by the early fifties.)
[lw]
In the late 40s, the Forms (Grades) in CGHS were denoted by
roman numerals: Form III, Form IV, Form V and Form VI, with the
classes appended, e.g. Form IIIA. There was 'streaming' with the
'A' classes being composed of the more academically-inclined
girls. Most of the girls from Form IIIA went on to Teachers'
College or to University. The 'A' class sat School Certificate
after 3 years, whereas the rest of the school took 4 years, and
the pass rate for the 'A' class was higher than for the other
classes. School Certificate was an external exam taken at the end
of Form V. [mc]
The use of Roman numerals for classes was still in place in
the early 60s. Form VA, VB, VC etc are what you will see on
school photos. Many girls left after School Certificate, a
nationwide exam at the end of Fifth Form. University Entrance
Exams could be taken in Lower Sixth Form. Upper Sixth prepared
you for University. There was a big gap in standard, so most who
went to University without the Upper Sixth year failed. [maw]
** What was the school year in New Zealand? [lw,pb,jp]
The school year was coincident with the calendar year and
was divided into three terms. English term names were not used.
The terms and holidays coincided with those of Canterbury
University College, where Dr Hulme was Rector.
The First Term starts in the week in which February 1st
falls and runs until the end of April. Easter holidays fall in
the First Term.
The "May Holidays" follow and run for two weeks in the late
Autumn. Canterbury College traditionally had rather wild student
activities in the first week of May, after the first term (see
7.10.1.1). This is actually an old tradition in English schools,
too, after their first term. [note: This holiday originally for
harvest? jp]
The Second Term follows, running from mid-May to mid-August.
The "August Holidays" run for two weeks at the primary
school level and for three weeks at the secondary school level.
This corresponds to late Winter, early Spring. [note: Originally
for tilling and planting? jp]
The Third Term then runs until the week before Christmas.
This marks the end of the school year. For 5th and 6th formers
the last weeks of the year, after the examinations in November,
are a pleasant time (apart from waiting for results). The
pressure is off and teachers are often willing to let pupils
decide what to do in class.
"Summer Holidays" then last for six weeks, and include both
Christmas and New Year.
** What were the important high schools in Christchurch? [lw]
The school which figured prominently in "Heavenly Creatures"
is Christchurch Girls' High School (CGHS or "Girls' High"). It
was located in the original town near Hagley Park. The other
girls' schools of similar status were St Margaret's College
(Anglican) and Rangi Ruru (Presbyterian), located just north of
Hagley Park. The Roman Catholic Sacred Heart School (now merged
with the boys' school under the name of Catholic Cathedral
College) was on the other side of the central city by the
Catholic Cathedral, about 2 km SE of CGHS. The only other state
High School in the central city is Hagley, just south of Hagley
Park and known as Christchurch West High School in the 50s.
Christchurch Boys' High School is in the suburb of
Riccarton, to the west of Hagley Park between the Park and the
suburb of Ilam. The Presbyterian boys' school, St Andrews, is in
the suburb of Papanui, north of Hagley Park. Christ's college,
the Anglican Boys' school, is a block away from CGHS on the
eastern edge of Hagley Park.
** What kinds of students attended CGHS? [lw,maw]
The "best" suburb of Christchurch is Fendalton, to the
north-west of Hagley Park. Until the abolition of school zoning
in the 1980s, pupils living in the suburbs of Bryndwr, Fendalton
and Merivale were zoned into Christchurch Girls' and Boys' High
Schools (which made houses in those suburbs desirable). Both
schools also took boarding pupils from the more remote rural
districts. [lw]
I lived in Hoon Hay, an outer suburb to the south-west of
Christchurch near the Heathcote River and attended CGHS in the
early 60s. I was admitted based on marks at the end of Form 2.
Most girls attending the school lived closer than I did, in the
posher suburbs. There was a fair bit of humbug around about
people's social standing etc. I remember visiting the home of one
school friend who said that her father was an accountant and that
they lived in Fendalton. They did not seem any better off than
us. [maw]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.5.2 Christchurch Girls' High School.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Where in Christchurch was CGHS located? [lw,pb,jlee,jp]
The old CGHS is in the central city, two blocks north of the
old University (now Arts Centre on Worcester Blvd) and the
Museum, one block east of the point where the Avon River turns
into Hagley Park. The main entrance of the old school buildings
is on Armagh St facing Cranmer Square. (The new school now lives
in a set of huts that pass for modern school architecture at the
north-west corner of Hagley Park.) [lw]
The site of the old school is the SW corner of Montreal and
Armagh Sts. [jlee]
The old CGHS was just east of North Hagley Park, slightly to
the NE of the Museum, which is north of the hospital on the other
side of the Avon River (which curves around through the park at
that point). It is a few blocks north of the old University. If I
remember correctly there is a very small (1 block size) park just
to the north of the school. [Cranmer Square. jp] The Avon is a
block or two to the West of this and N. Hagley Park is past that,
further west. At this point the Avon is flowing pretty roughly
North to South before meandering through the park and then
through downtown. (Note that Hagley Park is huge!) [pb]
The Central Police Station is just 3 blocks south and 1
block east of the school. The Law Courts, where the inquest and
trial took place, are just a block east of CGHS on Armagh St.
Check out these street names from the environs of CGHS in
downtown Christchurch; the cultural and historical significance
of these names, in the context of this story, are left as an
exercise for the interested reader: [jp]
Aberdeen Acton Armagh Bangor
Bath Bedford Bishop Blenheim
Caledonian Cambridge Carlyle Cheltenham
Chester Churchill Colombo Derby
Dorset Dublin Dundas Durham
Exeter Gloucester Gressons Hereford
Leeds Lichfield Liverpool Livingstone
Madras Manchester Mayfair Montreal
Oxford Perth Peterborough Pope
Regent Rhodes Salisbury Shrewsbury
Stewart Tonbridge Queens Victoria
Waller Winchester Worcester
** What was the background and tradition of CGHS? [jp, maw]
CGHS was established in 1878, administered by Canterbury
University College. The equivalent Boys' High School was founded
2 years later. The two schools acted as the main 'feeders' of
qualified students to the College, and they were highly valued
because of this role. CGHS moved to the Cranmer Square site in
1882. The connection with the College remained very strong.
The first female graduate of Canterbury University College,
Helen Connon (1860-1903) was the second woman in the British
Empire to graduate and the first to win 1st Class Honours. She
graduated with her BA in 1880 and MA in 1881 (Latin & English)
and taught at CGHS while a CUC student. She was an Assistant
Mistress at CGHS from 1878-83, then "later as headmistress (1883-
94) ... Helen Connon both prepared and inspired her girls to seek
degrees, and set a standard of scholarly teaching which had
influence throughout the colony." [from W.J. Gardner, E.T.
Beardsley and T.E. Carter, "A History of the University of
Canterbury", Christchurch, U of C, 1973, pp. 156-7]. [jp]
One thing the school did have was a terrific academic
emphasis, even if it wasn't appreciated by the girls at the time.
The girls did everything--no lab techs etc in those days. In the
early 60s many girls entered CGHS for upper VIA from private
schools that didn't have the facilities. It was always claimed
that CGHS had a better academic standard than any of the private
schools; it certainly had a better record in science. I know of
or know a number of CGHS alumnae who became scientists of one
sort or another. Certainly the percentage of CGHS girls going
into scientific or academic fields would have been much higher
than the percentage of graduates of any other school except CBHS
and Christ College (a private boys' school nearby in Hagley
Park). [maw]
** Was CGHS a boarding school? [mc,lw]
Although primarily a 'day' school, CGHS also had a house for
boarders, Acland House. It was the only Christchurch state high
school with boarding for girls. [mc]
Christchurch Boys High School also took in boarders. [lw]
** There were many bikes. Did many girls bike to school?
[pb,mc,maw]
Christchurch is flat and bike riding was a very common way
of getting around in those days. [note: Consistent with the
opening archival footage. See 3.1.3. jp] You want references?
Atkinson, J.E. and Hunt, P.M.
"A Study of Adult Bicycle Use in Christchurch and
Palmerston North." Ministry of Transport, Road
transport Division, Wellington, NZ, 1984.
Gadd, M. and Cambridge, S.
"Cycle Use and Collisions in Christchurch." in:
Institution of Professional Engineers of NZ, Conference
Proceedings, IPENZ Annual Conference 1992, vol. 1.
I forgot to mention the bike sheds when I described the
school grounds. We all biked to school in the late 40s, but for
the few who walked. Maybe a very few took public transport. [mc]
I only rarely took the bus. I lived about 5 miles away from
CGHS in the early 60s and would bike to school all year except
one or two bitterly wet and windy days in mid-winter. However, at
that time, the majority of girls would have come in by bus. [maw]
** What were the CGHS motto and crest? [jp,mc]
The school crest is shown in close-up in the opening titles
and credits. The motto is:
Sapientia et Veritas
(Wisdom and Truth)
At the top of the crest there is a sheep hoisted in a sling on
the left, a stylized Y-shaped yoke (?) or surplice (?) in the
middle and a plough on the right. These are above a six-pointed
star and the motto. [Any clues about the heraldry would be
appreciated... jp]
The school crest shown in HC was adopted in approximately
1949. Previously, the school was governed by Canterbury
University College (now the U. of Canterbury) and the CUC crest
was used. The present school crest was derived from the CUC
crest. I am not certain about the 'Y' shape; it is also on the
CUC crest. It may be a clerical garment to symbolize the founding
of Christchurch by a Church of England group. The plough was also
on the CUC crest. The star and the motto were new to CGHS. [mc]
** What was the CGHS school uniform? [jp,mc]
The girls in "Heavenly Creatures" wore white shirts,
buttoned to the collar, navy ties (preferably knotted with a
Windsor knot), pleated navy pinafores, navy blazers, navy hats
with a navy band with red trim at its top and a red crest at the
front, stockings, brown Oxford shoes or sandals and brown gloves.
They carried brown leather satchels.
The girls also had a uniform for gym. They wore white
shirts, navy bloomers, white socks and white plimsoles (tennis
shoes).
Teachers wore black academic gowns over dark, conservative
'day' clothes. [jp]
School uniform: The navy hats had a navy band with red trim,
and GHS, in red, centre front. The compulsory gloves were NAVY,
in my time ('46-'50). 'Bookbags' are not satchels, as shown in
"Heavenly Creatures," they are more like the shoebags used in
winter in the eastern U.S. and Canada.
There may have been a white gym uniform in the fifties but
in the late 40s we had navy bloomers and the blouses which were
part of our street uniform.
In approximately 1948, summer uniforms were introduced in
addition to those you describe (not shown in HC). [mc]
The school was ridiculously strict about things such as
uniforms. [maw]
** Was CGHS unusual in requiring school uniforms? [mc,maw]
There were 7 private high schools and 6 state high schools
in Christchurch until the mid fifties and all had compulsory
uniforms. Each child was obliged to attend school until the age
of 15 and each school obliged every child to attend in uniform.
[mc]
Some of the really poor girls had their uniforms provided
them in the early 60s when I was a student at CGHS. [maw]
** What do we learn of CGHS and its environs from "HC"? [jp]
The opening crane shot of the school is from Cranmer Square,
over the cast-iron lamp, looking south. We follow the girls and
teachers as they bicycle and walk to school along the radial
paths leading from near the center of Cranmer Square. Others
arrive by car on Armagh Street and are dropped off. The gabled
brick buildings look the same as they did in the opening archival
footage, though the door is bright red in "Heavenly Creatures."
Inside, we see a clean, neat interior with polished floors,
wooden lockers in the halls, large windows. The classrooms have
neat wooden desks (mostly doubles, with singles along the
windows) and the desks have no graffiti on them or carvings.
Pupils use pen and ink, and there is an inkwell. There are about
35 seats per classroom. The teacher's desk is wooden and located
squarely in the front of the class. The blackboards are green
(possibly an anachronism--mine were mostly black slate in the
60s). There is a portrait of the Monarch above the boards in
every class. Doors are shown half-closed during classes.
The assembly hall has a high, open wooden ceiling (the
beautiful shot under Alun Bollinger's credit), a polished wooden
floor and a small stage. The room holds about 200 students
comfortably.
Outside, the schoolyard is tarmac (paved). The girls have
gym outdoors in good weather, and we see calisthenics and
'netball' (not basketball) being played, with coloured sashes
worn by the girls to distinguish teams.
** What was the meeting shown in the opening scenes?
[jp,G&L,jlee,mm,lw,mc,maw]
The meeting shown was the daily school assembly which would
have started off the day for the girls. This type of assembly was
a cultural institution in the English-type 'Public' (= private)
School system, where it is often called "Chapel." I attended very
similar assemblies in a Public School in England in the late 60s.
However, CGHS was a prestigious state school, not a private
one, an interesting distinction which tells us something about
the cultural orientation of Christchurch society. [jp]
Glamuzina and Laurie give the following quote from a
publication for tourists from the 50s:
In this city there are a large number of public and
private schools catering for all classes. ... The
schools and colleges, in Christchurch, are founded on
the lines of the English Public Schools and uphold the
highest ideals of those schools. (New Zealand Tourist
Publicity and Advertising Agency, "Christchurch, City
of Beautiful Gardens and Parklands," p. 11). [G&L]
The assembly wouldn't have been labelled 'chapel' in a state
school (which CGHS was/is). There could have been a generic type
hymn and the English-influenced culture of Christchurch might
have influenced the choice of hymn in the Anglican direction.
There are other girls' schools in Christchurch which were private
and affiliated to churches. The Anglican girls' school is St
Margaret's. [mm]
Christchurch Girls High was and is a state school, not a
church or other private school - they might have had a school
hymn sung at morning assembly, but a chapel service sounds most
unlikely. [lw]
The assembly scene was set in what had become the library by
the time I attended CGHS 1984-88. I seem to remember being told
that assemblies use to be held there, so that seems accurate.
When I was there in '84-'88 we had assembly twice a week, and
always started by singing, nothing with religious overtones
though. I understand this to still be the case although they now
have senior/junior school assemblies, mainly for space reasons, I
believe. [jlee]
In the early 50s the gym was also used as assembly hall for
all the Form III and Form IV classes. The assembly hall in
"Heavenly Creatures" was used for Forms V and VI for morning
assembly.
The assembly shown was typical of assemblies held daily in
every state school in the country at that time. Because of the
Protestant religious content, Catholics and Jews could get
themselves exempted. We had a hymn, a prayer by the Head, the
Lord's Prayer by all, and a blessing by the Head. The assembly
was also used for school announcements. We all carried the blue
hymn books shown in "Heavenly Creatures." It was a crime to be
without your book at assembly. I attended identical assemblies in
several schools in different parts of the country through 1957.
The format must have been a Dept. of Education ruling. [mc]
In the early 60s the assembly was daily, originally held in
the gym and later moved to a new school hall when it was built.
Attendance was compulsory for all students and teachers. The
singing was always religious hymns, followed by prayers, then
school announcements and off to class. In the Upper Sixth all
students also had to present a Bible reading to the whole school
at assembly, an activity introduced by my Headmistress, Miss
Robinson. I caused some waves when I read out something from the
UN Charter on Human Rights and not from the Bible. I was called
to Miss Robinson's office afterwards and went in with much
trepidation, expecting to be in real hot water. Instead, to my
relief, I was told what a good job I had done. [maw]
** What can be learned about CGHS from the meeting? [jp,G&L,maw]
The morning assembly tells us lots of information about the
school system in place at CGHS.
First, that it was patterned very closely after English
Public (private) Schools in many ways, even though CGHS was a
state school. This is one more clue that there was a wholesale
mapping of an idealized value system from slightly archaic, solid
middle-class Britain onto the values of this terribly English
community. [G&L]
We learn the school was quite small (all junior students
would have been present--about 200 by my count) and ethnically
quite homogeneous [note: Glamuzina and Laurie discuss
Christchurch ethnicity quite extensively in their book. See
7.7.6. jp]. The close-up shot of Pauline had her dark curls and
knitted brows in a sea of blonde heads and pink-cheeked faces.
Every student would have been known, by sight at least, to all
teachers and all other students. This was an intimate, even
stifling community, therefore, where there would have been very
few secrets, and gossip and rumor would have spread like
wildfire. Absences and truancy would have been noticed
immediately, of course, and reported.
All teachers were present on the stage and all participated
with purpose and gusto. All were women, and most were portrayed
to be archetypal schoolmarms (the art teacher, naturally, stood
out as a free spirit--but that's OK because artists are allowed
this luxury). [note: When I was a student in the early 60s a male
French teacher arrived, Dr Philip Manger (a MAN!! the only one on
staff). maw]
Even though CGHS was a state school, the assembly still had
a thinly-veiled socio-religious purpose. The religious/social
affiliations of CGHS were, by default in this city, with the
Anglican Church (Church of England), even though this may not
have been 'official policy.' The Anglican Church dominated upper
Christchurch society and culture at the time and the Anglican
Cathedral was just a few blocks away. Students, teachers and
staff may not have shared exactly the same faith, but they
certainly demonstrated their Christianity to each other on a
daily basis. [The headmistress in my time (early 60s) was the
daughter of an Anglican clergyman of some sort (can't remember
the actual sort) as was the previous headmistress. maw]
In an environment like this one, where every action is seen
and every whisper is heard, even nuances become significant.
Subtleties are important. Small, quiet things can make big
statements.
** Was the ethnicity of CGHS portrayed accurately? [maw]
The school was very ethnically homogeneous in my time (early
60s). Almost all students, me included, were of Anglo-Saxon
background. There was a handful of students of European ancestry
(mainly refugee backgrounds) and only one Maori student in my
class, and then only in the upper Sixth.
** Was the religious content really that great in CGHS? [maw]
In the early 60s the school was still permeated with
religious influence. My father was an atheist and everyone knew
it and this certainly counted against me and made me into a bit
of an outsider. Assembly had Bible readings, hymns and prayers
and there were religious lessons, which I was the only one in my
class not to attend. I was sent to the library during that
period, so everyone knew I didn't go to religious classes. I
might have missed out on much of the gossip at school.
** What was physical education like at CGHS? [lw,mm,mc,maw]
CGHS would probably have had games perhaps one afternoon a
week. That's all the time most schools would have had for that
sort of thing - otherwise normal lessons. CGHS was a boarding
school with a mixture of day pupils, like Parker and Hulme, and
boarders, and the boarders would have some sort of activities on
the weekends. [lw]
The old school on Cranmer Square had no school playing
fields, but there might have been room for a netball court or two
(in those days they would have called it "basketball") and
somewhere for "PhysEd" (daily morning exercises involving running
around, jumping and throwing balls). Otherwise, I guess the
pupils would have gone to Hagley Park (just a block away and
across the Avon River) to play tennis in the summer and perhaps
softball in the winter. [lw]
In the 60s and 70s the private schools (same as "Public"
Schools in the U.K.) did have games and activities after school
for boarders and day girls but I wouldn't think there would be
anything that organized at CGHS. Participation in basketball and
other team sports was probably voluntary. [mm]
GHS did not have games one afternoon per week in my time
('46-'50). Games participation was compulsory and held during
mid-morning and lunch breaks.
The school had exactly 2 tennis/netball courts, a swimming
pool, and a piece of lawn. We played netball - basketball is a
different game and was played in elementary school. Outdoor
PhysEd was held on/by the tennis courts. We also had a gym used
year 'round.
Occasionally we had PhysEd in Cranmer Square, adjacent and
to the north of the school, [note: Shown in the opening shot of
"Heavenly Creatures." jp] which was also used by St Margaret's.
We never went to Hagley Park - although the park gates are close,
the playing fields were remote from the school. [mc]
Health and fitness were emphasized. In the early 60s we had
to go swimming if we were doing things like bronze medallion
training or if we had chosen swimming as "our" sport--even if the
pool had a layer of ice on top when we started. No wonder we had
some champion swimmers... trying to get to the other end and out
as quickly as possible! [maw]
** What about 'the birds and the bees' at CGHS? [maw]
In the early 60s we had one or two 'biology' lessons at
school, so coy that they taught you nothing. This coyness about
sex was pretty general, though, and not confined to the school.
Any conversation about things such as would have been raised at
the trial would have been kept well out of hearing range in my
family. Even among girls at school there was not much discussion
about such things. There were always teachers lurking around to
ensure we behaved properly. No talking too loud, no big groups,
no running, no no no. [maw]
** How were grades reported in CGHS? [jp,mc,mm,lw]
Given the similarity of CGHS to the English Public School
model, it seems likely that grades would have been reported as
percentages and a student's place in class would have also been
reported. Parents used to be particularly interested in those
class rankings... [jp]
I think you are right about the percentages. I'm not so sure
about rankings in class. [mm]
As far as school internal exams are concerned, reporting as
percentages would depend on the school, but you're probably
right. School Certificate results were reported as percentages.
[lw]
In the late 40s, grades were mailed to the male parent at
the home address after each term. Marks were entered as
percentages, and place in class was also listed for each subject
as well as for the term. I do not know how long this practice
continued. [mc]
In the early 60s grades were sent in written form, with
corresponding remarks from the appropriate teacher, to our
parents after they had been told to the pupil in class. Grades
were given as percentages and approximate (if not exact) ranking
in class. I don't remember if any results besides School
Certificate and University Entrance were posted publicly, but
those two were even published in the local newspaper! However we
got to know it, we certainly knew approximately where everyone
stood in the class and whether we would be promoted or demoted.
[maw]
** What about discipline? [mc,maw]
In the late 40s and early 50s NZ high schools were run by
the Head and one Secretary and it was a part of the job of the
Head to contact parents about academic and disciplinary matters.
There were no guidance counsellors. [mc]
Parents would have been notified quickly of serious
misbehaviour in my time (early 60s). They would also have been
notified of very poor marks. [maw]
** What about truancy? [mc,maw]
Truancy was 'dead obvious'. The teachers knew all the
students, and the town knew the uniforms of all the high schools.
Truant behaviour was reported back to the school Principal. [mc]
After all school sports days, those who wagged were asked to
report their absences--most, including myself, were silly enough
to do so even if we knew it meant a detention, or a telling-off,
or some sort of lines about not wagging, or all three. [maw]
[note: This is an important point. In real life, PYP and JMH
apparently skipped school frequently, and there are diary entries
about PYP and JMH skipping school sports days at Lancaster Park
to write poetry together. jp]
** What about school photos? [maw]
My school photos were taken in the early 60s. Two were taken
in late autumn, April or early May. There are plenty of leaves on
the ground but still leaves on the trees. The third was probably
taken in very late autumn; a few leaves on the ground and none on
the trees.
There is no teacher in any of my school photos and no
indication who our form mistress was. The mock photo in the film
showed a teacher in the photo, which struck me as strange.
** Is this an accurate picture of the school and system? [mc,maw]
During my attendance at Christchurch Girls' High School
(1946-50, inclusive), the enrolment was about 500. My class sizes
were 38 in Form IIIA, decreasing to 14 in Form VIA.
"Heavenly Creatures" gave an amazingly accurate impression
of the school, which was not a unique school in New Zealand--I
taught at Auckland Girls' Grammar School in 1955, an identical
environment. [mc]
The portrayal of the school and some of the teachers,
especially the French teacher, was uncanny in its accuracy. I
still have three school photos, from Third, Fifth and Upper Sixth
Forms. In the early 60s I started off in a class of 35 in Form
IIIA which became 30 by Form VA. Of the girls who started with me
in IIIA, 10 completed upper VI with me, and the total in that
class was 41. Upper VI was not subdivided, but classes like
English (compulsory) were split into two classes. Some students
entered CGHS at that level, having attended private schools that
didn't go through to VIA. Many girls left school after School
Certificate at the end of Fifth Form. [maw]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.5.3 The importance of school.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Was school really that important at the time? [jp]
The British take their schooling very seriously and wear it
like a badge of membership their whole life, because schooling is
completely intertwined with social station in British society.
For example, in "The Daily Mail Yearbook for 1954" [note: One of
the books I am using for background info. jp], pp. 196-7 lists
"Leading Headmasters," the headmasters of the 'leading' Public
(i.e. private) Schools. There they are, for all to see, to learn
about and to know. Note that The Daily Mail Yearbook would not
have been bought by people attending those schools. The
publication was designed for consumption by the masses. (This
focus on the cultural importance of school hasn't changed much;
recently [Jul. '95] there was a press report which made it all
the way to San Francisco papers informing the world that one of
the Prince and Princess of Wales' sons had been admitted to Eton,
a first occurrence for the House of Windsor. jp)
The traditions in Christchurch, New Zealand were rooted in
the same English sensibilities, especially with regard to the
value of education and its social significance. Indeed, many of
the power-elite in Christchurch in 1954 were English or were of
English stock, and were easily identified whenever they opened
their mouths to speak (see 3.1.4.4).
Social traditions in New Zealand were changing in the 50s,
and the similarities and differences between New Zealand and
Britain and the different social trends make for fascinating
study. Regardless, it is worth taking a close look at schooling
in "Heavenly Creatures."
** How important was school in Pauline and Juliet's lives? [jp]
At the girls' age in 1952, their whole day-to-day life would
have revolved around school, and there is plenty of evidence in
"Heavenly Creatures" to support this. In fact, the time line of
real-life events shows an uncanny correlation between critical
events and the school calendar (see 7.3).
The girls are shown wearing their school uniforms throughout
much of the film, and school uniforms are used symbolically in
many ways in "Heavenly Creatures." See below and 3.1.16.5.
Despite the fact that they rebelled against it, school was
very much the defining experience for the girls at that time in
their lives. It concentrated within its four walls everything
about the society in which they lived, and especially all of the
values and yardsticks used to define the worth of people in that
society. And it was a competitive environment.
To Pauline, especially, school had been the only outlet for
her intellect and for her creativity, until Juliet arrived. The
importance of the school events in the first half of this story
probably can't be overestimated.
*SNIP HERE*******************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 02/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
John D. Porter
*****************************************************************
"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 03/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.5.4 Lessons from teachers.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** What do we learn about Miss Stewart? [jp,ap,mc]
The Headmistress, or "Old Stew," as Pauline referred to her,
was a formidable woman and a traditional disciplinarian. We see
her standing at the school entrance checking the arrival of each
pupil in the opening credits; enforcing attendance was one of her
important duties [mc] and one she took seriously.
In the assembly, she commands the students to "Sit-tuh!" and
does so again when she intrudes into Miss Waller's French class.
We get the impression Miss Stewart liked to run a tight ship.
Later, Honora Rieper received a letter from Miss Stewart voicing
concern over Pauline's performance at school, so Miss Stewart
also took a personal interest in the progress of her pupils.
Although she was feared and respected by her students [note:
Confirmed. ap,mc], Miss Stewart would have also been an important
role model of sorts for the girls. She was obviously a spinster,
and the school was obviously her whole life. The girls would have
learned from Miss Stewart that it was possible for a woman to be
a successful and highly-regarded professional and that a woman's
fulfillment and happiness in life wasn't necessarily tied to
finding a man and producing babies. Very progressive and
subversive... I have no idea if Miss Stewart would have approved
of the message, but there you go. Given the emphasis at CGHS on
academics, I rather suspect she would have approved. [jp]
** What do we learn from Miss Waller's comments? [jp]
"I will not have girls talking out of turn in my class!"
"It is customary for a student to stand when addressing a
teacher."
Discipline and a traditional code of values and conduct were
valued highly.
** What do we learn from Mrs Collins' comments? [jp]
"That's very clever, Juliet. But when I set you a topic, I
expect you to follow it. Throw that away and start again."
Even the Arts required discipline.
** What do we learn from Mrs Stevens' comments? [jp,lfr,sb]
Mrs Stevens shouted at Juliet: "I suppose you think it witty
and clever to mock the Royal Family, to poke fun at the Queen of
the Empire with this rubbish!...A girl like you should be setting
an example!"
This community took things like the Royal Family very
seriously indeed.
There is an additional dynamic, however. This incident took
place on May 11, 1953, according to "Heavenly Creatures." King
George VI had died on February 6, 1952 and, since that time, the
Coronation ceremonies of his successor, Elizabeth II, had been in
the planning. The Coronation itself was a huge spectacle and it
was followed by ceremonies and celebrations all over the world
and especially all around the British Commonwealth (or, what used
to be "The Empire")--basically, this was to be a bash people
would talk about for decades to come. The Coronation was
scheduled for June 2, scant weeks away, so Royal-mania would have
been at an absolute fever pitch in the British-mad Commonwealth
community of Christchurch.
And, in real life, there was a Royal Tour of Australasia
which passed through Christchurch (be still my heart!) around
Christmas, 1953. Royal-mania was to become Royal-frenzy in late
1953, although the Royal Tour was not featured in the North
American release of the film. [jp]
** What do we learn from the gym teacher? [jp]
And her regimental calisthenics? Hmmm...
** Were the teachers really that strict in real life? [maw]
In spite of the CGHS teachers being pretty strict, dishing
out lots of detentions etc, they could still be quite human and
caring if there was a real reason. Help was given to families
where there was an illness. Allowances were made or provisions
made for girls from really poor families.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.5.5 Observations about school scenes.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** What do we learn about Pauline from the opening scenes?
[jp,sb]
Plenty. These opening scenes in the school under the titles
and credits are very important. We learn Pauline lived very close
to the school, in a property backing onto the school grounds. In
real life, that's exactly where she did live. On the same block,
on Gloucester St just south of the school. Gloucester runs
parallel to Armagh, which was where the cars were dropping off
students at the front entrance. Glamuzina & Laurie (see 7.7)
found from their interviews that this situation was unusual, and
most of the 'day' girls in the school lived in the more affluent
suburbs; presumably, these were the girls being driven to school
and dropped off.
We learn that Pauline could easily sneak out of her room
undetected, over the back fence.
We learn Pauline was a serious girl, something of a loner,
but not so much that others didn't know her. She is greeted
coming over the fence quite enthusiastically by one friend, and
others call out to her in the hallways; she responds with a smile
that fades quickly.
** What can be learned from school uniforms? [jp,mc]
School uniforms are supposed to remove all sartorial
differentiation between students. They are supposed to act as an
economic equalizer, and they are also supposed to instill a sense
of cohesion in the student body, and a sense of pride and loyalty
to the institution in the students. In the 'socially progressive'
state High School the girls attended, which freely and
deliberately mixed girls of all social strata, these were
important roles for school uniforms.
Now for reality. Most students actually use school uniforms
as instruments of free speech and/or protest and for setting up
cliques within the school. The signs are just more subtle than
they would be if there were no uniforms--small objects of jewelry
or other accessories, added discretely, a certain way of knotting
a tie, a unique way of wearing certain objects, for example belts
and especially hats, body decoration. See section 6.3 for several
good examples of films which demonstrate the versatility of the
school uniform as a vehicle of individual expression. Especially
Lyndsay Anderson's "If..."
And school uniforms are like prison garb in the outside
world--the citizens of Christchurch would know on sight all
school uniforms, and would be able to report any mischief or
truancy in the town to the appropriate school official.
Pauline would have had to buy her school uniform, or make
it, and this would have been a reasonably-large financial burden
on the Rieper family, though it would have saved on the cost of
other clothes. Apparently, this cost was borne willingly by her
parents, showing the importance which Honora, in particular,
placed upon Pauline's education. School uniforms were universal
in all Christchurch schools at the time. See Janet Frame's
Autobiography (listed in 7.7) for much more, absolutely
fascinating, material on school uniforms in NZ.
** What is learned about Pauline and Juliet from their uniforms?
[jp]
Pauline was rushed in putting on her uniform, leaving it
until the last possible moment, and a little sloppy in her
attire. In this context, both of these things are classic signs
of protest against authority, and indicate that Pauline very much
thought of herself as struggling against the system from the
outside. Her hair was wild and messy, her tie wasn't done up
properly, she was indifferent about her stockings, she wasn't
keen to wear her hat. Throughout "Heavenly Creatures" Pauline's
attire in her school uniform gradually became progressively more
sloppy.
In contrast, look at Juliet's presentation. She was neat,
precise, correct. We learn Juliet was also rebellious, but she
worked by stretching the boundaries of the system from within.
** What were the girls singing in assembly? [jp]
The girls were singing the hymn "Just A Closer Walk With
Thee." For an analysis of this piece, and its significance, see
3.1.19. Several people have commented that the hymn was familiar,
but not in the context of school assemblies.
** Why wasn't Pauline singing? [jp]
In context, Pauline was making the following rather bold
statement, almost unconsciously: she did not feel like she was
part of this system and, furthermore, she was thumbing her nose
at those parts of the culture which the system held very dear but
which she did not. Pauline's not singing wasn't a small thing, it
wasn't a passive abstention, and it wasn't funny in this
environment. For proof, look at the reaction she got.
Pauline was rebuked by a scowl from the headmistress, Miss
Stewart. Imagine being chastised this severely for doing
something as innocuous as sitting quietly during assembly. The
pressures to conform here were very great indeed.
Pauline lowers her eyes and starts to sing, in time for the
final line, but her expression is dark.
** Which girl was the last one to "sit-tuh!" in assembly? [jp]
Pauline, of course.
** What class did Juliet join? [jp]
Juliet arrived late and joined Pauline's French class,
already in progress. The headmistress, Miss Stewart, identified
the class as "the girls of IIIA" after telling them to "sit-tuh!"
Naturally, Pauline was the last in her seat, once again. Her name
card was wildly askew.
** What can be learned about the girls from their class name?
[jp,jb,sb,mc]
Even the smallest details have some cultural significance in
this rigidly-structured setting, and some significance within the
background of the story, too. This is also true of the girls'
class.
The school system ranked the students according to their
academic abilities, openly and publicly in some respects. The
results of important tests and examinations, for example, were
posted in descending order of grade for all to see. Students
would have related to each other in terms of these academic
pecking orders. The classes, too, were ranked.
So, we learn that both Pauline and Juliet were at the top of
the heap, academically--they were in IIIA, not IIIB or IIIC.
Furthermore, since Juliet was half a year younger than Pauline,
this tells us that she was particularly bright. Glamuzina &
Laurie state that the Hulmes "decided, in view of this, that she
(JMH) would get more mental stimulation at the local high school,
where she would be part of a larger group of students than at a
small private school". [note: "HC" implies the small private
school would be St Margaret's. jp] [note: Confirmed that Pauline
was in the top academic stream and that Juliet's measured IQ was
170 in '52. jb]
We later find out that Juliet had missed much school, on and
off, due to illness, as had Pauline. Yet, the academic
performances of the girls remained very strong. These were very,
very bright kids. And, significantly, their intelligence was
recognized by the system and by their community.
** What can be learned from Juliet's introduction? [jp]
Juliet's introduction was a highly-informative, condensed
summary of the social mores and attitudes of Christchurch. It's a
wonderful scene.
Juliet was introduced personally by the headmistress, Miss
Stewart (i.e. this student was important). Check out Miss
Stewart's quasi-Upper Class British accent, one-upping Juliet's.
Miss Stewart stated Juliet's prior schooling, emphasizing that
she had attended private schools before coming to Girls' High.
Also, Miss Stewart made sure everyone knew that Juliet's father
was Rector of Canterbury University College (Juliet beamed
proudly). Miss Waller, the French teacher, was certainly
impressed (having this child in her class would give her social
brownie points and something significant to gossip about). And,
finally, Miss Stewart made sure that the class knew Juliet had
travelled "all over the world" and that Juliet would be happy to
share her impressions "of exotic lands across the seas" with the
"gehls" of IIIA. Another reference to the provincialism of
Christchurch; we get the impression that most of Juliet's
classmates had never travelled far outside the city. This made
Juliet an exotic creature, herself.
But Miss Stewart made one faux pas: she forgot to mention
that Juliet wasn't just well connected, but she was also from the
mother country. "Actually, Miss Stewart, I am from England." This
transformed Juliet into the closest thing to royalty in the
school, and it was a subtle put-down of Miss Stewart by Juliet
[note: A sentiment, oddly enough, echoed by Anne Perry forty
years later, in her comments to me, though the filmmakers could
hardly have known of her present attitude. see 7.10.2.1. jp].
And this scene reinforces that, in this school/social
structure, breeding, background and connection were extremely
important. Students would have been judged and classified by who
their fathers were and what they did. If your father was
somebody, you jolly-well spoke up and derived the greatest
benefit from his coat-tails. If he wasn't, you did your best to
keep the issue out of sight, though there could have been no
secrets.
** What do we learn about Juliet in French class? [jp]
We learn that Juliet is willful, more than a little arrogant
and quite used to speaking her mind. The fact that she was
correct was also particularly galling to Miss Waller, of course.
The fact that she rubbed it in was quite beyond the pale; this
incident would easily have become the stuff of school legend.
Juliet's chosen name (Antoinette) was also flamboyant to the
point of bringing on disapproval. But she got away with it,
another clue to her privileged status. Incidentally, Juliet's
chosen French name may have been a subtle allusion to Anne Perry
by Walsh and Jackson. In her published biography, Ms Perry states
that she has always held a deep fascination with the French
Revolution (see 7.10.2).
** What do we learn about Pauline in French class? [jp]
Pauline daydreamed in French class, and she was meekly
'Paulette'--hardly an imaginative stretch for her. We gather
French was not one of her favorite subjects.
As mentioned, Pauline was the last pupil to "sit-tuh!" on
Miss Stewart's command, her name card wildly askew, and she
smiled in subversive approval when Juliet corrected Miss Waller.
** What do we learn about the girls in the first Art class?
[jp,lfr]
Pauline was "with no-one." Juliet was quite happy to manage
by herself. The girls were thrown together by Art.
The girls stood out like sore thumbs from their peers. The
other girls were flighty and playfully shallow in their
imaginations. Pauline and Juliet shared some deeper sensibility
that included grand romance and violence. And Pauline found out
Juliet revered Mario Lanza, and Juliet found out Pauline looked
up to her. Juliet clearly approved of Pauline's admiration.
Mrs Collins rebuked both girls for not following the topic
she assigned.
** What do we learn about the girls in PhysEd (gym class)? [jp]
The girls stood apart physically from the other girls, not
just emotionally. We learn about their diseases (see 3.1.8) and
they learn they have even more in common than their outlook on
life.
They were excused from 'PhysEd' (physical education) and
'games' (intramural sports). This gave them lots of compulsory,
virtually unsupervised time together. It's no wonder they became
fast friends. They would have been in all classes together, and
they had this extra, special time to themselves as well.
** How does Juliet annoy Mrs Stevens? [jp,lfr,sb]
The class had been given an assignment to write an essay on
"The Role of the Royal Family Today." It isn't clear what class
this was--it could have been Geography or Social Studies (there
were maps of Europe and Palestine on the wall and a globe on the
teacher's desk).
Juliet read her story aloud to the class about the lives,
loves and dramatic intrigues of Borovnia, and Diello in
particular. This was not what the teacher had in mind and Juliet
knew this, of course.
Juliet was treading on very thin ice.
The historical context of the upcoming Coronation and Royal
Tour made Juliet's stunt not just a minor amusement, but
absolutely audacious and scandalous. Once again, Juliet had done
something which would make its way into school legend, no doubt.
[I am trying to find out if this was, indeed, a true story. jp]
The scene with Mrs Stevens is probably an 'homage' to the
public reaction during the trial, where it was learned (and
reported with incredulity) that neither girl had shown much
interest in the Royal Tour--and this was taken to be an
indication that they were not mentally balanced. [sb]
The Coronation and Royal Tour are featured prominently in an
early draft of the script (Heavenly Creatures, Draft #5, February
7, 1993, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA.). [lfr]
** What does Pauline say in Juliet's defense? [jp]
"You didn't say it had to be about the Windsors!"
** Who are "the Windsors?" [jp]
The British Royal family is drawn from the House of Windsor.
By "the Windsors" Pauline was referring to Elizabeth, her husband
Philip and their two children (at that time) Charles and Anne.
That's Anne with an 'e,' like Queen Anne.
In real life, of course, Juliet was later to adopt this name
for herself.
** What happens to Juliet in Mrs Stevens' class? [jp]
Juliet starts coughing up blood--she is diagnosed with TB
(see 3.1.8).
** What do we learn about Pauline in the second Art class? [jp]
Pauline's fantasies were becoming more violent and
explicitly gory by the time of the second Art class scene. We
also see that her teacher noted and disapproved of this trend.
** What did Pauline say to John about History class? [jp,sb]
She criticized the teacher as being silly and irrelevant:
"senile old bat!" Pauline said "It's no wonder I don't excel at
history!" The subject was light, but it indicates just what a
prominent place school held in the girls' lives (look at the
context!). School, teachers, their fellow students even
schoolwork were things they would have talked and gossiped about
constantly.
** What happened to Pauline's grades and when? [jp]
According to Honora, who brandished a letter from Miss
Stewart, Pauline's grades plummeted early in the 1954 school
year, i.e. Fifth Form, or Form V in CGHS. Earlier, at the end of
Third Form in December 1952, she had told her mother she got an
'A' in English. A little more than a year later Honora said to
Pauline that her grades all used to be A's and B's but that she
was now failing, and Miss Stewart was worried she wouldn't get
her School Certificate.
As discussed previously, it was more likely that Pauline
would have actually reported her grades as percentages and also
her place in class. ("I got an 84 in English, Mom. Third equal
with Cynthia so-and-so."). This would have made Pauline's slide
even more obvious and quantifiable, and would have fueled
Honora's anger even more.
It is interesting to note that Glamuzina & Laurie concluded
that there was no evidence of Pauline's grades falling at all, in
real life, according to CGHS records. This would put a whole new
spin on Honora removing Pauline from school, of course.
** What options were open to girls with academic problems? [maw]
If your grades were too low you would have been demoted,
ultimately to the lowest stream of the lowest form. You could
have been advised to leave, based on your grades, if you were too
poor. However, if you had 'academic' parents, or if your mother
or another female relative had attended the school or one of the
other Girls' Highs NZ-wide you would not have been kicked out. I
would guess if you were from one of the first settler families
you probably wouldn't have got the flick either.
Conversely, if your grades improved you would be promoted,
ultimately into the top academic stream.
** When, how and why did Pauline leave school? [jp,lfr,sb,mc]
Pauline left school during the Fifth Form, in the 1954
school year, around Easter. According to the film, she left at
her mother's insistence after a very acrimonious and emotional
shouting match. Honora finally declares that she doesn't see "why
I should keep a horrid little child like you in school a moment
longer."
Pauline was fifteen at the time, and was just old enough to
leave school legally. But she left before amassing enough credit
to sit the examination for "School Certificate," which she would
have written at the end of Fifth Form, in December 1954.
Although the film is not clear on this point, in real life
Juliet did not attend school after her return from the sanatorium
in September 1953. This would have contributed greatly to the
girls being apart and would also help explain why Pauline took up
Honora's challenge and ditched school altogether--why bother
going if Juliet wasn't there?
Pauline left under the condition that she would pay her own
way in the Rieper home. Which meant she had to get herself a job.
With her lack of qualifications, this could only have been a
dead-end, low-end clerical white collar job. Which meant she had
to give up all of her dreams and aspirations.
Pauline was certainly no fool--she could extrapolate her
fate and all she saw ahead of her at this point were dashed hopes
and enormous hurdles placed deliberately and, to her mind,
spitefully in her path by her mother. This event might have been
even more significant in real life than it was portrayed in the
film.
** What is a "School Certificate?" [lw,mc]
In the NZ school system, this was the most rudimentary
certificate of secondary education that was available. It was an
external examination sat after the completion of Fifth Form. Most
white-collar employers would have looked for this as a condition
of employment, or a similar diploma. Having School Certificate
made a graduate employable.
** Was Pauline's course of action that unusual? [mc,maw,jp]
Remember that the girls of IIIA were identified as the
academic cream of CGHS. Most of the girls who entered CGHS in
Form IIIA went on to Teachers' College or to University. The 'A'
class sat School Cert after 3 years, immediately at the end of
Form V, whereas the rest of the school sat the exam after 4
years, and the pass rate for the 'A' class was higher than for
the other classes. It was extremely rare for any CGHS girls to go
to Digby's instead, and dropping out of school was unheard of.
[mc]
In real life Pauline's dropping out seems to have generated
many waves and much concern, in Miss Stewart and in Hilda Hulme,
who was actually a member of the Board of Governors of CGHS. [jp]
Digby's was looked down upon. I don't remember anyone
dropping out from my class, in the early 60s, except for one girl
who became pregnant in Fifth Form--shock, horror!! Pauline's
dropping out probably would have been seen as a failure of the
school, at the time, and would certainly have caused a stir.
[maw]
** What did Pauline do after she left school? [jp,sb]
She went back to school, as she had to, to become
employable. Only now, she was in a vocational school, learning to
type and file--at Digby's Commercial College. So she could
eventually get that dead-end, mindless job.
The contrast between the wonderful fantasy world she shared
with Juliet and the hard reality of her daily life must have been
stark to Pauline. The pull-back tracking shot of Pauline typing
in a growing sea of typists, at Digby's, as the sound of letters
smacking the page grew and grew, is a wonderful one even as it is
terribly dispiriting for the audience to see. "Digby's" is an
ominous shadow on the wall, hanging above Pauline's head. The
entire class is women, in an ironic perversion of the school she
just left. Pauline even sat in the same seat as in her CGHS
classes. She is dressed in black.
** Did Juliet miss any school or leave school? [jp,lfr]
Yes, and there is evidence in real life that Juliet worried
a lot about missing this time. Juliet became sick with more than
one term left in the 1953 school year. She seems to have
recovered sufficiently to return to school the next year, but she
never did, although this fact isn't made clear in the film.
In real life, Juliet never attended school again. Her
experiences at CGHS seem to have made a lasting impression on
her, because she still recalls them (see 7.10.2.1).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.6 The Riepers' home - 31 Gloucester St.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Where was the Riepers' home located? [jp]
The Riepers lived at 31 Gloucester St in downtown
Christchurch. Their garden overlooked the grounds of Christchurch
Girls' High School over the rear fence. One block to the south
was Canterbury University college.
** Who lived in the Riepers' home? [jp,sb]
In the extended Rieper family, there was Nana Parker, Bert,
Honora, Wendy and Pauline. That's five family members. Although
it wasn't clear from the film, 'Nana' Parker did not live at the
Riepers' home in real life, though she was a frequent visitor and
overnight guest. This would explain why she was present in the
Christmas scenes and at some meals, but not in some other scenes.
In addition, there were boarders. It appeared that up to
four could be accommodated at any time, which would bring the
total number of people living in the Rieper home to eight or
nine.
** What was the layout of the Riepers' house? [jp]
We see that the house had at least two floors. Walking in
the front door there was a telephone on the wall to the right, a
staircase leading up on the left, and a narrow hall in front
leading to the small, combined sitting room/dining room. Beyond
that was the kitchen and a back door.
Upstairs there were the boarders' bedrooms in the front of
the house, a bathroom in the middle near the head of the stairs
and family bedrooms in the rear, over the sitting room and
kitchen. Honora said "The rooms are small, but they're
comfortable."
We also know that there was a small bedroom with its own
entrance built onto the back of the house.
** What were the living arrangements at the film's opening? [jp]
Living arrangements were very crowded when we first see the
interior of the Riepers' home. The boarders probably shared their
small bedrooms, two to a room. Bert and Honora would have shared
a room in back. Which probably only left one small room at the
back, for Wendy.
The house was so crowded that Pauline had her own small,
separate room built onto the back, probably built by Bert. This
is an important detail, because it shows that Pauline may have
actually been given special treatment in the years before those
shown in the film because of her academic talents.
** How did John-the-boarder change the living arrangements? [jp]
After John was caught in Pauline's room, Pauline was moved
into the house. Later we see that her new room was upstairs, and
was not shared; she had apparently switched rooms with Wendy.
Pauline's parents wanted her inside the house, across the
hall from them, so they could keep an eye on her. This was very
close quarters for such a tense situation. Pauline's house became
a pressure cooker.
** How did having boarders affect day-to-day life? [jp,G&L]
The first thing I noticed about the Riepers' home was all
the signs and regulations posted on the walls. On the notice
board by the telephone, by the bathroom, by the kitchen door, in
the kitchen. Every 'public' space in the house was regulated. It
was difficult for Pauline to find a place to call her own in that
house. Tripping over 'strangers' everywhere she turned meant that
she would have been unable to really relax or just be herself in
her own home. It would have been necessary to continually mind
her P's and Q's and for her to put on her public face.
The responsibility of running the boarding house would have
been shared and it looked as if Pauline came up on the short end
of that stick. We don't see Wendy doing housework or dishes; in
fact we see her being waited upon by Pauline at one point.
Granted, Wendy was working and bringing in a paycheck, but her
hours at work wouldn't have been all that different from
Pauline's hours at school.
Glamuzina and Laurie provide an interesting perspective on
these close living quarters and how Pauline's home environment
would have been very different from most of her classmates. They
quote one contemporary (pp. 39-40) who "described the house as
'ghastly ... it didn't look like a home to me ... no decent rows
[arguments] to clear the air because there would always be other
people around.'"
** What do we learn of the Riepers' cultural sophistication? [jp]
The set dressing in the Riepers' home was brilliant and it
communicated an enormous amount of information about the Riepers'
station in life and about the extent of their cultural awareness
(or not) and sophistication (or not). The set decoration at the
Riepers' was one of my favourite 'details' in "Heavenly
Creatures."
First, look at the wallpaper--busy, dark and hideous and
fashionable, perhaps, when the home was last decorated, maybe
thirty or more years prior. The whole home was overdecorated with
sad, small, cheap, kitsch treasures. At least the 'paintings'
weren't on velvet, but they were cheap reproductions in cheap
frames. The next time you see "Heavenly Creatures" look around in
the Riepers' home to get a good picture of Pauline's chagrin and,
eventually, what she came to hold in sneering contempt.
** Where was the bird kept? [jp]
Another nice little touch by Jackson: the bird cage on the
kitchen table. Bert was a bird fancier, in real life, and his
caged bird figures prominently as a dramatic device in "Daughters
of Heaven" (see 6.1).
** Were there any other pets in the Rieper home? [jp]
Wendy gets a little pug dog for Christmas 1953.
** Did the Riepers have a car? [jp]
Jackson shows the Rieper family once in a car: Pauline is
picked up at Ilam and driven home by Bert and Honora two days
before the murder. The outside shots of 31 Gloucester St showed a
modest car parked in front of the house.
"Heavenly Creatures" has Honora and Pauline using public
transportation most of the time. They take a tram to visit Juliet
and we also see the girls riding a tram. The trip to Victoria
Park is made on the bus.
In real life the Riepers had a car, according to Herbert
Riper's testimony. However, he may have been the only driver, and
he may not have driven the car to work. It is known from her
diary entries that Pauline took the bus or rode her bike
everywhere she travelled in Christchurch, when she wasn't being
chauffeured by the Hulmes (also mentioned in Pauline's diaries).
Honora and the girls definitely took the bus to Victoria Park on
the day of the murder. Bert Rieper was driven by a coworker to
Victoria Park after work on the day of the murder.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.7 The Hulmes' home - Ilam.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Where was the Hulmes' home located? [jp,ad]
Ilam was (and still is) owned by the University of
Canterbury (then Canterbury university College). In the early 50s
it was used for official entertaining as well as for housing the
Rector and the Rector's family. Its gardens were beautiful and
locally-renowned. It is a spacious, elegant homestead in an
idyllic, spectacular setting. It is located on the present
grounds of The University of Canterbury, about 4 km west of
Pauline's house, in a well-to-do neighbourhood.
At the time shown in "Heavenly Creatures," the College had
purchased lands surrounding the Ilam homestead but there was only
one College department there--the School of Fine Arts, whose
students were mostly young women. Nearby, the land was still in
the form of paddocks, for horses, and farmland. Ilam was on the
outskirts of Christchurch then, and the countryside was a short
bike ride away.
However, in "Heavenly Creatures," we get the impression that
Ilam is a fairy-tale house set off all by itself, far from the
world.
** Who lived in the Hulmes' home, Ilam? [jp]
At the beginning of the film, Ilam is occupied by Dr Henry
Hulme, Hilda Hulme, Juliet Hulme and Jonathon Hulme.
Later, Bill Perry moved into a semi-private 'flat' at Ilam.
The North American release version of "Heavenly Creatures" is not
very explicit about Bill Perry's moving in, or about the date.
** What was the layout of Ilam? [jp]
We see that there is a spacious, wood-panneled front
hallway. Walking in the front door, there is a sitting room with
fireplace to the right and a dining room to the left. Ahead on
the left is the stairway leading up to Juliet's bedroom at the
head of the stairs. Upstairs, to the left is the bathroom, with
the large cast-iron tub, big enough for two, ahead was Juliet's
bedroom and to the right was Hilda Hulme's bedroom. We do not see
Henry Hulme's bedroom. Mr Perry's rooms could be reached from
inside the house, though it isn't clear where they were located.
** What were the living arrangements at Ilam? [jp]
All Ilam occupants had their own bedrooms. Although not made
clear in "Heavenly Creatures" it is likely that Pauline also
stayed in a separate guest room when she slept over at Ilam, by
inference from her real-life diary entries.
In fact, it was clear that everyone slept alone at Ilam. For
all of its opulence, Ilam was a house of lonely,
compartmentalized solitude in the dark of night. It struck me
that all doors were shut in the night scenes in Ilam. Perhaps
this is one reason why Juliet and Pauline's sleeping together was
so noteworthy; it was the only open example of nocturnal
affection to be seen at Ilam.
** How did Ilam compare to the Riepers' home? [jp,mf,sb]
To Pauline, Ilam really must have looked wonderful, in the
true sense of the word. We don't see them, but there were part-
time house staff (Juliet and Pauline mention the housekeeper),
and gardeners, employed by the University.
The contrast between the refinement and luxury of Ilam and
Pauline's home couldn't have been more extreme. No wonder Pauline
chose to spend so much time with Juliet at Ilam.
There was one major structural change made to Ilam in the
intervening years, and this was taken into account using special
effects (see 5.5). Today, it is the University Staff Club.
** Were there any pets at Ilam? [jp]
Juliet is greeted on her return from the sanatorium by a
yellow labrador retriever. The dog was in one of the 'holiday
snapshots' from the beach at Port Levy, too. This agrees with
Hilda Hulme's trial testimony.
Jackson probably didn't know this when he made "Heavenly
Creatures," but Anne Perry now keeps two cats and three dogs,
including a yellow lab, in her home in Scotland (see 7.10.2.1).
** What was the name of the Hulmes' home at Port Levy? [jp]
Christmas Cottage.
** Did the Hulmes have a car? [jp]
Yes, a blue sedan (Austin?). We see it in the first few
shots after the titles, throughout the film and again on the day
of the murder near the end of the film.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.8 Diseases.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Was childhood disease common or uncommon in the 40s and 50s?
[maw,jp]
Young adults today cannot really comprehend how much more
common disease and illness were, then, compared to today, and how
much harder it was to get over sickness. Antibiotics were not as
available or as effective. Respiratory ailments were common and
exacerbated by smoggy conditions--Christchurch was smokey and
smoggy in the winter from too many coal fires. [London was the
same. jp] I suffered from asthma on and on in the winter, just
wheezing away until I got sick, because there was nothing readily
available that would help. My hearing is under par because of all
the earaches I had as a kid; again, very common childhood
experiences for the times. [maw]
Childhood disease was very much more a fact of life up into
the 50s and even on into the 60s than it is today, and it had an
impact on public consciousness of health and well-being. Polio
was the big scare when I was small, and it affected the way
people lived. Over the years, my immediate family dealt with
serious health problems and even death from birth defects, mumps,
meningitis, whooping cough, scarlet fever and measles and our
experience was not unrepresentative. The list would grow to
include polio and respiratory diseases if I were to include
cousins. Children's health and fitness were very much on the
public's mind throughout the period between WW II and Vietnam.
[jp]
** What caused the long scar on Pauline's leg? [jp]
Pauline said she suffered from osteomyelitis as a young
child, and was confined to bed for an extended period. She said
"it turns your bones to chalk." The Concise Oxford Dictionary
says it is an inflammation of the bone marrow. Explaining the
scar, she said "it took them two years to drain all the muck
out." Possibly she also suffered from secondary infections. In
"Heavenly Creatures" Pauline limped when she ran, and she was
excused from PhysEd (gym). Juliet commented about Pauline's scar:
"That's so impressive!"
** Was Pauline's illness really that serious? [jp]
Yes. In real life, Pauline came close to death. It was also
extremely painful for her over many years, and Pauline still had
pain associated with her leg throughout the period covered in the
film. Medlicott determined that her illness and the pain
associated with it and her lengthy treatment were Pauline's
earliest clear memories (see 7.8.1). There is no doubt that this
experience was traumatic for her family, and for her parents
especially, so "Heavenly Creatures" presented the information
correctly, though in a slightly flippant manner. Pauline wasn't
exaggerating, although we may have been tempted to dismiss her
tale as being a little self-indulgent.
** Where were Juliet's scars? [jp]
Juliet said she has scars on her lungs from unspecified
respiratory illnesses she contracted as a young child. Juliet was
excused from PhysEd (gym) because of bad respiration.
** Were Juliet's illnesses really that serious? [jp]
Yes. Although we may be tempted to dismiss Juliet's
childhood illnesses as ploys for attention, and Jackson puts a
few clues and indications to that effect in "Heavenly Creatures,"
in real life Juliet was a very sickly young child and she almost
died at the age of six. In fact, the real Juliet's medical
history was more involved than was shown in "Heavenly Creatures."
** What did Juliet tell Pauline her mother had promised? [jp]
After discussing their diseases in the schoolyard, she said:
"Mummy promises they'll never leave me again."
** What did Juliet have to say about their diseases? [jp,sb]
"All the best people have bad chests and bone diseases. It's
all frightfully romantic!"
** How would Juliet's illness have been viewed in the arts? [jp]
Juliet was right on the money: her illnesses were, quite
literally, very Romantic. Literary figures from the classical
romantic period often suffered vague, consumptive illnesses that
made them waste away and become closer to death, more aethereal,
more spiritual and more alluring.
For examples, see Shelley's "Frankenstein," Bronte's
"Wuthering Heights," Poe's stories and poetry, especially his
sublime, alliterative "Annabel Lee," Collins' "The Woman in
White," or Stoker's "Dracula." Or, for that matter, some of Anne
Perry's Victorian crime novels (see 7.11).
There are connections between Juliet's diseases and the
music used in the film, too (see 3.1.19). Romantic, tragic
illness figures prominently in the operas "La Boheme" and "La
Traviata."
** How would Pauline's illness have been viewed in the arts? [jp]
Traditionally, Pauline's illness would have been a darker
reference, because physical handicap or deformity was often
reserved as a symbol of evil, or it was viewed as a 'punishment'
meted out on those who had sinned, or it could be a manifestation
of a hidden spiritual defect. More rarely, deformity could be an
unjust burden, the selfless bearing of which resulting in
spiritual elevation.
Examples are rife throughout classical literature:
Shakespeare was particularly fond of this device and "Richard
III" springs to mind as a prominent example of deformity linked
to evil, with Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and
Stevenson's "Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde." Melville's Ahab in "Moby
Dick," Hugo's Quasimodo in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and
Shelley's monster in "Frankenstein" are examples of more
spiritually complex deformities.
** What disease did Juliet contract? [jp]
Juliet was diagnosed with the most 'romantic' disease of
all, 'Consumption.' Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious bacterial
disease characterized by the formation of tubercles, especially
in the lungs. Tubercles are small, rounded swellings on the body
or in organs. TB is highly contagious, capable of being spread by
coughing or even breathing, especially in the confined quarters
of schools or prisons, two 'public' institutions traditionally
sensitive to the disease. Both institutions are relevant to this
story, of course.
Sufferers are quarantined while they undergo treatment,
often in specialized TB sanatoria. Patients are normally released
when they are no longer infectious (no live bacteria in sputum
cultures) or, more conservatively, once they have returned to
good health, i.e. once they have been 'cured.' In real life,
Juliet was released before being declared medically 'cured.'
** What is the treatment for TB? [jp,lam]
The classical treatment for TB involves isolation, treatment
of symptoms and general attention to improving overall health and
well-being through diet and mild exercise. And, of course, a
course of drugs to combat the bacterial infection.
The classical drug treatment involves three drugs: isoniazid
(classed as an inhibitor of cell function), streptomycin (an
antibiotic) and rifampin. All drugs are still in very common use
and are prescribed widely for TB and for many other diseases.
Cautions or side effects listed for isoniazid are mostly
concerned with depression of liver function.
In real life, Juliet's TB was treated with the drugs
isoniazid and streptomycin, according to Medlicott (see 7.8.1)
and the treatment continued after Juliet's release from the
sanatorium. Also, according to Medlicott, there was no evidence
that these drugs had adverse psychological effects on Juliet.
Neither drug has been removed from use since that time.
In her recent statements to the press, Anne Perry insists
that she was treated with an experimental drug, since removed
from use, which affected her judgement (see 4.9).
** What are the lingering effects and consequences of TB? [jp]
A TB infection often results in the formation of scar tissue
in the lungs, which shows up as shadowing (denser tissue) in
chest X-rays. Lung capacity is often diminished permanently and
patients can weaken and waste away.
A 'positive' TB skin test shows the presence of antibodies
for the TB bacterium, meaning the person has been exposed to the
bacterium, although they may never have contracted the disease.
Many countries restrict the entry of people who exhibit
positive TB skin tests or X-rays, and most forbid the entry of
people with active TB. Juliet's health could have affected her
immediate travel plans.
** What were Juliet's fears related to her diseases? [jp]
A recurring theme in Juliet's life was her parents sending
her away from them "for the good of her health." She saw this as
an excuse to get rid of her, and she feared this rejection and
abandonment by them more than she feared disease.
In real life, this rejection of Juliet by her parents, under
the guise of concerns over Juliet's ill health, was considerably
more systematic and extensive than was portrayed in the film (see
7.3). In real life, it was probably a very real factor in
defining the course of events and every bit as important, if not
moreso, than was depicted in "Heavenly Creatures."
** Who said "for the good of your health?" [jp]
Juliet first said the phrase to Pauline when she described
her childhood illness in the schoolyard.
Hilda Hulme told Juliet her confinement in the sanatorium
was for the good of her health, darling, before she and Dr Hulme
left for England. Juliet made a little cough.
Honora Rieper mentioned to Juliet at the end of the first
visit that Juliet's stay in hospital was for the good of her
health. Juliet flew off the handle a little, shocking Honora with
the intensity of her anger.
Finally, Hilda had her little bedside chat with Juliet after
the subject of divorce had been broached. "You're not ... going
... to England, darling." At that point, Dr Hulme interjected
with the final "It's for the good of your health." Juliet
screamed.
** Where was Juliet sent "for the good of her health?" [jp,sb,mw]
According to Juliet, to the Bahamas (a British possession
off the Atlantic coast of Florida) during World War II, and to
"the Bay of bloody Islands." She said the Bahamas were "bloody
awful!" Most people would probably view them as an idyllic
tropical paradise.
The Bay of Islands is a similar environment, in many ways,
and it is a site with great historical significance to New
Zealanders, one reason why Honora looked so taken aback at
Juliet's comment. It is located near the northern tip of the
North Island, on the east coast, around 35 deg N, 174 deg E. You
can go on a virtual tour of the Bay of Islands at:
http://nz.com/NZ/NZTour/BayofIslands/
This 'exile' to the Bahamas is true, though Juliet was eight
at the time, not five, and it happened after WW II. And, in real
life, as a child, Juliet was also sent several other places, away
from her family, "for the good of her health."
** Did Juliet use her illnesses for attention? [jp]
Yes, though not all that successfully, judging by her
parents' responses. In the sanatorium, where her parents are
trying to convince Juliet she might actually enjoy a spell in
there ("It's very tranquil...") Juliet makes a few well-timed
little coughs to act as pleas and exclamation marks. They fall on
deaf ears.
** What did Hilda say to Juliet before leaving for England? [jp]
Hilda made two important statements. First, she said, almost
in passing, that she would speak to the Matron to make sure "she
takes extra special care of you." This line was exchoed later by
Juliet in a very poignant and telling line, when Pauline and
Honora came to visit. Juliet informed them proudly that the
Matron had shown Juliet the Matron's 'special stitch' and "I'm
her favourite." We are led to believe that the Matron's lavishing
attention on Juliet is simply the result of her following the
orders of an important patron. Juliet seems to have been
completely deceived, rather naively--she is that starved for
adult affection.
Hilda's second statement is actually a reference to an
extremely poignant and tragic event that occurred in real life.
She said to Juliet (and wasn't Diana Kent's delivery wonderful?)
"We can always ... cancel ... our arrangements, if that's what
you want." A tearful Juliet simply shook her head. She had been
offered the opportunity to stop her parents from abandoning her
and she passed it up in an act of noble self-sacrifice, exactly
as she had been maneuvered into doing. How could she complain
when she herself had sent them away? In real life, there was a
similar scene played out not by Hilda but by Dr Hulme and Juliet
in Paparua Prison soon after Juliet's arrest. See 7.3.
** Did Pauline use her illness for attention? [jp]
No, she didn't. In fact, she seemed to resent any attention
given her because of her handicap. At Christmas, 1953, her mother
asks her if she has pain, and Pauline brushes her mother off with
a shake of her head.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.9 Diaries, letters and fiction.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Which girl kept a diary? [jp,mf,G&L]
In "Heavenly Creatures" we see Pauline receiving a 1953
diary during Christmas 1952, and another 1954 diary at Christmas
1953. The voiceover is Pauline reading excerpts from her diary.
In reality, both girls may have kept diaries, according to
persistent rumour. Quotations from both were entered into
evidence during their trial (see 7.6) but it turns out that the
quotes from Juliet's diary were simply misrepresentations of
evidence during the trial. There is no physical evidence,
officially, that Juliet ever kept a diary, though in real life
Pauline Parker referred to Juliet Hulme's diary in many places in
her own. Persistent and published rumour has Juliet's diary and
writings being destroyed at Ilam on the night of June 22, 1954.
Jackson, ever the imp, actually has Juliet writing in a
bound journal/exercise book during her stay in the sanatorium,
and there is a bound journal on her bedtable in several scenes in
the sanatorium and at Ilam. Pauline actually reads silently from
the journal, briefly, when she comes to visit Juliet in the
sanatorium.
** What kind of diary did Pauline receive? [jp]
Pauline received a "Whitcombe's New Zealand Handy Diary,"
both times, for Christmas.
** Who gave Pauline her diary? [jp]
Her father, Herbert Rieper, judging by his comments as
Pauline unwrapped her Christmas present. This is true and
particularly ironic, since Herbert Rieper gave permission for the
police to search for, read and confiscate Pauline's diaries in
real life.
** How and where did Pauline write in her diary? [jp]
Pauline is shown writing in her diary in the evenings. This
is accurate. Sometimes she was in her bed, sometimes she was
lying on her bed, sometimes she was seated at her desk. She wrote
in ink, using a pen.
Another remarkable example of attention to detail: We
actually see Pauline writing a few entries onto the pages of her
diary, and Jackson has Melanie Lynskey mimic quite precisely the
real Pauline's style of writing and her format of writing on the
page.
Pauline's lettering and annotation of the final diary entry
is an almost exact reproduction of the actual diary page, which
was photographed and entered into evidence at the trial. See 7.4
for more information about the real diaries.
** What was Juliet's story at the Riepers' table? [jp]
Juliet was relating the story she and Pauline were writing,
to be sent to New York for eventual publication:
"So, in a blazing fury, Charles runs Lancelot Trelawney
through with his sword, leaving Deborah free to accept Charles'
proposal of marriage."
This is a reasonable facsimile of surviving fragments of the
girls' fiction (see 7.4.1).
Bert suggested he be signed up for an advance copy.
** What was the story the girls told at Port Levy? [jp]
"Charles clutches his wounded shoulder as he gallops into
the courtyard. Deborah awaits his return in their private boudoir
at the very top of the tower. He smells her scent from fifty
paces and urges his steed onward. He flings open the door and
launches himself at the bed, ravishing her!"
Judging from surviving fragments of the girls' fiction,
section 7.4.1, I may not have used quite enough exclamation marks
in punctuating that quote...
** What was Juliet's story read out in Mrs Stevens' class? [jp]
"The Empress Deborah has the most enormous difficulty
fending off her husband, who tries to have his way with her
morning, noon and night!"
"However, the Queen's biggest problem is her renegade child,
Diello, who has proven to be an uncontrollable little blighter
who slaughters his nannies whenever the fancy takes him!"
** Who wrote letters in "Heavenly Creatures." [jp]
Pauline wrote letters (as Charles) to Juliet (as Deborah)
during Juliet's four-month confinement in the TB sanatorium in
1953. Pauline also wrote letters, as herself, to Juliet at the
same time. "Heavenly Creatures" paints this correspondence as
being the result of Pauline's "brainwave" arising from her
despair at Juliet's falling ill and their being separated.
Juliet wrote letters (as Deborah) to Pauline (as Charles)
during her stay at the sanatorium, and she wrote letters as
herself to Pauline. Pauline noted that Juliet "has entered into
the spirit of the thing greatly." I love that line, for some
reason. Both great lines come directly from Pauline's real
diaries.
Juliet's parents wrote to Juliet from abroad while Juliet
was confined in the sanatorium. Juliet left those letters
unopened "for a rainy day," she told Honora during a visit.
In reality, the girls' letter writing was apparently much
more extensive and protracted than shown in the film. The girls'
letters were also important pieces of evidence used against them
in court.
And, in real life, Anne Perry has placed enormous weight and
importance on this correspondence from Pauline during Juliet's
confinement in the sanatorium. Ms Perry has frequently called it
"a lifeline" in her recent interviews, stressing that this
correspondence with Pauline was her only contact with the outside
world during a "very sad and lonely time." Jackson and Walsh
could not have known of Ms Perry's perspective on this when they
wrote the screenplay, of course. It is a bit of a pity that we
don't get a greater emphasis on this written communication in
"Heavenly Creatures," though what we do get is delightful.
** What do we hear of this "sanatorium" correspondence? [jp]
My Dear Charles,
I miss you and adore you in equal amounts and long for the
day that we will be reunited. But as I languish in this house of
disease and decrepitude, my mind turns with increasing frequency
to the problem of our son.
Although only ten, Diello has thus far killed fifty-seven
people, and shows no desire to stop. It worries me, Charles...
31 Gloucester Street
Borovnia
7 June, 1953
My Dearest, Darling Deborah,
Affairs of state continue to occupy my time. I have to
report that the lower classes are terrifically dull.
Only yesterday, I was compelled to execute seven peasants
just to alleviate the boredom. Diello insisted in coming along.
In fact, he made such a fuss that I had to let him wield the axe
himself. Heads did roll... Not just the prisoners, but the Royal
Guard, my Valet, and several unfortunate onlookers copped it as
well. (splotch!)
Oh Charles,
I am despairing enough to put Diello in the hands of the
Cardinal, in the hope that a good dose of Religion will set the
young chap on the right path!... ("Helllooooo...")
** What is the significance of Pauline's poetry? [jp]
Pauline's poem "The Ones That I Worship," read in part in
voiceover, is an extremely important clue to Pauline's attitudes
and, possibly, contains clues about her motivation for committing
the murder. It also contains several important clues concerning
her relationship with Juliet and the Hulmes.
For example, the first verse refers to herself and Juliet as
being sisters or, more precisely, as being the dutiful daughters
of Henry Hulme. Hence, it also conveys Pauline's reverence for Dr
Hulme. The poem has a 'religious' tone to it, so it almost reads
like a catechism, or a Psalm: a holy celebration and declaration
of beliefs. Or an 'exultation' (the term actually used in the
trial).
The poem also paints a picture of extreme exclusivity, with
the girls being referred to as standing apart from others, better
than others, in many different ways, and it says that there are
aspects to them which can't even be understood by others. This is
a pretty common theme in adolescent writing, but it is quite
intense in Pauline's poem.
Initially, the identities of the girls as heavenly creatures
(Goddesses, no less) are separate from the identities of the
real-world daughters amongst whom they move. However, the
reference frame of the poem goes back and forth between a
spiritual plane and a real-world plane. Eventually the two sets
of beings merge in the final verses: the heavenly beings are
flesh and bone and exist in both worlds. Again, this is almost a
straight variation on religious themes which would have been
extremely familiar to Pauline from liturgy--phrases like 'the Son
of God come down to earth from Heaven,' and 'the Word made
Flesh.' There is convincing evidence that the real Pauline Parker
maintained an interest in the Methodist Church throughout her
childhood, attending quite faithfully with Wendy even though her
parents did not. Both girls also attended social functions
through their Church, and went on special holidays because of
their affiliation with the Church.
Pauline also clearly stated in "The Ones That I Worship" the
strange commingling of love, reverence and violent hatred she
felt, though when she wrote 'men' she was probably writing in the
vernacular of the time, and meant 'human beings of both sexes'
(though it was not interpreted that way during the trial). The
final verses are beautiful and are quite chilling in the context
of the film:
"Hatred burning bright in the brown eyes, with enemies for
fuel,
Icy scorn glitters in the grey eyes, contemptuous and cruel.
Why are men such fools they will not realize
The wisdom that is hidden behind those strange eyes?
And these wonderful people are you and I."
The themes outlined above turn out to mirror the themes of
"Heavenly Creatures" revealed in the sections below. It appears
as if the filmmakers used the themes in "The Ones that I Worship"
as their guides when they prepared the screenplay.
However, there are two important caveats concerning this
poem. First, it should be noted that Pauline's poetry was
psychoanalyzed to death during the real-life trial and in the
academic literature, and the whole process was ridiculed savagely
and with devastating effect by the Prosecution. Second, Pauline
herself stated in interviews after the murder that too much was
being read into the poem and, in particular, she didn't think of
Juliet and herself as being sisters at all. She said the opening
lines were used just for the sake of aesthetics. Take that how
you will. Extensive discussions of Pauline's writings can be
found in Medlicott's article 7.8.1 and in Glamuzina & Laurie
7.7.6.
** What was the plot of Pauline's opera? [jp]
On the morning of the murder, Pauline and Juliet retire to
Pauline's room where Pauline prepares the murder weapon as she
tells Juliet about her opera. It is a wonderful and chilling
scene, done with a counterpoint conversation between the girls.
Pauline said:
"It's a three-act story with a tragic end."
"I thought for hours about whether Carmelita should accept
Bernard's marriage proposal."
"But in the end, I decided against it. I thought it would
spoil all their fun."
Pauline's dialogue is an almost direct quotation of a
fragment of the real Pauline's fiction. See 7.4.1.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.10 Arts and crafts.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** How important were "the Arts" to this story? [jp]
Oh, very important, indeed. The Arts require and nourish
creativity and imagination. These things were highly valued by
Juliet and Pauline. Pursuit of the Arts raises the pursuer above
the mundane and into a more profound plane of existence and
understanding, as the girls (and others) would have told it.
Having talent and ability in the Arts makes one an Artist, and
that is a special status shared by very few. All of these
characteristics of the Arts and of Artists reinforced the girls'
exclusive and privileged view of themselves.
Juliet declared that the primary characteristic of the
Fourth World was that it was a place of "Music, Art and pure
enjoyment." This is a direct quote from real life.
When Juliet met the Riepers, she stated: "Oh, I adore
everything to do with the Arts." Again, in real life, the two
girls contemplated the Arts and their talents as Artists
extensively.
** What arts do we see the girls indulging in? [jp]
Sculpture, painting, composition (including opera), drama
(with no audience, and also appreciation, at the cinema), music
(appreciation and, in Juliet's case, an imagined performance),
dance. The reference to singing comes straight out of Pauline's
real-life diaries. Walsh and Jackson doing their homework yet
again.
** Who made the plasticine models, and where and when? [jp,sb]
Juliet made the plasticine horses displayed on the Ilam
mantlepiece, noticed and admired by Pauline on her first visit.
The girls are shown making models in Juliet's bedroom in
"The Donkey's Serenade" sequence. They are dressed in school
uniforms and they are making human figures and horses.
Juliet is also shown making figures in the TB sanatorium,
specifically, Diello.
Pauline was shown making plasticine figures of Borovnian
characters in her bedroom out back. She is dressed in her school
uniform, and John(Nicholas) admires her craftsmanship. Pauline
tells him that Juliet made 'Gina'.
In real life, it appears as if Pauline was the instigator of
the plasticine models of Borovnian characters, though Jackson
insists there were also models made by Juliet on the mantlepiece
at Ilam.
** Where were the plasticine models displayed? [jp]
Juliet's horses were displayed on the Ilam mantle.
Juliet displayed Borovnian models in her bedroom, on her
bedside table. We see them in several scenes, though the figures
and their positions change from scene to scene. For example, the
figures are prominent by Juliet's head during the "birth of
Diello" scene and later in the "Loveliest Night of the Year."
Juliet also displayed Borovnian figures by her bed and on
the windowsill in the sanatorium. Diello was there, in a trinity.
Pauline displayed her large collection of Borovnian figures
on the window sill of her outside bedroom.
When she was moved inside, Pauline took her Borovnian
figures with her, but they were not displayed as prominently.
There were some on her desk and some on her bureau.
** What craft did Mr. Rieper enjoy? [jp]
Woodworking. He mentioned plans to make a birdhouse in
"Heavenly Creatures." Apparently Pauline used to enjoy helping
her father do his woodworking, when she was younger.
This reference to woodworking was taken directly from
Herbert Rieper's trial testimony.
** What did Juliet sketch in art class on her first day? [jp,sb]
A rousing portrait of St George (patron saint of England)
slaying the dragon (the story is a famous myth). Juliet painted
St George in the likeness of "Mario Lanza, the world's greatest
tenor." There was no room for Pauline in the picture. "Sorry!"
Pauline told her: "I think your drawing's fantastic!" Or,
more precisely, "I thunk your drawering's fentestuc!" (see
3.1.4.4). [sb]
Juliet's picture was a copy of a famous painting. I am quite
sure I have seen it in The National Gallery... any help on this?
I remember the dragon was very sinuous and reptilian, low to the
ground and coiling around the horse's legs and St George had
speared its neck with a lance.
According to local legend, heard by me as a wee lad, St
George slew the dragon on the flat-topped 'Dragon's Hill' in the
White Horse Hills, near Wantage, in what was then Berkshire but
what is now part of Oxfordshire, in England. Probably
coincidentally, though with Jackson you never know, but 'Dragon's
Hill' is just a few miles away from Aldermaston (see 3.2.2,
7.10.1) [jp]
** What did Pauline sketch in her French notebook? [jp]
A picture of three horses. The largest one was rearing on
its hind legs, a reference to real-life fiction of Pauline Parker
(see 7.4.1), and the other two had their their long manes flying
in the wind. If she was a typical schoolgirl, Pauline probably
also had romantic pictures of long-tressed maidens on other
pages, dressed in long, flowing dresses, though we don't see
them.
In real life, horses figured quite prominently in the case
and in the real-life writings of Pauline (see 7.4).
** What did Pauline sketch in art class? [jp]
A picture of carnage in Borovnia, much of it Diello's doing.
Apparently the only colour needed for the painting was red. The
art teacher rolled her eyes and shook her head in disapproval.
To my eyes, Pauline's painting was drawn in a similar style
to the Bayeaux Tapestry (sp?)--you know the one celebrating "1066
and All That," [My favourite history book. It's no wonder I
didn't excell in History. jp], the one with Halley's comet flying
over severed heads and other glorious carnage of William the
Conquerer's doing.
** What paintings and sketches hung in Pauline's rooms?
[jp,sb,lfr,aa]
This is complicated. The set dressers changed the pictures
in Pauline's rooms in almost every scene, as a way of showing the
passage of time, among other things.
We get our first good look in Pauline's room outside after
Juliet develops tuberculosis. On her wall are pictures of Mario
and Mel, a brown horse head (which migrates around the room from
scene to scene) and a pencil drawing of a rearing horse along
with other pictures of dancers.
Later, when John(Nicholas) is caught in her bed, there is a
picture of a pair of horses going in opposite directions above
Pauline's head, and a picture of Paradise through columns by an
old Master.
When Pauline first moves into the house, she puts up a few
pictures of golden-haired Juliet on her wall, along with many of
the others from her old bedroom. Also, there is now a (famous)
photo of (the real) Juliet smiling and posing in a bed of
daffodils (actually in the gardens of Ilam and much reproduced in
true crime books) above the head of Pauline's bed. And there are
lots of pictures and portraits and photos of the Saints.
By the time Honora and Pauline have their shouting match
over the letter from "Old Stew," the pictures of the various
Saints have been joined by 5 drawings of Juliet plus the photo of
Juliet. There are now 14 pictures in all on Pauline's walls.
In the final scene in Pauline's room, the morning of the
murder, almost all of the pictures on Pauline's walls are of
Juliet in various incarnations and all pictures are more and more
child-like in their execution, including:
* a golden-haired Juliet resembling her real-life mug shot
* the two girls in long gowns in front of a movie camera
* Juliet's face in a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
* the Juliet-in-the-daffoldils photo
* Juliet as Deborah, with a golden crown
* Juliet as Deborah, with bright red lips like she had in
the "Sono Andati" balcony vision
* the girls looking through the clouds, together
* Juliet in a crown
* Diello, drawn by Pauline, with his prominent lapels
* Port Levy over the bureau
** When was Dr Hulme's portrait painted? [jp,Mir]
A portrait of Dr Hulme was painted to mark the occasion of
his resignation as Rector. It was unveiled in a supercilious
going-away ceremony and approved by a peck on the cheek from
Hilda Hulme and reproduced in the newspapers. The reproduction in
the newspaper was a real one, and is shown as an allusion to a
real-life diary entry by Pauline (see 7.4.3).
It is possible that the portrait used in the film was the
real-life portrait of Henry Hulme painted for the occasion
depicted (see 5.3.6). It certainly looked like pictures of the
real Dr Hulme that I have seen.
** Are there other portraits shown in the film? [jp]
Yes. In every classroom there was a portrait of the Monarch.
In the first classroom, French Class in early 1952, we see a
black & white portrait of King George. He died on Feb 6, 1952.
Perhaps this is meant to imply that the opening scenes occurred
very early in the year.
In the Geography? class in May '53, the portrait above the
blackboard is now a colour picture of a very young Elizabeth II,
standard fare for classrooms throughout the British Commonwealth.
Especially during the 'Coronation' period depicted in "Heavenly
Creatures."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.11 The relationship between Pauline & Juliet.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Where else has the relationship been discussed? [jp]
The relationship between the real Pauline Parker and the
real Juliet Hulme has been discussed and analyzed extensively,
though there is hardly a concensus of opinion. Books and articles
are listed in sections 7.6 and 7.7. There is an extensive
analysis of the relationship within the social and sexual context
of the times in Glamuzina & Laurie's book (see 7.7.6). G&L is a
particularly good resource for describing public perceptions and
attitudes towards lesbians in New Zealand, around the time of the
murder.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.11.1 Questions and labels.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Who seemed like a "queer mob"? [jp]
Bert Rieper declared that the Marriage Guidance Council
seemed like a "queer mob" when Juliet told him of her mother's
involvement.
Bert did not think the Council was composed of homosexuals.
The word "queer" did not have that connotation at the time and
place shown in "Heavenly Creatures." It was a common slang term
which could be used in reasonably polite company, as Bert used
it, meaning "unusual" with an associated negative value judgement
attached. "Queer" was also used as a verb, meaning to make
inoperable or to break just enough to make something useless.
In real life, Pauline used the word quite liberally in her
diary entries, meaning "strange" or "unusual" by it. Jackson
omitted Pauline's asides of "s'queer" and "queerly" in the quotes
used in the voicover, possibly because they would have generated
snickering in modern audiences. And possibly as a 'significant
clue' to his conclusions about the girls' relationship.
** Who was bothered by Pauline & Juliet's relationship? [jp,lfr]
Concerns over the 'intensity' of Pauline and Juliet's
friendship escalated throughout the film. By the second half of
the film, all adults in the girls' immediate families were
preoccupied with labelling the girls' relationship and with
separating them, with the possible exception of Hilda Hulme.
The final North American release version of the film has
less extreme and explicit concerns voiced by the characters than
those featured in an early draft of the screenplay (Heavenly
Creatures, Draft #5, February 7, 1993, Margaret Herrick Library,
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA.)
** Did anyone else worry about the relationship? [jp,G&L,lfr,mc]
Glamuzina and Laurie state the following (p. 72):
"By late 1953, the Riepers in particular had become very
concerned about Pauline. According to one of the teachers, the
school [CGHS] had contacted both the Riepers and the Hulmes
sometime in 1953 regarding the 'unhealthy' relationship between
the two girls and to say that the school 'didn't like their
association'. The teacher said that Hilda Hulme replied that 'she
wasn't prepared to interfere in her daughter's friendships...'"
[G&L] [note: This must have been before May 21, 1953. jp]
Miss Stewart was a family friend from the 1920s. A story
that surfaced recently is that Miss Stewart consulted with my
mother re the two girls. My mother had processed three girls
through adolescence, so that was not unusual. [mc]
The early draft of "Heavenly Creatures" mentioned above (see
3.1.25) has Hilda Hulme say the exact line quoted by G&L. It also
has several more scenes which didn't make it to the final release
version in which the girls' relationship is discussed explicitly
by the central characters. [lfr]
The final North American release version of "Heavenly
Creatures" has no characters outside of Dr Bennett, the Hulmes
and the Riepers voicing concern about the girls' relationship.
This is too bad, because in real life other members of the public
did take note of the girls' relationship. Nailing down the extent
of public notice, and public pressure, is a very important point
to understanding the case and this aspect may not have been
treated faithfully in "Heavenly Creatures." [jp]
** Why was labelling the relationship so important? [jp]
This is a very complex question. The motives for pursuing
the issue were different for each character in "Heavenly
Creatures." Broadly speaking, the families were responding in
part to intense social and even legal pressures to conform to
rigid social norms of conduct. We are told, indirectly, that
Christchurch had a particularly conservative, 'more-British-than-
thou' social structure in the opening stock footage. The girls
were blithely, innocently and quite publicly ignoring the norms
of their community. This behaviour was bound to generate unwanted
public attention for both families, especially for the Hulmes who
were a very prominent family, socially. Remember, this was a
small, close community in which chins would wag at the slightest
provocation. Sometimes spontaneously, too, with no provocation.
But the parents were also reacting, within the norms of the
time and place, to what they perceived to be a mentally unhealthy
situation. It could be argued that much of the parents' reaction
was generated by a genuine concern for the health and happiness
of the girls, even if it may seem misguided or ill-informed to
modern eyes. Labelling and understanding the girls' relationship
was seen as a necessary step to dealing with it. With provisos
attached (see below).
** Who first openly raised the spectre of homosexuality? [jp,aa]
Henry Hulme did, in his elliptical, cunning, quietly
aggressive conversation with the Riepers in their living room.
Henry Hulme was careful to phrase his comments in such a way as
to imply that Pauline was forming an unhealthy attachment to
Juliet.
The cinematography and soundtrack during this scene are
particularly ominous and effective.
** What was Honora's immediate reaction? [jp]
After Dr Hulme said that Pauline was forming an
"unwholesome" attachment to Juliet, Honora jumped into the
conversation with: "What's she done?!"
This is an important line. Honora gets Dr Hulme's drift
immediately, and even leaps ahead of his thinking. This is a
clear statement from Jackson that Honora knew about lesbianism
and she clearly didn't approve of it.
** Was an accusation of homosexuality a big deal then? [jp,sb]
Absolutely. This was a very serious charge, carrying with it
wide-ranging repercussions. One strength of the book by Glamuzina
& Laurie (see 7.7) is their discussion of this issue in depth.
** Were Honora's reactions extreme? [maw]
Honora's reactions to Dr Hulme's talk and to Dr Bennett's
'diagnosis' would not have been considered extreme at the time.
My mother probably would have reacted in the same way if she
thought one of her kids was homosexual--and would probably still
react in the same way. Then, people seemed to think there was
something both morally and mentally wrong with you if you were
that way inclined.
** What social consequences awaited an accused lesbian? [jp]
According to the social norms of the time and place, being
publicly labelled a practicing lesbian would have brought
discrimination, scandal and social ruin upon a woman and her
family, because societal expectations for women were so narrowly
defined. There would have been profound public revulsion,
ostracism and social condemnation of the woman. (The public
reaction to the crime gives plenty of evidence of this kind of
reaction, though it isn't shown in the film.)
Both families were well aware of this, though consequences
would have been quite different for the well-placed Hulmes and
the working-class Riepers. Socially, the Hulmes had the most to
lose from such an accusation. Dr Hulme had the most to lose,
professionally, from the scandal such an accusation would bring.
However, the Riepers probably would have been intimidated by
social pressure to a greater extent than the Hulmes would have
been.
** What legal repercussions awaited a 'proven' lesbian? [jp,G&L]
Homosexuality was officially classified at the time as a
mental disorder. It could be used to deny applications for visas
or immigration to most countries, including the US (it is still a
question asked of immigrants to the US, for which the penalty for
a false answer is deportation)--hence the escape to Hollywood
could have been aborted legally by the American INS. A positive
'diagnosis' could also have been used in custody arguments in the
Hulme's impending divorce, for example. G&L state that sexual
practices of lesbians weren't illegal in 1954, though some
practices of gay males were until quite recently. In 1961 it
became illegal in NZ for a woman over the age of 21 to have sex
with a girl under the age of 16.
Being labelled a lesbian could affect employment, especially
in the Armed Forces (where it was cause for dismissal), the
public service, in terms of security clearances, jobs that
required bonding, jobs that involved teaching or supervising
children etc.
** What medical repercussions were there? [jp]
Glamuzina and Laurie detail scholarly research and they also
document anecdotal evidence that women who thought they might
have been lesbians, or who had been accused, in the New Zealand
of the 50s, could face medical treatments of various kinds if
convinced/coerced into it. Even if treatment wasn't followed
through, an 'accused' woman would have had to face very confusing
and damaging accusations, doubts and fears no matter if she were
lesbian or not.
** What was known about homosexuality by common folk?
[jp,mf,sb,G&L,maw]
For most people, there was simply no 'official' information
on this topic. It was not a subject which could be looked up
casually in the local library, for example. Consequently,
information (and misinformation) was passed along by word of
mouth, or not at all.
Quite apart from the general social etc opprobrium, is the
fact that it was probably never officially mentioned. Films,
books etc with homosexual/lesbian themes were banned, and indeed
PYP and JMH would not have had any accurate information about
such things, and no way to see their relationship in a wider
context. G&L have a very good chapter on this aspect of the case.
In his Forward to "Daughters of Heaven" by Michaelanne
Forster, Elric Hooper wrote: "I was a first year student at
Canterbury College at the time (of the murder). I remember
leaning against a green corrugated iron fence, balancing my bike,
and exchanging wonder with someone equally ill-informed about
life. I heard the word 'lesbian' for the first time."
** Was there a gulf between adult and adolescent sophistication?
[maw]
Although Christchurch adults knew little about homosexuality
at the time, adolescents tended to know even less, about all
aspects of human sexuality. Most adolescents were far less well
informed about many, many things than is the case now. The
enormous amount that is learned about life in general as a
teenager is learned at an accelerated rate, and earlier, with all
the media information we get now. I would be very surprised if
the girls really, knowingly, had a lesbian relationship.
** Did CGHS girls talk about lesbianism at school? [mc,maw]
I do not recall any talk about lesbianism at school (CGHS
'46-'50 incl.). There was a teacher at St Margaret's with mannish
haircut and manners, and we laughed at that, the way children do.
That is my only memory. [mc]
Believe it or not, I didn't know a thing about the murder
until years later, and the kinds of issues raised in the trial
would have been kept well out of hearing range in my family.
Girls from Rangi Ruru (a private girls school) used to say it was
a 'lesbians training school,' but I didn't really know what a
lesbian was until I was an adult. My mother (bless her heart)
refused to tell me! People were just so prudish back then (early
60s). I was in University before I met anyone who admitted they
were homosexual. [maw]
** What lesbian stereotypes were commonly-believed in '54?
[jp,G&L]
If the topic was raised, these things might have been
mentioned:
* Predatory lesbians seduced budding young girls.
* Straight girls could be turned into lesbians by being
seduced, especially if they were impressionable or naive.
* Predatory lesbians could sometimes be identified by their
overly-masculine traits.
* Lesbians had high libidos and powerful sex-drives. When
sexually frustrated they could be violent or murderous and
they were more likely to be criminals.
* Homosexuality was a mental illness or defect. Dr Bennett says
of Pauline: "She'll probably grow out of it. And if not,
well, medical science is progressing in leaps and bounds.
There could be a cure any day."
* Homosexuality was 'unnatural,' 'perverted,' 'evil,' 'sinful'
(still believed by many) but also, apparently, irresistable
to the naive.
* It was a phase passed through by some girls in adolescence.
* Homosexuality was dangerous. It undermined the stability of
society.
* Lesbians were created by close, smothering attention of their
mothers.
* Lesbians were men trapped in women's bodies.
* Lesbians hated men.
* Lesbians could be 'cured' through medical intervention and
converted back into heterosexuals.
** Did the "Parker Hulme" case have any lasting repercussions at
CGHS in real life? [maw]
The only thing I knew that was odd at the school in the
early 60s, and I didn't understand it until I saw the film, was
that girls in one class who got too friendly were put into
different classes the next year. I must have been so naive, then.
[note: G&L mention in several places this kind of vigilance, both
private and 'institutional,' over girls and their friendships in
the years following the case. jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.11.2 Official pronouncements.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Was Pauline and/or Juliet a lesbian? [jp]
This question obsessed the public in 1954 in the months
following the murder of Honora Parker. In real life, the girls
were judged in the court of public opinion to be murderous
lesbians, and there are many tabloid headlines to bear witness to
this conclusion. This 'fact' was used to condemn them as evil and
"dirty-minded," and it formed the core of the public's
rationalization of the murder. Vintage '54 this went: Honora
Parker had come between two murderous lesbian lovers so, in their
frustrated, unnatural lust, they killed her.
The legal defense of the girls was based upon a strategy of
admitting they were homosexuals (whether or not it was true) to
establish diminished mental capacity. The strategy backfired.
The prosecution played both ends of this stick. The public's
revulsion of homosexuality was exploited, but experts were also
called to declare that homosexuals were not criminally insane.
All of this ferocious, rabid public condemnation, focussed
upon and fueled by the belief that the girls were lesbians, was
well-known to the filmmakers, yet they chose to omit all mention
of it from "Heavenly Creatures." The film only deals with events
up to the immediate aftermath of the murder, and there is
absolutely no mention of the trial, the publicity or public
reaction in the film's preface or epilogue.
By making this choice, Jackson deliberately leaves the
question about the girls' sexual orientations unanswered in the
film, at least in terms of making an explicit statement. The
viewer may choose to investigate and consider the issue, as did
the public at the time of the murder, but Jackson will only
provide raw 'background' material in "Heavenly Creatures" to be
used as observations or input to a deduction.
So, as far as "Heavenly Creatures" is concerned, the
official answer is:
Maybe the girls were lesbians. Then again, maybe they
weren't. It is up to the viewer to decide.
** What have the filmmakers said about the relationship?
Walsh: "I've had very intense adolescent friendships. They
were very positive, affectionate and funny, and I understood to a
large degree what was so exciting, so magical about the
friendship. And though it ended in a killing, the friendship
itself is something people would identify with, particularly
women." [jp]
Jackson: "What attracted me to this story was that it was
complicated, about two people who are not evil, not psychopaths
but totally out of their depth. Their emotions got out of
control." [jp]
Jackson: "They were totally devoted to each other and felt no
one else in the entire world understood them. They felt their
world would fall apart if they were separated...
"I don't think their relationship was sexually based. I
think there was a lot of exalted play acting and experimentation
involved and, to be perfectly honest, I don't think it's a
relevant issue." [se]
Jackson has also stated in interviews (e.g. Eye Weekly, Jan. 19,
1995) that he believes the question of the girls' sexual
orientations is a "red herring."
** What does Jackson mean by a 'red herring?' [jp]
A 'red herring' is a false clue. Often, red herrings are
planted deliberately, to deceive or to throw a pursuer off the
scent of the pursued.
Taking his statements at face value, Jackson implies the
murder can't be explained simply to be a consequence of the
girls' sexual orientations, whatever they may have been. Given
the known public conclusion of '54 that the girls were lesbians,
his statement is also a strong hint that he may not believe the
girls really were lesbians after all (see 3.1.16.13).
And his statement puts the viewer on alert. Watch out! The
film might be critical of the kind of simplistic, dogmatic,
judgmental moralizing that was voiced by the citizens of
Christchurch forty years ago. Or, it may be a warning that
Jackson might try to trap the viewer, using false signs, into
simplistic moral posturing.
Specifically, Jackson's statement is his way of giving
notice that there may be misleading or irrelevant clues in
"Heavenly Creatures" pointing to the girls being lesbians and/or
pointing to the girls not being lesbians. He is not going to
point out conclusions with a neon sign. We are on our own here.
** What have the actors said about the relationship? [jp,sb]
At an early screening of "Heavenly Creatures" where she
answered questions, Kate Winslet (Juliet) was paraphrased as
having said that she and Melanie Lynskey (Pauline) approached
their roles with the following attitude: The girls were devoted
friends. They acted out exploratory heterosexual romantic
fantasies. At times, one partner was a surrogate or stand-in for
the (male) object of desire. She also mentioned that the girls
were very sexually naive and innocent.
In an interview, Melanie Lynskey and Sarah Peirse stated
that "the film portrays the girls' relationship as innocent
love."
Melanie Lynskey went on to say that "when Juliet was
arrested she was asked if they had had a sexual relationship, and
she said 'How could we? We're both women.'"
** What were the conclusions of the main characters? [jp,sb]
Officially, in "Heavenly Creatures," there was an
accusation, expertly-engineered by Dr Hulme, that Pauline was a
predatory lesbian, seducing Juliet, and a confirming medical
'diagnosis' of this from Dr Bennett. The diagnosis was apparently
accepted by Mrs Rieper, who may have harboured homophobic fears
of her own, according to her statements and her reaction to the
diagnosis. Mr Rieper was worried in general by the intensity of
the friendship and by his daughter's libido, but he was a little
slow off the mark concerning the lesbian angle. Mrs Hulme
appeared to be unphased by questions of the girls' sexuality,
telling Dr Hulme at one point not to worry because it was "all
perfectly innocent."
In the film, Juliet seems to have escaped official
condemnation as an identified lesbian, before the murder, with
the label of being sexually impressionable, gullible or easily
swayed in sexual matters, but heterosexual. Unofficial worries
about her sexual orientation are not made clear, but evidence
points to her being considered to be heterosexual, unofficially,
too. There is ample evidence that Dr Hulme wanted Juliet to be
thought of in this way. If anyone had to bear the brunt of an
accusation of homosexuality, according to Dr Hulme, it should be
"that... Rieper girl."
There is no direct evidence presented in the film about
external social pressure being placed on the families because of
their daughters' relationship, though it is implied by Dr Hulme
once or twice in conversations with Mrs. Hulme. This added
pressure may have contributed to his decision to "resign," but it
probably wasn't the main reason for his resignation. (see 3.1.25,
3.2.2, 7.10.1).
Much more extensive and explicit concerns over Juliet's
being "lost to the world of men forever" were featured
prominently in scenes (Heavenly Creatures, Draft #5, February 7,
1993, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA.) which were not part of the
North American release version.
In real life, it was clear from public reaction and the
sentencing that Juliet was not viewed as weak, or easily swayed
at all. In fact, public impression was that she was by far the
dominant personality. This public perception is a fascinating
topic for discussion, and will be raised again in other sections.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.11.3 Social and economic factors.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Why consider socio-economic factors? [sb,jp]
Superficially, the girls appeared to exist completely in
their own little world. However, closer inspection of "Heavenly
Creatures" reveals plenty of evidence that the girls took careful
notice of their environment. Hence, their relationship may also
have been motivated in part by environmental factors, or at least
fueled by them, and not simply by 'internal' factors.
** Where can I read more about this aspect? [jp]
A central thesis in Glamuzina and Laurie's analysis of the
case is that socio-economic factors played a big role in the
case, though not as large as personal conditions within the
households. For a brief treatment, see their short article quoted
in section 7.8.2. For a more extensive discussion, see their
book, described in section 7.7.6. [jp]
** Were family conditions much the same then as now? [maw]
Many families were much harsher on children in the 50s than
is the case now and attitudes were different. Discipline was
emphasized and open affection was probably much less common, as a
rule. In my family, my parents were very prudish, especially my
mother, and I wouldn't say that my father (a scientist) was
particularly or openly kind to us kids but, rather, he was very
distant and never emotional. I was never praised if I did well
and the minor mistakes anyone makes were always emphasised as
needing to be improved. Good performance at school was always
stressed. I was so happy one year when my CGHS school report was
lost in the mail (delivered on a very wet, windy day, but found
months later near an irrigation ditch at the front of our
property). I didn't get into the trouble I was expecting,
especially from my father!
** How would being an 'outsider' have affected Pauline? [maw]
It probably meant she had one or, maybe, two close friends
and she would have lived with the fact that making new ones was
not going to be easy and, perhaps, not worth the effort.
** What was unattractive about Pauline's life? [sb,jp]
To Pauline, almost everything about her own life was
unattractive. The social situation of her parents was a cause for
acute embarrassment on more than one occasion in "Heavenly
Creatures." She hated the poverty that forced her family to take
in boarders. She clearly grew to hold her mother in contempt
because Honora had run away from home with her father, because
she was 'stupid' and seemed to be a dull, plodding kind of a
woman and because her mother eventually forced Pauline to
contribute financially to the family. Most of Pauline's
criticisms of her family and her mother in particular revolved
around class, status and money. Pauline eventually summed these
feelings up in her phrase "I loathed Mother" and her reasons:
"Because she nags me."
Juliet didn't help matters. Clearly, she shared many of
Pauline's attitudes about the Riepers, all the more evident
because of her politeness when she was at the Riepers' house. The
scene where Juliet first comes over for tea is a splendid study
of class distinction, and holds many clues about the girls'
attitudes to Pauline's lot in life. On the day of the murder
Juliet opines: "Your mother is sort of a miserable woman."
** What was attractive about Pauline's life? [sb,jp]
About the only attractive thing in Pauline's life, to
Juliet, was the aspect of 'family.' Once she got acclimatized to
the Riepers, we see that Juliet actually became quite comfortable
in the Rieper home, the few times she went there.
Of course, that might have been upper-class arrogance, too.
It didn't really matter what the little people thought once it
had been determined that they had no power.
** What was attractive about Juliet's life? [sb,jp]
To Pauline, Juliet's life looked extremely attractive.
First, there were the obvious material benefits--the beautiful
home and gardens, the car, the many possessions (contrast the way
Pauline treated her one, precious Mario Lanza recording and
Juliet's casual spreading of all of hers on the floor). Second,
there was the air of intellect that permeated the Hulme
household. These were cultured, refined people, who respected and
encouraged scholarship, imagination and things cerebral. Pauline
was obviously a very bright girl, and she would have shared
instinctively many of the sensibilities and passions of the
Hulmes. And the Hulmes, in turn, would have encouraged her
because of their social mores. Remember, Pauline was always a
guest in the Hulme's home, so would have been treated
accordingly, especially in the beginning of the friendship.
Juliet took many of the material aspects of her life for
granted, but that doesn't mean she didn't value them. Her parents
indulged her shamefully, in fact--we know she had a horse, an
extensive and lavish 'fantasy' wardrobe, and all the accessories
of a well-off teenager.
Finally, both girls shared an intense devotion to Dr Hulme,
who personified for them everything that was best about Juliet's
world. Pauline, especially, admired him greatly because of his
cool intellect, his even temper and his thoroughly British
attribute of grace under fire.
** Does Pauline actually take notice of these factors? [jp]
Absolutely. Jackson makes this point over and over again: on
Pauline's first stunned viewing of Ilam, the way she stands
timidly in the doorway on her first visit, the way she observes
and imitates Hilda Hulme's mannerisms and manners at the dinner
table (the one with real crystal, and good china, and silver
cutlery, and candelabras and...).
** What was unattractive about Juliet's life? [sb,jp,lfr]
To Juliet, many things. But she dealt with these things by
ignoring them, or by flights of fancy to take her away from ugly
reality. The most obviously painful thing for Juliet was the
constant threat of separation from her family and their world. So
Juliet did not find the material aspects of her life
unattractive, just some of the emotional ones.
Juliet came to feel very threatened by anything which was
destabilizing, and she was decidedly hostile to people who
threatened to break up the ideal vision of family to which she
clung so desperately. This included Bill Perry, of course, and
her mother, eventually, though we see a reconciliation in the
end. Juliet seemed to have no particular feelings toward her
brother; he was a pesky annoyance, as younger brothers can be.
To Pauline, there was nothing unattractive about Juliet's
life. Pauline empathized with Juliet concerning the things which
upset the smooth flow of life in the Hulme household, but just
look at her eyes whenever she was at Ilam. This was what Pauline
wanted more than anything in the world--to be a part of this
world. To "travel to Italy and dozens of other places..."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.11.4 "Red Herrings" - misleading clues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Is there a misleading 'example' of a lesbian in the film?
[jp,mc]
The girls' gym teacher conformed to all the classic
stereotypes that society would have held at the time for a
lesbian, including her build, bearing, appearance, manner and
occupation. The girls in the school, if they took note, might
well have speculated about the gym teacher's sex life. Modern
eyes certainly note these clues planted by Jackson.
The gym teacher is probably a deliberate "red herring."
This one points a finger (or fin) at an 'obvious' lesbian as if
to say 'if you are going to look for lesbians in this film then
they are clearly going to look like this woman because this is
what a lesbian looks like, right?' The girls bore little
resemblance to the gym teacher so, by inference, they cannot have
been lesbians, according to the logic of this red herring.
** Is Pauline's name used as a red herring? [jp]
Probably. The familiar contraction she preferred was the
decidedly masculine 'Paul.' Mrs. Hulme pronounced it with just
the right preceding pause and raised eyebrow, when first
introduced to Pauline, to indicate that she noted its suspicious
masculinity. 'Paul' clearly preferred it to her full name and to
her safely-feminine 'family' name, Yvonne. Even her schoolmates
called her 'Paul,' when they weren't ignoring her.
** Didn't Pauline pretend to be Charles? [jp]
Yes, in several scenes, including Diello's birth scene. She
also wrote love letters to Deborah, as Charles. And Charles was,
of course, a man.
But given the lighthearted tone of the scenes where Pauline
pretends to be Charles, Jackson probably intends those scenes to
be red herrings, not really proving that Pauline was a lesbian
but simply illustrating the rich imaginations of the girls. And
Pauline did not assume the identity of Charles in her own
Borovnian visions, but the identity of the very feminine and
heterosexual Gina.
Similarly, Pauline's letter writing is also portrayed,
initially, as just a "brilliant idea" to cheer up Juliet. Jackson
seems to interpret Pauline's adopting the pen-name of Charles to
be insignificant, in terms of her sexual orientation, and he
offers this as a red herring, too.
** Didn't Pauline pretend to be Lancelot Trelawney? [jp]
Yes. But this was a very light-hearted scene.
** What other 'masculine' traits were given to Pauline? [jp]
Other vintage-'54 'Pauline was masculine' red herrings: We
are told Pauline liked woodworking. We never see her engaged
voluntarily in 'feminine' pursuit of the culinary arts, and all
of her activity in the kitchen was reluctant and cursory, her
housework begrudging. She was a sloppy, dowdy, 'unfeminine'
dresser, especially in her school uniform. The bloody carnage in
her art work at school--hacked limbs, severed heads, death and
mayhem--is more consistent with the art of an adolescent boy. She
read "Biggles" war stories beloved of generations of British-
Empire schoolboys, and pretended to be a fighter pilot.
** What about Pauline's 'diagnosis' by Dr Bennett? [jp]
Dr Bennett's interrogation was ludicrously superficial: "Do
you... like ... girls, Pauline?" "No." "Why not?" "They're
silly." "But Juliet's not silly, is she?" "...No!...".
His diagnosis of "h-h-homo-sexuality" in Pauline can
probably be taken to be a red herring. Jackson is being facetious
here, letting us see how simplistic even 'learned' opinion was at
the time. Indirectly, for the benefit of the aficionado (and if
you are reading this, you are one...), he is also planting doubts
about the accuracy and usefulness of the copious psychological
testimony which took up more than half of the real-life trial.
** Are there any 'Pauline is heterosexual' red herrings? [jp]
Yes. The most obvious one is the way Pauline's parents
reacted to John-the-boarder. They assumed that Pauline was
hopping wantonly into bed with him behind their backs, ergo she
was obviously heterosexual.
The second one, on the surface of it, was the way Pauline
rushed back into John's bed. Both Mr. Rieper and John would have
stated that Pauline was a 'normal,' albeit lusty, girl. Her
reasons may have been more complicated than this, however.
** Are there any red herrings for Juliet? [jp]
Juliet also painted violent scenes. She, too, read "Biggles"
books and pretended to be a fighter pilot. And there were the
love letters she wrote, as Deborah, back to Pauline, of course.
On the surface of her letters, they would obviously point to
Juliet being the lesbian lover of Pauline. Too simple.
SNIP HERE********************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 03/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
John D. Porter
*****************************************************************
"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 04/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.11.5 Significant clues.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Pauline rushed home after meeting Juliet and... [jp]
...played Mario Lanza's "Be My Love":
Be my love,
For no-one else can end this yearning.
This need that you and you alone create.
My arms... the way you haunt my dreams,
The dreams that you inspire
With every sweet desire.
Be my love,
And with your kisses set me burning.
One kiss is all I need to seal my fate.
And, hand in hand,
We'll find love's Promised Land.
There'll be no-one but you,
For me. ...
Never mind the passion (!), check out the lyrics and how they
match the scenes up to Port Levy. Jackson buries most of his
blatant, significant clues in the music. See 3.1.19.
** Juliet always looked so romantic to Pauline. [jp]
True. And warm and sunny and desirable. And not just to
Pauline. Jackson went out of his way to make the audience get
caught up in these feelings for Juliet, too.
Juliet was forever making grand, romantic entrances in
"Heavenly Creatures," accompanied by an equally-romantic score
(see 3.1.19). And Pauline's expressions were adoring and
attentive. Just look at the "Princess of Ilam" scene: Pauline
stumbles across Juliet, dressed as a noble medieval Maid of the
May in the splendorous Ilam gardens, laughing, spreading petals,
dappled in sunlight--and Pauline looked like she fell in love,
right then and there. I thought she was going to weep with joy,
her heart was so full and soaring.
But, for the sake of argument, it should be noted that all
such scenes were set at Ilam or in the Fourth World. When Juliet
was at the Riepers' she was just a girl to Pauline, and to us.
Pauline may have been more attracted to the environment or the
lifestyle represented by Ilam and Borovnia than she was to Juliet
(see 3.1.11.3).
Ah, but then again, there was that last, grand entrance on
June 11, 1954. Juliet, golden, luminous, with desire in her eyes,
swept down the Ilam staircase and transported Pauline from her
drab and shabby life into a stunning red-velvet gown, to her
adoring Borovnian family and "The Loveliest Night of the Year."
** The first thing the girls do together on holiday is... [jp]
...cavort in the wildwood, in tremendous, joyous abandon,
like nymphs or dyads, shedding their clothing along with their
cares. And then, there is that first kiss...
This scene was scripted by the real Pauline Parker, by the
way, in the front of her '53 diary. This episode had made enough
of an impact upon her for it to be one of the 'highlights' of
1952 she recorded soon after getting her first diary. Medlicott
sees great significance in this event, which he calls the girls'
"ecstatic disrobing" (see 7.8.1). Alas, I don't have this quote.
** Pauline kept portraits of Juliet in her room. [jp]
True, and they were flattering, romantic and many in number.
And their numbers increased with time. And they came to encompass
all of Pauline's fantasies: Borovnia, sisterhood, Hollywood, the
Fourth World. This adoring art was over and above the clay
figures the girls used to visualize Borovnia.
This excessive objectifying and adoration is a little
unusual for a simple friendship, no matter how close.
I was reminded of Bud's many pictures lovingly arrayed all
over Deany's bedroom wall in "Splendor in the Grass."
** There was great despair at being separated. [jp]
And it began with Juliet contracting TB. The scene with
Pauline standing alone and distraut in the hallway, being told
over the phone of Juliet's illness, is a terribly bleak and
touching one. Imagine the feelings that would drive a girl who
had known such pain and sickness in her own life to want to be
infected with TB ... just so she could be with Juliet again.
** There was tremendous joy at being reunited. [jp]
Enough to worry Honora, for sure.
The girls' first reunion ran the gamut of emotion. It was
portrayed as much more than a boistrous and superficial
happiness. Once the initial excitement had worn off, there was
also quiet concern and caring and some very tender gestures.
** Juliet was jealous of John. [jp]
Juliet became extremely upset when Pauline told her about
John falling in love with her. Juliet was obviously very jealous,
referring to him as "that idiot boarder" and asking "is that why
you haven't replied to my last letter?"
The scene certainly plays as if Juliet was in love with
Pauline and was afraid of being 'dumped' for a new lover. Then
again, her reaction could have been that strong just because her
fear of rejection and being left alone had grown to be so
overwhelming to her.
Pauline was caught a little unawares by the strength of
Juliet's reaction, and she dismissed Juliet's comments and fears
gently, the way a lover would have. Or, the way a good friend
would have. It could be taken either way.
The 'jealousy' scene is actually based on real-life
testimony and on widely-reported courtroom behaviour (see 7.6).
** "The Ones That I Worship." [jp]
Pauline's poem, and the scenes of Juliet's release from the
sanatorium which Jackson builds around it, are full of
significant indications of a romantic relationship between the
two girls.
Juliet beamed triumphantly, and knowingly, at Pauline in the
tram-riding scene, after Juliet's release from the sanatorium
("Compared with these two every man is a fool."). Pathetic,
rejected John was making an ass of himself on his bicycle. Even
bystanders twittered.
Jackson may have actually been translating some of Pauline's
real-life diary entries not used in the voiceover, written
following Juliet's release, into snippets of atmospheric scenes,
linking them with the lines of Pauline's poetry. Those omitted
entries dealt with Pauline's feelings toward Juliet and
'Nicholas'. See 7.4.3. The issues raised by those entries are not
simple ones, in real life, possibly why the entries were not used
by Jackson.
** "He's just a stupid boy." [jp]
The girls commented several times to the effect that their
relationship was something that was better than a relationship
with boys, and that boys couldn't possibly understand it.
On the one hand, it is probably unusual for heterosexual
adolescent girls not to have any fantasies at all about boys. On
the other hand, remember what immature jerks most adolescent boys
are... [my sex allows me to cast this stone. jp]. The girls did
have romantic fantasies about their male Saints, of course.
** What was Diello's comment to Dr Bennett? [jp]
Diello appeared during Dr Bennett's interview with Pauline.
Dr Bennett was saying: "Perhaps if you spent a little more time
with boys..." At that point Diello ran Dr Bennett through with
his sword, commenting: "Bloody fool!" Amusing, but a direct
statement from Jackson, nonetheless. And a direct diary quote.
Oh, and can you say "phallic symbolism?" See 3.1.16.8.
By the way, the date shown on Dr Bennett's desk calendar was
exactly right: December 14, 1953 (a nice little touch). See 7.3.
** The girls bathed together. [jp]
Perhaps a little unusual, but not all that uncommon. In
fact, there may have been communal baths at school [there
certainly were in a comparable boy's school I attended.. I need
to check this. jp] and communal bathing is common in many
cultures ... hot tubs, anyone?
Certainly, in the film, we don't see the girls engaged in
any erotic activities when they are bathing together. This seems
to be a deliberate decision made by the filmmakers because we do
see the girls in erotic situations elsewhere in the film.
Bathing together was taken straight from trial testimony and
from real-life diary entries. See sections 3.1.15 and 3.1.16.12
for more about bathing.
** The girls took nude photos of each other. [jp]
This is a pretty common adolescent rite of passage. Hilda
Hulme was probably right about this one: "It's all perfectly
innocent." Henry Hulme found the photography particularly
disturbing, though, an indication of "hanky ... panky" in his
mind. Perhaps Henry's opinion said more about Henry than about
the girls.
There was an additional aspect to this photography.
Remember, the girls had just hatched a plan to run off to
Hollywood and be film stars. Maybe these were going to be their
'publicity stills.' They read Film Magazines by the score, so
they certainly knew you had to have good cheesecake pictures to
get noticed.
** The girls slept together. [jp]
The 'sleep-over' is an almost universal phenomenon among
adolescent females.
On the other hand, sleeping blissfully in each others' arms
night after night after night is probably not, although their
first night together after Juliet's return from the sanatorium
was a very warm, tender and beautiful image in "Heavenly
Creatures." And a very innocent one. "And these wonderful people
are you, and I."
Henry Hulme certainly did not like what he saw when he
peeped in at the girls from the Ilam balcony. But why was Henry
peeping through windows? Another instance of an unflattering
portrait of Henry Hulme because the audience could see no harm.
What is not made clear in the film, though it was made
abundantly clear in real life, was that the girls' sleeping
together was actually done surreptitiously by them; it was not
something that was officially 'known' by the parents, or openly
approved of by them. Pauline recorded that the girls worried
about being caught by Dr Hulme. This paints a slightly different
picture than the one Jackson portrayed.
** The girls hugged and kissed and held hands. [jp,mf,G&L]
Girls did, and do, in public and in private, who are just
good friends and not lovers.
However, there is no doubt that the girls' behaviour would
have been very provocative, within their cultural setting.
Physical familiarity of this sort was frowned upon, in public,
even within socially-approved relationships; this was a very
reserved and conservative society, after all. G&L note (p. 61):
"They were noticed by teachers and other students at the school
[CGHS] because from early 1952 they became very close, sitting
together and walking in the school grounds, hand in hand. At that
time, showing this amount of affection publicly was seen as
unusual."
Furthermore, Jackson has Juliet and Pauline kiss on the
mouth, which was probably much less common at the time, and
especially in that cultural setting, than friends kissing on the
cheek. This could be Jackson being impishly provocative, or it
might be another red herring--it is barely far enough into the
grey zone to be a toss-up either way, according to modern
sensibilities--or it might be a genuinely-significant clue to
their relationship. The first few times the girls kiss, it is
within a light setting such as the "Donkey Serenade" scene. When
the setting isn't light the girls' kisses come across as a little
surprising or even jarring, for some, but the audience becomes
quite acclimatized to this aspect of the girls' relationship by
the end of the film.
The girls weren't furtive or secretive about their kissing;
it wasn't something they only did when they were all alone. They
kissed quite openly, in front of their family members in several
scenes, and even in public, in the sanatorium. This openness
would tend to support the notion that it wasn't an erotic pastime
for them. Or, maybe it was a case of 'hide in plain sight.' If it
was, we never saw them checking for public reaction, which they
would have if kissing was done on a dare, or to deliberately
shock or provoke a reaction.
Interestingly, Michaelanne Forster also has the girls kiss
specifically on the lips in "Daughters of Heaven" because this
behaviour was public enough to be the stuff of stories about them
in real life. In a sense, then, Jackson was forced to deal with
this fact if he wanted to portray the story accurately.
In support of the idea that this is a significant clue, the
girls really did kiss quite frequently. And a couple of kisses in
"Heavenly Creatures" did stand out as being off-the-cuff,
spontaneous, heartfelt and intimate. For example, when the girls
parted after Pauline's first visit to the sanatorium, and
whenever the girls parted under emotionally stressful conditions.
And, perhaps most significantly of all, there was that kiss in
Pauline's 'ship' fantasy. See 3.1.16.13.
Were these kisses a true indication of the girls' romantic
feelings toward each other? Perhaps. But then again, maybe the
girls really were simply inventing their own rules for
demonstrating their own particular kind of love and friendship.
Oddly enough, some of the most ambiguous, tender and loving
gestures the girls made in "Heavenly Creatures" occurred when
they took and held each others' hands. By rights, these should
have been the most innocent of their actions. They stood out for
me, at least.
** The girls did have sex together. [jp,G&L]
Yes, they did. Two different times, at least, according to
the evidence given in the film. On the surface of it, this seems
to be pretty strong evidence supporting the idea that the girls
were lesbians--how can you argue with simple physical facts?
Glamuzina and Laurie discuss this aspect of classification
and categorization at some length, and their book is recommended
as an informative and readable account of this issue. (see 7.7.6)
Though he may have been painted in an unflattering light, Dr
Bennett was at least statistically correct in one of his
statements: many adolescents experiment in their formative years
with physical acts of various kinds that can be labelled
'homosexual,' without being irreversibly, completely or
permanently committed to this sexual orientation. In effect, many
people do seem to 'drift into and grow out of it.' Maybe this was
the case with the girls. Jackson deliberately introduced this
evidence earlier, to be recalled by the viewer when the girls are
shown making love. It plants a seed of doubt about their being
committed lesbians. And, for many people, sexual orientation is a
kind of sliding scale, and it can vary with time. Maybe this was
a better description of the girls' sexual preferences.
Over and above this ambiguity, the girls did have sex under
very specific and unusual conditions, namely they took turns
imagining what it was like to have a man, one of their Saints,
make love to them. And the other girl pretended to be the Saint.
So, in their imaginations, they were taking part in heterosexual
sex. At least, this is what we are shown and told at the
beginning of the scene.
However, Jackson introduces yet another layer of ambiguity
by having the images of the Saints dissolve back into the images
of the girls themselves in the final moments of these shots. Does
this indicate that the 'Saints' angle was a rationalization the
girls used, perhaps because they didn't want to admit to their
physical attraction for each other? Then, once they had overcome
their initial reluctance and inhibitions, the pretense was
dropped? Possibly. It could also be an artistic way of saying
'we've intruded enough into this private moment.' The scene
dissolves soon after.
Jackson is toying mercilessly with the audience's
preconceptions, driving home his point that the girls had a
relationship that pretty much defied simple categorization. Even
in the face of 'straightforward' physical evidence. He is saying
that the girls may not have been lesbians at all even if they had
one or two superficially lesbian encounters.
** What did happen in the "enacting the Saints" scene? [jp]
This was a key and very dense scene and Jackson and Walsh
threw everything they had into it. Good cinema, but hard to
analyze in a few lines. I'll settle for a description, here.
The two girls were running from 'It' in his Harry Lime
incarnation. They shut and brace the door to the balcony with a
chair, then collapse on Juliet's bed, laughing. 'It' has been
locked out of the room.
Juliet is shown lying on the bed with Pauline above her.
Juliet sighs and the girls kiss, not too briefly and very warmly.
We cut to see a dark-coated Pauline against the ceiling from
Juliet's perspective. Pauline 'morphs' into 'It' and Juliet
gasps. 'It' begins to kiss Juliet; he is b&w, she is flooded by
the blue light coming in the window through her gauze curtains,
where her gaze is drawn as she becomes lost to her passion. 'It'
is wearing crude leather gloves and he plays them over Juliet's
neck. The plasticine figures on Juliet's bedside table are seen
prominently, and they include a pair of horses facing in opposite
directions, an exact reproduction of Pauline's drawing glimpsed
on the day Juliet is introduced to French class, but now real,
physical objects.
Cut to a shot of Pauline lying on the bed in a warm, natural
light. We hear and then see Diello grunting, slashing and hacking
limbs in a frenzy of violence. Pauline smiles blissfully. Diello
comes to her bed and begins to make love to Pauline, his crude
gloved hands reaching for her, and he carries her off to Borovnia
where Gina ... is now a clay figure. Diello pins Gina to a wall
and ravishes her, to Gina's obvious delight. We pull back and see
writhing bodies everywhere. The Borovnians are having an orgy and
Gina is part of it. We see, though only very briefly, quite a
variety of sexual activity among the Borovnians, including males
having sex with males, though the gender of many of the
Borovnians is hard to determine.
Finally, we pull back and Borovnia fades. We see Juliet
against the ceiling from Pauline's perspective and Juliet smiles
shyly. The girls embrace and kiss; both are smiling warmly and
they caress each other as they lie in each others' arms. The
diary voiceover informs us that the girls "have now learned the
peace of the thing called Bliss, the joy of the thing called
Sin." The pink gemstone is on Juliet's bedside table by their
heads.
Jackson managed to put most of his major themes, symbols and
potent clues into this one short scene. For more on them see
3.1.16.
How does all this compare to real life? Real life was far
more complicated, but that is what Art is for: distillation into
the essence of a consistent perspective. See 4.6 and 7.4.3 for
more on the real-life episode.
** Were the girls too sexually naive to be lesbians?
[jp,G&L,mc,maw]
Or, for that matter, too naive to be committed to any
particular sexual orientation. Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey
both brought this point up. There is ample evidence that the
girls were unusually naive and sexually unsophisticated for their
age. For example, Pauline thought at first that John's climbing
into bed with her was sufficient to constitute her losing her
virginity, according to the film. They attended an all-girls
school, and seemed to have had little social interaction with
boys their own age. Juliet, in particular, seems to have led a
particularly sheltered social life, according to "Heavenly
Creatures." Neither set of parents was pushing for the girls to
become more involved with boys--just the opposite, in fact. (In
the NAm version of the film.)
The film strongly implies that both Pauline and, especially,
Juliet had had absolutely no sexual experiences before the ones
that occur in the story. It's quite possible that neither of them
had formed definite ideas about their sexual preferences one way
or the other. And, as mentioned above, the girls really would
have had little access to material about homosexuality or
lesbianism and may not have even discussed the subject at school.
I admit I was originally a little sceptical of this
'profoundly naive and innocent' characterization of the girls as
depicted in the film, but I have been swayed by discussion
provided by several FAQ contributors, and others, and by
background information provided by and referenced in G&L, and by
some of Anne Perry's statements about the real-life context. The
time and place really were quite different from contemporary
society where I live and, possibly, where many FAQ readers live.
I can now accept that this aspect of profound innocence should be
considered seriously in the analysis of the film and the case.
But is ignorance of one's sexual orientation proof that one
is probably 'normal' in a statistical sense? Human hearts and
souls don't really conform well to simple statistical
descriptions and "Heavenly Creatures" can't answer this question,
of course.
A much better question (and I did not phrase it this way,
deliberately) might be: Were the girls too naive to know what
their sexual orientations were?
** Did either girl ever say "I love you" to the other? [jp]
No. Not in "Heavenly Creatures."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.11.6 Conclusions about the relationship.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** What were the girls' stated sexual preferences? [jp,lfr]
When the girls were on the beach at Port Levy, imagining
Charles' and Deborah's wedding night, Pauline imagined Charles
"ravishing her!" Juliet responded: "Oh, yes! I bet she gets up
the duff their first night together." This and many other
romantic imaginings mentioned by the girls seem like enthusiastic
endorsement of heterosexual sex. They often placed themselves in
erotic heterosexual situations in their Borovnian reveries.
On the face of it, this kind of statement would also fly in
the face of the assertion that the girls were sexually ignorant
or naive. Deleted scenes from the early draft of the screenplay
have the girls discussing sex more frequently and more
graphically, and they discuss the sex manuals that were part of
Hilda Hulme's 'family planning' and counseling activities at the
Marriage Guidance Council. This could have just indicated
interest in sex, not knowledge of it, of course. Obviously, the
filmmakers chose to portray the girls' sexual innocence in a more
explicit way in the final release version of the film.
However, when faced with the physical reality of sex, the
girls' preferences became more ambiguous. For example, Pauline
was clearly very ill-prepared for her sexual encounter with John;
she had some vague, idealized notions that had nothing, really,
to do with sex. And she was probably motivated more by a desire
to defy her parents than by physical desire for John. The whole
process was profoundly unpleasant in the extreme for her, and
even quite traumatic. See 3.1.16.11 for more on this scene. This
experience was not to become a ringing endorsement of sex with
boys. But did this bad heterosexual experience drive Pauline into
Juliet's understanding arms? Apparently not, or at least not for
about one whole year. It was a very critical scene.
However, nearly one year later, Pauline described her sexual
experiences with Juliet in completely different terms from the
way she had described her encounter with John--with Juliet it was
"Wonderful! Heavenly! Beautiful! and Ours!" Pauline was certainly
in a position to compare and contrast, and her preference seems
pretty clear from her comments. Unless, of course, she really
couldn't tell the difference between Juliet and the Saints of her
imagination.
Juliet's preferences or comments aren't stated explicitly.
We only have her expressions to read. When she makes love to
Pauline, they are clearly ones of tenderness and pleasure but,
ultimately under the stated circumstances, they are formally as
ambiguous in their interpretation as Pauline's.
** But there is more to life, and love, than sex... [jp]
Yes, and we must bear this in mind when considering the
girls' relationship in "Heavenly Creatures." On the other hand,
FAQ readers are invited to cast their minds back to their own
adolescence... as I recall, the spiritual and the physical did
tend to get all mixed up together, and it was a heady mix.
But it is still probably a good idea to keep pure,
breathless romance in the back of our minds as we consider the
big picture in the sections ahead.
** What does the narrative state about the relationship? [jp]
There is reasonably strong narrative evidence (see also
3.1.16.13), i.e. Jackson's 'official' point of view, pointing to
the following 'on-balance' conclusion: the girls were not
lesbians, despite the physical evidence that might be interpreted
superficially to the contrary. Furthermore, the relationship was
unequal; Pauline's view of it differed from Juliet's. At least in
terms of the part of their relationship that led to murder.
The film's narrative evidence suggests Pauline was
desperately attracted to an idealized version of the Hulme family
and the life they represented (see 3.1.11.3), and she imagined
herself to be the dear, close, loving sister of Juliet and part
of the Hulme family. There are a few important counter arguments,
however, suggesting that Pauline was attracted to and in love
with Juliet in a romantic and erotic sense.
Juliet, on the other hand, was desperate for the constant
affection of a true soul mate and loving sister. She was
traumatized by the accumulated rejection of her family and by the
tremendous, overwhelming new upheaval taking place within her
family, and she turned to the unquestioning love and devotion of
Pauline for solace. Similarly, in opposition to this conclusion,
there are a few strong pieces of evidence that Juliet was in love
with Pauline, especially her jealousy in the sanatorium.
** What does the music state about the relationship? [lfr]
There is strong evidence (see 3.1.19) that the musical clues
point to an intense romantic attraction of Pauline for Juliet.
The story is almost exclusively told from Pauline's perspective,
and the important musical clues also point to Pauline's emotions.
Hence, the conclusion to be drawn from the music is that
Pauline's 'diagnosis' by Dr Bennett and his allies was, in fact,
correct. Pauline fell deeply, passionately and desperately in
love with Juliet in a grandiose, operatic, adolescent way that
progressed well beyond a simple crush. She placed Juliet on a
pedestal and became progressively more blind to everyone but
Juliet and everything but her love and devotion for Juliet.
The music has little to say about Juliet's feelings, except
that she became overwhelmed, numb and utterly accepting of the
inevitability of Honora's tragic murder in the last scene.
** Does a consistent picture of the relationship emerge? [jp]
No. The objective statements made by the characters point to
a 'majority' opinion that Pauline was a lesbian attracted to
Juliet, with some abstentions. The subjective interpretation of
the film's narrative points to an unusual, intense, unequal
sisterhood between the girls. The subjective interpretation of
the musical score points to Pauline falling desperately in love,
romantically, with Juliet. Is Jackson having more fun at the
expense of the confused audience? Maybe. Or, it could be he is
hedging his bets on this important and controversial matter,
despite what he has said in press interviews.
** What do I think? (as of ver. 2.0) [jp]
On balance, despite Jackson's conscious attempts to avoid
and obscure the issue, I think "Heavenly Creatures" really does
paint a portrait of two young people who fell in love,
romantically, unequally and at paces that differed. The
circumstances in their lives, and especially their enforced
separations, merely strengthened and confirmed their love for
each other, which grew after their initial infatuation. It is an
intriguing question to ask if infatuation would have changed to
love had things been different in their lives. Perhaps.
Was this 'real' love? I think it certainly seemed to be to
Pauline and Juliet, even if they could never put a name to it,
themselves. So, if they couldn't, do we dare? Sure. Perhaps their
love was based more on mutual and different needs and less on
mutual and ideal celebration of pure and noble pursuits, but does
this distinction matter when you are fifteen? They stayed loyal
and in love for years, at a time in their lives when they might
have changed partners and affiliations weekly or even overnight.
Was their love innocent? Yes, and it was passionate and it
was physical, too. It was everything love is, at that age, for
most people and perhaps more. Jackson and Lynskey and Winslet
managed to convey very convincingly this "intensity" and how the
girls believed that what was right, for them, had to be right in
an absolute sense, without concern or heed to what society said.
This quite extraordinary strength of conviction and naivite may
have even been assets and a wonderful thing for the girls; it was
also the seed of their tragedy, of course, according to "Heavenly
Creatures."
Was their love good and right? We want it to be and through
much of the film it seems to be. "Heavenly Creatures" doesn't
necessarily say the murder was an inevitable and completely
conditional consequence of the girls falling in love.
Was it tragic? Yes. A woman died.
Was it this way in real life? See 4.6.
** Is understanding the relationship important? [lfr]
The one inescapable fact is that the two girls, together,
murdered a woman. Understanding how one girl could be convinced
to perform murder by the other can never be achieved without
understanding the relationship between the two. A casual
acquaintance who is not legally insane will not perform murder as
a favor. Whatever the relationship was, it is at the core of the
reason for the murder.
** Are other relationships also important? [jp,G&L]
Absolutely. This is Glamuzina and Laurie's central thesis
regarding the reason for the murder (see 7.8.2 and 7.7.6).
Contributions are encouraged regarding the other relationships
between the central characters.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.12 The "Fourth World."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Who first mentioned the "Fourth World?" [jp]
The "Fourth World" was first mentioned by Juliet in the
scene at the Ilam shrine. Pauline commented: "But we're all going
to Heaven!"--sorry, I mean "Hihvin." [This is a reference to many
real-life statements by Pauline and Juliet too numerous to list.
e.g. see Medlicott's article 7.8.1. jp]
Juliet said she wasn't--she was going to the Fourth World
(see 3.2.7).
** What was the Fourth World? [jp]
Juliet said it was a place for "Music, Art and pure
enjoyment." Mario would be there, and James, only they would be
Saints.
Later, both girls had visions of the "Fourth World" and it
came to intrude on their perceptions of the real world, as well.
** Was the "Fourth World" another name for "Heaven?" [jp]
Most definitely not. Juliet said The "Fourth World" was
"better than Heaven because there weren't any Christians."
** Who discovered the "Fourth World" and when? [jp]
Juliet was the first to see the "Fourth World," at Port Levy
during Easter holidays with the Hulmes. Pauline was confused at
first, until Juliet stood tall against the sky, took a deep
breath and, in a sure voice, full of knowing anticipation, said:
"Come with me!" (an important moment in "Heavenly Creatures.").
Both Juliet and Pauline went on to have a realistic, sensual
vision of the "Fourth World." Interestingly, in real life, the
vision occurred on Good Friday, 1953, the day commemorating
Christ's trials, doubt, crucifiction, suffering and death, and
not on Easter Sunday, the day commemorating his resurrection from
the dead. "Heavenly Creatures" says the vision was apparently
triggered by Juliet's intense depression, brought about because
her parents planned to leave her behind in New Zealand when they
went on a trip to England.
** Who could 'look in to' the "Fourth World" and when? [jp]
Pauline stated in her diary entry that "only about ten
people" had the ability, the 'key,' to look into the "Fourth
World," and that this could only occur on well-defined occasions,
twice a year, when a gateway opened up through the clouds. The
bright light of the gateway was like a brilliant six-pointed
star--very similar to the star in the CGHS crest that was shown
in the very first shot of "Heavenly Creatures," after the title.
Both Pauline and Juliet had this ability to 'look in to' the
"Fourth World," because of an extra part of their brain, and that
made them rare and special, and brilliant and it set them far
apart from ordinary people.
'Looking in to' the "Fourth World" was apparently a
different phenomenon, in the girls' eyes, from simply imagining
the "Fourth World."
** What was the "Fourth World" like? [jp]
In the girls' visions of the "Fourth World," it appeared to
be like a lush, over-ripe, beautiful, sunny garden. There were
manicured lawns, fountains and pools, marble statues, flowers in
vibrant bloom, birds, giant butterflies and mythical beasts, like
unicorns, tame and docile. In short, it looked a lot like the
gardens and grounds of Ilam, the Hulme's residence.
The "Saints" were supposed to live there, but they were
never shown in the girls' visions of the "Fourth World."
** Was "Borovnia" part of the "Fourth World?" [jp]
This wasn't specified clearly in "Heavenly Creatures." At
first, the two concepts seemed to be quite separate. The girls
had visions of Borovnia independent of their visions of the
"Fourth World," and the characters, objects and tone of the two
places appeared to be quite distinct. Specifically, Borovnia was
shown to be a lusty, bawdy, violent place while the "Fourth
World" was peaceful and pastoral; Pauline described it as being
full of peace and bliss. Later in the film, it seemed as if
Borovnia may have existed as a kingdom in the "Fourth World,"
judging from images of the countryside seen outside Borovnia in
some of the visions.
The "Saints" were said to exist in the "Fourth World." Some
of the Borovnian characters had the features of the Saints and,
of course, Mario Lanza was himself and he was supposed to live in
the "Fourth World."
** Who were the Saints? [jp,lfr,sb]
Juliet initially identified four Saints:
Mario (Lanza)..........................."HE"
James Mason............................"HIM"
Mel Ferrar............................"THIS"
Suie Bjuling (IDd from script)........"THAT"
(I reckon this could be Jussi Bjoerling, the tenor, very popular
in the 1950s). [sb,lfr]
Pauline commented "Oh, I wish James Mason would do a
religious picture. He'd be perfect as Jesus." Then proposed:
Orson Welles............................"IT"
but Juliet vetoed this, saying: "Certainly not! Oooh! Orson
Welles--the most hideous man alive!" and she cast his picture to
the water. Later, after the girls see "The Third Man," they don't
change their opinions about his looks, but they both admit they
"adore him," and "IT" is elevated to full sainthood.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.13 "Borovnia."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** What was "Borovnia?" [jp]
Borovnia was an imaginary kingdom invented by Pauline and
Juliet in elaborate fantasies. They wrote extensively about
Borovnia and peopled it with a large cast of characters, both
noble and commoner. Pauline said to John-the-boarder that the
family tree "was all worked out" for many generations. From time
to time, the girls would assume the identities of the characters
in real life, or would imagine themselves to be the characters in
their visions of Borovnia. Borovnia was a violent, fun place full
of action, romance and intrigue. See 3.1.16.11 for more on the
character of Borovnia.
** Are there parallels with other imaginary kingdoms? [sb,lfr]
The young Brontes had imaginary kingdoms of this kind. A
good read on the subject is Daphne du Maurier's "The Infernal
World of Branwell Bronte."
Apparently the Brontes' fantasy world occupied the sisters
for seven years, and was also incredible and quite violent
(according to Jay Martin, Ph.D. in a lecture "Movies, Murders,
Magic, Obsession and Oppression" given at S. Cal.
Psychoanalytical Institute April 20, 1995).
** What are the filmmakers' comments about "Borovnia?"
Jackson: Pauline and Juliet "used [it] ...as an outlet for
violent fantasies. Their stories about Borovnia became
increasingly violent and bloodthirsty."
** Why were the characters in Borovnia made of plasticine?
Jackson had initially imagined using actors dressed in
medieval clothes. Then he heard of real plasticine models made by
Juliet and seen by visitors to Ilam in the 50s and thought: "What
a fascinating idea. Why don't we have Pauline and Juliet entering
into a world populated by Plasticine figures rather than actors
wearing costumes." (see 3.1.10 concerning plasticine figures in
real life.)
** When and why did the girls have Borovnian visions? [jp]
Although Borovnia started out as a literary exercise for the
girls' imaginations, both of them came to have more frequent
visions of themselves in Borovnia or of Borovnian characters in
their real lives.
Both Pauline and Juliet were shown to use Borovnian visions
as an escape from unpleasant realities. As "Heavenly Creatures"
progresses through a series of upsetting and traumatic events,
the girls blur the distinction between the real world and
fantasy, usually through Borovnian visions that help them deal
with their problems.
** Who had the first 'vision' of Borovnia? [jp]
The first explicit vision of Borovnia was held by Juliet
when she was confronted by Rev Norris in the sanatarium. Diello
came to Juliet's rescue and carted off the annoying clergyman,
bad teeth and all, to his beheading.
** Who first imagined herself actually in Borovnia? [jp]
Pauline awoke outside the gates of Borvnia in the second
'Borovnia' vision, as if from a dream, during her night with
John(Nicholas). She smiled, as if she were home. See 3.1.16.11
for more on this scene.
** Who imagined the death of Nicholas in Borovnia? [jp]
That's not clear. Nicholas was dispatched by Diello in the
third Borovnian vision, but we see both girls immediately after
this vision, and they smile knowingly at each other. Maybe this
was telepathy (see diary entries).
** Did Juliet ever imagine herself entering Borovnia? [jp]
Yes. Juliet's first voluntary crossing over to Borovnia, as
Deborah, was at the beginning of "The Loveliest Night of the
Year" scene, when the Ilam parlour dissolved into Borovnia. Mario
became human in this vision. So did Dr Hulme, the Fool.
** Did anyone cross over completely? [jp]
Yes. The film implies that Pauline crossed over completely
to the fantasy kingdom during "The Loveliest Night of the Year"
when Diello carried her away from Ilam to Borovnia. When we see
her in Borovnia, Pauline has become a plasticine Gina, her
transformation complete. This final, all-important Borovnian
scene would have been "The Rape of Gina" in archaic terms.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.14 Foreshadowing and allusion.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Does Jackson use these devices in "Heavenly Creatures?" [jp]
The film is absolutely rife with foreshadowing and allusion,
beginning with the whole narrative of the Prologue. Jackson uses
foreshadowing, especially, as a means of building up dramatic
tension to an unbearable level. It might almost be shorter to
list things which aren't... Some examples are presented in this
section. Since the reader must be an afficionado, some of the
details of the connections are omitted or left as exercises.
Contributions to this section are welcomed.
** The Prologue. [jp]
See 3.1.3 for an extended listing and discussion of
foreshadowing and allusion in the archival footage in the
Prologue, 3.1.17.1 for a more complete description of the "flight
scene" and 3.1.16.13 for a detailed analysis of the "ship
scenes." Brief reminders of things which pop up again and again:
Archival footage: daffodils, gay and golden, Rutherford,
Christchurch gardens.
Flight Scene: smashing through the wooded underbrush,
screaming, legs and shoes and stockings and feet and running,
mud, overcoats, "Mummy," "Help us!", spattered blood and gore.
First Ship Scene: legs and running, wooden decking, bright
print summer dresses, "Mummy," streamers, an elegant woman in
white, a man in an overcoat and hat, the sound of the wind.
** The title sequence at school. [jp]
The title sequence is chock-a-block with foreshadowing and
allusion, too. See 3.1.19 for a discussion of the music under the
titles, "Just A Closer Walk With Thee," and all the references
contained in this piece. Things to watch for later in the film:
a six-pointed star, stockings, legs and feet, brown oxfords and
sandals, school satchels, bicycles, brown gloves, "sit-tuh!" and
distain of other commands.
** What is the significance of Pauline's stockings? [jp,lfr]
We see Pauline hooking up her stocking to her garter belt in
the opening sequence under the titles.
At the end of the film, Pauline constructs the murder weapon
from one of her stockings. So, apart from telling us a lot about
Pauline, and having her flash her thigh gratuitously in an
allusion to the scandalous and salacious reputation of the case,
this little scene is also a wonderful, almost throwaway,
foreshadowing of the murder. It is just one example of an object
or theme that appears in two forms in the film, first as
something innocent and every-day, and second as its dark and
sinister doppelganger.
** Others, in no particular order: [jp,aa]
* Horses, first drawn in Pauline's French notebook, are in
practically every scene and somewhere on every set. Horses
figured very prominently in the real case (see 3.1.16.9).
* The girls are thrown together by Art. They never abandon
their singleminded pursuit of the Arts from that moment on.
* Running and crashing through foliage appears in the
Prologue, repeatedly in the role-playing games at Ilam, in the
"Donkey Serenade" scene, but before the murder... there is a
gentle walk through the woodland. There is running and screaming
in the Prologue and in the flight from 'It.' There is running and
laughing, running for joy, running, running, running. The girls
even run past a poster for "Jamaica Run." See 3.1.16.1.
* Juliet reaches out to shake Honora's hand when she "meets
the Riepers" and Honora hesitates. Later, as Honora collapses,
dying, in Victoria Park, she reaches out for Juliet's hand and
Juliet reaches out... and takes the brick from Pauline.
Inbetween, disembodied hands reach out for many things in
"Heavenly Creatures." See 3.1.16.2.
* Juliet and Pauline stand side by side, hand in hand, for
the first time at Port Levy and for the last time in the quiet
sunset on the grounds of Ilam as unicorns graze peacefully
nearby. And many times inbetween. See 3.1.16.2.
* The shrine at Ilam is made of bricks, and a half-brick
reappears at the end, of course (see 3.1.16.3).
* We learn of Juliet's contracting TB when she coughs up and
spatters blood onto her schoolbook. There is blood in the
Prologue, of course, and blood in the final scene. Somehow, there
is a terrifying difference between this blood, real blood, and
the buckets of blood featured in paintings and Borovnian
fantasies.
* Pauline hears of Juliet's diagnosis over the phone. There
will be many more phone calls, sad and upsetting and even
treacherous, before the end of the film. There were some
extraordinary phone calls in real life, too. See 3.1.16.7 and
7.3.
* Pauline wears a silver bracelet at Port Levy, when she
first experiences the Fourth World, and she wears it again on the
"Loveliest Night of the Year" and on the day of the murder.
* "I got meself a pair of socks." Twice. And Wendy got a
pair of stockings for Christmas 1953. Pauline wears 'sockettes',
not stockings, on the day of the murder. That's from trial
testimony.
* Honora brings Juliet fruit in the sanatorium and on the
morning of the murder Juliet brings Honora... "Fruit."
* The first time we see Honora and Pauline hanging up the
wash, Pauline declares "We are so brilliantly clever!" The second
time, she says "...Mother will be dead. How odd, yet how
pleasing." Pauline does a lot of laundry in the film.
* Juliet appears in a gold-lamé gown on "The Loveliest Night
of the Year" and obvious reference to 'gay and golden' in the
Prologue.
* Juliet's coat with the prominent V-shaped lapels is
mirrored by Diello's dramatic costume, with its prominent V-
shape. Gradually, as the film progresses, Pauline comes to see
Juliet as her real-life saviour as Diello had been Gina's saviour
on so many occasions. Charles has a flying-V lapel design, too.
The whole final day of the murder is bursting with
references to the foreshadowing that came throughout the film and
with ironic allusions to the real case. Some of my personal
highlights:
* Birds in the soundtrack. See 3.1.16.10 for more on birds.
* The reverential tone of "I am about to rise."
* Henry Hulme in Ilam's drive: "Thought I'd lost you." This
one is particularly cruel if you know the real-life story.
* Juliet sits on Pauline's bed in exactly the same pose as
the real Juliet's portrait on the wall behind her head.
* Juliet's hand reaches out and grasps the branch during the
long walk through Victoria Park, and the sound breaks through for
a moment and is lost. See 3.1.16.2 for more on hands.
* Juliet is scrubbing her hands as if she were washing away
the blood, all through Victoria Park. See 3.1.15 and 3.1.16.12.
* Honora reaches out for the pink stone in an exact copy of
Nicholas' motion. Both are near wooden bridges. See 3.1.16.6 for
more on bridges and planking.
* Honora was wearing her 'good' clothes--the same outfit she
wore to visit Juliet in the sanatorium and to see Dr Bennett.
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3.1.15 Religious themes and death.
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** How are Christian themes used in the film? [lfr,jp]
Christian themes are used in several ways. First, they are
cultural reference points, used to place the story in a cultural
setting--the value system and morals percolating through the
story are consistent with a very British community, and the
Church of England as a distilled representation of that society.
Second, they are used as parallel standards against which to
compare the girls' visions of the Fourth World. This 'compare and
contrast' type of analysis gives the viewer greater insight into
the minds of the girls, and a quantitative measure of how much
their sensibilities differed from those of their peers and how
much their values differed from the values of their community.
Third, they are used ironically, in several places. Jackson
uses the Church as a comic foil, while still managing to
communicate some serious ideas and useful information.
** What are the prominent references to real death? [jp]
* The portrait of the monarch in the school room is changed
because of the death of King George. This 'Royal' connection
with death and succession was not emphasized in the North
American version of the film, however.
* Both girls faced death as small children, and apparently
conquered it. And they have the scars to remember their
battles.
* Pauline falls off her bike in the "Donkey Serenade" scene and
says: "I think ... I'm ... dying!" Juliet orders her:
"Don't!"
* The Port Levy revelation happened "on the day of the death of
Christ."
* Pauline declares, when she is threatened with separation from
Juliet after Dr Bennett's exam, that life without Deborah
would be unbearable, and that "the thought of death is not
fearsome."
* Pauline at last puts words to her growing black feelings in
"the letter from old Stew" scene: "Suddenly, a means of
ridding myself of this obstacle occurred to me. If she were
to die..."
* Finally, on the morning of the murder, Pauline wrote that she
was "writing a little of this up in the morning before the
death." Inbetween, she had referred to her mother's 'moider'
but she came back to the real, final word on June 22, 1954.
** Wasn't Paul a Christian Saint? [jp]
Oh, yes. Eventually. After a life of sin, and a revelation.
** Wasn't Jesus a carpenter? [jp]
And didn't Juliet ask Bert Rieper, after he commented he
liked to make things out of wood: "Oh. Are you a carpenter, Mr
Rieper?"
** What did Dr Hulme think of religion? [jp]
According to Juliet, "Daddy thinks the Bible's a load of old
bunkum." A quote from real life testimony, actually.
** Are there other Christian symbols and references? [jp,lfr]
* Well, there is the location, repeated several times more than
necessary throughout the film: Christchurch. And the shot of
the Cathedral in the Prologue. (The Cathedral also figured
in a fantasy scene revolving around Diello's Coronation,
unfortunately cut for the NAm version.)
* There are two scenes in the Riepers' home at Christmas, and
we are told specifically that the trip to Port Levy occurred
at Easter, 1953. The Hulmes' home was "Christmas Cottage."
* The girls spent a lot of time bathing together, an allusion
to baptism. This is the moment when sin is washed away, when
a Christian is brought into the family of other Christians,
and the moment a Christian first accept the Faith and
teaching of the Church. We see Pauline plunge into the
waters of Port Levy just before she sees Paradise for the
first time.
* The day of the murder sees two meals, the scene in the tea
shop, especially, being a reference to the Last Supper and
to Christ's betrayal by one of his disciples. Judas Iscariot
was even brought up by name in the trial, believe it or not.
* The food we see most prominently in the Riepers' home is
bread (buttered by Pauline on the morning of the murder) and
fishes (brought home by Bert). And Weetabix, but I don't
recall Weetabix on the menu when Jesus fed the multitudes...
* The Garden of Gethsemene was where Christ was denied by
Peter, and where he had his crisis of faith before his
death. And then there are all the Eden references, the
expulsion of Satan and, eventually, the original lovers with
their stain of original sin. There are gardens everywhere in
this film, including the murder scene.
* Juliet commented that Honora seemed to know what the girls
had planned for her, and she didn't seem to bear them any
grudge. Another reference to Christ and the events of the
night before the crucifiction. (And to real-life statements
by Juliet).
* The unicorn has often been used as a symbol of purity and of
Christ in literature.
* Jackson uses candles as religious artifacts and props in
several scenes.
* Juliet pointedly 'washes her hands,' like Pilate, throughout
the entire last scene before the death of Honora.
* The girls' concepts of Paradise and resurrection, despite
their protests to the contrary and a few pagan symbols
thrown in for good measure, are pretty much standard
Christian fare. As is their concept of Sainthood.
** Overall, Honora is gradually converted into... [jp]
Something of a Christ figure by Jackson. We get the feeling
that Honora's death comes to be seen, by Pauline and perhaps by
Juliet, to be the vehicle for Pauline's resurrection and rebirth
in Paradise--in her new life with Juliet.
Or, if not quite the Lamb of God, Honora is certainly
converted into a sacrificial lamb.
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3.1.16 Fantasies, images, dreams and symbols.
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** What did the two girls fantasize about, together? [jp]
Apart from the Fourth World and Borovnia, the girls had
other shared fantasies, too.
* They harbored fantasies of being successful writers.
* They spoke of their fantasy of sending their work to New York
to get published, because New York was where all the book
publishers were.
* They eventually settled on the fantasy that "was so obvious!"
The girls would run away together to Hollywood, to have
their books made into films and themselves made into film
stars.
Although the filmmakers were aware that one Heavenly Creature
never lost sight of these fantasies, apparently, and spent much
of her adult life chasing them down, the quote is an accurate one
and is not an 'in joke' at Anne Perry's expense. See sections
3.2.7 and 7.10.2. Pauline Parker has also, apparently, spent a
life close to books.
** Did Pauline have special fantasies of her own? [jp]
Yes, Pauline also had her own fantasies in "Heavenly
Creatures." According to clues offered in the narrative, these
may be very important insofar as understanding the reason for the
murder.
The most important of Pauline's private fantasies in
"Heavenly Creatures" was the fantasy that she and Juliet were
sisters. Or, put another way, to emphasize the most important
aspect of her fantasy, Pauline had the fantasy that she was Henry
Hulme's daughter and a member of the Hulme family. This fantasy
is shown explicitly in the second and third 'ship' visions, and
it is a central theme of the poem Pauline recites in the film's
voiceover (see below and 7.4). Or, that is one interpretation...
** What recurring images and symbols did Jackson use? [jp]
I have only made a start at cataloguing these things, and
their analysis is quite cursory. Hey--I'm a scientist, not a film
studies major...
The next 13 sections list the most blatant images and
symbols used in "Heavenly Creatures." Obviously, (more informed)
contributions here would be more than welcomed.
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3.1.16.1 Legs and feet and walking and running. [lfr,jp]
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** Where do legs and feet feature prominently in the film? [jp]
The film opens with people strolling peacefully through
Hagley Park and Christchurch, in the newsreel footage. The
Prologue concludes with the jarring 'flight' sequence, intercut
with the first 'ship' fantasy, both primarily shots of legs and
feet, and running. The second 'ship' scene also featured legs.
The opening scenes of CGHS and Pauline all feature feet and
legs, shoes, sandals, sockettes and stockings. Later, we see
synchronized leg-lifts in the playful "PhysEd" sequence.
Legs and feet, by then a familiar motif, are used in
agonizing, slow-motion counterpoint to their usual kinetic
appearance in the final "Humming Chorus" walk.
** Where does 'walking' appear in the film? [lfr]
Walking is the theme of the opening choral piece under the
titles, "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" and, of course, of the
closing piece under the credits, "You'll Never Walk Alone."
Jackson uses walking in a reverential fashion, as a reference to
religious or spiritual themes. And to the calm acceptance of
destiny or fate that seems to accompany acts of faith--like
showing up to the first day of school, or committing murder.
** How are images of running used by Jackson? [lfr,jp]
Jackson uses legs and feet and especially running to bring
across a kinetic urgency to the narrative, and to make concrete
the idea that the girls are in a constant state of attempted
escape from their lives, escape from their fates. They are also
impatient, running toward their new life, together. In the first
two ship scenes (see 3.1.16.13), Pauline is running in pursuit of
Juliet, chasing the dream of a happy new life with her. Pauline
bursts through the doors and runs to Juliet in the first
sanatorium visit.
In addition, adolescence is a time of great, rapid change
and exuberance, and the motion on the screen communicates the
restlessness and energy of this period in their lives. Jackson
uses running in this way in the "Princess of Ilam" scene, the
"Donkey Serenade" scenes at "The Great Caruso" (running past the
"Jamaica Run" poster) and the "ecstatic disrobing" sequence, the
"Biggles" sequence, the "play-acting at Ilam" scenes.
Running in apprehension or fear is used in the beginning of
the "Port Levy revelation" sequence, the "flight from 'It'"
sequence, and in the Prologue 'flight' sequence, of course.
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3.1.16.2 Hands.
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** What can hands do in "Heavenly Creatures"? [jp,lfr]
1) Hands can work, making things, or writing.
2) Diembodied hands can reach out to grasp something, actively
seeking the future or the unknown.
3) Hands can communicate and connect two people, join people
together when hands link or touch, or caress.
4) Hands can betray.
** Hands at work... [jp]
Jackson uses close-up shots of busy hands making things to
communicate the excitement of creation, the joy of the arts. We
see Pauline drawing, the girls painting and sculpting together
and individually, making sand castles. All these scenes are
happy, to begin with, but they drift a little into unsettled
waters with Juliet sculpting in the sanatorium and Pauline
painting severed heads (splotch!).
And we see tight shots of Pauline writing in pencil, in her
exercise books, and in pen and ink, in her diaries. These shots
are darker in both lighting and mood.
Christmas presents are despatched by disembodied hands.
Pauline's hands unwrap her diaries in close-up.
** Hands reaching out... [jp]
These scenes with close-up shots of reaching hands stand out:
* Juliet reaches out for Honora's hand, hesitantly, when she
"Meets the Riepers" and Honora is just as hesitant in her
returning gesture. The music warns us this moment should be
remembered, for later reference.
* Juliet pauses, tearful but resolved, takes a deep breath,
reaches out her hand and commands Pauline: "Come with me."
Port Levy dissolves and becomes the Fourth World.
* John-the-boarder reaches out for Pauline's door on the night
the two are caught in bed together. His fingers are
outstretched, his reach is cautious, maybe sly, maybe
knowing, but probably not. That one, small gesture, so
ordinary and quiet, precipitates his eviction from the
Riepers, Pauline's alienation from her father, friction with
her mother, and her painful and traumatic deflowering. "I
love you (flush)."
* Nicholas reaches out for the pink gemstone on the drawbridge
of Borovnia. John's reaching out had led to sweeping changes
in Pauline's life, none of them positive, and now his
Borovnian alter-ego is lured to his death by the pink stone.
Nicholas seals his fate by pausing, and reaching out...
* Juliet reaches out for the branch in the "Humming Chorus"
walk. Pauline had walked past, unseeing, Honora had walked
past, seeing but not needing the branch, but Juliet stumbles
and falters, just for the briefest of moments. And she
reaches out to the branch to steady herself. The sound of
her hand sliding over the dry bark breaks through the
silence, and then the moment is lost, along with the small
sound of her hand. We recall the hymn under the opening
titles: "If I falter, Lord, who cares?" We do, and we are
powerless to change the course of history.
* Honora reaches out for the pink gemstone, in a terrible
parody, a very-real echo of Nicholas reaching out in
Pauline's fantasy. Her fingers are outstretched, her reach
is slow, and hesitant. But she reaches out, and maybe helps
to seal her own fate, in Pauline's imagination. It is an
excruciating shot to watch.
* Honora reaches out for help to Juliet after the first blows
are struck, in another dark parody of an earlier scene.
Juliet reaches out in return, and takes the brick from
Pauline's hands, and strikes Honora. With both hands.
** Hands joining together... [jp]
* At Port Levy, the girls stand side-by-side and face Henry
Hulme, who is working, hold hands, backlit by the sun, and
find out the Hulmes are leaving on a trip to England.
* At Port Levy, in the Fourth World, in the garden by the
fountain, the girls stand side-by-side and look out over the
Port Hills and the inlet. They hold hands and we look out
over their shoulders at the island in the blue sea.
Everything was full of peace and bliss, just as Pauline
said. There was something eerie about this scene, too.
* Pauline sits on Juliet's bed and they hold hands during
Pauline's first visit to the sanatorium. Honora says the
word "letters" and Juliet pulls back her hand.
* Henry Hulme collects Juliet from the sanatorium with Pauline
in "The Ones That I Worship" scene. The girls sit together
in the back seat, and their hands steal together. Henry
adjusts the mirror and doesn't like what he sees.
* Hearing about "divorce" from Dr Hulme ("the noblest and most
wonderful person I have ever known of") the girls cling
desperately to each other's hands. Just before Pauline
leaves in the rain, their hands linger together when they
kiss farewell.
* Before their last night together, at sunset, at Ilam, the
girls stood side-by-side and hand-in-hand. We gaze over
their shoulders into the setting sun--they are back-lit--
and we see a pair of white unicorns grazing peacefully on
the lawn. We are reminded of the Fourth World at Port Levy.
** Hands betraying... [jp]
Juliet scrubs her hands like Lady Macbeth through the entire
last day. She begins at the Riepers' house and doesn't stop until
after the first blow was struck in Victoria Park.
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3.1.16.3 Bricks and shrines.
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** Where do bricks appear? [jp,lfr]
We first see bricks in the shrine at Ilam: it is made of
bricks, and panes of glass, and candles. A very auspicious and
deeply ironic reference by Jackson to later appearances of bricks
in the film... or is it? This is another incidence of life being
more ironic and cruel than art could pretend to be. Trial
testimony stated that piles of bricks were scattered in the
gardens of Ilam, and that the shrine constructed by the real
Juliet and the real Pauline was made of bricks.
We next see bricks in a pile by the side of the garage,
while the two girls stand in the twilight in front of a bonfire.
It is the beginning of their last night together at Ilam.
On the morning of the murder, Juliet collects a half-brick
from that pile by the garage.
Honora is murdered with the half-brick in Pauline's stocking
and the image of the brick has come full circle--from the
mystical to the grotesquely prosaic.
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3.1.16.4 Colours.
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** How does Jackson use colours? [jp]
Pretty crudely, actually, but in a way that seems
appropriately adolescent, somehow, and straightforward.
Thematically, colours are used in very conventional ways in
"Heavenly Creatures."
** What colours are used thematically in the film? [jp]
* Yellow(gold): Daffoldils bloom gay and golden in the
Prologue. The Princess of Ilam first appears like a vision
in a flowing, golden dress. Pauline uses bright yellow for
Juliet's hair in her pictures of her, and for the stars
around her head and for their stars in Hollywood. On "The
Loveliest Night of the Year" Juliet appears in a gold lamé
gown, and sweeps Pauline off to Borovnia. Gold is for
desire. Juliet's hair is golden.
* White: "Mummy" is dressed all in white in an elegant white
skirt, white jacket, white hat with white veil, white pearls
and white gloves in the 'ship' scenes. The first time we see
Hilda Hulme at Ilam she is dressed in the same outfit, all
in white. Doris Day is in white on Steve's record and, damn!
her teeth are white. The girls wear blinding white shirts in
their school uniforms and white underthings in "The Donkey
Serenade"--that was their first kiss, remember? Their
religious experiences are accompanied by blinding flashes of
white light, and there is that wonderful shot of "the way
through the (white, white, white) clouds" on the drive home
from Port Levy. The unicorns are pure, snow white. The
bathroom in Ilam is pure white--white tiles, white paint,
white tub. Juliet's room is decorated in white. The sun
breaks through, blinding white, in the last, agonizing
"Humming Chorus" walk, and flashes of white obscure the view
from time to time. White is for purity, for innocence, for
the unattainable that must be sought, for the ideal, for
deserving goals, for wonderful visions, for desperate faith.
For 'good'?--Not necessarily.
* Black: Black is for balance, for sobriety, and for mourning.
The Mistresses at school wear black gowns. Rev Norris wears
black. Hilda Hulme is in black at Juliet's homecoming from
the sanatorium, a reference to the real Hilda Hulme's trial
testimony where she said, in essence, that her daughter's
love for her had died while she had been abroad. Pauline is
dressed all in black sitting at her desk in Digby's, and we
pull back to see a room full of tired, hopeless women, not
all of them young, all dressed in basic black. At the final
bonfire where the girls burn the trappings of their
innocence and their old lives and their ties to the real
world they are both dressed in black. Pauline is wearing
black as she "helps Mother vigorously" the morning after her
return home from Ilam. Juliet is wearing black on the Ilam
balcony in Pauline's vision, singing the mournful and
beautiful "Sono Andate" the day before the murder. Pauline
wears a black sweater on the day of the murder. Pauline is
dressed in black from head to toe in the final 'ship' vision
in that terrible, long, screaming fade-to-black. Black is
for 'evil'? That is for the viewer to decide. Pauline's hair
is black.
* Red: Red is for danger. The front doors of CGHS are fire-
engine red. Maybe that was coincidence. Pauline's bedroom
door was red. Pauline clutched Mario Lanza's record "The
Student Prince," with its bright red jacket, to her heart.
Diello was born a red cushion. Juliet coughed up spatters of
bright red blood. And Pauline only needs red paint for her
pictures at school (splotch!--we get a whole screen of red).
Pauline's dress had red roses on it in her first Borovnian
vision, the one she had when she was in bed with Nicholas.
Juliet was knitting for Pauline in the sanatorium--bright
red: "I love the colour!" Gina's velvet gown on "The
Loveliest Night of The Year" was deep, luxurious, wine-red.
"The Student Prince" is burned at the final bonfire.
Juliet's lips are bright, blood red when she she sings in
Pauline's vision. The bus that takes the girls and Honora to
their terrible fate is red. And blood, real blood, is
startling and deep in its redness.
* Green: Green is used for apprehension and mystery. It isn't
that far removed from blue, though, is it? Nicholas sneaks
into Pauline's room and then is caught, by green moonlight.
When Pauline is separated from Juliet she lies on her bed
under blue-green light and declares "the thought of death is
not fearsome." The Riepers' bathroom is painted green and we
see Pauline there just before we hear how she "loathes
Mother." Juliet was sneaking around in Ilam by green
moonlight just before "the balloon has gone up."
* Blue: Jackson uses pallid, cold blue lighting for death
[lfr]. When the girls enact how the Saints would make love,
they do so under blue light, and green light. The final
bathtub scene is shot in a cold blue light and the girls
look like corpses.
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3.1.16.5 Uniforms.
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** Anything unusual in Jackson's use of uniforms? [jp]
No. School uniforms have been discussed previously (see
3.1.5.5) in terms of the ways they are used in real life by real
students.
Jackson also used uniforms as a way of showing the
importance of school in the girls' lives--most scenes in the
first half of the film have the girls in their school uniforms
even though they are hardly shown in school.
Uniforms are used as a symbol of social pressures to
conform, yet the girls are shown slipping out of the confining
bounds of society, dressed in uniform but not bound by
convention.
Pauline's school uniform gradually becomes more confining
and oppressive, however, and her appearance more sloppy and
rebellious.
And the rigid conformity shown by the 'uniforms' in Digby's
is a reminder to Pauline and to us that the real world doesn't
give up the fight easily.
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3.1.16.6 Bridges.
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** Where do bridges appear and how are they used? [jp]
Bridges are literally the physical mechanisms used to join
one place to another across an obstacle or a divide. Jackson used
bridges in a pretty conventional, literal way in "Heavenly
Creatures."
Pauline's first glimpse of "The Princess of Ilam" is of
Juliet standing at the crest of a bridge between reality and
fantasy in the fountains and gardens of Ilam. What a beautiful
vision--Pauline didn't hesitate for a moment: she left reality
far behind her.
Pauline had to cross a drawbridge in her vision of Borovnia
to get inside the kingdom and be with her fantasy family. She
didn't hesitate for a moment. She turned her back on reality
without a second thought.
Nicholas is lured to his death by a small pink stone on the
same drawbridge. He dies by Diello's hand, and the pink stone is
flung, and lands in the real world, rolling across the planking
of a real bridge to the feet of Juliet and Pauline. The
drawbridge worked both ways--fantasy was made concrete and real.
Honora was killed in Victoria Park just past a small, rather
pathetic little wooden bridge. But she crossed it. Pauline hoped
against hope that this bridge would let her escape reality. She
used her magic stone.
** Who or what was the obstacle? [jp]
Honora, identified as such in Pauline's diary voiceover.
Juliet says: "Only the best people fight against all obstacles in
pursuit of happiness." Another direct quote from real life.
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3.1.16.7 Telephones.
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** How does Jackson use telephones? [jp]
Real life testimony mentioned the enormous importance of
telephones to Pauline and Juliet. Jackson and Walsh took the cue,
but they decided to use phones in a specific way.
In "Heavenly Creatures" telephones are used to emphasize and
foreshadow separation, not as symbols of communication or as a
way of making a connection. Phones are a poor second-best
compared to being together, resorted to in times of necessity.
They never brought good news or laughter or joy in the film. A
few points stand out:
Pauline hears of Juliet's TB over the phone. The camera
pulls back as Pauline has "a terrible job not to cry" and shows
us she is quite alone.
Then there is that remarkable, heart-wrenching scene that
seems to affect so many viewers, the one with the two girls
clinging to their phones as if to each other, sobbing and vowing
"we won't be separated." The mothers are both standing by to pry
their daughters away...
Finally, though we don't see it, we hear that the final
details of the murder are decided and crystallize over the phone.
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3.1.16.8 Freud.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Any genuine Freudian slips? [jp]
Didn't see any inadvertent revelations of unconscious
thought or desires. Well, maybe Henry Hulme came close. Let's all
think about that one for this evening's essay question.
** OK, what about quasi-Freudian sexual symbolism? [jp,lfr]
Jackson wasn't very subtle here, but he was dealing with
adolescent fantasies so there was no reason he should have been.
He used the classics, tongue planted firmly in cheek..uh, so to
speak:
* Phallic references, symbols and images: Knives, swords and guns
and weapons in general are classic phallic symbols. Stabbing,
piercing and hacking especially, and shooting, are classic
metaphors for the male contribution to heterosexual intercourse.
Some of my favourite references in the film:
- St George is piercing the dragon with his lance in Juliet's
drawing.
- Pauline's unicorns sport their phalluses on their rearing
heads in her drawings and sculptures and Borovnian
fantasies.
- The Borovnian kingdom has enough towers and flagpoles
to...what is the appropriate metaphor? Check out the scene
declaring everyone is "M-A-D:" a chopping, an unfurling, a
huge tower, ecstatic delight. Oh, and fireworks bursting.
- When we see the short clip of "The Third Man" we see Harry
Lime shoot a man before he takes time out to make love to
the girls.
- Diello is a walking, talking Freudian cliché. He cuts off
Rev Norris' head with a broadaxe. He thrusts his sword into
the groin of a hapless Borovnian then splits him in two "for
you, my lady." Just when Dr Bennett suggests Pauline see
more "boys" Diello pierces his belly with an erect sword,
commenting "Bloody fool." And before he spirits Gina away to
Borovnia--before he 'rapes' her--Diello warms up with a
bloodbath of hacked and severed limbs and Gina is ecstatic.
* References to penetration and 'birth canals' and conception and
birth: Jackson doesn't stint on the flip side of the Freudian
coin, either. The classics are tunnels, doorways, windows,
architectural openings of many types, especially when breached,
confined passages etc. Once again, Borovnia is full of such
features; Gina actually has to stoop to get through the entrance
into Borovnia, but she emerges happy. Even the Borovnians join
hands and crowd around so Gina has to crouch and scoot through
them. We see Pauline sneaking through the window on the night she
is deflowered by John/Nicholas. And, on a more serious note, the
girls crash through foliage in many scenes, but they never seem
to be able to emerge into the open. Diello's birth doesn't count
because it was literal.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.16.9 Horses and unicorns.
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** Why were horses important in the film? [jp]
Jackson and Walsh took their cue from real life. In real
life, horses figured very prominently in the case. Pauline had
had riding lessons for years. Juliet did, indeed, have a horse,
and she did sell it to Mr Perry for cash. Pauline bought a horse,
secretly, and hid that fact from her family. There were horse
paddocks adjacent to Ilam. The girls apparently snuck out for
midnight rides by moonlight on several occasions, and they
invited others to join them, according to Glamuzina and Laurie.
The grazing fees for Pauline's horse became an issue in the
Rieper home, when they were discovered.
In real life, Pauline's writings figured horses very
prominently as beings with personalities and passions. They were
frequently very violent, and were often the agents of revenge or
murder. In her real-life stories, Pauline's version of Diello,
for example, was a horse named 'Vendetta.' (see 7.4.1).
** Where are real horses mentioned explicitly in the film? [jp]
Late in the film we learn that Juliet had a horse, though it
is not shown. She sold it to Bill Perry to raise money for the
planned escape to Hollywood.
** Where do horses appear in "Heavenly Creatures?" [jp,aa]
In short, EVERYWHERE. There are horses, somewhere, in just
about every set and in most scenes. There are also unicorns. So,
again, something factual, namely Pauline's fascination with
horses, is communicated very subtly by the filmmakers, rather
than as an explicit statement. [aa]
* Pauline drew three horses in her French notebook (see 3.1.10).
The largest one was rearing on its hind legs, a reference to
real-life fiction of Pauline Parker (see 7.4.1), and the
other two had their their long manes flying in the wind. The
image of the rearing horse appears elsewhere, in Borovnia,
as a unicorn.
* Juliet made the plasticine figures of two horses facing in
opposition, with flying manes, displayed on the Ilam mantle.
Pauline noticed them immediately.
* There's also a horse motif at the Rieper home, as well--I've
spotted three expressions of it [aa]:
- There's a large painting on the wall in the sitting
room with a white horse.
- There's a bronze horse figure on an end table that
appears to be a part of a lamp. We see it over Honora's
shoulder in the chat with Dr Hulme scene.
- And there's a small gold statuette of a rearing horse
on the mantlepiece (it took a few viewings before I
spotted that one!).
* Pauline and Juliet are making models of horses in the first
"Donkey Serenade" model-making scene. Of course, a donkey is
a kind of a horse, too. And, in real life, Pauline wrote a
book called "The Donkey's Serenade."
* At Port Levy, when "Charles clutched his wounded shoulder," we
hear a magnificent steed snorting and panting in the
soundtrack. Just before the door gets flung open, there is
the shadow of a horse and rider that plays across it.
Excellent little touch by the crew doing the 'miniatures.'
* Juliet has plasticine figures of horses in her bedroom, on the
night table. We see them in several scenes, most prominently
in the birth of Diello and the enacting the Saints making
love scenes. Juliet takes them, or makes others, for her
room in the sanatorium.
* Pauline has several plasticine figures of horses in both her
bedrooms. In the outside bedroom, there are horses on the
windowsill and horses in bookends. The bookends reappear
upstairs, when Pauline moves inside.
* Pauline has several drawings and paintings of horses on her
bedroom walls. They move around as time goes by, and she
carries them upstairs to the inside bedroom when she is
moved. There are horse heads, rearing horses, and a pair of
horses facing in opposite directions, just like the models
on the Ilam mantle.
** What would Freud have to say about all those horses? [jp]
Not that hard to figure out, of course. Horses are usually
taken to be a sublimation of sexuality, untamed erotic passions
etc and to be literal expressions of libido barely held in check
and they are often used that way in literature.
** What's a unicorn and how is it related to a horse? [jp]
A unicorn is a mythical beast. There is an excellent account
of their history and meaning in myth in the FAQ for Ridley
Scott's "Legend." Themes usually associated with unicorns are
purity, innocence, conditional love, and they are often used as
representations of Christ in later literature.
** Where do unicorns appear in "Heavenly Creatures?" [jp]
The girls first see unicorns grazing peacefully in the
Fourth World, during their first vision of the Fourth World at
Port Levy.
There is a statue of a rearing unicorn in the centre of the
Borovnia courtyard. Another reference to Pauline's real-life
fiction.
After this, the unicorns reappear in a simple but very
unsettling shot of the girls outside Ilam at sunset on their last
evening together. The two girls are shown standing hand in hand
on the lawn, facing Ilam, and the pair of unicorns is grazing
peacefully on the lawn by the house.
By placing the unicorns in an otherwise 'real' scene,
vaguely reminiscent of Grant Wood's "American Gothic" for some
reason, Jackson used them to communicate very effectively the
complete melding of reality and fantasy that had taken place for
Pauline and Juliet by the day of the murder.
** Are there any other connections with mythical horses? [jp]
Christchurch is located in New Zealand on Pegasus Bay.
Pegasus, of course, was the winged horse of Greek legend.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.16.10 Birds and butterflies.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Where do we see butterflies? [jp]
We see giant butterflies in the first vision of the Fourth
World at port Levy. Why? Probably because they could be done on
the computer system Jackson had available. They were a nice image
of pretty, innocent, fantastic flying beasts but that's all I
would read into them.
** What is the significance of birds? [jp]
Birds, on the other hand, are of much greater significance
in the film. There are three different types of references to
birds in the film:
* First, birds are omnipresent in the soundtrack, and their
singing and calling are used very, very effectively in
several scenes, especially the murder scene. After the
"Humming Chorus" ends, there is a pause as the sound comes
back to 'live' sound. Then there is a single, hesitant bird
that calls out. And then Pauline strikes her first blow.
* Second, birds are referred to in the Rieper house. There is a
bird cage on the kitchen table, and Bert says he is going to
build a bird house in the back. Both are oblique references
to Pauline's life with her family--she already lived in a
cage in the back, obviously built by her father, and her
life was stifling and confining in that house.
* Third, we actually see no birds at all in the film. Where are
they all? They are living free.
Birds are used as metaphors for Pauline and Juliet and glorious,
natural freedom.
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3.1.16.11 Borovnia, sex and violence.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Why are Borovnia and sex and violence so interconnected? [jp]
'Hormones.' Readers who are still adolescents will have no
problem seeing the connection between wild romantic fantasy,
intense sexual passion, and dangerous violent excitement. The
rest of us may have to cast our minds back a few years, but I am
sure it will all come back. The important thing to remember is
that, for most of us (and perhaps for the real Pauline and
Juliet, too), such things remain fantasies--'harmless' dreams and
mental exercises that are part of growing up and being human.
Besides, most of what was shown in Borovnia was scripted by
the real Pauline Parker and the real Juliet Hulme, anyway.
** Was all that violent fantasy all that unusual? [jp,sb,lfr]
No. The Bronte sisters had similar fantasies and wrote/
drew/ acted similar literary exercises when they were growing up.
For many years, apparently.
So too, it would seem, did the Crumb family. See Terry
Zwigoff's 1995 film "Crumb" about the cartoonist/graphic artist
Robert Crumb and his quite ... extraordinary ... family.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.16.12 Water and Bathing.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** How does Jackson use water in the film? [jp,lfr]
Water is one of those wonderful, versatile and potent
symbols much loved by writers and, especially, by filmmakers.
Jackson uses water in the following ways:
* Pastorally, romantically. "The Princess of Ilam" is first
glimpsed over an idyllic stream, through a fountain. Classic
Romantic stuff (see section 6). 'It' was thrown into the
dark, swirling waters by the Ilam shrine. There were
fountains and pools in the girls' vision of the Fourth
World. Even Port Levy was blue and tranquil in the distance.
* Playfully. Jumping off the dock at Port Levy and playing by
the seaside were both there just for fun ... weren't they?
* Spiritually, mystically. The Ilam bathtub scenes were
mostly spiritual and religious in tone.
* Domestically, oppressively. We see dishes being washed several
times, including the day of the murder. We see clothes being
washed in several key scenes. None of these are happy, jolly
scenes--water is a shackle, an instrument of oppression in
these scenes. When Pauline bathes at home she is seeking
privacy and peace, but she doesn't find any.
* Dramatically. 'It' is swept over a small waterfall in the
night... he'll be back. Pauline bikes through a terrible
downpour to get to Ilam, to hear about 'divorce' (see
7.4.3). Her hair is soaked, hanging down over her face, just
the way it was when we found out how much she "loathed
Mother." And then there is all that mud in the Prologue and
the "Humming Chorus" walk.
** Why did Jackson show the two girls bathing together? [jp]
Having Pauline and Juliet bathe together was scripted by
real events. Pauline Parker made frequent reference in her
diaries to bathing with Juliet, so Walsh and Jackson were forced
to deal with this issue. They chose to take Pauline's cue and
turn it into some of the most interesting and significant scenes
in the film.
** What was the dramatic progression in the Ilam bathtub scenes?
[jp]
The first bathtub scene was in natural light. We see that
all is pristine, white, simple--porcelain, tile, paint. Pauline
is on the 'sinister' side, Juliet facing on the right. There is
no motion. The voiceover is "The Ones That I Worship". There is a
close-up of Pauline's brown eyes, and of Juliet's blue-grey eyes.
The second scene is by flickering candle light, and tones
are orange and red. The sound is 'live' and immediate and harsh,
the way sound is when it reflects from water. Pauline has just
withdrawn from school and enrolled at Digby's. She is upset: "I
think I'm going crazy." Juliet is in command and comfortable and
still on the right side. "No you're not, Gina. It's everyone else
who's bonkers!" The escape to Hollywood is hatched. With Henry
Hulme, we hear the girls taking "photographs."
The third bathtub scene is by moonlight, blue and cold
through the windows. The girls look like corpses. Only their
heads are visible above the still, milky water. It is almost
silent, but the sound is again live and harsh; we hear a tap
dripping slowly, loudly. This time, Juliet is in tears and
Pauline is dark, dangerous and bitter. "We don't want to go to
too much trouble." All Juliet can muster is a weak and small
"yes."
** So what are the spiritual/mystic references? [jp]
The first Ilam bath scene is a straightforward reference to
Christian baptism and rebirth and communion. Juliet had just
returned from the sanatorium. The occasion was joyful but solemn,
a beginning, when all things were new and untainted and
everything was still possible. It was a reaffirmation, a
statement of commitment, one to the other.
The second scene took place under troubled circumstances, a
time when faith was being challenged and the future looked
uncertain. The girls responded by grasping a little desperately
at the pagan trappings of older, more primitive sects of the
Church, and at empty mysticism because their faith wasn't working
for them. The scene is reminiscent of the scene at the Ilam
shrine. It's not that the girls were making a pact with any deity
or devil, though they may have wanted to--we see that there just
weren't any around to listen to their prayers. They were alone.
The final bathtub scene is even more primitive--the more
desperate their straits, the farther back the girls must grasp in
human spirituality for help. It is pre-Christian, a reference to
Greco-Roman myths of dark, Stygian waters and death, a reference
to stories and beliefs even older than that, where water is
linked with life, and punishment and death. Deals might be made
in such waters but there is often treachery, when dealing with
old, minor gods and there is always a terrible price to pay.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.16.13 The ship.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** What is the significance of the ship? [sb,mf]
Although it is not stated explicitly in the film, Juliet's
real-life trip to South Africa with her father was to have been a
sea voyage. The filmmakers obviously used this fact as their
inspiration for the 'ship' scenes.
Also, in real life, but after the events portrayed in the
film, Dr Hulme sailed for England via Capetown and Marseilles
with Jonathon on the vessel "Himalaya" [nice tie-in with Sir
Edmund Hillary...]. Except, of course, the two sailed alone. And
since real life can be more bitter and ironic than fiction, it
turns out that Henry Hulme left New Zealand, and his daughter,
long before his daughter's trial for murder (see 7.3).
Also, in real life, Juliet's mother and Walter Perry left
New Zealand after the trial in a much-publicized ship voyage (see
7.3).
Also, in real life, Honora Parker came to New Zealand by
ship, and her voyage was said to have made a big impression on
her. It figures prominently in a key scene in "Daughters of
Heaven" (see 6.1).
So ships and sea voyages figured prominently in the real-
life events and it was almost inevitable that the filmmakers
should use this image at some point in the film.
In the film, the ship was meant to represent leaving New
Zealand and its dreary, painful life for a happy new life abroad.
The ship is shown in the excited, bittersweet moments of
departure from the quay, when it is traditional to make noise and
laugh and cry and throw streamers.
** When do the 'ship' scenes appear in the film? [lfr]
There are three 'ship' scenes in the film. The first appears
near the beginning of the film and the third near the end of the
film. These two are paired and interwoven with scenes of the
murder of Honora Rieper and its immediate aftermath, though a
full appreciation of their relationship to these scenes can only
be obtained after the end of the film. The second ship scene is
interwoven with Juliet's Aria sung from the balcony of Ilam, a
more subtle reference to the murder--the aria signals the moment
when Juliet agrees to help Pauline murder her mother.
Perhaps for emphasis, the three 'ship' scenes occur in a
logical progression, so that the second logically follows the
first, and the third logically follows the second, but they are
out of 'wraparound' chronological order. All other events in the
film can be reconstructed in their proper chronological order by
wrapping the preface of the film around to the film's conclusion.
** Were the 'ship' scenes imagined by anyone in particular? [jp]
Yes, these scenes were 'imagined' by Pauline, or at least
they are images shown from the perspective of Pauline's life. But
this is not obvious until the end of the film, and can only be
deduced with confidence in hindsight. However, since the film
tends to linger in the minds and emotions of the viewer (!) this
point is not an obscure one.
** Who appeared in all the 'ship' scenes? [jp]
Dr Henry Hulme, Hilda Hulme, Juliet Hulme and Pauline Rieper
appeared in all the 'ship' scenes as themselves. There were also
other, nameless passengers shown, and there were also nameless
people shown seeing the ship off from the quayside. Henry and
Hilda Hulme are unknown in the first scene, identified in the
second scene, and active in the third.
** Who was significantly absent from the 'ship' scenes? [jp]
The significance of a character's presence or absence from
the ship can only be appreciated after the film is over.
However, significantly absent from the ship scenes were:
Herbert Rieper, Honora Rieper, Wendy Rieper, Nana Parker,
Jonathon Hulme and Bill Perry.
** What made the 'ship' scenes technically different? [jp,lfr]
The 'ship' visions in "Heavenly Creatures" are haunting,
eerie and deeply unsettling, despite being devoid of violence or
shocking surprises. Technically, they stand apart from all other
shots and scenes in the film.
They are shot in monochrome and sepia tones, like old
photographs, whereas all other shots in the film are in vibrant,
saturated full color.
The action occurs in various slow-motion speeds. Continuity
is not strictly followed, so there is some overlap of shots and
missing segments and the frame of reference moves
discontinuously. And sound is used brilliantly.
** How are sound and dialog used in the three 'ship' scenes. [jp]
There is an ominous wind sound in the first ship scene which
builds as the scene progresses until it washes out the end of the
scene. Is used to echo the emotion of the hysterical scene with
which it's paired. The only other sound is from the two girls,
laughing as they run. Both call out "Mummy!," Juliet first.
The second ship scene is accompanied by Juliet's a capella
aria. Both girls again call out "Mummy!" We hear the 'smack' of
their happy kiss.
The final ship scene has only voices and selected foreground
sounds. The tone is muffled and there is a noticeable reverb. The
scene is paired with the murder and its extraordinary soundtrack.
** Why were the 'ship' scenes made to be different? [jp,lfr]
"Heavenly Creatures" is chock full of fantasy and imagined
scenes and characters, yet the 'ship' scenes are set apart
stylistically even from the other fantasy scenes.
There are probably three reasons for this. First, for
artistic effect, because the first and third form symmetric
'bookends' near the start and finish of "Heavenly Creatures."
Second, for emphasis. The director may be drawing attention to
them to say, in effect, be sure to notice these scenes because
they are particularly important to the film. And third, because
they are qualitatively different from the wild fantasies in the
film. The 'ship' scenes don't involve fantastic paradises or
mythical beasts or imaginary characters, but the real people
shown in the film.
** Were the 'ship' scenes dreams? [jp,lfr]
There was no explanation offered as to what was being shown-
-was it a memory, a flashback, a flash-forward, a premonition, a
dream, a treasured fantasy, an artistic interpretation of a
feeling? There was no information given as to how the scene
compared to the 'reality' within the film, and the viewer was
given no guidance about how to interpret the scene or how to
react to it.
The style is dream-like, but they are not likely to be
simple daydreams. Sepia toning is often used to associate a scene
with photography and age or, in other words, with a memory. This
doesn't strictly follow in this case, either.
The subject of the 'ship' scenes is very much that of a
familiar, long-nurtured wish or dream of Pauline's. The final
perversion of the wish is like the kind of bitter regrets Pauline
would have had in the days, weeks, months and years after the
murder. Perhaps we are witnessing the shattering of her precious
dream at the moment it is broken, told as a forward memory.
So, it appears as if the 'ship' scenes defy simple
categorization, although their meaning is quite readily grasped
by the viewer. They are clever, key artistic devices used by
Jackson to convey very important information and to effect
powerful emotional responses in the viewer. But they are hard to
label--just like the girls' relationship.
** What happens in the 'ship' scenes? What is learned? [jp,lfr]
The first 'ship' scene poses a mystery to the viewer. In the
first 'ship' scene, Pauline and Juliet both run and laugh
happily, but toward the anonymous turned backs of a man and a
woman who can't be identified. The relationship between the
characters is a confusing one. Both girls cry out "Mummy!" yet
the woman at the stern of the ship never turns around. And, since
the scene is interwoven with the aftermath of the killing, in
which Pauline says "It's Mummy! She terribly hurt." the viewer
might even get the impression that the woman at the stern is
injured or killed, and the girls are laughing at the thought of
this violence. This confusing juxtaposition of contrasting
scenes, with their parallel actions and words, is deeply
unsettling and mysterious.
The second ship scene takes place during Juliet's aria and
provides a happy, surprise completion to the first ship scene,
ironic and unsettling in the context of the balcony scene with
which it is paired. The mystery couple at the stern turn around,
just as the girls arrive, and it is excessively-effusive Henry
and Hilda Hulme. Of course the girls calling "Mummy" now has a
completely different meaning from what we had feared during the
first ship scene. All four embrace, and smile and kiss, and the
happy scene is sealed by Juliet and Pauline hugging and then,
sealed with a 'smack' on the soundtrack, the two kiss in front of
the approving Henry and Hilda.
The second ship scene confirms that the events shown are
Pauline's fantasies and thoughts. In this scene Pauline has
linked the acquisition of her goal--the perfect family, complete
acceptance of her being with Juliet in whatever manner (don't
forget that kiss)--with the decision to murder Honora, conveyed
by Juliet's aria. There is just enough repetition and overlap in
this scene to give the impression it was replayed over and over
by Pauline, a cherished 'dream.'
There is no room in Pauline's dream for any of the
unpleasantness in her life--her family, for example, is
completely absent; they are not even shown waving goodbye--and
she also callously discards Juliet's brother from the scene.
Juliet's parents are shown to be a loving, devoted couple, so
there is no place for Bill Perry, either. Or history, or reality.
And Pauline and Juliet are not shown to be adult lovers
setting off alone, together into the world, free of the
interfering adults in their lives, but they are shown to be much
more like close and loving sisters and part of a family. Of
course, there is that kiss, to make things ambiguous...
These are Jackson's most explicit statements in "Heavenly
Creatures" about Pauline, about what may have motivated her to
plan the murder of her mother and about her relationship with
Juliet. He is stating that Pauline had been looking for an escape
from her dreary life and she was very much attracted to the
idealized lifestyle represented by the Hulmes--both their
material wealth, and also the intellectually stimulating and
encouraging environment their house provided. She was single-
minded in her devotion to this ideal and was quite prepared to be
ruthless to achieve her dream--she was certainly willing to
jettison all of her family and anyone else who interfered,
happily, and without a second thought. And, Jackson is saying
quite clearly, with just a slight amount of residual ambiguity,
that the girls were not independent lovers in Pauline's eyes, but
sisters pure and simple, if unusually close.
The dream died for Pauline in the third 'ship' scene. First
Juliet, distraut on the deck of the ship, cried out "Gina,
hurry!" a terrible line when connected with the brutal murder
occurring in counterpoint to it. For several more cuts to the
ship, the girls were speechless, making whimpering, crying noises
and reaching out for each other. Finally, Pauline screamed out in
pain and Juliet cried out, softly, "I'm sorry." Behind her, on
the ship, there was still the image of the nuclear family, but it
was shown to be plastic and oblivious, and fragmenting, leaving
Pauline to her fate, in the emotionally devastating final moments
of the film. Pauline cried out "Julie," her 'sisterly' name for
Juliet, not "Deborah," her Borovnian fantasy name, "I'm coming.
Don't go!" Others, laughing and waving silently on the quayside,
moved to follow the departing ship, leaving Pauline behind.
Juliet cried out again, softly, "I'm so sorry!" over and over,
straining to reach out to her, and Pauline was reduced to
screaming and crying "No!" during that agonizing fade-to-black.
The act Pauline thought would provide her with the
realization of her fantasy--the murder of Honora--is causing its
exact opposite. Pauline was left alone in the world: Juliet's
greatest fear, come true for Pauline. There were no Riepers
brought back to comfort the despairing Pauline on the quayside,
for she had rejected them completely. This wrenching, sad image
is consistent with Jackson's statements from the first two 'ship'
scenes. And they may have something else to say about guilt and
blame (see 3.1.18).
[lfr] An early draft script (Heavenly Creatures, Draft #5,
February 7, 1993, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA.) has Pauline
screaming "No!" and calling out to Juliet, hand outstretched--and
a pull back revealing the pier empty except for the body of
Honora at her feet. I'm delighted they didn't use that--I don't
believe it would have worked as effectively as the filmed ending.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.16.14 The pink gemstone.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Was the pink gemstone real or a fantasy? [jp]
It was both a fantasy image seen in Borovnian visions, and
it was a real object.
** Where did the pink gemstone first appear? [jp]
The pink gemstone was in Diello's ring. Diello removed it
during a vision of Borovnia (it isn't clear whose vision) and
threw it down on the drawbridge of Borovnia. Nicholas, who had
recently assaulted Gina in Borovnia, saw the ring and bent down
to pick it up after saying "Oooh, pretty!" Diello, lurking in the
shadows, released the castle gates and crushed Nicholas to death;
Diello was avenging all wrongs done to Gina. Nicholas dropped the
ring at the moment of his death and the pink stone was dislodged.
It rolled over the drawbridge away from Borovnia ... and into the
real world.
** Where did the pink gemstone appear in the real world? [jp]
Juliet bent down and picked up the pink stone. It was at her
feet, on a wooden bridge, in the real world. She had just been
released from the sanatorium.
Later, the pink stone was sitting on Juliet's bedside table
when the two girls made love on "The Loveliest Night of the
Year."
Finally, the pink stone was taken by Juliet along to the
murder of Honora. Juliet kept it in her coat pocket.
** What role did the pink gemstone play in the murder? [jp]
Juliet threw down the pink gemstone on the path in Victoria
Park. Honora bent to examine the gemstone, and Pauline took the
opportunity to murder her. Honora did not die as neatly or as
quickly as Nicholas, however.
** What was the meaning of the pink gemstone? [jp]
The murder of Honora was staged as a parallel to the
imaginary murder of Nicholas, seen previously. So, through the
pink gemstone, Juliet was acting as Pauline's avenger, as Diello
had been Gina's avenger.
Also, significantly, the gemstone was a real object to be
seen and touched. It was a real, physical link between the Fourth
World and the real world; it leant legitimacy to the Fourth
World, and it transformed the Fourth World from fantasy into
something that was real. In the film, we first see the pink stone
in the Fourth World, and then there it is in the real world. To
the girls, the pink gemstone was viewed almost as a matter-of-
fact sign that the Fourth World and the real world were becoming
connected. To the audience, it is a sign that the girls were
having a hard time telling the difference between fantasy and
reality.
** Where did the idea for the pink gemstone come from? [jp,sb,mk]
At first sight, the pink gemstone seems such an obviously-
theatrical and slightly crude touch on the part of the
filmmakers. But realistically adolescent, in a way. The gemstone
was something beautiful and valuable, symbolic of everything
Pauline wanted in her new, free life. And it lured Honora to her
death in such an obvious, ironic way.
However, the pink gemstone, and the strategy of dropping it
to distract Honora--in fact, the exact choreography of the
murder--were all taken directly from Juliet Hulme's testimony
read out in court (see 7.5.7 and below). She seemed obsessed by
the stone, in fact. And, incredibly, Juliet Hulme picked up the
stone and carried it off with her after the murder. Walter Perry
retrieved the pink stone from Juliet Hulme's coat pocket later
that day, and the small pink stone was turned over to police and
entered into evidence at the trial.
Truth really is, sometimes, more unbelievable than fiction.
*SNIP HERE*******************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
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End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 04/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
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John D. Porter
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"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 05/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
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********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
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3.1.17 The murder.
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** What 'facts' are shown about planning the murder? [jp]
* Pauline conceived of the murder and she chronicled
everything in her diary.
* Initially, Pauline expressed a wish or desire that her
mother should die, because she saw her mother as an
'obstacle,' but she did not state anything beyond that.
* Pauline did not tell Juliet of her desire to murder Honora
for some time, until a few days before the murder.
* The murder was planned by both girls during their final
visit together at Ilam. Juliet was portrayed as being
completely distraut, tearful at the prospect of separation
and almost reluctant. Certainly not the instigator. By that
time Pauline was calculating, harsh, cynical and possibly
not well-grounded in reality. We are shown several scenes
suggesting that Pauline's perceptions of the world were
quite distorted. What we see does not match her words.
* The method and weapon used were planned ahead of time, in
detail, in the day or two before the murder and the murder
was eventually carried out very much as planned.
** What 'facts' are shown about the preparation for the murder?
[jp]
* Juliet chose a half-brick for the murder weapon from a pile
of bricks near the Ilam garage, wrapped it in a newspaper
and brought it to the Riepers' house inside her purse.
* In her bedroom, Pauline put Juliet's half-brick in one of
her stockings, knotting it to keep the brick from coming
out; this was to be the murder weapon.
* Pauline placed the murder weapon in her school satchel and
carried it the murder scene.
** What 'facts' are shown about events up to the murder? [jp]
* Pauline is shown writing an entry in her diary headed "The
Day of the Happy Event" in bed before getting up.
* Ticking watches and clocks give the times of all important
events on June 22, 1954.
* Juliet collected the half-brick and then was dropped off, by
her father, by shops near the Riepers'. She walked to the
Riepers' after shopping for "fruit."
* Honora prepared lunch, which appeared jolly, and Bert,
Wendy, Honora, Juliet and Pauline were present. Bert and
Wendy went back to work. Bert said "good-bye" but he turned
and looked at his wife, briefly, before he walked out the
door. Honora and the girls cleaned up.
* Honora and the girls walked to Cathedral square and caught a
#2 bus (Cashmere) to go to Victoria Park.
* Honora and the girls walked from the bus terminal up to the
tearooms at Victoria Park for tea and cakes before the
murder. Honora had tea, the girls had (orange) soft drinks.
There were only a couple of other people in the tearooms.
Honora had cakes.
** What was shown during the "Humming Chorus" walk? [jp]
* The three went through a gap in the hedge/wall near the
teashop and started to walk down a muddy dirt path into
Victoria Park.
* Pauline was leading, Honora came second and Juliet took up
the rear.
* Pauline and Honora walked across a small wooden bridge; it
looked more like planking laid into the path than a bridge.
* Juliet dropped the pink stone on the path to distract Honora
on the way back. "The Humming Chorus" ended, there was a
quiet pause and the soundtrack went back to immediate, live
sound with no music. A few birds called out.
* Honora was calm and composed and quite cheery, giving
motherly advice to Juliet to button up her coat (she did,
but her eyes were a million miles away).
* Honora looked at her watch (3:18 p.m.) and suggested they
turn back so they wouldn't miss their bus.
* Pauline, standing behind Honora as they started back,
pointed out the pink stone to her mother: "Look!, mother!"
Honora bent down to examine it. Pauline reached into her
school satchel. She had determination on her face, but we
find out it was fragile. The camera zoomed in on the tam on
the back of Honora's head.
** What 'facts' are shown about the murder itself? [jp]
* Pauline swung the brick and struck the first blow to her
mother, from behind, onto the right rear of Honora's head
(the blow lands off camera). Honora cried out and we see her
fingers drop the stone. Honora fell forward, face downward,
head uphill, onto her hands and knees.
* Pauline was shown crying after the first blow, obviously
regretting her action. However, once the deed was started,
she and Juliet carried on until her mother was dead.
* Honora was hurt but not rendered unconscious by the first
blow, or by the second, or the third or the fourth. All four
blows were from Pauline, swinging the brick.
* After the fourth blow we are shown Honora, now bleeding
quite profusely onto her face from unseen wounds on the back
of her head. Honora is shown falling forward again, face-
down onto the ground. She has been moaning, wailing and
crying out pitiously all this time, in obvious pain.
* Juliet is shown returning. Honora pleads with her, reaching
out her hand. Honora's face and hand are bloody. Juliet
reaches out...
* Juliet reaches out, but to Pauline. We see that Pauline is
blood-spattered, slightly, on her face and hand. Juliet
takes the brick from her.
* Pauline goes down and struggles. We see her grasp Honora by
the back of her neck and hold her, face down, against the
ground.
* Juliet is shown wielding the brick in both hands. She
strikes Honora (off camera) once.
* We see, briefly, Pauline holding down a struggling Honora,
still face down on the ground.
* Juliet strikes a second (off-camera) two-handed blow.
* Pauline raises her head and we see she is now covered in
blood on her own head.
* Juliet strikes a third (off-camera) two-handed blow.
** How accurate are the 'murder facts' shown in the film? [jp]
A detailed comparison is given below in section 4.7, but to
summarize: the majority of 'facts' shown by Jackson about the
events of June 22, 1954 conformed to facts entered into testimony
during the girls' trial.
** But is the film's version of the murder accurate? [jp]
Ah! This is a very different question. It is explored in
much more detail below in section 4.7. The short answer is,
surprisingly: No.
Qualitatively, emotionally, the murder shown may be similar
in some respects to the actual murder, but there are many details
and complexities omitted by Jackson.
** What was the motive for the murder? [jp]
Jackson's statements at the beginning of this section are
pretty consistent with the superficial facts presented in the
film.
Ultimately, in "Heavenly Creatures," Jackson chose to
describe events without providing a statement of a clear,
rational motive for Honora's murder from any of the characters,
including Pauline.
Pauline stated, in her diary voiceover, that she thought of
her mother as being "an obstacle" but, really, this is a terribly
obscure reference. We are not told anything concrete by Pauline
that would provide a convincing motive for a crime of this
magnitude. Pauline never says, explicitly, what process or action
Honora is being an "obstacle" against, though we infer it is
Pauline going away with Juliet. The closest we get is Pauline's
statement that, for her to get a passport before the age of 20,
she would have to get her "sodding parents' permission."
** Why did Jackson choose to omit a clear motive? [jp]
A motive was presented during the trial and there was also
one voiced in the court of public opinion in real life. Jackson
obviously does not believe these motives are completely credible.
However, it has to be said that his film superficially conforms
quite closely to the motive proposed by the prosecution, namely,
that Pauline and Juliet were completely overwrought at the
thought of being separated and they saw Honora as the person
standing in the way of their being together. However, the
prosecution implied the girls were lesbian lovers; Jackson does
not seem to accept that as either true or a reason for murder.
** Does shutting your eyes help during the murder scene? [jp]
Absolutely not. In fact, the murder is probably more
horrific to people who have shut their eyes and who must imagine
what is happening from what is heard on the extraordinary sound
track.
Although the murder is probably one of the most visceral and
emotionally-graphic murders I have seen on screen, it is also,
perversely, one of the least explicitly violent (no blows are
actually shown landing on poor Honora) and one of the least
bloody. The blood shown is actually very realistic, nothing like
the over-the-top gore-fest for which Jackson is renowned. The
only graphic scene of extreme gore connected with the murder is
the brief shot we see of the girls at the tearoom, long after the
murder has taken place: they have spatters and streams of blood
on their faces. We might even think at that time that they have
been injured somehow and the blood is theirs. Later, of course,
we come to fully appreciate that the blood was entirely Honora's.
** How is sound used in the murder scene? [jp]
In a word, brilliantly. The use of sound in the whole last
act is masterful--through the entire film, in fact. The emotion
of the scene is painted almost entirely through the presence and
absence of sound, the stunning soundtrack (see 3.1.19), the
superb sound effects and the tight sound editing. Gold star from
me, for the sound.
Particularly noteworthy are the way that the commingling of
fantasy and reality is conveyed, the way we experience the girls'
unsuccesful attempts to detatch themselves emotionally from the
events, and especially the way we share Honora's realization and
her horror through her terrible cries. It is true that good sound
can bypass conscious rationalization in the viewer and strike at
a deeper, more primitive level of understanding. This certainly
is the case in "Heavenly Creatures." The audience has no quick
defense against the sound used in the murder scene and it is a
profoundly unsettling experience. Exactly as Jackson intended.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.17.1 The aftermath (Prologue).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** What is shown in the "flight scene" of the Prologue? [jp]
* The archival soundtrack distorts, dissolves into a roaring
sound and screams gradually break into the foreground sound.
* We smash through trees and foliage from the perspective of
the runners, a steadicam shot.
* Cut to a long tracking shot from below/behind, our view
obscured by foliage, of the girls running up an inclined
path through the woods. Juliet, in her grey coat, is
leading. Pauline, in her brown coat, follows. We can only
see the motion and the coats and hear the screaming.
* Cut to close-up of legs, running, stumbling, bloody and
muddy. We see shoes. The sound is immediate, foreground
sound; we hear branches being hit, mud squirting.
* Cut to sepia legs running on a wooden deck, through
streamers and the bars of a railing. The sound is a
musical score--strings. The absence of foreground sound
is startling.
* Cut to bloody legs, running, feet and, prominently, brown
school sandals and socks. The soundtrack is forground sound,
screaming, crashing.
* Cut to sepia torso side shot of Juliet, in a print
dress running in front of Pauline, in a white summer
blouse and skirt. Both are smiling as they run on deck,
brushing aside streamers; the railing is prominent.
* Cut to a 'parallel' torso side shot of the girls running
through foliage, breathless, in panic. And that soundtrack.
* Cut to shot from behind Pauline, looking forward. We see her
black hair flying, her brown cloth coat and Juliet in front.
* Cut to front shot, sepia, on the deck. Juliet is in
front; she waves and laughs and calls out "Mummy!"
Pauline bobs into view from behind, with the same
laughing and waving. She cries out: "Mummy!" Juliet
turns to look at Pauline. Their voices are the only
foreground sounds. Everything else is silence.
* Cut to see a couple standing at the rail. The man is
coated, hatted, the woman is dressed all in white. They
begin to turn. There is a huge, growing wind sound.
* Cut to the final dash. First, a steadycam shot around a
hedge; we see a woman running down the steps toward the
camera. Then a jerky handheld camera shot from the woman's
perspective. The girls run up to the camera and we see their
faces for the first time. They are both covered in blood and
gore on their faces and their hands. Pauline cries out:
"It's Mummy! She's terribly hurt!" Juliet puts her face into
the camera and screams: "Help us!" By the end of the film we
will find out that this is the only time Pauline will refer
to Honora as "Mummy"... every other time it is "Mother."
** What 'facts' about the aftermath are shown in the film? [jp]
* The girls both ran screaming and completely hysterical back
up the path to the teahouse.
* The teahouse proprietor ran out to encounter the girls, who
were covered in spattered gore on their faces and clothes
and Juliet's hands are also shown covered in blood.
* Pauline cried out "It's Mummy! She's terribly hurt!" Juliet
cried out for help.
** Are these 'facts' accurate? [jp]
These 'facts' of the aftermath match parts of Mrs Agnes
Ritchie's statements made to police, section 7.5.1, but there was
much more to the aftermath, of course. See section 4.7 and 7.3.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.18 Good, evil, blame, conscience and love.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Do these words ever appear explicitly in the film? [jp]
Good and evil: These are only mentioned, peripherally, in
context of the girls' fantasies. Pauline makes one sarcastic
reference to being "very good" in one diary voiceover during her
drive back home from Ilam two days before the murder.
Blame: Juliet makes one oblique reference to blame, in
connection with the murder. In Pauline's bedroom on the morning
of the murder, she says of Honora: "I think your mother knows
what's going to happen to her. She doesn't seem to bear us any
grudge." This is actually a paraphrase of a statement made by the
real Juliet and entered into trial testimony. See 7.6.
Conscience: This word figured very, very prominently in the
real life trial and publicity, because of Pauline's diary entry
made on June 20th: "Peculiarly enough I have no qualms of
conscience." "Heavenly Creatures" includes this line, but edits
the entry for that day. See 7.4.3.
Juliet's actions and words on the day of the murder suggest
that she had severe qualms of conscience. Jackson actually uses
Juliet as his inexplicably-fallible conscience in "Heavenly
Creatures." She is given several opportunities to think, to
equivocate and say: "Wait. Stop. Let's think of another way." She
never does. In the end, Juliet just scrubs her hands obsessively
like Pilate or, perhaps more accurately, like Lady Macbeth
through the whole last reel--yet another oblique reference to
real-life testimony. Believe it or not both names cropped up in
the trial. Walsh and Jackson are amazing in their attention to
artistic detail!
Love: Only one character ever says "I love you. (flush)." It
is John/Nicholas to Pauline/Gina. He says it several times, but
it is a pathetic, weak and whiny voice he uses every time.
Compared to the feelings Pauline and Juliet have for each other,
Nicholas' ludicrous and superficial declarations of love really
do make him look a fool. Pauline says the word "love" once, in
her voiceover of "The Ones That I Worship."
And that is it for 'love' in "Heavenly Creatures." A deeply
ironic, even cynical statement by Jackson: in a film exploding
with desperate passion, no-one ever says the word 'love' and
means it. In real life, Pauline used the word several times in
her diary entries, but in reference to... See 7.4.3.
** What about concepts of responsibility and morality? [jp]
The most explicit example of black/white moralizing is
provided by Rev. Norris, and we know what happened to him...
The filmmakers were careful to construct a new world with
its own set of morals and sensibilities without indulging in
explicit comparisons or editorializing. It is quite remarkable
how easily the viewer is carried into this new morality; the
extreme sympathy we end up feeling for both girls is proof that
we have been relocated into their world by the film's end. As
Juliet says at the final Ilam bonfire: "Only the best people
fight against all obstacles in pursuit of happiness." We are
almost convinced she is right. Oh... yet another direct quote
from trial testimony.
In real life, the girls thought and wrote extensively about
morality, religion, society and the law. The issue of their
having constructed an entirely new and separate philosophy, moral
code and religion for themselves was a key aspect of the defense
in the trial. This philosophising wasn't made clear in "Heavenly
Creatures." The girls were painted as being imaginative and
fanciful but not particularly 'deep' thinkers.
** Why does Juliet say "I'm sorry" in the 3rd 'ship' scene?
[jp,lfr]
In the context of the film this is slightly puzzling. It
could convey Juliet's extreme sympathy with Pauline, and simply
be an expression of how Pauline imagines Juliet would react to
the destruction of Pauline's dream of escape.
The words also convey an accusation of sorts, that the
murder was really all Pauline's idea and Juliet somehow bungled
her part, letting Pauline down. Note that Pauline seems to be in
for the lion's share of punishment, according to that 'ship'
scene; Juliet is still on the ship, after all, with her parents
to console her. It almost looks for a moment as if she might be
getting away scot-free.
This little detail could also be a reference to real life
events that occurred after the murder, and may be the way the
filmmakers summed up the emotional tone of those events without
including them explicitly. It turns out that the issues of blame
and responsibility played a very prominent and poignant role in
the girls' arrest, interrogation and trial proceedings (see
7.4.3, 7.5).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.19 The music.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Has the soundtrack been released? [nm,aa,lfr,sb]
The soundtrack has been released in Europe and in Australia
(see 5.6.1) and is presently available in North America as an
import.
** What are the pieces on the soundtrack and film? [aa]
Here are the appearances of music in "Heavenly Creatures" in
the order they appear, along with a description of/quote from the
accompanying scene.
X= Not on soundtrack
(X) "Just A Closer Walk With Thee."
As the two girls separately head off to school - and their first
meeting.
"Be My Love."
Pauline swoons with furious delight to the sound of "The World's
Greatest Tenor"... "Murray O'Lanza"?
"Bad Chests and Bone Diseases."
Pauline & Juliet share war stories of youthful illnesses (seen in
flashback). "It's all frightfully romantic!"
"The Princess of Ilam."
Pauline's first dip into Juliet's enchanted world.
"The Donkey Serenade."
A wonderfully giddy set-piece of the spiralling friendship.
"The Shrine."
First mention of the Fourth World, the "Saints", and Orson Welles
(and his dim chances of Sainthood).
(X) "Deck the Halls" to "Gloria, In Excelsis Deo" medley.
Christmas 1952 at the Riepers'.
"Meet The Riepers."
Wherein Juliet does just that. There's a nice, brief darkening of
the musical mood as Honora reaches out to her guest for a
handshake. [The title is a play on Jackson's hit cult film "Meet
The Feebles." jp]
(X) "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window."
(plus dramatic instrumental music)
Easter at Port Levy, culminating in Charles' "ravishing" of
Deborah on their wedding night in the sand castle!
"The Fourth World."
Juliet's anguish leads her and Pauline into a vision of the land
of unicorns, giant butterflies, and impeccable gardening.
"Life in Borovnia."
Juliet's parents abandon her again "for the good of her health" -
and the letters from Borovnia begin. The scene ends with the
ill-fated approach of Rev. Norris.
"Funiculi, Funicula."
Pauline's traumatic night with John-the-lodger crossed with her
mental escape to Borovnia. A disturbing highlight.
"Two Dutiful Daughters."
Poem "The Ones That I Worship" is heard - as Dr Hulme's
suspicions darken. He stares disapprovingly as they clasp hands
in the car or sleep in each other's arms (as the discordant final
note plays). Interesting how the poem adulates him as their
"father" just as he is plotting to separate them...
"E Lucevan le Stelle."
Pauline sinks into solitude and despair. "My motto now is, eat
drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may be dead!"
"To Hollywood."
...with the aid of the Hulmes' valuables. "They'll blame the
bloody housekeeper! She nicks stuff all the time!" (see
"Daughters of Heaven" described in 6.1).
"Divorce."
It's a dark and stormy day as Dr Hulme shares the bad news with
Pauline & Juliet. "We none of us know where we're going, and a
good deal depends on chance..."
"For The Good of your Health."
Juliet: "I'm not going to England without Gina!"
Hilda: "You're not going to England, darling..."
"The Loveliest Night of the Year."
Or, the Last Waltz, perhaps. "We are both stark raving mad!"
"The Most Hideous Man Alive."
A dangerous run-in with the diabolical Orson Welles as Harry
Lime. "I have never before seen anything in the same category of
hideousness - but I adore him!"
"A Night With The Saints."
Acting out "how the Saints would make love" - and providing us
all a source of endless discussion, analysis and debate. "We have
now known the peace of the thing called Bliss... the joy of the
thing called Sin!"
"The Pursuit of Happiness."
Juliet & Pauline seal their pact over a sacrifice of Mario Lanza
records as unicorns graze peacefully on the Ilam grounds...
"Juliet's Aria."
...as sung with great beauty from the Hulmes' balcony. We also
see one more vision of The Ship, at this point still sailing out
with all safely on board. And then, there is that kiss...
"The Humming Chorus."
In which Honora is in grave danger, but so is the audience - the
unbearable dread and suspense may well kill us too!
"You'll Never Walk Alone."
We are cruelly plunged into the cold darkness of the credit roll.
"Pauline & Juliet."
As played by composer Peter Dasent on an old piano (you can hear
the pedal creaking if you listen closely). It's quite lovely -
but doesn't appear in the film.
** At what stage of production was the music introduced? [lfr]
A working draft of the script builds a number of critical
scenes around the use of specific Mario Lanza recordings. The
later use of opera, however, with the exception of the aria from
"Tosca," is not as well developed at this stage.
As it happens, Pauline Parker actually mentioned in her
diary the specific piece of opera used in "Heavenly Creatures,"
though not at that corresponding point of the story. So Pauline
Parker actually chose the music for this part of the film, forty
years ago.
Jackson and Walsh would have known from the start of the
project about the girls' fixation on and fascination with Mario
Lanza, from the published trial proceedings.
ref: Heavenly Creatures, Draft #5, February 7, 1993,
Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA. [Hereafter HC Draft #5, AMPAS]
** Is there only prerecorded music in the score? [lfr]
No. Peter Dasent wrote the mesmerizing original score. In
the second half of the film, particularly, Dasent's score builds
tension and a tremendous sense of momentum. Jackson and Dasent
augmented the score with a shrewd choice of prerecorded music,
the importance of which is emphasized by reference in the script.
(ref. HC Draft #5, AMPAS).
** What is the opening choral piece? [lfr,dj,kr]
In the initial musical motif, the framing reference of the
divine is established under the opening titles, with the
traditional hymn "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," crisply elocuted
by a girls choir. The hymn's lyric foreshadows Pauline and
Juliet's association, emphasizing a strong element of longing:
"Just A Closer Walk With Thee" [dj]
(traditional, words anonymous, Mosie Lister arr.) [kr]
Chorus: Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
v.1. I am weak but Thou art strong.
Jesus, keep me from all wrong.
I'll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.
v.2. Thro' this world of toil and snares,
If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.
v.3. When my feeble life is o'er,
Time for me will be no more.
Guide me gently, safely o'er
To they Kingdom's shore, to thy shore.
Quoted from: "Baptist Hymnal" (1975 Edition), Convention Press,
Nashville, Tennesee. [dj]
The arrangement of "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" used in
"Heavenly Creatures" is: Chorus, verse 1, verse 2, chorus. Verse
3 is not used. Also, the first line of verse 1 was changed to:
Now, I am weak and Thou art strong.
** What is the origin of "Closer Walk?" [sh,lw,dj,es,gb,wh,cs,dw]
"Just A Closer Walk With Thee" is an American traditional
hymn with origins in the American South and whose author is
unknown. It is a favorite funeral hymn in the American South;
Dixieland funeral processions often feature this hymn and are
traditionally led by an opened black umbrella. There were many
popular recordings of the hymn made in the 50s and 60s, by
country music artists in particular. Some of the more popular
recorded covers of this hymn are by:
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee (in "Best of...") [es]
Van Morrison ("Hymns to the Silence") [gb]
Tennessee Ernie Ford [wh]
Loretta Lynn [wh]
George Martin ("Live & Let Die" soundtrack, inst.) [cs]
It can be found in the following hymnals and song collections:
"Hymns for the Family of God"
"Glory and Praise" songbooks from North American Liturgy
Resources.
"Songs of Zion," Abingdon Press, 1981. Hymn #46.
The purpose of this volume is "to develop a songbook
from the Black religious tradition to be made available
to United Methodist Churches." [from introduction]
"Baptist Hymnal" (1975 Edition), Convention Press,
Nashville, Tennesee.
** What is unusual about the use of "Closer Walk?" [jp,a,mc,maw]
Clearly the filmmakers chose "Just A Closer Walk With Thee"
because it introduced into the film several key themes which
would reappear throughout the narrative. However, the hymn is not
part of the body of hymns which would have been sung by the
students of Christchurch Girls' High School in 1952.
The girls' school was set up according to a very slightly-
modified English school system. It has been established elsewhere
(see 5.4.4) that the whole Christchurch community maintained very
strong cultural ties with England. This means that the school
would have been tied in religious/cultural matters predominantly
to the Anglican Church, i.e. the Church of England.
Consequently, during morning assembly, the girls would have
sung hymns selected and adapted from "Prayers and Hymns for Use
in Schools," the 'official' hymnal approved by most school
Education Authorities in Britain and used throughout the British
Commonwealth for many years prior to 1952, or "Hymns Ancient and
Modern (revised)." [a] Both "Prayers and Hymns for Use in
Schools" and "Hymns Ancient and Modern (revised)" contain a set
of hymns deemed "most suitable for Young People" abstracted from
the following source:
"Songs of Praise," Enlarged Edition. Percy Dearmer
(Words Ed.), Ralph Vaughan Williams and Martin Shaw
(Music Eds.). Oxford University Press, London. (c)
1931. reprinted unchanged to at least 1969 (21st
impression).
According to the book's Introduction, these hymns were chosen
specifically for their cultural relevance to England. "Just A
Closer Walk With Thee" did not arise from English cultural roots
and it is not contained in "Songs of Praise." Hence it would not
have been contained in "Prayers and Hymns for Use in Schools" in
1952, and this has been confirmed [mc,maw].
The school's song was Blake's "Jerusalem"... "And did those
feet in ancient times walk upon England's mountains green?..."
[note: A more English hymn than "Jerusalem" could not be found.
It was and still is absolutely standard fare at morning chapel in
English Public Schools. For another first-rate film which also
opens very pointedly to a school chorus of a hymn--"Jerusalem,"
in fact--see Tony Richardson's extraordinary adaptation of Alan
Sillitoe's "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner." jp] The
most commonly-sung hymn at CGHS in the early 60s would have been
"The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want..." though plenty of
others were sung, too. We also went in for the "Gaudiamus
Igatur..." hymn which used to be sung at Oxford University, I
believe. I liked "Morning has broken..." by Christina Rossetti. I
never sang the hymn used in the film. The hymnbook I used was the
same one that had been used for years and years at CGHS. [maw]
It is conceivable that the filmmakers were familiar with
popular recordings of "Closer Walk" and recognized that a wide
audience would also be familiar with this piece. They may have
chosen to use it over some other more 'authentic' hymn because of
"Closer Walk's" familiarity, or because they were unable to find
an 'authentic' hymn which fit as well with the film's motifs.
However, all of this evidence of deliberate choice on the
part of the filmmakers definitely makes "Closer Walk" worth
examining in more detail (see 3.1.5).
** What are some of its foreshadowing and allusions? [jp,lfr]
The opening and closing pieces to the film form a symmetric
pair. Both mention 'walking together,' as a literal image of a
spiritual concept, in their lyrics.
"Closer Walk" is a supplication made by a sinner to a higher
authority. The chorus, as mentioned above, is a longing plea for
closer association with an object of reverence, and the emotional
tone of the piece supports this overall feeling. It is easy for
us to imagine Pauline singing this plea to the object of her
reverence, Juliet and not Jesus, sometime in the future.
But look at the words. The first verse, is full of irony in
the context of "Heavenly Creatures." Her knitted, sceptical brow
makes the confession of weakness and the plea "keep me from all
wrong" into more of a challenge than a request, and turns "I'll
be satisfied as long as..." into something of a veiled threat.
The second and third verses (third not used in the film) are
also full of ironic significance to the story. In the second
verse, she sings there is noone else who cares, noone who can
relieve her burden in "this world of toil and snares." Juliet is
the only one who can save her from a life of drudgery and
persecution. And to where can she look for peace, for this better
life? Why, "to thy Kingdom's shore." To Juliet's world, to the
bright and gentle paradise of the Fourth World. Pauline rejoins
the singing in the final chorus after being rebuked by the
headmistress and she sings "Let it be."
At the end of the film, we are reminded of all these things,
painfully and bitterly, through the supremely ironic closing
song. Consistent with the circular 'wraparound' timeline of the
film, listening to the closing piece we can't help but think back
to Pauline's opening hymn, pleading for a "Closer Walk." The
closing piece chosen by Dasent and Jackson would have been such a
wonderful, perfect response from Juliet. A prayer made, and a
prayer answered. The crushing of Pauline's dream is emotionally
wrenching for the viewer--the dashing of dreams always is--and
this feeling is amplified by the diabolical pairing of the
opening and closing pieces. Together, they say "if only..."
** How are Mario Lanza's popular tunes used in the film? [lfr]
A distinctive musical motif is established with the
boisterous popular tunes of Mario Lanza, who is revealed in the
opening scenes to be Juliet's idol. Lanza's singing comes across
as antiseptic but rousing "pop opera," particularly in contrast
with the later use of Puccini arias. Pauline enthusiastically
adopts Juliet's perspective of Lanza as "the world's greatest
tenor" and she sees this shared love of his music to be a kind of
confirmation that Pauline and Juliet are spiritual sisters.
Lanza's tunes are used as a barometer of Pauline's emotions,
in her initial captivation with Juliet (prophetically, with "Be
My Love"), in her wavering uncertainty and giddy acceptance of
Juliet's flights of fancy ("The Donkey Serenade" from the 1940's
musical "Firefly"), in Pauline's dawning awareness of her desire
for Juliet through her misguided night with John-the-idiot-
boarder (in the faint dementia behind "Finiculi, Finicula") and
in Pauline and Juliet's eventual delerious, romantic consummation
("The Loveliest Night of the Year").
** Is Mario Lanza's popular music used as a "Red Herring?" [jp]
Mario Lanza's popular music may be another "red herring"
from Jackson regarding Pauline and Juliet's relationship (see
3.1.11.4). Lanza's popular music paints an emotional tone with
very broad strokes indeed, so the romantic target may be
obscured. All of Lanza's lush, popular tunes are used in
connection with Pauline's visits with Juliet at Ilam. Hence the
emotional connection being illustrated may be Pauline's growing
friendship with Juliet, or it may be her true romantic love for
Juliet, or it may be her captivation with the freedom, culture
and refinement represented by Ilam and Juliet.
"Finiculi, Finicula," which accompanies Pauline's night with
John-the-lodger, stands in contrast to this theme, but it is not
a love song.
Maybe Jackson intended Lanza's songs to be "red herrings"
but I must admit they got under my skin and set me up for the
emotionally devastating music in the second half of the film.
** What song does Mario Lanza sing over the end credits? [lfr,jp]
Lanza's return over the end credits with "You'll Never Walk
Alone" provides a powerful backdrop (its spiritual tone
concluding the reverential thread) that elicits a particularly
ironic pathos after the desolation of the final scenes. And it
forms a symmetric counterpart to the film's opening hymn. This
recursive symmetry at the film's beginning and end is also
reflected in the key 'ship' scenes (see 3.1.16.13).
The silent epilogue preceeding the final song informs the
viewer of the girls' sentence: incarceration in separate
institutions and eventual release on the condition that they
never have contact with each other again.
And there is a haunting residue that lingers after the film:
what if Mario Lanza is singing on behalf of Honora? What if this
is her promise to the girls?
** What is the origin of "You'll Never Walk Alone?" [lfr]
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is from Oscar Hammerstein and
Richard Roger's "Carousel"(1945). The song is sung by the ghost
of Billy Bigelow when he finally accepts that his beloved wife,
Julie [nice parallel with Pauline's name for Juliet], has managed
to rebuild her life without him. Although Julie reveres his
memory, she is, in fact, better off without his disruptive
presence. This acceptance of her independence allows him to move
on and assume his place in the afterlife.
"You'll Never Walk Alone" Oscar Hammerstein (Lyrics)
from "Carousel" (1945) Richard Rodgers (Music)
(c) 1945 Williamson Music Co.
When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At the end of the storm is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown,
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never walk alone!
Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown,
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never walk alone!
Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown,
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never walk alone!
** Where and how is opera used in the film? [lfr]
The musical shift to opera in the second half of the film
makes reference to dramatic predetermination. The lighthearted or
melodramatic romance of Lanza's "pop opera" gives way to a more
sombre, powerful and genuine emotional tone in the second half of
the film. And the clues from the filmmakers contained in the
music become more subtle and possibly more significant because of
their disguise.
** How is opera used to show Pauline's growing despair? [lfr]
When Honora threatens to keep Pauline from Juliet, in
despair, Pauline contemplates suicide. During these key scenes,
Cavaradossi laments his own imprisonment and impending death, on
Pauline's phonograph, from Puccini's opera TOSCA: ("my dream of
love is now destroyed forever, my hour is fleeting and I must die
despairing!"). This exact piece was mentioned by the real Pauline
in a diary entry (see 7.4.3).
In a striking spiritual parallel with the film, the opera
TOSCA ends with Cavaradossi lingering in prison as his lover
Tosca murders Scarpia to set him free, only to have her plan
backfire when Cavradossi is nevertheless executed. This prompts
Tosca's own suicide.
"E lucevan le stelle "And the stars shone brightly
E olezzava la terra And the air mild and fragrant
Stridea l'uscio dell 'orto- The garden gate was opened,
E un passo sfiorava la rena And footsteps approached so lightly
Entrava ella, fragrante, She stood before me, radiant-
Mi cadea fra le baccia. In my arms I held her.
O! dolce braci, Oh fond embrace,
o languide carezze oh languorous caress
Mentr'io fremente My heart was trembling
La belle forme Enraptured by the wonder
disciogliea dai veli! of her glorious beauty!
Svani per sempre My dream of love
il sogno mio d'amore, is now destroyed forever,
L'ora e fuggita, My hour is fleeting,
E muoio disperato! And I must die despairing!
E muoio disperato! And I must die despairing!
E non ho amato! How cruel is Death!
Mai tanto la vita, Ah, life was never sweeter,
tanto la vita!" never sweeter!"
[TOSCA, Giacomo Puccini, English Translation - Joseph Machlis]
Taking the association between Cavaradossi and Pauline literally,
this piece is a strong clue in favor of a desperate romantic
attachment between Pauline and Juliet, the tragic object of her
desire. It is particularly affecting to know that Pauline Parker
really did turn to this piece in her bedroom when she was alone,
in moments of despair.
** What does Juliet sing from the balcony of Ilam? [lfr]
The headlong rush of the film's narrative is ruptured at a
critical point by Juliet's poignant a capella rendering of
Puccini's "Sono andati?" from LA BOHEME, sung by Kate Winslet.
At this point Juliet has agreed to help Pauline murder
Honora and there is at last a calm sense of complete
inevitability introduced by this piece. It is as if the girls
have finally given up all thoughts of fighting their destiny, and
once again there is a strong sense of predetermination, which
continues in a quiet, chilling way for the rest of the film.
Juliet's singing begins off-screen with a close-up of
Pauline, which fades into a split-screen image with Juliet,
followed by a very slow dissolve of Pauline. This sustains the
dynamic that the narrative remains from Pauline's point-of-view,
and that she is imagining Juliet as a tragic-romantic heroine,
singing to her. Also, significantly, the second ship scene, so
key to understanding Jackson's view of the girls' relationship,
is interleaved with this piece.
In the opera LA BOHEME, the declaration of love is sung by
the consumptive, tuberculin Mimi (another striking parallel with
Juliet, see 3.1.8) to Rodolpho, knowing she is near the brink of
death:
"Sono andati? "Have they gone?
Fingevo di dormire I pretended to be asleep
Percho volli Because I wanted
con te sola restare to be alone with you
Ho tante cose I've so many things
che ti voglio dire to tell you
O una sola Or one thing,
ma grande como il mare as huge as the sea
Como il mare, Deep and infinite
profunda ed infinita as the sea
Sei il mio amor I love you
- e tutta la mia vita." - you're all my life."
[Giacomo Puccini, LA BOHEME, English translation - William
Weaver]
Taken literally, this striking image and these beautiful, tender
and tremendously sad words form a strong statement in support of
Pauline being deeply, romantically and desperately in love with
Juliet.
** What is the haunting piece used in the final scene? [lfr]
For the final scene, Jackson and Walsh use Puccini's serene
"The Humming Chorus" from MADAME BUTTERFLY. The tone of the piece
is an extrapolation of the calm, peaceful resignation conveyed
prior to this scene by Juliet's aria. Coupling "The Humming
Chorus" with the premonition of the violent and bloody murder is
ironic in the extreme; the effect is an almost intolerable
heightening of anticipation, dread and suspense in the viewer.
The piece begins quietly, as the girls pause for a "last
supper" with Honora in the Victoria Park teashop, and continues
as they accompany her down the muddy path in extreme slow motion,
almost floating, serene and dreamlike. The piece finally ends and
there is a brief silence. Then the girls tearfully bludgeon
Honora to her death. In a shocked stupor after the real-life
murder, the girls stated to witnesses at the tearoom that
everything seemed like a dream, and they would soon be waking up.
"The Humming Chorus" occurs late in the third act of MADAM
BUTTERFLY, as Butterfly waits up thorugh the night, alone,
anticipating the next day to bring romantic fulfillment. Instead
it brings her only bitterness, and death.
** Is Jackson using opera as another "red herring?" [jp]
Probably not. Although the chosen pieces are charged with
emotion, there is nothing light or 'camp' about them. In every
case, there are enormous parallels between the original context
of the pieces and their context in "Heavenly Creatures." And the
lyrics are not used ironically or in any way with tongue in
cheek. These pieces paint a consistent picture, both in emotional
tone and in explicit lyrics, namely that of a deep, romantic and
tragic passion experienced by Pauline for Juliet. These pieces
say that Pauline was desperately in love with Juliet.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.19.1 Mario Lanza.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Peter Gammond.
"The Oxford Companion to Popular Music." Oxford University Press,
Oxford, 1993. ISBN 0-19-28004-3 p. 330.
Lanza, Mario [Cocozza, Alfredo Arnold]
b. Philadelphia 31 Jan. 1921, d. Rome 7 Oct. 1959.
American singer of Italian descent. A stocky, curly-haired
prototype Italian opera singer, he had a moderate career in
opera and on the concert stage before he became an
international star by way of his portrayal of Caruso, his
full-throated popularization of the genre, and his
recordings of such songs as 'Be my love' and 'Because you're
mine.' He appeared in the films:
"That Midnight Kiss" (1949)
"The Toast of New Orleans" (1950)
"The Great Caruso" (1951)
"Because You're Mine" (1952)
"The Student Prince" (1954)
"Serenade" (1956)
"The Seven Hills of Rome" (1958)
"For the First Time" (1959)
Since his early death he has been accorded a cult
reputation.
References:
M. Bernard: "Mario Lanza" (NY 1971)
R. Strait and T. Robinson: "Mario Lanza: His Tragic Life"
(NY 1980)
** How did Mario Lanza die? [nm]
Mario Lanza committed suicide in Rome, about two months
before the real-life Heavenly Creatures were released from
incarceration in New Zealand.
** What was Bert Rieper's name for Mario Lanza? [jp]
Bert enquired if Pauline was listening to the famous Irish
singer 'Murray O'Lanza.' Then he lip-synched into a mackerel.
That Bert was a real kidder...
** How did Pauline rebuke her father? [jp]
"He's Italian, Dad!" Of course we know, from the info above,
that Pauline was wrong: Mario Lanza was really an American who
traded on his Italian ancestry.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.20 References to books, films, TV and Hollywood.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Were the girls keen on films? [jp]
Absolutely. All the Saints mentioned by name had a
connection with films. There were film magazines in Pauline's
bedrooms (both), in Juliet's bedroom, in Juliet's room in the
sanatorium and the pictures of the Saints used at the Ilam shrine
came from film magazines.
In real life, the girls didn't burn records on their last
night together at Ilam, but all their film books. See 7.4.3.
** Who was the recording artist Steve admired? [jp]
Doris Day.
** Did James Mason ever make a religious picture? [MDB,jp]
Pauline wished James Mason would make a religious picture
because "He'd be perfect as Jesus!" But was he ever in one?
Well, James Mason was in two 'religious pictures'--but not
until late in his career:
"Jesus of Nazareth" (1977, TV) [Joseph of Arimathea]
"Anno Domini" (1985, TV miniseries) [Tiberius].
He never did play Jesus, though he was a Roman in a couple of
late 50s historical epics.
In real life, James Mason was actually the girls' principal
Saint and the object of most of their fantasies and much of their
writing.
** Who was Biggles? [jp,u,hb,csh,hu,das,e]
'Biggles' was the fictional British flying ace, Major James
Bigglesworth, DSO (his rank in "Biggles Goes to War"). He was
featured in a prolific series of books written by Captain W.E.
Johns (William Earl Johns). Peter Berred Ellis wrote a biography
of Johns, "By Jove, Biggles" published in 1981. The "Biggles"
books had names like "Biggles of the Camel Squadron," "Biggles
Goes South" etc. We actually see the girls reading "Biggles of
the Camel Squadron" and "Biggles of 266" in "Heavenly Creatures."
Biggles joined the Royal Flying Corps, or R.F.C. (later the
Royal Air Force, R.A.F.) at the age of 17 in 1916. The adventures
spanned both world wars and on into the Cold War, and Biggles
flew everything from Grumman Goslings and Catalinas to SE 2's and
the latest experimental aircraft.
The Biggles books were immensely popular among schoolboys in
Britain and throughout the more British parts of the
Commonwealth. In fact, Biggles was virtually a British cultural
icon, representing all things decent, upstanding, and Imperial,
and Biggles is used in "Heavenly Creatures" as yet another clue
to the close cultural ties between England and Christchurch.
Biggles' faithful sidekick was Algy, the Right Honorable Algernon
Lacy, and red-haired Ginger was the 'kid' who tagged along and
completed the trio in their ripping tales of adventure and
danger. The lads' nemesis was the evil Erich von Stahlhein, who
they were eventually forced to liberate from Sakhalin after the
Soviet expansion in the 50s.
According to "The Maniac's Guide to the Biggles Books" by
Rowland Smith (1993), there were no Biggles stories set in New
Zealand, but several were set in other parts of Australasia. At
least 21 titles were exported to New Zealand over the years and
the famous Australian 'Biggles' radio series was broadcast in New
Zealand. I was told of a copy of "Biggles in Australia" printed
in 1955. So, Biggles is culturally correct, not an anachronism,
and may well have been encountered by the girls.
Biggles is probably also a little inside joke from Jackson,
a known "Monty Python's Flying Circus" devotee. One famous and
popular episode of that British TV series was a spoof of 'The
Adventures of Biggles.' Biggles (John Cleese) was adamant--rabid,
even--about not tolerating 'pooftas' since there was no place for
'nancy-boys' in the R.A.F. Algy was played very gung-ho, cheery
and straight down the line by Michael Palin, while Ginger was
played by the late Graham Chapman (we miss ya, Graham) as a
mincing, flaming drag queen dressed in pink. My favorite line of
the episode is Biggles' belated discovery, after many adventurous
years together, of Algy's sexual orientation: "I say, Algy, are
you a poof?" "'Fraid so, old chap." "Right then. I suppose I'll
have to shoot you." Python logic at its most sublime, and a
closed circle back to Biggles being an oblique reference to
homosexuality in "Heavenly Creatures" (see 3.1.11.4).
I don't know if Peter Jackson is a Jethro Tull fan or not--
he is approximately the right vintage to be--but Ian Anderson and
the band also made a prominent pop-culture reference to Biggles
as a redoubtable British cultural icon in what is perhaps their
best-known 'concept' album from the mid-70s, about adolescence,
growing up, school, and cultural identity: "Thick as a Brick."
So where the hell was Biggles
When you needed him last Saturday?
And where were all the sportsmen
Who always pull you through?
They're all resting down in Cornwall,
Writing up their memoirs
For a paperback edition
Of the Boy Scout Manual.
(...)
And your wise men don't know how it feels
To be thick
As a brick.
** Where was the reference to Busby Berkeley musicals? [jp]
What???
Oh, that's an easy one. The overhead shot of the schoolgirls
lying on the pavement outside, doing synchronized leg-lifts. They
were arranged very neatly in a radial star pattern. A star with
six-fold symmetry, not that it matters. Or does it? See 3.1.14.
** What movie starring Mario Lanza was seen by the girls? [jp]
"The Great Caruso" (1951). Note that the girls saw the movie
two years after its North American release. Despite the delay, it
looked as if the film was on its first run in Christchurch.
Jackson is using pop culture as a clock, and is saying it took a
while for things to get to Christchurch.
** What was the poster for the next film in the lobby? [jp]
"Jamaica Run." The girls ran right past it.
** Where were the girls going to run away to and why? [jp]
Jackson has Juliet come up with the germ of the idea in the
second "bathtub" scene: "It's soooo obvious!" They would run off
the Hollywood. They would become film stars. According to Juliet
to her mother and Mr Perry: "They're desperately keen to sign us
up!" Desperate was probably the right word, it's just the rest
that was all mixed up.
** Who was Juliet trying mimic in her 'bathroom photos?' [jp]
When Henry Hulme (and we) eavesdropped on the girls' photo
session in the bathroom, Juliet said she was going to arrange her
hair and show a bit more cleavage. Then she would look just like
Veronica Lake.
** Who was Veronica Lake? [jp]
She was a diminutive film star with an hourglass figure,
very popular in the forties and especially as a 'film noir'
leading lady. Some of her best work was opposite Alan Ladd.
Veronica Lake had a very sexy voice, an extremely dangerous and
irresistable attitude in most of her films and a trademark
hairstyle--she wore her blonde hair brushed to a sheen, parted on
the side and swept down and across her face, hiding one of her
eyes. Sometimes this was referred to as a "peek-a-boo" hair style
but she made it her own.
Ms Lake had a rather tragic life. She died not long ago.
** What movie starring Orson Welles was seen by the girls? [jp]
"The Third Man," commissioned by Alexander Korda, and
directed by Carol Reed (winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, 1949)
from the story and screenplay by Graham Greene. The film is a
moody, dark classic and a milestone in British cinema (the first
British film to be shot predominantly on foreign location) [and
also my favorite film. jp]. It is set in divided, post-war Vienna
and tells the story of a gullible writer of pulp fiction (Joseph
Cotten [Holly Martins]) who tries to solve a mystery surrounding
the death of his shady friend (Orson Welles [Harry Lime]).
Martins falls in love with Harry's girlfriend (Alida Valli
[Anna]--"Holly. What a silly name." And what an incredible,
world-weary performance.) and crosses paths with a sharp, jaded
and cynical military policeman (Trevor Howard [Col. Calloway]).
"The Third Man" is full of oft-quoted dialog, famous scenes
and plot twists, wonderful cinematography and famous shots, and
it has an unforgettable soundtrack, written and performed by one
artist, Anton Karas, on a zither.
Note that "The Third Man" also made a belated debut in
Christchurch. Jackson is, again, using popular culture as a clock
to tell the audience that this community was isolated from the
mainstream.
** What was unusual about the clips from "The Third Man?" [jp]
The audience for "Heavenly Creatures" is also treated to
clips from "The Third Man" as we join Pauline and Juliet in the
cinema. But, in the famous clips of the chase scene in the Vienna
sewers, all shots of Harry Lime have been replaced by "Heavenly
Creatures'" own 'most hideous man alive'... played by E. Jean
Guï¼³in.
** What references were made to "The Third Man?" [jp]
Jackson has real fun with "The Third Man" in "Heavenly
Creatures." The soundtrack after the girls leave the cinema
mimics Anton Karas' famous zither music. Harry Lime (still in
black & white, of course) appears as startling visions in several
recreations of famous shots in "The Third Man," particularly the
sublime 'first view of Harry by the light of a window' shot in
which Orson Welles smiles slyly under the brim of his hat, only
to disappear into the night, and Harry's famous "Boo!" shot, of
course. Harry Lime appears in several places at once in "Heavenly
Creatures," a reference to Harry's ability to pop into and out of
a scene almost at will in "The Third Man." And the unforgetable
projected images of Harry Lime running in nightime Vienna are
parodied mercilessly by 'the most hideous man alive' when the
girls duck into the Ilam front hallway. Peter Jackson obviously
loves "The Third Man" as much as I do...
** Why did Jackson use "The Third Man?" [jp]
In real life, Pauline never referred to Orson Welles in her
diary quotations about "It," but to "Harry Lime," his character
name in "The Third Man." See 7.4.3 for diary quotes and 4.4 for
more about this intriguing aspect of "Heavenly Creatures."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.21 Settings and locations.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Which location was not authentic? [jp]
Only one--the Rieper's home at 31 Gloucester St. behind CGHS
no longer stood, so it was recreated on a sound stage.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.22 Making the film.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** Who made all those plasticine models? [aa,wb]
The model makers were volunteers. Many devoted long hours to
the task. Most of the members of the modelmakers' workshop were
given nicknames by their co-workers, hence some of the crazy
names in the credits.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.1.23 Technical aspects and special effects.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** What computer effects were used? [sb]
"Peter Jackson is vitally interested in being at the
forefront of technology. While not being, as he says, especially
computer literate, he has sought out and bought (with others) the
latest hardware and software so that he can use the most up-to-
date computer-generated special effects.
At WingNut Productions in Wellington, Jackson has installed
the only complete system in the Southern Hemisphere for going (at
maximum quality) from film to video, and back to film, having
manipulated the video image on the computer.
The film is transferred to video at a staggeringly slow
three minutes per frame (that's 12 hours for a ten-second shot!)
on an Oxberry Cinescan 6300. The frame is uniformly lit by a mass
of fibre optics.
The video image is sent to a Silicon Graphics computer
running Renderman, Soft Image and Matador software. Here, George
Port, who works with Jackson, does what manipulation is required-
-be it matting in a different fragment of image, correcting a
flaw (a television aerial in a period image), or morphing from a
rock to a statue.
Once finished, the video image is projected onto a cathode-
ray tube and filmed (by a MGI Solitaire with an Oxberry movie
back) at the much faster rate of three seconds a frame. Having
gone so precisely from film and back again, it has little to no
video 'look', except in some areas of retouching. That in itself
is not necessarily a defect for the slight artificiality can be
used to noticeable effect (as in the very obviously painted
lighthouse in "The Age of Innocence") or inconspicuously, as when
fantastic edge blend imperceptibly with the fantasy of the film
itself (as appears the case in "Heavenly Creatures")."
Cinema Papers, April 1994, 97/8, pp. 20-30.
** What effect was used in the second bathtub scene? [jp,lfr]
To heighten the accelerating sense of 'otherworldliness,'
the second bathtub scene was shot under blue lighting with
additional ultraviolet lighting, (UV light) commonly referred to
as 'black lighting.' There is also a link with death--under blue
lights, the girls look cold and dead, especially their dark lips
(probably heightened by having red-toned lipstick, which would
just appear black).
Was there another reason for using blue light? Maybe
modesty--blue light is scattered much more strongly by colloidal
(milky) solutions than is green or red light, so the girls' soapy
bath water was much more opaque under blue light.
** Were the tracks of Juliet's tears fake? [jp]
Juliet had the tracks of her tears visible on her face in
the second bathtub scene. It almost looked like there were dark
streaks and glowing regions. Is that fake? Or a special effect?
No. There are small peptides in tears whose function is to
kill bacteria; many of these molecules absorb UV light and can be
fluorescent to different degrees under ultraviolet light. Many
molecules present in skin, hair, nails and, especially, teeth
fluoresce quite brightly under UV light. And there are
fluorescent molecules added to many soaps. Hence, it's easy to
see the tracks of tears under extreme blue/ultraviolet light,
even long after the tears have dried.
So, we surmise, Ms. Winslet really had been crying in that
scene and quite a lot by the looks of things. Glycerine tears
don't absorb UV light, and they aren't fluorescent.
** Juliet's aria. [sb]
Jackson: "We were shooting in a house [Ilam] that was part of
the real story in the 1950s, but in the meantime its large open
balcony had been glassed in. There was no way the owner was going
to let us rip the balcony out, so we shot a separate balcony that
we built in a studio and matted the two together on the
computer." Cinema Papers, April 1994, 97/8, pp. 20-30.
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3.1.24 Favorite things and highlights.
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[jp]
My favorite moment in Melanie Lynskey's performance comes when
Pauline is having her hair combed by Hilda Hulme at Port Levy.
Many important things are communicated in very few gestures and
looks. I also very much liked the fights between Pauline and
Honora--the tone and dynamics were very true to life. And
Pauline's joy and her affection towards Juliet was very
convincing in the earlier scenes. Finally, Ms Lynskey's darkness,
her raw edges and impatience in the final scenes were also
excellent. It almost appeared as if she had gone for weeks
without sleep, like the real Pauline.
My favorite moment in Kate Winslet's performance is the scene in
Pauline's bedroom the morning of the murder. "Oooh, I feel all
sweaty. Do you feel sweaty? I feel all sweaty." Again, lots of
important things are said around those words. Ms Winslet gave a
very believable portrait of Juliet trying to convince herself,
unsuccessfully, that what she was about to do was right. And I
also liked the way Juliet was shown to change, very convincingly,
over the two-year period of the film, her need growing
progressively as her confidence crumbled. I believed Juliet's
half of the relationship, too, thanks to Ms Winslet's
performance.
And Sarah Peirse did a superb job of painting a sympathetic,
well-rounded portrait of Honora. I particularly liked her weary
dignity and her fluster when things became too complex to handle
and, as I have mentioned elsewhere, the way Ms Peirse used her
voice. Ms Peirse's performance in the entire last scene is
superb. I imagine it was hard to film, especially in the
tearooms.
My favorite technical aspect is the instant in which the sound of
Juliet grabbing the branch breaks through Puccini's "Humming
Chorus" in the final scene, and then is lost to the music.
My favourite camera shot is the dialog-free, meandering camera
shot over Honora's face in the upstairs hall as she gives Pauline
a tongue-lashing. Dasent's music and Lynskey's voiceover ("how I
loathed Mother...") are absolutely chilling the way they add to
Bollinger's camera work. The way the viewer is led to focus on
little pieces of Honora, then move on, not according to the pace
of her words, not even listening to her words, in fact, but just
as a study of something--this makes a very powerful impact. This
may have been the moment when Honora ceased being a whole human
being to Pauline, becoming just fragments and objects to be
despised, and it is an eerie and extremely unsettling scene.
[aa]
In the scene where Dr Hulme is meeting with the Riepers in their
home, there is a wonderfully theatrical pause, along with a
dramatic tracking-in of the camera, or lightening, or a burst of
thunder, directly before each of his carefully-chosen key words:
"an...unhealthy...attachment"
"behaving in a rather...disturbed...manner"
"wayward..."
"unwholesome..."
[dp]
In the scene where the girls were on the phone, crying, and
Juliet's mother takes the phone and hangs it up, I was almost
physically affected by their emotion--it was as if, for each of
them, the other had died, and they were wailing and keening like
mourners. Absolutely amazing performances, especially considering
that Melanie Lynskey had never acted professionally before.
[note: I received many comments about this scene and
anecdotes of similar events in people's lives. It was a
scene which really struck a chord in many viewers. jp]
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3.1.25 Release information.
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** Where was the premiere of "Heavenly Creatures?" [lfr]
Wellington, New Zealand.
** How many versions exist? [lfr]
The running time for "Heavenly Creatures" in its Wellington
Premiere version was 108 minutes.
The running time for "Heavenly Creatures" in its North
American release version was 98 minutes. At present, there is no
information about the content of the ten minutes cut before the
North American release, or whose idea the cuts were.
An early draft script of "Heavenly Creatures" contains
reference to several scenes that did not appear in the North
American release version. These were concerned primarily with the
girls' reaction to Hilda Hulme's relationship with Bill Perry,
and scenes with Henry Hulme being told to resign because "he was
not working out" and the "threesome" living arrangement was
unacceptable.
ref: Heavenly Creatures, Draft #5, February 7, 1993,
Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA.
** When was "Heavenly Creatures" released? [MDB,jp,se]
US 16 November 1995
Germany 12 January 1995
Canada 20 January 1995
UK 10 February 1995
** Has "Heavenly Creatures" been released on video? [lfr,aa]
Yes, the NAm video release occurred May 23, 1995. It is not
a letterbox version, unfortunately. The laserdisc version has
also been released. Unfortunately, it is not a letterbox version,
either, nor does it contain any extra material, interviews etc.
This is an enormous pity because the filmmaker used every
square inch of the screen and the soundtrack, especially, to
tremendous effect. This film is meant to be huge, larger than
real life, and it is meant to sweep the viewer away in a sensual
overload.
Lobby Miramax or Criterion for a letterbox version. And bug
the manager of your local rep theatre to bring "Heavenly
Creatures" around to the big screen, where it needs to be seen
for its genius to be fully appreciated, so to speak.
** What scenes were cut for the NAm version? [lfr,mk,sb]
The following scenes not appearing in the NAm version of the
film are from Heavenly Creatures, Draft #5, February 7, 1993,
Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA. [lfr]
To date, the existence of these scenes on film can only be
partially confirmed. There is a still photo of Kate Winslet in a
spaghetti-strapped party dress in "Cinema Papers" 97/8 April '94,
p. 29, which confirms that the "Bennett's Party" scene was
filmed. [sb]
1. (scene between Juliet and Hilda, both dressing for a party at
Dr Bennett's. J. is borrowing a dress of Hilda's - described as a
bit "freakish" as it's obviously too sophisticated for J.)
[aside: this wouldn't have worked as Kate Winslet could make
almost anything look good. lfr].
J: Pauline ought to be going.
H: She wasn't invited.
J: Its unfair! She's being held prisoner in her own house!
(Hilda demures and along with J. we realize she isn't going to
the Bennett's either)
J: What's more important... me or your stupid bloody clients?...
Is it Mr. Perry again?
(Hilda, rising and heading out from her room continues to evade.
J. follows getting more and more excited)
J: (contd) It *is* Mr. Perry!
(As Hilda continues down the stairs, J. follows and then feigns a
fall. Hilda is momentarily startled, calls for Henry, then
realizes J. is faking. Hilda leaves Henry to attend J. and
sweeps out, indeed on her way to Mr Perry. Henry tries to buck
up the enraged J., only to have her erupt into a full blown
temper tantrum, screaming non-stop and hurling objects all
about.)
(Cut to Bennett's. Dr B. is prompting his son Colin (whose 16th
birthday this is) to ask Juliet to dance.)
Dr B: ...She's having problems with her... orientation. [aside:
unlikely that terminolgy would've been used at that time in that
place if anywhere. lfr]
Colin: Maybe she should get a compass. [aside: chuckle and reason
for term. lfr]
Dr B: This is bloody serious Colin! This girl could be lost to
the opposite sex forever!
(A reluctant Colin drags himself over to Juliet, who everyone has
to this point studiously ignored, sitting in her far too
glamorous, adult dress.)
Dr B: Relax Henry... She's on her way to healthy womanhood!
(C. gets J. to dance and she begins assailing him, first subtley,
then bitingly. Colin is startled when one of J's spaghetti
straps suddenly slides down her arm. In a moment the other
follows... C. is disturbed and J. wickedly says:)
J: Oh God! I think my breasts are about to pop out!
(C. flees. Henry is dismayed and comes out to finish dancing
with Juliet who quickly becomes despondent. Henry is annoyed and
impatient. In the background Dr B. is railing at the unfortunate
Colin)
Henry: What is it now? What do you want? Do you want to stop
dancing?
J: (near tears) I want Paul...
(fade out)
2. (next scene is the 'bridge scene' of "why could not mother
die?" that I think I mentioned to you would've been really good
and helped out in making Pauline's leap from hysteria to murder.
lfr).
3. (Another party, this time at the Hulmes. Pauline and Juliet
are hiding in the woods, chucking rocks at the pond as Dr B goes
by, splashing his legs. They stroll nonchalantly out of the
woods eating grapes and drinking sherry from a decanter [aside:
!!! completely the wrong mood, come off like juvenile
delinquents here - but has this some basis in fact? lfr. [Yes. It
was an anecdote also heard and used by M Forster in "Daughters of
Heaven." jp]]. Dr B joins Hilda who is watching Henry and Bill
Perry play tennis. Henry is being thrashed and he knows it. The
girls walk around the entire scene chatting).
J: Bloody Bill's sniffing around Mummy something chronic.
P: I thought he was terribly ill.
J:(sarcastic) That was the theory.
(J. then tells how Hilda offered Perry the guest flat upon
finding out he was ill. J. imagines - we see - Perry so ill he
is brought to Ilam in a speeding ambulance, siren and lights
going full blast. Perry is wane and near death. Then we jump to
what really happened, Perry hoping out of a cab, coming up the
front walk making some "jolly good digs" comment.) [note: This is
actually a 'dig' at WAB Perry's testimony at the trial where he
explains why Hilda Hulme was in his bedroom... she heard him
coughing and brought him a cup of tea. WAB Perry then claimed he
had been admitted to hospital the following week. Apparently, he
was, according to an entry in Pauline's diary. Also, apparently,
the girls really did refer to him as "Mr Bloody Perry." jp]
P: Do you think Bloody Bill's trying to get into her drawers?
J: ...Fat chance! Daddy is the only one Mummy lets in her
drawers...
(Henry is being anihilated by Perry, who finishes him off then
collects Hilda and strolls away as Henry collects the balls, then
looks after them in despair)
J: (contd) ...they're absolutely besotted with one another!
4. (this is followed by Henry's being told by the head of CUC
that he's "not working out" and has three months to find another
position). [note: This is taken from real-life letter,
paraphrased by Glamuzina & Laurie in their book. jp]
5. (one last scene at Ilam between Hilda and Henry).
Henry: Its getting out of hand. She's now insisting we adopt
Pauline! Its preposterous!...
Hilda: If you want to be the one to tell Juliet, good luck to
you.
(they walk by Juliet's room, from which audible sobs are heard)
Hilda (cont): I don't intend to pick and choose my daughter's
friends. Pauline makes Juliet happy and that's good enough for
me.
Henry: But Hilda -
(Henry is cut off by Hilda who, downstairs by this time, is off
to meet with Perry. Henry is dismayed and sitting on the steps,
begins to cry.[!])
6. Furious with her mother for not allowing her to visit the
Hulmes, Pauline imagines Honora abruptly choking to death during
dinner as the rest of the family sits around implacably. Herbert
also dies, stabbed fatally by a fork while reaching for the salt.
Pauline snaps back to reality as her grandmother, Nana Parker,
asks her to break a wishbone with her and make a wish. [lfr]
7. I've checked, and the version of HC was indeed 108 minutes
long when I saw it first in NZ. But I still swear that I have
never seen the Bennett's party scene. The differences I *have*
noticed have been very slight (and intuitive - I only have two
viewings 8 months ago to compare the US film to). For example, in
the US version, the scene where PYP and the Hulmes are off to
Port Levy starts with a soundtrack version of "How much is that
Doggy in the Window." In the NZ version, it was longer, and was
sung by the actors - J&P singing with great gusto, and Mrs Hulme
encouraging her husband to go 'woof' in the appropriate place. It
was gloriously funny - I wonder why they cut it. I have also
noticed missing shots - stuff that served no great purpose, but
that I could swear was there last time I saw the film.
I'm more and more puzzled about the missing Coronation footage.
Apart from anything else, it would have been highly and suitably
symbolic - i.e., in order for Liz to be Queen, her father had to
die. The parallels between P&J and the Queen are quite obvious,
and surely worth playing up by Jackson. [mk]
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3.1.26 Miscelaneous questions.
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** Who was the bum kissed by the girls outside the cinema? [as]
Why, that was the director, Peter Jackson.
** Who is 'The Thorinmeister'? [aa,wb]
He is one of the volunteer modelmakers who crafted all the
plasticine figures. The nickname came from his fellow
modelmakers. Whatever it means, the name apparently suited him so
well it made it into the end credits.
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3.1.27 Errors.
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** Are there many? [jp]
There are some errors of substance, mostly to do with the
time line and the order of events, and there are a few errors of
omission and some small continuity errors and anachronisms.
** "Just A Closer Walk With Thee." [jp,mc]
The hymn used in the opening sequences, "Just A Closer Walk
With Thee," would probably not have been among the hymns sung by
Christchurch Girls' High School pupils in 1952. [jp]
The choral piece was not in the blue hymnals used in CGHS in
the late 40s. [mc]
** The Riepers' home. [jp,G&L]
The external shot of the Riepers' home, ostensibly 31
Gloucester Street, showed a house that was probably similar to
the Riepers' home, but the neighbourhood was not quite right. The
Riepers' home was located right downtown in an area that had
mixed residential and small-business buildings and was probably
slightly less clean and residential and a bit more gritty than
depicted. More to the point, Christchurch Girls' High School was
on the property at the rear of the Riepers' home and would have
been clearly visible from the street in front of 31 Gloucester.
** Steve-the-boarder's Doris Day record... [jp]
...was just a jacket--there was no lp inside. It is bent and
crushed when Steve gets out his board money for Honora.
** Mario Lanza's "Be My Love" and "The Student Prince." [aa,jp]
This is a very important anachronism. "Be My Love" was not
on the album "The Student Prince" with the bright red cover shown
in several scenes, both at the Riepers and at Ilam. In fact, it
was one of the big 'hits' from Mario Lanza's first hugely
successful film, "The Great Caruso" and, indeed, "Be My Love"
figures prominently in the poster shown outside the cinema when
Pauline and Juliet go to see the film in the giddy days of mid-
'52. Since "The Great Caruso" was released in '51, this is OK.
However, "The Student Prince" was not released until '54,
hence it couldn't have been in Pauline or Juliet's record
collections at any time during the story. It was an enormously
successful film and record, however, worldwide, perhaps Lanza's
biggest hit album. Maybe that's why it is featured, because it
was easy to obtain and because it would have been so familiar.
** "He's Italian, Dad!" [jp]
Bert Rieper asked if that was the famous Irish singer Murray
O'Lanza. Pauline replied scorfully that he was Italian.
Actually, Mario Lanza was an American who traded on his
Italian ancestry. I presume this isn't really an error on
Jackson's part, but a statement about how deeply, or not, the
girls investigated their Saints. I don't have any real-life
writings of Pauline's on the matter of Mario Lanza's citizenship.
** "I'm almost ten!" [jp]
Jonathon states "I'm almost ten!" at Port Levy at Easter, on
Good Friday, April 3, 1953 in real life, to be precise.
Jonathon's ninth birthday was March 22, 1953, a couple of weeks
prior.
Kate Winslet's reply of "No your not! You're only eight and
a half, and incredibly stupid!" is not correct, therefore. This
was probably just a little goof that Jackson let stand.
** "Go away! This is a private function!" [jp]
The 'Meet the Riepers' scene was inspired by Pauline's real-
life diary entry of March 11, 1953, the first to mention Juliet
at the Riepers' home. However, that entry specifically mentions
that two boarders were also present, Ross and John (and one gets
the impression that Pauline was pleased to show off Juliet to
them).
** "No, let's talk about your feelings...Bill." [jp]
During the 'Meet the Riepers' scene in which Juliet mentions
that her mother was active in the Marriage Guidance Council, we
cut to a montage of interviews ("she should really be working for
the U.N....") which ends in the first interview between Hilda
Hulme and Mr Perry ("deep therapy" "Call me Bill.").
This is incorrect. The 'Meet the Riepers' scene is
ostensibly in the early new year of 1953, before the trip to Port
Levy.
Walter AB "Bill" Perry did not arrive in New Zealand until
July 2, 1953, during the period when Juliet was confined in the
TB sanatorium and her parents were on their trip abroad. Hilda
Hulme and Bill Perry could not have met until after Hilda
returned from abroad, at the end of August, 1953. Theirs was to
be a truly whirlwind romance, but that is a topic for another
section.
** Juliet starts coughing up blood in Mrs Stevens' class. [jp]
Mrs Stevens had assigned the class an essay, "The Role of
the Royal Family Today," and the due date was written on the
blackboard: May 11, 1953. After mischieviously reading out her
piece about Diello, Juliet returns to her desk and starts
coughing up blood.
This is the wrong date, probably the result of a
transcription error made by Walsh and/or Jackson. In fact, Monday
May 11, 1953 was during the May Holidays and there would have
been no school on that day. In real life, Juliet was diagnosed
with TB on May 15, according to Pauline's diary, which would have
been during holidays, and she was admitted to the TB sanatorium
on Thursday May 21, 1953, a few days after the resumption of
classes following the May Holidays, on Monday May 18th.
** "You're only fourteen!" [jp]
After John-the-boarder is caught in Pauline's bed, Honora
proceeds to lecture Pauline and argue with her in the kitchen the
next day in a memorable and important scene. Honora tells her
"You're only fourteen!" This is wrong. Pauline's fifteenth
birthday would have been on May 26, 1953, just a few days after
Juliet was confined to the TB sanatorium. In real life, this
scene (or one very much like it) had to take place in July, 1953,
when Pauline was fifteen.
** "However, there is no doubt whatsoever that I have now!" [jp]
Lost her virginity. Pauline, that is.
In "Heavenly Creatures" Pauline's voiceover makes it appear
as if she thought that John-the-boarder getting into bed with her
was sufficient for her to have lost her virginity, which paints a
picture of an extraordinarily naive girl. In fact, this quote was
taken out of context and placed in wrong chronological order in
the film.
In real life, Pauline's relationship with "Nicholas" (he was
never identified by his real name in court testimony) was more
protracted and much more complicated than the way it was shown in
"Heavenly Creatures." What is clear from the real-life diary
record, though, is that Pauline and Nicholas went to bed several
times, though they only completed intercourse once, according to
Pauline's statements to consulting psychiatrists and entered into
trial testimony. The diary quotation used as the voiceover in
"Heavenly Creatures," when Pauline sneaks off to see Nicholas in
his rooms, actually refers to the the real-life first time they
went to bed in Nicholas' rooms, a scene not depicted in "Heavenly
Creatures." Nicholas and Pauline tried to have sex that first
time but it was painful for Pauline and so Nicholas stopped
(alluded to by John/Nicholas' "I didn't hurt you, did I?"). This
makes Pauline's hesitation, in the diary quote used in "Heavenly
Creatures," about deciding whether or not she had lost her
virginity, a much more subtle and complex and sophisticated issue
and one which only she and Nicholas could decide, in real life.
** "Now everyone smile..." Click. [jp]
The re-creation of the school photo was a nice touch
because, in real life, the photo was reproduced widely in
newspapers and in popular accounts of the case. This is one of
those excellent details attended to so carefully by Jackson: the
location is identical (exactly the same spot on the lawn and the
same background!), the arrangement of the girls is identical,
even the appearances of the girls around Pauline are very
similar, Pauline's expression and her posture were identical.
The only problem is that the photo was not taken at the
beginning of Fifth form, in February 1954. Traditionally, class
photos are taken at the end of the school year and that was the
case here, as well. The famous school photo of Pauline Parker was
actually taken at the end of Fourth Form, in late October or
early November, 1953, much closer to the time when Juliet
returned from the Sanatorium, never to return to school and, in
fact, very close to the time of Juliet's fifteenth birthday.
There are several dairy entries around this time in which Pauline
states she was very depressed and was considering committing
suicide. At the very beginning of Fifth form, Pauline had a
period of intense elation, according to her diary entries, for
reasons that will be clear upon reading the time line (see
7.4.3).
** "The balloon has gone up." [jp]
According to "Heavenly Creatures" Juliet walked in on Hilda
Hulme and Bill Perry in bed on April 23, 1954. According to
Pauline's diary entry for April 23rd, written in the evening as
was her usual habit, Juliet told her the incident had taken place
at 2 a.m. April 23rd, so that is correct.
However, in the NAm version of the film, Bill Perry's
presence at Ilam was all very mysterious and was never explained
in a satisfactory way. In part, this was due to the trimming of
several scenes from the initial New Zealand version (see 3.1.25).
In fact, Bill Perry had been living at Ilam in a semi-private
'flat' since Christmas, 1953. His presence in the Hulme household
was actually a far more important and significant factor in the
real-life chain of events than was depicted in "Heavenly
Creatures."
** "We are all M-A-D!" [jp]
"Heavenly Creatures" has Pauline declare this on "The
Loveliest Night of the Year," which Peter Jackson has decided was
the night of Friday, June 11, 1954. Jackson has this night be a
dizzy, passionate, ever-accelerating crescendo to the girls'
relationship.
In real life, the events building up to the murder were
compressed in time, but not quite as compressed as Jackson has
portrayed them. Pauline's "M-A-D" diary entry was actually from
Sunday, June 6, 1954. The two girls did go to see Orson Welles at
the cinema on the night of Friday, June 11, and there was that
all-important "enact(ing) how each Saint would make love in bed"
but the decision to let Pauline come and stay at Ilam was made on
the Saturday, June 12th, eleven days before the murder.
** When was the murder of Honora planned? [jp]
Obviously, the issue of exactly when Pauline and Juliet
planned Honora's murder was an extremely important one in the
real-life trial. In the NAm version of "Heavenly Creatures,"
Jackson takes some rather severe liberties with the time line
with respect to this very important point. In his defense, this
is still a partly unresolved and extremely contentious topic.
Jackson leaves the most important and damning (according to
the trial) statements made by Pauline to the final, brief
'bathtub' scene at Ilam. The exact date of this scene is not
given in the film, but it is approximately the night of June 18th
by inference from the real time line, because the diary entry for
that night states "We planned our moiders...". In this scene,
Pauline's line, "some sort of accident" was a quote from her
diary entry of April 29th, and "people die every day" was a quote
from her diary entry of February 13th.
According to the NAm "Heavenly Creatures," death was a vague
wish in the "Letter from Old Stew" scene and murder was not
contemplated at all by Pauline until near the end of that final,
intense ten days in June, 1954 with Juliet at Ilam. Pauline's
increasing resentment and "loathing" of Honora was documented
well in the film, though.
Jackson's time line is seriously at odds with the diary
record, though it is actually qualitatively consistent with
Pauline's statements made to the police after her arrest and,
curiously enough (given that Walsh has accused Perry of
undertaking a "revisionist" approach to the case), with Anne
Perry's statements made recently. Jackson's time line is also
similar to the interpretation of Glamuzina and Laurie (see
7.7.6), who tend to discount the importance of the earlier diary
entries that mention death and murder as possibly being just
fantasies. G&L contend that the importance of those statements
was over-emphasized by the police and prosecution, who were
determined to show longstanding, cold and callous premeditation
in order to extract the most severe punishment possible.
From the last bathtub scene on, the diary voiceovers are
reasonably accurate and largely in agreement with the time line,
up to the day of the murder, although they were edited for
dramatic effect and to leave out what might have been
inconvenient or 'inconsistent' elements (see 7.4.3).
** The "Ice Cream" sign at Victoria Park. [jp]
In the final reel, Honora, Juliet and Pauline are shown
walking up from the bus terminus near Victoria Park and Honora
elects to have a cup of tea before going into the park. When they
pass the entrance to the Park, the camera follows them as they
turn to enter the Victoria Park Tea Rooms, to their right. They
pass a small sign standing on the ground, advertising "Ice
Cream," as they start up the stairs to the Tea Rooms.
In the first reel, at the close of the Prologue, Mrs Ritchie
is shown running down the steps leading to the Tea Rooms. When
she reaches the bottom of the steps there is no "Ice Cream" sign.
Agnes Ritchie testified she was serving ice cream to a
customer when the girls ran up, screaming.
** The high voltage power lines in Victoria Park. [aa]
As Honora and the girls turn to go down the path in Victoria
Park, there are clearly visible in the distance, on the hill
opposite, modern steel high tension towers and lines. It is
unlikely that such towers would have been present in 1954.
*SNIP HERE*******************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
*****************************************************************
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End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 05/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
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John D. Porter
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"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 08/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
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5.2.2 Jim Booth. [Mir,aa,sb,MDB]
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The late Jim Booth (Producer) produced director Peter
Jackson's last three motion pictures, "Heavenly Creatures", "Dead
Alive," and "Meet the Feebles." Booth and Jackson met in 1987
when Jackson was looking for a producer for "Meet the Feebles."
The successful collaboration continued with Jackson's next two
pictures, the multi- award winning "Dead Alive" and the recent
"Heavenly Creatures".
The producer began his film career by founding and serving
as Executive Director of the New Zealand Film Commission where he
was responsible for sweeping changes within the New Zealand film
industry, as well as the shepherding of 27 feature film
productions between the 1983 and 1988.
Holding a Diploma in Public Administration from Victoria
University in Christchurch, Booth had a multi-faceted career in
public arts administration before entering the film industry. As
Deputy Director of the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council, he
oversaw a wide range of cultural and community arts programs, and
was responsible for a five-fold budgetary increase in public arts
funding. During his tenure as Executive Officer in the Department
of Internal Affairs, Booth founded the Children's Writers
Bursary, a literary award set up by the New Zealand Literary Fund
to encourage children to read and write. His experiences with the
children's fund led to his keen interest in seeing the true-life
story of teenagers Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme brought to the
silver screen in "Heavenly Creatures".
Sadly, Jim Booth passed away in early 1994 after a long
illness. Peter Jackson comments, ""Heavenly Creatures" is the
greatest film experience I have ever had, and I hope it is a
great tribute to my friend Jim Booth. His sense of fun and
excitement, and his tremendous courage were an inspiration to
everyone who worked on the film."
**The following is an obituary of Jim Booth quoted from "Cinema
Papers" 97/8, April 1994, p. 30. [sb]
The New Zealand film industry mourns the loss of Jim Booth,
one of its most successful film producers, after a valiant
struggle against cancer. A former executive director of the New
Zealand Film Commission (NZFC), Jim Booth spent 20 years working
in the field of the arts and culture, both as an administrator
and a practitioner.
Over the past five years, Booth produced three films
directed by Peter Jackson: "Meet the Feebles," "Braindead" and
the yet-to-be-released "Heavenly Creatures." These films have
achieved international commercial and creative success, with
strong box-office returns and many awards to their credit. "Jim's
commitment to New Zealand cinema was total," said Peter Jackson.
"He was first and foremost a friend, and was wonderful to work
with. The movies we made helped a lot of people wake up to the
fact that New Zealand is producing original, uncompromising and
highly-professional entertainment."
Booth was highly regarded by his peers and colleagues, and
tributes to his work and character have poured into his office in
Wellington, where post-production on "Heavenly Creatures"
continues. "Jim was a remarkable man, full of quick, lively
ideas, always alert to what might be possible," said David
Gasgoine, former Chairman of the NZFC. "He was an encourager,
carrying people forward on a wave of enthusiasm and good humour."
Executive Director of NZ on Air, Ruth Harley, said, "His energy,
integrity, vision and subversive sense of fun made him a pleasure
to work with and a delightful friend."
"Jim Booth's work in the film industry was the culmination
of a long career in the arts field. In 1977, he was one of the
people instrumental in setting up the Film Commission, and was
its first interim Director.
Booth then took up the position of Deputy Director of the
Arts Council, where he was responsible for the development of
community Arts programmes. In 1983, he was appointed Executive
Director of the NZFC, a position he held till 1988. During this
time, some 27 feature films were produced in New Zealand and
sweeping changes were made to both the production and financial
environment in which the film industry operated. The Short Film
Fund was established, including the programme of Bonzai epics.
Training schemes, the PODS development programme, script and
project development were introduced.
In 1987, Booth by-passed the cautious NZFC beaurocracy and
ensured that a young filmmaker, Peter Jackson, was given
financial support to complete his first film, "Bad Taste."
Booth's risk paid off when the film went to Cannes, created a
stir, and made a profit within three days of Cannes sales. The
following year Booth left the NZFC and began the partnership with
Peter Jackson that created the controversial cult films "Meet the
Feebles" and "Braindead." Their latest collaboration is "Heavenly
Creatures," due to be released in New Zealand in July. It is
already a commercial success, having been acquired for
international distribution by the major U.S. company, Miramax.
"Jim and I have created an internationally well-known filmmaking
team, which will continue to benefit the New Zealand film
industry for many years to come," comments Jackson. "As a
producer, Jim was in his element as a kind of beaurocratic
pirate, working eithin the system, but always prepared to take
risks and subvert it. His influence on me was so great, i know
that for the rest of my life, every professional decision I make
will be prefaced with the thought, 'What would Jim do now?'"
Jim spent his last days at the Mary Potter Hospice, attended
by his partner, Sue Rogers, his sons Nick and Simon, Sue's
children and close friends.
Filmography as Producer:
Meet the Feebles (1989)
Dead Alive (1992) (aka Braindead (1992))
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
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5.2.3 Hanno Huth. [MDB]
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Filmography as Producer:
Stalingrad (1993)
Schneider - Jagd auf Nihil Baxter (1994) [TV]
Heavenly Creatures (1994) (executive)
Felidae (1994)
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5.2.4 Frances Walsh. [Mir,aa,MDB]
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Frances Walsh (Co-screenwriter) has collaborated on two
other Peter Jackson pictures, "Dead Alive" and "Meet the
Feebles," in addition to the current "Heavenly Creatures,"
Walsh's screenwriting credits include several episodes of the New
Zealand television series, "Worzel Gummidge Down Under," as well
as the New Zealand period television drama, "A Woman of Good
Character." She is currently writing "Braindead, The Musical," a
splatter fest for the stage, and a new feature film script for
Miramax Films.
Born in Wellington, Walsh's interest in writing dates back
to her years at primary school where she was a prolific writer.
Walsh's extracurricular activities included watching a lot of
1960's television -- the independent character played by Diana
Rigg on "The Avengers" [the leather jumpsuit-clad Mrs Emma Peel]
became her childhood hero. During the time Walsh was a university
student, she explored her musical talents by playing bass in two
Wellington-based bands, "Naked Spots Dance" and the
"Wallsockets".
Filmography as Writer:
Meet the Feebles (1989)
Dead Alive (1992) (aka Braindead (1992))
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
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5.2.5 Alun Bollinger. [Mir,aa,MDB]
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Alun Bollinger (Cinematographer) is one of New Zealand's
most highly respected and experienced cinematographers. Bollinger
has worked with many of New Zealand's top directors including
Larry Parr ("A Soldier's Tale"), John Laing ("Beyond Reasonable
Doubt"), Ian Mune ("Came A Hot Friday," "The End of the Golden
Weather"), Geoff Murphy ("Good-bye Pork Pie") John Reid ("Middle
Age Spread"), Gaylene Preston ("Mr. Wrong"), Paul Maunder ("Song
for the Return Home") and Vincent Ward ("Vigil").
Filmography as Cinematographer:
Middle Age Spread (1979)
Beyond Reasonable Doubt (1980)
Vigil (1984)
For Love Alone (1985)
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
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5.2.6 Grant Major. [Mir,aa]
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Grant Major (Production Designer) has been involved in
production design for film and television since 1977, working on
such feature films as John Laing's "Other Halves," Ian Mune's
"The Grasscutter," and Jane Campion's "An Angel At My Table." He
has also been involved in the production design of three New
Zealand Expo exhibitions -- EXPO '88 in Brisbane, Australia,
TRAVELLING EXPO 1990 in New Zealand, and the NEW ZEALAND PAVILION
at WORLD EXPO 1992 in Seville, Spain.
Filmography as Production Designer:
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
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5.3 Cast.
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5.3.1 Melanie Lynskey. [Mir,aa]
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Melanie Lynskey (Pauline Parker) was discovered by the
filmmakers after an exhaustive nationwide search in which they
looked for a young actress who closely resembled the real-life
Pauline. She makes her motion picture debut in "Heavenly
Creatures." Lynskey brings to her role, in addition to her charm
and intelligence, a strong commitment to an acting career.
Fifteen-year-old [in mid-'93] Lynskey, a native of New Plymouth,
New Zealand, has been involved in school drama for several years
and eagerly anticipates the moment she will be before the cameras
again.
By far the most challenging and difficult role to cast was
that of Pauline Parker. In casting the roles of Pauline and
Juliet, Peter was adamant that he did not want twenty-year-old
actresses playing sixteen-year-olds. The actresses he was looking
for had to be between fifteen and seventeen years of age--and
able to act. Casting director Liz Mullane began a nationwide
search traveling the length and breadth of New Zealand scouring
drama clubs, talent agencies and secondary schools, auditioning a
total of five hundred girls. Finally, after narrowing it down to
two girls, Jackson was still not happy.
With production starting in just four weeks, Jackson asked
for the search for Pauline to continue. Liz Mullane went to
Auckland to continue the search, and sent an associate, Bryce
Campbell, to northern New Zealand with Fran Walsh. While
exploring lower North Island secondary schools, the pair struck
gold when they found fifteen-year-old ingenue Melanie Lynskey.
They immediately contacted Jackson who recalls "I remember Fran
ringing me up one night when I was in Christchurch well into
pre-production on the film to say they'd found someone very
interesting, that I ought to meet her right away."
Lynskey came to her role in "Heavenly Creatures" as a
complete unknown without any prior acting experience from her
hometown of New Plymouth, New Zealand. Before filming began,
Lynskey and Winslet had an intensive two-week rehearsal period
with Jackson, much of which was spent exploring character
development and experimenting with scenes. "It was vital that the
two actresses should like each other off-screen as well as on.
Fortunately, Kate and Mel clicked straight away, and their off-
screen friendship really strengthened their performances,"
comments Jackson.
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5.3.2 Kate Winslet. [Mir,aa,mkf]
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Seventeen-year-old [in mid-'93] English actress Kate
Winslet (Juliet Hulme) grew up in a family of actors and has been
performing since she was thirteen years old. She has considerable
experience in the theater including the lead roles of Pandora in
the musical "Adrian Mole," Wendy in "Peter Pan," and Sarah in "A
Game of Soldiers." She made her television debut in the British
television drama "Shrinks" and has appeared in "Anglo-Saxon
Attitudes," "Dark Season," and "Casualty." She currently has a
recurring role in the ongoing series, "Get Back" and lives in
London.
In a desire to remain as close to the facts as possible in
the telling of this story, Jackson insisted on casting the Hulme
family out of England. Producer Jim Booth contacted English
casting agents John and Ros Hubbard who rounded up 175 young
women to audition for the part of Juliet Hulme. Only one stood
out. Kate Winslet, a young seventeen-year-old actress from
Reading, bears an uncanny resemblance to the real Juliet, and
Jackson decided she was perfect for the part. "Kate impressed me
straight away as an actress with enormous range. She threw
herself into the role with an energy and enthusiasm and spent
many hours researching Juliet's character," says Jackson.
Kate's next project is Jane Austen's "Sense and
Sensibility," a story of "two sisters, love and nineteenth-
century mores" according to Lindsay Doran, who is producing the
film. Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant are starring, and this is to
be Ms. Thompson's maiden voyage at the helm, as well.
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5.3.3 Sarah Peirse. [Mir,aa,sb,MDB]
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Sarah Peirse (Honora Rieper), an award-winning New Zealand
actress, has a broad range of experience both as an actress and
as a director. She was the winner of the Best Actress Award in
1983 for her work in the period television drama "A Woman of Good
Character," and Best Supporting Actress in 1988 for her
performance in the motion picture "The Navigator." She has also
appeared in the television series "The Champion." Peirse has
also performed extensively with the Melbourne Theater Company,
appearing in lead roles in "Three Sisters," "Cabaret," "The
Secret Rapture," "South Pacific," "A Streetcar Named Desire," and
"The Rose Tattoo."
She attended The Drama School and spent many years at both
Theater Corporate and the Mercury Theater, where she became
Associate Director. Peirse has also directed at the Adelaide
State Theater. She currently lives in Australia.
Sarah Peirse also acted as drama coach for Melanie Lynskey.
For Jackson, there was only one choice for the part of
Pauline's mother, Honora Parker. Jackson had fallen in love with
Sarah Peirse's acting when she starred in the New Zealand period
drama, "A Woman of Good Character." "I regard Sarah's performance
in "Heavenly Creatures" as a real triumph--the strength of her
performance turns the story into a true tragedy. It was very
important to Sarah that she honor the memory of Pauline's mother,
and I think that this is evident in her compassionate and
intelligent reading of the character," states Jackson.
Filmography as Actress:
Sylvia (1985) [Vivian Wallop]
Mesmerized (1986) (aka Shocked (1986)) [Victoria's Mother]
Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey, The (1987) [Linnet]
(aka Navigator, The (1987))
Heavenly Creatures (1994) [Honora Parker]
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5.3.4 Simon O'Connor. [Mir,aa]
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Simon O'Connor (Herbert Rieper) is a veteran New Zealand
stage actor who has been performing for over twenty years. He has
also appeared on many New Zealand television shows including "The
Wreck of General Grant," "Goldie," "Close to Home," "Country GP,"
and "Jocko". His feature film credits include "Should I Be Good"
and "Dangerous Orphans" prior to his work on "Heavenly
Creatures".
Pauline's father, Herbert Rieper, did not prove so easy to
find. Bert Rieper was sixteen years older than Honora, and a
slightly built man with a kindly face and a jokey sense of humor.
"A lot of the actors that auditioned were simply too tall, too
humorless, or physically wrong for the part. I was looking for
someone sympathetic who could bring a certain amount of dramatic
depth to the role," comments Jackson. Two weeks before the start
of production, Peter was starting to panic when Simon O'Connor
walked into the studio. Within half an hour, Bert Rieper was
cast.
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5.3.5 Diana Kent. [Mir,aa]
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Diana Kent (Hilda Hulme) is a highly-respected English
stage actress and came to "Heavenly Creatures" directly from a
leading role in the award-winning production of "An Inspector
Calls" at the Royal National Theater in London. Other stage roles
include Heloise in "Abelard and Heloise," Titania in "A Midsummer
Night's Dream," Madame de Sade in "Madame de Sade," and the
Marquise in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of "Les
Liaisons Dangereuses." She has also appeared in the British
television programs "Palmer," "Poirot" and "Bergerac."
Jackson followed his instincts and cast as Juliet's mother,
Hilda Hulme, seasoned English stage and television actress Diana
Kent. Jackson comments, "I knew as soon as I met Diana that she
was right to play Hilda. I was looking for someone who could play
the sub-text of the disintegrating Hulme marriage whilst
maintaining the public facade of the happy wife and mother."
Filmography as Actress:
Frankie and Johnny (1991) [Nick's Wife]
Heavenly Creatures (1994) [Hilda Hulme]
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5.3.6 Clive Merrison. [Mir,aa,MDB]
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Clive Merrison (Professor Henry Hulme), has an extensive
background in British theater and was a member of Lawrence
Olivier's National Theater of Great Britain. He is currently an
associate artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-
upon-Avon.
Merrison has appeared in Clint Eastwood's "Firefox," John
Huston's "Victory," and numerous television productions including
the Emmy-nominated HBO movie "Stalin," "Miss Marple," "Reilly:
Ace of Spies," "The Glittering Prizes," "A Very British Coup,"
"Bergerac," "Dr Who," "Chancer," "Shine on Harvey Moon" and "The
Kit Curran Show."
When Clive Merrison, fresh from playing Sherlock Holmes in a
West End production, came in to audition for the role of Henry
Hulme, Jackson nearly fell off his chair. In every aspect except
his height, Clive could pass for Henry's double. During a scene
in the film Jackson placed Merrison next to a portrait of the
real Henry Hulme, and the two men all but looked identical. "It
was very weird. I asked Clive if he wore glasses. He pulled out a
pair of round spectacles and put them on, and the transformation
of Clive into Henry was complete," says Jackson.
Filmography as Actor:
Firefox (1982) [Major Lanyev]
Sign of Four, The (1983) (TV)
Pocketful of Rye, A (1984) [Percival Fortescue]
Stalin (1992) (TV) [Molotov]
Heavenly Creatures (1994) [Henry Hulme]
Awfully Big Adventure, An (1995) [Desmond Fairchild]
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5.3.7 Peter Elliott. [MDB]
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Filmography as Actor:
Village of Daughters (1962) [Ludovici]
Battle Beneath the Earth (1967) [Kengh Lee]
Cool it Carol! (1970)
Gorillas in the Mist (1988) [Mime Artist]
Missing Link (1988) [Man-ape]
"First Born" (1989) (mini)
Heavenly Creatures (1994) [Bill Perry]
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5.3.8 Other Cast. [MDB]
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Brophy, Jed
Braindead (1992) (aka Dead Alive (1992)) [Void]
Chunuk Bair (1992) [Pvt. Fred South]
Heavenly Creatures (1994) [John/Nicholas]
Goldie, Gilbert
Jack Be Nimble (1993) [Mr. Birch]
Hercules and the Lost Kingdom (1994) (TV) [Nevus]
Heavenly Creatures (1994) [Doctor Bennett]
Henwood, Ray
Hot Target (1985) [Douglas Maxwell]
Heavenly Creatures (1994) [Professor]
Moody, Elizabeth
Braindead (1992) (aka Dead Alive (1992)) [Mum (Vera Cosgrove)]
Heavenly Creatures (1994) [Miss Waller]
Thomson, Barry
Head Office (1986) [Security Guard]
Heavenly Creatures (1994) [Farmer/Policeman]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
5.4 Locations. [Mir,aa,jp]
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"Heavenly Creatures" is based on a true story and as such,
Jackson felt it important to shoot the movie on location in
Christchurch, New Zealand where the actual events took place.
Christchurch is located a little more than halfway up the
larger South Island of New Zealand, at Pegasus Bay on its east
coast. The city is built on a plain, just north of an outcrop of
hills (Banks Peninsula) which jut into the sea, with countless
inlets, harbours and estuaries.
In Christchurch, main roads radiate from central Cathedral
Square, with minor roads forming a web inbetween, in a manner
reminiscent of old British market towns such as Oxford. The Avon
River cuts the town in half as it meanders eastward to the sea.
There are countless streams and rivers in the area. Christchurch
is flat, very conducive to biking and biking was a common way to
get around at that time.
"Christchurch has always regarded itself as the most English
city outside England. The city's founding in the 19th century by
the offspring of English gentry was an attempt to recreate a
little bit of England in the Southern Hemisphere. There is a
River Avon, a cathedral facing the square and English-style
architecture in whose shelter the traditions and rituals of
upper-middle-class English life were (and to some extent are)
maintained." G. O'Brien, NY Times, Nov. 13, 1994. p. H15.
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5.4.1 Ilam. [Mir,aa,jl,G&L,ad,jp]
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Filming was performed at the Ilam Homestead where the Hulme
family had lived, as well as making extensive use of the Ilam
gardens, where the real Pauline and Juliet had play-acted their
fantasies forty years earlier. As the filmmakers discovered from
Pauline's diary, she loved staying at Ilam. From her descriptions
of their idyllic times together, they realized the gardens in
particular were the backdrop to the private world inhabited by
the two girls.
Ilam was located in the upscale residential suburb of Upper
Riccarton; it is now in the Ilam area of Christchurch. It was
named after Ilam Hall, the English home of the Watts-Russell
family who settled the area in the 1850s. The site of the
homestead had once been one of the main social centres of early
Christchurch society. The present homestead was built in 1914
after fire destroyed the first two buildings. The Ilam gardens
are locally renowned and are a popular tourist attraction. Ilam
was sold to the University in 1950, the year the Hulmes moved to
take up residence there.
Ilam was a residence for the Rector, owned by Canterbury
University College, also used for College social functions. The
balcony, location for several critical scenes in "Heavenly
Creatures," had been glassed in since the mid 1950s, so was
reconstructed on a set and digitally added to Ilam as necessary.
Ilam is located on the south-west side of the spacious
grounds of the present campus of the University of Canterbury,
beside the Avon River where it has a meandering confluence. Now,
there are student residential dormitories nearby, just south of
Homestead road. Some are visible to the left side of the house,
over trees, in "Heavenly Creatures". At the time shown in
"Heavenly Creatures" the Ilam homestead was on the outskirts of
Christchurch in a sparsely-populated part of town. There were
paddocks for horses nearby on the College property, and the
School of Fine Arts was the only College department on the Ilam
site. The homestead is set back from Ilam Road, to the west, with
a long, curving, tree-lined drive. The front of the home, with
its stately white portcullis and columns, faces east and is lit
from the north-east by the morning sun. The lawn and gardens at
the rear of the home are lit by the afternoon sun, in the north-
west.
The house itself has been changed quite significantly from
the time it was a residence as it now has a bar and, upstairs, a
restaurant.
There is a long drive and the house is hidden from the road
by a stand of trees and a large clear area. The front door is in
the middle of the front under a portcullis and up three shallow
steps. There is a large double door which opens into a square
hallway with a large staircase at the rear and left. At the front
right there is a large sitting room with a fireplace on the
straight inside wall and a large, flat window at one end; to the
right is a bay window.
To the left of the hall, beside the stairs, there is now a
bar, with two smallish rooms leading off one another. Looking
from the front door, straight ahead is a glass rear door to a
patio. The staircase is off to the left, and proceeds up with a
small landing on which you need to make an about turn to continue
up to the top. It is at the top of the stairs that the biggest
changes have been made. At least three rooms have been combined
into one for the dining room and, I should think, at least two
others form the kitchen. [ad]
So, it sounds as if some significant interior redecorating
was necessary to reconstruct the Ilam upstairs, including
Juliet's, Hilda's and Mr Perry's bedrooms for "Heavenly
Creatures."
To get to Ilam, Pauline would probably have bicycled west
from her home, cutting through North Hagley Park, then following
the #21 bus line all the way. (Taking the bus from Cathedral
Square was also a possibility). She would travel straight
westward on Riccarton Road to Ilam Road, then right (northward)
up Ilam Road, past Ilam School on her right (Juliet's elementary
School) and then a left turn into the long drive of the Ilam
homestead. All told, it is about 5 km (about 3 miles), door to
door, over perfectly flat terrain, from 31 Gloucester St. to
Ilam, so it would have taken Pauline something like 45 minutes to
bike from her home to Juliet's.
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5.4.2 Christchurch Girls' High School. [Mir,aa,jp]
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The old buildings that previously housed the Christchurch
Girls' High School in Cranmer Square still remain, and are now
owned by the Christchurch City Council. The council was more than
happy to oblige the production, so that all the school scenes
could be filmed in the original buildings. Pauline and Juliet's
original home room is now occupied by the Canterbury Woman's
Embroidery Guild, who were also happy to accommodate the
filmmakers by moving out for a week while they shot.
The present-day principal, Dawn Lamb, denied permission to
shoot at the present-day school, saying "why couldn't [the
filmmakers] make a film about pupils of whom we are proud?"
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5.4.3 Rieper Residence. [Mir,aa,mk]
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The only original site that proved to be a disappointment
was that of the Rieper House at 31 Gloucester Street which was no
longer standing. However, based on photographs and memories of
family and friends, Jackson was able to recreate the interior
layout and decor of the home on a sound stage.
Not surprisingly, there is just an empty lot there now, with
a sign announcing the imminent building of town houses on the
site. (It's ironic that the house - boarders, lower class and all
- which symbolized so much of what PYP wanted to escape from, was
in what is now one of the most sought-after areas of
Christchurch). What surprised me (although I don't know why it
should have) is that 31 Gloucester St. *does* back onto CGHS just
as the film portrays it. Another example of Walsh and Jackson's
thorough homework. [mk]
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5.4.4 Canterbury University College. [jp, mk]
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The shadowy, cloistered stone buildings that once housed
"Canterbury College" where Dr Hulme was rector was an original
location.
The new site of the University is located on the upper Avon
River in the western part of the city, farthest inland. It is
about 5 km (3 mi) from the town center, in the Ilam/Fendalton
region of Christchurch. There are golf courses and racecourses
nearby, and the International Airport is a few km to the
northwest.
Another wee quirk I discovered was that the building where
Henry Hulme' office was located during his time at Canterbury
College now houses the Christchurch Family Planning Association.
I'm not sure why that strikes me as ironic, but the implication
of "family planning" seems antithetical to Henry and Hilda's way
of doing things. If there'd been a bit more 'planning' in their
'family' Juliet might have had a happier and less murderous
childhood. [mk]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5.4.5 Port Levy. [jp,G&L]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The seaside village of Port Levy where the Hulmes took
Pauline for an Easter holiday was an original location. The
terrain is hilly down to the sea, and there is a small island in
the inlet, referred to by Pauline in her diary entries.
Port Levy is just 20 km (12 mi) south of Christchurch city
center as the crow flies, but by road it would be at least twice
that distance (described as '35 miles from Christchurch' in Court
testimony) because of the intervening hilly terrain and Lytelton
Harbour.
The shortest and most pleasant drive from Christchurch to
Port Levy would be up Dyers Pass Road, through the Cashmere
Hills, past Victoria Park, and around Lyttelton Harbour. Thus,
it's likely that the Hulmes would have driven past what would
become the site of the murder travelling to and from Port Levy.
It is obvious from Pauline Parker's diaries that her time at Port
Levy had been extremely special to her.
Hilda Hulme retreated to Port Levy after the trial with WAB
Perry, for some peace. She had been evicted from Ilam by that
time.
Glamuzina & Laurie report that the Hulmes bought a small
house (a beach cottage) at Port Levy. They go on to say that the
house had disappeared from Maori ownership upon the death of the
legal owner in 1943 and had been sold to a non-Maori business by
the Maori Trustee without consulting the surviving family, who
regarded the transaction as an injustice.
Glamuzina & Laurie also report that the Port Levy (Puaui)
area was one of particular spiritual significance to the Maori
and they offer, in their book (see 7.7.6), a Maori interpretation
of Pauline and Juliet's "Port Levy Revelation" and the murder.
They also comment that Pauline later studied Maori while in
prison, and they feel this is significant.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5.4.6 Victoria Park. [Mir,aa,jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Location shooting also took place in the tea rooms sitting
at the top of Victoria Park, which were virtually unchanged from
that bright winter day when Pauline, Juliet and Honora had tea
and cakes before taking their fateful afternoon walk. Remarkably,
the tea rooms have been torn down since the film was made.
Victoria Park lies about 7 km south of the city center, near
the summit (500 m) of the Cashmere hills, which form the southern
border of Christchurch. "Heavenly Creatures" shows Honora and the
two girls taking the #2 Cashmere bus on June 22, 1954, up to the
Dyers Pass Road terminus. From there they had to walk about 1 km
up Victoria Park Road to the lookout and Tearooms of the Park.
All of these details are accurate; the #2 Cashmere still runs
this route, starting from Cathedral Square, four blocks from the
Rieper's home, running straight south along Columbo St., to
Cashmere Rd and Hackthorne Rd.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
5.5 Special Effects. [Mir,aa]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The incredible special effects in the film were handled by
WETA Limited, the most comprehensive special effects house in the
southern hemisphere. The "Borovnian" characters sequences were
supervised by Richard Taylor while the digital effects were
supervised by George Port. Richard and his team constructed over
seventy full-sized, latex costumes to represent the "Borovnian"
crowds--plasticine figures that inhabit Pauline and Juliet's
magical fantasy world. "Heavenly Creatures" contains over thirty
shots that were digitally manipulated ranging from the morphing
garden of the "Fourth World," to castles in fields, to the "Orson
Welles" sequences.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
5.6 Music. [Mir,aa,lfr]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Jackson contacted a previous collaborator, music composer
Peter Dasent, a Sydney-based New Zealander to compose the musical
score for "Heavenly Creatures." Dasent had scored two of
Jackson's prior films, "Dead Alive" and "Meet the Feebles". He
composed a lush, beautiful and haunting orchestral score and
supervised its recording with the Auckland Philharmonic
Orchestra, as conducted by Peter Scholes.
The choral performance of "Just A Closer Walk With Thee"
used in the film was an arrangement by Rosemary Turnball, and
featured the choirs of Burnside High School, Cashmere High
School, Hagley Community College and Villa Maria College, all
'local' talent. Unfortunately, it is the only piece featured in
the film that is not on the soundtrack.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5.6.1 Soundtrack recordings. [lfr,aa,sb]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
European release:
Mana Music Production Pty Ltd
Manufactured and Marketed in Europe by Editions Milan Music
Made in France 74321 25350 2
BMG - Distributed by BMG A Bertelmann Music Group Company
F: BM 650 E: TAU
1 - The Princess of Ilam (Dasent)
2 - Meet the Riepers (Dasent)
3 - Be My Love (Broddky/Cahn)
performed by Mario Lanza
4 - The Shrine (Dasent)
5 - "Two Dutiful Daughters" (Dasent)
6 - The Donkey Serenade (Friml/Stothart/Wright/Forrest)
performed by M. Lanza
7 - The Fourth World (Dasent)
8 - Bad Chests and Bone Diseases (Dasent)
9 - Funiculi, Funicula (Traditional)
performed by M. Lanza
10 - Life in Bornovnia (Dasent)
11 - To Hollywood (Dasent)
12 - Divorce (Dasent)
13 - Pauline & Juliet (Dasent) [not in film]
14 - E Lucevan le Stelle (Puccini)
performed by Pete Dvorsky
15 - For the Good of Your Health (Dasent)
16 - The Most Hideous Man Alive (Dasent)
17 - Juliet's Aria (Sono Andati by Puccini)
performed by Kate Winslet
18 - A Night with the Saints (Dasent)
19 - The Loveliest Night of the Year (Aaron/Webster)
performed by M. Lanza
20 - The Pursuit of Happiness (Dasent)
21 - The Humming Chorus (Puccini)
performed by the Hungarian State Opera
22 - You'll Never Walk Alone (Rogers/Hammerstein)
performed by M. Lanza
Total Time 50:07
Composed and Produced by Peter Dasent unless otherwise noted.
Executive Producer Chris Gough.
Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Peter Scholes.
(note: "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" is not included on the
soundtrack CD.)
Australian release:
Mana Music Productions
Marketed in Australia by ariola (connected with EMI)
BMG 74321 23939 2
BMG - Distributed by BMG A Bertelmann Music Group Company
F: BM 650 E: TAU
To play the CD's tracks in movie order, program your player this
way: 3, 8, 1, 6, 4, 2, 7, 10, 9, 5, 14, 11, 12, 15, 19, 16, 18,
20, 17, 21, 22 (13). [aa]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
5.7 Story and Production. [Mir,aa]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
When writer Frances Walsh suggested to director Peter
Jackson that they do a film about the notorious Parker-Hulme
affair, he immediately fell in love with the idea. Jackson took
it to his long-time collaborator, producer Jim Booth, who also
agreed that they had to tell this unusual tale. The three
filmmakers unanimously decided that the film should tell the
story of the incredible friendship between the two girls rather
than focus on the end result. "The friendship was for the most
part a rich and rewarding one, and we tried to honour that in the
film. It was our intention to make a film about a friendship that
went terribly wrong," says Peter Jackson.
Screenwriter Walsh had been interested in the case since
childhood. "I first came across it in the late sixties when I was
ten years old. The Sunday "Times" devoted two whole pages to the
story with an accompanying illustration of the two girls. I was
struck by the description of the dark and mysterious friendship
that existed between them - by the uniquenes of the world the two
girls had created for themselves."
Jackson and Walsh began researching the story by reading the
contemporary newspaper acounts of the trial. They quickly
realized that the lurid tabloid articles contained little useful
information. The sensational aspects of the case that so
titillated readers in 1954 were far removed from the story that
Jackson and Walsh wished to tell. "In the 1950's, Pauline Parker
and Juliet Hulme were branded as possibly the most evil people on
earth. What they had done seemed without rational explanation,
and people could only assume that there was something terribly
wrong with their minds," states Jackson.
In order to achieve a more humane and truthful version of
events, it was necessary to undertake a nationwide search for
people who had close involvement with Pauline Parker and Juliet
Hulme forty years ago. This included tracing and interviewing
seventeen of their former classmates and teachers from
Christchurch Girls' High School. In addition, Jackson and Walsh
spoke with neighbors, family friends, work colleagues, policemen,
lawyers and psychologists, all of whom were able to shed light on
the friendship and family circumstances of the two girls.
More of the pieces of this fascinating story quickly came
together when Jackson and Walsh began to explore Pauline's diary
in which she made daily entries faithfully documenting her
friendship with Juliet Hulme. From the diary entries, it became
apparent that Pauline and Juliet were two extremely intelligent,
imaginative young women who possessed a wicked and somewhat
irreverent sense of humor, qualities which Jackson and Walsh took
care to preserve in their on-screen characterizations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
5.8 Press articles about "Heavenly Creatures."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
AS.
New Zealand Film, 52, 2-3 (1994). [jb]
"Major prize at Venice for Jackson's fourth feature"
Looks at the success of 'Heavenly Creatures' by Peter
Jackson at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, and
previews its NZ release.
Atkinson, Michael.
Film Comment, v31 n3 May-June 1995, p. 31. [mk,jp]
"Earthly Creatures."
Profile of Peter Jackson.
Brainard, Dulcy.
Publisher's Weekly, v242, n13, March 27, 1995, p. 64. [jp]
"Anne Perry: 'A structure in which to grow'."
Discusses Perry, NAm book tour and impact of her association
with "Heavenly Creatures" on her writing.
Bruzzi, Stella.
Sight and Sound, v5, n2, Feb. 1995, p. 45. [jp]
"Heavenly Creatures" (review)
Calder, Peter.
New Zealand Herald, Oct. 14, 1994. p. 2. [jb]
"Heaven sent"
Discusses 'Heavenly Creatures' with the director.
Conway, Matt.
Sunday Star Times, June 19, 1994, p. C10. [jb]
"Infamous 'moider' in movie spotlight"
Backgrounds the P.J. film "Heavenly Creatures' about the
Parker-Hulme murder.
Corliss, Richard.
Time, Nov. 21, 1994. v144, n21, p. 110. [jp]
"Heavenly Creatures" (review)
Cubey, Mark.
Listener, 145(2844), p. 43 (1994). [jb]
"Fantastic life."
Reviews 'Heavenly Creatures' by Peter Jackson.
Doole, Kerry.
Onfilm, 11(9), 6 (1994). [jb]
"Kiwi flix flex pecs for Yanks"
Looks at the success of 'Once were warriors' and 'Heavenly
Creatures' at film festivals in Canada.
Grant, Barry.
New Zealand J. of Media Studies, 1(2), 28-30 (1994). [jb]
"Heavenly Creatures"
Reviews 'Heavenly Creatures' directed by Peter Jackson.
Mentions recent success of NZ films in North America.
Groves, Don.
Variety, v358, n1, Feb 6, 1995, p. 11. [jp]
"Kiwi pix grab H'wood's eye."
Hruska, Bronwen.
Los Angeles Times, Sat. Feb. 18, 1995. F4, col.1. [lfr]
"'Creatures' Protagonist Denies Criticizing Film."
Johnson, Brian D.
Maclean's, Jan. 30, 1995. v108, n5, p. 86. [jp]
"Heavenly Creatures" (review)
Johnson, Stephanie.
Quote Unquote, 16, 34 (1994). [jb]
"Barking dogs"
Reviews 'Heavenly Creatures'.
Kennedy, Harlan.
Film Comment, v30, n6, Nov-Dec 1994, p. 64. [jp]
"Venice." (Venice Film Festival)
Reviews Venice F.F. and impact of "Heavenly Creatures."
Levy, Emanuel.
Advocate, Nov. 29, 1994. n669 p. 72. [jp]
"Heavenly Creatures" (review)
Maslin, Janet.
New York Times, Wed. Nov. 16, 1994. v144 B3(N), C17(L), col.3.
"Fantasies and a Forbidden Love That Turned 2 Girls Into
Murderers" [jp]
Morris, Roderick Conway.
Times Literary Supplement, n4772, Sept. 16, 1994, p. 17 [jp]
"Psychos and holy fools (Venice Film Festival)"
Murray, Ron.
Onfilm, 11(7), 13 (1994). [jb]
"Arcane arts of the WETA"
Decribes the work of Wingnut Effects & Technical Allusions
Ltd., or WETA, designing special effects for film. Looks at
their work on the Peter Jackson feature 'Heavenly
Creatures'.
O'Brien, Geraldine.
New York Times, Sun. Nov. 13, 1994. v144 H15(N), H15(L), col.1.
"From New Zealand, Heavenly Murderous Creatures." [jp]
Petrovic, Hans.
The Press, Oct. 15, 1994. p. 25. [jb]
"Curtain of uncertainty"
Backgrounds 'Heavenly Creatures', directed by Peter Jackson.
Philp, Matt.
Evening Post, Oct. 13, 1994. p. 25 [jb]
"Deadly Delusions"
Talks to Peter Jackson about his film "Heavenly Creatures,"
in which the girls' riotous imaginations and the fantasy
world they built up are emphasized as significant factors
leading to the murder of Pauline's mother.
Powers, John.
Vogue, Dec. 1994. v184, n12, p. 176. [jp]
"Heavenly Creatures" (review)
Pryor, Ian.
Listener, 145(2844), 38-39 (1994). [jb]
"Truly devoted"
Talks to the lead actors (Winslet, Kate [London]; Lynskey,
Melanie [New Plymouth]) about their roles in 'Heavenly
Creatures'.
Rafferty, Terrence.
New Yorker, Nov. 21, 1994. v70, n38, p. 131. [jp]
"Heavenly Creatures" (review)
Reid, Nicholas.
North and South, 103, 152 (1994). [jb]
"Heavenly Jackson" (review)
Ribeiro, Luisa F.
Film Quarterly, Fall 1995 (in press). [lfr]
"Angels Sinned First: Reaching for the Sublime in Heavenly
Creatures"
Scholarly analysis of themes in the film, emphasizing the
role of the soundtrack, and discussing the unconventional
portrayal of feminine characters by Jackson and Walsh.
Romney, Jonathan.
New Statesman and Society, Feb. 10, 1995, v8, n339, p. 39. [jp]
"Heavenly Creatures" (review)
Salamon, Julie.
Wall Street Journal, Thur. Dec. 8, 1994. A14(W), A16(E), col.3.
"Heavenly Creatures" (review) [jp]
Smith, Charmian.
Otago Daily Times, October 27, 1994, p. 23. [jb]
"Girls' imaginative world film's focus."
Actor Simon O'Connor talks about his role in 'Heavenly
Creatures'.
Sterritt, David.
Christian Science Monitor, Tue. Nov. 29, 1994. v87 14, col.2.
"Heavenly Creatures" (review) [jp]
Swain, Pauline.
Dominion, Sept. 21, 1994, p. 11. [jb]
"In on the act of murder"
Talks to the actors Melanie Lynskey and Sarah Pierse (sic)
about their roles in 'Heavenly Creatures'.
Travers, Peter.
Rolling Stone, Nov. 3, 1994. n694 p. 104-6. [jp]
"Heavenly Creatures" (review)
Wakefield, Philip.
Evening Post, June 25, 1994, p. 11. [jb]
"Heavenly coup for Capital festival"
Presents some of the highlights, including the world
premiere of Peter Jackson's 'Heavenly Creatures', from the
23rd Wellington Film Festival to be held in July.
Watson, Chris.
New Zealand J. of Media Studies, 1(2), 14-27 (1994). [jb]
"If Michel Foucault had seen Peter Jackson's 'Heavenly
Creatures'."
Analyses 'Heavenly Creatures' directed by Peter Jackson in
terms of the theories of Michel Foucault. Looks at how the
film portrays power exercised through the control of
sexuality by the middle classes. Focusses on control of
female sexuality through medicalisation and characterisation
of madness.
[I would really like to get a copy of this one. jp]
Weintraub, Bernard.
New York Times, Thur. Nov. 24, 1994. v144 B1(N), C11(L), col.4.
"Making a film from the horror of a mother's brutal murder." [jp]
=================================================================
6 Other art related to the "Parker Hulme" case.
=================================================================
**Here are reports I have read or received of other written works
about the "Parker Hulme" case:
There has been one thinly-veiled pulp fiction account of the
case, "Obsession" by Gurr and Cox, who also wrote up the case as
a chapter in a 'true crime' book. See 7.7 for complete
references. [jp]
Several other people were writing scripts concurrent to
"Heavenly Creatures," including Fiona Samuel, an English writer
working out of Wellington. [mf]
Angela Carter also wrote a script based on the story for
South Pacific Pictures in the 70s. It was never made because the
script was too dark and unrelentingly grim. Or so I heard. [mf]
Punch Productions, Dustin Hoffman's production company, was
interested in getting Peter Jackson to direct a film on the
"Parker Hulme" case based on a script they had developed from an
American writer. This was in early 1992. [Jackson, in "Cinema
Papers" interview April 1994. sb]
As the 40th anniversary approached there were: a book [G&L],
a play [DofH], and five or six other prospective films, according
to Jackson. Jane Campion and Dustin Hoffman's production company
were two filmmakers who showed interest. [Gristwood, Aust.
Women's Weekly, March 1995. sb]
Walsh commented that there were at least three other
proposals for films on the case, including: a script by the
English writer Angela Carter, another by the Australian
playwright Louis Nowra, and a script being developed by Punch
Productions. [O'Brien, NY Times, Nov. 13, 1994. jp]
A 1967 Australian play, "Minor Murder," by Denham and Orr,
was loosely based on the Parker-Hulme case. [G&L]
[note: unfortunately, G&L don't give any more details. I have
found:
"Dead Giveaway," Denham, Reginald and Orr, Mary. Dramatists
Play Service, NY (440 Park Ave. S. NY NY 10016), Garden City
NY, 1979.
which sounds like it could be the same authors but I don't know
what this play is about. The only reference I could find to the
title "Minor Murder" was:
"Minor Murder," Hensley, Joe L. Doubleday (for the Crime
Club), Garden City, NY. 1979. jp]
**Epigrams and quotes.
Here are a few epigrams and short quotes. These have either
been used by authors who have written about the film or about the
case or they have just struck my fancy as being somehow
appropriate or, in some cases, ironically apt. It has been left
to the reader to discover the ironic references, if any,
elsewhere in the "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ. Contributions to this
section are welcomed. [jp]
What is done out of love always occurs
beyond good and evil.
Friedrich Nietzsche
"Beyond Good and Evil" (1886) [jp]
The weak will never enter the kingdom of love
for it is a harsh ungenerous kingdom...
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"Love in the Time of Cholera" (1988) [mf]
In revenge and in love
woman is more barbarous than man.
Friedrich Nietzsche
"Beyond Good and Evil" (1886) [jp]
In best understandings, sin began,
Angels sinned first,
then devils, then man.
John Donne
"Letters to Several Personages" (1651) [lfr]
God is indeed a jealous God---
He cannot bear to see
That we had rather not with Him
But with each other play.
Emily Dickinson
"Poems" (c. 1862) [lfr]
Science is a cemetery of dead ideas, even though life may
issue from them.
Miguel de Unamuno
"The Tragic Sense of Life" (1913) [jp]
The Princess was a pretty child,
Thirteen years old, or thereabout.
She was as joyous and as wild
As spring flowers when the sun is out.
The Princess gave a little scream,
Carrousel's cut was sharp and deep;
He left her softly as a dream
That leaves a sleeper to his sleep.
Aubrey Beardsley
"The Ballad of a Barber" (1896) [jp]
Thou wast all that to me, love,
For which my soul did pine--
A green isle in the sea, love,
A fountain and a shrine,
All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,
And all the flowers were mine.
Edgar Allan Poe
"To One In Paradise" (1834) [jp]
Graceful, noble, with a statue's form.
And I drank, trembling as a madman thrills,
From her eyes, ashen sky where brooded storm,
The softness that fascinates, the pleasure that kills.
Charles Baudelaire
"A une Passante" (1861)
tr. CF MacIntyre [jp]
Children begin by loving their parents;
as they grow older they judge them;
sometimes they forgive them.
Oscar Wilde
"The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1890) [jp]
And your arm felt nice
Wrapped 'round my shoulder.
And I,
Had a feeling I belonged.
I,
Had a feeling I
Could be someone, be someone.
Be someone.
You can make a decision--
You can leave tonight,
Or live and die this way.
Tracy Chapman
"Fast Car" (c. 1990) [jp]
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love--
I and my Annabel Lee--
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
Edgar Allan Poe
"Annabel Lee" (1849) [jp]
She...
"We gave her most of our lives."
...is leaving...
"Sacrificed most of our lives."
...home.
"We gave her everything
Money could buy."
She's leaving home, after
Living alone for so
Many years.
She's leaving home...
"Bye, bye."
John Lennon and Paul McCartney
"She's Leaving Home" (1967) [jp]
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
Matthew Arnold
"Dover Beach" (1867) [jp]
Partir, c'est mourir un peu.
French proverb [jp]
You take my hand, I'll take your hand.
Together we may get away.
This much madness, it's too much sorrow.
It's impossible to make it, today.
She could drag me over the rainbow,
Send me away.
Down by the river
I shot my baby.
Down by the river,
Today.
Neil Young
"Down by the River" (c. 1970) [jp]
Kill then, and bliss me,
But first come kiss me.
Anon.
from "Thomas Morley, The First Book of
Ballets to Five Voices" (1595) [jp]
One night -- a night of mystic blue, of rose,
A look will pass supreme from me, from you,
Like a long sob, laden with long adieux.
And, later on, an angel will unclose
The door, and, entering joyously, re-light
The tarnished mirrors and the flames blown to the night.
Charles Baudelaire
"La Mort des Amants" (1857)
tr. "Michael Field," pseudonym of
Edith Cooper and Katharine Bradley. [jp]
First of all, I wept to God
-- when the world is wet & shy, under
the bridge I hold her
head down under
water & I feel her thrash
against me, just this once, I murder
her,
it's a once in a lifetime thing you
know?
You have no idea
how much I love her, I am she.
Lucie Brock-Broido [mf]
--It is death: Here lie the police. -- Up there, love
Siestas, sucking the meat of a heavy arm
Where the quenched kiss leaves its red mark ...
The hour is alone -- Listen ... not a dream is moving.
Tristan CorbiÅ re
"Paris Nocturne" (1890)
tr. Kenneth Koch and Georges Guy [jp]
I know, I dream you,
A sin and a lie.
I have my freedom,
But I don't have much time.
Faith has been broken,
Tears must be dried.
Let's do something, babe.
After, we'll die.
Wild horses
Couldn't drag me away.
Wild, wild horses--
We'll ride them, some day.
Keith Richards and Mick Jagger
"Wild Horses" (1972) [jp]
You stand by the blackboard, daddy,
In the picture I have of you,
A cleft in your chin instead of your foot
But no less a devil for that, no not
Any less the black man who
Bit my pretty red heart in two.
Sylvia Plath
"Daddy" (1963) [jp]
It may well be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution's power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It may well be. I do not think I would.
Edna St. Vincent Millay
"Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink"
(1931) [jp]
And how will your night dances
Lose themselves. In mathematics?
Sylvia Plath
"The Night Dances" (1963) [jp]
Momma, you had me
but I didn't have you.
So I,
I just want to tell you--
Good-bye. Good-bye.
Momma don't go!...
Daddy come home!...
John Lennon
"Momma" (c 1970)
Each time I am leaving home
I run back to my Mother's arms
One last hold and then it's over.
Watching me, you know I cry
You wave a kiss and say good-bye
Feel the sky fall down upon me.
All I am
A child with promises.
All I have
are miles full of promises of home.
If only I could stay with you
My train moves on, you're gone from view
Now I must wait until it's over.
All I am
A child with promises.
All I have
are miles full of promises of home.
Days will pass your words to me,
It seems so long; eternity,
but I must wait until it's over.
Nicky and Enya Ryan
"Evacuee" [lfr]
One last voice is calling you,
And I guess it's time you go.
Just one thing I ask of you,
There's just one thing for me--
Please forget you knew my name,
My darling, Sugaree.
Jerry Garcia
"Sugaree" (c 1976) [jp]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
6.1 "Daughters of Heaven." [mf,jp]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Forster, Michaelanne.
"Daughters of Heaven." Victoria University Press, Victoria
University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, NZ, 1992.
ISBN 0 86473 240 6 (contact Fergus Barrowman, Editor, for
ordering information).
Permision for performance may be obtained from:
Playmarket, PO Box 9767, Courtenay Place, Wellington, New
Zealand. FAX No: 011 4 3828 461
"Daughters of Heaven" received the Buckland Prize for Literature
(NZ) in 1993.
**"Daughters of Heaven" is a play about the "Parker Hulme"
murder, the trial, the incarceration and the eventual release of
Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme.
The author of "Daughters of Heaven," ("DofH") Michaelanne
Forster, began research on the "Parker Hulme" case in the
relative calm before the publication of the scholarly book
"Parker & Hulme" by Glamuzina and Laurie. "Parker & Hulme" had
quite an impact in New Zealand when it was published. "DofH" was
written, performed and published well in advance of "Heavenly
Creatures," ("HC") and "DofH" created its own sensation in New
Zealand when performed on stage and, later, TV.
While starting from the same basic set of facts, of course,
"DofH" presents a very different view of the case and the
characters than does "HC." Partly, this arises from the
different perspectives and goals of the playwright and the
filmmakers, respectively. After reading the play, and Ms.
Forster's comments (see below), my impression is that "DofH" is
constructed in such a way as to transform the "Parker Hulme" case
into a reflecting mirror or a refracting lens. The
reader/audience is invited to view the two girls, their
extraordinary, consuming passion, the society and times, and the
issues raised by the murder from a vantage point outside the
action, but through the startling optic formed by this
extraordinary case. "HC," of course, is more concerned with
presenting the view from within the girls' world, and through
Pauline's eyes, in particular.
The audience is guided and prompted through "DofH" by an
'everyman chorus' in the form of the Hulme's fictional, erstwhile
house-keeper Bridget O'Malley, an 'insider' who nevertheless
remains outside the action. We may be lulled and titilated by Mrs
O'Malley's proximity to the case, and by her conspiratorial
asides, but we may be fooling ourselves if we think we will be
getting the inside scoop and the straight goods from her. By the
end of the play, we come to realize that Mrs O'Malley has just as
many agendas as the most manipulative characters in her story,
and that her proximity is illusory--she may, in fact, know little
more of the 'truth' than do we, and we could well be half a world
and the better part of half a century away from the murder.
Below, I have included quotations from some of the author's
correspondence with me explaining the background to the play,
information about performances, some reviews of the Christchurch
premiere written by Christchurch journalists (which may also be
used as mirrors or lenses by FAQ readers...) and some
biographical information about the author. I was particularly
taken by the author's suggested character-doubling scheme--it is
diabolically clever and thought-provoking and, almost as an
afterthought, it allows the play to be performed by only nine
actors. [jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6.1.1 Background to "Daughters of Heaven" [mf]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
**The following are quotes from Michelanne Forster, the author of
"Daughters of Heaven," taken from her correspondence to me. [jp]
"I interviewed a great number of people who remembered the
case and knew the families and/or key people involved. I never
tried to find Pauline or Juliet.
"People I talked to were very cautious about telling what
they knew in 1989 when I first began my research.
"I was told by the Justice Department and the police that
Pauline's diaries no longer existed... A number of the key diary
entries were printed in the Press(ChCh) and Christchurch Star-Sun
at the time of the trial and I used these as source material.
"My primary picture of the murder came from hundreds of
'little stories'--snippets really--told to me by people who were
around at the time. School teachers, lawyers, friends, prison
employees, innocent and not so innocent bystanders; they all had
their say."
**The following is taken from the Introduction to "Daughters of
Heaven" and from notes provided me by Ms Forster. [jp]
When I first heard the story of the Parker Hulme murder I
was both repelled and fascinated. I had recently given birth to
my son, and a mother's brutal death by the hand of her own child
seemed then, and now, the most grotesque of crimes. But
gradually, as I immersed myself in the project, I became dulled,
much the same way the slaughterman does as he slits the throat of
a beast. The 'moider' became just another scene on a page. I
collected a notebook of fragmented memories and it was these
small stories which launched me towards the larger story I was
after. I was hunting the psychological heart of the murder.
"What is the play about?" I find it nearly impossible to
answer. Look one way it's the story of a provincial New Zealand
city, restrained and nice with implicit British attitudes about
class and gender, being turned upside-down by a murder, suddenly
being confronted with evil.
Look another way it's about love--the sweeping away of
reason and morality in a crazy tide of two-ness. It was the
passionate delivery of their souls to one another that concerned
me--not what the girls did in bed. Their fierce devotion and need
for one another evoked my sympathy, not my disapproval.
"Daughters of Heaven" is not a piece of investigative
journalism, an essay on repressive sex stereotype roles in the
1950s or a documentary to be marked ten out of ten for factual
correctness. It is a play written for the stage and must be
discussed in those terms. My knowledge is only that of a well-
informed lay reader. What "really happened" is not the
playwright's territory--the imagined secrets of the human heart
are.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6.1.2 Performance information.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Daughters of Heaven" premiered at the Court Theatre in
Christchurch on October 19, 1991 with the following cast:
Juliet Hulme . . . . . Nancy Scroeder
Pauline Parker . . . . Louise Frost
Bridget O'Malley. . . . Yvonne Martin
Hilda Hulme. . . . . . Darien Takle
Henry Hulme/
Justice Adams/
Prison Officer . . Patrick Dowman
Walter Perry/
Reg Medlicott. . . Ross Gumbley
Alan Brown/
Detective . . . . Mark Hadlow
Honora Rieper/
Police Matron. . . Sandra Rasmussen
Herbert Rieper/
Terrence Gresson. . Paul Barrett
Directed by Elric Hooper
Designed by Tony Geddes
"Daughters of Heaven" also had professional productions at
Downstage Theatre in Wellington and The Watershed Theatre in
Auckland (Director: Colin McColl). There were semi-professional
productions in Dunedin, Hamilton and Nelson NZ.
**Note: Darien Takle played Miss Stewart in "Heavenly Creatures."
[jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6.1.3 Articles about "Daughters of Heaven."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Calder, Peter.
New Zealand Herald, Apr. 15, 1993. p. 2:1. [jb,mf]
"To moider mother"
Houlahan, Mike.
Evening Post, May 27, 1992. p. 41. [jb]
"Daughters of Heaven relives matricide case."
Rathgen, Elody.
The Press (Christchurch), Oct. 21, 1991. [mf]
"Court's 'Daughters of Heaven'"
Appropriately, it was Christchurch where the play "Daughters
of Heaven" premiered. The murder of Honora Rieper by her
daughter, Pauline Parker, and Pauline's friend, Juliet Hulme, had
Chrischurch people riveted in 1954. It brought attention and
infamy to the city nationally and internationally.
The first production of the play is a superb piece of
theatre in its conception and direction and it deserves attention
locally and further afield. It treats the murder case, the
relationship between the two girls, and the situations of their
families with depth, sensitivity and respect. "DofH" will stand
on its own as a fascinating text for performance. But for those
closer to it, it is especially poignant.
The audience is shown the situation largely through the eyes
of Bridget O'Malley, housekeeper in the Hulme household. This is
an interesting device, similar to Robert Bolt's use of the common
man in "A Man for All Seasons." It provides an excellent
structure for the play, and a perspective on the hypocritically
moralistic but fascinated public interest in the case, at the
time and since. Outraged by the events she might have been, but
Mrs. O'Malley's last cruel act leaves its own sense of horror.
Yvonne Martin portrays the small-minded woman very well, with a
down-to-earth aspect.
Nancy Schroeder and Louise Frost, as Juliet and Pauline, set
up an intensity which keeps the audience focussed throughout. The
first act is long but not once did attention wander. In real life
there was between the two girls a deep emotional and intellectual
connection, as well as the physical and sexual one. They totally
shared their dreams and aspirations of a life together in
exciting international cities as writers and thinkers. The
boredom of small-town New Zealand would have to be left behind if
they were to be able to fulfil their potential.
For all the touch of arrogance in both, and particularly in
Juliet, the audience cannot help but be touched by the desire of
the two to break the bonds of their ordinary lives. Clearly, they
were much more able than the conventional mores of the time were
willing to recognize, let alone encourage, in young women.
Schroder and Frost convey the love of the girls, their shared
understanding and pleasure at spending time with each other.
However, similarly well dealt with are the dillemmas of
their two families. Honora and Herbert Reiper (sic), the parents
of Pauline, played by Sandra Rasmussen and Paul Barrett, are
overwhelmed by their daughter's gifts and ambitions.
Understandably, they resent her preference for the Hulme
household, and they worry about Juliet's influence. The audience
is clearly presented with Honora's restricting concern, and
Herbert's gentle helplessness.
The Hulme household, for all its material security and
glamour, is not one of understanding and support for an
adolescent girl. Juliet's need to rely on Pauline for intimacy is
placed in a context of her parents' absorption in their own
affairs. Darien Tackle (sic) is superb in the role of Hilda
Hulme, and Ross Gumbley as Walter Perry is strong in support.
But the murder of a mother is a terrible act in any
circumstances. This play does not avoid any of the issues. The
final scene of act one conveys it fully in tableaux, combining
image, lighting and sound.
The compelling interest of the play was clearly seen during
interval but the absorbed discussions of the first night
audience. There is nothing to deflect the concentration,
including the subtle and flexible single set design by Tony
Geddes. Michelanne Forster has not sensationalized her account,
which is well and fully researched. Elric Hooper has delved deep
into the psyche and motivation of each character and helped his
cast attain a complex and many-sided interpretation of the
events.
"DinH" (sic) is a play Christchurch can be proud of. It
brings into the open events which have caused pain not only
because of a dreadful murder, but because of the uninformed and
unsympathetic gossip which accompanied it. Few will be able to
ignore the deeply felt experiences of the two young women, and
the tragedy of the events for the lives of all those involved.
Riley, Brett.
Listener & TV Times, Dec. 9, 1991, p. 44.
"Well-crafted and a knockout"
The bare facts of the Parker-Hulme case are macabre: two
adolescent girls from opposite sides of the tracks in 50s
Christchurch construct and inhabit a delusion of magnificence and
omnipotence, then carefully plot and carry out the murder of the
lowly mother, who disapproves of thir liason, by bludgeoning her
over the head with a brick 45 times.
For 37 years the city has sat on a scandal that now rises
with a vengeance. First the book ("Parker & Hulme: A Lesbian
View"); then the play ("DofH"); soon its TV version.
To 90s lesbians the girls have been resurrected as unlikely
folk-heroines--bright women in a repressive dull town, merely
resolving a personal crisis in the only way the powerless kids
know how. Murder is less bad if you're a woman and a lesbian.
Enter Michelanne Forster's play, which instead sucks us into
a world of delusion, escapism, hypocrisy, insanity, forbidden
attraction and remorseless bloody murder, all without dodgy moral
judgements or fashionable intellectual cartwheels or even once
smacking its lips. She does not lift the lid on a smug provincial
city, as some would want, but voyages into two immature minds
that have run tragically amok.
After 18 months, five drafts, one workshop and close
collaboration with director Elric Hooper, the play, when it
finally opened at Christchurch's Court Theatre in October, was
well-crafted and a knockout.
Weaving effectively in and out of naturalism, "Daughters"
successfully employs fictitious good Catholic housekeeper Mrs
O'Malley (Yvonne Martin) to moralise throughout the whole nasty
affair. Though almost everyone in the Court Theatre would have
known the story of the English academic's and the fishmonger's
daughters, who briefly shocked the world, "Daughters" always
gripped audience attention.
There have been objections to the play, and some
contemporaries of the girls still want to keep the memories
buried. One, reported Hooper, wanted it canned because it would
offend people at Girls High, where the pair met. To the Kate
Sheppard Memorial organisers, on the other hand, the play about
"two gifted adolescent girls" was a timely opportunity for a
fundraising evening--supper courtesy of St Martin's Parish
Presbyterian Women.
Forster's play and the city that spawned it have been in a
weird embrace. But "DofH" is a good drama about hot topics, and
it is destined for independent life in the big wide world.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6.1.4 About the author.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Michaelanne Forster is an American by birth. She has lived
in New Zealand since 1973. After joining Television New Zealand
in 1980, Ms Forster worked as a writer, director and producer in
the Children's Department for nine years. During this time she
published four children's books and wrote a number of plays for
children. Since the birth of her second child in 1989, Ms Forster
has worked as a freelance writer and director. Other plays
written for adults include "Larnach," "Songs My Mother Taught Me"
and "A Dream Romance." She is presently (1995) Writer in
Residence in the Department of English, University of Canterbury,
Christchurch. ["DofH" jacket notes with updating by mf,jp]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
6.2 Other films dealing with murderous children.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
There may be spoilers (or surprises) involved in identifying
these films, of course, but here are some films that at least
make reference to the theme of children who may (or may not) be
murderers:
Drama/Comedy/Suspense.
"The Bad Seed" "A High Wind in Jamaica"
"Lord of the Flies" "Whistle Down the Wind"
"The Little Girl Who Lived "The Sailor Who Fell From
Down the Lane" Grace From The Sea"
"The Good Son" "River's Edge"
"Don't Go To Sleep" "Servants of Twilight"
"Heathers" "The Prince of Tides"
"Twisted" "Bad Boys"
"Who Slew Auntie Roo?" "Romeo and Juliet"
"West Side Story" "The Quick and the Dead"
"Natural Born Killers" "Crush"
"Fortress" "Salaam Bombay"
"Pretty Poison" "Clockwork Orange"
"Celia" "A Little Game"
"The Cowboys" "Hornet's Nest"
"The Wizard of Oz" "Little Sweetheart" (Poison Candy)
"Child Murders" (93, Hun) "Early Frost" (84, Australia)
"Flowers in the Attic" "The Innocents"
"Fun" (94, Zelinsky) "Compulsion" (59)
"Rope" "Swoon" (92)
Science Fiction.
"A Boy and His Dog" "Barbarella"
"Village of the Damned" "Children of the Damned"
"Flatliners" "The Road Warrior" (Mad Max 2)
"XTRO"
Supernatural/Horror.
"Pet Sematary" "Children of the Corn" 1&2
"Bloody Birthday" "Interview With the Vampire"
"Dead Again" "The Omen" I&II
"Creepers" "Don't Look Now"
"Mikey" "The Other"
"The Exorcist" "Night of the Living Dead"
"Dawn of the Dead" "It's Alive"
"It Lives Again" "Carrie"
"Prom Night" 1-4 "The Brood"
"Halloween" "The Devil Times Five"
"Vamp" "Near Dark"
"Salem's Lot" "Phantasm 3"
"The Mutilator" "Nightmare"
"Twilight Zone - The Movie" "Dead Alive"
"Summer Camp Nightmare" "Twitch of the Death Nerve"
"The Children"
Thanks to:
John Naffke Avril Hodge Paul Egri
Zonker Neil Sarver Hutchinson
Christine Malcom Alex Goddard Ann Foster
R.J. Lahey fishspawn Robbie Wai Tang
Gerald Edger Alain Steven Shinker
Jeff Oransky Dennis Timmy Trend
Pudman Patrick Storck Wes Clark
Tom Mitchell Carl Joseph Kushinsky
darin Sandra Bowdler Candy Whitehead
Ken Burke John Cameron Scott Bailey
Russell Silverman David Casacuber Mike Smith
Jim Collier Jorgen Jensen Steven Kaye
spork boy Terry Luster Mike John
Julio Onandia Mark Entwistle Charles Cassady, Jr.
Jeff Dove Tammy Mcnuff grunger
Bill Kennedy Michael Bergman Melanie Scott
Agon S Buchholz
-----------------------------------------------------------------
6.3 Other films dealing with similar school themes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The 'British'-type school system of the Christchurch Girls' High
School is a rich and complex cultural environment with its own
set of rules and norms. The rites of passage in this type of
system may be a little different from those experienced by
students today who go through modern public state schools.
The following is a list of "school" films that explore similar
themes to the ones in "Heavenly Creatures." These films may be
able to provide additional insight into some of the subtleties of
the 'British-type' school experience, and/or the antipodean
school culture that was such an important part of Pauline and
Juliet's lives. Or they may explore parallel emotional themes.
"The Chocolate War" "The Sterile Cuckoo"
"Term of Trial" "Goodbye Mr. Chips"
"The Browning Version" "If..."
"The Lonliness of the "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie"
Long Distance Runner" "Dead Poet's Society"
"7-Up" "7+7"
"The Group" "Lord of the Flies"
"To Sir, With Love" "Please, Sir"
"Diabolique" "Les 400 Coups"
"Au Revoir Les Enfants" "The Blackboard Jungle"
"Splendor in the Grass" "Gregory's Girl"
"Pink Floyd - The Wall" "Nicholas Nickleby" ('47)
"The Winslow Boy" ('44) "Tom Brown's School Days" ('40,'50)
"Chariots of Fire" "The Diary Of Adrian Mole 13 1/2"
"The Belles of St. Trinians" "Waterland"
"The Devil's Playground" "The Getting of Wisdom"
"The Children's Hour" "Melody" ('71)
"S.W.A.K." "Farenheit 451"
"Hope and Glory" "Another Country"
"Flirting" "Unman, Wittering and Zigo"
"My Life as a Dog" "The Long Day Closes"
"The Year My Voice Broke" "Zero du Conduite"
"Spare the Rod" "The Wicker Man"
"December"
Thanks to:
m Alex Goddard BD Craig
Jason Forest Miss Z Paul B McBride
Anja Tachler Shaun K Salter Maresa Kirk
Jordan Thurston Laurence Bier Gerald Edgar
Richard Elias smthsen Seth Kingman
Jefah Simon Leaks Larry Guzman
Atreyu Brian Phillips Samantha
*SNIP HERE*******************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 08/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
John D. Porter
*****************************************************************
"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 09/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
=================================================================
7 The real people and events - background information. [jp]
=================================================================
Previous sections of the "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ have concluded
that Peter Jackson's film "Heavenly Creatures" is precise in its
depiction of factual details, but it is not necessarily complete
or accurate in its overall portrayal of the "Parker Hulme" murder
case.
This section of the FAQ contains background material related to
the "Parker Hulme" murder case. Some material has been reproduced
in its entirety if it is difficult to find, or rare, or if it has
been analyzed and annotated as a representative example of a
genre of common material. To conform to copyright and fair use
laws, the material in this section is for educational or personal
use only (please see disclaimer at the end of the FAQ).
References have been provided to recent material which is still
in print and which should be readily available to the interested
reader through libraries or retailers.
Although the FAQ compiler has tried to maintain high standards in
preparing this section of the FAQ, a rigorous academic format was
not adopted insofar as referencing and footnotes etc are
concerned (any volunteers?), so this section should be viewed
more as a database and bibliography. Editorial annotations have
been kept to a minimum in most places to allow the reader to form
independent opinions about the case.
To that end, a word of caution is in order. All of the original
material should probably be viewed and judged, first, in the
context of the times in which the material was prepared and then,
second, within the context of the entire body of background
material. It may take several passes through this section before
the data are weighed and digested to the reader's satisfaction.
Inevitably, there will be errors in the data. Inconsistencies and
errors have not been removed from the quoted material, of course,
though they have been pointed out in many places to show the
reader the pitfalls of taking anything at face value. Obviously,
this FAQ cannot possibly provide a complete, error-free picture.
During the preparation of the FAQ it became obvious that each new
piece of information produced new insight into this extremely
complicated case. So, it is conceivable that data which are
missing from this version of the FAQ might completely change the
interpretation of the data presented below. Remember, this
section of the FAQ is concerned with real human beings, real
events and real life, and not with a neat piece of fiction.
So, it's obvious, but worth stating: Real life and real people
are endlessly fascinating but also infinitely complex. Concerning
something as convoluted and subtle as the "Parker Hulme" murder,
it is virtually impossible to come up with simple, final answers
to even the most basic questions.
However, it is hoped the material below will provide fuel for
constructive, intelligent debate and thoughtful discussion.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7.1 List of people (by '54 names).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[*] = corroborated person depicted in "Heavenly Creatures."
[?] = uncorroborated person depicted in "Heavenly Creatures."
[X] = corroborated person not depicted in "Heavenly Creatures."
JMH = Juliet Marion Hulme.
PYP = Pauline Yvonne Parker.
G&L = Glamuzina, J; Laurie, A.J., "Parker & Hulme", New Women's
Press, Auckland, 1991. (an important secondary source)
[X]Abernethy, Rex C. (Magistrate, Mr). [G&L,mk]
[Mr RC Abernethy, S.M.] Presided over PYP's being charged
with the murder of her mother, the morning after her arrest.
An acquaintance of HM Hulme through the Christchurch
Marriage Guidance Council.
[X]Adams, Francis Boyd (Justice, Mr). [jp,sb,G&L]
[Mr Justice Adams] Pronounced JMH and PYP guilty of murder
on the recommendation of a 12-man jury, Aug. 28, '54, after
a sensational, high-profile Supreme Court trial. Adams was
characterized as a hard-liner at the time. Trial transcripts
paint a picture of an even-tempered, extremely conservative
justice, determined to uphold the letter of the law and the
morality of the community, and determined to make an example
of the case to discourage indiscriminate use of the insanity
defense, at the very least.
After the defense had presented its case, Adams called
the legal teams into his chambers. He informed them he was
considering ending the trial because he did not consider a
viable case for the defense had been presented. Both junior
counsel, for the defense and the prosecution, argued against
this and went to find precedents. Their research convinced
Adams to continue the trial. G&L credit Mahon in particular
for arguing persuasively to see the case through and to give
PYP and JMH fair access to the judicial system.
[X]Alty, G.W. (Detective-Sergeant). [mk]
[DetSgt GW Alty] Made application in Magistrate's Court on
behalf of police in charging PYP and JMH with murder.
[X]Barnett, Morris John (Mr). [mk]
[Mr MJ Barnett] Superintendent of Reserves in ChCh.
Presented evidence about Victoria Park layout, terrain,
provided official drawings at trial.
[X]Barnett, Samuel Thompson (Mr). [jp]
[Mr ST Barnett] Secretary of Justice, NZ and Controller
General of Prisons. Barnett held consultations after the
conviction of PYP and JMH to determine recommendations for
sentencing under the provisions of Section 5 of the Capital
Punishments Act, 1950, relating to persons under the age of
18:
A person sentenced to detention 'During Her
Majesty's Pleasure' shall be liable to be
detained in such place and under such
conditions as the Minister of Justice shall
direct. A person detained pursuant to the
directions of the Minister of Justice under
this section shall, while detained, be deemed
to be in legal custody. The Minister of
Justice may at any time discharge on licence
any person detained pursuant to his
directions. The licence shall contain such
conditions as the Minister may direct, and
may at any time be revoked or varied by him.
Where a licence under this section has been
revoked the person to whom the licence
relates shall return to such place as the
Minister of Justice may direct. Failure to
obey this condition may result in the person
being arrested without warrant and taken to
the place.
Sentence was actually pronounced and announced by Thomas
Clifton Webb, the Minister of Justice. Involvement of
Barnett and Webb illustrates the degree of public interest
in the case (and hence political opportunity).
Barnett rose to be Secretary of State for Justice
(Minister of Justice) by the time PYP and JMH were released.
As Justice Minister he took a personal interest in their
progress while incarcerated, receiving regular reports and
authorizing special treatment, such as private tutoring. He
announced their release and the terms of their release
personally though, for some reason, all conditions were not
announced at the press conference by Barnett.
Barnett had attended the innaugural meeting of the
Christchurch Marriage Guidance Council in '49, and remained
involved in its work. G&L conclude Barnett may have known HM
Hulme, through her work with the Council.
[*]Bennett, Francis Oswald (Dr). [jp,lfr,sb,G&L,mc]
[Dr FO Bennett] Psychiatric witness for PYP defense, called
by Dr AL Haslam. Registered medical practitioner (family
physician, general practitioner, started practice in '34)
whose family had settled in Christchurch in the 1860s. Held
honorary positions at Christchurch Hospital and later wrote
a history of the institution. Fellow of Royal Australasian
College of Physicians. A social acquaintance of the Hulmes
for several years before the murder. Worked with HM Hulme on
Christchurch Marriage Guidance Council.
Bennett "was consulted about the girls' friendship
before the tragedy occurred" according to testimony (see
time line below). HM Hulme testified JMH was not "psycho-
analysed" by Bennett or anyone else before the murder.
Bennett examined PYP in Dec. '53, formally at HM Parker's
request. After the murder, Bennett examined both PYP and JMH
in the hours following their arrest "by courtesy of the
police" and, later, at the request of the defense team.
Bennett pronounced PYP and JMH insane (folie ů deux
paranoiacs of the elated type) and detailed their delusions
and practices during the trial. His trial testimony was
frequently inconsistent, impassioned and rambling.
Prosecutor Brown befuddled Bennett on the stand several
times and Bennett seemed to be way out of his depth in these
procedings, legally. Bennett made one absolutely critical
legal blunder in response to clarifying questions by an
obviously confused and exasperated Justice Adams:
Justice Adams: Then may your view be
summarized thus: in your opinion they knew
the act [murder] was contrary to the law and
contrary to the ordinary standards of the
community, but nevertheless it was not
contrary to their own moral standards?
Dr Bennett: That is so, your honour. You have
exactly summarized it.
What Justice Adams had actually summarized were the
McNaghten rules defining legal sanity. What Dr Bennett had
actually done by agreeing with the Judge was nullify, in one
sentence, all his previous testimony for the defense.
Bennett's psychiatric qualifications consisted mostly
of treating cases in his private practice, in hospital and
in the Army associated with war trauma, and he had little or
no experience with criminal psychiatry, according to
Prosecution summing up.
[X]Brown, Alan W. (Mr). [jp,G&L]
[Mr AW Brown] Crown Prosecutor, appointed Feb '54 after many
years of working with previous CP. Brown had joined a local
firm in '20, achieving partner in '24. Aggressive, effective
and cunning, he adopted an indignant, conservative,
judgemental moral tone throughout the trial. Brown managed
to appeal to the community's prejudices against lesbians and
social privilege while titilating with salacious and
legally-irrelevant material, and to tap the community's
outrage over the brutal murder. Concluding remarks (widely
quoted): "This was a coldly, callously planned and carefully
committed murder by two precocious and dirty-minded little
girls. They are not incurably insane, but incurably bad. You
may feel pity for these girls, but pity and sentiment have
no part in British justice." G&L mis-spell his given name as
"Allan."
[X]Brown, Macdonald (Senior-Detective). [jp,sb,G&L,mk]
[Senior-Detective Macdonald Brown] Received the radio
message from Sgt Hope after the murder. Dispatched Det Sgt
AB Tate and Det GF Gillies to investigate at the scene.
Interrogated PYP at Ilam and extracted her confession.
Testified at Hearing and Inquest and Trial. Read diary
extracts, signed statement of PYP. G&L incorrectly state his
name as "McDonald Brown," probably because that was how it
was listed in The Press (ChCh) on the day after the murder.
[X]Elizabeth II, H.M. b. 1926/04/21 (aged 28 in '54) [jp]
[H.M. Queen Elizabeth II] Queen Elizabeth became a young,
vivacious, immensely popular monarch when she succeeded her
father, King George VI, upon his death on Feb. 6, '52. Her
Coronation took place June 2, '53 and touched off global
celebrations in most capitals. There was a Royal Tour of
Australasia in '53-4 which passed through Christchurch. It
is virtually certain that Henry and Hilda Hulme, being
prominent members of the Christchurch establishment, would
have been presented to the Queen and would have been in
attendance at evensong in the Cathedral Jan. 20, '54.
[X]Felton, Margaret (Police Matron). [G&L]
[Matron M Felton] Left guarding PYP at the police station
when PYP attempted to burn the final note/diary entry.
[X]Ferner, Raymond S (Magistrate, Mr). [sb,G&L,mk]
[Mr RS Ferner, S.M.] Charged JMH with murder. Committed JMH
and PYP to trial at the sensational Hearing and Inquest
which foreshadowed the incredible trial to come.
[X]Gilles, G Ferguson (Detective). [G&L,mk]
[Det GF Gilles] From Criminal Investigation Branch.
Dispatched to murder scene. Testified at Hearing, inquest
and Trial.
[X]Gresson, Terence Arbuthnot (Mr). [jp,sb,G&L]
[Mr TA Gresson] Defense counsel for Hulme, engaged by Hilda
and Henry Hulme. From a well-known South Island (NZ) legal
family, he had met Henry Hulme at Cambridge; the two re-
established social contact upon HR Hulme's arrival in NZ and
Gresson was an occasional guest at Ilam.
Pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity (paranoia,
folie ů deux). Consistently out-maneuvered by the
prosecution during the trial, largely because of damning
statements made by JMH and PYP and legally-amateur testimony
from consulting psychiatrists, Bennett in particular. In
fact, Gresson had few options once a decision to plead not
guilty by reason of insanity had been made, because the
legal burden of proof falls on the defense in that case, not
the prosecution, under NZ law. In effect, Gresson had to
prove PYP and JMH were legally insane under the very
restrictive definition of the McNaghten rules. Unfortunately
the girls' statements to police and psychiatrists after the
murder made it abundantly plain they were not insane under
that definition. So the defense strategy was to appeal to
the jury's unscientific perception of madness, heaping
evidence of the girls' unusual beliefs and behaviour on the
jury. The defense wanted the girls to be declared to be
homosexuals because of the link at that time between
homosexuality and mental imbalance.
Gresson was highly regarded in legal circles. He became
one of the youngest judges appointed in NZ in '56. Found
dead (apparent suicide) of carbon monoxide poisoning in his
Auckland garage in '66 while a Senior Judge in Auckland
Supreme Court.
[X]Griffiths, Audrey Elsie (Constable). [jb,G&L,mk]
[Const AE Griffiths] Policewoman who arrived at the scene
with Dets Tate and Gilles and performed the initial search
of the site and inspection of the body. Later, she helped
transport the body to Christchurch Hospital mortuary where
she removed Honora's clothing and effects as evidence. She
recalled in '94 that the victim's fingers had been severed
when she tried to block the blows of the murder weapon.
Family name Amos in '94. Testified at Hearing and Inquest.
[X]Haslam, Alec L (Dr). [jp,sb,G&L]
[Dr AL Haslam] Defense counsel for Parker. Rieper family
lawyer. Made little impact in contemporary press reports
outside Australasia. Former Rhodes Scholar, 'Dr' may have
been LLD. Defense team didn't appear to be well coordinated
or particularly spirited. H Rieper spent years under severe
financial hardship paying off the defense legal fees, which
were eventually reduced when the firm "became aware of his
difficulty in paying."
[X]Hope, Robert William (Sergeant). [G&L,mk]
[Sgt RW Hope] First Christchurch police officer on the scene
after the murder, with Const Molyneux. Arrived late, after
first going to Victoria Lake. Radioed Central Police Station
in downtown Christchurch after viewing Honora's body.
Testified at Hearing and Inquest.
[*]Hulme, Henry Rainsford (Dr). b. 1908 (aged 45 in '54). [jp]
[Dr HR Hulme] A mathematical physicist, Rector of Canterbury
University College, Christchurch, NZ '48-'54, a member of
the Senate of the University of New Zealand and a close
acquaintance of the Anglican Bishop of Christchurch and
other prominent members of Christchurch society. Husband of
Hilda, father of Juliet and Jonathon. Attended JMH's
arraignment but left NZ shortly afterwards, before the
Hearing, Inquest and Trial, with his son, never to return.
Did not testify at the arraignment, hearing or trial. No
statements read into evidence. Did not visit his daughter in
prison after the trial. See 7.10.1 for a detailed biography.
[*]Hulme, Hilda Marion (Mrs). b. 1913 (aged 41 in '54). [jp]
[Mrs HM Hulme] Wife of Henry, mother of Juliet (F, 1st) and
Jonathon (M, 2nd). Prominent member of Christchurch
organizations and society. Testified at all stages of legal
proceedings, appearing on subpoena at the hearing, inquest
and trial. She was used cynically and effectively by Brown
as a prosecution tool during the trial. Admitted to being in
love with Walter Perry in testimony during the trial and
provided much personal information about her family,
reluctantly. Immediately following the trial she changed her
name and left the country, and her incarcerated daughter,
behind her. Did not speak with her daughter after the trial
or visit her in prison. See additional biography of Juliet
Hulme in 7.10.2.
[*]Hulme, Jonathon. b. Mar. 22, 1944 (aged 10 in '54). [jp,sb]
[Jonathon Hulme] Younger brother to JMH. Fond of his sister
but apparently treated indifferently by her. Jonathon was
removed from NZ by his father before the trial. Not known
which parent ended up with custody of Jonathon.
[*]Hulme, Juliet Marion. b. Oct. 28, 1938. (aged 15 in '54). [jp]
[JMH] Evidence of troubled childhood and adolescence,
chronic respiratory ailments, chronic abandonment, difficult
family life and 'juvenile delinquency' (including blackmail)
presented at arraignment and trial. She had a measured IQ of
170 in '52. Her statements to police were quoted extensively
in the trial. Public opinion at the time of the trial held
Juliet to be utterly spoiled and ruthlessly manipulative and
this affected her sentencing. Medlicott: "Juliet is a tall,
willowy, frail, attractive blonde with large blue eyes." G&L
give a decidedly different description of JMH. See 7.10.2
for additional biography.
[X]Hunter, James Dewar (Dr). [jp,G&L]
[Dr JD Hunter] Superintendant Sunnyside Mental Hospital,
Christchurch. Similar qualifications to Stallworthy and
Saville. Employed by Department of Mental Hygene in NZ for
29 years, excluding 2 years spent as a medical officer in
Scotland. Testified for the prosecution, stating he refused
to certify JMH and PYP, believing them to be quite sane.
[X]Keys, Harold Ernest (Mr). [mk]
[Mr HE Keys] Driver for St John Ambulance Association,
called to Victoria Park by A Ritchie. Saw body of victim,
ascertained she was dead, then later took Dr HR Hulme's name
and address when he came and took away PYP and JMH before
the arrival of the police. Testified at Hearing and Inquest.
[X]Mahon, Peter Thomas (Mr). [sb,G&L,mk]
[Mr PT Mahon] Junior member of Crown prosecution team. Born
and educated in Christchurch, joining the firm where Brown
had practised in '41. Served in the Army in WW II. Returned
to work with Brown and Crown Prosecutor preceeding Brown.
Succeeded Brown as Crown Prosecutor in '57 upon Brown's
retirement. Later had a long and distinguished career.
[X]McIlroy, Eric Gordon (Mr). [G&L,mk]
[Mr EG McIlroy] Labourer hired by ChCh City Council and
Assistant to Kenneth Ritchie in Victoria Park. First to find
Honora Parker's body with KN Ritchie. Stood guard over the
body as instructed when Ritchie went back for police and
doctor. Testified at Hearing and Inquest.
[X]McKenzie, D. (Inspector). [G&L,mk]
[Inspector D McKenzie] Took charge of murder investigation
with SeniorDet Macdonald Brown.
[X]McLelland, Brian (Mr). [jb,G&L]
[Mr B McLelland] Junior defense counsel for JMH, assisting
Gresson. Born and educated in Christchurch, attending
Canterbury College. After War service joined Gresson's firm.
Read JMH's and PYP's writings. In a '91 interview, after he
had risen to be Queen's Counsel, he made these statements:
"They really believed [JMH's play] was so brilliant that it
would be filmed in Hollywood. They were going over there to
arrange all this. The whole thing was ridiculous." He
disagreed with the verdict, believing JMH to be insane.
Never saw JMH again after trial. "Frankly I did not want to.
There was nothing I could do. Juliet needed a doctor, not a
lawyer." Died recently.
[X]Medlicott, Reginald Warren (Dr). [jp,jb,sb,mf,G&L]
[Dr RW Medlicott] Medical superintendent of Ashburn Hall, a
private psychiatric hospital, Dunedin for seven years prior
to trial. In his early 30s, he was prominent and well-
respected in his field, a Member of the Royal Australasian
College of Physicians, visiting psychiatric physician to
Dunedin Hospital, lecturer in psychiatry at Otago University
Medical School, and had held a Rockefeller Fellowship,
spending a year at a University Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio,
USA. Lead psychiatrist, testifyied at the trial for the
defense, called by Gresson.
Bennet physically and mentally examined JMH and PYP and
read their writings: PYP's diary, some fictional writings of
both, some correspondence. Interviewed H Rieper, HM Hulme,
Dr FO Bennett, Wendy Rieper, Amy ('Nana') Parker. Testified
that both PYP and JMH were hostile and abusive toward him
during examinations. Pronounced JMH and PYP insane (folie ů
deux paranoics of the exalted type). Read extensively from
PYP's poetry and diaries in testimony. Grilled mercilessly
and ridiculed in 2 days of withering cross-examination on
psychological interpretation of poetry, among other things,
by Prosecutor Brown during trial. Medlicott, like Bennett,
seemed way out of his depth, legally, in the trial
proceedings. His obvious lack of criminal psych experience
was noted by the Crown Prosecutor in his summing up.
Medlicott wrote up the case history for publication in
a learned psych journal (see 7.8.1). The case seems to have
had a lasting impact on him. Glamuzina and Laurie
interviewed him in '87, when he "described a dream he had
about Juliet, where he thought that an evil scorpion-like
creature which crawled out of a wall symbolised her. Even
nearly thirty-five years later he was still preoccupied with
ideas of evil about the two girls." Rumour was that
Medlicott would have committed PYP and JMH to his private
hospital had they been found insane. He died ca. '88.
[X]Molyneux, Donald (Constable). [G&L,mk]
[Const D Molyneux] First police to arrive at murder scene,
with Sgt RW Hope. Stayed with Honora's body when Sgt Hope
returned to radio for assistance. Testified at Hearing and
Inquest.
[*]Parker, Honora Mary (Mrs). b. 1909 (aged 45 in '54). [jp,sb]
[Mrs HM Parker] British emigrant to NZ at 18. Common-law
wife of Herbert Rieper for 23 years [some accounts say 25].
Mother of (?) (M, 1st), Wendy (F, 2nd), Pauline (F, 3rd),
and Rosemary (F, 4th). Known in life as Honora Rieper. Her
children also known by Rieper name. Murdered by PYP and JMH
on June 22, '54.
[X]Parker, (?) (M, 1st). [jp,sb]
Older brother to Wendy, PYP and Rosemary. "Blue baby," i.e.
born with perforated heart &/or other cardio-pulminary
defects. Died within 24 h of birth according to court
testimony.
[*]Parker, Wendy Patricia. b. Mar. 1937 (aged 17 in '54).
[Wendy Parker] Older sister of PYP and Rosemary. Medlicott
described her: "An attractive blonde of seventeen years of
age. She is of average intelligence, likeable in manner,
sociable and keen on sport, and has never given her family
any cause for concern. Of different temperament than Pauline
they have never had much in common." [sb,jb,jp]
[*]Parker, Pauline Yvonne. b. May 26, 1938 (3rd, aged 16 in '54).
[PYP] aka Pauline Rieper. Evidence of wit and intelligence
presented in arraignment and trial through statements and
writings. Suffered from severe osteomyelitis as small child
and had recurring disability and pain throughout her life.
PYP attended East Belt Methodist Church with Wendy quite
regularly, though her parents did not attend. Both girls
spent holidays on a farm which took in city children
referred to them by the Methodist Church. PYP's diaries and
writings were key pieces of evidence used to prove
premeditation of the murder and involvement of JMH in
planning it. Medlicott: "Pauline is a dark, rather sulky
looking but not unattractive girl of stocky build." G&L
describe her in very different terms. Public perception of
PYP at the time of the trial was that she was moody, evil
and used by JMH as a lover and an agent of a 'thrill
killing.' Perception of PYP as an intelligent 'quasi-victim'
affected terms of her incarceration. [jp,sb]
[X]Parker, Rosemary. b. Mar. 1949 (4th, aged 5 in '54). [jp,sb]
[Rosemary Parker] Younger sister to Wendy and PYP, described
as a 'mongolian imbecile' (Downs' Syndrome) in court
testimony. Rosemary was institutionalized at Templeton Farm
outside Christchurch, in '51, at age 2 [G&L] or in '52 at
age 3 [Medlicott]. HD Rieper testified she was visited
regularly and brought home from time to time and was
apparently loved by PYP. The birth defects of PYP's siblings
were discussed in court, in terms of "raising a query as to
the stock from which she comes."
[X]Pearson, Colin Thomas Bushby (Dr). [sb,mk]
[Dr CTB Pearson] Pathologist who examined Honora Parker in
Victoria Park. Later performed post mortem and catalogued
her injuries at the Hearing, Inquest and Trial.
[*]Perry, Walter Andrew Bowman "Bill" (Mr). [jp,sb]
[Mr WAB Perry] Consulting Engineer living in Hulme's home.
Testified at Hearing, Inquest and Trial. Admitted to being
in love with Hilda Hulme in testimony during trial. Born in
Winnipeg, Canada. See additional biography of Juliet Hulme
in 7.10.2. Now dead.
[X]Ramage, William McDonald. (Constable). [G&L,mk]
[Const WM Ramage] Police photographer who photographed
Honora's body and the murder scene on the evening of the
crime, and during the post mortem and also photographed 7
pages of PYP's diaries for evidence.
[*]Rieper, Herbert Detlev (Mr). b. 1894 (aged 60 in '54). [jp,sb]
[Mr HD Rieper] Common-law husband of Honora Parker for 23
years. Married to an older woman, and father of two children
with her, when he met and started relationship with Honora.
Father of four children with Honora. Three daughters
survived infancy: Wendy, PYP and Rosemary. Manager of Dennis
Brothers' fish shop, according to court testimony. Testified
at all stages of legal procedings but did not bother to
attend trial after his testimony was done. Was not present
at PYP's conviction and had no contact with her before her
incarceration. Seems a lost, tragic and bitter figure after
the murder, reading between the lines of press reports.
Though he did visit PYP once in prison, the statements he
made upon her release suggest he did not reconcile with her,
and the two never met again. PYP's legal defense was a
severe financial burden on HD Rieper for many years. Died in
'81.
[*]Ritchie, Agnes (Mrs). [jp]
[Mrs A Ritchie] Owned tearoom near Victoria Park. Witnessed
JMH and PYP return from murder, hysterical and bloodsoaked.
Testified at hearing, inquest & trial. She called for an
ambulance and a doctor at the girls' request, and instructed
her husband to go and find Honora. Later, she called Herbert
Rieper at Pauline's request and Henry Hulme at Juliet's
request, allowed the girls to wash off the blood from
themselves, and she served them tea to calm them down.
[X]Ritchie, Kenneth Nelson (Mr). [G&L]
[Mr KN Ritchie] Caretaker of Victoria Park and husband of
Agnes Ritchie. First to find the body of Honora Parker with
his assistant, Eric McIlroy. Pulled Honora's dress back down
to cover her legs; it was up around her thighs, perhaps
because Honora had fallen head downmost on the rather steep
grade, perhaps because she had flailed her legs. Later
returned to the body with police and doctor.
[X]Saville, James Edwin (Dr). [jp,G&L]
[Dr JE Saville] Medical officer Sunnyside Mental Hospital,
Christchurch NZ, with Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery
degrees as well as Diploma of Psychological Medicine
(London). Started career in general practice, moving to
mental institutions in England in '37. Came to Sunnyside in
'46 after 8 years as a medical officer in the prisons
service in England and Wales. Psychiatric witness for
prosecution. Pronounced JMH and PYP sane and cunning. G&L
mis-spell his family name Savill.
[X]Stallworthy, Kenneth Robert (Dr). [jp,G&L]
[Dr KR Stallworthy] Senior medical advisor Avondale Mental
Hospital, Auckland NZ, with 15 years experience working in
psychiatric hospitals in NZ and England. Held Bachelors
degrees in Medicine and Surgery and Diploma of Psychological
Medicine (England). Psychiatric witness for prosecution.
Gave important, frank testimony refuting link between
homosexuality and insanity, thereby negating pillar of the
defense argument. G&L give middle name erroneously as Robin.
[X]Tate, Archie Brian (Detective-Sergeant). [jp,G&L,mk]
[DetSgt AB Tate] Sent to Victoria Park to investigate
Honora's murder. First to perform inspection of murder site
and the body. Arranged for the coroner, a pathologist and
the police photographer to come to the Park. Interrogated
JMH at Ilam and obtained detailed statements from her.
Testified at Hearing, Inquest and Trial.
[X]Taylor, E.B.E. (Dr). [G&L,mk]
[Dr EBE Taylor] Coroner who inspected Honora's body. Held
inquest into her death.
[X]Walker, Donald (Dr). [G&L,mk]
[Dr D Walker] Arrived at Victoria Park in response to Agnes
Ritchie's call for assistance. Upon learning from KN Ritchie
that Honora was obviously dead, Walker waited until arrival
of police before proceeding to inspect the body. Walker
confirmed that Honora was dead and did not disturb the body.
Testified at Hearing, Inquest and Trial.
[X]Webb, Thomas Clifton (Mr). [jp,G&L]
[Mr TC Webb] Minister of Justice, NZ. Pronounced sentence of
separate imprisonment for girls, announced at press
conference. Very unusual public involvement of a cabinet
minister in a criminal proceeding, illustrating the degree
of public interest and scrutiny in the case.
[X]Wicks, J.A. (Mr). [sb]
[Mr JA Wicks] Junior defense counsel for PYP during trial.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7.2 Basic facts of the "Parker Hulme" murder. [jp]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Victim: Parker, Honora Mary (Mrs) (aged 45)
Date: Tuesday, June 22, 1954. (mid-winter)
Time: Between 3:05 and 3:30 p.m. (est. 3:20 p.m.)
Location: Victoria Park, Cashmere Hills (part of Port Hills
range), Christchurch, NZ. Near a small 'rustic'
wooden bridge on sloping grade that was part of a
steep slope, approximately 420 yards along a path
from the Tea Kiosk at Victoria Park.
Witnesses: None.
Post Mortem: Performed by Dr Colin Thomas Bushby Pearson on
June 23, 1954. The cause of death was shock
associated with multiple wounds of the head and
fractures of the skull.
Forensic: Dr Pearson testified he examined the body of
Honora Parker when the body was lying in the
plantation at Victoria Park, around 7:30 pm, June
22, 1954. Rigidity had not set in. There were
multiple lacerated wounds on the head and face and
minor injuries on the fingers.
Dr Pearson stated there were 45 discernable injuries on the body,
(head, neck, face and hands), 24 of them being lacerated wounds
on the face and head [note: Some popular accounts mistakenly
state 69 total injuries. jp] Some wounds were minor but many were
serious. The head wounds varied in size and shape and some had
ragged edges and showed crushing and bruising at the edges. They
had been inflicted by a blunt instrument applied with
considerable force. In the front of the skull the fractures were
were extensive. There were haemorrhages on the brain. The
fractures of the skull indicated that the victim's head was most
probably immobilized on the ground when the force was applied. It
would have taken only a few of these major head wounds to produce
unconsciousness. He could not say in what order the wounds were
received. In cross-examination he testified it was possible that
a single blow could produce a number of lacerated wounds.
Bruises on the neck suggested that the victim was held
forcibly by the throat, but there was no suggestion of
throttling. The lacerations on the fingers could have been caused
when the victim put up her hand to defend herself.
The injuries could have been produced by the half-brick
produced in Court. The half-brick, the stocking foot and the
stocking leg minus the foot all had human bloodstains. Human
hairs similar in texture to those from the head of the dead woman
were adhering to the stocking foot.
Constable William McDonald Ramage, police photographer went about
7 pm went to Victoria Park and took photos there. On June 23 he
was present during the post mortem examination of the body and
took photos then of Honora Parker's body. These and other photos
were entered into evidence, under objection of defense counsel.
Mr Kenneth Ritchie testified that he found the victim's body,
lying on her back with the feet pointing uphill. Her head was
badly battered. There was blood on her head and face and on the
path. Her skirt was up a little at the knees and he pulled it
back down. [note: Possibly because of flailing legs. One shoe lay
some distance from body. Other articles strewn nearby. jp]
Dr Donald Walker was the first physician called to the scene,
arriving shortly before 4 pm. He observed that the victim's head
was thrown back and was lying downhill. There was no doubt about
her being dead. There was a lower denture lying on the ground to
the victim's left alongside the jaw. The stockings were muddy and
smeared with blood. Her arms were mud- and blood-stained. The
eyes were closed but gave the impression they had been blackened.
There were severe gashes on the victim's head and a great deal of
blood had streamed from her head, had flowed down the path and
had congealed. (Victim was almost completely ex-sanguinated so
bleeding from head was massive and rapid [note: Possibly
indicating severed carotid artery, which might also explain the
massive amount of spattered blood on PYP and JMH. jp].) From the
appearance of the body Dr Walker could not reconcile it with an
accident. One shoe was off and personal articles were strewn
nearby.
Sgt Robert Hope testified there was a stream of blood 10 or 12 ft
downhill from the head. Various objects were strewn about near
the body. There was a half-brick lying about 15 inches from the
body. Sgt Hope also found a woman's lisle stocking on a bank. In
a shallow drain beside the bank there was a large pool of blood.
Most major wounds were on the right side and front of the head.
Victim's right ear was badly split. Some reports indicate severe
cosmetic damage to face, others that wounds on left side of head
and face were less severe. Mouth was blocked with vomit, possibly
indicating convulsions.
Weapon: Half-brick in knotted woman's lisle stocking, the
brick was ejected by the force of the blows.
Victim's hair found on stocking. Brick probably
used as weapon after ejection from stocking.
Bloody stocking and brick recovered separately at
scene, near the body.
Murderers: Parker, Pauline Yvonne (aged 16 years, 1 month),
daughter of the victim.
Hulme, Juliet Marion (aged 15 years, 8 months).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7.3 Timeline of important events. [jp]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
**For me, there are two extremely interesting things about the
time line: the first is the spread of important time scales--
Herbert Rieper was born more than a century ago and yet, in
places, it is important to know and distinguish between minutes,
or pieces of minutes--and, second, is the the way that the
continuity and interconnectedness of events becomes apparent and
even emphasized when they are presented in this artificially-
discrete format. Many entries here are open to debate and few are
carved in stone, but I believe this is the most complete time
line available, and I feel it is a valuable tool for trying to
understand the "Parker Hulme" case. Debate, additions and
corrections are welcomed. [jp]
[*] = event depicted in "Heavenly Creatures."
..........Start date.
| Denotes official NZ school (& College) holiday period.
|..............End date.
1873, June 16.
*Canterbury University College founded, Christchurch,
NZ. Campus to be located on Worcester Blvd, three
blocks west of Cathedral Square, the heart of
Christchurch.
1878
*Christchurch Girls' High School founded, under control
of Canterbury University College, Christchurch, NZ.
1880
*Helen Connon (b Melbourne 1860, d 1903 Christchurch)
becomes the first woman to graduate (BA) from
Canterbury University College, Christchurch, NZ. The
following year she obtains her MA degree (1st Class
Honours) in English and Latin. An assistant mistress at
Christchurch Girls' High School during this period
(1878-1883). "No University was ever more fortunate in
its first woman student than Canterbury College. Her
combination of scholarship and dignity (and her beauty
as well) placed a seal on the vocation of student for
other young women, and evoked a tradition of chivalry
among the men students." ["History of the University of
Canterbury," WJ Gardner et al., p. 156.]
1882
*Christchurch Girls' High School moves to Cranmer
Square site, two blocks north of Canterbury University
College, Christchurch, NZ. Gloucester St lies between
CUC and CGHS.
1883
*Helen Connon becomes an extremely influential and
popular headmistress of Christchurch Girls' High School
(1883-94) and establishes a scholarly tradition which
encourages CGHS girls to seek degrees and prepares them
for the academic rigors of University. CGHS assumes its
role as a major 'feeder' school to CUC of qualified
matriculated students. By 1885 enrollment of women at
Canterbury College has risen to about 100. In 1893
women outnumber men, 176 to 164, although women
students are still treated in an extremely patronizing
manner, by admission of CUC historians.
1894, Oct. 22.
*Herbert Detlev Rieper born to Claude Detlev Rieper
(shop assistant, German origin) and Katie Thurza
Stubbings, Strahan, Tasmania. [sb, G&L]
1908, Aug. 9.
*Henry Rainsford Hulme born to James Rainsford Hulme
and Alice Jane Smith in Southport, England.
1909
*Honora Mary Parker born to Robert William Parker
(chartered accountant) and Amy Lilian Parker (aka
'Nana' Parker), Birmingham, England. [sb,G&L]
1910
*HD Rieper (aged 16) moves to New Zealand. [sb,G&L]
1912
*Hilda Marion Reavley (later Hulme, later Perry) born
to Rev J Reavley (Anglican clergyman) and spouse ?
[note: in or near Liverpool?? jp].
1914
*WW I begins.
*HD Rieper (aged 19) joins NZ army, eventually
stationed in Cairo, Egypt. [G&L]
1915
*HD Rieper (aged 21) marries Louise McArthur (née
Mackrie, a divorced Englishwoman born in India, aged
34), Cairo, Egypt. [sb]
1918
*WW I ends on Armistice Day Nov. 11, 1918.
*HD Rieper (aged 23) and Louise Rieper return to
Napier, NZ, located on the east coast of the North
Island, on Hawke's Bay. [sb,G&L]
1919
*1st child of HD Rieper (aged 24) and Louise Rieper
(aged 37) born, Napier, NZ. [sb,G&L]
1922
*HD Rieper (aged 27, bookkeeper) and Louise Rieper
(aged 40) move to Raetihi, NZ, a small town located in
the central North Island in a region known for skiing
and market garden agriculture. [sb,G&L,lw,maw]
1924
*2nd child of HD Rieper (aged 29) and Louise Rieper
(aged 43) born, Raetihi, NZ. [sb,G&L]
1927
*HM Parker (aged 18) emigrates to New Zealand. She
eventually works for the same firm as HD Rieper in
Raetihi, NZ, where the two meet. [sb,G&L]
1929
*HR Hulme graduates with BA (Math Tripos), Gonville and
Caius College, Cambridge, UK. He begins study for the
PhD degree at Cambridge, UK. Smiths' Prizeman, 1931.
1929-1931 (sometime in this period--probably early)
*HM Parker (aged 20-22) and HD Rieper (aged 35-37)
begin living together in Raetihi, NZ. HD Rieper and
Louise Rieper never divorce, so HM Parker and HD Rieper
can never marry. HD Rieper pays some support to his
former family but apparently has no further contact
with them. [G&L]
1932
*HR Hulme graduates with MA, PhD from Gonville and
Caius College, Cambridge, UK.
1933
*Dr HR Hulme becomes Fellow, Gonville and Caius
College, Cambridge, UK (1933-38). Travels to Leipzig,
Germany [note: for post-doctoral study? jp] around this
time.
1936
*HM Parker (aged 27) and HD Rieper (aged 42) move to a
house in Mathesons Rd in the Phillipstown area of
Christchurch, NZ. Christchurch is located on the east
coast of the South Island at Pegasus Bay. Mathesons Rd
is in a modest residential neighbourhood 2 km east of
Cathedral Square, near Lancaster Park. HD Rieper
eventually works as manager of Dennis Brothers Fish
Supply nearby on east Hereford St. [sb,G&L,lw]
c.1936?
*1st child, male, "blue baby," (cardio-pulmonary birth
defects) born to HM Parker (aged 27) and HD Rieper
(aged 42) in Christchurch, NZ. He dies soon after
birth. [sb,G&L]
1936
*Dr HR Hulme becomes lecturer in mathematics,
University of Liverpool, UK. [note: I believe Dr HR
Hulme meets Hilda Marion Reavley around this time. jp]
1937, Mar.
*Wendy Patricia Parker born to HM Parker (aged 28) and
HD Rieper (aged 42), Christchurch, NZ.
1937, June
*HM Reavley and Dr HR Hulme marry [note: in Liverpool?
jp]. [G&L]
1938
*Dr HR Hulme assumes position of Chief Assistant at the
Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London, UK. Dr HR Hulme
and HM Hulme move to Greenwich (London suburb east of
City on south shore of Thames). The Royal Observatory
is located on a hill overlooking the Thames river
valley. This is the location of the Greenwich Meridian,
reference 'zero' for all lines of longitude, and time
standards of the day. The Naval Academy is nearby,
downhill on the Thames.
1938, May 26.
*Pauline Yvonne Parker born to HM Parker (aged 29) and
HD Rieper (aged 43) in Christchurch, NZ.
1938, Oct. 28.
*Juliet Marion Hulme born to HM Hulme (aged 26) and Dr
HR Hulme (aged 30), Greenwich, London, UK.
1939
*War declared. WW II begins.
*Dr HR Hulme goes on loan to the British Admiralty for
the duration of the War.
1940-41
*JMH (aged 2) suffers 'bomb shock' [psychological
trauma] in the London blitz when she is caught out in
bombing during an air raid with her mother. Screaming
nightmares and insomnia for many weeks.
1942
*JMH (aged 3) is bathed by her father, Dr HR Hulme (see
7.10.2.1) in Greenwich, London, UK.
1943
[*] *PYP (aged 5) hospitalized with severe osteomyelitis
for 9 months. Life-threatening in acute stage; extreme
pain, borne bravely, and surgery. Results in permanent
physical disability and chronic discomfort and pain as
a child. PYP will take painkillers as needed throughout
childhood and adolescence. PYP's first memory.
1944, Mar. 22.
*Jonathon Hulme born (in Greenwich?) to HM Hulme (aged
32) and Dr HR Hulme (aged 35). HM Hulme had serious
post-partum medical problems and is hospitalized for an
extended period. She testifies this situation was
traumatic to JMH because she was "too ill to be visited
in the nursing home." Would not have been statistically
uncommon (esp. given the times) for HM Hulme to have
had serious post-partum depression in addition to any
physiological problems [note: Wording of some of HM
Hulme's testimony leads me to speculate this may have
been the case. jp].
1944, Aug.
*Dr HR Hulme travels to America on War work. JMH is
probably sent away to live in Liverpool at this time
and probably attends school there. HM Hulme testified
JMH separated from her "due to war conditions and her
illness."
1944 (winter)
*JMH (aged 6) contracts bronchitis and then near-fatal
pneumonia in UK. Withdrawn from school. Remains ill for
2 years, absent from school during this time.
1945
*PYP (aged 7) undergoes second painful operation to
drain infection from leg.
*Dr HR Hulme becomes Director of Naval Operational
Research.
*VE Day ends WW II in Europe. VJ Day ends the War in
the Pacific.
1946
*HD Rieper and HM Parker buy house at 31 Gloucester St,
Christchurch, NZ, registered in HM Parker's name as
"wife of Herbert Rieper." The house abuts CGHS at the
rear and lies between CGHS and CUC, one block to the
south. The CUC School of Fine Arts is located at 'Ross
House,' a couple of houses east of Riepers on
Gloucester at corner of Montreal St. There is a
cerebral palsy school across the street from the
Riepers' home, in a large converted house at 28
Gloucester St.
*Dr HR Hulme becomes Scientific Adviser to the Air
Ministry, London, UK.
*JMH (aged 8) contracts severe pneumonia in UK.
1946, Nov. (probably)
[*] *JMH (aged 8) sent alone to Bahamas by her parents on
medical advice, for her health. Lives with another
family for 13 months. Schooling unknown during this
period.
1947, May 30.
*Advertisement placed for position of full-time Rector,
Canterbury University College, Christchurch, NZ in "the
press of those countries of the Commonwealth peopled by
British stock: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South
Africa and the United Kingdom." ["A History of UC..."]
1947, Nov. 18.
*Universities Bureau of the British Empire forwards
recommendation of Dr HR Hulme for the position of
Rector, CUC, to the University of New Zealand for
approval.
1947, Nov. 23 (approx.).
*Dr HR Hulme offered the position of Rector, Canterbury
University College, Christchurch, NZ.
1947, Dec. (probably)
*JMH (aged 9) sent to Bay of Islands, NZ, a historic
location and popular holiday spot on the east coast of
the northern tip of the North Island, to stay with
another family. Schooling unknown during this period.
[sb,lw]
1948
*Dr HR Hulme honoured by award of DSc degree, Cambridge
University, UK.
*JMH (aged 10) sent to a sanatorium in North Island, NZ
due to 'breakdown of health'. Evidence presented during
trial that JMH has been traumatized by the accumulation
of repeated separations from her family by this time.
1948, Feb. 19.
*Christchurch Marriage Guidance Council formed.
Modelled on the British Marriage Guidance Council,
considered a daring and progressive organization. HM
Hulme will join in 1949 and became a prominent member
and counsellor. Others she will meet through the
Council include: Dean AK Warren, Anglican Bishop of
Christchurch, Dr Mel Aitken, Dr M Bevan-Brown
(psychiatrist who would write on the case later), Dr
Eleanor Mears, Rex Abernethy (magistrate who later
presided over PYP's arraignment on charge of murder)
and Dr FO Bennett (GP who examined PYP, then later both
PYP and JMH, testifying at trial).[G&L]
1948, Oct. 16 (Sat).
*HM Hulme (aged 36) & Dr HR Hulme (aged 40) arrive with
Jonathon (aged 4) in Christchurch, New Zealand, joined
by JMH (aged 9), who is described by HM Hulme during
the trial as extremely clinging and dependent on HM
Hulme and difficult to discipline, after being reunited
with her family. Location of residence unknown, but
probably in Riccarton, Fendalton or Merivale areas just
west/north of Hagley Park.
*Dr HR Hulme (aged 40) assumes post of Rector,
Canterbury University College, Christchurch, NZ.
1949, Jan.
*Dr HR Hulme votes logically, with his conscience,
against rescinding the decision already made in the
prior August by University Senate not to establish
School of Forestry at CUC. This vote at a University
Senate meeting was one of his first acts as Rector of
CUC. This was a critical political blunder, viewed as
unforgiveable disloyalty by the two governing bodies at
CUC [note: Dr Hulme's vote would not have swung the
decision either way, according to the numbers. jp]. Dr
HR Hulme's tenure as Rector of CUC is irreversibly
marred by this irrelevant vote. Later, the School of
Forestry is moved to CUC anyway.
1949, end of January (probably).
*JMH (aged 11), "in poor health," (according to HM
Hulme's testimony) is sent away to private boarding
school ("Queenswood" according to Jackson) in Hastings,
NZ, located on the east coast of the North Island, on
The Hawke's Bay. Severely unhappy there, she returns to
her family within the year. Schooling for the remainder
of 1949 is probably by private tutor.
*In NZ the Labour Government (14-year tenure) is voted
out of office and replaced by more conservative
National Government. Beginning of extreme fiscal
austerity for CUC and "probably one of the most
depressing times the College passed through ['50-52]".
["A History of..."]
1949, Mar.
*Rosemary Parker born with Downs' Syndrome to HM Parker
(aged 40) and HD Rieper (aged 54) in Christchurch, NZ.
1949, Nov.
*Dr HR Hulme's private, offhand remarks about a CUC
Council member, made earlier in Wellington, NZ, at a
Senate meeting, are discussed in Christchurch as being
"disloyal to the Council" in one of its meetings. Dr HR
Hulme will learn over and again that gossip travels far
and fast in his new home and there are no secrets, and
nothing is too trivial for intense scrutiny and
critical discussion.
1949, Dec.
*CUC School of Fine Art moved to Ilam site. This will
be the only CUC presence at the site for years; most
Fine Arts students are women. School located near Ilam
homestead and adjacent to farmland and horse paddocks
(probably the ones used secretly by PYP and JMH in late
'52 and into early '53 for midnight, full-tilt
galloping rides by moonlight [see G&L]).
1950
*NZ sends small force to Korea to support UN forces.
*Dr HR Hulme moves his family to the Ilam homestead as
a political statement of support for plan to relocate
CUC to a new campus at Ilam.
*JMH attends Ilam School, across Ilam Rd from Ilam
homestead and "is happy there" according to HM Hulme.
Probably attends Ilam School for 1950 (aged 11-12) and
1951 (aged 12-13).
1950, Sept. 9.
*Ross House site that was vacated by CUC School of Fine
Art lost by CUC to CGHS--it is torn down, paved over
and tennis courts are built for CGHS. (see 3.1.5.2).
1951
*The Colombo Plan started. Ceylonese students begin
educational exchange program at U of NZ campuses,
especially CUC, which takes up to about 10 annually.
*Rosemary Parker institutionalized at age 2 at
Templeton Hospital Farm, located outside Christchurch
about 20 km west of the Rieper's home. HD Rieper
testified Rosemary was visited regularly and taken home
occasionally; the #25 bus went from Cathedral Square to
Templeton Hospital. PYP was said to be very fond of
Rosemary. Templeton Hospital located near Paparua
Prison. [note: See 3.2.10.1. Medlicott states Rosemary
was aged 3 at the time of her institutionalization, and
date this one year later. jp]
1952.
*Cerebral Palsy School at 28 Gloucester St closed when
CUC Dept of Education takes over the house. Is there a
connection with institutionalization of Rosemary?
1952, after week of Feb. 2 (beginning of school) [Third Form]
[*] *JMH (aged 13) arrives @ Christchurch Girls' High
School (CGHS), late. Evidence JMH was enrolled briefly
at private Anglican Girls' School (St Margaret's,
located north of Hagley Park, 3 km from Ilam). HM Hulme
explains in testimony her decision to send JMH to CGHS
as being due to JMH's high IQ, more suited to the
stimulation of a larger, diverse public school
environment. HM Hulme is a member of the Board of
Governors of CGHS and Dr HR Hulme works two blocks away
from CGHS--these may also have been important factors.
PYP (aged 13) is already a new student at CGHS in the
top academic stream, Form IIIA.
1952, Feb. 6.
*Death of King George VI. Princess Elizabeth abroad in
Kenya (in the 'Treetops,') returns home to succeed to
the Crown next day, declared Sovereign on Feb. 8.
Coronation plans begin soon after, date announced on
April 29. The British Commonwealth begins to gear up to
change and, in the end, celebration of the beginning of
Elizabeth's reign.
1952, May 4 (Sun).
First Term [Third Form] ends.
..........May holidays begin.
|
1952, May 5 (Mon) - 10 (Sat).
| *CUC "Capping Festival Week" -- traditionally a wild
| and boisterous time is had, very publicly, by all...
|
1952, May 19 (Mon).
|..............May Holiday ends.
Second Term [Third Form] begins.
*HM Hulme testified during trial that the friendship
between JMH and PYP begins in earnest in the Second
Term of Third Form.
1952, May 26 (Mon).
*PYP 14th birthday.
1952, June (approx).
*JMH tells HM Hulme: "Mummy, I've met someone at last
with a will as strong as my own." This is PYP.
[Medlicott]
1952, Aug. 17 (Sun).
Second Term [Third Form] ends.
..........August holidays begin.
|
1952, August.
| [*] *PYP and JMH bicycle ride and ecstatic disrobing.
| PYP states to Medlicott that before this, she & JMH had
| just been friends, but after this there was an
| indissoluble bond between them.
|
1952, Sept. 8 (Mon).
|..............August Holidays end.
Third Term [Third Form] begins.
1952, Oct. 28 (Tues).
*JMH 14th birthday.
1952, Nov. 1 (Sat).
*The United States explodes the first thermonuclear
Hydrogen-bomb in an above-ground test at Eniwetok
Atoll, in the South Pacific. Cold War escalates.
1952, Dec.
*CUC Graduation ceremonies are wild: PA system
sabotaged, Dr HR Hulme's speech drowned out, Bishop
Warren butt of practical joke with a halo lowered over
his head, goat brought out for a diploma. Note Warren's
participation--and Anglican Church, by extension.
1952, Dec. 21 (Sun).
Third Term ends [End of Third Form].
..........Summer holidays begin. (remember how good these were??)
|
1953, Jan. 1 (Thurs).
| [*] *PYP Diary: PYP begins detailed diary entries with a
| New Year resolution to be lenient, & a summary of 1952
| highlights.
|
1953, Jan. 5 (Mon).
| *PYP Diary: housework.
|
1953, January. (for approx. 2 weeks)
| *PYP visits farm in North Canterbury County as a city
| girl recommended by her church, East Belt Methodist.
|
| *PYP Diary: Records flirtations with older boy and her
| jealousy of younger, rival girl. Wendy also attends.
|
1953, Jan. 10 (Sat).
| *PYP Diary: mustering sheep.
|
1953, Jan. 14 (Wed).
| *PYP Diary: diary found by men who leave note in it.
1953, January. (late)
| *PYP Diary: intends to do well at school.
|
| *JMH and PYP worry about upcoming school and are
| consoled and tutored by Dr HR Hulme. (see 7.10.2.1).
|
1953, Jan. 31 (Sat).
| *PYP Diary: HM Parker says they will have 'Training
| College' boarders. These are Teachers' Training College
| students, so PYP may not have been intellectually
| starved at home. Was this the beginning of the
| boarders?
|
1953, Feb. 2 (Mon).
|..............Summer holidays end.
First Term begins. [Beginning of Fourth Form]
*PYP buys a horse secretly around this time, and hides
the fact from her family. HD Rieper finds out 3 months
later, when PYP has difficulty with grazing fees, but
he relents and allows PYP to keep the horse, thinking
it will distract her from her friendship with JMH, so
there is already serious concern about the relationship
in the Rieper house by April, 1953. HD Rieper testified
PYP had ridden horses for years.
1953, Feb. 9 (Mon).
*PYP Diary: boarder Harry arrives.
1953, Feb. 10 (Tues).
*PYP Diary: boarder Ross and housework.
1953, Feb. 13 (Fri).
*PYP Diary: breakfast for boarder Harry.
*Disastrous fire at CUC, 4 am, witnessed by Dr HR
Hulme. Huge loss of facilities, and severe
inconvenience and hardship for faculty and students
will last for 5 years. Ignites bitter and public
controversy about Ilam relocation plans.
1953, Feb. 18 (Wed).
*PYP Diary: boarder Ron arrives.
1953, Feb. 20 (Fri).
*PYP Diary: boarder Ross.
1953, Feb. 22 (Sun).
*PYP Diary: trip to Brighton beach with Ron, Wendy, HM
Parker.
1953, Mar. 4 (Wed).
*PYP Diary: enquiries about board, including Frenchman.
1953, Mar. 9 (Mon).
*PYP Diary: boarder John, homework, "damn."
1953, Mar. 11 (Wed).
*PYP Diary: dinner with Ross, John and Juliet at
Riepers'.
1953, Mar. 15 (Sun).
*PYP Diary: kisses from HM Hulme.
1953, Mar. 18 (Wed).
[*] *PYP Diary: genius.
1953, Mar. 20 (Fri).
*PYP Diary: Lancaster Park for school sports day and
writing poetry together instead of watching games.
1953, April.
*HM Hulme re-elected as Vice-President of Christchurch
Marriage Guidance Council.
1953, April 3 (Fri) - 6 (Mon). (Easter holidays)
| [*] *Hulmes holiday with PYP at Port Levy during this
| period. Port Levy makes a profound impression on PYP.
|
1953, April 3 (Fri). (Good Friday)
| [*] *PYP Diary: PYP and JMH find key to "Fourth World" in
| their "Port Levy Revelation."
|
1953, April 4 (Sat).
| *PYP Diary: Gianina, Nicholas die under crashing hooves
| of Vendetta.
|
1953, April 6 (Mon). (Easter Monday)
| [*] *PYP Diary: HEAVENLY time, HM Hulme does hair, calls
| PYP her "foster daughter."
|..............Easter holidays end.
1953, April 18 (Sat).
[*] *PYP Diary: nocturnal activities in Ilam gardens.
1953, April 23 (Thurs).
*PYP Diary: HM Hulme says she wishes PYP were her
daughter, too.
1953, May 3 (Sun).
First Term [Fourth Form] ends.
..........May holidays begin.
|
| *HM Hulme visits Riepers. HM Parker proposes JMH stay
| with them while Hulmes are abroad on their upcoming
| trip to the UK. Friendship ... and board money? The
| Riepers were already worried about the relationship,
| so why invite JMH into their home? To keep an eye on
| things? To exert some control?
|
1952, May 4 (Mon) - 9 (Sat).
| *CUC "Capping Festival Week" celebrations and
| bacchanalia.
|
1953, May 15 (Fri).
| *PYP Diary: Juliet diagnosed with TB.
|
1953, May 16 (Sat).
| [*] *PYP Diary: wretched night, wishes to get TB, too.
|
1952, May 18 (Mon).
|..............May Holidays end.
Second Term [Fourth Form] begins.
1953, May 21 (Thurs).
[*] *JMH is confined to Cashmere Sanatorium with TB for
nearly four months (will miss end of Second and all of
Third school term, 1/3 of Fourth Form in all. Never
again returns to school. Will never attend University.
All told, JMH attends CGHS for less than 3 terms... yet
it makes an indellible impression on her. See
7.10.2.1).
1953, May (late).
*PYP Diary: brainwave!--write letters with Juliet.
1953, May 23 (Sat).
*HM Hulme, Wendy attend 'Christchurch Competitions.'
1953, May 26 (Tues).
*PYP 15th birthday.
1953, May 28 (Thurs).
[*] *Dr HR Hulme & HM Hulme leave for travels abroad (UK).
Officially, Dr HR Hulme is to attend 1953 Congress of
the Association of Universities of the British
Commonwealth. In fact, it is also a hunt for a senior-
level job for Dr HR Hulme. There is evidence he does
not secure a job offer during the trip. HM Hulme
testifies JMH sends them only 1 short note while they
are away. [note: My speculation was always that this
was a senior-position job hunt by Dr HR Hulme, probably
for a senior academic position at Cambridge, hence
essential that HM Hulme attend as 'wife-of-the-
applicant-and-potential-mistress-of-the-college'. Job
hunt at urging of small group of University Council now
confirmed. Dr HR Hulme is by now very unpopular at CUC
[ad]. Also, HM Hulme may have suspected Dr HR Hulme of
extra-marital activities, according to published
rumour, and may have wanted to keep an eye on him. The
lingering Coronation festivities may have also figured
in HM Hulme's desire to go along, though they would
have missed the actual event. No doubt HM Hulme could
also visit friends and family; the Hulmes have been
away from 'home' for nearly 5 years by this point. G&L
list this trip simply as a "holiday," not mentioning
the job hunt and completely missing the point, I think.
What was done with Jonathon? Knowing the arrangements
for him would be very informative. jp]
1953, May 29 (Fri).
*Mr Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand beekeeper, and Sherpa
Tensing Norkey conquor the summit of Mount Everest in
the Himalayas for the first time.
*PYP Diary: PYP complimented on her 'Oxford' accent.
1953, June 2 (Tues).
*News of the conquest of Everest reaches the world.
*Coronation of Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey.
*Hillary knighted and Tensing awarded George medal.
1953, June 12 (Fri).
*PYP Diary: School trip to see film "A Queen is
Crowned." PYP Unimpressed.
1953, June 14 (Sun).
*PYP Diary: create new religion with JMH.
1953, June (late).
*PYP sneaking out to meet Ceylonese CUC exchange
students. JMH also said to be very interested in these
students because they were exotic and, given the
prestige of the program and the rigorous selection
process, very intelligent and accomplished.
1953, July 2 (Thurs).
*WAB (Bill) Perry arrives in NZ.
1953, July.
*PYP goes to bed with one Ceylonese student.
[*] *PYP goes to bed with 'Nicholas.' H Rieper catches him
in her bed. He is thrown out of Rieper house.
1953, Aug. 9 (Wed).
*PYP Diary: visit Juliet in the Sanatorium.
1953, Aug. 16 (Sun).
Second Term [Fourth Form] ends.
..........August holidays begin.
| *PYP sneaks out to see Nicholas repeatedly.
|
1953, Aug. 20 (Thurs).
| *USSR explodes its first thermonuclear H-bomb.
| Cold War escalates sharply.
|
1953, Aug. 30 (Sun).
| [*] *Hulmes return from travels abroad.
|
| *PYP Diary: HM Hulme gives presents to PYP and HM
| Parker.
|
| *HM Parker has become very concerned about relationship
| between PYP and JMH during period Hulmes abroad, and
| tells HM Hulme of her grave concerns. HM Hulme
| testifies that she herself noticed on her return that
| the only thing important to JMH now was her
| relationship with PYP, and that JMH seems to ignore
| her.
|
1953, Sept. 7 (Mon).
|..............August holidays end.
Third Term [Fourth Form] begins.
1953, Sept. 9 (Wed)
[*] *JMH is released from TB sanatorium 'uncured,' on the
understanding HM Hulme will nurse her at home.
*JMH will not return to school 'due to continuing
illness.' She recovers at Ilam, with PYP's
progressively more constant companionship.
*PYP Diary: Juliet's return wonderful. PYP believes she
could fall in love with Juliet.
1953, Sept.
*PYP still sneaking out to see Nicholas, to 4-5 a.m.
*PYP and Nicholas attempt to have sex but stop as it
is too painful for PYP.
1953, Oct. 8 (Thurs).
*PYP Diary: PYP & JMH continue relationship unmolested.
1953, Oct. (soon after 8th)
[*] *PYP and Nicholas have sex in his rooms. PYP states to
Medlicott: "It wasn't for me, I wasn't interested."
1953, Oct. 20 (Tues).
*Boistrous public meeting critical of CUC Ilam
relocation plan, widely reported in Christchurch press.
1953, Oct. 28 (Wed).
*JMH 15th birthday.
*PYP Diary: PYP informs Nicholas she is no longer very
much in love with him.
1953, Nov. 2 (Mon).
*PYP Diary: PYP depressed & contemplates suicide.
1953, Nov. 4 (Wed).
*NZ Parliament discusses CUC Ilam relocation plans for
a whole hour... flap caused in Christchurch is large.
1953, Nov.
*PYP continues to see Nicholas, talking frequently
through the night with him.
1953, Nov. 28 (Sat).
*PYP Diary: planning Diello's Coronation.
1953, Dec. 9 (Wed).
*Dr HR Hulme consults Dr FO Bennett about girls'
relationship. JMH will not be examined by Dr Bennett.
*HD Rieper testified that Dr HR Hulme came to advise HM
Parker at her request concerning JMH and PYP's
relationship. Dr HR Hulme's consultation with Dr
Bennett could have been instigated by HM Parker's
request and followed by a visit with HM Parker to
discuss the relationship and what to do about it.
*HM Hulme testified that she advised HM Parker to seek
medical advice for PYP because HM Parker had expressed
concern to her about PYP's loss of weight and about her
relationship with JMH.
1953, Dec. 10 (Thurs).
*PYP Diary: Diello's Coronation is tomorrow.
1953, Dec. 11 (Fri).
*JMH and PYP crown Diello King of Borovnia in elaborate
Coronation ceremony.
*JMH & PYP change their names to Deborah and Gina now?
see SMH 24/8/54, HM Hulme's testimony.
1953, Dec. 14 (Mon).
[*] *HM Parker takes PYP to be examined by Dr FO Bennett.
Result of this examination is threat by HM Parker to
forbid PYP seeing JMH 'unless PYP's health improves.'
*PYP Diary: saw Nicholas, then Mother carted her off to
see a doctor, then saw "Pandora and the Flying
Dutchman."
1953, Dec. 20 (Sun).
[*] *PYP Diary: PYP depressed by HM Parker's threat of
permanent separation from JMH and considers suicide.
1953, Dec. 21 (Mon).
Third Term ends. [End of Fourth Form]
..........Summer holidays begin. (sad and stressful this year.)
| *PYP and JMH are separated by their parents. HM Parker
| obviously prime instigator of separation, but Hulmes
| also didn't want PYP around for Royal tour???
| PYP apparently complies, according to diary, for all of
| Summer Holidays. She will not see JMH until end of Jan.
|
1953, Dec. 23 (Wed).
| *H.M. Queen Elizabeth II and H.R.H. the Duke of
| Edinburgh arrive in NZ on Royal tour of Australasia.
|
1953, Dec. 24 (Thurs).
| *PYP Diary: not feeling Christmassy.
|
1953, Dec. (around Christmas)
| *WAB Perry moves into Ilam with Hulmes. He testifies he
| had a separate flat, with his own housekeeper.
|
1954, Jan. 1 (Fri).
| [*] *PYP Diary: New Year's resolution: eat drink, be merry,
| for tomorrow you may be dead.
|
1954, Jan. 2 (Sat).
| *PYP Diary: the joy of housework.
|
1954, Jan. 10 (Sun).
| *PYP Diary: day trip to Coes Ford, a popular crossing
| of Selwyn River, with swimming, picnic and camping
| south-west of Christchurch. [lw,he]
|
1954, Jan. 12 (Tues).
| *PYP Diary: prospective boarder treats PYP like maid.
|
1954, Jan. 15 (Fri).
| *PYP Diary: trip to river with Val.
|
1954, Jan. 18 (Mon).
| *H.M. Queen Elizabeth II and H.R.H. the Duke of
| Edinburgh arrive in Christchurch, NZ.
|
| *According to trial testimony, niether JMH nor PYP take
| any interest in the Royal visit (!!noted with
| incredulity!! during the trial, but not quite correct).
|
1954, Jan. 19 (Tues).
| *PYP Diary: notes 'everyone' dashing to see the Queen.
|
1954, Jan. 20 (Wed).
| *H.M. Queen Elizabeth II and H.R.H. the Duke of
| Edinburgh attend evensong at Christchurch Cathedral.
|
1954, Jan. 21 (Thurs).
| *H.M. Queen Elizabeth II and H.R.H. the Duke of
| Edinburgh leave Christchurch for Ashburton, NZ.
|
1954, Jan. 23 (Sat).
| *PYP finally allowed to see JMH again.
|
1954, Jan. 25 (Mon).
| *PYP Diary: fearsome lecture from Mother over nothing.
|
1954, Jan. 28 (Thurs).
| *PYP Diary: grapes and prostitutes.
|
1954, Jan. 29 (Fri).
| *PYP Diary: musings about prostitution as way of making
| money; worked out a whole new family for their future.
|
1954, Feb. 1 (Mon).
|..............Summer holidays end.
First Term begins. [Beginning of Fifth Form]
1954, Feb. 6 (Sat).
*PYP Diary: celebrated 'Him's Day' in glittering black
and went through 'Saints day ritual.'
1954, Feb. 13 (Sat).
[*] *PYP Diary: wishes death for HM Parker & HD Rieper.
[note: There is also an important clue in this entry
that HM Hulme is now the target of malicious gossip by
HM Parker. jp]
1954, Feb. 21 (Sun).
*PYP Diary: PYP complimented on her 'English' accent.
1954, Feb. 28 (Sun).
[*] *PYP Diary: first mention of 'Hollywood' plan.
1954, March.
*HM Hulme re-elected as Vice-President of Christchurch
Marriage Guidance Council.
1954, March 1 (Mon) or 2 (Tues).
*Dr HR Hulme is asked in writing by his colleagues to
resign as Rector after Professorial Board debate,
nominally about a technical impropriety in
communicating a Prof Board report on building to CUC
Coucil. [sb,ad]
1954, Mar. 4 (Thurs).
*Dr HR Hulme tenders his official resignation as Rector
of Canterbury University College.
*Soon after this, the "First Plan" was formulated by Dr
HR Hulme and HM Hulme (and probably WAB Perry). HM
Hulme testified this plan was for Dr HR Hulme to return
to the UK alone, leaving both children with her through
the English winter, for the sake of JMH's health. She
testified that she and the children were to rejoin Dr
HR Hulme after the winter had passed.
This is probably the 'official' version of the
"First Plan." The reasons given were probably [note: my
speculation. jp] pure fiction for the courts and
newspapers. It is very doubtful HM Hulme planned to
rejoin Dr HR Hulme with the children, and it is quite
possible Dr HR Hulme had decided to leave the whole
mess behind him at this stage, coming so soon after the
undeniable reality of his resignation letter. WAB Perry
testified that Dr HR Hulme was well aware of his having
fallen in love with HM Hulme because there had been no
deception.
*Around this time JMH asks WAB Perry to sell her horse
for her. He testified he bought it from her for 50
[pounds] but did not know at the time why JMH wanted to
sell it.
1954, Mar. 14 (Sun).
[*] *PYP Diary: HM Parker says she won't keep PYP in
school.
1954, Mar. 19 (Fri).
*PYP Diary: "Stew" and HM Hulme intercede to try and
keep PYP in school.
1954, Mar. 31 (Wed).
*PYP Diary: sneers at ignorance of her family circle.
1954, April 6 (Tues).
*PYP Diary: jingles in bed with JMH.
1954, April 7 (Wed).
*PYP Diary: glee at having a light-fingered scapegoat.
[note: This was probably WAB Perry's housekeeper. WAB
Perry testified that his housekeeper had left Ilam
around the middle of April, before Easter... probably
fired when valuables started to disappear from Ilam,
since PYP and JMH's petty thievery was noted in the
trial. And, also, letting the housekeeper go would mean
that WAB Perry would become alone in his flat at Ilam.
Michaelanne Forster may have patterned her fictional
housekeeper Bridget O'Malley, in "Daughters of Heaven,"
on these kinds of speculations. See 6.1. jp]
1954, April 10 (Sat).
*PYP Diary: HM Parker goes to see Miss Stewart.
1954, April 11 (Sun).
[*] *PYP Diary: "we are so brilliantly clever..."
1954, April 13 (Tues).
*PYP Diary: row [argument] with Wendy.
1954, April 15 (Thurs).
*PYP Diary: JMH and PYP read their books to each other.
1954, April 16 (Fri). (Good Friday)
..........Easter holidays begin.
| *PYP spends Easter Holidys at Ilam, according to
| HD Rieper's testimony.
|
| *PYP Diary: singing and turning into a male.
|
1954, April 17 (Sat).
| *PYP Diary: sneaking into Mr Perry's flat, then rowdy
| behaviour, Ten Commandments listed to be broken.
|
| [note: The timing of this, and HM Hulme's reaction, are
| very suggestive of WAB Perry's housekeeper having been
| let go immediately prior, and JMH sneaking around in
| WAB Perry's now-more-vacant flat to pry and snoop. She
| may have suspected her mother and WAB Perry of having
| an affair, and may have been looking for evidence.
| Previous analysis (and the trial) put most emphasis
| on the 'Ten Commandments' aspect. jp]
|
1954, April 19 (Mon). (Easter Monday)
|..............Easter holidays end.
1954, April 21 (Wed).
[*] *PYP Diary: PYP starts vocational training at Digby's
Commercial College after unsuccessful job search with
'the Airways'. [sb]
1954, April 22 (Thurs).
[*] *JMH catches HM Hulme and WAB Perry in flagrante in his
flat [note: Both HM Hulme and WAB Perry denied this at
trial, providing an alternative story. jp]
[*] *JMH lets slip to her mother the plans for JMH and PYP
to go to America, without giving her a detailed
explanation. WAB Perry gives JMH 100 [pounds] "for
permits" to travel abroad. [note: Discussed at length
and interpreted in the trial as JMH blackmailing WAB
Perry. Blackmail denied by WAB Perry. jp]
1954, April 23 (Fri).
*PYP Diary: Tosca, then account of HM Hulme & WAB Perry
being caught in flagrante by JMH late night 22nd (2am
23rd).
*HM Hulme informs Dr HR Hulme: a) JMH knows of HM Hulme
and WAB Perry being in love, b) JMH and PYP are
planning to go to America together. [note: I believe it
is JMH accidentally disclosing the plans for America
which is pivotal, judging by trial testimony, comments
and coming events. I suspect HM Hulme seized upon those
plans as a way to deflect Dr HR Hulme's anger, and
shift the focus of attention, concern and blame to JMH.
jp]
1954, April 24 (Sat).
[*] *PYP Diary: Dr HR Hulme discusses with PYP and JMH
their plans to go to America. "...what is to be the
future now?"
[note: I believe Dr HR Hulme was collecting information
to check HM Hulme's story and because he needed data to
make decisions. I believe he told JMH and PYP that
their plans weren't realistic and he probably tried to
reason with JMH and PYP to discourage them from
following through on their plans. I doubt he took any
of their plans in any way seriously, but he probably
viewed the plans as being symptomatic of a serious
problem--a spanner in the works. He may have told PYP
and JMH of his resignation at this time; he may not
have. Regardless, I believe he told them that there may
have been travel plans in the air, offering them a
number of possible, nebulous scenarios as alternatives
to their own "travel to America" plans, to stall for
time, without committing himself to any course of
action. I don't believe he told them of plans for
divorce.
Dr HR Hulme is beginning to believe that the
"First Plan" of retreat is not viable; I can imagine he
is now getting very angry with HM Hulme for placing yet
another problem in his path. I believe he starts to
have grave doubts about HM Hulme's ability to cope with
JMH, if she is going to be a 'problem,' and he
questions the wisdom of leaving the children behind
with her. He does not yet have enough data to formulate
a "Second Plan" and he also may need confirmation that
the 'problem' he perceives with JMH is a real one,
needing to be dealt with, or not. I believe he
discloses none of these thoughts to HM Hulme at this
point in time. jp]
1954, April 25 (Sun).
[*] *PYP Diary: divorce! --sympathy, soaring, plunging,
vowing to "stick together."
[note: Finally, the subject of divorce is broached
after another whole day of thought and planning by Dr
HR Hulme. The situation is played out as a sad tragedy
by the adults, evoking tremendous sympathy from PYP,
not blame or anger, and extreme uneasiness at the
uncertainty of it all. jp]
1954, April 28 (Wed).
[*] *PYP Diary: 'Digby's,' JMH @ PYP's, girls bathe
together, PYP felt suicidal, writes of PYP's desire to
"rid myself of this obstacle"--HM Parker--for first
time.
1954, April 29 (Thurs).
[*] *PYP Diary: PYP states JMH not told of PYP's plans for
removing HM Parker.
1954, April 30 (Fri).
*PYP Diary: first mention of telling JMH about
"intentions" regarding Mother.
[note: I think the date of this entry is an extremely
important error in trial transcripts, stated there to
be April 13. The Press and G&L give April 30. jp]
1954, May 1 (Sat).
*PYP Diary: HM Hulme's "lovely remark"--"Won't it be
wonderful when we are all back in England, Gina." PYP
and JMH don't sleep together fearing Dr HR Hulme
catching them.
[note: An absolutely key entry for many reasons,
including the way it shows that Dr HM Hulme has not yet
finished formulating the "Second Plan" nor has he told
HM Hulme of it. She would not have made such a remark
if she had known of the "Second Plan." I believe this
is also her way of "putting the plans for America out
of their heads" which HM Hulme had testified to doing.
In addition, it also shows that Dr HR Hulme was
collecting data on the girls' relationship. They had
obviously noticed his increased/renewed awareness of
their actions and behaviour over the last week. jp]
1954, May 2 (Sun).
First Term [Fifth Form] ends.
..........May holiday begins.
|
1952, May 3 (Mon) - 8 (Sat).
| *CUC "Capping Festival Week" celebrations and
| bacchanalia.
|
1954, May 6 (Thurs).
| *PYP Diary: gloriously happy, love our new fiancés.
|
1954, May 8 (Sat).
| *Dr HR Hulme again consults Dr Bennett about girls'
| relationship. This is exactly 8 weeks prior to the
| planned date of departure of Dr HR Hulme and his
| children according to the "Second Plan."
|
| [note: This consultation came after a whole week of
| Dr HR Hulme weighing his choices, and his making
| observations of PYP and JMH, and of HM Hulme and WAB
| Perry. I believe there was disagreement among adults
| over the need for a "Second Plan." I believe Dr FO
| Bennett told Dr HR Hulme essentially what was in his
| later testimony, namely that PYP and JMH's relationship
| had become overtly homosexual. Given standard medical
| opinion and practise of the day, Dr FO Bennett probably
| advised in favour of active intervention, to 'reverse'
| or 'stave off' JMH becoming irreversibly homosexual.
| I believe it was Dr FO Bennett, in this consultation,
| who convinced Dr HR Hulme of the need for separating
| JMH from PYP immediately. And this was when Dr HR Hulme
| enlisted Dr FO Bennett as an ally.
| This was when Dr HR Hulme committed himself to the
| "Second Plan." The "Second Plan" was to abandon HM
| Hulme and WAB Perry to their own devices, and to take
| custody of Jonathon, and to deliver JMH to South Africa
| to stay with an aunt (Ina?).
| It cannot be coincidence that this is exactly 8
| weeks before the planned departure date. I propose that
| Dr HR Hulme bought his passage on May 8. It was
| probably necessary for him to book all tickets or pay
| a financial penalty he could not afford. This was the
| decision he had to make on May 8, 1954: purchase one
| passage home to England, or three?
| According to conventional medical wisdom at the
| time, lesbianism was caused by an overly-close
| association between a daughter and her mother [see
| G&L], and this could have been used to justify the
| "Second Plan" had there been argument from HM Hulme. No
| doubt, Dr HR Hulme also used the threat of 'adultery'
| on the divorce petition, and the threat of publicity
| and courtroom proof of HM Hulme as an 'unfit mother' to
| secure the release of Jonathon to his care. At this
| point Dr HR Hulme had absolutely nothing to lose, which
| probably made him seem desperate and 'dangerous' and
| not worth taking on, to WAB Perry and HM Hulme.
| It is also possible that HM Hulme and WAB Perry
| did not fight too hard to retain custody of JMH and
| Jonathon. jp]
|
1954, May.
| *HM Hulme resigns from Christchurch Marriage Guidance
| Council. [note: G&L report that Council was stunned,
| so this may have been a pre-emptive resignation, or
| the statement historical revisionism. G&L also mention
| that Council didn't recover from the scandal of HM
| Hulme for years; she managed to break nearly all
| charter principles of the Council in her private life
| over a very short period of time. The Council still
| distances itself from her. jp]
|
1954, May ("Around time PYP staying at Ilam after Easter").
| *HD Rieper gave confusing and inconsistent testimony
| about the following critical events and especially the
| timing of them, indicating he was probably out of the
| decision-making loop. It appears as if he may have
| been 'concerned' or even annoyed by PYP's behaviour,
| but it also seems clear he didn't really perceive a
| crisis condition--he just didn't pay close attention.
| Clearly, HM Parker got in touch with Dr HR Hulme
| again, with new concerns about PYP and JMH's
| relationship (HD Rieper's testimony was consistent
| about this). Clearly, she was told by Dr HR Hulme
| that he would be leaving NZ with JMH in a matter of
| weeks (the date of the conversation and length of time
| to departure were the most inconsistent parts of HD
| Rieper's testimony). And, clearly, it was HM Parker
| who made the decision to allow PYP "to see as much of
| Juliet as she desired, pending her departure."
|
| [note: Why did HM Parker approach Dr HR Hulme again?
| I think it is possible the Dr FO Bennett may have
| contacted HM Parker again after Dr HR Hulme's
| consultation, to convince/confirm for her the
| seriousness of the situation and to suggest she discuss
| the matter with Dr HR Hulme.
| When are JMH and PYP told of the "Second Plan?"
| This is such a critical question, but there is no clear
| answer. The diary record is, unfortunately, incomplete
| through most of May. I suspect that the "Second Plan"
| was fully discussed between Dr HR Hulme, HM Hulme and
| WAB Perry late in the first week of May, and Dr FO
| Bennett was consulted as "the final word"--he knew both
| Hulmes independently and well. The Riepers were
| probably called by Dr FO Bennett on May 8, and HM
| Parker probably called Dr HR Hulme the next day, Sunday
| May 9, HD Rieper's day off. JMH and PYP were probably
| informed simultaneously by their respective parents on
| the Sunday night, May 9, or very soon thereafter.
| HM Hulme testified that JMH pleaded for PYP to be
| taken to South Africa with her. HM Hulme also testified
| that both families spent some time explaining to both
| girls that PYP could not possibly accompany JMH. There
| are no published diary records to support or refute
| these statements. jp]
|
1954, May 17 (Mon).
|..............May Holiday ends.
Second Term [Fifth Form] would have begun.
1954, May 23 (Sun).
*PYP Diary: Mr Perry taken ill, PYP worried that his
death would "spoil everything."
[note: A fascinating entry, interpreted in trial as
indicating PYP and JMH were worried about losing WAB
Perry as blackmail victim. WAB Perry discounted this,
again stating there was nothing to be blackmailed
about. I agree.
More likely is that JMH and PYP have modified
their 'escape plans.' I propose that the "Hollywood"
plan has been abandoned and PYP and JMH are now
planning to meet in South Africa; JMH will accompany Dr
HM Hulme and her brother, while PYP will fly and meet
JMH there. This makes Dr HR Hulme the agent of their
staying together and PYP's salvation from her parents.
PYP and JMH logic: If WAB Perry had died then JMH
would have probably had to stay with HM Hulme, not go
to South Africa. PYP can only be with JMH if they leave
Christchurch; to stay meant PYP staying with her
parents, and being subject to their control. jp]
1954, May 26 (Wed).
*PYP 16th birthday.
1954, May 27 (Thurs).
*PYP Diary: thwarted robbery of safe.
1954, May 29 (Sat).
*PYP Diary: Saints' anatomies.
1954, June 3 (Thurs).
*Official farewell ceremony for Dr HR Hulme as Rector
of Canterbury University College in College Hall.
*PYP Diary: wonderful photo of Dr Hulme.
1954, June 6 (Sun).
[*] *PYP Diary: PYP & JMH are 'mad.' So is Dr Hulme.
*In the coming week, JMH will ask WAB Perry about the
air fare to South Africa. He replies it is about 150
[pounds]. She replies "good" because they already have
about 100 [pounds]. [WAB Perry testimony]
1954, June 7 (Mon).
*PYP Diary: discussion of Saints' having sex while
eating.
1954, June 8 (Tues).
*PYP Diary: telepathy in dreams.
1954, June 9 (Wed).
*PYP Diary: 'Digby's' then disagreement with HM Parker.
1954, June 10 (Thurs).
*PYP Diary: sex education and felt close to Deborah.
1954, June 11 (Fri).
[*] *PYP begins 'last visit' with JMH @ Hulme residence
(Ilam), with HM Parker's blessing, for 10 days before
planned JMH departure for South Africa. [HD Rieper
testimony]
[*] *PYP Diary: trip to cinema to see 'IT,' 'enacting
Saints making love' with JMH.
1954, June 12 (Sat).
*Departure date for Dr HR Hulme and children confirmed
and "set" for exactly 3 weeks from today, according to
HM Hulme testimony.
*PYP Diary: spent night hectically.
1954, June 13 (Sun).
[*] *PYP Diary: hectic night going through the Saints,
discovering Bliss and Sin.
1954, June 14 (Mon).
*PYP Diary: discussed spicy ideas and spent a glorious
Saintly day.
1954, June 15 (Tues).
*PYP Diary: beautiful dreams of Port Levy.
*HM Hulme spends day at Port Levy--object of much
confusing testimony and cross-examination during trial,
with Crown Prosecutor Brown probably trying to get HM
Hulme to admit that she and WAB Perry used Port Levy as
a 'love nest' all this time.
1954, June 16 (Wed).
*PYP Diary: hectic night going through the Saints until
5:30 a.m.
1954, June 17 (Thurs).
*PYP Diary: didn't misbehave.
1954, June 18 (Fri).
*PYP Diary: planned our moiders in our operas.
1954, June 19 (Sat).
[*] *PYP Diary: HM Parker moider planned with JMH @ Ilam,
and had a simply wonderful time in every posible way.
1954, June 20 (Sun).
[*] *PYP leaves Ilam. Driven by HD Rieper with the Rieper
family to visit Rosemary Parker at Templeton Farm. (see
3.2.10.1).
[*] *PYP Diary: moider plans discussed with JMH @ Ilam.
1954, June 21 (Mon).
*PYP tells HM Parker she will start a new job on
following Monday 28th. PYP proposes a trip to Victoria
Park to celebrate, and proposes JMH to come with them.
HM Parker agrees, and tells HD Rieper of these things.
[HD Rieper testimony]
*JMH gets phone call from PYP inviting her to Victoria
Park. [HM Hulme and WAB Perry testimony--probably
trying to implicate PYP as instigator, in the trial.
PYP diary stated JMH called PYP.]
[*] *PYP Diary: PYP back home, rose late, helped HM Parker,
details of chosen murder method given. Excitement and
anticipation. Murder tomorrow.
*SNIP HERE*******************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 09/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
John D. Porter
*****************************************************************
"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 10/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
1954, June 22 (Tues).
[*] *PYP Diary: "The Day of The Happy Event."
[*] 10:30 *JMH collects half-brick from a pile beside Ilam
garage. She is driven downtown by HR Hulme, dropped off
at Beaths Store, on Cashel St, just east of Colombo St,
one block south of Cathedral Square, for "personal"
shopping. HM Hulme describes JMH as happy, calm and
affectionate that morning.
[*] 11:00 *JMH arrives @ Riepers with half-brick. Chat with HM
Parker in kitchen. Went up to PYP's room where PYP
placed half-brick in stocking, knotting it. PYP placed
weapon into school shoulder bag. JMH had pink stone in
her pocket, taken from a brooch.
[*] 11:45 *HD Rieper arrives home and works in garden.
[*] Noon *Lunch, a happy affair, with laughing, jokes. PYP, JMH,
HD Rieper, HM Parker, Wendy Parker. HD Rieper and Wendy
return to work after lunch, leaving HM Parker, JMH and
PYP to clean up.
[*] 1:30 *HM Parker, JMH and PYP leave house for Cathedral
Square where they catch #2 bus to The Tahake, Victoria
Park Terminus in Cashmere Hills.
[*] 2:35 *JMH, PYP, HM Parker arrive @ The Tahake, Victoria Park
Terminus. Walk uphill to the Tea Kiosk. HM Parker had
tea, JMH and PYP had soft drinks (one lemon, one
orange). All ate cakes and scones. Chatted to Agnes
Ritchie. Two other customers.
[*] 3:05 *HM Parker, PYP and JMH leave tea kiosk, enter the Park
through a gap in stone wall and set off on a steep
path.
[*] 3:20 *(approx). 420 yards along they cross a small wooden
bridge. JMH drops stone. The three turn back after a
few more metres. PYP points out pink stone to HM
Parker. Murder of Honora Mary Parker by PYP and JMH.
[*] 3:30 *Agnes Ritchie states PYP and JMH arrive at kiosk with
bloodsoaked clothing, white-faced and hysterical,
screaming that HM Parker was hurt and crying for help.
PYP had blood on face and hands, JMH had much blood on
her hands.
*A Ritchie took girls into tea kiosk. Sent a customer
for Kenneth Ritchie. A Ritchie went to head of path,
looking for HM Parker but couldn't see her. A Ritchie
returned to PYP and JMH, asking where accident had
happened. PYP and JMH beg her not to make them go back.
*K Ritchie arrived at kiosk. Went with his assistant
Eric McIlroy down the path to investigate.
*A Ritchie phoned for doctor and an ambulance. She
allowed PYP and JMH to wash off blood in servery. PYP
and JMH both asked for their fathers. A Ritchie phoned
HD Rieper at Dennis Brothers' Fish Supply, but he was
not in the shop and she left a message. Then A Ritchie
phoned HR Hulme, and he said he would come immediately.
A Ritchie brings PYP and JMH hot tea with much sugar
and notes PYP gulps down hot tea with no milk,
oblivious to the temperature and apparently in shock.
JMH was noted to be talking rapidly and hysterically.
3:40 *K Ritchie and E McIlroy find HM Parker's body; she is
obviously dead and not an accidental death because they
saw the brick nearby. K Ritchie pulled HM Parker's
dress back down over her legs. E McIlroy left guarding
the body while K Ritchie returned to kiosk.
3:45 *K Ritchie reaches kiosk as ambulance arrives. He
phones police.
4:00 *HR Hulme arrives at kiosk. He tells A Ritchie to tell
the police he was taking PYP and JMH to Ilam. HR Hulme
drives PYP and JMH away from Victoria Park, back to
Ilam.
4:10 *(approx). Dr D Walker arrived responding to A
Ritchie's call. Decides to wait for police after
talking to K Ritchie who tells him of condition of HM
Parker's body.
4:20 *Sgt R Hope and Const D Molyneaux arrive after having
first gone to Victoria Lake instead of Victoria Park. K
Ritchie took them, Dr Walker and ambulance driver to
body. Dr Walker confirms HM Parker dead without
disturbing body. Const Molyneaux ordered to stay at
scene to ensure no-one approached area or body while
others return to kiosk. Sgt Hope radios Central Police
Station in Christchurch from police car.
5:00 *Senior Det M Brown dispatches DetSgt A Tate and Det G
Gilles to scene.
5:00 *(approx). HD Rieper arrives at Victoria Park, driven
by a friend, having finally received message that HM
Parker had had an accident and an ambulance had been
summoned. Upon his arrival, Sgt R Hope questions him
about his whereabouts that afternoon. HD Rieper not
taken to HM Parker's body, but told to wait at kiosk,
where he paces anxiously. HD Rieper prime suspect for a
short time at this point.
5:20 *DetSgt A Tate and Det G Gilles arrive with Const AE
Griffiths. Sgt Hope took them to body. All examined
body and area thoroughly, noting brick and torn
stocking. Getting close to sundown and dark.
6:00 *DetSgt A Tate returned to kiosk and reported back to
Senior-Det M Brown, who contacted Inspector D McKenzie.
Tate arranged for coroner, a pathologist and police
photographer to come to scene.
7:00 *Inspector McKenzie, Senior-Det Brown join Dr EBE
Taylor (Coroner), Dr CTB Pearson (pathologist) and WM
Ramage (police photographer) at Victoria Park. They and
the other detectives examine body and surroundings,
working by flashlamp in the dark. Scene and body
photographed thoroughly. Senior-Det Brown DetSgt Tate
ordered to interview JMH and PYP. Brown interviewed HD
Rieper and obtained his permission to interview PYP
without presence of counsel.
4:30 *(onward). At Ilam, HM Hulme bathed PYP and JMH,
treated them for shock, fed them and sent them to bed.
HM Hulme washed PYP and JMH underclothes. WAB Perry
took bloodstained outer clothes to Wicks' Drapery, dry
cleaners in Fendalton Rd.
8:00 *Senior Det Brown and DetSgt Tate arrive at Ilam.
Interview HM Hulme, HR Hulme and WAB Perry. Brown and
Tate, accompanied by HM Hulme, interview PYP, who was
abed. PYP states HM Parker had fallen. WAB Perry
invited in half-way through. Brick and stocking
discussed. PYP makes no incriminating statements.
*Brown and Tate went downstairs and JMH interviewed in
a sitting room in presence of HM Hulme, HR Hulme and
WAB Perry. JMH gives same story as PYP at first. Brown
said they didn't believe JMH was present at HM Parker's
death. WAB Perry asked to speak alone with JMH at which
time he told her to tell the truth. WAB Perry then said
JMH wished to make a second statement. Tate recorded it
while Brown interviewed PYP again. JMH second statement
recorded, indicating she didn't witness accident but
had turned back after hearing voices to find HM Parker
lying bloody on ground, did not notice a brick or
stocking, and she had supported PYP's story.
*Brown meanwhile returned to PYP's bedroom, alone,
stated to PYP he thought JMH had not been present, and
accused PYP of being involved in HM Parker's death. PYP
agreed to answer questions. Brown recorded PYP's
statement in form of Q&A in which she admitted killing
HM Parker but stated JMH not involved, then PYP signed
statement.
*Brown and Tate arrest PYP. Leaving Ilam, they ask her
about the brick. HM Hulme quickly stated it had not
been obtained from Ilam. PYP taken to Christchurch
Central Police Station, a few blocks from her home.
late *Brown and Tate accompany HD Rieper to Rieper
residence, where they search PYP's room with his
permission. Recover 14 exercise books, a scrap book and
2 diaries. Read final diary entries and take possession
of the material.
*Gilles, Hope and Griffiths remove HM Parker's body to
Christchurch Hospital mortuary where Griffiths removes
HM Parker's clothing and effects for evidence.
*PYP left in Tate's office where she writes note. It is
confiscated and placed in an envelope. PYP spends night
in police cells.
*JMH recites poetry at Ilam and sleeps in her mother's
arms.
*strong rumour [G&L and "Daughters of Heaven," mf] has
frenzy of activity @ Ilam, destroying evidence, i.e.
burning of JMH diary and writings, removal of bricks.
1954, June 23 (Wed).
*HD Rieper identifies HM Parker's body, accompanied by
Det Gilles.
9am *Inquest into death of HM Parker opened by Coroner EBE
Taylor, adjourned sine die after evidence of
identification given by HD Rieper with DetSgt AB Tate
representing police.
*Det Gilles recovers PYP and JMH clothing, still
uncleaned, from Wicks' Drapery.
10am *PYP, unrepresented by counsel, charged with murder of
HM Parker on application of DetSgt GW Alty in
Christchurch Magistrate's Court before Mr RC Abernethy,
S.M. and remanded to appear on July 1.
*PYP Returned to Central Police Station and interviewed
in Tate's office. PYP stated that she would tell truth
if JMH present. Detectives leave for Ilam, leaving PYP
in Tate's office. PYP grabs note and tries to burn it
but it is partially recovered. Later, PYP remanded in
custody to Paparua Prison, Christchurch, until July 1.
aft. *Brown and Tate arrive at Ilam. Later, go up to JMH
bedroom. JMH interrogated again, gives 2nd statement,
implicating herself in the murder. JMH arrested and
placed in custody in gaol.
1954, June 24 (Thurs).
*body of HM Parker cremated after funeral service at
Bromley Methodist cemetery, Christchurch.
*JMH, represented by TA Gresson, charged with murder of
HM Parker on application of DetSgt Alty in Christchurch
Magistrate's Court before Mr R Ferner, S.M. and
remanded in custody to Paparua Prison, Christchurch to
appear July 1. Both Dr Hulme and Hilda Hulme are
present.
*Dr Bennett examines PYP and JMH individually for about
3/4 - 1 hour each in Police Station.
*Dr Saville interviews JMH and PYP separately.
*JMH joins PYP in Paparua Prison. There, they will
listen to classical music, take long walks together and
write voluminously. Examined by Dr Medlicott within
first two or three weeks of arrest, seven hours each.
*body of HM Parker cremated after a funeral service at
Bromley Methodist cemetary, Christchurch.
1954, June 27 (Sun).
*Dr Medlicott interviews JMH separately for 2 1/2 hours
at Paparua prison. [sb]
1954, June 28 (Mon).
*Dr Medlicott interviews PYP separately for 1 1/2 hours
at Paparua prison. [sb]
1954, June 29 (Tues).
*Dr Hunter interviews PYP and JMH separately.
1954, July 1 (Thurs).
*JMH, PYP due to be released from custody before trial
but held over.
*Dr HR Hulme meets with JMH in Paparua prison to tell
her he is leaving NZ for England. He stated they met
for a few minutes and JMH told him, before he kissed
her goodbye: "I want you to go."
1954, July 3 (Sat).
*Planned date for Dr HR Hulme and JMH departure for
England via South Africa, where JMH was to have been
left with Aunt Ina (see 7.11).
*Dr HR Hulme and son Jonathon apparently sail on
schedule [Or around this time, and certainly before
July 16. Date not yet confirmed. jp] from NZ on the
liner "Himalaya," bound for London via Capetown and
Marseilles, where they will disembark and vanish. Dr HR
Hulme will never return. During the sea voyage, he
states: "The world will just have to think of me as an
unnatural father. I cannot say why I decided to leave
New Zealand at this time. It would involve too many
people. But there is nothing I can do there just now.
My only concern now is for my son. I want to spare him
all I can. I've told him his sister is mentally ill--as
indeed she is."
1954, July (after Dr HR Hulme's departure)
*public auction of Hulmes' personal effects held at
Ilam. Huge attendance of gawkers. [reported NZ Truth 22
Sept '54. G&L]
1954, July 11 (Sun) and July 12 (Mon).
*Dr Medlicott interviews PYP and JMH for c. 2-3 hours
total at Paparua Prison. [sb]
1954, July 12 (Mon).
*Dr Saville interviews PYP and JMH separately.
1954, July 14 (Wed).
*Dr Hunter interviews PYP and JMH separately.
1954, July 16 (Fri).
*PYP & JMH committed for trial at sensational inquest,
Christchurch Magistrate's Court, where extracts from
diaries read. Worldwide publicity begins in earnest.
[PYP & JMH incarcerated at Paparua but PYP transported
to & from Mt Eden prison in Auckland for exams,
according to testimony. G&L claim PYP moved to Mt Eden
at the secret insistence of her own counsel, to see
what effect there would be upon separation of PYP and
JMH. sb,jp,G&L]
1954, July 26 (Mon).
*Dr K Stallworthy examines PYP six occasions between
now and 19 Aug. at Paparua? or Mt Eden?. (probably JMH
also, separately; she is interviewed 4 separate times).
*Dr Saville interviews JMH and PYP separately.
*Dr Hunter interviews PYP and JMH separately.
1954, July 27 (Tues).
*Dr K Stallworthy examines PYP at Paparua. (probably
JMH also, separately).
1954, Aug. 2 (Mon).
*Dr Hunter examines JMH at Paparua after PYP sent to Mt
Eden.
1954, Aug. 6 (Fri).
*Dr Bennett examines JMH at Paparua prison for 1 hour.
1954, Aug. 10 (Tues).
*Dr HR Hulme and son Jonathon arrive in Marseilles on
the liner "Himalaya" and disappear from public view.
1954, Aug. 13 (Fri).
*Dr Saville and Dr Hunter together examine PYP and JMH
separately.
1954, Aug. 14 (Sat).
*Dr Bennett examines PYP at Paparua prison for 1 hour
(she had been brought back from Mt Eden by this time).
1954, Aug. 15 (Sun).
Second Term ends.
August Holidays begin for NZ schools. The trial will
occur during the school holidays, guaranteeing a large
crowd of spectators and much local interest.
1954, Aug. 19 (Thurs).
*Dr K Stallworthy examines PYP at Paparua. (probably
also JMH, separately). Also 2 more exams for PYP at
Mount Eden Prison, near Auckland, before trial and 1
more exam for JMH before trial, unspecified location.
Total psych exams since murder: PYP = 23, JMH = 20.
1954, Aug. 20 (Fri).
*Dr Saville and Dr Hunter together examine PYP and JMH
separately.
1954, Aug. 23 (Mon).
*Trial of PYP & JMH begins. Both plead Not Guilty.
Opening arguments by prosecution. Coroner's report
read. HM Hulme testifies. HD Rieper testifies. JMH's
statements read.
1954, Aug. 24 (Tues).
*Second day of trial. HM Hulme recalled to testify. WAB
Perry testifies. Close of prosecution case. Opening
arguments by defense. Insanity plea entered by defense.
Dr Medlicott testifies for defense.
1954, Aug. 25 (Wed).
*Third day of trial. Dr Medlicott continues to testify.
Dr Medlicott brutally cross examined by prosecution.
1954, Aug. 26 (Thurs).
*Fourth day of trial. Dr Medlicott finishes testifying.
Dr Bennett testifies for defense. His equivocal &
confusing testimony eventually summarized by the judge.
1954, Aug. 27 (Fri).
*Fifth day of trial. Crown calls three expert
witnesses: Dr Stallworthy, Dr Saville and Dr Hunter.
They testify that PYP and JMH were legally sane.
1954, Aug. 28 (Sat).
*Sixth day of trial.
*Ranfurly Shield rugby match being played in Chch and
supporters show up for trial in the morning.
*Final addresses by both counsel. JMH sits with fingers
plugging her ears during Brown's emotional, vitriolic
tirade and famous quote.
*Judge gives summing-up for 1 h 20 min.
12:10 *All-male jury retires for 2 h 14 min.
2:53 *HM Hulme sits with her eyes shut, fists clenched as
the verdict is read. PYP & JMH are found legally sane
and are convicted of murder of HM Parker. Trial ends.
*Spectator yells "I object! I protest!" as terms of
sentence read out. This becomes rallying cry for public
reaction to sentence. He is ejected from Court.
*PYP & JMH unemotional, do not look at families as they
are led away, back to Paparua Prison.
*From his home, HD Rieper states: "I have nothing to
say about it."
*HM Hulme and WAB Perry retreat to Hulmes' Port Levy
holiday home to escape publicity--evicted from Ilam
after departure of Dr HR Hulme in July.
1954, Aug. 31 (Tues).
*ST Barnett: Imprisonment of PYP and JMH was "the most
complex and difficult custodial problem the penal
administration has yet faced. ... Hulme is the more
dominant personality and the leader of the two. She is
likely to present the greater custodial problem. ...
Obviously they should be treated equally and my present
mind is that they should each have an experience of
Mount Eden." [G&L]
1954, Sept. 1 (Wed).
*TC Webb: vows that both girls were to have "a taste of
Mount Eden."
*PYP & JMH sentenced to imprisonment, to be detained at
Her Majesty's pleasure in separate institutions. There
is to be no contact of any sort between them during
incarceration.
*PYP moved from Paparua Prison, Christchurch, to a
Borstal north of Wellington, Arohata Women's
Reformatory.
PYP will spend most of her incarceration here,
some time at Mt Eden and finally back to Paparua.
Converts to Roman Catholicism. Completes University
Entrance and most of requirements for BA degree while
incarcerated. Visited once by HD Rieper. Visited by
other members of her family once she is transferred
back to Paparua, near the end of her incarceration.
1954, Sept. 3 (Fri).
*JMH flown by Air Force plane to Whenuapai, Auckland,
met by Superintendent Haywood and taken to Auckland
Prison (Mt Eden), to the women's wing.
JMH apparently in solitary confinement for the
first 3 months. While she was at Mt Eden there were 4
or 5 hangings. On the one hand, she received a certain
level of special consideration, on the other she was
sent there rather than the lower security Borstal where
PYP was sent because she was considered the "more
dominant personality and the leader of the two." The
whole time she was incarcerated, she received no visits
from any member of her family, and "their
correspondence with her was infrequent." [sb] JMH will
spend most of her incarceration at Mt Eden. Tutored
privately, she completes University Entrance.
Transferred to Arohata for the final part of her
incarceration.
1954, Sept. 5 (Sun).
*HM Hulme changes her name to Hilda Marion Perry by
deed poll in Christchurch. She will go by the name "Mrs
H Marion Perry" from this point onward. [mf,sb]
1954, Sept. 6 (Mon).
August holidays end.
3rd term begins for NZ schools.
1954, Sept. 12 (Sun).
*HM Perry and WAB Perry leave New Zealand for England.
Neither will return. In Sydney, WAB Perry tells the
press: "We firmly believe Juliet is mad. ...Mrs Perry
is sorry to leave Juliet, but she believes that
Jonathon now has the greater need of her." [sb] [note:
Not known who ended up with custody of Jonathon. jp]
1954, Sept. 15 (Wed).
*Howard League for Penal Reform condemns the Secretary
of Justice and Minister of Justice's statements about
subjecting JMH and PYP to "a taste of Mt Eden." The
intervention of this organization may have had a
significant influence on JMH (see dedications to Anne
Perry's novels in section 7.11).
1954, Oct. 28 (Thurs).
*JMH 16th birthday.
1954, Dec.
*PYP enrolled in correspondence courses for English,
French, Latin, Mathematics, Drawing and Design. Later,
she enrolled for a course in Maori.
*JMH studied English, Italian and Mathematics. [note:
Three subjects is traditional in English system of 'A'-
levels. Also note that Dr HR Hulme was a mathematical
physicist. jp]
1954, Dec. 10 (Fri).
*JMH reported to now be remorseful, in press. [sb]
[note: This would be about the time JMH was released
from solitary confinement. Statement actually
substantiated by Anne Perry in '94-'95 interviews. jp]
*PYP reported to be "trying desperately to find out
what has happened to" JMH.
1954, Dec. 12 (Sun).
*PYP reported to have tried to smuggle a letter to JMH.
1955.
*Dr HR Hulme and HM Perry are divorced.
*WAB Perry and HM Perry marry.
*Dr HR Hulme (aged 47) marries Margery Ducker, daughter
of Sir James and Lady Cooper.
*Dr HR Hulme begins appointment at Aldermaston in UK.
1955, Sept.
*HD Rieper reluctantly visits PYP but finds the visit
"depressing."
1958.
*Britain successfully tests thermonuclear Hydrogen-bomb
at Christmas Island in the South Pacific, making it a
full-fledged, independent nuclear power. Dr HR Hulme is
a key member of Britain's H-bomb design team. His
scientific role is roughly equivalent to that of Edward
Teller's in the US effort.
1959.
*Dr HR Hulme becomes Chief of Nuclear Research at
Britain's Atomic Weapons Research Establishment,
Aldermaston, UK.
1959, Dec. 4. (Fri)
*ST Barnett, now NZ Secretary of State for Justice,
announces JMH (aged 21) and PYP (aged 21) released in
that order some weeks earlier from prison and given new
identities. "Neither girl knows where the other is
living."
*JMH provided with a Department of Justice escort and
assistance by the Department to make travel plans. She
travels to Sydney, Australia then joins HM Perry and
WAB Perry in the UK. JMH assumes the name Anne Perry
(revealed '94). Beginning in '79 Anne Perry rejoins the
public arena as a published author.
*PYP released on probation, about 2 weeks after JMH has
left NZ, until '65. PYP provided assistance by Justice
Department to assume new identity and find employment.
She leads a closely-supervised but anonymous life under
terms of her parole. She completes her University
education and receives her degree. She has no contact
with any of her family after her release. [G&L]
*HD Rieper states after learning of his daughter's
release: "It still doesn't make up for robbing a person
of their life. It was evil between them that did it.
Pure evil."
1963, Dec. 11.
*Department of Justice letter placed in PYP's file,
noting concern by officials about PYP's lesbian
associates.
1965.
*PYP completes her probation and leaves NZ, destination
unknown. She lives her life as a private citizen out of
the public arena from this point on.
1973.
*Dr HR Hulme, aged 65, retires from Aldermaston.
1981, May 5.
*Herbert Rieper dies of pneumonia, Christchurch, NZ,
aged 92. [sb]
1991, Jan. 8.
*Henry Rainsford Hulme dies, Basingstoke, England, aged
82.
1995.
*JMH, now known as Anne Perry, lives in Portmahomack
Scotland, a mile from her mother, now widowed from WAB
Perry. Ms Perry is a successful author of Victorian
mysteries.
*Present whereabouts and identity of PYP officially
unknown, but published reports of rumours put her in
Auckland, NZ, working in a Christian Bookshop. She has
continued to lead her life out of the public arena
since '65.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7.4 Quotes from diaries and writings. [mcw,jp,sb,mf]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
All quotations are authored by Pauline Yvonne Parker unless noted
otherwise. Medlicott is abbreviated as "M" when indicated as a
source, while Glamuzina and Laurie are abbreviated as "G&L". [jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.4.1 Fiction.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Senior Detective Brown testified at the trial that he found
fourteen exercise books, a scrap book and a diary in Pauline's
room. [actually two diaries. jp]
March 1953.
Her fictional family intruded into the diary with bewilderingly
frequent and tangled escapades; there were bedroom scenes,
highway robberies and often more than one violent death a day.
[M]
She was very interested in creative writing, and from March 1953
she began including synopses of her stories in the diary. [G&L]
April 4, 1953.
In the diary record within a paragraph Roland slaps Carmelita's
face when she turns his proposal of marriage down because she is
engaged to Roderick, and in a blazing fury he shoots Roderick.
The horse 'Vendetta' kills Gianina the night before her marriage
to Nicholas. On the ledge of 'Satan's Hollow' 'Vendetta' crashes
down on to Nicholas and with a wild scream turns into the sunset,
his revenge complete. [M]
May, 1953.
Sudden death, suicide and murder assumed extravagant proportions.
They were preoccupied with ideas of great power, especially to
murder without reprisal, and vicious characters were greatly
respected. Their favourite character Diello was particularly
vicious. Death and murders were treated lightly. [M]
The Empress of Volumnia, who was only thirteen, "has a violent
temper and when in a tantrum has killed all the people who have
incurred her wrath. Also she is very proud and refuses to
interview anyone in the lower classes." Her people loved her and
would not have had her otherwise. [M]
"Barton...silly bounder...tried to shoot me, and I have a
terrible temper when roused and I am afraid I broke his back and
put him in the mere (lake)...(stupid blighter). And Linker...
poor fellow...you know I really quite liked him...indiscriminate
in his choice of friends and is now...alack!...in the mere with
Barton." [M]
[A female character]: "I don't kill people...I thought you might
like to know since you asked me some time ago. My father hasn't
killed anyone for quite a while. I would like to kill someone
sometime because I think it is an experience that is necessary to
life." [M]
"Sunrise makes the peaks crimson, as if some giant hand had
dipped and smeared it with blood." [M]
1954.
Pauline's book 'The Donkey's Serenade' was finished by the end of
February and she immediately followed it with another. By the
time of the murder they had completed or were in the process of
writing six books between them, in addition to plays, poetry and
an opera. [M]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.4.2 Poetry.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE ONES THAT I WORSHIP
There are living among(st) two dutiful daughters
Of a man who possesses two beautiful daughters
The most glorious beings in creation;
They'd be the pride and joy of any nation.
You cannot know, nor (yet) try to guess,
The sweet soothingness of their caress.
The outstanding genius of this pair
Is understood by few, they are so rare.
Compared with these two, every man is a fool.
The world is most honoured that they should deign to rule,
And above us these Goddesses reign on high.
I worship the power of these lovely two
With that adoring love known to so few.
'Tis indeed a miracle, one must feel,
That two such heavenly creatures are real.
Both sets of eyes, though different far, hold many mysteries
strange.
Impassively they watch the race of man decay and change.
Hatred burning bright in the brown eyes, with enemies for fuel,
Icy scorn glitters in the grey eyes, contemptuous and cruel.
Why are men such fools they will not realize
The wisdom that is hidden behind those strange eyes?
And these wonderful people are you and I.
Pauline Yvonne Parker, 1953. (back of diary)
Note that the punctuation of this version is partly speculative,
and is based on a version published in contemporary news
articles, on the lyrical content and the known grammatical
precision of PYP's writing [G&L]. The punctuation, and a few
words, do not match the (largely unpunctuated) version obtained
from the trial transcript (which is a secondhand verbal record,
after all), or the version transcribed by Medlicott in his paper,
although Medlicott noted that 'Goddesses' was capitalized whereas
'heavenly creatures' was not. All published versions
approximately contemporary with the case include the term
"heavenly creatures." There have been some recent press reports
suggesting that the term did not appear in Pauline Parker's
writings. [mcw,jp]
See Medlicott's article for his analysis of this poem, and also
for comments by PYP and JMH made to Medlicott concerning the poem
in response to his questions. Medlicott notes that both girls
treated him with open contempt [JMH: "You do think, don't you?"]
so their comments to him about "The Ones That I Worship" may have
to be taken with a pinch of salt. [jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.4.3 Diaries.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Heavenly Creatures" states that Pauline's Diary for 1953 was a
"Whitcombe's New Zealand Handy Diary." On the outside front
cover it said "The Handy Diary for 1953." Inside the front cover
were advertisements for a pen (left) and Edmond's Quality
Products (right). Overleaf were tabulated 'handy facts' and The
first page for January 1 was facing, on the right.
These facts have not been independently verified. If accurate,
there were no blank pages at the front for the tabulation of the
'Saints' (see below), in which case the table would have had to
have been near the front of the '53 diary on an unused regular
page.
It has been verified from trial testimony that Pauline's father,
Herbert Rieper, gave Pauline her diaries as a present. He was
asked if he had ever read them, and he replied that he hadn't
because that wouldn't have been honest. [jp]
Police photographer William McDonald Ramage testified during the
trial that seven diary pages had been photographed and these
photos were entered into evidence. Crown Prosecutor Brown stated
that these were the pages which referred directly to murder.
Published photographs of Pauline's diary entries reveal that the
diary pages were headed:
MONTH Year
(4-digit)
Date DAY
day#--days left
and that the pages were unlined and unruled. Pauline began
writing from the far left, not indenting the first line, level
with the 'day#--days left#' and she actually embedded these
numbers in the first line of her entry for the day. She did not
rule her own margins and they were wavy along the left of the
page, but not ragged. She wrote starting close to the left of the
page and ran all the way to the right edge of the paper.
Pauline's lines were evenly spaced, quite straight, parallel and
square with the page, all of which indicates much practice at
freehand writing (typists and word processors try it--it's hard.
Then try it lying down in bed!). She often continued words rather
than waste the space and start them fresh on the next line,
breaking them appropriately but not bothering with hyphens at
either side of the break. Pauline also used non-standard
abbreviations for small words such as "with" and "and" and she
edited her sentences as she wrote them to correct grammar or to
make ideas clearer, according to the surviving photos. She would
cross out words and write corrections above the line, but did not
use typographic editing marks to indicate where the corrections
should be placed, exactly.
It is clear that Pauline wrote in ink, with a fountain pen. Her
writing is even, not changing in size on a page, quite small and
remarkably legible overall, once the reader gets used to it. A
graphologist could say more about it, no doubt. However, there
is some question about Pauline's use of punctuation. In the
surviving photos, she does seem to be a little lax when it comes
to the use of commas and periods, using them sparingly and, in a
way, for emphasis. Pauline does use dashes correctly.
Unfortunately, none of the surviving entries contains an
interrogatory sentence. All official police transcripts omit
question marks completely. It would be an unusual habit for
Pauline not to write them, especially since writing a question
mark is one of the sensual pleasures of writing with a pen and
ink and they form natural pauses in the process of writing and
provide dramatic emphasis. I have tended to place question marks
in the quotations assembled below, but the reader is warned that
the issue is not a clear-cut one. [jp]
According to NZ law enforcement and Department of Justice
officials, Pauline Parker's diaries do not exist anymore and
haven't for many years. [mf]
Glamuzina & Laurie give the following information about the
diaries in their book (abbreviated G&L in this section, see 7.7):
(p. 76)
There are two diaries - one for the whole of 1953,
and one for 1954 up until 22 June, the day of the
murder. The 1953 diary begins with a brief synopsis of
important times during 1952 and includes a number of
poems. The original diaries were transcribed for the
defence and the prosecution. In transcripts, the 1953
diary contains 120 pages, with entries completed for
nearly every day. The partially completed diary
contains fifty-two pages, again with almost daily
entries.
As we were unable to locate the original diaries we
have used quotations as they appear in the official
transcripts. However, these contain a number of omissions
(marked in the transcript) and errors - for example, the
word 'Christmas-sy' instead of 'Christmas-ish' and 'ike'
instead of 'idea'. We were able to identify these as errors
by comparing the transcripts with newspaper photographs of
pages from the original diary and by reading the Supreme
Court trial transcripts, which record the discussion and
correction during the trial of the misspelt word, 'idea'.
(p. 76)
Juliet Hulme may also have kept a diary. Comments in
Pauline's diaries strongly suggest this. However, after the
murder the police were unable to find any diary. There were
rumours that her diary had been destroyed prior to her
arrest, but these were never substantiated. (pp. 76-77).
Medlicott's article in Brit. J. Med. Psych. (abbreviated M in
this section, see 7.8.1) contained many diary entries, though
obviously obtained from notes made from the official diary
transcripts and/or the trial transcript. The chapter by Gurr and
Cox (see 7.7) contains photographs of the actual diary entries
for June 21, 1954 and June 22, 1954. [jp]
Here are some statements about the diaries made by Jackson in an
interview with David Lyman: "The Man Behind Heavenly Creatures:
An Interview with Peter Jackson" printed on the WWW by
Film.com/Point of Presence Company:
"Jackson hoped he would find some of the answers in Pauline
Parker's diaries... The diaries provided him a spellbinding,
day-by-day account of the girls' desperation and of
Pauline's escalating hatred for her mother. They chronicle
the pair's darkening fantasies and the contempt in which
they held nearly everyone around them.
"There's a lot of it that is rather witty, as well," said
Jackson. ... "There's a whole section where they fantasize
about marrying James Mason. And they're not sure whether or
not James Mason is married, so they resolve to murder his
wife so that they can get their hands on him."" [sb]
The quotations from Pauline Parker's diaries given below have
been gathered from a large number of sources; all sources are
listed somewhere in section 7 but rigorous referencing has not
been followed in this section because it would be extremely
cumbersome. Often, quotes from different sources vary in content
and syntax. In combining quotations, they have been weighted,
based on the 'quality' of the source. Conflicts in grammar have
been resolved by noting that Pauline Parker was described as a
gifted writer by several authorities, though it is apparent she
had her own pet idiosyncrasies, too. The events surrounding these
quotations can be obtained from the time line, section 7.3.
The dates of some entries are not known precisely. Verbal
testimony may have introduced some errors; newspaper transcripts
of the verbal testimony sometimes disagree about dates; there may
have been errors in the 'official' police transcripts of the
diaries; there may have been errors in the notes made by
Medlicott from the transcripts and likewise in Bennett's notes.
Uncertainty in dates has generally been noted below.
When the principal source for a quote is the "Heavenly Creatures"
voiceover, a note has been made. This is because, where
comparisons with other sources can be made, it is clear that the
"Heavenly Creatures" voiceover tends to be heavily edited for
dramatic effect, often to the point of changing the meaning or
context of the quote, unfortunately.
Medlicott's article, Glamuzina & Laurie and the published diary
photos revealed that Pauline Parker invariably capitalized her
'Mother,' (see especially the entry for June 21, '54) her
'Father,' many of her generic references to JMH's parents, their
'Saints' (though see June 21 '54) and their 'Gods.' Henry Hulme
was almost invariably 'Dr Hulme' and Hilda Hulme was most often
'Mrs Hulme,' though there are a few intriguing and important
entries where Pauline refers to them possessively as 'Mother' and
'Father.' There are entries where 'the Hulmes' become 'we' and
their possessions become 'ours.' Ilam is usually referred to by
name but, again, it is sometimes 'home.'
'Family' is a flexible concept in Pauline's diaries, sometimes
referring to imaginary persons, but this is usually clear from
the context, counter to the impression given by contemporary
press articles. Wendy is referred to by her proper Christian
name, as are the boarders, even though some were much older than
Pauline. Miss Stewart is 'Stew' in some places. Trial testimony
indicated that Mr Perry was 'Mr Bloody Perry' in many places,
though this seems to have been edited out of published accounts.
Pauline often used numerals to abbreviate numbers, especially
with regard to time, and she used the numeral to refer to the
'4th World.' She and Juliet referred to it as 'Paradise' by 1954.
She did not hyphenate 'to-day' or 'to-morrow' unlike the official
transcripts and the press reports of the day. In fact, it seems
most likely that the diary transcripts were made by stenographers
recording the flat, monotone verbal record of a person reading
the diary entries.
From the context of several entries, it would seem that Pauline
most often used euphemisms to refer to or to describe sexual or
erotic events or ideas. The label 'Saints,' in particular,
apparently took on double-entendre connotations as time went by,
though this is obviously open to interpretation. Some imaginary
characters seem to have had very specialized physical
characteristics [thought: I wonder if the Ilam library had any
collections of Aubrey Beardsley's cartoons. Anne Perry says Oscar
Wilde was a favourite author. jp] and so references to them and
their names may also have been used as erotic euphemisms. [jp]
-------------------------
1953, Diary inside front:
The Saints
Mario Lanza = Poor Mario = HE |
James Mason = The James = HIM |
Harry Lime = Harry III = IT |
Mel Ferrer = The Angry Man = THIS |- THEY
Suie Bjuling = The Last One = THAT |
Guy Rolfe = King John = HIS |
WHOSE + THEY = THEM
THEY + WE = US
WHOSE + WE = WHICH
Monsieur de la Tour d'Azyr = Gervais = WHAT
Rupert of Hentzau = Rupeit = WHO
[note: PYP did not refer to Orson Welles by name, but as his
character name 'Harry Lime' from "The Third Man." Crown
Prosecutor Alan Brown knew who Harry Lime was, but it was
clear from trial testimony that neither Medlicott nor
Bennett did. 'Suie Bjuling' is probably the tenor Jussi
Bjorling, who was a popular recording artist around that
time [sb,lfr]. It would appear from PYP's diary entries that
James Mason was the principal Saint in real life. G&L, (on
p. 62) claim that the Ceylonese students were referred to as
"THEM" which does not seem consistent with these data.
Perhaps they are "WHOSE." jp]
1953, Jan. 1 (Thurs).
"New Year's Resolution: To be lenient with others."
1953, Jan. 5 (Mon).
"This morning I got up at seven o'clock and did some washing
before Nana came down for breakfast. I worked hard all
morning and did some baking."
1953, Jan. 10 (Sat).
"...never before have I hit so many creatures so hard for so
little reason..."
[note: Quoted by G&L, p. 77, as an example of a misleading
quote taken out of context during the trial. In context, it
was part of a description of PYP's helping to 'muster sheep'
while visiting a farm, through the Methodist Church PYP and
Wendy attended. G&L noted the allusion to Churchill's
'famous speech' though didn't identify it or give the
original quote. It was:
Never in the field of human conflict was so
much owed by so many to so few.
Winston Churchill
Tribute to the Royal Air Force,
House of Commons, Aug. 20, 1940.
which followed Britain's triumph over Goering's L’twaffe in
the "Battle of Britain." Note that PYP used the same
allusion in an ironic sense when Nicholas was caught in her
bed by HD Rieper. jp]
1953, Jan. 14 (Wed).
(while staying at a farm on a holiday) "..[two men] put a
note in my diary to say that they found it very interesting.
I got a terrible fright when I read it."
1953, Jan. 31 (Sat).
"...Mother says she is going to have Training College
boarders..."
[note: This is such an important point, but G&L don't
discuss it. Was this the beginning of the boarders? I don't
know what "Training College" refers to, though there is a
Teachers Training College now located just west of Ilam in
Christchurch. If this is what PYP was referring to, it would
be very significant in terms of PYP's academic environment
at home, and in terms of giving her role models. It is
possible that the boarders were, on the whole, quite an
intellectual bunch if they were all University students and
teachers-in-training. jp]
1953, Feb. 9 (Mon).
"...Harry arrived today. He seems quite nice and is about
35. He is very polite so far..."
1953, Feb. 10 (Tues).
"...I do hope Ross turns out to be nice. I have been looking
forward to his coming so much that I will probably be
disappointed..."
"Mother kicked up a fuss about the way I always insist on
doing the dishes and not letting anyone help. She says it
worries her to think I'm working too hard."
1953, Feb. 13 (Fri).
"...Mother was not well so I got up and prepared Harry's
breakfast and had my own..."
1953, Feb. 18 (Wed).
"...Ron, the new boarder arrived. He is quite nice and about
25..."
1953, Feb. 20 (Fri).
"...Ross was up late this morning. Out for dinner and by the
time I got home so I have not seen him all day."
1953, Feb. 22 (Sun).
"...This evening after tea we decided to go to the beach.
Mother and Nana did the dishes. Ron came with us. Ross was
out to tea so naturally he did not come. We went to
Brighton. Ron, Wendy and I went for a swim. Mother bought
some chocolate and bicuits which we had in the car on the
way home... A Man called to buy Ross's motor-bike."
1953, Mar. 4 (Wed).
"...Today many people came about board. We may be getting a
Frenchman. I hope very much that we are..."
1953, Mar. 9 (Mon).
"...John helped me with my homework for about an hour. He
says Damn a lot. I did a lot of homework..."
[note: Jackson & Walsh used John as the model for 'Nicholas'
in "Heavenly Creatures." Note the comment about 'damn.' jp]
1953, Mar. 11 (Wed).
"...Ross and John were home for dinner, to which Juliet
came..."
[note: This is Juliet's first quoted appearance. Jackson &
Walsh use this as the basis for the "Meet the Riepers"
scene. jp]
1953, Mar. 15 (Sun).
"Mrs Hulme was very grateful for the cigarettes and kissed
me twice..."
1953, Mar. 18 (Wed).
"We have decided how sad it is for other people that they
cannot appreciate our genius. But we hope the book will help
them to do so a little, though no one could fully appreciate
us."
1953, Mar. 20 (Fri).
An extract for March 20 showed they were taken to Lancaster
Park, but when there they looked for a quiet spot where they
could write poetry, as neither was interested in the school
sports. When Parker went home she wrote another poem.
[note: From Medlicott's trial testimony. Was this when PYP
wrote "The Ones That I Worship"? jp]
1953, April 3 (Fri).
"Today Juliet and I found the key to the 4th World. We
realise now that we have had it in our posession for about 6
months but we only realized it on the day of the death of
Christ. We saw a gateway through the clouds. We sat on the
edge of the path and looked down the hill out over the bay.
The island looked beautiful. The sea was blue. Everything
was full of peace and bliss. We then realized we had the
key. We now know that we are not genii, as we thought. We
have an extra part of our brain which can appreciate the 4th
World. Only about 10 people have it. When we die we will go
to the 4th World, but meanwhile on two days every year we
may use the key and look in to that beautiful world which we
have been lucky enough to be allowed to know of, on this Day
of Finding the Key to the Way through the Clouds."
[punctuation M, G&L]
[note: There actually is a small island offshore at Port
Levy. "Genii" is being used as a logical, though unusual,
plural for genius. G&L, p. 62, quote "...on two days every
year we may use the ray..." and "...which we are lucky
enough..." They also note that PYP recorded in her diary
that she was menstruating at this time (unfortunately not
quoted--PYP's slang reference or 'code' for menstruation
could be important in the context of recent statements made
by Anne Perry. Ms Perry claims that PYP did not sneak out at
night to see a 'lover' named 'Nicholas' but used a male name
as a slang for visiting the bathroom.). PYP's menstruating
at Port Levy was interpreted to be a very significant fact
by a Maori Tohunga G&L consulted for a traditional
interpretation of the events (pp. 147-8). The Port Levy
(Puaui) area contains several sites of particular spiritual
significance to the Maori. jp]
1953, April 4 (Sat).
In the diary record within a paragraph Roland slaps
Carmelita's face when she turns his proposal of marriage
down because she is engaged to Roderick, and in a blazing
fury he shoots Roderick. The horse 'Vendetta' kills Gianina
the night before her marriage to Nicholas. On the ledge of
'Satan's Hollow' 'Vendetta' crashes down on to Nicholas and
with a wild scream turns into the sunset, his revenge
complete. [Medlicott]
1953, April 6 (Mon).
"The days I spent at Port Levy were the most HEAVENLY ones I
have ever experienced... Mrs Hulme did my hair. She calls me
her foster daughter."
1953, April 18 (Sat).
The entry for April 18 shows the spending of hours out of
doors at night. There are a number of references in the
diary to nocturnal activities in the garden at Ilam.
[note: From Medlicott's testimony. jp]
1953, April 23 (Thurs).
"Mrs Hulme says she wished I was her daughter, too..."
1953, May 15 (Fri).
"Mrs Hulme told me they had found out today that Juliet has
tuberculosis on one lung. Poor Giulietta! It is only now I
realise how fond I am of her. I nearly fainted when I heard.
I had a terrible job not to cry. It would be wonderful if I
could get tuberculosis, too."
[note: Source is Medlicott's trial testimony and article and
"HC" voiceover, with date supplied by testimony. "HC"
voiceover omitted the "fond of her" sentence (!), combined
entries for the 15th and 16th and omitted "We agreed" and
implied school was in session. This entry was during May
Holidays, so "HC" must be wrong. The spelling of Giulietta
is the Italian spelling (assumed by me to be PYP's--cf.
Gianina); the phonetic trial transcript had it 'Julietta.'
jp]
1953, May 16 (Sat).
"I spent a wretched night. It was a relief to see Juliet
looking so well. ... We agreed it was a great pity I had not
TB too and it would be wonderful if I could catch it. We
would be in the sanatorium together and would be able to
write a lot. ... We have decided we are the most incredible
optimists."
1953, May 23 (Sat).
Honora and Wendy attend the 'Christchurch Competitions.' PYP
was apparently not interested.
[note: G&L note (p. 33) that these occurred 'during school
holidays,' not consistent with my information, which places
them in the first week back to school. Music, dancing,
singing and elocution prizes and awards were presented. jp]
1953, early in JMH confinement in TB sanatorium.
She records that she had a brain wave that Juliet and she
should write to each other as Charles and Lance.
[note: From Medlicott's testimony. "Lance" is Lancelot
Trelawney, Pauline's preferred fantasy character incarnation
at the time. jp]
1953, May 29 (Fri).
"...a girl who sat at the same table as us in a milkbar
[said] how beautifully I spoke English, that I almost had an
Oxford accent, what a refreshing change it was, and several
other very pleasing things..."
[note: From G&L, p. 46.]
Parker records that she is pleased she had a letter from
Juliet, who has entered into the spirit of the thing
greatly.
[note: From Medlicott's testimony. jp]
"This evening I had a brainwave. That Juliet and I should
write to each other as Charles and Deborah. I wrote a six-
page letter as Charles and a two-page letter as Pauline. She
has entered into the spirit of the thing greatly."
[note: Source is "HC" voiceover. This combines entries and
substitutes for the characters. jp]
1953, June 12 (Fri).
"The school went to see the film 'A Queen is Crowned'. I
thought the picture was rather boring as a picture, but I
picked up useful information for Charles' Coronation."
1953, June 14 (Sun).
"Juliet and I decided the Christian religion had become too
much of a farce and we decided to make up one of our own."
[note: This entry is dated variously the 14th or 15th. I
have gone with 14th because PYP seems to have made many of
her 'philosophical' diary entries on weekend nights, when
she may have been less distracted with mundane events cf.
weeknights. jp]
1953, July.
From court transcripts: "According to the diary the boy was
in bed with her to 3 a.m.?" "Yes." "And the following night
he was in bed with her again and was caught by Mr Rieper?"
"That is so." "There are other references to them attempting
intercourse?" "That is so."
"To think that so much could have happened in so little time
caused by so few. A terrible tragedy has occurred... I lay
there mesmerized. It was just too frightful to believe...
When I got up I found Father had told Mother. I had a nasty
foreboding feeling at first. But now I realize my crime was
too frightful for an ordinary lecture... I am terribly cut
up. I miss Nicholas terribly. Mother thinks I will have
nothing more to do with him. Little she knows..."
[note: The boy is referred to consistently as 'Nicholas' in
the diaries, according to trial testimony. Source for quotes
is "HC" voiceover. Note allusion to Churchill's "Battle of
Britain" speech again. jp]
1953, Aug. 9 (Wed).
The diary entry for August 9, 1953 makes it clear that
Parker visited Hulme at the sanatorium and they discussed
these imaginary characters and had a play acting scene. They
appeared to have discussed Diello's various females.
[note: Source is Medlicott's testimony. jp]
1953, Aug. 30 (Sun).
PYP wrote that Mrs Hulme gave Pauline several presents and
also gave Honora a powder compact upon her return from
abroad.
[note: G&L, p. 67. Unfortunately, entry not quoted. jp]
1953, Sept. 9 (Wed).
"It was wonderful returning with Juliet... it was as if she
had never been away... I believe I could fall in love with
Juliet."
[note: This was the day JMH returned home from the TB
sanatorium. It is a beautiful quote and it is quite
surprising, and telling of their agenda, that Jackson and
Walsh chose not to use it in the screenplay. jp]
1953, late September, a Thursday.
PYP and Nicholas attempt to have sex but halt because it is
too painful for PYP.
[note: Sources were trial transcript, Medlicott and 'Thurs'
was from "HC" voiceover, though the episode was incorrectly
dated in "HC". jp]
1953, early October.
"Nicholas was pleased that I was so early. We sat around and
talked for an hour and then went to bed. I declined the
invitation at first but he became very masterful and I had
no option. I discovered that I had not lost my virginity on
Thursday night. However, there is no doubt whatsoever that I
have now."
[note: Fact and approximate date from trial transcript and
Medlicott. Source of quote "HC" voiceover. In context of the
correct timeline it is clear that "not lost.." refers to the
previous attempt halted at PYP's request and not the
incident which led to Nicholas' expulsion from the Riepers
as implied in "HC". jp]
1953, Oct. 8 (Thurs).
After a 'disagreement' with a boy PYP wrote "...not that I
mind at all, it is so nice to think that Juliet and I could
continue our friendship unmolested, with no outside
interests." This was followed significantly enough in the
same day by their discussing the people they would wipe out.
[note: G&L p. 64 noted the part about the disagreement with
a boy but left off all mention of wiping out people, which
was Medlicott's observation. jp]
1953, Oct. 28 (Wed). (Juliet's Birthday)
"...told Nicholas this evening that I was no longer very
much in love with him because of my imaginary characters."
[note: Incredibly, Medlicott didn't comment on the fact that
this entry was made on JMH's birthday and G&L ignore
Nicholas almost entirely in their book. Some news reports
have this entry dated the 29th. jp]
1953, Nov. 2 (Mon).
"To-day I felt thoroughly, utterly and completely depressed.
I was in one of those moods in which committing suicide
sounds heavenly."
1953, Nov. 28 (Sat).
Parker and Hulme are planning a Coronation which is to take
place in a fortnight.
[note: Source is Medlicott's testimony. It is to be Diello's
Coronation. jp]
1953, Dec. 10 (Thurs).
The entry for December 10 says that Friday is Coronation day
for Diello of Borovnia and they are busy setting imitation
stones in a crown. They appear to be studying ritual for the
ceremony.
[note: Source is Medlicott's testimony. jp]
1953, Dec. 14 (Mon).
"I did not go to sleep last night, and I went to see
Nicholas at 12:30. I was very tired and dozed off while I
was there. Nevertheless I felt extremely tired this morning
and work I would have considered dreadful had it not been
that I was living in a daze waiting to see Pandora and the
Flying Dutchman. Mother carted me off to see a doctor after
work, which was a half-witted imbicile thing to do,
especially as I feel perfectly well. The doctor was a bloody
fool. I felt very tense and then we saw Pandora and the
Flying Dutchman. It is the most perfect story I have ever
known. The best picture (easily) that I have ever seen.
Pandora is the most beautiful female imaginable and Him is
far too wonderful to attempt to describe. I feel depressed
and will probably cry tonight."
1953, Dec. 20 (Sun).
[After Dr Bennett's examination, HM Parker threatened that
if 'Pauline's health did not improve,' she could never see
JMH again. Medlicott's note, paraphrased. jp]
"Mother woke me this morning and started lecturing me before
I was properly awake, which I thought was somewhat unfair.
She has brought up the worst possible threat now. She said
that if my health did not improve I could never see the
Hulmes again." ["HC" voiceover]
"The thought is too dreadful. Life would be unbearable
without Deborah. ...I rang Deborah and told her of the
threat. I wish I could die. That is not an idle or temporary
impulse. I have decided over the last 2 or 3 weeks that it
would be the best thing that could happen altogether, and
the thought of death is not fearsome."
[note: Medlicott did not make the connection with Bennett's
examination and 'diagnosis,' or the upcoming Royal tour. PYP
was forbidden from seeing JMH until Jan 26. 'Coincidentally'
this period corresponded to the Royal tour through
Christchurch. This is the first diary reference after the
Juliet -> Deborah transition. "HC" voiceover edited the
Medlicott portion and did not date the entry. Judge Adams
commented he thought this threat of suicide was in relation
to Pauline being forbidden from seeing Nicholas. jp]
1954, Dec. 24 (Thurs).
Parker records on December 24, 1953 that she does not feel
very Christmassy.
[note: Source is Medlicott's testimony. jp]
1954, Jan. 1 (Fri).
"I rose at about 9 this morning, and spent until 2 working
very hard helping mother."
"My New Year resolution is a far more selfish one than last
year, so there is more probability of my keeping it. It is
to make my motto 'Eat drink and be merry for to-morrow you
may be dead.'"
[note: Medlicott made much of PYP's clever and cynical
misquotation. G&L did not consider the possibility that PYP
was being ironic or facetious in describing her housework
(also see below) nor did they mention the New Year
Resolution. jp]
1954, Jan. 2 (Sat).
"I rose at about 9 this morning, and worked hard about the
house which was not [as] unpleasant as it sounds as I truly
enjoy housework."
1954, Jan. 10 (Sun).
"We went to Coes Ford. I was furious when we first arrived.
There were dozens of people there."
1954, Jan. 12 (Tues).
"During the morning a boy came to see Mother about board...
he arranged to come for two months and he arrived to stay
this evening. He is tall and slim with glasses and fair
hair. He seems to regard me as the maid-help aged 10."
1954, Jan 15 (Fri).
"Val and I went down to the river. She said she liked the
country but hated the people. As this is my sentiment
exactly we pulled them to pieces for some time."
1954, Jan. 19 (Tues).
"I did a great deal of housework today as Mother and
everyone else seemed to be dashing off to see the Queen all
the time."
1954, Jan. 25 (Mon).
"This morning Mother gave me the most fearsome lecture
because I started to wash the kitchen floor in my house
coat."
1954, Jan. 28 (Thurs).
"We procured bunches of grapes from the hothouse. We
discussed various amusing topics. If we were prostitutes how
much we should charge the various bods."
[note: This is the first diary quotation after PYP was
allowed to see JMH again. jp]
1954, Jan. 29 (Fri).
"I went over to Deborah's room early this morning about
7:30. It suddenly occurred to me that we had not celebrated
He's day so we decided to today. In He's honour we ate some
birthday cake, drank He's health, played all He's records
and made a little edifice of He. We have shifted His to the
Gods now. We worked out how much prostitutes would earn and
how much we would make in such a profession and 'should'
gradually changed to 'shall.' We have spent a really
wonderful day messing around and talking over how much fun
we will have in our profession. We have worked out some
glorious plans and worked out a whole new family for our
future."
1954, Feb 6 (Sat).
On the sixth of February they celebrated Him's day in
glittering black and went through what they termed the
'Saints Day' ritual. [M paraphrasing diary].
1954, Feb. 13 (Sat).
"As usual I woke at 5 and managed to write a considerable
amount. I felt depressed at the thought of the day. There
seemed to be no possibility of Mother relenting and allowing
me to go out to Ilam. This afternoon Mother told me I could
not go out to Ilam again until I was eight stone and more
cheerful. As I am now seven stone there is little hope. Also
one cannot help recalling that she was the same over
Nicholas. She said I could not see him again until my
behaviour improved, and when it did she concluded it was not
having his influence that caused it. She is most
unreasonable. I also overheard her making insulting remarks
about Mrs Hulme while I was ringing this afternoon. I was
livid. I am very glad because [the] Hulmes sympathise with
me and it is nice to feel that adults realise what Mother
is. Dr Hulme is going to do something about it I think. Why
could not Mother die? Dozens of people are dying all the
time, thousands, so why not Mother and Father too? Life is
very hard."
[note: G&L p. 74, had this 'official' police version of the
extremely important "Why could not Mother die" passage so I
have gone with the 'official' version and have added "[the]"
and both "?" marks as they were missing. It is possible that
PYP did not use "?" marks; there are other diary quotes in
G&L which lack them. Many different and conflicting versions
of this quote were transcribed verbally during testimony and
published in the press. Curiously, putting the "Why could
not Mother die" passage into the wider context of a more
complete entry makes it appear much more innocuous and much
more like the kind of statement of frustration to be found
in any teenager's diary. 'Stone' is an archaic unit of
weight: 1 stone = 14 lbs = 6.3 kg. PYP wasn't emaciated, but
she certainly wasn't 'stocky' as she has been described. jp]
1954, Feb. 21 (Sun).
PYP records with delight that another passenger on a bus
asked her how long she had been out from England.
[note: G&L, p. 46. This entry shows that PYP was acutely
aware of accents and she was probably tailoring her own to
sound more English. Unfortunately entry not quoted.]
1954, Feb. 28 (Sun).
First mention of the 'Plan.' Pauline was at Ilam. "Deborah
and I started discussing our quest for 'Him.' We have now
decided to hurry things up terrifically, in fact to start
now. We had a marvellous time planning the life and the
flight and how we will obtain all the money and what we will
do." The plan was to get to New York together, where they
would find someone to publish their books and then they
would go to Hollywood where they expected to be hailed as
actresses. [Medlicott]
1954, Mar. 14 (Sun).
"Mother came out and said that I was not going back to
school as she did not see why she should keep a horrid child
like me [in school a moment longer]... The absolutely
ironical part of it all is that I want to leave school
terrifically but my pride would not let me ask."
[note: The addition is from "HC" dialog of this incident.
jp]
1954, Mar. 19 (Fri).
"Mrs Hulme has put her foot in it. She has tried to talk me
into going back to school. Apparently Stew rang her as she
was worried about my leaving. This is all very flattering
but nevertheless a bloody nuisance."
[note: "Stew" is Miss Stewart, the headmistress of CGHS.
Hilda Hulme was on the Board of Governors of CGHS. jp]
1954, Mar. 31 (Wed).
PYP sneers at the ignorance of the people in her family
circle, and comments that Honora "talked a lot of rot."
[note: G&L, p. 46. Unfortunately, entry not quoted.]
1954, April 6 (Tues).
"I pretended to go to my own bed, but of course did not. We
spent most of our time in the dark making up dirty little
jingles."
1954, April 7 (Wed).
"Mrs X is known to be light fingered. This pleases us very
much as we will be able to take things and Mrs X will be
blamed. She will be the scapegoat." Parker also referred to
trying to get to Hollywood and getting into films that way.
[note: Source is Medlicott's testimony. Obviously, 'X' was
not used by PYP but was substituted at the request of
counsel during the trial. jp]
1954, April 10 (Sat).
PYP wrote that her mother "went to see Miss [Stewart] before
tea."
1954, April 11 (Sun).
"I rose at 5:30 this morning and did all the housework
before 8 o'clock, including taking Wendy her breakfast in
bed. I feel very pleased with myself on the whole. And also
the future. We are so brilliantly clever, there probably
isn't anything we couldn't do."
[note: Sources: G&L date, sentences 1,2. M sentence 4. "HC"
1-4 but omits date, and "there...do." jp]
1954, April 13 (Tues).
"...Father came and told me that Mother was not well so I
got up and prepared the breakfast. I did all the housework
and had a row with Wendy this morning."
[note: The following quote appears in some press reports
from verbal testimony and Medlicott's paper dated at April
13th. It has always stood out as being out of place, to me.
However, G&L date it at April 30th, as does The Press
(Christchurch), which could be consistent with "13th" being
a transcription error from verbal testimony in the trial.
This change of date would have extremely significant
implications (see entry for 30th, below). jp]
"Mrs C. came to tea and was thoroughly objectionable. Her
ghastly attitude towards the Japanese has made me fonder
than ever of them. I did not write this evening but I sat up
and talked to Mother. I told Deborah of my intentions and
she is rather worried but does not disagree violently. It is
now 10:30."
[note: PYP did not disguise names or shorten them to
initials, even 'Mrs Hulme' or 'Mother' so entries where this
has been done may have been edited, by Medlicott especially,
to disguise names. jp]
1954, April 15 (Thurs).
"We read our books to each other. We are so impressed with
each other's genius."
[note: Quote from Bennett's testimony, date from
Medlicott's. jp]
1954, April 16 (Fri). (Good Friday)
"We decided singing was the only branch of art we are not
good at. We practised singing. We were both astoundingly
good."
PYP and JMH "...had the intriguing conversation about what
her parents would think if they concluded that she had
changed into a male. It would have explained a great many
things extraordinary to them."
[note: From G&L, p. 65, although the quote was,
unfortunately, contextualized poorly so it is not clear
which girl and which set of parents are being referred to.
Medlicott's testimony paraphrased this quote to "...about
what Juliet's parents would think if she had changed..."
which implies he thinks it was Juliet changing into a man,
but the wording is still ambiguous. jp]
1954, April 17 (Sat).
"Mrs Hulme was perfectly beastly to Deborah. She made her
apologise for taking a record from Mr Perry's flat. This
made us feel very cross and childish in a sort of I'll-show-
them-so-there-and-that-will-make-'em-sorry feeling. We went
for a walk in a field and sat on a log, shouting nasty
jeering remarks to every rider that passed. About fifty did.
This cheered us greatly, and we came back and wrote out all
the Commandments so that we can break them."
[note: This was obviously Medlicott's notes from the police
transcript. PYP's style would probably have been to omit the
hyphens and enclose the phrase in single apostrophies.
Medlicott noted that "Commandments" was capitalised. Trial
testimony indicates Mr Perry was probably referred to as 'Mr
Bloody Perry' in this and other entries. jp]
1954, April 21 (Wed).
PYP records that she began instruction at Digby's Commercial
College after applying unsuccessfully for jobs "with the
Airways."
[note: 'Digby's' was the name of the vocational Commercial
College PYP enrolled in at her mother's urging [mf,sb]. See
also 7.11 where Anne Perry lists a short story with
"Digby's" in the title.
1954, April 23 (Fri).
"I rose about 8 and helped Mother a little before going to
Digby's. This afternoon I played Tosca and wrote before
ringing Deborah. Then she told me the stupendous news. Last
night she woke at 2 a.m. and for some reason went to her
mother's room. It was empty, so she went downstairs to look
for her. Deborah could not find her, so she crept as
stealthily as she could into Mr Perry's flat and stole
upstairs. She heard voices from inside his bedroom, and she
stayed outside for a little while, then she opened the door
and switched the light on in one movement. Mr Perry and Mrs
Hulme were in bed drinking tea. Deborah felt an hysterical
tendency to giggle. She said, 'Hello' in a very [illegible]
voice. She was shaking with emotion and shock, although she
had known what she would find. They goggled at her for a
minute and her Mother said, 'I suppose you want an
explanation?' Yes, Deborah replied, I do. Well, you see we
are in love, Mother explained. Deborah was wonderful. But I
know THAT she exclaimed, her voice seemed to belong to
someone else. Her Mother explained that Dr Hulme knew all
about it, and that they intended to live as a threesome.
Anyway, Deborah went as far as telling about our desire to
go to America in [illegible], six months, though she could
not explain the reason of course. Mr Perry gave her 100
[pounds] to get permits. Everyone is being frightfully
decent about everything and I feel wildly happy and rather
queer... I am going out to Ilam tomorrow as we have so much
to talk over."
[note: HM Hulme testified that JMH said "The balloon has
gone up." not "Hello." PYP's diary account was disputed by
both HM Hulme and WAB Perry during the trial, and edited
heavily in the press accounts. Their alternative version was
believed by no-one. G&L, p. 73, have the most complete
version of this entry I have found. They had "2 o'clock,"
noted that "Mother" was possessive and capitalised here,
they had "goggled," which makes sense, vs. "giggled," which
doesn't but which appeared in most press reports which gave
that sentence. The press also left out the word "bedroom."
PYP probably did not write out "pounds" but would have used
the symbol, of course. "Frightfully decent" is probably
tongue-in-cheek although PYP seems to have been picking up
English idioms more and more, so she might have been
serious. jp]
1954, April 24 (Sat).
"I rose very early, did all the housework and prepared
breakfast. It rained cats and dogs (panthers and wolves). I
biked out to Ilam and nearly froze on the way. Deborah was
still in bed when I arrived and did not get up until some
time afterwards... Then Dr Hulme came upstairs and asked us
to come into the lounge to have a talk with him. He said we
must tell him everything about our going to America so we
told him as much as that we wanted [illegible] for acting
characters to act each part. He was both hope-giving and
depressing. We talked for a long time and then Deborah and I
were near tears by the time it was over. The outcome was
somewhat vague. What is to be the future now? We may all be
going to South Africa and Italy and dozens of other places
or not at all. We none of us know where we are and a good
deal depends on chance."
[note: G&L pp. 73-4 have the most complete and accurate
quote of this extremely critical entry, given above and
below and supplemented by newspaper accounts and punctuated
slightly by me. The editing in "HC" of the entries for these
two days changes their interpretation completely. According
to trial testimony, the events of the Saturday and the
Sunday were separated as shown here. "HC" has everything
happening on the Saturday. Indeed, as written by PYP, the
entries for these days paint a much more complex emotional
picture of PYP and JMH. Note also the mention of South
Africa--very, very significant!--and Italy (likewise). jp]
1954, April 25 (Sun).
"Dr and Mrs Hulme are going to divorce. The shock is too
great to have penetrated in my mind yet. It is so
incredible. Poor Father. Mrs Hulme was sweet and Dr Hulme
absolutely kind and understanding... Deborah and I spent the
day soaring between hell and heaven... Such a huge amount
has happened that we do not know where we are. Dr Hulme is
the noblest and most wonderful person I have ever known of.
But one thing, Deborah and I are sticking [to] through
everything (We sink or swim together)."
"Such a huge amount has happened we don't know where we are,
but one thing Deborah and I are sticking to through thick
and thin. We sink or swim together."
[note: The police transcription added the [to] in the last
sentence, but it is unnecessary and was probably not in the
original. Just for the sake of variety, the lower quote is
is Bennett's version of "sink or swim" from trial testimony.
jp]
1954, April 28 (Wed).
"I felt rather tired to-day, but fortunately the time at
Digby's went rather quickly. Mother went out this afternoon
so Deborah and I bathed for some time. However I felt
thoroughly depressed afterwards--and even quite seriously
considered committing suicide. Life seemed so much not worth
the living and death such an easy way out. Anger against
Mother boiled up inside me, as it is she who is one of the
main obstacles in my path. Suddenly a means of ridding
myself of this obstacle occurred to me. If she were to
die... I spent the evening writing and managed to finish my
chapter."
[note: For such a critical passage, this is, unfortunately,
the one with the most variations in printed versions. The
press was reluctant to use the word 'bathed' and the exact
wording of the critical 'obstacle' sentences is really quite
variable. Reporters (and the gasping gallery) registered the
words: anger, boil, obstacle, rid, die. This is my best
guess, put together from many sources. G&L quote a fragment
of this entry, and are the only source to list "...worth the
living, the death such an..." which, if correct, would be a
very important difference as it would refer to Honora's
death, not PYP's suicidal impulse. jp]
1954, April 29 (Thurs).
"I did not tell Deborah of my plans for removing Mother. I
have made no [illegible. definite plans?] yet as the last
fate I wish to meet is one in Borstal. I am trying to think
of some way. I do not [illegible. want?] to go to too much
trouble, but I want it to appear either a natural or an
accidental death."
1954, April 30 (Fri).
"Mrs C. came to tea and was thoroughly objectionable. Her
ghastly attitude towards the Japanese has made me fonder
than ever of them. I did not write this evening but I sat up
and talked to Mother. I told Deborah of my intentions and
she is rather worried but does not disagree violently. It is
now 10:30."
[note: G&L p. 46 state PYP was critical of attitudes and
conversations of visiting neighbours on April 30th. The
entry was not quoted. Later, on p. 74 they quote "I did not
write... violently." This is an absolutely critical passage
and The Press (ChCh) and G&L, from their notes, have put it
at April 30th, not April 13th as reported in the trial
transcripts, most press reports and Medlicott's paper. If
G&L transcribed the date correctly from the 'official' diary
transcripts, then this is an extremely important point and
they have confirmed a very important trial transcript error.
This passage had always been very hard to understand dated
at April 13th. However, at April 30th it means that JMH was
informed of the vague desire/murder plans formulated in the
preceding few days by PYP, months in advance of the June
plans. jp]
1954, May 1 (Sat).
"[Mrs Hulme] made a lovely remark. She said Won't it be
wonderful when we are all back in England. Do you think you
will like England Gina. I was delighted. ... We did not
sleep together as we were afraid Dr Hulme might come in."
1954, May 2 (Sun).
"We rose about 10. We sat in the park and discussed odd sods
and who we should leave alive if we could rule the world."
1954, May 6 (Thurs).
"We are feeling gloriously happy and we love our new fiancï¼´
so much."
1954, May 23 (Sun).
"Deborah rang to say that Mr Perry was taken suddenly ill. I
do hope he does not die. It would spoil everything."
[note: This is a fascinating entry I have not seen discussed
elsewhere (apart from trial testimony). Does this mean that
PYP and JMH were actually counting on the marriage break-up
by this point? The break-up might have seemed to justify JMH
being taken from NZ and, in PYP's mind, perhaps, it might
have provided an argument to be presented to her mother for
PYP having to leave NZ with JMH as a comforting companion in
JMH's 'hour of need.' If Mr Perry were to have died, it
would have removed the reason for JMH to leave for South
Africa (in PYP and JMH's eyes--they probably thought the new
lovers didn't want JMH). In any event it strongly implies
that the 'plan' was now for PYP to travel to South Africa on
her own and that the 'Hollywood' plan has been abandoned.
Trial speculation was that PYP and JMH were upset at the
thought of losing Perry as blackmail victim, which strikes
me as being way off the mark. jp]
1954, May 27 (Thurs).
An entry for May 27 shows that Parker rose early and went to
her father's shop with the intention of getting money from
her father's safe, but that was thwarted because a policeman
was on watch.
[note: Source is Medlicott's testimony. jp]
1954, May 29 (Sat).
"We did not get up early as we were feeling so tired. We did
the Saints and played records. We were very truthful about
the Saints, especially their figures. This was not hard as
we decided that we like a large amount of man."
'You agree that the diary references of May 29 refer to the
physical characteristics of these Saints? "He" at one stage
is Mario Lanza? And Mario Lanza is Roly Poly? What is "His"
on May 29? "Well Covered" isn't it?'
[note: From press account of Brown's cross examination of
Medlicott. This exchange is very confusing (and, I think,
highly censored). jp]
1954, June 3 (Thurs).
"...there was a wonderful photo of a portrait of Dr Hulme in
the paper, so wonderful that I have cut it out and pinned it
on cardboard on my wall..."
1954, June 6 (Sun).
"...We went to sleep at 4:30 tomorrow morning after talking
all night. We were discussing at first how we sometimes had
a strange feeling that we had done what we were doing
before. We realized why this was, and why Deborah and I have
such extraordinary telepathy, and why people treat us and
look at us the way they do, and why we behave as we do. It
is because we are MAD. We are both stark, staring, raving
mad. There is definitely no doubt about it and we are
thrilled by the thought. (Proof n'est capos!) All the cast
of the Saints except Nino are mad, too. This is not strange
as it is probably why we love them. We have discussed it
fully. Dr Hulme is MAD, as MAD as a March hare. We are
feeling thrilled and scared by the thought."
[note: 'Proof n'est capos' is possibly a joke by PYP or,
more likely, a mistranscripition by police or, less likely,
by Medlicott. Proper French would be 'n'est ce pas?' = 'is
it not?' which has the same number of letters. However,
'capos' is a slang term for capital letters, usually used
during French dictations in class (the dreaded 'dictï¼´') and
when said aloud the term is a sonorous "nescapo." Juliet was
apparently quite proficient in French according to G&L, so
the joke may be a real pun used by PYP and JMH. 'MAD as a
March hare' is probably a reference to Alice in Wonderland,
of course, but the phrase actually refers to a male rabbit
driven into a copulating coital frenzy in the Spring. Both
G&L and "Daughters of Heaven" report rumours that Dr Hulme
was having an ill-concealed extramarital affair, so this may
be a veiled reference to that, too. Medlicott abbreviated Dr
Hulme to Dr H. jp]
1954, June 7 (Mon).
"We rose realising how mad we are. Dr Hulme knows and he is
mad, too. ... We wrote a great deal into the Saints' book
and discussed Him. We realize now that we cannot be
revolted. We can discuss the most unsavory subjects. (Such
as whether the Saints sanitary habits are prevented by sex)
during a meal..."
[note: Not clear if previous parenthetical note is
Medlicott's delicate paraphrasing or not, but that seems
likely in the context. jp]
1954, June 8 (Tues).
"I dreamt about He for the second time and Deborah about
This, also for the second time. We behaved exactly the same
way in each other's dreams, so have put it down to
telepathy."
1954, June 9 (Wed).
"I was feeling particularly mad today. I raved quite a lot
at Digby's and terrified the girl next to me... Mother and I
had a disagreement as I wished to see 'Trent's Last Case'
tonight and the bloody bitch would not let me... I have come
to bed all scented and sweet (physically)."
[note: Not clear if previous parenthetical note is
Medlicott's or PYP's barb. jp].
1954, June 10 (Thurs).
"Mrs Hulme has told Deborah a great deal about the old
subject and we have discussed it fully. We know a great deal
more now." Other entries suggest the the 'old subject'
refers to sex. [G&L]
"...I am feeling particularly close to Deborah."
[note: G&L use the top quote to indicate that Hilda Hulme
probably instructed JMH on sex, but do not comment on it's
extraordinary timing or context within the case. They do not
mention the lower quote. Bennett's testimony dates the lower
quote at June 16, Medlicott's article at June 10. jp]
1954, June 11 (Fri).
"...we were then driven out to see It in 'Trents Last Case.'
It was the first time I had ever seen It. Deborah had always
told me how hideous he was, and I had believed her, though
from his photos he did not look too bad. 'It' is appalling.
He is dreadful. I have never in my life seen anything that,
so... in the same category of hideousness, but I adore him
(S'queer). We returned home and talked for some time about
It, getting ourselves more and more excited. Eventually we
enacted how each Saint would make love in bed, only doing
the first seven as it was 7:30 a.m. by then. We felt
exhausted and very satisfied..."
[note: See section 7.11 where Anne Perry lists a short story
"Digby's First Case." The name also crops up in her books.
jp]
1954, June 12 (Sat).
"We came to bed quite early and spent the night very
hectically. We went to sleep after getting almost through.
We had a simply marvellous time and we definitely are mad
but very pleasingly so..."
1954, June 13 (Sun).
"We gave ourselves two new Saints. 'Onward Heel' and
'Buster.' Of all people, my god. We had very amusing
discussions about God, Christ and the Holy Ghost. In fact
the whole day was very amusing and exciting... We spent a
hectic night going through the Saints. It was wonderful!
Heavenly! Beautiful! and Ours! We felt very satisfied
indeed. We have now learned the peace of the thing called
Bliss, the joy of the thing called Sin."
1954, June 14 (Mon).
"...We were feeling absolutely exhausted which was scarcely
surprising. We discussed which Saints we wished to have
about us at such a time and found very few. We talked of
Him's new character a little and loved it. We discussed the
spicy ideas whom (s'queerly) we have grown to love... Two
more spicy ideas became Saints... We intend to decorate the
Cathedral. I am very happy. We have both spent a glorious
Saintly day."
1954, June 15 (Tues).
"...I had the most beautiful dream about That and Gay and
Boinard and Deborah and myself at Port Levy. It was so
heavenly that I am determined to make it come true. We came
home late and we intend to sleep. It is a glorious night,
very similar to the one at the island at Port Levy."
1954, June 16 (Wed).
"...We came to bed late and spent a very hectic night. It
was wonderful. We only did 10 Saints altogether but we did
them thoroughly. I prefer doing longer ones. We enjoyed
ourselves greatly and intend to do so again. We did not get
to sleep until about 5:30. Obviously I am writing this to-
morrow."
1954, June 17 (Thurs).
"...confessed we were disappointed in the Saints so we had
an absolute clean up and threw out 8 of them. We discussed
the ones left fully and felt very happy over them. We did
not misbehave last night."
[note: By this time, PYP & JMH were staying up all night,
and PYP was getting into the habit of writing diary entries
the 'next day.' So 'last night' means 17th, written early
morning of the 18th. jp]
1954, June 18 (Fri).
"...We had several brilliant ideas to write an opera each,
to produce our own films and to murder all odd wives who get
in our way. We went to town and bought books to paste our
characters in. We planned our various moiders and talked
seriously as well..."
[note: There was apparently a difference between the two
types of murder. From a quote of Peter Jackson's it could be
that "murder all odd wives..." refers to getting rid of any
possible spouse of James Mason when the girls have escaped
to Hollywood and have started their quest for James. jp]
1954, June 19 (Sat).
"We practically finished our books to-day and our main idea
for the day was to moider Mother. This notion is not a new
one, but this time it is a definite plan which we intend to
carry out. We have worked it out carefully and are both
thrilled by the idea. Naturally we feel a trifle nervous,
but the pleasure of anticipation is great. I shall not write
the plan down here as I shall write it up when we carry it
out (I hope). We both spent last night and the one before
having a simply wonderful time in every possible way. We
also planned a few odd pictures and recast most of the
"Saints' Christmas." We burnt all our film books this
evening."
[note: "main idea" was transcribed "main 'Ike'" in the
official diary transcripts used by both teams. It was often
reported as "main idea" by the press, but it appears as
"main 'Ike'" in the official court transcripts and in
Medlicott's article. G&L lambaste Medlicott in their book
for perpetuating this error "inexcusably" (p. 124). They
state that it is a police transcription error which was
discussed during the trial and decided to be a misspelling
of 'idea.' G&L only quote part of this entry. jp]
1954, June 20 (Sun).
"... I tidied the room and messed about a little. Afterwards
we discussed our plans for moidering mother and made them a
little clearer. Peculiarly enough I have no (qualms of)
conscience (or is it peculiar, we are so mad.)"
[note: The punctuation above is from G&L, p. 75. The court
stenographer's transcript of verbal testimony reads "(or is
it peculiar we are so mad?)" and Medlicott has still
different punctuation. Punctuation more consistent with the
previous diary entry from June 6 would be "Or, is it
peculiar? We are so mad!" This is another 'official' quote
without the appropriate "?" The paranthetical "qualms of"
may be the transcriber's notation for an addendum. A photo
of PYP's actual entry for June 21 shows that she wrote
additions above lines of text but did not use proofing
symbols to indicate where they would go. jp]
"I was picked up at 2 p.m. I have been very sweet and good.
I have worked out a little more of our plan for moidering
mother. Peculiarly enough, I have no qualms of conscience."
["HC" voiceover]
1954, June 21 (Mon). [sb,mk]
"I rose late and helped Mother vigorously this morning.
Deborah rang and we decided to use a rock in a
stocking rather than a sand-bag. We discussed the moider
fully. I feel very keyed up, as though I were plan
ning a surprise party. Mother has fallen in with everything
beautifully and the happy event is to take place
tomorrow afternoon. So next time I write in this
diary Mother will be dead . How odd -- yet how
pleasing. I have discussed various odd saints w
her today as I thought it would be interesting to have
her opinion . She loathes That & It. I washed my hair this
afternoon. I came to bed at 1/4 to 9."
[note: This entry has been transcribed by me from a
published photograph of the actual diary entry. The content
of each line is the same as the diary, and the margins and
spacing within the lines have been made roughly consistent
with the lines in the diary, although the right margin is
even for lines 1-5, indented 2 spaces for line 6, indented 6
or 7 spaces for lines 7 and 8, then aligned with the margin
again for lines 9-11. Comparison with the 'official' version
quoted by G&L (p. 75) reveals several errors in their
version, either original transcription errors made by the
police or errors introduced by G&L, since they mentioned
that they had access to these photos and they corrected some
errors here and elsewhere. Published versions also differ
from this one.
Points of note: "sand-bag" was hyphenated. This has always
seemed such an odd choice of weapon, but the Concise Oxford
Dictionary offers this definition: "sandbag. 4(c) as
ruffian's weapon inflicting heavy blow without leaving
mark." Leather coshes filled with lead shot were popular
weapons in crime films from the 30s and 40s; in American
popular culture these were referred to as "saps" and being
"sapped" was the same as being "sandbagged," both popular
expressions in pulp fiction for being hit and rendered
unconscious from behind.
The "keyed up" sentence was obviously seen to be an
important one to get right because it was edited twice.
First, the beginning of 'was' was crossed out and the
subjunctive "were" was written above it. "Planning" was
written as a hyphenated word (with no hyphen) because it
came at the right-hand edge of the page, yet it wasn't
simply written beginning on the next line, to save space.
The word "surprise" was inserted above the line, falling
between "a" and "party" but there was no editing mark.
The word "Mother" immediately following "party" was written
slowly, with exceptional care and penmanship for PYP (who
tended to be a slightly sloppy writer). The "M" was
beautifully done and, unlike her custom when she was in a
hurry, the "t" and "h" in the "th" were clearly separated
and the "t" was crossed. (PYP's "th"s often look like tall
and skinny "U"s in these passages), and it was dead level on
the page and there is a large space between "Mother" and
"has." The "the" before "happy" was also written above the
line, after crossing out the beginning of some other word
that might have been "hap," so the sentence may have
originally ended after "beautifully" and been added to,
piecemeal.
The next two sentences are critical, of course, but looking
at them carefully indicates that they were written almost
hesitantly, or at least slowly and with several pauses. The
details are, to me, very poignant. Based on the changes in
slope and spacing, it looks as if the first sentence was
written: "So" "next time I write in this diary" "Mother"
"will be" "dead" "." The word "dead" stands out as the one
by far the most out of horizontal on the whole page and the
slope is in the opposite sense to "will be." To me, this
says that Pauline stopped writing, shifted her position and
adjusted her book at the very least before writing that last
word of the sentence. And there was even a pause after
writing it, before the period. The most obvious period on
the page is the one after "dead." It is set off far from the
word "dead," all by itself between the sentences, and it is
particularly dark.
The next sentence beginning at "How odd" is not in line with
"be dead" but it is once again straight, parallel with the
rest of the text and fluid in its penmanship. It is also
noticeably generous in the space allotted to the words, and
it includes a rather long dash. There is a large blank space
after "how," which puts "pleasing" by itself, for emphasis,
at the beginning of the next line. It looks to me like
Pauline paused and thought again for some moments at least
at that preceding isolated period. Then she came to some
kind of forward resolve, and the whole next sentence is just
a kind of punctuation mark or bravado. The following
sentences are back to a trajectory that returns to the
extraordinarily, eerily mundane.
PYP did not hyphenate "to-morrow" or "to-day" unlike the
press accounts of the day. The sentences after "pleasing"
look cramped, a little messy and rushed. The word "saints"
probably does not have a capital "S" here, as the "s" is
very similar to the one at the beginning of "sand" and
"surprise," and is smaller than the one in "So" and "She."
The contraction "w" is used for "with" in the next sentence
and it may have an acute accent above it (or a random ink
mark)--the 'standard' way of symbolizing the word is a small
"c" (abbreviation for the Latin 'cum') with a bar over it.
Only the first letters of "That" and "It" were capitalized,
and the symbol used for "and" was similar to a small script
"e." The words "hair this" were joined at the far right of
the page because the page may have lifted with the pen. The
next "to" almost looks scrubbed out. The periods for the
last two sentences are either very faint or absent. PYP used
numerals and a proper fraction in the last sentence.
Though there is always the danger of over-interpretation, it
is really a pity that the bulk of the original diary pages
are no longer available for study. This actual entry was so
informative compared to second- and third-hand transcripts.
jp]
1954, June 22 (Tues). [sb,mk]
"The Day of The Happy Event."
"I am writing a little of this up in the morning before the
death. I felt very excited and 'The night before Christmas
ish' last night. I did not have pleasant dreams though. I am
about to rise. |"
[note: This version was transcribed by me from a clear
photographic image of the actual diary entry, found in the
literature. The wording of the lines exactly matches the
lines of the actual diary entry. "The Day of The Happy
Event" was printed in small, neat, upright script across the
very top of the page, above the "June 1954" that ran at the
top of the pages for that month. The police mis-transcribed
the third sentence as "'the-night-before-Christmassy'" and
that is how it was entered into testimony and widely
reported in the press. The phrase was actually not
hyphenated, and it was enclosed in single apostrophies. PYP
did not hyphenate words which ran over a line in this or the
previous day's entry, so there was no hyphen after
"Christmas" or before "ish."
Curiously, after making an issue of "ish'" in several places
in their book and stating that they, too, used the
photographs of this key entry as a source, G&L (p. 75) also
misquote many details of this very important diary entry.
The entry for June 22 was written on the morning of June 22,
before the murder, counter to PYP's habit of recording
events after they happened. It was cramped up at the top of
the page exactly the same way the previous day's entry had
begun, leaving lots of space below. The vertical line after
"rise." was probably PYP's way of indicating pauses within a
day's entries. Hence, there was every indication that she
expected to return later to write up the events of the day.
The police transcript interpreted it as an exclamation mark,
but that is clearly an error. The penmanship in this entry
was not studied or different from the entry of June 21,
except the letters are a little less-well defined. The lines
are parallel, square and evenly-spaced, the left margin
ramrod straight. There is no evidence of long pauses or
shifts in position in this entry. The entry doesn't look
like a careful 'farewell' note in the least. This was the
last diary entry. jp]
Other references and quotations not dated (though probably all
come from the period Feb. - June 1954, from their content):
"Mother gave me a fearful lecture along the usual strain. I
rang Deborah immediately as I had to tell someone
sympathetic how I loathed Mother." ["HC" voiceover, approx.
early April '54 by "HC" time line. jp]
Referring to a new purchase being made by Dr Hulme for the
Hulme household, PYP wrote: "we are getting a radiogram
worth sixty pounds." [G&L, p. 66. Very, very unfortunately
not quoted more extensively or dated. This is potentially an
extremely important quote, being one of those which could
indicate that PYP identified with being a member of the
Hulme family. jp]
There were other references to shoplifting (at Woolworths).
----------------------------------
During her interrogation at the police station, a piece of paper
was confiscated from Pauline. Later, during a subsequent
interrogation session, she grabbed it and threw it into the fire.
It was only partly recovered. Courtroom speculation was that
Pauline intended to put the piece of paper into her diary later
that day. She herself never made a public statement about the
paper. It was enormously important in terms of defining the
course of the investigation, of course. On it had been written
the following:
The detective stated that the note commenced with a reference to
Pauline finding herself in an unexpected place. She then made
reference to having committed her 'moider'. She then went on to
write about the treatment she had received: "All the Hulmes have
been wonderfully kind and sympathetic. Anyone would think I've
been good. I've had a pleasant time with the police talking 19 to
the dozen and behaving as though I hadn't a care in the world."
There were then several sentences he couldn't remember but the
final sentence was: "I haven't had a chance to talk to Deborah
properly but I am taking the blame for everything." [Medlicott]
*SNIP HERE*******************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
*****************************************************************
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End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 10/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
John D. Porter
*****************************************************************
"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 11/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
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7.5 Statements and testimony.
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**Testimony in this section is taken principally from the Hearing
and Inquest held in Magistrate's Court on Friday July 16, 1954.
This is because this is the 'freshest' version of events,
and none of the witnesses had yet heard any of the statements of
the others. Similarly, the public, though intrigued by rumours
and the little that had been given in the press prior to this
date, was largely ignorant of the details. However, the
psychological testing had begun, and much of the interviewing by
the defense team had been completed, so Hilda Hulme and Walter
Perry were aware of the coming defense strategy; their testimony
is interesting in the light of this perspective.
As is the public behaviour of Pauline Parker and Juliet
Hulme. Their actions and attitudes were widely reported, even in
the conservative press, and did much to erode any public sympathy
they may have otherwise generated. If it was a deliberate attempt
to prepare the ground for the coming defense strategy, it
backfired terribly. The Press (Christchurch), extremely sober,
conservative and even-handed in its coverage of the whole matter,
opened its story on July 17, 1954 with the sentence: "Showing no
sign of emotion, Pauline Yvonne Parker, aged 16, and Juliet
Marion Hulme, aged 15 years and nine months, left the dock in the
Magistrate's Court at 5:25 p.m. yesterday after Mr Raymond
Ferner, S.M., had committed them to the Supreme Court for trial
on a joint charge of murdering Honora Mary Parker at Christchurch
on June 22." Three paragraphs later: "Each accused girl was
seated on a chair in a separate small dock in the middle of the
Courtroom, the docks being pushed close together. After they were
charged, counsel asked permission for them to be seated. While
they were waiting for chairs to be brought, they leaned on the
edges of the docks, facing the public and smiling and chatting.
During the hearing they frequently smiled and whispered to each
other."
There were no statements read into evidence nor testimony
recorded from Dr Henry Hulme. He was not present at either the
Hearing on July 16 or the trial in August.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.5.1 Ritchie, Agnes.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
**Agnes Ritchie, a married woman (as she was described in The
Press) gave the following testimony at the July 16 Hearing:
Agnes Ritchie identified herself as the Proprietress of the
tearooms at Victoria Park. There were several customers on
Tuesday, June 22. A woman and two girls (the accused) came in
around 2:35 or 2:40 pm. The woman ordered afternoon tea, one girl
asked for a flat soft drink and one chose orange, the other
lemon. Mrs Ritchie held general conversation with the three and
with the woman in particular. They were a quiet group, but
appeared perfectly at ease and quite normal. She did not see them
leave, but found them gone when she returned to the tearoom soon
after 3 pm.
Almost 1/2 hour later, Mrs Ritchie was serving ice creams to
someone when the girls rushed to the bottom of the steps. The
girls were very agitated, breathless and gasping, both speaking
together, and it was difficult to make out what they were saying.
"As near as I can remember the first thing said was" 'Please
can somebody help us? Mummy has been hurt.' The girl Parker said:
'It is mummy. She's been terribly hurt. I think she's dead.' The
girl Hulme said: 'It's her mother. She's hurt. She's covered with
blood. Can somebody help?' I think something was said at that
stage that the woman had slipped, but I'm not certain.
The girl Hulme was almost hysterical; the girl Parker was
quieter and very white. They both had blood on their clothes, but
particularly on their hands. The girl Parker had blood splashed
on her face."
The girls were wearing coats similar to the ones produced in
evidence, but Mrs Ritchie couldn't remember which girl wore which
coat. She sent for her husband. She tried to find out where it
had happened but both girls were upset. The girls said it
happened in the bushes down the track and they pointed, and Mrs
Ritchie went over to try to see something, knowing there was a
dangerous spot in that direction. Seeing nothing, she went back
and questioned the girls. They said:
"Don't make us go down there again." She said: "Never mind.
You needn't go back."
Mrs Ritchie's husband, KN Ritchie, arrived. He told his wife
to send for an ambulance then he went down the track.
The blood on the girls and their clothes worried her a good
deal [note: = greatly. HD Rieper uses the same phrase. jp]. The
girls wanted to wash the blood off straight away. Mrs Ritchie got
hot water for them and both washed. Both wanted to go home, but
particularly Juliet Hulme. Both asked her to telephone their
fathers. She phoned H Rieper first, but the line was engaged. She
then phoned Dr Hulme, and then made a cup of tea for the girls
and sat with them as they drank their tea.
"I asked them how it happened and the girl Hulme said: 'Oh,
don't talk about it.' The girl Parker said they had been down the
track and were returning when somehow her mother had slipped on a
plank. She said her mother hit her head on a brick and her head
kept bumping and banging as she fell. The girl Hulme kept saying
'Don't talk about it. I'll always remember hearing her head
banging.' Both girls remarked that it seemed like a dream and
they would wake up soon, and odd remarks like that.
The girl Parker remarked during the conversation: "Mummy,
mummy she's dead.' I said she might not be so badly hurt, and the
girl Parker just looked at me. They said that after she fell they
tried to pick her up and carry her, but she was too heavy, and
they dropped her. The girl Parker said: 'Perhaps we didn't do the
right thing. Perhaps we shouldn't have tried to carry her.'
They both remarked several times that they wanted to go
home. The girl Hulme said several times 'Will my daddy be long? I
wish he would hurry.'
The girl Parker was quiet and calm and I thought she
appeared to be dazed. The girl Hulme was still almost hysterical
and appeared to be holding herself back.
Dr Hulme arrived and took the girls away in his car. The
police arrived shortly after that. About 4 pm I telephoned Mr
Rieper and he telephoned me about 4:30 pm. I told him what I knew
and he arrived at Victoria Park later."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.5.2 Ritchie, Kenneth Nelson.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
**Kenneth Nelson Ritchie, husband of Agnes Ritchie (as he was
described in The Press) gave the following testimony at the July
16 Hearing:
Kenneth Nelson Ritchie was identified as the Caretaker of
Victoria Park and husband of Agnes Ritchie.
After being summoned by his wife, he asked the girls where
the accident had happened, but they seemed confused and could not
tell him. He also asked them what had happened, and they said the
mother had slipped and hit her head on a rock. The clothing of
Juliet Hulme was covered in blood. One hand of Pauline Parker was
smothered in blood and her face was spattered with blood.
He took Pauline Parker through the gap in the stone wall at
the plantation and asked her again where accident had happened.
She pointed vaguely down the plantation. Mr Ritchie went about
1/4 mile down the track with his assistant Eric McIlroy and found
the body of the woman. She was dead and was on her back, her feet
pointing up the hill.
"Her head was pretty well knocked about. There was blood all
over the place and there was blood on the path. I saw the brick
and the stocking which are shown in one of the photographs. I
went back to the tearooms and telephoned the police. The
ambulance arrived as I got to the top of the path.
The two accused seemed still agitated. I asked them to come
into the sitting room and they did. The girl Hulme said: 'I wish
daddy would come.' The ambulance driver and the police went down
the track. Dr Hulme arrived, left his address with an ambulance
driver, and took the accused away in his car."
The path where the body found was just clay, and there were
no outcrops of rock anywhere nearby. At week-ends the paths were
used a lot by the public, but not during the week; on a week day
the spot where the body was found was a secluded one.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.5.3 Rieper, Herbert Detlev.
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**Herbert Rieper, a company manager (his description in The
Press) gave the following testimony at the July 16 Hearing:
Up to June 22 he had lived at 31 Gloucester St with Honora
Parker and their children. They had lived together for 23 years
and had 3 children, Pauline Parker being the second. Pauline was
an average child. She had osteomyelitis when she was 5 and spent
8 or 9 months in hospital. She recovered after 3 years, but
couldn't take part in sports. She took up modelling in plasticine
and wood and was very good at it. She went to High School when
she was 14. Up to that time she was very happy in the home and
was good friends with him. She used to help him with his hobbies.
She went to the Girls' High School where she became friendly with
the girl hulme. This friendship became very intense and its
effect was that Pauline cut him out of her life. This worried him
and Pauline's mother.
Dr Hulme called at the house and had a discussion with
Pauline's mother. As a result, Pauline was taken to see Dr
Bennett by her mother. In 1953 Pauline bought a horse, but he did
not know about it until months afterwards. When she told him she
had arranged grazing for the horse he agreed to her keeping it,
for he thought it would make the friendship with Juliet Hulme
less intense. Pauline had gone to a riding school for years. She
lost interest in the horse. She used to go to Ilam, the home of
Juliet Hulme, on occasions and stayed for weekends.
"Pauline has done a terrible lot of writing for some months.
She has been writing novels. During this year it began to
interfere with her school work. As far as I know her mother and
she agreed that Pauline should leave school. She then went to a
commercial school. The association with Juliet Hulme continued.
Last Easter holidays Pauline stayed with Juliet Hulme at Ilam.
Pauline's mother got in touch with Dr Hulme again about the
friendship. Dr Hulme said he was leaving New Zealand in 3 weeks
and taking Juliet with him. We were very pleased about that, as
the association would be ended. Pauline's mother decided she
would let Pauline see as much of Juliet as she desired, pending
her departure.
Last month Pauline stayed for 10 days with Juliet and we
picked her up in the car and brought her home the Sunday before
the tragedy. Pauline was brighter and joined in the conversation
more than she usually did. She sat in front of the fire writing
and said she was writing an opera.
When I went home on the Monday I was pleased when her mother
said what bright company Pauline had been and how much work she
had done. She said that they were going out together the next day
because Pauline would begin work the following Monday. I learned
that Juliet Hulme was going with them. When I went home at lunch
time on the Tuesday Juliet Hulme was there and it was quite
bright. The girls were happy and joking."
Rieper said her returned to work and was away from his
office on business in the afternoon. There was a message from Mrs
Ritchie when he returned and he phoned Victoria Park. He was
driven to Victoria Park by a friend and spoke to Sergeant Hope
there.
"I did not know anything about Pauline being anxious to
accompany Juliet Hulme to England. Her mother had occasion to
remonstrate with Pauline at times because of her attitude to us--
she would just ignore us. She was never given physical
punishment."
The diary produced was a present from him to Pauline. The
writing in it was Pauline's writing. He gave the police
permission to interview Pauline after the tragedy.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.5.4 Hulme, Hilda Marion.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
**Hilda Marion Hulme, a married woman (according to her
description in The Press) gave the following testimony under
subpoena at the July 16 Hearing:
[note: I have not edited, condensed or re-organized this
testimony very much. As it comes, it gives some insight into
Hilda Hulme's mental and emotional state in this period.
Remember, she was a very accomplished and polished public
speaker, accustomed to performing smoothly in formal situations,
including live radio broadcasts and debates. jp]
Juliet Hulme was her daughter and was born in England on
October 28, 1938. When she was 2 years old she suffered bomb
shock and had nightmares. Mrs Hulme said she had periods of
illness after her second child was born, and as a result of that
and War conditions she was separated from Juliet for a time. When
Juliet was 5 her father, Dr Hulme had to go to America. Juliet
became seriously ill and was away from school for 2 years. Mrs
Hulme said she and her husband came to New Zealand in 1948 and
were joined by Juliet, who had previously come to New Zealand
after staying in the Bahamas. Juliet went to the Christchurch
Girls' High School when she was 13 and remained until May 1953,
when she had to go to Cashmere Sanatorium. Juliet had undergone
an intelligence test and had been rated very high. She had
previously attended a private school in the North Island, but was
brought home because she was unhappy. She was not robust
physically and didn't make many friends, being shy and reserved.
At home, she was a demanding child.
"I and my husband were very fond of her, and gave her every
care."
Juliet became friendly with Pauline Parker in the second
term at High School. The friendship was welcomed and Mrs Hulme
was glad to have Pauline visit their home. It seemed a perfectly
normal friendship at first. Juliet was in the sanatorium for
about 3 1/2 months and was then allowed to go home, but was not
discharged cured.
Dr Hulme decided in April this year to leave his position at
Canterbury College and return to England. The first arrangement
was for Mrs Hulme to stay in New Zealand because of Juliet's
health and Dr Hulme was to go on alone. That was changed and
Juliet was to go with her father because it had been discovered
that Juliet and Pauline Parker planned to go to America.
Mrs Rieper had asked that Juliet stay at her home but this
was prevented by Juliet having to go into the sanatorium. Juliet
was a patient in the Cashmere Sanatorium while Mrs Hulme was in
England but was allowed to go home upon her mother's return to
Christchurch. The friendship between the two girls had developed
in the meantime and Mrs Rieper was concerned about it. Mrs (stet)
Hulme advised her to seek medical advice about Pauline.
The girls under persuasion said they had planned to go to
America to have their books published and put into films but she
and Dr Hulme thought they had got the girls to put that idea out
of their heads. When it was decided that Dr Hulme was to return
to England he was to take Juliet as far as South Africa with him.
Juliet pressed her parents to allow Pauline Parker to accompany
her but they explained that it was quite out of the question.
On the afternoon of Monday June 21, Juliet received a
telephone call from Pauline Parker inviting her to lunch on the
Tuesday and Mrs Hulme understood Mrs Rieper was taking them to
Victoria Park.
"I agreed that she should go. Juliet left home about 11 a.m.
on June 22 with her father. She seemed very happy and very calm.
If anything, she was more affectionate than before."
"On Tuesday afternoon my husband brought the two girls home.
They were both white and trembling. I prepared a hot bath for
them. Mr Perry, who has a flat at our home, came in. He took
their clothing to the cleaner. The girls were put to bed, treated
for shock and given a meal."
Senior-Detective Brown and Detective-Sergeant Tate came to
the house that night. Pauline Parker told them that her mother
had slipped and hit her head on a stone again and again. Mrs
Hulme was present the following day when a statement made by
Juliet was read to Juliet and signed as being true. Just after
Christmas the girls stopped calling each other by their own
names. Juliet became Deborah and Pauline Parker became Gina.
"Juliet has written 2 novels as far as I know and they are
among the other books produced [as evidence in Court]."
To Mr Gresson, Mrs Hulme said:
"I am giving evidence on subpoena. Juliet's early life was
spent in London and the North of England under bombing and War-
time conditions. When she was five she developed serious chest
trouble and I was advised that her life was in danger and she
should be taken to a warmer climate. That is why she was sent to
the Bahamas and a reason for us coming to New Zealand. She has
always been an exacting and difficult child and long before the
tragedy we were anxious about defects in her personality and
temperament. When we returned to New Zealand after an absence of
3 months I noticed a marked change in her disposition. She seemed
more withdrawn and her friendship with Pauline seemed to be the
only thing that mattered. This friendship seemed to dominate my
daughter.
"In September she began to write a great deal. Portions have
been read to me and it is grandiose and unreal. In the second
book, parts are unpleasant and unbalanced. On the night of
Tuesday, June 22, I slept with Juliet in my arms. Her one
repeated sentence was she didn't want to talk about it. She
wanted to go to sleep and forget about it. She wanted noise on
the radio. She seemed elated and removed from the tragedy. That
night before she went to sleep she was reciting poetry, also the
following morning. I have seen her in recent weeks and she seems
quite removed from the reality of the situation."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.5.5 Perry, Walter Andrew Bowman.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
**Walter Andrew Bowman Perry, an industrial consultant (according
to his descrption in The Press) gave the following testimony at
the July 16 Hearing:
Perry said he came to Christchurch on June 22, 1953 (stet).
[note: An obvious Freudian slip on Perry's part or the
reporter's. Perry arrived July 2, 1953. jp] He went to live in a
flat attached to the Hulme's house, at Christmas last year and
had a housekeeper. When Pauline Parker visited the house, Juliet
and she kept much to themselves. When Pauline Parker left Ilam to
return home after visits Juliet Hulme became morose and inclined
to seek her mother's company, which she had not wanted during
Pauline's visit. A visit by Pauline was usually followed by
Juliet spending a day or two in bed. Juliet wrote voluminously.
"I started to read one book. It was innocuous and the
adventure type teenagers would read. I heard the plots of other
stories which showed a change in their trend of thought. Certain
amoral tendencies seemed to be creeping in.
About March last Juliet asked me if I could sell her horse
for her as she wanted money to go home. I purchased the horse
myself for 50 (pounds) and gave her father the money. I knew
that the girls were planning to amass enough money to go to
America together. I also knew that there was a proposal that
Pauline accompany Dr Hulme and Juliet to South Africa. Juliet
asked me the fare by air, and I said about 150 (pounds). Juliet
said: 'Oh good. That means we only have to get another 50
(pounds). We have about 100 (pounds).'
On the forenoon of Tuesday June 22, Juliet was excited and
more gay than usual. I returned home that afternoon just in front
of Dr Hulme, who had the two girls in the car. Mrs Hulme came to
my flat and said Mrs Rieper had fallen on some stones, was very
seriously injured and perhaps dead. I was told later that the two
girls wanted to see me. That was most unusual. I went to the
bedroom. Pauline seemed very shocked and almost in a coma. Juliet
was badly shocked and trembling but able to talk. We had a
discussion on generalities.
When it was realized that the police would have to come into
it, Dr Hulme, Mrs hulme and I had a discussion. It was arranged
that I speak to Pauline and that Mrs Hulme speak to Juliet.
Pauline told me her mother had tripped on a piece of wood, had
fallen and hit her head on a stone, and seemed to keep hitting
it. Pauline demonstrated in mime how her mother had done it. I
asked her what sort of stone it was and Pauline said she did not
know, but it might have been a brick. I asked her if her mother
had had a fit, and she said she did not know. Pauline became very
distressed. I asked her if her mother had fallen down a ravine
and she said no. She said they had tried to pick her mother up,
and might have hurt her when they dropped her. She said she did
not know whether her mother was alive when she had gone to the
tearooms for help. She said she had felt for heart beats, but
could not feel any. Pauline became very distressed indeed. I
asked Pauline if there had been a quarrel and if her mother had
attempted to hit her. She said: 'My mother has never struck me.'
It was agreed that I be present with the Hulmes when the police
interviewed the girls.
Juliet Hulme gave the police her version of what had
happened, and it did not differ from what Pauline had told me
earlier. I thought there was more to be told, but I thought it
had been an accident. Senior-Detective Brown had given me an
indication of Mrs Rieper's injuries, and I told Juliet to be very
careful to tell the truth. She said she had not told the truth
before because her mind was confused. She made a statement to
Detective-Sergeant Tate and signed it. Pauline Parker was
arrested that night and Juliet went to bed.
The following morning I went with Senior-Detective Brown to
Juliet's bedroom and he told her he had information that she was
present when the alleged accident happened. Juliet had said the
night before that she had not been present. Juliet told Senior-
Detective Brown that she preferred to say notheing at the moment.
I had another talk with Juliet, and she told me the story which
she later told to the police as her second statement. I did not
gather from her story that the affair had been planned.
When Mrs Hulme came home I told her of my second talk with
Juliet, and I asked Mrs Hulme if I could be present when the
detectives interviewed Juliet. She agreed and I was present when
the second statement was made, read to her and agreed by her as
being true."
To Mr Gresson: "Right from the time the girls arrived home
Mrs Hulme, Dr Hulme and I urged them to tell the truth."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.5.6 Parker, Pauline Yvonne.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
**Pauline Parker's statements were taken in an upstairs bedroom
at Ilam on the evening of June 22, 1954.
Pauline Parker had been sent to bed by Hilda Hulme after
having been bathed, fed and calmed down and, perhaps
significantly, given a sedative by William Perry, under Hilda
Hulme's care.
Pauline was interviewed a number of times that evening by
Senior-Detective Macdonald Brown and Detective-Sergeant Tate.
Herbert Rieper had earlier been persuaded to permit questioning
of his daughter without the presence of counsel. He was not
present when his daughter was questioned.
The first interrogation was held in the presence of Hilda
Hulme. Senior-Detective Macdonald Brown presented the following
testimony:
Pauline Parker said she and her mother and Juliet Hulme were
returning up the path at Victoria Park when her mother slipped
and hit her head on a rock, or stone or something. She said
Juliet Hulme was six or seven feet ahead, then came Pauline
Parker and Mrs Parker last. She said her mother's head kept
banging and they tried to lift her up but could not do so. She
said she saw a half-brick lying there. When asked how she knew
her mother was dead she said: "Blood. There was a lot of blood."
I asked her if she had seen a stocking there. She showed
surprise then said: "We did not take mother's stockings off. I
was not wearing stockings. I was wearing sockettes. I had a
stocking with me in my bag and I wiped blood with it."
The second interrogation was made after having interrogated
Juliet Hulme, separately, in another part of Ilam. Brown was
alone this time. He testimony was:
I returned to the girl Parker and said: "We believe the girl
Hulme was not present when the fatality occurred." She looked
surprised. I then said: "You are suspected of the murder of your
mother." She made no reply. I told her she need not say anything
then, but she could make a statement if she wished. She said:
"No. You ask me questions." I asked her questions and put them
and her answers down as her statement."
Pauline Parker's official statement was:
"I am 16 years of age and an ex-pupil of the Christchurch
Girls' High School. I left school about March of this year after
passing into form 5S [sic]. I live with my parents at 31
Gloucester Street, Christchurch.
I have been informed that I am suspected of murdering my
mother today. I have been informed that I am not obliged to say
anything and that if I do it would be taken down in writing and
used as evidence.
I do not wish to tell you what happened. You ask me
questions.
Q: Who assaulted your mother?
A: I did.
Q: Why?
A: If you don't mind, I won't answer that question.
Q: When did you make up your mind to kill your mother?
A: A few days ago.
Q: Did you tell anyone you were going to do it?
A: No. My friend did not know anything about it. She was out of
sight at the time. She had gone on ahead.
Q: What did your mother say when you struck her?
A: I would rather not answer that.
Q: How often did you hit her?
A: I don't know, but a great many times, I imagine.
Q: What did you use?
A: A half-brick inside the foot of a stocking. I took them with
me for that purpose. I had the brick in my shoulder bag. I
wish to state that Juliet did not know of my intentions and
she did not see me strike my mother. I took the chance to
strike my mother when Juliet was away. I still do not wish
to say why I killed my mother.
Q: Did you tell Juliet that you killed your mother?
A: She knew nothing about it. As far as I know she believed
what I told her, although she may have guessed what had
happened, but I doubt it, as we were both so shaken that it
probably did not occur to her.
Q: Why did Juliet tell the same story as you to the lady in the
tea kiosk?
A: I think she simply copied what I said. She might have
suspected what I had done and she would not have wished to
believe it nor to have got me into trouble. As soon as I had
started to strike my mother I regretted it but I could not
stop then."
Senior-Detective Brown concluded his testimony:
We decided to take the girl Parker into custody. As we were
leaving I said: "Where did you get the brick?" I had understood
she had said she got it at Ilam. Mrs Hulme, who had been present
at the interview, said: "No. She didn't get it here." The girl
Parker said she took it from home.
Dr FO Bennett testified in court that Pauline Parker had the
following to say to him, concerning her feelings toward
Juliet Hulme:
PYP: "Juliet is not a friend, she is much closer."
Bennett: "Isn't that love?"
PYP: "I don't know. I care for her more than anyone else in
the world."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.5.7 Hulme, Juliet Marion.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
**Juliet Hulme made several statements to police at Ilam.
On the evening of June 22, 1954, Juliet Hulme was first
interviewed by Senior-Detective Macdonald Brown and Detective-
Sergeant Tate in the presence of Henry Hulme, Hilda Hulme and
Walter Perry. Her answers to police questioning were along the
lines of Pauline Parker's first statement.
Walter Perry then spoke privately with Juliet Hulme,
advising her to "tell the truth," apparently with the agreement
of Henry and Hilda Hulme. Juliet Hulme then made an official
statement to Detective-Sergeant Tate, called her 'First
Statement' in trial testimony:
"I am 15 years of age and live at home with my parents. For
the last two years I have been very friendly with Pauline Yvonne
Parker Rieper. The friendship arose through being in the same
form at school. She has often stayed here with me. I have also
stayed at her place. We telephone each other daily, and yesterday
Pauline rang and invited me to accompany her and her mother to
Victoria Park. We had never been there together before. I had
been there myself about five years ago. I do not know if Pauline
had been there before.
I went to Pauline's place for lunch. I got there shortly
after 11 a.m. Pauline and Mrs Rieper were there when I arrived.
Relations were normal between Mrs Rieper and Pauline when I
arrived. I mean that they were pleasant to each other. I know
that Pauline and her mother frequently had rows and I know that
Mrs Rieper resented the fact that Pauline was friendly with me.
We had lunch some time after 12 noon. Mr Rieper and Pauline's
sister, Wendy, were also there for lunch. Pauline and I did the
washing up with Mrs Rieper after lunch. Mr Rieper had gone with
Wendy by that time.
About 20 minutes after Mr Rieper left the house, Mrs Rieper,
Pauline and I left to go to Victoria Park. We walked to the
Square. We waited for a bus which went to the Hills terminus. I
do not know at what time the bus left the Square. When we arrived
at the Takahe we left the bus and walked to Victoria Park by way
of the rough metal road. When we arrived at the Park we entered
the tea rooms and Mrs Rieper had a cup of tea. Pauline and I had
soft drinks and some cakes and scones. Afterwards we all walked
down the track on the side of the hill where the plantation is.
It was decided before we left Mrs Rieper's home that we intended
to walk down this track. I don't know who suggested it first. It
was not my suggestion.
We went down the track for quite a long way. I found a small
pink stone. We were all walking together. I picked it up and
talked about it. I still have it. We went on down for quite a
long way. Pauline and I left Mrs Rieper on the track for about
three minutes and went further down. It may have been a shorter
time. We went just out of her sight. She did not think she wanted
to go on and we thought we would like to go to the end if she
didn't mind.
We decided to come back and we rejoined Mrs Rieper. We all
three of us walked up the track. I was in front nearly all the
way. I dropped behind once, but caught up again and got ahead
once more. I found that we were getting near the place where I
had found the pink stone. I told the others that I would go to
the place where I had found the stone. I went on ahead and left
them behind. I searched for a setting from which I thought the
stone might have come. I spent some minutes looking for this.
While I was looking around in this spot I heard a voice call
out. I cannot say now whether it was Pauline's voice or her
mother's. I did not return immediately. I called out and told
them I would come soon or something to that effect. I had to go
back along the track to reach Pauline and her mother. I have no
idea of the distance. I came upon both of them.
I found Mrs Rieper lying on the ground. Pauline was there.
Pauline was hysterical. There was blood all around Mrs Rieper's
head. I was shocked. I took her head in my lap. Mrs Rieper did
not speak to me. I think she was unconscious. She seemed to be,
to me. I think Pauline helped me. That was when I tried to nestle
her head on my lap.
I do not remember seeing a stocking with a knot in it. I did
not take any particular notice of a brick. I do not know how long
we stayed with Mrs Rieper. It might have been five minutes. It
could have been any time. I asked Pauline what had happened. She
said that her mother had slipped and banged her head against a
stone. I beleived her at that time. I felt that we had to get
help. Pauline and I hurried up the path towards the tea kiosk.
When we got there we told the story between us as to what had
happened. The story we told was that we had been together when
Mrs Rieper had fallen and had obtained her injuries when she had
fallen on some stones.
I knew when I said this it was not true that I had been
present when Mrs Rieper had got her injuries, but I said I was
there because the idea occurred to me that they may have
quarrelled but I thought that she probably had slipped. However I
thought that it would be better for Pauline if I said I was there
and supported her story that Mrs Rieper had obtained her injuries
accidentally. We waited at the kiosk for my father to come and
fetch us. He was summoned by telephone. He brought us home.
I told my mother and Mr Perry the story that I was present
when the accident occurred. I also told the police the same story
when I first saw them. I told that story because I wanted to be
loyal to Pauline and did not want to see her in any trouble. Mrs
Rieper had no quarrel within my hearing or to my knowledge at any
time at Victoria Park today.
Pauline and I have been engaged in writing novels for some
time. In the plots of these books the question of murder has
arisen. We often discuss murders in this connexion and might well
have done so at Pauline's place today before we left home. I
cannot remember exactly what we talked about."
[note: "The Square" is Cathedral Square, the origin of the #2
bus, a few blocks from the Rieper's home. "The Takahe" is a
landmark at the terminus of the #2 bus in the Cashmere Hills. By
"rough metal road" Juliet Hulme meant a road that was paved but
with a surface covering of small stones; it was necessary to walk
a short distance from the bus terminus up the hill to the tea
kiosk in Victoria Park. The reference to the stocking and brick
was probably in response to previous questions from Senior-Det
Brown, not out of the blue. jp]
The following day, June 23, 1954, Senior-Detective Brown and
Detective-Sergeant Tate returned to Ilam on the strength of a
statement made to them by Pauline Parker in Tate's office and
because of the diary entry/note Pauline Parker had written and
tried to burn. Brown testified:
"I told the girl Hulme we had reason to believe her first
written statement was not correct and that she was present when
the assault took place. I then said: "You are suspected of taking
part in the death of Mrs Rieper. You are not obliged to say
anything, but if you do make a statement, it will be taken down
in writing." She asked me questions, and I told her the girl
Parker had said we were to ask Deborah, and what she said would
be right. I asked her for information but she said she would
rather not say anything then. Later she made a statement which
Detective-Sergeant Tate took down."
Detective-Sergeant Tate testified:
He returned to Ilam on June 23 and saw Juliet Hulme. She was
quite composed. She apologised to him for misleading him the
previous night and said she now wished to tell him the truth. She
said she now wished to make a statement. He gave her the usual
warning. She made a statement (labelled her 'Second Statement' in
trial testimony), as follows:
"Pauline wanted to come with me to South Africa. I wanted
her to come, too. My father and I were booked to leave New
Zealand on July 3 next. Pauline and I had discussed the matter.
We both thought that Mrs Rieper might object.
We decided to go with Mrs Rieper to Victoria Park. We
decided that it would be a suitable place to discuss the matter
and have it out. I knew that it was proposed that we should take
a brick in a stocking to the park with us. Pauline rang me
recently and gave me the invitation to go with Pauline and her
mother to Victoria Park. I knew this was the trip we had planned.
It may have been the day before yesterday that she rang.
I left home with my father at about 10:30 a.m. yesterday. I
had a part of a brick which I wrapped in a newspaper. I had got
it from near the garage. My father left me near Beaths. I made
some personal purchases there and then walked to the Rieper's
house. I arrived there still carrying the brick. I gave it to
Pauline. I know the brick was put into the stocking at Rieper's
[sic] house. I did not put it there.
Mrs Rieper, Pauline and I left their place after lunch to go
to Victoria Park. Pauline carried the brick and stocking in her
shoulder bag. We went to Victoria Park together and had tea as I
have previously stated. There had been no conversation on the
subject of the South African trip up to this time. We walked
together down the tracks among the trees. There was a pink stone
on the path. I dropped it there myself. We went to a spot well
down the paths and Mrs Rieper decided to come back. On the way
back I was walking in front. I was expecting Mrs Rieper to be
attacked.
I heard noises behind me. It was loud conversation and
anger. I saw Mrs Rieper in a sort of squatting position. They
were quarrelling. I went back. I saw Pauline hit Mrs Rieper with
the brick in the stocking. I took the stocking and hit her, too.
I was terrified. I thought that one of them had to die. I wanted
to help Pauline. It was terrible. Mrs Rieper moved convulsively.
We both held her. She was still when we left her. The brick had
come out of the stocking with the force of the blows.
I cannot remember Mrs Rieper saying anything distinctly. I
was too frightened to listen. We both went back to the tea kiosk
and told the woman there that Mrs Rieper had fallen and had got
her injuries in that way. My father was called and took us back
home.
I have always known Pauline's mother as Mrs Rieper. I am
sure that Pauline would have told me, if she had known, that her
parents were not married and that her mother's name was Parker. I
was not quite sure what was going to happen when we went to
Victoria Park yesterday. I thought we may have been able to
frighten Mrs Rieper with the brick and she would have given her
consent then for Pauline and I to stay together. After the first
blow was struck I knew it would be necessary for us to kill her.
I was terrified and hysterical.
The three pages of this statement have been read to me. they
are true and correct."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7.6 Press articles contemporary with the "Parker Hulme" murder.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
**These articles come primarily from 'non-tabloid' broadsheet
international press:
Daily Mail (London)
Los Angeles Times
The Manchester Guardian
The New York Times
The Oakland Tribune
The Press (Christchurch)
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Examiner
The Sun-Herald (Sydney)
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Times (London)
Time
The articles give a reasonably sober, representative and complete
(in terms of timeline) view of the world-wide publicity given to
the case--this is how the world learned of the murder and
followed the case. The case was sensational in British
Australasia, was followed intently in the United Kingdom, and
made a small impact in North America.
Articles have not been edited for length or content, so there is
some repetition and there are inconsistencies &/or inaccuracies.
These have generally not been noted except in the case of
important typographical errors or ambiguities.
This set of articles tells a compelling story, and it illustrates
how evidence often has to be filtered and collected piecemeal
from many secondary sources. It is interesting to compare these
straightforward press reports with the sometimes-sensational (and
often inaccurate) book chapters in the next section.
Articles are arranged in order of their filing date. [jp]
The Press (Christchurch), Wednesday June 23, 1954. p. 10. [mk]
"WOMAN'S BODY FOUND // Police Called to Victoria Park // MURDER
CHARGE LAID"
The body of a middle-aged woman was found in a hollow in
Victoria Park, below the tearooms, about 4 p.m. yesterday. An
arrest has been made and a charge of murder will be preferred in
the Magistrate's Court this morning.
The woman was Honora Mary Parker, aged 45, of 31 Gloucester
street.
Her body was found by the caretaker at Victoria Park. He
reported the discovery to the police.
Officers of the uniformed brance were sent to Victoria Park,
and Detective-Sergeant A.B. Tate with Detective G.F. Gilles, of
the Criminal Investigation Branch, and Constable A. Griffiths, of
the women's division, arrived about 5 p.m. to make further
inquiries.
An hour later Inspector D. McKenzie took charge of the
investigations with Senior Detective McDonald (sic) Brown.
Police inquiries were continued until early this morning.
The Coroner (Mr E.B.E. Taylor) and a pathologist (Dr C.T.B.
Pearson) were among those to visit the scene. Photographs were
taken in the area by the police photographer, Constable W.M.
Ramage.
The Times (London), Thursday June 24, 1954. p. 5. [jp]
"SCHOOL GIRLS CHARGED WITH MURDER"
Christchurch, New Zealand, June 23.--Police here today charged a
16-year-old school girl with the murder of her mother and soon
afterwards arrested her 15-year-old school friend on the same
charge. The police said that the two girls went walking with Mrs.
Honore (sic) Parker, aged 45, at Cashmere Hills, a suburb of
Christchurch, yesterday, and that afterwards her body was found
on the hillside with a bloodstained brick near by. Her daughter,
Pauline Yvonne Parker, was remanded at the magistrates' court
this morning. Juliet Marion Hulme, aged 15, will appear in court
to-morrow.--Reuter.
The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday June 24, 1954. p. 1. [sb]
"Schoolgirls On Charge of Murder"
Wellington (N.Z.), Wednesday [June 23]--Two schoolgirls have been
charged with the murder of Mrs. Honora Mary Parker, 45, whose
body was found near Christchurch yesterday, badly battered about
the head and face.
One of the girls--Pauline Yvonne Parker, 16, the daughter of
the dead woman--was arrested late last night and remanded in the
Magistrate's Court this morning.
The other girl, Juliet Marion Hulme, 15, was arrested to-day
and will appear in court to-morrow.
The two girls went walking with Mrs. Parker yesterday
afternoon in the Cashmere Hills.
They later reported to a nearby teashop that Mrs. Parker had
been injured in a fall.
The shopowner called the police, who found a blood-stained
brick near the body.--A.A.P.-Reuter
The Press (Christchurch), Thursday June 24, 1954. p. 12. [mk]
"MURDER CHARGE // Woman's Death In Christchurch // GIRL REMANDED
TO JULY 1"
Pauline Yvonne Parker, a student, aged 16, was charged in
the Magistrate's Court yesterday with the murder of Honora Mary
Parker at Christchurch on June 22.
On the application of Detective-Sergeant G.W. Alty she was
remanded to appear on July 1.
Mr. Rex C. Abernethy, S.M., was on the bench.
Parker was not represented by counsel.
"// SECOND GIRL ARRESTED //"
Juliet Marion Hulme, a schollgirl, aged 15, was arrested by
Chief-Detective Macdonald Brown and Detective-Sergeant A.B. Tate
at her home in Ilam road yesterday afternoon.
She will appear in the Magistrate's Court this morning on a
charge of murdering Honora Mary Parker at Christchurch on June
22.
"// INQUEST OPENED //"
An inquest into the death of Honora Mary Parker was opened
before the Coroner (Mr E.B.E. Taylor) at 9 a.m. yesterday.
Detective-Sergeant A.B. Tate represented the police.
The inquest was adjourned sine die after evidence of
identification had been given by Herbert Rieper, a company
manager, of 31 Gloucester street.
Daily Mail (London), Thursday June 24, 1954. (from clipping) [sb]
"GIRL, 15, ACCUSED OF MURDER // Friend, 16, is also charged:
Woman dead under pines"
Auckland, New Zealand, Wednesday [June 23].--Juliet Marion Hulme,
15-year-old daughter of Dr H.R. Hulme, the British scientist, was
charged today with the murder of Mrs. Honora Mary Parker, 45.
Earlier Pauline Yvonne Parker, aged 16, Mrs. Parker's
daughter, had also been charged with murder.
Police say that Mrs. Parker, also known as Mrs. Herbert
Rieper, was found dead under pine needles in the Cashmere Hills,
near Christchurch.
A doctor inspected the body. Later, detectives were called
and a bloodstained brick and knotted stocking were found near by.
Pauline Parker was arrested subsequently at Dr Hulme's
residence in Christchurch. She appeared in court and was remanded
until July 1. Juliet Hulme will appear in court tomorrow.
Dr Hulme, 46, was director of Naval Operational Research
during the war. He was to have returned to England in a few
days.--from Daily Mail Correspondent.
The Manchester Guardian, Friday June 25, 1954. p. 7.
"GIRL, 16 (stet), CHARGED WITH MURDER // Parents in Court"
Wellington (New Zealand), June 24.--Juliet Marion Hulme, 16-year-
old (stet) daughter of a former Director of Operational Research
at the British Admiralty, was charged here to-day with murdering
Mrs Honora Mary Parker (45), mother of one of her school friends.
Her parents, Dr and Mrs Henry Rainsford Hulme, were in the
crowded courtroom when Juliet was remanded until July 1.
Dr Hulme is a former lecturer at Liverpool University, chief
assistant at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and scientific
advisor at the Air Ministry. He recently resigned as Rector of
Canterbury University College here to take Juliet to South Africa
for three months. She had just been discharged from a
tuberculosis sanatorium. Dr Hulme planned to return later to
England.
Mrs Parker's daughter, Pauline Yvonne, who is also sixteen,
was charged with murder yesterday morning. According to the
police, the two girls went walking with Mrs Parker in Cashmere
Hills, a Christchurch suburb, on Tuesday. Her body was later
found on a hillside, with a bloodstained brick near by.--Reuter.
The Press (Christchurch), Friday June 25, 1954. p. 12. [mk]
"MURDER CHARGE // Woman's Death In Christchurch // SECOND GIRL
REMANDED"
Juliet Marion Hulme, aged 15 years 8 months, a student, the
second of two girls to be charged with the murder of Honora Mary
Parker at Christchurch on June 22, was remanded to July 1 when
she appeared in the Magistrate's Court yesterday before Mr
Raymond Ferner, S.M.
Hulme was escorted into the dock by a uniformed policewoman.
She was represented by Mr T.A. Gresson, and Detective-
Sergeant G.W. Alty appeared for the police.
The Times (London), Saturday July 17, 1954. p. 5.
"TWO GIRLS ON CHARGE OF MURDER // DIARY EXTRACTS READ"
Christchurch (N.Z.), July 16.--Pauline Yvonne Parker, 16, and
Juliet Marion Hulme, 15, a former Liverpool schoolgirl, were
committed to-day for trial in the Supreme Court on a charge of
murdering Mrs. Honora Mary Parker, 45, whose body was found in
Victoria Park, a Christchurch suburb.
Both girls were alleged to have admitted in statements to
the police, read in court, that they took a part in hitting Mrs.
Parker with a brick carried in a stocking. On April 28, Pauline
had written in her diary that anger against her mother was
boiling up inside her. "It is she who is one of the main
obstacles in my path," she wrote. "Suddenly the means of ridding
myself of this obstacle occurred to me. If she were to die."
A detective read another diary extract, dated June 19, in
which she wrote of a plan to "moider"(sic) mother. "We have
worked it out carefully and both are thrilled with the idea.
Naturally, we feel a trifle nervous. But the pleasure of
anticipation is great."
On June 21, she recorded: "We decided to use a rock in a
stocking rather than a sandbag. We discussed the 'moider'(sic)
fully. I feel very keyed up as though I was planning a surprise
party. Mother has fallen in with everything beautifully and the
happy event is to take place to-morrow afternoon. Next time I
write mother will be dead. How odd, yet how pleasing." On June
22--headed "day of a happy event"--Pauline noted: "In the morning
before the death I felt very excited. Last night I didn't have
pleasant dreams, though."
According to a post mortem report, Mrs. Parker had received
45 injuries. Death was due to shock, associated multiple head
wounds, and a fractured skull.--Reuter.
The Manchester Guardian, Saturday July 17, 1954. p. 5.
"TWO SCHOOLGIRLS FOR TRIAL ON MURDER CHARGE // New Zealand Court
Told of Attack with Brick"
Christchurch (N.Z.), July 16.--A sixteen-year-old girl accused of
murdering her mother by beating her about the head with a brick
is alleged to have headed an entry in her diary for that day:
"The happy event." This was part of the evidence given in a
magistrate's court here to-day when Pauline Yvonne Parker, 16,
and Juliet Marion Hulme, 15, were committed for trial before the
Supreme Court on a charge of the murder of Honora Mary Parker,
Pauline's mother, in Victoria Park, a Christchurch suburb, on
June 22.
Juliet is the daughter of Dr Henry Rainsford Hulme, a former
director of operational research at the Admiralty in London, who
recently resigned as Rector of Canterbury University College, New
Zealand. He has also lectured at Liverpool University and was a
scientific advisor at the Air Ministry.
Evidence was given of the intense friendship which had
developed between the two girls. Herbert Rieper, a company
manager, who stated that he had lived with Mrs Parker for 23
years, said that Pauline met Juliet Hulme at a girls' high
school, and that he and Mrs Parker became worried about the
friendship which developed between them. Dr Hulme also discussed
the subject with him, and as a result Pauline was taken to a
doctor by her mother. Pauline was always anxious to go to the
Hulmes's home to be with Juliet, he added.
Gasps arose in the crowded court when Detective Brown gave
evidence of a diary found in Pauline's bedroom. Among the
extracts read to the court were the following:
February 14: "Why could not mother die? Dozen (sic) of
thousands of people are dying, so why could not mother and
father, too? Life is hard."
April 28: "Anger against mother is boiling inside of me as she
is the main obstacle in my path. Suddenly the means of ridding
myself of the obstacle occur to me. If she was to die. ..." Also
on the same day: "I wish to make it appear accidental."
June 19: The entry mentioned "a plan to 'moider'(sic) mother,"
and added: "We have worked it out together and both are thrilled
with the idea. Naturally, we are a trifle nervous, but the
pleasure of anticipation is great."
June 20: "... Afterwards we discussed our plans for 'moidering'
(sic) mother and made them clear, but peculiarly enough I have no
qualms of conscience. Or is it peculiar?"
June 21: "We decided to use a rock in a stocking rather than a
sandbag. We discussed the 'moider' (sic) fully. I feel very keyed
up as though I was planning a surprise party. Mother has fallen
in with everything beautifully and the happy event is to take
place to-morrow afternoon. Next time I write mother will be dead.
How odd, yet how pleasing."
June 22: The entry headed "The happy event" read: "In the
morning before the death I felt very excited. Last night I didn't
have pleasant dreams, though."
//"Blood on Clothes"//
The story of how Mrs Parker died was told by two witnesses.
The first was Mrs Agnes Ritchie, owner of a tearoom in the park.
She told how she served Mrs Parker and the two girls with tea,
and then how all three set off along one of the park's winding
paths. An hour later, she said, the girls rushed back, agitated
and breathless. Pauline told her: "Mummy--she's terribly hurt.
She slipped. I think she is dead."
Both girls had blood on their clothes and also on their
hands, and after they had washed this off, Pauline told her: "We
were returning and somehow she slipped on a plank." She said that
her mother hit her head on a plank and that her head kept bumping
and banging as she fell. Both girls told her that it seemed like
a dream and that they would wake up soon.
The other story of how Mrs Parker died was told, according
to the police, by Juliet Hulme herself in a statement which she
made to the police. This went, in part:
"I left home with the brick wrapped in newspaper. I arrived at
the Riepers' (Parkers') house with the brick and gave it to
Pauline. ... Pauline wanted to come to South Africa with me. I
wanted her to come, too. We both thought Mrs Rieper (Mrs Parker)
might object and we decided to go with her to Victoria Park to
discuss the matter and have it out. I knew it was proposed that
we should take a brick in a stocking to the park with us."
//"Expecting Attack"//
In the park, the alleged statement said, she was expecting
Mrs Parker to be attacked. It went on:
"I heard noises behind me. It was a loud conversation and an
angry one. I went back and saw Pauline hit Mrs Rieper with a
brick in the stocking. I took the stocking and hit her too. I was
terrified.
"I thought one of them had to die. I wanted to help Pauline.
It was terrible. Mrs Rieper moved convulsively. We both held her.
She was still when we left her. The brick had come out of the
stocking with the force of the blows."
Mrs Hilda Marion Hulme, Juliet's mother, said that her
daughter suffered bomb shock at the age of two. She and Dr Hulme
had discovered "a very distressing plan" this year. Both girls
intended to go to America together "to have their books
published."
The two girls seemed unconcerned as they were committed for
trial. They left the dock chatting together at the end of the
hearing. Neither was asked to plead.--British United Press and
Reuter.
The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday July 17, 1954. p. 1. [sb]
"Strange Diary Of Girl Read At Murder Hearing"
Christchurch, N.Z., Friday [July 16]-- Extracts allegedly from a
16-year-old girl's diary, describing plans for her mother's
"moider," and adding "I have no qualms of conscience" were read
in the Christchurch Magistrate's Court at a murder hearing today.
At the end of the hearing two girls, Pauline Yvonne Parker,
16, and Juliet Marion Hulme, 15, were committed for trial on a
charge of having battered to death Honora Mary Parker, 45, in
Victoria Park, Christchurch, on the afternoon of June 22.
Both girls smiled and whispered together unconcernedly at
intervals throughout today's hearing.
Twice they were rebuked by a police orderly and matron.
Senior Detective Macdonald Brown told the court he had taken
possession of a diary from Pauline Parker's bedroom.
Among the extracts he read to the Court were:--
February 13, 1954: "Why could not mother die? Dozens of
thousands of people are dying. Why could not mother and father,
too?"
April 28: "I felt rather tired to-day, but fortunately the
time at Digby's went rather quickly. Mother went out this
afternoon so Deborah and I talked (stet) for some time."
[Mrs. Hulme's evidence showed that Deborah was Pauline's pet
name for Juliet Hulme.]
//SUICIDE THOUGHT//
"However I felt thoroughly depressed afterwards--and even quite
seriously considered committing suicide. Life seemed so much not
worth living and death such an easy way out.
"Anger against mother boiled up inside me, as it is she who
is one of the main obstacles in my path.
"Suddenly a means of ridding myself of this obstacle
occurred to me. If she were to die..."
April 29: "I did not tell Deborah of my plans for removing
mother.
"I have made no ----- (stet) yet and the last fate I wish to
meet is one in a Borstal.
"I am trying to think of some way.
"I do not ----- (stet) to go to too much trouble, but I want
it to appear either a natural or an accidental death."
June 19: "We practically finished our books to-day and our
main 'Ike' (stet) for the day was to moider mother.
"This notion is not a new one, but this time it is a
definite plan which we intend to carry out.
//"THRILLED"//
"We have worked it out carefully and are both thrilled by the
idea.
"Naturally, we feel a trifle nervous, but the pleasure of
anticipation is great.
"I shall not write the plan down here as I shall write it up
when we carry it out (I hope).
June 20: "Afterwards we discussed our plans for moidering
mother and made them a little clearer.
"Peculiarly enough, I have no qualms of conscience (or is it
peculiar, we are so mad?)"
June 21: "I rose late and helped mother vigorously this
morning.
"Deborah rang and we decided to use a rock in a stocking
rather than a sandbag.
"We discussed the moider fully.
"I feel very keyed up as though I were planning a surprise
party.
"Mother has fallen in with everything beautifully and the
happy event is to take place to-morrow afternoon.
"So next time I write in this diary mother will be dead.
"How odd, yet pleasing: I have discussed various saints with
her to-day as I thought it would be interesting to have her
opinion."
June 22: "The Day of the Happy Event: I am writing a little
of this up in the morning before the death.
"I felt very excited and the 'Night before Christmassy.'
"Last night, I didn't have pleasant dreams though. I am
about to rise."
Detective-Sergeant A.B. Tate said accused Pauline Parker
after being taken to the police station wrote something on a
piece of paper, something she probably intended to put in her
diary the next day.
She threw it in the fireplace but a police matron retrieved
it.
The only decipherable part was: "They have questioned
Deborah, but I have taken the blame."
//WROTE NOVELS//
In one of the strangest stories heard in a New Zealand courtroom,
evidence was given of the intense affection of the girls for each
other, the concern of the parents for this intensity, and how the
girls faced a separation because Juliet Hulme was going to South
Africa.
Evidence was given that the girls had written novels and an
opera, in some of which the murder was mentioned.
They were planning to save up to go to the United States
together to publish their books.
Reading of the diary brought gasps from the crowded court.
The date for the Supreme Court hearing has not yet been
fixed.
--From a Special Correspondent.
The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday July 17, 1954. p. 6. [sb]
"Mention Of "Murder" Novels As Girls Committed For Trial"
Christchurch, N.Z., Friday [July 16]-- Two girls, aged 15 and 16,
were committed for trial from the Christchurch Magistrate's Court
to-day on a charge of battering the mother of one of them to
death.
In an alleged statement, which police read to the Court, one
girl said: "Pauline and I have been engaged in writing novels for
some time. In the plots of these books, the question of murder
has arisen. We often discuss murders in this connection."
During the day's hearing the Court heard the story of a
passionately affectionate friendship between the two girls.
Showing no signs of emotion, both girls left the dock
chatting together at the end of the daylong hearing.
//"ONE OF THEM HAD TO DIE"//
At the end of the day's hearing, the magistrate, Mr. R. Ferner,
committed the two girls, Pauline Yvonne Parker, 16, and Juliet
Marion Hulme, 15, for trial in the Supreme Court.
The girls are alleged to have killed Pauline's mother,
Honora Mary Parker, also known as Rieper, in Victoria Park,
Christchurch, on June 22, a few minutes after having afternoon
tea with her in the park kiosk.
//BRICK IN BAG//
Senior Detective Macdonald Brown told the magistrate that Pauline
Parker, in her statement, said she had made up her mind to kill
her mother a few days previously. She had not told anyone and
Juliet Hulme took no part in the killing.
He quoted from her alleged statement that she had used a
half-brick inside the foot of a stocking.
The alleged statement continued: "I took them with me for
that purpose. I had a brick in my shoulder bag. I wish to state
that Juliet did not know my intentions, and she did not see me
strike my mother. I took the chance to strike her when Juliet was
away. I still do not wish to say why I killed my mother.
"As soon as I had started to strike my mother, I regretted
it, but I could not stop then."
Christchurch police gave evidence that Juliet Hulme had made
two statements when interviewed.
In the first she said that on the visit to Victoria Park she
went ahead at one stage and was separated from Pauline and her
mother.
She heard one of them call out. She returned and found Mrs.
Rieper lying on the ground with blood all around her head.
Pauline, who seemed hysterical, had told her that her mother had
slipped and banged her head against a stone.
This alleged statement added: "Pauline and I have been
engaged in writing novels for some time. In the plots of these
books the question of murder has arisen. We often discuss murders
in this connection and might well have done so at Pauline's place
to-day before we left home."
//AFRICAN VISIT//
Police said the next day Juliet made her second statement in
which she said the girls had decided to take Mrs. Rieper to
Victoria Park to discuss taking Pauline to South Africa.
The girls wanted Pauline to accompany Juliet and her parents
to South Africa, but the parents had said it was out of the
question.
In this alleged statement Juliet said she knew it was
proposed they should take a brick in a stocking. She had taken a
brick from near her garage, wrapped it in newspaper, and carried
it the Riepers' for lunch. She gave the brick to Pauline and she
knew it was put in a stocking.
//"HIT HER TOO"//
This alleged statement detailing the incidents at Victoria Park,
continued:--
"I heard noises behind me. It was loud conversation and
anger...
"I went back. I saw Pauline hit Mrs. Rieper with the brick
in the stocking.
"I took the stocking and hit her too.
"I was terrified. I thought that one of them had to die.
"I wanted to help Pauline.
"It was terrible. Mrs. Rieper moved convulsively.
"We both held her. She was still when we left her.
"The brick had come out of the stocking with the force of
the blows...
"I was not quite sure what was going to happen when we went
to Victoria Park.
"I thought we may have been able to frighten Mrs. Rieper
with the brick and she would have given her consent then for
Pauline and I to stay together.
"After the first blow I knew it would be necessary for us to
kill her. I was terrified and hysterical."
//WORRIED BY FRIENDSHIP//
Herbert Rieper, company manager, gave evidence that he had lived
with the dead woman for 23 years and she was known as Mrs.
Rieper.
Three (stet) children had been born to them and the accused,
Pauline Yvonne, was the second (stet).
She was an average child, but she had osteomyelitis at the
age of five, spent several months in hospital and took more than
three years to recover.
//INTENSE AFFECTION//
Rieper said Pauline became friendly with Juliet Hulme at
Christchurch Girls' High School. They were in the same form.
The friendship became very intense and their affection for
each other increased.
He said Dr. Hulme, Juliet's father, had called at his house
and discussed with Mrs. Parker the question of the girls'
friendship.
[Dr. H.R. Hulme was formerly rector (sic) of Canterbury
University College, Christchurch.]
As a result Mrs. Parker had Pauline to a doctor.
Mr. Rieper said that in the last year Pauline had bought a
horse without telling him. When he found out about it some months
later he agreed she should keep the horse. He believed it would
make her friendship with Juliet less intense.
Pauline was always anxious to go to the Hulme home "Ilam,"
so she could be with Juliet.
//WRITING OPERA//
Lately Pauline had been doing a "terrible lot" of writing--books,
novels. It was interfering with her school work this year.
One night sitting in front of the fire, she said she was
writing an opera.
As far as he knew Pauline and her mother had agreed she
should leave school and go to another school, and this had been
done.
Dr. Hulme again saw Mrs. Parker and told her he was leaving
New Zealand in about three weeks and taking Juliet with him. This
meant that the friendship between the two girls would be broken.
Rieper said he was very pleased at this. He allowed Pauline
to see Juliet pending her departure. He could not remember if
Mrs. Parker ever refused Pauline permission to see Juliet.
//HAPPY LUNCH//
Mrs. Parker sometimes remonstrated with Pauline. One cause was
the way Pauline just ignored her parents.
On June 22 Juliet came to their house for lunch before the
Victoria Park trip. Lunch was a very bright and happy affair.
//"REMOVED FROM TRAGEDY"//
Mrs. Hilda Marion Hulme in evidence said her daughter, Juliet,
was born in England in October, 1938.
She suffered bomb shock at the age of two. Later, while Dr.
Hulme was in America during the war, Juliet became ill and spent
two years away from school.
Mrs. Hulme said she and her husband came to New Zealand
about six years ago.
//"DEMANDING CHILD"//
Last year Juliet spent three and a half months in Cashmere Hills
Sanatorium with TB. (Cashmere Hills is a suburb of Christchurch.)
Juliet's rating in an intelligence test was very high. She
was always a demanding child. "I and my husband were always very
fond of her and gave her every attention," Mrs. Hulme said.
She said that at first the friendship between Pauline and
Juliet seemed a normal, happy one.
The friendship increased considerably after Juliet was
discharged from the sanitorium.
Mrs. Hulme said that when her husband decided to leave New
Zealand it was first agreed that she and Juliet should stay to
avoid the English winter.
This was altered because of a "very distressing plan" she
discovered.
The plan was that both girls should go to America together
to have their books published.
When this was discovered, Dr. Hulme decided to take Juliet
as far as South Africa. Juliet pressed her parents to let Pauline
go with her.
//TWO NOVELS//
Mr. (sic) Hulme said she knew Juliet had written two novels.
The girls lately had not used their Christian names in
addressing each other. Juliet became "Deborah" and Pauline became
"Gina."
Questioned by Mr. T.A. Gresson (for Juliet), Mrs. Hulme said
that Juliet was always a difficult girl to bring up.
After her return from the sanatorium, the friendship with
Pauline seemed to dominate Juliet's thoughts.
Mrs. Hulme said Juliet's writings struck her as grandiose
and unreal. Parts of her second book appeared unpleasant and
unbalanced.
The night after the tragedy she slept with Juliet in her
arms.
Mrs. Hulme said: "One repeated sentence of Juliet's was she
didn't wish to talk about it. She wanted to go to sleep and
forget it.
"She seemed elated and removed from the tragedy.
"Before she went to sleep and the next morning she recited
poetry."
Mr. Gresson: Does she appear to you over recent weeks to
have realised her position?
Mrs. Hulme: She seems quite removed from the seriousness or
the reality of the situation altogether.
Walter Andrew Bowman Perry, industrial consultant, said he
went to live in a separate flat in the Hulme's home at Christmas.
He was aware of the girls' writing and would describe it as
voluminous. Their first novel was innocuous, something like "The
Prisoner of Zenda." However, in the plots of later books there
was a certain amount of amorality.
The girls play-acted among themselves.
//"THINK SHE'S DEAD"//
Mrs. Agnes Ritchie, proprietress of the tea rooms at Victoria
Park, said the woman and two girls appeared perfectly normal and
quite at ease at afternoon tea.
Half an hour later the girls burst into the tea room.
They were very agitated, breathless, gasping, and speaking
almost incoherently.
One girl said: "Mummy, she's terribly hurt. I think she's
dead."
One, whom she later found was Juliet, was almost hysterical.
The other, Pauline was very white.
Both girls had a lot of blood on their clothes and
particularly on their hands. Pauline had a blood splash on her
face. They were worried about the blood, which they washed off in
the servery right away.
She asked the girls how it happened. Pauline said: "Somehow
she slipped on a plank. Her head kept bumping as she fell."
Juliet then told her she would always remember the woman's
head banging. Both girls said it seemed like a dream. They would
wake up soon.
//45 WOUNDS//
Dr. Colin Thomas Busby Pearson, pathologist, said he examined the
body of Mrs. Parker on the path, and later carried out a post-
mortem.
Cause of death was shock associated with multiple wounds to
the head, and a fractured skull.
Dr. Pearson listed 45 injuries, some minor, but many
serious. There were 24 lacerated wounds to the face and scalp,
some of which penetrated to the bone.--A.A.P-Reuter
Daily Mail (London), Saturday July 17, 1954. p. 3. (incomp) [sb]
"PLAN FOR MURDER--IN A GIRL'S DIARY // Court told of entry: 'Next
time I write, mother will be dead--how odd'"
Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday July 16.--Sixteen-year-old
Pauline Parker wrote in her diary "Day of a happy event." That
afternoon she and her 15-year-old friend, Juliet Hulme, battered
Pauline's mother to death. So it was alleged in Christchurch
today. The two girls were sent for trial, accused of murder.
They were in court for seven and a half hours. During that
time, they giggled, whispered, yawned and scribbled notes.
During that time, too, they heard a detective read six
extracts from a diary alleged to have been written by Pauline.
These were the extracts: [material missing]...--from Daily Mail
Correspondent and Agencies.
The Sun-Herald (Sydney), Sunday July 18, 1954. p. 2. [sb]
"Music in Gaol For N.Z. Girls"
Christchurch, (N.Z.), Saturday July 17.--Pauline Parker, 16, and
Juliet Hulme, 15, who are in a women's prison waiting trial on a
charge of murdering Parker's mother, listen to classical music
for an hour each morning and afternoon.
The mother was found battered to death in a bush-clad valley
in a Christchurch suburb June 22.
The girls are in the modern cottage-type Paparua prison, 10
miles from Christchurch.
The cell block, built two or three years ago, has four
bedroomed cells which are shared by seven women prisoners there
at the moment.
The girls are kept apart from the others.
They spend much of their time on the block's sun verandah.
The girls are free to write and they write voluminously.
They are very happy when together, and seem completely
unconcerned at the seriousness of their position.
They commented to the police Matron at the end of Fridays'
daylong Magistrate's Court hearing that it was "all very boring."
Psychologists have been to the prison to examine the girls.
Time, 64:24, Monday July 26, 1954.
"New Zealand: Collaborators"
As schoolmates in Christchurch, Juliet Hulme, 15, and Pauline
Parker, 16, often collaborated in the writing and production of
amateur plays--plays which, according to equally amateur critics,
were "not bad at all." They both liked detective stories, and as
if to strengthen their status as best friends, both had been
visited by similar misfortune: each had missed long periods at
school through illness. They also both wanted to go to America
"to have novels published and filmed," but their parents would
not let them.
One day three weeks ago, Pauline and Juliet, like many other
fashionable New Zealanders, sat taking tea with Pauline's mother
at a restaurant in lofty Victoria Park. After tea the two girls
and Mrs. Parker took advantage of the brisk, sunny afternoon to
stroll down the park's winding hillside tracks. A few minutes
later, Pauline and Juliet came racing back to the restaurant.
Mrs. Parker, they said, had fallen and was desperately injured.
When the doctor arrived, Pauline's mother, her face and head
cruelly cut and bruised, was already dead.
It was a shocking end to an afternoon of quiet enjoyment,
but for respectable Christchurch a worse shock was still to come.
That evening the police stopped by at Ilam, the official
residence of Dr. Henry Hulme, rector of staid Canterbury
University College, and arrested Pauline Parker on suspicion of
murder. Next day they came back and picked up Dr. Hulme's
daughter Juliet on the same charge. Near the blood-soaked ground
where Pauline's mother had lain, police found a brick and near it
a bloodstained stocking in which the brick had been inserted and
swung like a bludgeon.
Last week, in several grisly hours at the Christchurch lower
court, the police charged that Juliet and Pauline had killed Mrs.
Parker with the brick-filled stocking. Their principal evidence:
confessions from both girls, and excerpts from Pauline's own
diary, in which Mrs. Parker's death was listed as the "Day of the
Happy Event." Dozens of people die every day, sometimes
thousands, said the schoolgirl's diary: so why not Mother too?
[Only reference to either Parker, Pauline or Hulme, Juliet
in "Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature" found in Apr.
1953 - Feb. 1955, p. 1764. jp]
The Times (London), Tuesday August 24, 1954. p. 5.
"ALLEGED MURDER OF MOTHER // TWO GIRLS CHARGED"
Christchurch (N.Z.). Aug. 23.--Juliet Hulme, aged 15, formerly of
Liverpool, and her friend, Pauline Parker, aged 16, were accused
to-day of the murder of Pauline's mother, Mrs. Honora Mary
Parker, aged 45, on June 22. Both pleaded Not Guilty.
The court was told that there were 69 (stet) injuries to the
head and hands of Mrs. Parker and that she died of shock after
being beaten with a blunt instrument. Juliet's mother, Mrs. Hilda
Marion Hulme, and Pauline's father, Mr. Herbert Rieper, spoke of
an "intense devotion" that sprang up between the two girls while
they attended Christchurch Girls' High School. Juliet's father is
Dr. H.R. Hulme, former director of operational research of the
Admiralty.
Mrs. Hulme said that Juliet was born in England and suffered
shock from bombing when she was two years old. Nightmares and
illness kept her from school for two years. After they came to
New Zealand in 1948 Juliet went to Christchurch Girls' High
School. But she was in a sanatorium for four months in 1953 and
was not described as "cured" when she was discharged.
Mrs. Hulme said she discovered that the girls had been
planning to go to America to have their writing published. Both
girls spent much time writing. Dr. Hulme had intended to go to
England in March, leaving Juliet in New Zealand, but when the
girls' plan was discovered it was decided to take Juliet to South
Africa.
//LAUGHS AND JOKES//
Mr. Rieper said that he and Mrs. Parker had been pleased that
Juliet was going away because then the friendship would end.
Pauline went to stay with Juliet for 10 days and the two of them
came back to Pauline's home on the morning of the day of the
killing. They were laughing and joking at lunch when he came
home.
It was that afternoon when the girls hurried into the
teashop of Mrs. Agnes Ritchie, at Victoria Park, covered in
blood. Pauline said, "Mummy. She's been terribly hurt," Mrs.
Ritchie said.
The prosecutor, Mr. A.W. Brown, read a statement, alleged to
have been made by Juliet, which said that Pauline had hoped to go
to South Africa with her. They thought Mrs. Parker would object,
so they decided to discuss it with her during a farewell visit to
Victoria Park. According to the alleged statement, Juliet knew
that it was planned to take a brick wrapped in a stocking. It
continued: "I was not sure what was going to happen when we went
to the park. I thought we may have been able to frighten Mrs.
Rieper with the brick to have given her consent to Pauline and I
staying together. After the first blow was struck I knew it would
be necessary for us to kill her. I was terrified and
hysterical."--Reuter.
The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday August 24, 1954. [sb]
"Teenagers On Trial Called "Dirty-Minded""
Christchurch, Monday [Aug. 23]--The battering to death of a woman
on June 22 was described in the Christchurch Supreme Court to-day
as "a premeditated murder conducted by two dirty-minded little
girls."
Parents of the girls gave evidence that they had suffered
severe illnesses, one of them having been bomb-shocked in
England.
The girls, Pauline Yvonne Parker, 16, and Juliet Marion
Hulme, 15 years and 10 months, were charged with having murdered
Pauline's mother, Honora Mary Parker.
Both girls pleaded not guilty, and sat quietly throughout
the day's proceedings.
Juliet Hulme is the daughter of Dr. H.R. Hulme, who retired
recently as rector (sic) of Canterbury University College to take
up a post in England.
The Crown Prosecutor, Mr. Alan W. Brown, who had described
Parker and Hulme as "dirty-minded little girls," said that Mrs.
Parker was known as Mrs. Rieper.
She had lived with Herbert Rieper and nobody knew that they
were not married.
//No Place for Sentiment//
Mr. Brown said that the motive for the murder was that Mrs.
Parker opposed the plans of the girls to go overseas together.
He said the friendship of the girls was one of intense
devotion.
They spent a good deal of time in each other's beds and
scribbled what they called novels.
Mr. Brown said: "You may feel pity for these girls, but pity
and sentiment have no part in British justice."
Mr. Brown told the Court that the Crown believed it had been
planned that Hulme was to have gone ahead of Mrs. Parker in
Victoria Park with Pauline behind her mother.
//Plan To Visit America//
Hulme was to have placed a pink stone in a convenient spot and
Mrs. Parker asked to examine the stone.
Then Pauline would have hit her on the back of the neck with
a stocking containing the brick.
"There was no evidence that Rieper and Mrs. Parker had not
been good parents," said Mr. Brown.
"The circumstances in Dr. Hulme's home were unhappy.
"The girls planned to go to America together, and later,
Parker wanted to go to South Africa with Dr. Hulme and Juliet
Hulme.
"They knew Mrs. Parker would protest and they decided to
kill her.
"The girls coldly and calculatingly desired to kill Mrs.
Parker and they decided on a farewell outing to the Hills at
Victoria Park.
"Shortly after 2:30 p.m. that day, Mrs. Parker and the two
girls arrived at the park and had drinks at the tea kiosk.
"The girls later came running up the steps of the tea rooms,
their hands and clothing covered in blood, and said that mummy
was hurt.
"Parker said that her mother had hit her head on a board.
"Close to the dead woman's head was part of a brick, and
further away, a bloodstained portion of a stocking."
Mr. Brown said that on the day Mrs. Parker was killed,
Juliet Hulme made a statement to Senior Detective Macdonald
Brown.
//Part Of Brick In Newspaper//
He said that Juliet had said she did not see any blow struck and
that Pauline told her that Mrs. Parker had slipped and hit her
head against a stone.
Mr. Brown said that next day police interviewed Hulme again
and she made another statement after apologising for misleading
police the previous night.
After describing plans for the visit to the park, the second
alleged statement said: "I knew this was the trip we had planned.
"I left home about 10:30 a.m. I had part of a brick which I
wrapped in a newspaper. I had got it from near the garage.
"I gave it to Pauline. I know the brick was put into a
stocking at the Rieper's house. I did not put it there...
"I saw Pauline hit Mrs. Rieper with the brick in the
stocking.
"I took the stocking and hit her, too."
"I was not quite sure what was going to happen when we went
to Victoria Park.
"I thought we may have been able to frighten Mrs. Rieper
with a brick and she would have given her consent for Pauline and
me to stay. (stet)
"After the first blow was struck I knew it would be
necessary for us to kill her. I was terrified and hysterical."
In an alleged statement by Pauline Parker she said that she
had killed her mother and had made up her mind to do it a few
days previously.
//Hit "Great Many Times"//
Mr. Brown said that when asked what her mother said when she was
struck, Pauline replied "I would rather not answer that."
He said that when she was asked how many times she had hit
her mother, Pauline replied, "I don't know. A great many times, I
imagine."
Mr. Brown then read the following extracts from a diary
found in Pauline Parker's room:--
February 13, 1954: "Why could not mother die? Dozens,
thousands of people are dying; why not mother, and father, too?
Life is very hard."
April 28: "Anger against mother boiling inside me as she is
the main obstacle in my path. Suddenly means of ridding myself of
the obstacle occur to me. If she was to die..."
//Diary Plan To "Moider Mother"//
April 29:--"I did not tell Deborah of my plans for removing
mother. The last fate I wish to meet is one in a Borstal. I wish
to make it appear a natural or accidental death."
[Deborah was Pauline's pet name for Juliet Hulme.]
An entry in the dairy for June 19 referred to a plan "to
moider mother" and said "naturally we are a trifle nervous but
elation is great."
June 20.--"Deborah and I talked for some time. Afterwards we
discussed our plans for moidering mother and made them clear. But
peculiarly enough I have no qualms of conscience. Or is it
peculiar? We are so made (sic)."
June 21.--"Deborah rang and we decided to use a brick in a
stocking rather than a sandbag. Mother has fallen in with plans
beautifully. Feel quite keyed up."
June 22.--"I felt very excited last night and sort of night-
before-Christmas, but I did not have pleasant dreams. I am about
to rise."
Mr. Brown said the diary for that day was headed "The day of
the happy event."
//Had Several Operations//
Herbert Rieper, company manager, said he had lived with Mrs.
Parker for the last 23 years and they had three children, Pauline
being the second.
She had been a normal child, but suffered from osteomyelitis
when she was five and had spent eight or nine months in hospital.
He said that at lunch time on the day Mrs. Parker was
killed, Pauline and Juliet were laughing and joking.
Rieper said that Pauline had several operations.
He had seen her with other girls but very seldom.
She had treated him personally with disdain and was easily
upset.
Rieper said that Pauline had been interested in a boy who
had stayed with them during 1953, but the boy had been sent away.
Hilda Marion Hulme, mother of Juliet, said her daughter was
born in England on October 28, 1938, and the family came to New
Zealand in 1948.
//Bomb Shock As Two-year-old//
When two years old Juliet suffered bomb shock and had nightmares.
At one time Juliet had been very ill and was away from
school for two years.
Juliet had been in a sanatorium at Cashmere, outside
Christchurch. She was there for about four months during 1953.
She was not discharged cured.
Mrs. Hulme added: "We loved Juliet dearly and did all we
could for her."
Reason for the girls going to America was to have their
books published.
"Juliet had to spend a lot of time resting on her bed and Pauline
would keep her company," said Mrs. Hulme.
It became increasingly difficult to draw them into the
family circle."
Mrs. Hulme said that on June 21 "Juliet was radiantly happy"
over the proposed outing to Victoria Park.
//Resentment For Brother//
About Christmas time the girls changed their names. Juliet was
called Deborah and Pauline was called Gina.
To Mr. T.A. Gresson, for Juliet Hulme, Mrs. Hulme said
Juliet was very sensitive and demanding.
"Juliet appeared to resent her brother and this was a
problem," she added.
Mrs. Hulme said she had read one of Juliet's books. It was
quite ordinary, not overexciting.
On one occasion she had talked to Juliet and asked her not
to be so extreme in her views.
The hearing was adjourned until 10 a.m. to-morrow.--A.A.P.-
Reuter.
The Times (London), Wednesday August 25, 1954. p. 5.
"MURDER CHARGE AGAINST GIRLS // PLEA OF INSANITY"
Christchurch (N.Z.), Aug. 24.--A plea of insanity was submitted
by defence counsel to-day on behalf of Juliet Hulme, aged 15,
formerly of Liverpool, and her friend Pauline Parker, aged 16,
who are accused of the murder of Pauline's mother, Mrs. Honora
Mary Parker.
Mrs. Parker was found dead in Victoria Park, Christchurch,
on June 22. It is alleged that Pauline and Juliet beat her to
death with a brick in a stocking. Their alleged motive was fear
that she would stop Pauline going to South Africa with Juliet,
her inseparable companion, who was being taken abroad by her
father.
A psychiatrist, Dr. R.W. Medlicott, told the court that a
"reversal of the moral sense" was apparent in both girls. They
suffered from "paranoia--a form of delusion--of an exalted type,
in a setting of folie a deux," a term used to describe
"communicated insanity."
Opening the defence, Mr. T.A. Gresson said it would be shown
that the girls were insane at the time of the crime. They were
not ordinary dirty-minded little girls, as the prosecution
alleged, but were mentally ill and not legally responsible for
their actions.
Insanity, he said, was often accompanied by a high degree of
intelligence. "The barbarity and hopelessly irrational confidence
of the accused, their youth, and Parker's diary, in which is
reflected the deterioration of the two girls like an evil mirror,
might already have raised doubts in the jury's mind as to their
sanity."
The court adjourned until to-morrow.--Reuter.
The Manchester Guardian, Wednesday August 25, 1954. p. 5.
"TRIAL OF TWO SCHOOLGIRLS ON MURDER CHARGE // Court Hears
Evidence of Insanity"
Christchurch (N.Z.), August 24.--Two girls charged with murdering
the elder's mother were said in court at Wellington to-day to
have had "their own paradise, their own god and religion, and
their own morality." The diary of the elder, Pauline Parker, 16,
spoke of their having discovered "the key to the fourth world."
Only about ten people, it claimed, had this key.
Pauline's mother, Mrs Honora Mary Parker, 45, was found
battered to death in Victoria Park, Christchurch, on June 22. It
is alleged that Pauline and her 15-year-old friend Juliet Hulme
murdered her with a brick wrapped in a stocking. According to the
prosecution the motive for the murder was the girls' fear that
Mrs Parker would stop Pauline from going to South Africa with
Juliet, her inseparable companion, who was being taken abroad by
her father, Dr H.R. Hulme.
A psychiatrist, Dr R.W. Medlicott, said that a "reversal of
the moral sense" was apparent in both girls. They suffered from
"paranoia--a form of delusion--of an exalted type, in a setting
of folie a deux," a term used to describe "communicated
insanity."
The prosecution case closed to-day. Mr T.A. Gresson, opening
the case for the defence, said it would be shown that the girls
were insane at the time of the crime, and not legally responsible
for their actions.
Dr Medlicott had stated that when he interviewed them the
girls "exulted over their crime" and showed no reasonable
emotional appreciation of their situation.
Both girls, Dr Medlicott went on, had had a difficult
adolescence and their association proved tragic for them. There
was no proof it was a physical relationship, but "there is a lot
of suggestion in their diaries that a physical relationship
occurred." Pauline's young sister was an imbecile, and her baby
sister died shortly after birth. Both girls were sensitive,
selfish, and imaginative, and showed an inability to tolerate
criticism. It seemed clear, he added, that they always wrote to
each other as imaginary characters.
Mr Gresson said that insanity was often accompanied by a
high degree of intelligence. He continued:
"The barbarity and hopelessly irrational confidence of the
accused, their youth, and Parker's diary in which is reflected
the deterioration of the two girls like an evil mirror, might
already have raised doubts in the jury's mind as to their
sanity."
Juliet's mother, Mrs Hilda Marion Hulme, who gave evidence
when the trial was resumed this morning, was questioned about an
entry in her daughter's diary. She told the Court how she had
prepared a cup of tea for Walter Perry, an engineer who occupied
part of the Hulmes' home, who was ill at the time. Mrs Hulme said
that it was while she was in Perry's bedroom, and also having a
cup of tea, that Juliet appeared and laughingly said something
like: "The balloon has gone up." Asked to explain, Juliet said:
"I hoped I'd catch you out." Mrs Hulme said she felt that
Juliet's sense of humour was in bad taste.
//Question of Divorce//
Walter Perry told the Court that Mrs Hulme's account of the
incident was correct. "In fact," he said, "I was admitted to
hospital the next week. Juliet discussed the fact that she was
going to blackmail me on the night she found Mrs Hulme giving me
tea." Perry admitted that he had fallen in love with Mrs Hulme,
but at no time had there been any deception with Dr Hulme about
their state of affairs.
Mrs Hulme had told the Court that the question of divorce
was under discussion. An entry in Juliet's diary alleged that
when Juliet asked for an explanation of the incident Mrs Hulme
said: "Well, you see, we are in love." According to the diary,
Mrs Hulme further explained that Dr Hulme knew all about it and
that they intended to live "as a threesome."
The Court adjourned until to-morrow.--Reuter.
The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday August 25, 1954. p. 4. [sb]
"INSANITY PLEA FOR GIRLS CHARGED WITH MURDER"
Christchurch (N.Z.), Tues. [Aug. 24]--Two doctors would say that
two teenage girls were insane when they killed the mother of one
of them, the Supreme Court was told to-day by counsel for one of
the girls.
Counsel said it was "clear beyond dispute" that the girls
had killed the woman, and that the "vital and all-important"
question was their sanity or otherwise.
//DISCUSSION OF DIVORCE//
"We must prove they are insane by competent evidence," he said.
A psychiatrist said the girls were suffering from paranoia
(a form of delusion) of an "exalted type."
The girls are Pauline Yvonne Parker, 16, and Juliet Marion
Hulme, 15.
They are charged with having murdered Pauline's mother,
Honora Mary Parker, known as Mrs. Rieper, 45, at Christchurch on
June 22 last.
Juliet is the daughter of Dr. H.R. Hulme, former Rector of
Canterbury University College, Christchurch, who sailed to take
up an overseas appointment some weeks ago.
During to-day's hearing, Juliet's mother, Mrs. Hilda Marion
Hulme, said that divorce had been "under discussion."
Walter Andrew Bowman Perry, who last Christmas went to live
in a flat which was part of the Hulme's home, told the Court he
had fallen in love with Mrs. Hulme.
Mrs. Hulme and Perry denied an entry in Pauline's diary that
Juliet had said she had found them in bed together one night.
At the trial, Pauline Parker is represented by Dr. A.L.
Haslam, with Mr. J.A. Wicks, and Juliet Hulme by Mr. T.A.
Gresson, with Mr. B. McClelland. The Crown Prosecutor is Mr. A.W.
Brown, with Mr. P.T. Mahon. Mr. Justice Adams is on the bench.
Mr. Gresson told the jury: "Neither Dr. Haslam nor I would
advance a defence of insanity if there were no competent medical
evidence to support it.
"The Crown has referred to the girls as ordinary, dirty-
minded little girls. Our evidence will show they are mentally
ill.
"Their interest in sexual and homosexual matters will show
they are not ordinary, but ill."
He said the girls were suffering from paranoia of an exalted
type and folie a deux (a term used to describe communicated
insanity).
Dr. Reginald Warren Medlicott, superintendent of Ashburn
Hall private psychiatric hospital, Dunedin, said:
"Both girls are sensitive, selfish, imaginative, and show an
inability to tolerate criticism. Pauline has ruled her
friendships by bursts of temper."
//FORM OF INSANITY//
Dr. Medlicott said he considered the girls were suffering from
paranoia of an exalted type. In a setting of folie a deux,
paranoia was a form of systematised insanity.
It was not unusual for adolescents to become arrogant. They
frequently went through a stage of forming passions for members
of their own sex.
There was no proof that there was a physical relationship,
he said, adding that homosexuality was love for a member of one's
own sex.
Dr. Medlicott added: "On my second visit on the second week-
end, they could not be bothered giving up a walk in the sun to
talk to me.
"There was a gross reversal of moral sense. They admired
what was evil, and condemned that which the community considered
good.
"They said they had their own god and religion."
After a short time with them, he was convinced they were
insane. Each girl would have sudden spells of intentness.
They would "click into gear"; they showed a conceit which
was quite out of the world of normality; they were prepared to
accept their books as world-shattering; their arrogance, like
their conceit was not normal; they persistently abused him.
//ENTRY IN DIARY READ//
Dr. Medlicott said Pauline's younger sister was an imbecile.
Juliet's ill-health and separations from her parents would tend
to break normal associations.
Both girls had a difficult adolescence, and their
association had proved tragic for them.
When he interviewed them, the girls exulted over their
crime, and showed no reasonable emotional appreciation of their
situation.
When the trial resumed to-day, Mrs. Hulme re-entered the
witness box.
//"SECRET JOKE"//
Asked by Dr. Haslam about an entry in Pauline's diary for April
23, Mrs. Hulme said:
"One night Mr. Perry took ill.
"I heard a disturbance in the house and went to the dividing
door which leads to his flat, and called out to him. He was in
obvious pain."
She made him a cup of tea and sat on the side of his bed and
drank a cup of tea, too. She heard the door move and Juliet
appeared.
Mrs. Hulme added: "Juliet seemed amused at a secret joke of
her own. Asked why she was laughing, Juliet said something like
'The balloon has gone up.'
"Asked to explain, she said, 'I hoped to catch you out.'
"I felt Juliet's sense of humor was in bad taste, and I was
upset with her."
Mr. Brown (for the Crown) read the entry from Pauline's
diary about the incident on the night of April 23, as follows:--
"This afternoon I played Tosca and wrote before ringing
Deborah (her name for Juliet).
"Then she told me the stupendous news. Last night she woke
at 2 a.m. and for some reason went to her mother's room.
"It was empty, so she went downstairs to look for her.
Deborah could not find her, so she crept as stealthily as she
could into Mr. Perry's flat.
"She heard voices from inside, and she stayed outside for a
little while, then opened the door and switched on the light.
//BEDROOM INCIDENT//
"Mr. Perry and Mrs. Hulme were in bed drinking tea. Deborah felt
an hysterical tendency to giggle.
She said, 'Hello.' She was shaking with emotion and shock,
although she knew what she would find. They giggled at her for a
minute and her mother said, 'I suppose you want an explanation?'
"'Yes,' Deborah replied, 'I do.'
"'Well, you see we are in love,' her mother explained.
Deborah was wonderful. Her mother explained that Dr. Hulme knew
all about it, and that they intended to live as a threesome."
Mr. Brown (to Mrs. Hulme): Had you told Dr. Hulme of the
incident of the night?
Mrs. Hulme: Yes.
The diary states, "Dr. and Mrs. Hulme are going to divorce."
Was that so?--Do I have to answer that?
Mrs. Hulme then said it was under discussion.
Mr. Brown: Why should Dr. Hulme talk to the girls about
divorce?
Mrs. Hulme: Because of the incident in Perry's bedroom the
night before.
Walter Andrew Bowman Perry, engineer, said he went as a
guest to Dr. Hulme's home at Christmas, 1953, and lived in part
of the house.
He, Dr. Hulme and Mrs. Hulme were very friendly.
Perry said he had read Pauline's 1954 diary. Mrs. Hulme's
version of the incident in his room was correct.
Perry said he had fallen in love with Mrs. Hulme.
Mr. Gresson: Has there at any time been any deception with
Dr. Hulme about that state of affairs?
Perry: Definitely not.
The Hearing was adjourned until to-morrow.--A.A.P.-Reuter.
The Times (London), Thursday August 26, 1954. p. 5.
"GIRLS ON MURDER CHARGE // EVIDENCE ON INSANITY"
Wellington (N.Z.), Aug. 25.--Dr. R.W. Medlicott, medical
superintendent of Ashburn Hall psychiatric hospital, to-day
continued evidence for the defence in the trial of the two girls,
Pauline Yvonne Parker and Juliet Marion Hulme, who are charged
with the murder of Mrs. Parker (mother of one of the accused
girls.)
He said that both girls, in his opinion, were certifiably
insane. They knew what the law was but did not acknowledge that
their action was morally wrong; they thought killing Mrs. Parker
was morally right--by their own standards, not the standards of
the community.
The Crown prosecutor (Mr. A.W. Brown) asked: "Why then did
they try to escape detection?" Dr. Medlicott replied: "Because
they had a plan and they knew that being caught would prevent
their carrying it out. They considered they were unique geniuses.
..."
Mr. Brown: Why then are the accused insane?
Dr. Medlicott: Because all these actions were done inside a
delusional setting.
Mr. Brown: The killing of Mrs. Parker was carefully planned,
was it not?
Dr. Medlicott: Yes.
Mr. Brown: Then where was the delusion?
Dr. Medlicott.--Simply this: if they had not been suffering
from delusions they would not have wished to do that.
//TERRIFIC EXALTATION//
Mr. Brown spent some time cross-examining Dr. Medlicott
about poetry found in the back of Parker's diary and asked in
what way it convinced Dr. Medlicott that the girls were insane.
Dr. Medlicott said: "Because of its terrific exaltation." Mr.
Brown thereupon recited more poetry without informing Dr.
Medlicott who wrote it: but later he informed the witness that
the poetry was a Shakespeare sonnet and a poem of Walter de la
Mare.
Mr. Brown.--Is there not evidence of exaltation in these?
Dr. Medlicott replied that he could not regard these on
their own as evidence of the writer's insanity.
A description of a vision was then read to Dr. Medlicott,
who was invited by Mr. Brown to comment upon it. He answered that
he could not agree that insanity was a reasonable inference from
the description of the vision. Mr. Brown then informed the court
that the quotation was from the Fourth Chapter of the Revelation
of St. John.
The court adjourned with Dr. Medlicott still giving
evidence.--from our correspondent.
//
Christchurch (N.Z.), Aug. 25.--Dr. Medlicott to-day read several
alleged items from Pauline Parker's diary to the court trying the
two girls for murder. --Reuter.
The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday August 26, 1954. p. 5. [sb]
"Girls On Murder Charge Had A "Fourth World""
Christchurch (N.Z.) Wed. [Aug. 25]--A leading psychiatrist said
to-day that two teenage girls charged with having murdered the
mother of one of them, had told him of their "fourth world," and
their own gods, religion and paradise.
The psychiatrist told Christchurch Supreme Court that the
girls were insane at the time of the killing, and he would have
no hesitation in certifying them.
The girls, Pauline Yvonne Parker, 16, and Juliet Marion
Hulme, 15, are charged with having murdered Pauline's mother,
Honora Mary Parker (known as Mrs. Rieper), 45, at Christchurch on
June 22.
Juliet is the daughter of Dr. H.R. Hulme, former Rector of
Canterbury University College, Christchurch.
The psychiatrist, Dr. Reginald Warren Medlicott, of Dunedin,
told the Court to-day that Juliet Hulme had told him that "in
their own religion they went to paradise." Pan was their favorite
god.
Juliet had also said that they had discovered the "fourth
world" at Port Levy.
She had said that the "fourth world" was definitely there,
and added: "Our god is a more powerful version of the humans'
God. He has the same powers, only greatly magnified."
Another time Juliet had said: "I do not want to place myself
above the law; I am apart from it."
Pauline had said: "We don't believe God could be satisfied
with the world and be omnipotent."
Dr. Medlicott said the girls believed that what they had
done was morally right, by their own standards. Even now, they
showed no remorse.
Pauline had told him: "We are both sane. Everybody else is
off the mark. Our views are much more logical and sensible."
He said the nearest he got to remorse with Pauline was when
she said that when she slept on her right side, her mother seemed
to come back.
She could not stand this, and immediately turned on her left
side.
//DEVELOPED T.B.//
An entry in Pauline's diary had referred to Juliet having
developed tuberculosis, and added: "I spent a wretched night. We
agreed it would be wonderful if I could get tuberculosis, too."
Another entry in Pauline's diary for January 29 was: "We
have worked out how much prostitutes should earn, and how much we
should make in this profession."
The "should" gradually changed to "shall," said Dr.
Medlicott.
The entry continued: "We have spent a really wonderful day
messing around and talking over how much fun we will have in our
profession."
A diary entry for June 6 read: "Eventually we enacted how
each saint would make love in bed, only doing the first seven, as
it was 7:30 a.m. by then. We felt exhausted and very satisfied."
//"CAREFULLY PLANNED"//
To the Crown Prosecutor, Mr. Alan W. Brown, Dr. Medlicott said
that Juliet had told him if she were running the country, she
would make laws for others to stick to but, "as king, of course,
the laws would not apply to her."
He said both girls knew what the law was but did not
recognize it.
They considered their action in killing Pauline's mother to
be morally right by their own standards, not by the standards of
the community.
They had tried to escape detection because of their plans
for the future.
[According to earlier evidence the girls had wanted to go
abroad together, but their parents would not agree.]
"They considered they were quite unique geniuses, with their
own paradise and could do exactly as they liked," said Dr.
Medlicott.
"It was quite right for them to indulge in shoplifting and
to steal, because they were merely raising money to further their
own plans."
//AFFAIR WITH BOY//
Dr. Medlicott agreed with Mr. Brown that the killing had been
carefully planned.
After the killing the girls knew intellectually that they
were in trouble, but never realised it emotionally, he said.
Mr. Brown: Was it not a fact that Pauline had sexual
intercourse with a boy?
Dr. Medlicott agreed, but said the fact that a person had
sexual relations with a member of the opposite sex did not
disprove homosexuality.
Mr. Brown: But she had sexual intercourse over and over
again?
Dr. Medlicott: No, only once. That is what she told me.
Mr. Brown quoted extracts from Pauline's diary, referring to
nocturnal visits by Pauline to a boy named Nicholas.
Mr. Brown: Was she not in Nicholas's bed as far back as
July, 1953, and was she not there from 11:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.
Dr. Medlicott: That is so.
//"NOT HAPPY"//
Mr. Brown read later diary references to visits paid by Pauline
to Nicholas at his new address after he left the Rieper
household.
Dr. Medlicott said he thought Pauline was not happy in these
relationships. She attempted to break away, but went back, and
described all these events to Juliet.
Mr. Brown asked if there could not be several explanations
for the ending of Pauline's relations with Nicholas. One might be
that they were caught.
Dr. Medlicott replied: "The visits to Nicholas continued for
a long time after that."
In earlier diary references it was Nicholas who was "making
the pace," he said.
Mr. Brown suggested it could be that Nicholas grew cool,
possibly realising the implications of Pauline being under the
age of consent.
Dr. Medlicott said that, according to her diary, Pauline sat
on a chair most of the night during her later visits to Nicholas
in his bedroom.
//"MOIDER"//
On June 19 the diary entry read: "Our main idea (stet) for the
day is moider. We have worked it out clearly."
Dr. Medlicott said: "The diary rises to a quite fantastic
crescendo as it goes on.
"Evil becomes more and more important, and one gets the
feeling that they became helplessly under its sway."
Mr. Brown referred Dr. Medlicott to a diary entry for April
17, which read: "Mrs. Hulme was perfectly beastly to Deborah
(nickname for Juliet).
"She made her apologise for taking a record from Mr. Perry's
flat. [Walter Andrew Bowman Perry, an engineer, lived in a flat
at Hulme's home. He has told the Court that he fell in love with
Mrs. Hulme.]
"This made us feel very cross and childish in a sort of
I'll-show-them-so-there-and-that-will-make-'em-sorry feeling.
"We went for a walk in a field and sat on a log, shouting
nasty jeering remarks to every rider that passed. About fifty
did.
"This cheered us greatly, and we came back and wrote out all
the Commandments so that we can break them."
Dr. Medlicott was still being cross-examined when the Court
adjourned until to-morrow.--A.A.P.-Reuter.
*SNIP HERE*******************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
*****************************************************************
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End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 11/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
John D. Porter
*****************************************************************
"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 12/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
The Times (London), Friday August 27, 1954. p. 5.
"GIRLS ON MURDER CHARGE "INSANE" "
Wellington (N.Z.), Aug. 26.--Dr. Francis Bennett, a witness for
the defence at the trial of Pauline Parker, aged 16, and Julian
(stet) Marion Hulme told him that she had no regrets whatever.
Dr. Bennett said that the girls once wrote out the 10
Commandments and then set out to see how many they could break.
Hulme told him that not only was the murder of Mrs. Parker
justified, but other murders might be justified if anyone
threatened the girls' association.
Dr. Bennett added: "To us the murder was bestial, filthy,
treacherous. On the occasion of the murder these girls were
insane and they never will be sane."
The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.--from our
correspondent.
The Manchester Guardian, Friday August 27, 1954. p. 7.
"ALLEGED MURDER OF MOTHER // Girls' "Night Orgies" "
Christchurch (New Zealand), Aug. 26.--It was stated in court here
today that Pauline Parker, happily doing housework with her
mother, broke off to discuss by telephone with her school friend
how they should kill the mother next day. The defence is seeking
to prove that Pauline (16) and her friend, Juliet Marion Hulme
(15), accused of murdering Mrs Parker with a brick in a stocking,
are insane. Dr. Francis Bennett said:
"There was the happy harmony of mother and daughter on
Monday, the slaughter on Tuesday. To us, who are sane, I hope, it
was a murder that was bestial, treacherous, filthy. It is outside
all the kindly limits of sanity. It is a thousand miles away from
sanity."
The prosecutor, Mr Alan Brown, objected to what he called
"this prose poem," but the Judge allowed it as a legitimate
statement of the grounds for the doctor's opinion.
Dr Bennett said that the girls had a wild infatuation for
each other and spent as much time as possible together,
discussing their gods, their books, "bathing and bedding
together, and photographing each other in fancy and party dresses
and in the nude." They had "nightlong verbal orgies." They did
not hate people but despised them. After the murder both Pauline
and Juliet told him that they had no regrets whatever, Pauline
adding:
"Of course I did not want my family to get involved in this;
but we have been terribly happy since it happened, so it has all
been a blessing in disguise."
In their own opinion, Dr Bennet (sic) went on, this crime of
matricide was right. They knew the nature and quality of their
act but did not think it wrong. They believed that Pauline's
mother would be in "heaven" but that they would go to "paradise."
Juliet said there was no hell--"the idea is so primitive." They
had their own "saints," based on film stars.
The girls used to get up in the night and act on the lawn,
he added. They made a little cemetery and later turned it into a
temple, where a dead mouse was buried under a cross. They also
put up crosses for "dead ideas."
The Crown will call three witnesses to rebut the medical
evidence of insanity. The case was adjourned until tomorrow.--
Reuter.
The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday August 27, 1954. [sb]
"INSANITY PLEA AT N.Z. MURDER TRIAL"
Christchurch, Thurs. [Aug. 26]--Dr. Francis O. Bennett told the
Supreme Court to-day that two teenage girls on trial for murder
"were not sane then, are not sane now and never will be sane."
Dr. Bennett is the second doctor called by the defence to
testify that the girls are insane.
To-morrow the Crown will call three witnesses to rebut the
defence's medical evidence.
//"MATRICIDE WAS RIGHT"//
The girls are charged with battering to death the mother of one
of them with a half-brick in a stocking.
Dr. Bennett said, "In their opinion this crime of matricide
was right. They knew the nature and quality of their act but did
not think it wrong.
"The girls knew what they did was wrong in the community's
eyes but I doubt whether that entered into their considerations."
The Crown Prosecutor, Mr. A. Brown: But is not that the
outlook of all criminals?
Dr. Bennett: Yes, but these happen not to be criminals.
Mr. Justice Adams: That is for the jury to decide.
Dr. Bennett: Yes, your Honor, I should not have said that.
Dr. Bennett said the day before the murder one girl was
helping her mother with the housework when the telephone rang and
she broke off her work to discuss "moider plans" with the other
girl.
He added, "There was the happy harmony of mother and
daughter on Monday: the slaughter on Tuesday.
"To us--sane, I hope--it was a murder that was bestial,
treacherous and filthy. It is outside all the kindly limits of
sanity; it is a thousand miles away from sanity.
Mr. Brown: Your Honor, I object to this prose poem.
Mr. Justice Adams: I think it is a legitimate statement of
the grounds for his opinion.
Dr. Bennett said the girls were suffering from paranoia.
They lived in a world of their own--a world of delusions that had
no reality or values, as the community knew values.
To-day was the fourth day of the trial.
Pauline Yvonne Parker, 16, and Juliet Marion Hulme, 15 years
and 10 months, are charged with the murder of Pauline's mother,
Honora Mary Parker (known also as Mrs. Rieper), 45, at
Christchurch, on June 22.
Mrs. Parker and the two girls went for a walk on Cashmere
Hills. Later, the girls returned alone and said Mrs. Parker had
slipped and fallen to her death.
The Crown alleges that the girls planned to murder Mrs.
Parker and beat her to death with a half-brick swung in a
stocking.
Mr. Justice Adams and a jury are hearing the case in the
Supreme Court.
Dr. A.L. Haslam and Mr. I.A. Wicks are counsel for Pauline
Parker, and Mr. T.A. Gresson and Mr. B. McClelland are appearing
for Juliet Hulme.
The Crown Prosecutor is Mr. Alan W. Brown.
//Necessary To Give Full Picture//
Dr. Haslam, opening the defence case for Pauline Parker, told the
jury, "Both girls were insane on the day of the murder to such a
degree that they did not know what they were doing.
"We are not here to waste your time with flimsy medical
opinions. We ask you give due weight to our medical evidence.
"It is necessary for doctors to give the full picture, but
it is the overall picture you must consider and weigh."
Dr. Haslam then called Dr. F.O. Bennett, who, he said, would
give evidence agreeing with that of Dr. Medlicott earlier, that
the girls were suffering from paranoia and folie a deux.
Dr. Bennett said he had been consulted by Dr. Hulme on
December 9 last regarding the association of the girls and again
on May 8.
On December 14, he saw Mrs. Parker and Pauline at his
surgery.
Dr. Hulme was worried about the unhealthy association of the
girls. Mrs. Parker was worried about Pauline's weight.
The interview was not a success. Pauline would answer only
"Yes" or "No."
Pauline said her mother frequently nagged at her, her only
friend was Juliet and she thought other girls silly. He could not
get beyond that.
He had told Mrs. Parker that he thought there was a
homosexual relationship between the girls.
Dr. Bennett said that the next time he saw Pauline was at
the police station on June 24. He saw each girl separately for
about an hour.
On August 6 he saw Juliet at Paparua Prison and Pauline on
August 13. He had read both Pauline's diaries and a large part of
her novel.
The girls' recent activities, he said, could be explained
only on the basis of mutual insanity.
"I agree with Dr. Medlicott that they are suffering from
paranoia," he said. "They follow delusion wherever it is and
become antisocial and dangerous.
"They think they are superior to the general race of man.
They have written a great deal, but I do not consider it of
outstanding literary merit.
"Intellectually they are a little higher than girls of their
own age, but they are not intellectual giants."
//Delusions of Grandeur//
Dr. Bennett said the two girls had delusions of grandeur. They
formed a "society" of their own and lived in it. In this new
society they were no longer under the censure and nagging of
mothers.
"They fill it out with their 'saints' and fictional
characters," he said.
//"FOURTH WORLD" OF OWN//
Dr. Bennett read extracts from Pauline's diaries. One, dated
April 3, 1953, read:--
"To-day Juliet and I found the key to the fourth world. We
realise now that we had it in our possession for six months but
we only realised it today.
"We saw a gateway through the clouds. We sat on the edge of
a path and looked down a hill out over a bay. The island looked
beautiful, the sea was blue and everything was full of peace and
bliss.
"We then realised we had the key. We know now that we are
not genii, as we thought. We have an extra part of our brain
which can appreciate the fourth world."
//Had Left This World Behind//
After reading other extracts, Dr. Bennett said: "These
illustrations show the wild infatuation of these two for each
other and their grandiose ideas.
"They bathed and went to bed together. They dressed up. They
got up at night and went onto the lawn and acted, ignoring other
people.
"They made a little cemetery and later turned it into a
temple where a dead mouse was buried and a cross put up. They put
up other crosses for dead ideas.
"They had no friends of their own age and never read
newspapers."
During the Royal visit to Christchurch the girls made no
attempt to see the Queen or the decorations.
There was increasing elation as the story approached its
climax. They had the impression that they had left this world
behind them.
"The girls have assured me that they don't hate people
individually but that they despise them," Dr. Bennett said.
"They believe in survival after death. Juliet said there is
no hell--the idea is so primitive."
//No Regret Over Murder//
Dr. Bennett said Juliet Hulme had told him, "The day we killed
her I think she knew beforehand what was going to happen and she
did not bear any grudge."
He had asked Juliet if she had any regret and she replied,
"None whatsoever."
At one stage the girls wrote out the Ten Commandments and
set out to see how many they could break. They claimed Pauline
had broken 10 and Juliet only nine.
The girls, he said, always spelt the word murder as
"moider." It was a "murder" that was bestial, treacherous and
filthy.
Dr. Bennett added, "It is outside all the limits of sanity."
Mr. Brown: This is comment, not evidence.
Mr. Justice Adams: I do not think one can object to such
terms.
Dr. Bennett said that had the girls never met they might at
least for some years have lived difficult lives before paranoia
occurred.
But they met. They lived in a world of elation and despised
the lowly world around them.
"They took a delight in breaking its conventions," he said.
"In my opinion they are both folie a deux homosexual
paranoics of the elated type.
"They are definitely certifiable.
"They knew they were killing a woman, who she was and the
nature of their act. They did not think their act was wrong. They
knew it was against the laws of the country but they had a
loyalty to their delusion."
Mr. Brown: Did they know what they were doing?
Dr. Bennett: They did.
Mr. Brown: You know they are liars?
Dr. Bennett: Not all the time.
Is their relationship homosexual physically?--I don't know.
I am inclined to think not.
They don't like being called that?--They have no holds
barred.
Dr. Bennett said that in his first interview with Juliet
Hulme she had no idea what he was talking about when
homosexuality was mentioned.
Mr. Brown: Didn't the girl Parker have sexual relationships
with a number of boys?
Dr. Bennett: Not over a long period.
//Film Characters Were Used//
Dr. R.W. Medlicott, psychiatrist, earlier concluded his evidence
for the defence under cross-examination by the Crown Prosecutor,
Mr. Brown.
The girls' "saints," he said, were fictional characters,
constituting their "families." They used characters from films to
personify their characters.
Mr. Brown: These characters represented not only the faces
of film stars, but other parts of their anatomy, didn't they?
Dr. Medlicott: That might have been so.
Mr. Brown read an entry from Parker's diary written on May
29, 1953, which stated, "We did not get up early as we were
feeling so tired. We did the saints and played records.
"We were very truthful about the saints, especially their
figures. This was not hard as we decided that we like a large
amount of man."
Dr. Medlicott said the girls "played" with these characters.
Mr. Brown: You think they played like innocent little
children then?
Dr. Medlicott: There is no suggestion that they played like
innocent little children.
How did they act among themselves?--There were love scenes.
Love is a mild word.
These two people, we will assume, are homosexuals in the
physical sense?--There is no proof of that. I am doubtful if they
were telling me the truth.
//All The "Saints" Were Males//
Dr. Medlicott said the "saints" were all males. He thought the
girls were homosexual.
Mr. Brown: You agree that references in the diary on May 29
refer to the physical characteristics of various saints?
Dr. Medlicott: They were figures from the films.
Real life figures?--Yes.
"He" at one stage is Mario Lanza?--Yes.
Mr. Brown then read from a diary entry written on June 12,
"We returned home and talked for some time about it (sic),
getting ourselves more and more excited. Eventually, we enacted
how each saint would make love in bed, only doing the first seven
as it was 7:30 a.m. by then. We felt exhausted and very
satisfied."
Dr. Medlicott, after further questioning about Pauline's
diary, agreed that the girls behaved "over and over again as
normal human beings."
Mr. Brown: You said earlier that they were both insane and
readily certifiable?
Dr. Medlicott: They were both insane and certifiable.
Are you disconcerted to know three competent psychiatrists
do not consider them certifiable?--It does not disturb me.
The hearing was adjourned until to-morrow.--SMH staff
reporter.
The Times (London), Saturday August 28, 1954. p. 5.
"ALLEGED MURDER OF MOTHER // MEDICAL EVIDENCE OF GIRLS' SANITY"
Wellington (N.Z.), Aug. 27--Evidence was continued in the fifth
day of the trial of the two girls, Pauline Yvonne Parker and
Juliet Marion Hulme, who are charged with the murder of Parker's
mother. The Crown called three medical witnesses in rebuttal of
the expert evidence of the defence.
Dr. Kenneth Robert Stallworthy, senior medical advisor at
Avondale Mental Hospital at Auckland, told the Crown prosecutor,
Mr. A.W. Brown, that he had examined both girls and it was his
opinion that neither had any disease of the mind. They had
written down what was going to happen and had given clear
accounts of what they had done. Both knew the nature and quality
of their act. After the killing of Mrs. Parker both had full
realization of their predicament and a very sane desire to get
out of it. He did not consider either girl to be paranoic, but
admitted to the presence of delusions.
Dr. James Edwin Saville, the second Crown expert, who is
medical officer at Sunnyside Mental Hospital, gave evidence that
in several interviews the girls tried to make out that they were
insane, arguing that by the time they became 18 or 19 they would
be released from a mental hospital, whereas they could not see
themselves getting out of prison if found sane as early as that.
Dr. James Dewar Hunter, superintendent of Sunnyside
hospital, said he would not certify the girls because he believed
both to be quite sane.
Addresses of counsel are to be heard to-morrow.--from our
correspondent.
The Manchester Guardian, Saturday August 28, 1954. p. 5.
"ACCUSED GIRLS "BOTH SANE" // N.Z. Murder trial"
Wellington, Aug. 27.--Three experts to-day told a Wellington
court trying Juliet Marion Hulme (15) and Pauline Yvonne Parker
(16) for the murder of Pauline's mother that both girls were
sane. Yesterday two defence witnesses contended that they were
and always would be insane. The first witness to-day, Dr Kenneth
Stallworthy, superintendent of Auckland Mental Hospital, told the
Court that Pauline had said:
"We knew we were doing wrong. We knew that we would be
punished if we were caught and we did our best not to be caught.
I would have been an absolute moron not to know that murder was
against the law."
Dr Stallworthy said that his conclusion was that neither
girl had any disease of the mind. After quoting Pauline, he said
that Juliet had told him: "I knew it was wrong to murder, and I
knew at the time that I was murdering somebody."
The prosecutor: Do you know of any paranoiacs who went
through the various stages the girls did--lying, cheating,
blackmailing, and thieving?
Dr Stallworthy: No. I have seen sane murderers show such a
callousness as has been commented on in this case. In my
experience, liking for games of bloodshed and violence are
exceedingly common among adolescents. The type of literature in
such demand to-day by adults, and embodying just these things,
shows this, I think.
Is there any connection between homosexuality and paranoia?-
-There is, in my opinion, no relation between active homo-
sexuality and paranoia. I do not know of any practising homo-
sexual who is a paranoiac. I do not consider homosexuality, which
is by no means uncommon, as any indication of insanity.
Are these girls homosexual?--I think there is no doubt that
the girls have been engaged in some form of physical homo-
sexuality. It is usual for adolescents to outgrow that stage.
There is, I think, clear evidence that Parker was sufficiently
interested to let members of the opposite sex make love to her,
one way or another.
Dr Stallworthy's evidence was supported by the two other
medical witnesses, Mr D.D. Hunter, superintendent of Sunnyside
Mental Hospital, and Mr J.E. Saville, a Sunnyside medical
officer. Mr Saville told the court that he would not certify
either girl insane, emphasising that he did not know of any crime
committed by two insane people in combination.
Pauline and Juliet are accused of murdering Mrs Parker by
hitting her with a brick enclosed in a stocking while they were
walking through a Christchurch park. The evidence was ended to-
day, and the court adjourned until to-morrow, the sixth day of
the trial, when counsels' final addresses and the judge's
summing-up will be heard. It will be the first time for many
years in New Zealand that a murder trial has continued on a
Saturday.--British United Press.
The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday August 28, 1954. [sb]
"Doctors' Conflict On Sanity As N.Z. Murder Trial Nears End"
Christchurch, Friday [Aug. 27]--Three medical witnesses called by
the prosecution in the Christchurch murder trial to-day gave
evidence that the two accused girls were sane now and had been
sane when Honora May (sic) Parker was battered to death.
Evidence in the case concluded in the Supreme Court to-day.
The trial will resume at 9:30 a.m. to-morrow for counsel's
addresses and the jury will retire, probably about the middle of
the afternoon, to consider its verdict.
The public gallery was crowded to-day for the fifth day of
the trial, which has held New Zealand's attention throughout the
week.
The Court had been expected to adjourn until Monday, but at
the conclusion of the evidence to-day, Mr. Justice Adams
consulted the jurors, who said they preferred to sit to-morrow.
It will be the first Saturday sitting of a New Zealand Court
in a murder trial for many years.
The accused, Pauline Yvonne Parker, 16, and Juliet Marion
Hulme, 15 years and 10 months, are charged with the murder of
Pauline's mother, Honora Mary Parker (known also as Mrs. Rieper),
45, at Christchurch, on June 22.
Mrs. Parker was found dead with her head battered in
Cashmere Hills, a suburb of Christchurch, after going for a walk
in the park with the two girls.
Two medical witnesses called for the defence had previously
described the girls as insane. To-day's medical witnesses were
called by the Crown.
//"Clear Accounts," Says Specialist//
Dr. Kenneth Robert Stallworthy, senior medical adviser to
Avondale Mental Hospital, Auckland, told the Court he examined
Pauline Parker at Paparua prison on July 26 and 27, and on August
19. He had also examined her twice at Mount Eden prison. He had
examined Juliet Hulme at Paparua prison four times.
He did not consider that either had any disease of the mind.
The Crown prosecutor, Mr. Alan W. Brown: What were the
factors that made you think the girls knew what they were doing?
Dr. Stallworthy: That they had written down what was going
to happen and their clear accounts of what they had done.
Dr. Stallworthy said they knew the nature and quality of
their act. They both knew at the time that their action was
wrong, and that they were breaking the law.
He read an entry from Pauline Parker's diary dated April 29,
which said: "I have made no definite plans yet as the last fate I
wish to meet is one in Borstal." He said that was a very clear
indication of her awareness that she was running the risk of such
punishment.
He said Pauline Parker had told him at their last interview:
"We knew that what we were doing was wrong; we knew we would be
punished if we were caught, and we did our best not to be
caught."
At the second interview with Juliet Hulme she had told him:
"I knew it was wrong to murder and I knew at the time that I was
murdering somebody. I would have to be an absolute moron not to
know murder was against the law."
He had no doubt that they knew the nature and quality of
their act and that it was against the law and the moral code.
Mr. Brown: Do you consider they, or one of them, insane when
they killed Mrs. Parker?
Dr. Stallworthy: I do not. They were carefully weighing in
their minds the prospects of concealing the crime.
He said both girls had told him they had at least an even
chance of escaping detection.
The girls wanted to be found insane because if convicted
they could regain their liberty earlier.
He had dealt with dozens of paranoiacs and their behaviour
was entirely different from that displayed by the girls.
A primary requisite for paranoia was the presence of
delusions. He did not admit to delusions with these girls.
//"Commonly A Conceited Age"//
Dr. Stallworthy continued: "The presence of conceit does not
constitute a delusion of grandeur. I have seen on many occasions
criminals with conceit who felt justified in breaking the law.
"Adolescence is commonly a conceited age. Often in the
diaries of adolescents are to be found the most conceited
opinions without the adolescent's having a firm belief in what
has been written."
He said the girls had some justification for conceit. Juliet
Hulme in interviews had displayed the vocabulary and shrewdness
in answering difficult questions of a highly intelligent person
of much greater age. Pauline Parker was considerably above
average intelligence.
//"Thrill" Of Shoplifting//
Dr. Stallworthy said there was no relationship between expressed
homosexuality and paranoia. Homosexuality in this case was not
repressive. There was no doubt the girls had been engaged in some
form of physical sexual activity with each other.
But the girls dreamt of members of the opposite sex and
always pretended they were making love to members of the opposite
sex.
For those reasons he felt homosexuality in the situation had
been rather overstressed.
There was evidence of Pauline Parker's interest in the other
sex. The fact that she wrote of having received no satisfaction
with her intercourse with Nicholas was no indication of
homosexuality.
There was no relation between their shoplifting and
insanity. The girls had shoplifted because of the fun of it and
the thrill of it. They were not devoid of moral sense.
The fact that they were pleased with themselves was not
exaltation in the sense that a psychiatrist would use the word.
//"Apparently Lucid Thinking"//
The theme of bloodshed and violence in the evidence was in no way
abnormal or evidence of insanity.
Dr. James Edwin Saville, medical officer at Sunnyside Mental
Hospital, gave evidence that he had examined the girls separately
on five occasions.
At the first two examinations the girls were inclined to
make out that they were insane, but at the last three interviews
they wished to be regarded as sane.
Dr. Saville said: "Juliet told me--I think it was on the
third occasion--that if they were found insane they would
probably be out of the mental hospital by the time they were 18
or 19. They could not see themselves getting out of prison as
early as that if they were found sane and convicted."
He said he was satisfied they understood the nature of their
act. They knew it was wrong in law and wrong morally.
He would not certify them as insane.
They were sane now and they had been sane when they killed
Mrs. Parker.
Dr. James Dewar Hunter, superintendent of Sunnyside Mental
Hospital, said he examined the girls on five occasions. In his
considered opinion they were sane when they killed Mrs. Parker
and sane now.
//Nicholas "Not A Real Friend"//
Earlier yesterday Dr. Francis Oswald Bennett, medical witness for
the defence, continued his evidence under cross-examination by
Mr. Brown.
Mr. Brown: Might these girls not have found some foundation
to think that they were approaching genius?
Dr. Bennett: I must reject that.
Why do you say they had no friends of their own age?--It
depends on what they meant by friends.
What about Nicholas?--He was not a real friend.
You say they believed in survival after death; is that an
insane belief?--No.
Was removing Mrs. Parker a delusion?--Part of a delusion.
She was a threat to their remaining together?--Yes.
There was no delusion about that?--No.
Dr. Bennett said the girls showed no contrition or remorse
whatsoever.
//"Desperate" At Separation//
Mr. Brown then read a sentence from Pauline Parker's diary, dated
June 17. It was: "We didn't misbehave last night."
He asked Dr. Bennett if the girls had not told him they
meant by that extract that they did not raid the pantry, and
whether he believed that.
Dr. Bennett: Yes.
Mr. Brown: You said they always spelt the word "murder" as
"moider," they often did that with funny words?
Dr. Bennett: They just altered them round for whim or fancy.
Is it not a common spelling in many American crime books?--I
did not know that.
Mr. Brown asked which was the dominant personality and had
the stronger mind. Mr. Brown suggested Juliet Hulme.
Dr. Bennett: I am not very sure, and I doubt if it would
ever be decided.
At the conclusion of evidence the Court adjourned to the
Judge's chambers for legal argument, and then adjourned until
9:30 a.m. to-morrow.--A.A.P.-Reuter.
The Times (London), Monday August 30, 1954. p. 5.
"NEW ZEALAND GIRLS FOUND GUILTY // "KNEW MURDER WAS WRONG" "
Wellington (N.Z.), Aug. 29.--After two hours' (stet) retirement
the jury at Christchurch found Pauline Yvonne Parker and Juliet
Marion Hulme Guilty of the murder of Pauline's mother, Mrs.
Honora Mary Parker. Mr. Justice Adams sentenced the girls to be
detained during her(sic) Majesty's pleasure. Under New Zealand
law this is the sentence passed on persons under 18 years of age
who are convicted of an offence punishable with death.
In summing up the Judge said that two doctors expressed the
opinion that the accused were insane and three doctors had sworn
that they were sane. To some extent, in some way their minds were
abnormal. Did it amount to disease of the mind? "All the doctors
have sworn the accused did know the nature and quality of their
act. As I have understood the case, that has not been disputed."
Both knew the act was wrong and contrary to the moral code of the
community.
The accused showed no emotion when sentence was passed.--
from our own correspondent.
San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday August 28, 1954, p. 1.
"2 Girls Convicted For Killing Mother"
Aukland (sic), New Zealand (Saturday), Aug. 28. (AP)--Two teen-
age girls, Pauline Yvonne Parker and Juliet Yvonne (stet) Hulme
were found guilty today of murdering Pauline's mother by
battering her with a brick.
During the closing speech by Prosecutor Alan Brown, who
described the defendants as "two dirty-minded little girls,"
Juliet sat with her fingers in her ears.
As both girls are under 18, their crime is not punishable by
death but by imprisonment.
Neither Pauline, 16, nor Juliet, 15, showed any emotion when
the verdict was returned after the 12-man jury had deliberated
for 90 (stet) minutes.
The Oakland Tribune, Saturday August 28, 1954, p. 2.
"THRILL KILLERS // 2 Teen-Age Girls Guilty Of Murder"
Christchurch, N.Z., Aug. 28.--(UP)--An all-male jury found two
sullen teen-age girls guilty of a "thrill" killing today, but
their age saved them from the hangman's noose.
Pauline Parker, 16, and Juliet Hulme, 15, sat staring
woodenly at the floor as the jury brought in its verdict after
only two hours and 14 minutes (stet) deliberation.
They showed no emotion as they heard their sentence to an
indefinite period of imprisonment for clubbing Pauline's mother,
Mrs. Honora Mary Parker, with a brick wrapped in a stocking.
"This was a coldly, callously planned and carefully
committed murder by two precocious and dirty-minded girls," Crown
Prosecutor A.W. Brown said in his final statement to the jury.
"They are not incurably insane but incurably bad."
Juliet held her fingers in her ears as Brown lashed out at
the girls for killing Mrs. Parker because she wanted to separate
them.
Both girls admitted killing Mrs. Parker in a plot to make
her death look like an accident. Pauline noted in her diary that
she was "very excited" on the eve of the killing.
Defense Atty. Terence Gresson pleaded that the girls were
latently homosexual and irresponsible.
"These are two mentally sick girls who should not be treated
like ordinary people," Gresson said. "Their true crime was
appalling but at the time they committed it they didn't
appreciate what they were doing."
Los Angeles Times, Saturday August 28, 1954. p. 6.
"Jury Convicts Girl Slayers, 16 (stet)"
Auckland, New Zealand (Saturday) Aug. 29 (stet). (U.P.)--Two
teen-aged girls were convicted today of murdering the mother of
one of them because she sought to part them.
Pauline Yvonne Parker and Juliet Marion Hulme, both 16
(stet), showed no emotion when the jury's verdict was announced.
Sentence will be pronounced later.
The girls were tried on charges of fatally beating Mrs. Mary
(stet) Parker, 45, while on an outing in the nearby Cashmere
Hills. Mrs. Parker was bludgeoned with half a brick in a
stocking.
The prosecuting attorney said the girls planned to kill Mrs.
Parker after they decided she was going to separate them by
refusing to allow Pauline to accompany Juliet and her parents to
South Africa.
The New York Times, Sunday August 29, 1954. p. 30.
"Girl Guilty of Slaying Mother"
Auckland, New Zealand. Aug. 28. (AP)--Pauline Parker, 16 years
old, was convicted today of killing her mother last June. Juliet
Marion Hulme, 15, was also convicted. They were sentenced to
indefinite prison terms. Since they are under 18, the girls
cannot be punished by death.
San Francisco Examiner, Sunday August 29, 1954. p. 44.
"Girl, 16, Convicted of Thrill Murder of Mother; Sent to Prison
With Pal"
Auckland (New Zealand), Aug. 28.--(AP)--A stocky 16-year-old girl
who wrote in her diary she felt "very night-before-Christmas" on
the eve of the thrill killing of her mother was convicted of the
murder today. A teen-age accomplice also was convicted.
An all-male jury found Pauline Parker and 15-year-old Juliet
Marion Hulme guilty in the brick beating of Mrs. Honora Mary
Parker last June.
They were sentenced to indefinite prison terms.
Prosecutor Alan Brown told the jury that the slaying was
"coldly premeditated murder, committed by two dirty-minded little
girls." The defense did not deny the crime, but contended the
pair were insane.
Since they are under 18, the girls cannot be punished by
death. Instead, they were ordered "detained at Her Majesty's
pleasure"--a British legal device often used in cases involving
adolescents, where there is a chance conditions may change later
and a review would be warranted.
It took the twelve-man jury only ninety (stet) minutes to
reach a verdict.
The girls left the dock for their prison cells solemn and
dejected. Juliet, tall and blue-eyed, had sat with her fingers in
her ears as the prosecutor made his closing statement at the end
of a six-day trial.
The body of Mrs. Parker was found in a Christchurch public
park last June 22 with forty-five (stet) head, face and hand
injuries. The girls claimed at first she had slipped and hit her
head.
The Sun-Herald (Sydney), Sunday August 29, 1954. p. 1. [sb]
"JURY FINDS TWO N.Z. GIRLS SANE"
"Tense Murder Verdict Scenes"
Christchurch, Saturday [Aug. 28]-- In a dramatic, tense
atmosphere, a jury to-day found that Pauline Yvonne Parker, 16,
and Juliet Marion Hulme, 15, were sane when they murdered Pauline
Parker's mother.
Mr. Justice Adams sentenced the girls to be detained during
her Majesty's pleasure.
//Minimum of Five Years' Gaol//
//Law authorities said to-night that this could mean a minimum of
five years' gaol, or a maximum of at least 25 years.//
As sentence was passed a middle-aged man in the public gallery
jumped to his feet and shouted, "I protest! I object!"
The Court crier called "silence," and police rushed into the
gallery and hustled the man out of the court.
Honora Mary Parker (known as Mrs. Rieper), 45, was found
battered to death on June 22 in a picnic reserve outside
Christchurch.
The girls' trial lasted six days.
Neither showed any emotion as sentence was passed.
//Air Of Calm//
Throughout the trial they had maintained an air of calm,
contemptuous detachment.
The two girls are likely to be placed in separate prisons.
One of them will probably go to Paparua prison near Christchurch
and the other to Mt. Eden prison, Auckland.
"During her Majesty's pleasure" means that the two girls
will be kept in prison for an indefinite period and only released
at the discretion of the Prisons Department and by order of the
Executive Council.
New Zealand law provides that where a convicted murderer is
under 18 years the sentence shall be detention at her Majesty's
pleasure instead of the death sentence.
Juliet Hulme's mother sat with her eyes closed and hands
tightly clenched as sentence was passed.
Earlier, while the jury was out, she had walked about near
the courthouse smoking cigarettes and looking nervous and tense.
The jury was out for two hours 13 minutes.
Immediately it returned the two girls were led into the
courtroom by a police matron.
They smiled and laughed at each other as the jurymen took
their places.
The girls were standing when Mr. Justice Adams asked the
jury foreman what verdict they had reached.
They showed no emotion whatever when he replied, "Guilty,"
thus rejecting the insanity plea.
Parker, however, glanced quickly up in surprise as the man
in the public gallery jumped to his feet and cried out.
//No Reply//
The man was a stranger who had no connection with anyone
concerned in the trial.
During discussion on the girls' ages, the Crown Prosecutor,
Mr. A.W. Brown, appeared upset and several times had to stop as
though he was finding it difficult to speak.
The girls were the only ones in the court who did not seem
to be affected.
They looked straight ahead at the Judge as he asked each of
them in turn whether there was anything they wished to say before
sentence was passed.
Neither replied, but their counsel told the Court they had
nothing to add to the evidence already given.
Mrs. Hulme sat only a few feet away from the girls, but
neither looked at her.
After Mr. Justice Adams had passed sentence, he said: The
prisoners may now be removed."
The two girls walked out looking straight ahead and were
taken through a side door to a prison van.
Immediately after the trial, Mrs. Hulme left the court
accompanied by Mr. Walter Perry, an engineer, who lived in a flat
at the Hulme home.
During the trial Perry told the Court he had fallen in love
with Mrs. Hulme.
Mrs. Hulme is believed to be staying at a seaside resort
about 35 miles from Christchurch.
Pauline Parker's father, Mr. Herbert Rieper, was not in
court.
"I have nothing to say about it," he said later at his home.
//Tired, Pale//
Juliet Hulme's father, Dr. Henry Hulme, left New Zealand with his
10-year-old son, Jonathan (sic), soon after her arrest. He left
the liner Himalaya at Marseilles and London newspapers since have
been unable to trace him.
When the trial resumed this morning, Hulme and Parker looked
a little tired and pale as they were led into court by a police
matron.
They stared intently at the jury before sitting down to hear
their defence counsel attempt to prove them insane.
At the outset to-day Dr. A. Haslam (for Parker) said there
was no disputing the fact that Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker
had killed Mrs. Parker but they were insane to a degree that
excused them.
The atmosphere was tense as Mr. Brown rose to address the
jury.
Even the two girls, who had been whispering and smiling to
each other, were silent as he began to speak.
The accused were depraved, but not insane, Mr. Brown said.
//Bowed Head//
"They were not incurably insane, but incurably bad."
At this stage Juliet Hulme bowed her head and blocked her
ears with her fingers.
The girls sat pale-faced in silence as the Judge told the
jury that if they accepted the evidence that the girls had known
the murder was against the law and moral code of the community
they were bound to find them guilty.
In the morning, football fans wearing striped caps and team
ribbons had queued with housewives and teenagers for admission to
the grey stone court building.--A.A.P. and Special
Representative.
The Sun-Herald (Sydney), Sunday August 29, 1954. p. 2. [sb]
"GIRLS 'INCURABLY BAD'--CASE PUT BY CROWN"
Christchurch, Saturday [Aug. 28]--The two girls charged with the
Christchurch murder were "not incurably insane, but incurably
bad," the Crown Prosecutor said to-day.
The prosecutor, Mr. Alan W. Brown, was addressing the
Supreme Court jury which later found the girls guilty.
//"Callously Planned"//
The girls are Pauline Yvonne Parker, 16--she will be 17 on May 26
next--and Juliet Marion Hulme, 15--she will be 16 on October 28.
They were tried on a charge of murdering Pauline's mother,
Honora Mary Parker, 45, on June 22.
Mrs. Parker was found dead with her head battered in
Cashmere Hills, a suburb of Christchurch, after going for a walk
in the park with the two girls.
Defence counsel asked for a verdict of not guilty on the
grounds of insanity.
Mr. Brown said the Crown had called three doctors with far
greater medico-legal experience than those called by the defence.
The Crown doctors had said the girls were sane by all
standards.
Even the doctors called for the defence had admitted the
girls knew that what they were doing was wrong in the eyes of the
law and the community.
//Own Standards//
Dr. F.O. Bennett, one of the doctors called by the defence, had
added that the girls' action was not against their own moral
standards.
"The accused are depraved but not insane," Mr. Brown said.
"Without fear of contradiction, I submit they have unhealthy
minds.
"But it is badness. It is not a question of insanity at all.
"As I said in my opening address, this was a cold, callously
planned and premeditated murder, committed by two highly
intelligent but precocious and dirty-minded little girls.
"They were, and have been proved, sane at the time they
killed Mrs. Parker.
"They were not incurably insane, but they were incurably
bad."
//Paranoia//
Dr. A.L. Haslam, for Pauline Parker, said: "There is no dispute
about the facts of the crime.
"But we have tried to give evidence to you that the girls
were insane to a degree that would excuse them."
The particular form of insanity (paranoia) from which the
girls suffered was something very different from idiocy and
imbecility, which lay on the surface, he said.
Pauline Parker's diary showed that the girls' friendship
very early assumed an intensity which was alarming.
It also showed the deterioration of the girls' mental
condition.
//"Fourth World"//
About April, 1953, there had happened what Dr. R.W. Medlicott,
one of the doctors called by the defence, had described as the
"Port Levy incident."
The girls had then been about 14 and experienced a vision of
what they called "the fourth world."
Dr. Haslam said that in January this "disastrous
association" was a source of anxiety to both sets of parents.
Both doctors called by the defence had said both the girls
were mad when they murdered Mrs. Parker.
Dr. Haslam said that although the girls appeared normal
outwardly, underneath was "this rottenness, this disease."
"They saw their dream world threatened so they struck," he
said.
"In their imagination they had toyed with violence for so
long.
"Now they broke out and committed it."
//"Same Stable"//
Mr. T.A. Gresson, for Juliet Hulme, said he accepted all Dr.
Haslam's arguments.
The three doctors called by the Crown were "from the same
stable," he said.
There was a tendency for Crown doctors to approach the
subject not quite neutral.
The girls had a temple and had crosses over the ideas they
had buried.
They planned a masked ball for plasticine characters. They
had their absurd saints and a group of gods.
By killing Mrs. Parker they had hoped to achieve two things-
-to send an unhappy woman to heaven and to protect their
paranoiac delusions of grandeur.
The girls were incapable of forming a moral judgement of
what they had done, although their crime was appalling.
Mr. Gresson told the jury: "I suppose some of you have
daughters.
"If any of them showed half the symptoms which these two
showed, do you mean to say you wouldn't send for a doctor?"
--Special Correspondent and A.A.P.-Reuter.
The Sun-Herald (Sydney), Sunday August 29, 1954. p. 2. [sb]
"Pity Must Not Sway The Jury"
"JUDGE SUMS UP"
Christchurch, Saturday [Aug. 28]--In his summing up Mr. Justice
Adams said that the crime which the two schoolgirls had committed
was dreadful, but the jury must not be swayed by any feelings of
pity.
He said he agreed with doctors called by both Crown and
defence, who had said the girls knew their act was contrary to
law and to the moral standards of the community, but not contrary
to their own moral standards.
"If you accept that view you have no option but to find the
accused guilty of murder, holding that the defence of insanity of
the required nature has not been proved,' he added.
The jury's choice lay between a verdict of guilty or not
guilty on the grounds of insanity.
Under section 43 of the N.Z. Crimes Act, everyone must be
presumed sane at the time of committing an offense until the
contrary was proved.
The jury must decide what was meant by insanity and be
guided by the views of competent medical men.
In this case two doctors had said the girls were insane and
three called for the Crown in rebuttal had said they were sane.
//Knowing Wrong//
Although it might well be that the girls suffered from some
degree of mental disorder to make them unusual and abnormal, the
question then arose whether this amounted to a mental disease.
But the law also required a person must be proved incapable
of understanding the quality of his action and of knowing it was
wrong.
It would be sufficient if the defence could satisfy the jury
that the accused would not know the quality of their action and
understand it was wrong.
//Undisputed//
But all the medical men said that, in their opinion, the girls
knew and nothing had been put forward by the defence in cross-
examination to dispute this.
Four of the doctors had said both girls knew what they did
was wrong in the eyes of the law and the generally accepted
standards of the community.
If no other evidence on this score was available the duty of
the jury was plainly to bring in a simple verdict of guilty.
It was not sufficient to suggest that an accused person had
erected some peculiar moral standards of his own so that he knew
he was breaking the law or moral code but believed himself to be
above this code.
//Evidence//
In his review of the evidence his Honor said that Parker's father
had told the jury about Parker becoming friendly with Hulme at
school.
He said she suffered from osteomyelitis from the age of five
to seven and had several operations, and later was unable to
participate in sports.
Dr. Pearson had spoken of 45 injuries to the victim and the
crushing nature of her injuries.
Mrs. Hulme had told of her daughter's childhood bomb shock
and breakdown and the visit to the Bahamas.
Mr. Justice Adams addressed the all-male jury for an hour
and 20 minutes.--Special Correspondent and A.A.P.-Reuter.
The Sun-Herald (Sydney), Sunday August 29, 1954. p. 2. [sb]
"Teenage Murderers Showed No Regret"
Christchurch, Saturday [Aug. 28]--Not once in the six days of
their trial did Pauline Yvonne Parker or Juliet Marion Hulme show
any signs of remorse.
On the contrary, their attitude at the time suggested that
they were enjoying the opportunity to hold the centre of the
stage--even in so sordid a drama as this.
To baffle sightseers and newspaper cameramen the van which
taken to and from the court each day was backed right up against
the wall through which a door leads to the cells.
However, on the first two days they appeared at the barred
windows of the cells on the first floor, put on an air of disdain
for the people outside, and were clearly pleased and flattered to
see newspaper photographers aiming their cameras at them.
//Ghastly Detail//
Later the authorities stopped this by pasting brown paper over
the lower halves of the windows.
Pauline Parker, dark and sullen-looking, wore throughout the
trial a brown dress and a small brown hat.
Juliet Hulme, taller and fair, with high cheekbones and a
slant to her eyes, wore a green coat and a pale green paisley
scarf instead of a hat.
When the pathologist, Dr. C.T.B. Pearson, described in
ghastly detail the fatal injuries inflicted on Pauline's mother,
the whole scene on the track down the valley of Victoria Park in
which they had been the principal actors must have been vividly
before their eyes.
There were few people in Court whose horror and pity did not
show plainly on their faces.
The accused, however, maintained an air of calm and
contemptuous detachment, occasionally leaning towards each other
to exchange a smiling remark across the police matron who sat
between them.
Nor did they blanch when the Court was shown the
bloodstained half-brick that had been their weapon, or the
bloodsoaked stocking in which they had wielded it until it tore
under force of the blows that rained on Mrs. Parker's head.
//Bitter Jealousy//
The only time either showed any emotion other than contemptuous
amusement was when counsel read long extracts from Pauline's
diary of 1953 recording how she slipped out of her parents' house
night after night to meet her boyfriend, Nicholas, in his
boardinghouse bedroom, and recounting in frank detail their
lovemaking.
Then Juliet Hulme's expression was savage.
She leaned forward grinding her teeth and spitting silent
words through her rage-distorted lips--possibly in jealousy.
Meanwhile, Pauline bowed her head down to her knees.
It seemed that the only passages in the whole sordid story
capable of touching any emotional chord in the couple in the dock
were the diary passages that seemed to arouse Juliet's bitter
jealousy by disclosure that there had been a time when she and
Pauline Parker had not been all-in-all to one another.--A.A.P.-
Reuter.
The Sun-Herald (Sydney), Sunday August 29, 1954. p. 29. [sb]
"SMILING, THEY FACED THE MURDER CHARGE--NEW ZEALAND'S TWO
Girls From The "FOURTH WORLD""
(Features)
Two schoolgirls in bobbysocks sat in a high-walled dock of the
Supreme Court in Christchurch, New Zealand, last week and
listened as charges of murder were read out to them.
They smiled and whispered to each other as witnesses
described how the mother of one had been battered to death with a
brick, and they smothered giggles with their hands as evidence
piled on evidence to point the finger at them as the world's most
terrifying schoolgirls.
For the two girls, Pauline Parker, 16, and Juliet Hulme, 15,
were on trial for the murder of Pauline's mother, Honora Mary
Parker (known as Mrs. Rieper), wife of a Christchurch fish-shop
proprietor.
On one side of them sat the mother who had lived--Mrs. Hilda
Marion Hulme, a neatly pretty Englishwoman in a fawn suit and
felt hat, listening in deepening horror to the story of the two
girls.
And behind, at the back of the courtroom, with bowed head,
sat the man whom all Christchurch now pities--Herbert Rieper,
thin, spectacled, balding, the father of Pauline Parker and
husband, in everything but law, for 23 years to the dead woman.
Twelve thousand miles away, in Europe, was the father of
Juliet Hulme, a distinguished scientist and educationalist.
In the court a "not guilty" plea was entered for the two
girls, but there was no pretence that Honora Parker was killed by
anyone else. Their own counsel admitted that it was clear beyond
dispute that they killed her. The vital issue was the question of
their sanity or otherwise.
And it all happened in Christchurch, New Zealand's quietest,
staidest, most Victorian-English city-a city founded by colonists
selected by the Anglican Church, a cathedral city of bicycles,
lace and old ivy.
To many people, both in New Zealand and the world, the
murder of Honora Parker was the crime of the century.
There had been teenage murders before, but never one planned
so carefully, so precisely--and against such a fantastic
background.
There was no riddle in the fact that a woman had been bashed
brutally to death. The riddle lay in the two girls sitting so
calmly in the box.
Were they two characters who might have stepped out of a
page of St. Trinian's--two bland and angelic-looking schoolgirls
in tunics who had suddenly decided, "Let's murder mother"? Or did
it go further than that?
//The Diaries//
The answer was in two books that lay on a table in front of the
Crown Prosecutor.
They were the 1953 and 1954 diaries of Pauline Parker,
written in a large, schoolgirlish scrawl.
And like an evil mirror they reflected the hopes, the plans,
the anxieties and the strange world of fantasy in which the two
girls had lived so disastrously.
Day by day as the diaries were read out in court the two
girls took on shade, shape and colour.
Like sleepwalkers, they seemed to move through a society
peopled by fictional characters, in which time meant nothing.
Their minds conjured up character after character, some
good, some of them horrifyingly evil.
They lived in a world of their own, in which they had their
own laws, their own commandments, and their own god.
They did not merely see life through rose-coloured glasses,
they had stepped right inside the glasses themselves.
//The Families//
The two girls were born a few months and half a world apart--
Juliet Hulme in England and Pauline Parker in New Zealand.
They met for the first time two years ago when, in navy-blue
tunics, red and blue ties, and white blouses, they sat in the
same classroom of Christchurch Girls' High School.
They were startlingly different in looks, background and
temperament.
Juliet, the younger of the two, was the taller by nearly six
inches. Slim, with a pale, clear complexion and grey eyes, she
wore her long, fair, brown hair hanging loosely around her
shoulders.
She was a sensitive, lonely child, brought up in wartime
England (where she suffered bomb shock) and later sent to the
Bahamas.
She liked to talk to people but was difficult to pin down
and hard to discipline. Some people considered her hopelessly
spoiled.
Pauline Parker, on the other hand, had a closed-up, almost
secretive, look about her round, plumpish face.
The Hulmes were among the upper crust of Christchurch
society.
Dr. Henry Reinsford (sic) Hulme, M.A., Ph.D., D.Sc., had
arrived in 1948, at 40, to take up a post as Rector at Canterbury
University College. Behind him was a brilliant reputation as one
of Britain's top wartime scientists, both with the Admiralty and
the Air Ministry.
He was a member of the Senate of the University of New
Zealand and a close acquaintance of the Bishop of Christchurch.
Leading scientists and educationalists visited the Hulme
home, a huge, old-fashioned, two-storeyed stone mansion set in
magnificent grounds.
Mrs. Hulme was prominent in Christchurch activities,
including the Marriage Guidance Council.
They had a country cottage at Port Levy, 35 miles from the
town. There was a son, Jonathan, aged 10.
The home life of Pauline Parker, in contrast, was quiet and
unpretentious.
Her father, Herbert Rieper, was a director of a fish
retailing firm. Her sister, Wendy, was two years older (stet).
There was a third (stet) child, born late in Mrs. Rieper's
life, who was a mongoloid at an institution. A fourth had died as
a "blue baby."
Pauline formed no early attachments until she met Juliet
Hulme. A leg infirmity which developed when she was five
prevented her from taking part in active sports.
The friendship between the two girls began as any normal
one.
They walked home from school together, shared their homework
and visited each other on weekends. Each still had a small circle
of acquaintances.
Their notes and diaries were at first the usual schoolgirl
scribbles about movies, books, food, outings and occasionally--
though very occasionally--boys.
Then something seemed to click suddenly into gear as the
friendship progressed.
Slowly the two girls seemed to move away from normal family
relationships and grew closer together.
Other friends dropped out of the picture one after the
other. Soon the two became almost as one--living, thinking, even
bathing and sleeping together.
They spent hour after hour walking arm in arm through the
rambling gardens of the Hulme home, endlessly discussing "saints"
(their name for the fictional characters they wrote about) and
the plots of books, operas, and film scenarios they were writing
or hoped to write.
Sometimes, in the dead of night, they would slip noiselessly
out of the house and in the moonlight on the lawns reenact their
plays.
The grounds, planted with trees, shrubs, and flowers, became
a place of hidden mysteries for them to explore.
They made a temple where they buried a dead mouse, with a
little white cross over it. They put up other crosses in what
they now called their "cemetery," to represent the burial (they
said) of dead ideas.
At first their writings were extravagant, grandiose, full of
courts and royalty. Later the mood of passion, violence,
bloodshed and sex began to emerge.
//The "Bible"//
They worked out elaborate plans for the elimination of everyone
in the world except themselves and a chosen few.
They went to no dances or parties. Sports were of no
interest to them, mainly because of Pauline's leg infirmity and
Juliet's weak chest, which for a time had put her into a
sanatorium in Christchurch with an attack of tuberculosis.
They had begun to change their own names, Pauline calling
Juliet "Deborah" and Juliet calling Pauline "Gina." Another name
for Pauline by Juliet was also "Jezebel."
By the beginning of this year [1954] the two girls had
retreated almost entirely to a tight little society peopled by
themselves and their fictional families.
They ignored all outside concepts of morality. They wrote
down the Ten Commandments and then tried to see how many of them
they could break. They shoplifted, and planned blackmail to raise
money for a proposed trip to America.
They intended to produce their own bible, with Juliet
writing it and Pauline illustrating it.
//"A Vision"//
At Port Levy they claimed to have seen a vision of "a fourth
world," which they described as a place of exquisite bliss.
They found they could turn this "fourth world" on and off
like a water tap, seeing it only when they wanted to.
In it the two girls lived as geniuses, both indescribably
beautiful and intelligent. Other people seemed to them ordinary
and beneath their notice.
More and more Pauline Parker visited the Hulme home. Before
the visits she became excited and elated, but on her return she
retreated once more into moodiness and solitude. She would shut
herself away in her room writing long entries in her diary and
listening to music.
//The Climax//
Finally, towards the fateful June of this year, the strange
fantasy of the two schoolgirls came to its disastrous climax.
By now they had become hopelessly infatuated with each
other, to a point where they were desperate at the thought of
being parted.
Their one plan was to stay together at all cost. Without
each other the artificial world that they had built, piece by
piece like a castle of playing cards, would collapse.
The crisis came with the decision to separate the girls.
An engineer, Walter Perry, who lived in a flat at the Hulme
home, had fallen in love with Mrs. Hulme (a divorce from her
husband had been "under discussion" the Court was told), and Dr.
Hulme made plans to return to England.
He planned to take Juliet with him as far as South Africa.
Pauline begged to go with Juliet; but both the girls knew that
Honora Parker would not give her consent to this.
In their minds became fixed the idea that without Pauline's
mother they would be able to stay together.
On the afternoon of June 22, the girls went with Mrs. Parker
to Victoria Park, a Christchurch picnic spot. They had tea at the
kiosk and walked down a path.
Juliet, the girls said later, had brought part of a brick,
wrapped in newspaper, and had given it to Pauline.
Half an hour later the girls came back, covered with blood,
and the body of Honora Parker lay twisted grotesquely, on the
path a quarter of a mile behind them.
//The Father//
Six weeks ago Dr. Hulme did leave for England, taking 10-year-old
Jonathan (sic) with him. Interviewed during the voyage he said:
"The world will just have to think of me as an unnatural
father.
"I cannot say why I decided to leave New Zealand at this
time. It would involve too many people.
"But there is nothing I can do there just now.
"My only concern now is for my son. I want to spare him all
I can.
"I've told him his sister is mentally ill--as indeed she
is."
Dr. Hulme told of his prison goodbye to Juliet. It lasted
only a few minutes.
He said Juliet knew he had been offered a post in England.
("It might be a Government department job or scientific."); and
she told him before he kissed his daughter goodbye, "I want you
to go."
[Dr. Hulme is now somewhere in England or the Continent, and
virtually hiding from the Press. He and his son disembarked at
Marseilles on August 10, although their passages had been paid to
London. The British national newspapers have been publishing long
reports of the case, but have been unable to trace him.]
So the story of the two girls came to its terrible climax--
the story of two girls with weaknesses which fed on each other
like a cancerous growth as they turned their backs on an everyday
world.
And the epilogue is totally unlike the many epilogues they
themselves used to write while sprawled on the lawns of the Hulme
home.
It came last week when, in sunshine, they climbed from a
grey police van and entered the Supreme Court to face a trial for
murder.
The only real question before the jury was:
Were they sane?
The jury found that they were.
Photo--A photograph taken four years ago of Juliet with her
father, Dr. Hulme.
Photo--Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker, looking out of a barred
window in the courthouse.
The Manchester Guardian, Monday August 30, 1954. p. 5.
"GIRLS SENTENCED FOR MURDER // Insanity Plea Rejected"
Wellington, Aug. 29.--The Under-Secretary of State for Justice,
Mr S.T. Barnett, will decide tomorrow how Pauline Yvonne Parker,
16, and Juliet Marion Hulme, 15, found guilty yesterday of
murdering Pauline's mother, will serve their sentence. They were
sentenced to be detained during Her Majesty's pleasure, which
means that their detention is indefinite, and will be reviewed by
the authorities from time to time. Persons so detained may be
released on licence on such conditions as may be directed.
Mr Barnett, who is the chief executive controlling prison
administration, said to-day that he would come to a decision
after consulting his psychiatric advisers.
After considering the evidence for more than two hours, the
jury rejected defence counsel's plea that the girls were insane
when they battered Mrs Honora Mary Parker to death with a brick
tied in a stocking in a Christchurch park on June 22.--Reuter.
The Sydney Morning Herald, Monday August 30, 1954. p. 2. [sb]
"Pauline Parker And Juliet Hulme" (Editorial)
When the Judge in Christchurch was sentencing the two girls,
Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, to be detained in prison during
her Majesty's pleasure for the brutal and carefully premeditated
murder of Pauline's mother, a man in the public gallery cried "I
protest." He was no doubt reacting to the sentence--a sentence
which, however, was the legal and proper culmination of a trial
conducted with scrupulous regard for justice. In the minds of
thousands of others who followed with horror and fascination the
revelations in this terrible and unique case a voice cries "I
protest" for a different reason. It is that two young human
beings should ever be in such a way the victims of a dark
conspiracy of circumstance so evil in its purpose and so
appalling in its outcome.
The psychiatrists will explain it all, of course, and
contradict each other in the explanation. Less knowing people
will ponder upon the fact that it was the same world of the
normal child's imagination which Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme
extended into a universe of sinister fantasy and gross design.
They had vicious and depraved tendencies and without each other
they still may have remained problem children; but their coming
together as if by the magnetism of some strange force in the
hinterland of their minds, was a fatal conjunction of
abnormality.
Sane, legally, the girls may have been when, threatened with
separation, they committed the murder, but it was surely the kind
of sanity that mocks at all reality. The normal mind shrinks from
the implications of this tragic story. In many other crimes
lessons of some sort or other are to be found. Here there is
little but horror, sadness and bafflement.
The Times (London), Thursday September 2, 1954. p. 5.
"SCHOOLGIRLS' SENTENCES // IMPRISONMENT IN SEPARATE INSTITUTIONS"
Wellington (N.Z.), Sept. 1.--Mr. Clifton Webb, as Minister of
Justice, announced to-day that two schoolgirls who were convicted
of murder at Christchurch last week are to serve their prison
sentences in separate institutions. Pauline Yvonne Parker, aged
16, and Juliet Marion Hulme, aged 15, were found Guilty of
murdering Pauline's mother by battering her to death with a brick
in a stocking, because they believed she stood in the way of
their friendship. They were sentenced to be detained during
her(sic) Majesty's pleasure.
After consulting with Cabinet colleagues, psychiatrists, and
departmental officers, Mr. Webb said that the greatest punishment
the girls could suffer was to be separated. Juliet Hulme is being
kept in Auckland gaol, and Pauline Parker is to be moved from
Paparua prison at Christchurch to a new compound at a Borstal
institution north of Wellington in about three weeks.--Reuter.
The Sun-Herald (Sydney), Sunday September 12, 1954. [sb]
Hilda Perry (her name was changed by deed poll on Sept. 5, 1954)
left NZ with Walter Perry on 11 September, 1954. The couple
stopped in Sydney long enough for Walter to tell the newspapers
that "Mrs Perry and I are going as fast as we can to join her son
Jonathon. ... We firmly believe Juliet is mad. We have the
evidence of two psychiatrists to say so. Mrs Perry is sorry to
leave Juliet, but she believes that Jonathon now has the greater
need of her. Mrs Perry has had almost as much as she can stand.
We will be moving on as fast as we can." And, in case you were
wondering - "She carried the same brown leather bag she had with
her at the trial." [sb]
The Sun-Herald (Sydney), Sunday December 6, 1959. p. 3. [sb]
"ECHO OF MURDER: NZ girl came to Sydney"
Wellington, Saturday December 5--Juliet Hulme, one of the
Christchurch schoolgirl murderesses, has been walking the streets
of Sydney--unrecognized.
A prominent New Zealand justice official disclosed this
yesterday.
//A Fresh Start//
He said she had gone to Australia to make "a fresh start" after
being released from gaol last month.
She had now gone overseas but her destination was unknown to
all except a few officers of the Department of Justice.
Five years ago, at 15, Juliet helped her closest friend,
Pauline Parker, to beat Pauline's mother to death because she
wouldn't let them go overseas.
Miss Parker is still in New Zealand.
The authorities say neither girl knows where the other is
living.
The girls, both now aged 21, were released separately during
November--Miss Parker from Paparua Prison, Christchurch, and Miss
Hulme from Arohata Women's Reformatory, in Wellington.
They were convicted in Christchurch Court of murder in
August, 1954, for battering to death Mrs. Honora Mary Parker with
a brick in a silk stocking while taking a walk in Victoria Park,
Christchurch two months before.
Mrs. Parker had objected to the girls' projected "unusual
friendship" and their plans to go overseas together.
Miss Parker was then 16; Miss Hulme was 15 years and 10
months.
Both were sentenced to "detention during Her Majesty's
pleasure."
//Not Recognised//
The N.Z. Secretary for Justice, Mr S.T. Barnett, said yesterday
no official announcement had been made concerning their release
because the department wished to give them an opportunity to make
a fresh start in life without being identified.
He added that Miss Hulme had walked about the streets of
Sydney without being recognised or attracting publicity.
Mr Barnett said: "We realised that eventually--and
inevitably--their release would become known, but we wanted to
give them as fair a start as possible."
Mr Barnett said the girls had been kept apart throughout
their detention.
//"No Comment"//
"Miss Hulme's release is unconditional," he said. "She has left
the country.
"Miss Parker's release is subject to general control as to
her residence, employment and the like."
Mr. Barnett was asked if the girls had given, or had been
asked to give, an understanding to keep apart or refrain from
corresponding.
He said they were not released on this condition. The place
of residence of one was entirely unknown to the other, however.
Asked if it was true that Miss Hulme had gone overseas to
join her father, Professor H.R. Hulme, who until just before the
trial was Rector of Canterbury University College, Mr. Barnett
replied: "No comment."
Later he said: "I have no doubt that the fact they spent the
whole of their adolescent years in prison was a consideration in
their release.
"The girls have been under closest study and they have
developed in a highly satisfactory manner.
"Both advanced their education, and both obtained their
school certificate and university entrance examination
qualifications while in prison.
"One has gone forward with a great measure of success
towards a Bachelors of Arts degree. [This was PYP. jp]
"As prisoners they could not have been more satisfactory in
their behaviour.
"Throughout both have pursued wholesome interests."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7.7 Books with material related to the case. [jp]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bennett, Francis Oswald.
"Hospital on the Avon." North Canterbury Hospital Board,
Christchurch, 1962. [G&L]
Bevan-Brown, Charles Maurice.
"Mental Health and Personality Disorder: a selection of essays."
Dunford Publications, Christchurch, N.Z. 1961. [jb]
Contains a paper on the Parker-Hulme case, emphasizing
social and environmental aspects: "Adolescent Murder." I
would really like to get a copy of this chapter. [jp].
Daly, Jennifer M.
"MG Reflecting: a portrait of marriage guidance in New Zealand
1949-1989." New Zealand Marriage Guidance, Wellington, 1990.
[G&L]
Contains information on Hilda Hulme and others involved with
ChCh Marriage Guidance Council.
Department of Justice, New Zealand.
"Crime in New Zealand." R.E. Owen, Government Printer,
Wellington, NZ 1968. [jp] (see 7.7.1).
Forster, Michaelanne.
"Daughters of Heaven." Victoria University Press, Wellington, NZ
1992. ISBN 0864732406. [jb,mf]
A play about the "Parker Hulme" case. (see 6.1).
Ordering information: Theatrical Agent (performance)
Fergus Barrowman, Editor Playmarket
Victoria University Press P.O. Box 9767
P.O. Box 600 Courtenay Place
Wellington Wellington
New Zealand New Zealand
PHONE: 011 64 4 495 5263
FAX: 011 64 4 499 4601
Frame, Janet.
"An Autobiography." George Braziller, New York, 1991.
Contains: Vol. 1: To The Is-Land, Vol. 2: An Angel At My Table,
Vol. 3: The Envoy From The Mirror City.
ISBN 0-8076-1259-6 [jp]
Janet Frame was born in Dunedin and grew up in the South
Island of New Zealand. This excellent book gives, indirectly
but in an extremely readable fashion, a huge amount of
relevant background material for understanding the society
and conditions surrounding the "Parker Hulme" case. Ms Frame
also experienced, on the receiving end, the psychiatric
profession in New Zealand.
Franklin, Charles.
"The World's Worst Murderers: exciting and authentic accounts of
the great classics of murder." Oldhams Books, London, 1965. [jb]
Furneaux, Rupert.
"Famous Criminal Cases." Vol II. Roy Publishers, New York, 1955.
"The New Zealand Girl Murderers" pp. 33-47. HV6945.F85 [jp,lfr]
(see 7.7.2).
Gardner, Muriel.
"The Deadly Innocents: Portraits of Children Who Kill." Hogarth
Press, London, 1977. [G&L]
Gardner, W.J., Beardsley, E.T. and Carter, T.E.
"A History of the University of Canterbury, 1873-1973."
University of Canterbury, Christchurch, 1973. [G&L]
Contains valuable background information on Dr Henry Hulme
and C.U.C. I would like to get hold of this. [jp]
Gaute, J.H.H. and Odell, Robin.
"The Murderers' Who's Who." Optimum Publishing Co. Ltd.,
Montreal, Canada, 1979. p. 180. ISBN 0-88890-064-3 [dm]
Brief, precise account, with minor speculation as to motive
and error as to number of head wounds on victim. References
good and included here. [jp]
Glamuzina, Julie and Laurie, Alison J.
"Parker and Hulme: A Lesbian View." New Women's Press, Auckland,
NZ, 1991. [out of print] Accession 25654735. ISBN 0908652542. 214
pp., ill., 22 cm, incl. biblio. and refs. pp. 197-208, index.
The only major scholarly work on the case. Invaluable for
any serious study of the case it is, unfortunately, hard to
find presently in North America. [jp]
To be reprinted in North America (approx. October '95) by:
Firebrand Press, 141 The Commons, Ithaca, NY 14850 ($12.95)
[jb]
Green, Jonathon.
"The Directory of Infamy." Mills & Boon, London, 1980. Reprinted
in North America: "The Greatest Criminals of All Time. An
illustrated compendium of more than 600 great crooks." Stein &
Day, N.Y. 1982. ISBN 0-8128-2847-X [jp] (see 7.7.3).
Gribble, Leonard.
"Hallmark of Horror." Long, London, 1973. [dm,G&L]
Gurr, T. and Cox, H.
"Famous Australasian Crimes." Muller, London, 1957. [jb]
This has a rather sensational and error-riddled chapter on
the case, but it also has valuable photos of crime scene and
PYP diary pages. [jp]
Gurr, T. and Cox, H.H.
"Obsession." Muller, London 1958. [G&L]
A fictionalized pulp best-seller written in the years after
the trial.
Hall, Allan.
"Partners in Crime." Blitz Editions, Leicester, 1993. [sb]
pp. 43-49. "PARKER & HULME // Their Secret World" (see 7.7.4).
Jones, Frank.
"Murderous Innocents." [se]
Contains a chapter on Parker & Hulme. Well written with some
factual errors. [se]
MacKenzie, D.F.
"While We Have Prisons." Methuen Publications, Auckland, 1980.
[sb,G&L]
I have also read MacKenzie's "While We Have Prisons," his
reminiscences of his time as some sort of social worker at
Mt Eden from 1954 through to the 60s, and a couple of other
sociological things I found about NZ prisons in the 1950s.
MacKenzie only makes a couple of peripheral anonymous
comments about JMH, but you get a very good idea of the
general conditions and so on. It seems to me that her time
there must have been an extraordinarily scarring experience
for Juliet, given her previous experiences of life, and
bearing in mind the total abandonment of her by her family.
One thing in particular seems to me inescapable is that
she can hardly have been unaware of the homosexual relation-
ships established by many of the prisoners, male and female,
and the way these were practically institutionalised in the
prison culture. She must have been aware of the kind of
relationships formed even between otherwise heterosexual
women in gaol. This makes AP's recent comments [about not
knowing much about lesbianism and not caring to know. jp]
seem disingenuous to me, unless she really spent five years
in a total daze and/or commitment to her studies. [sb]
Medlicott, Reginald W.
"Paranoia of the Exalted Type in a Setting of Folie a Deux: A
Study of Two Adolescent Homicides," in Black and Taylor (eds),
"Deviant Behaviour: New Zealand Studies," 1979. [jb]
Direct reproduction of Medlicott's British Journal of
Medical Psychiatry article from 1955 (see 7.8.1). [jp]
Moffat, M.J. and Painter, C.
"Revelations: Diaries of Women." Vintage Press, New York, 1975.
[G&L]
Morris, Greggory.
"The Kids Next Door: Sons and Daughters Who Kill Their Parents."
William Morrow, New York, 1985. [G&L]
Nash, Jay Robert.
"Look for the Woman." M. Evans & Co., New York, 1981. pp. 318-9.
ISBN 0-87131-336-7. [dm]
Short, error-filled entry with one amusing misquote of
Pauline's diary: "We decided to use a brick in a stocking
rather than a handbag" (stet). [jp]
Nicholas, M.
"The World's Wickedest Women." Octopus Books, London, 1984. [G&L]
Rowland, John.
"More Criminal Files." Arco, London, 1958. [dm]
Russ, Johanna.
"How to Supress Women's Writing." The Women's Press Ltd, London,
1983. [G&L]
Schur, E.M.
"Labelling Women Deviant: Gender, Stigma and Social Control."
Random House, New York, 1984. [G&L]
Simon, Rita James.
"The Jury and the Defense of Insanity." Little Brown & Co,
Boston, 1967. [G&L]
Simon, Rita James.
"Women and Crime." Lexington Books, Massachusetts, 1975. [G&L]
Sinclair, K.
"A History of New Zealand." Penguin Books, Auckland, 1980. [G&L]
Smart, C.
"Women, Crime and Criminology." Routledge and Kegan Paul, London,
1976. [G&L]
Sparrow, Gerald.
"Queens of Crime." Arthur Barker, London 1973. [jb]
Thomas, W.I.
"The Unadjusted Girl." Harper and Row, New York, 1967. [G&L]
Wilson, Colin and Pitman, Patricia.
"Encyclopaedia of Murder." Pan Books, London, 1961. Reprinted Cox
& Wyman Ltd, Reading, U.K., 1984. ISBN 0 330 28300 6 (see 7.7.5)
[jp].
Wilson, Patrick.
"Children Who Kill." Joseph, London, 1973. [dm]
Wily, H. Jenner and Stallworthy, K.R.
"Mental Abnormality and the Law." N.M. Peryer Ltd, Christchurch,
1962. [G&L]
Stallworthy was a psychiatric witness for the prosecution in
the "Parker Hulme" trial. [jp]
Winslade, W.J. and Ross, J.W.
"The Insanity Plea." Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1983.
[G&L]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.7.1 Extract from "Crime in New Zealand." [jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Department of Justice, New Zealand.
"Crime in New Zealand." R.E. Owen, Government Printer,
Wellington, NZ 1968. [jp]
**Interesting if dry perspective on criminal cases, criminals,
justice system etc. in NZ between 1920 and 1964. The copy I found
in our library had a handwritten subtitle/annotation: "Doesn't
Exist." This book is useful for giving indirect information about
public reaction and perceptions and the context of the crime. For
example, there were only 109 convicted murderers in the entire
country between 1920 and 1964 and the impact of sentencing on
public morale was discussed for several cases. The following
quotation is from pp. 44-45: [jp]
MURDER BY JUVENILES
Five male and two female juveniles, whose ages ranged from 14 to
17 years at the time of the offence, were convicted of murder
between 1940 and 1964. Five of them were sentenced to be detained
at Her Majesty's pleasure, and two boys to life imprisonment.
Case XII [cases are assigned anonymous IDs in the book. jp]
The two boys referred to, aged 14 and 15 years, escaped
together from a Child Welfare home and fatally wounded a farmer
whose house they raided.
Both accused were found guilty of murder with a
recommendation for mercy, and the Judge commented that this was a
right verdict which might have a very salutary effect in this
country. ...
Case XIII [obviously the "Parker Hulme" murder case. jp]
Another joint murder was committed by two girls aged 15 and
16 years. The older of the two was physically handicapped as a
result of osteomyelitis.
This girl formed an emotional attachment with a younger girl
who was then recuperating from tuberculosis. In her childhood in
England the latter had a fairly unsettled background of air
raids, evacuation, physical breakdown, and consequent frequent
absences from home. Her parents were highly intelligent.
The two girls found solace in each other's company and
indulged in excessive fantasy. Eventually their parents decided
that they should be separated--on the grounds of ill-health one
was to be taken by her father to another country. The other
decided that her mother was the only obstacle to her accompanying
her friend, and both girls agreed to kill her. They considered
themselves apart from ordinary law and morality, and felt
justified in allowing nothing to stand in their way. There is
evidence that their exalted state had built up to a climax over
the preceding year with a strong emphasis on murder and violence.
They killed their victim with a brick in a stocking; while later
admitting the killing, they did not admit to any feelings of
guilt.
The defence in the case was based on a plea of insanity. All
five doctors in the case agreed that the girls were unbalanced,
and three (sic) found them to be certifiably insane at the time
of the murder and the trial. They were classified as folie a deux
paranoiacs of an exalted type. But the defence failed to
establish that they were insane according to the McNaghten (sic)
Rules and both were found guilty. They were sentenced to be
detained at Her Majesty's pleasure and were released after five
years. [This is by far the longest case history in this section.
jp]
Case XIV
Two of the remaining three juveniles involved in murder were
found guilty of sexual killings. One boy aged 14 years killed an
eight-year-old girl in the act of sexually assaulting her. (His
older brother had previously made a Children's Court appearance
for the attempted rape of a seven-year-old girl.)
Case XV
A 14-year-old boy was involved in the other case of sexual
murder, but unlike the previous case, he was of below-average
intelligence, as were his unsatisfactory parents. ... He sexually
assaulted and strangled an eight-year-old boy in a city park.
Case XVI
The last and most recent juvenile murder...was committed by
a 17-year-old boy. He had been drinking heavily and became
involved in a fight at a dance. He got a knife and stabbed his
victim--apparently without motive.
All three were detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.
MURDER BY FEMALES
Only seven females were convicted of murder between 1920 and
1964. In the same period 90 men were convicted. ...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.7.2 Extract from "Famous Criminal Cases." [jp,lfr]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Furneaux, Rupert.
"Famous Criminal Cases." Vol II. Roy Publishers, New York, 1955.
"The New Zealand Girl Murderers" pp. 33-47. HV6945.F85 [jp,lfr]
**This is a fascinating and reasonably complete account of the
trial. Furneaux's specialty was condensing trial proceedings into
readable accounts. The account is extremely accurate, for a
popularization (cf. 7.7.4), but it is clear that Furneaux did not
consult any source material other than the trial transcript. His
major omissions are the testimony related to the domestic
situation in the Hulme household and some of the protracted
psychological testimony, especially the more salacious material
concerning the contents of the diaries and the girls' activities.
Also, the court record does not include any qualitative
descriptions of the people involved, of course, or accounts of
their actions. Those can be found in contemporary press reports.
In his editorializing in the prologue and epilogue, Furneaux
captures the contemporary moral tone of the public quite well.
[jp]
We have to go back to Chicago in the early nineteen-twenties
to find a murder case as shocking as the killing of the mother of
one by two teen-age girls in New Zealand in June 1954. Thirty
years ago Leopold and Loeb, the American youths who killed a
smaller boy, were found insane. Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme
pleaded insanity but they were found guilty of what was,
according to the Crown Prosecutor, "a callously planned and
premeditated murder, committed by two highly intelligent and
perfectly sane but precocious and dirty-minded girls."
Mrs. Honora Mary Parker was battered to death on 22nd June.
Two months later her daughter Pauline, aged sixteen, and
Pauline's great friend, Juliet Hulme, aged fifteen years and ten
months, were tried at Christchurch for her murder. Both pleaded
not guilty. Mr. Justice Adams presided. For the defence led, for
Parker, Dr. A.L. Haslam, and for Hulme, Mr. T.A. Gresson.
Opening the case against the two girls the Crown Prosecutor,
Mr. A.W. Brown, described how about 3:30 p.m., on 22nd June, two
girls came running into a tea shop in Victoria Park, gasping and
saying, "Please help us. Mummy has been hurt. She's hurt--covered
with blood." A few minutes later the body of a woman, her head
terribly battered, lying in a pool of blood, was found on a
secluded path near a rustic bridge. "She was a woman who was
known as Mrs. Rieper, but her real name," said Brown, "was
Parker."
That evening the daughter of the dead woman, Pauline Parker,
and on the next day, her close friend Juliet Hulme, were arrested
and charged with murder. "I feel bound to tell you," Mr. Brown
went on, "that the evidence will make it terribly clear that the
two young accused conspired together to kill the mother of one of
them and horribly carried their plan into effect.
"The circumstances of the crime are unusual, indeed unique.
It is rare that two girls of the ages of the accused should stand
trial on the charge of murdering the mother of one of them.
"The evidence will be that the two accused came to the
conclusion, after much thought, that the mother of the accused
Parker was an obstacle in their path, that she thwarted their
desires and that she should be done away with. They planned to
murder her and they put their plan into effect by battering her
over the head with a brick encased in a stocking.
"Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme met at school and became
friendly and this friendship developed into an intense devotion.
Their main object in life was to be together, sharing each
other's thoughts, secrets and plans, and if any person dared to
part them, then that person should be forcibly removed. Mrs.
Parker became perturbed at the unhealthy relationship and tried
to break it up. This was resented by the accused and the
resentment gradually grew into hate and eventually resulted in
this ghastly crime.
"Early in 1954, Dr. Hulme, who had resigned his position as
Rector of Canterbury University College, decided to return to
England and to take his daughter Juliet to South Africa. It was
discovered that the two girls were planning to go to America to
have their novels published and that they had tried to acquire
funds to pay their fares. Both girls were determined not to be
parted, and Pauline Parker wanted to go to South Africa and
Juliet Hulme wanted her to go with her. Both girls knew that Mrs.
Parker would be the one to object most strenuously to their going
away together. they decided the best way to end Mrs. Parker's
objection was to kill her in such a manner that it would appear
to have been an accident.
"Early in June when the date of Dr. Hulme's departure had
been fixed for 3rd July, the girls coldly and calculatingly
formed a plan to kill Mrs. Parker. They pretended to be resigned
to being parted and they persuaded her to take them for a
farewell outing. They planned to entice her to a secluded spot
and strike her on the head. They would then rush for help,
announcing that she had died as a result of a fall.
"On the day of the outing Juliet Hulme took with her part of
a brick from her home. After the accident they both told the same
story."
Mr Brown next described the finding of Pauline Parker's
diary. "In it," he said, "she reveals that she and Juliet Hulme
have engaged in shoplifting, toyed with blackmail and talked
about and played with matters of sex. There is clear evidence
that as long ago as February she was anxious that her mother
should die and that during the few weeks before 22 June she was
planning to kill her mother in the way she was killed."
Extracts of the diary were read in court.
13 February: Why could not mother die? Dozens of people,
thousands of people are dying every day. So why not mother, and
father too?
28th April: Anger against mother boiled up inside me. it is
she who is one of the main obstacles in my path. Suddenly a means
of ridding myself of the obstacle occurred to me.
29th April: I did not tell Deborah (her pet name for Juliet)
of my plans for removing mother ... the last fate I wish to meet
is one in a Borstal. I am trying to think of some way. I want it
to appear either a natural or an accidental death.
19th June: We practically finished our books (the novels the
girls were writing together) today and our main "ike" for the day
was to moider mother. The notion is not a new one, but this time
it is a definite plan which we intend to carry out. We have
worked it out carefully and are both thrilled with the idea.
Naturally we feel a trifle nervous, but the pleasure of
anticipation is great.
20th June: We discussed our plans for moidering mother and
made them a little clearer. Peculiarly enough I have no qualms of
conscience (or is it peculiar we are so mad?). [note: Remember,
this is a transcript of a verbatim reading, recorded by a court
stenographer. Based on other previous diary entries not quoted
here, a more reasonable punctuation for this last part would be
"Or, is it peculiar? We are so mad!" see 7.4. jp]
21st June: We decided to use a brick in a stocking rather
than a sandbag. We discussed the moider fully. I feel keyed up as
if I was planning a surprise party. So next time I write in the
diary mother will be dead. How odd, yet how pleasing.
22nd June: I am writing a little of this up in the morning
before the death. I felt very excited and the night before
Christmassy last night. I did not have pleasant dreams though.
Concluding his opening address, Mr. Brown said, "You will
hear that Juliet Hulme carried a small pink stone to Victoria
Park. The theory of the Crown is that she would place it on the
path and that Mrs. Parker would be asked to bend down to examine
it. While she was doing so, Pauline Parker, armed with the brick
in the stocking and standing behind her mother, would strike her
a heavy blow on the back of the neck and kill her. The two girls
would then arrange the body in such a position as to give the
impression of an accident. Their plan miscarried. Perhaps Mrs.
Parker did not bend far enough and so received repeated blows,
causing the terrible injuries she received."
Evidence was given that a brick and a stocking, on both of
which were blood and hairs similar to that of the dead woman,
were found beside the body. Both girls were hysterical when they
reported the death at the tea house. They both had blood on the
face and clothes. [note: And hands. j.p.] They told the woman at
the tea house that Mrs. Parker had slipped on a plank and bumped
her head on a brick as she fell and that her head "kept bumping
and banging." A doctor who had been called to the scene said that
he found that he could not explain the woman's injuries as having
been caused by a fall, so he informed the police.
The pathologist who examined the body of Mrs. Parker said
that death had resulted from multiple head injuries and a
fracture of the skull. There were forty-five discernible
injuries, twenty-four being lacerated wounds on the face and
head. [note: 45 + 24 = 69. Several reports, quoted elsewhere,
state that there were 69 injuries. This testimony explains that
erroneous number. jp] The injuries showed that a crushing force
had been applied while the head was immobile on the ground. If
the brick had been in the stocking and swung with considerable
force it could have caused the injuries. The bruises on the
throat indicated that Mrs. Parker had been held by the throat. A
laceration on the finger suggested she received the injury when
she put up her hand to defend herself. [note: Testimony below
related to Juliet's statement indicates that the brick broke
through the stocking at some point. Testimony above indicates the
two were found separately. The presence of hair on the brick is
consistent with it continuing to be used as a weapon after coming
out of the stocking. The crushing force discussed above could
have been applied with the brick alone, used in the hands.
testimony reported elsewhere indicates Juliet had considerable
quantities of blood on her hands, which she washed off in the tea
room. jp]
Herbert Rieper said that he had lived with the dead woman as
her husband for twenty-five years. [note: Reported as 23 years in
other reports. jp] They were not married. They had three
children, Pauline being the second and she had no idea her
parents were not married. At the age of five Pauline had been ill
and had had a number of operations which prevented her from
indulging in sport. He became worried because she cut herself off
from her parents' affection. Last year the friendship with Juliet
Hulme became more intense. Pauline stayed with her for days at a
time. From the time they met, she became moody, easily upset and
easily made angry. At Easter an approach was made [note: This
does not specify who made the approach. Newspaper accounts report
it was Herbert Rieper, but this seems unlikely. jp] to Dr. Hulme
about breaking up the friendship and he learned that Dr. Hulme
was taking Juliet abroad.
In the witness box, Mrs. Hulme said that Juliet was born in
England in 1938, and in London suffered from bomb shock and had
nightmares for about a month. Juliet was already in New Zealand
[note: Living for almost 2 years with another family, after being
sent to the Bahamas. jp] when she and her husband came there in
1948. In 1948 her health had broken down and she had had to go to
a sanatorium. Because Juliet was shy and reserved, she and her
husband welcomed her friendship with Pauline. While she and her
husband were overseas in the summer of 1953 [note: Hilda Hulme
was using "northern hemisphere" season conventions. She meant May
- Aug. 1953, which is actually winter in NZ. jp] the friendship
developed and Mrs. Rieper (Mrs. Parker) was concerned about it.
They [note: The parents? jp] learned of the girls' plan to go to
America, but they [note: The girls? jp] promised to put it out of
their minds. It was arranged for Dr. Hulme to take Juliet to
South Africa on 3rd July. Both girls knew it three weeks before
that date. She said that Juliet was always an excitable child and
full of fantasy. She found it difficult to stop playing her games
and enter into the less exciting family circle.
Mrs. Hulme described how the two girls wrote to each other
in the characters of the stories that they were writing together.
Juliet was first Charles II, Emperor of Borovnia. Then she became
Deborah, the Emperor's mistress by whom she had a son, Dialbo.
Pauline Parker started as Lancelot Trelawney, a soldier of
fortune, and he succeeds in wedding the Empress of Bolumnia and
becomes Emperor, and they have a daughter, Mariole. Pauline
assumed these characters in turn and wrote to Juliet as such. The
earlier part of this correspondence is extravagant and grandiose
but it later becomes full of murder, suicide and sudden death.
Later violence and bloodshed figure to a disproportionate degree.
Mrs. Hulme was asked: "On 24th April there is an entry in
the diary referring to Dr. Hulme saying you and Dr. Hulme were
likely to part for private reasons and the future of the marriage
was uncertain. Do you know if that is correct?" Mrs. Hulme: "I
understand that my husband did say something like that to them."
[note: This is a very discrete account of this important and
sensational testimony. jp]
Mrs. Hulme said that she and her husband had discussed with
medical friends their concern over their daughter's emotional
development but they were advised that it would be unwise to have
her psycho-analysed at such an early age. Asked, "Did you have
any reason to suspect your daughter was insane?" she answered
"No."
Walter Perry, an engineer, also gave evidence. He came to
New Zealand on 2nd July, 1953. He had occupied part of Dr.
Hulme's house [note: Not 'the Hulme's residence.' jp] since
Christmas, 1953. He said that Pauline Parker was a constant
visitor and was a very close friend of Juliet's. He had bought
for 50 pounds sterling a horse from Juliet, giving the money to
her father. on the evening of 22nd June, Pauline had told him
that her mother had slipped on a piece of wood and hit her head
on a stone, and banged her head repeatedly on a stone.
In reference to Juliet's correspondence with Pauline [note:
Which Walter Perry had obviously had access to! Not an average
lodger. jp], Mr. Perry said that the girls were vying with one
another as to who could create the most bloodshed and sudden
death. Practically every letter contained some reference to
assassination or similar topic. [note: Hulme and Perry's
testimony makes it sound as if there was extended, frequent
continuous letter writing between the girls, not just during the
time of Juliet's confinement in the TB sanatorium. jp]. [note:
Perry's testimony was handled extremely discretely in this
account, too. jp].
Senior Detective Brown gave evidence about his interview
with Pauline Parker after her mother's death and about a
statement she made. At first she said that her mother had slipped
and hit her head on a rock or stone. When he told her, "We
believe the girl Hulme was not present when the fatality
occurred," she looked surprised. "I then said, 'You are suspected
of murder of your mother.' She made no reply. I told her that she
need not say anything then, but she could make a statement if she
wished. She said, 'No. Ask me questions.' " The statement that
resulted was as follows:
Q. Who assaulted your mother?
A. I did.
Q. Why?
A. If you don't mind I won't answer that question.
Q. When did you make up your mind to kill your mother?
A. A few days ago.
Q. Did you tell anyone you were going to do it?
A. No. My friend did not know anything about it. She was
out of sight at the time, she had gone on ahead.
Q. What did your mother say when you struck her?
A. I would rather not answer that.
Q. How often did you hit her?
A. I don't know, but a great many times I imagine.
Q. What did you use?
A. A half brick inside the foot of a stocking. I took them
with me for the purpose. I had the brick in my shoulder
bag. I wish to state that Juliet did not know od my
intentions and she did not see me strike my mother. I
took the chance to strike my mother when Juliet was
away. I still do not wish to say why I killed my
mother.
Q. Did you tell Juliet that you killed your mother?
A. She knew nothing about it. As far as I know she
believed what I told her, although she may have guessed
what had happened, but I doubt it, as we were both so
shaken that it probably did not occur to her.
Q. Why did Juliet tell the same story as you to the lady
in the tea kiosk?
A. I think she simply copied what I said. She might have
suspected what I had done and she would not have wished
to believe it nor to have got me into trouble. As soon
as I had started to strike my mother I regretted it,
but I could not stop.
Brown said that the police decided to take Parker into
custody. He told how he had found fourteen exercise books, a
scrap book and a diary in her room. Later, "I told the girl Hulme
we had reason to believe her first written statement was not
correct and that she was present when the assault took place. I
then said, 'You are suspected of taking part in the death of Mrs.
Rieper.' I told her that the girl Parker had said we were to ask
Deborah, and what she said would be right. She said that she
would rather not say anything then." [note: Brown's testimony is
classic 'Dixon of Dock Green' police-language testimony. jp (DoDG
was a hugely-popular and long-running British radio and TV
series)].
At the police station a piece of paper which she had tried
to burn was taken from Parker. On it was written, "I am taking
the blame for everything."
Detective-Sergeant Tate told of his interviews with Juliet
Hulme. She made two statements. According to the first she was
not with Pauline when Mrs. Parker was killed. She was further up
the path. She came back to find her lying on the ground. Pauline
told her that her mother had slipped. She said that she had said
that she was there at the time to support Pauline's story. The
next day, 23rd June, Juliet apologized for misleading him, said
Tate. She said she now wished to tell the truth. In her second
statement she said they had decided to go to Victoria Park with
Mrs. Parker to have it out about Pauline accompanying her to
South Africa. "She knew that it was proposed that we should take
a brick in a stocking to the park with us. I had part of a brick
which I wrapped in newspaper. I know the brick was put in a
stocking at Rieper's house. I did not put it there."
She said that in Victoria Park, "there was a pink stone on
the path. I dropped it there myself. On the way back I was
walking in front. I was expecting Mrs. Rieper to be attacked."
She continued, "I heard noises behind me. It was loud
conversation and anger. I saw Mrs. Rieper in a sort of squatting
position. They were quarrelling. I went back. I saw Pauline hit
Mrs. Rieper with the brick in the stocking. I took the stocking
and hit her too. I was terrified. I thought that one of them had
to die. I wanted to help Pauline. It was terrible. Mrs. Rieper
moved convulsively. We both held her. She was still when we left
her. The brick had come out of the stocking with the force of the
blows."
Later in the statement, Juliet said she was not quite sure
what was going to happen when they went to Victoria Park. "I
though[t] we may have been able to frighten Mrs. Rieper with the
brick and she would have given her consent for Pauline and I to
stay together. After the first blow was struck I knew it would be
necessary for us to kill her."
That was the prosecution's case. The remainder of the
evidence was given by psychiatrists, first for the defense and
then in rebuttal by other doctors for the prosecution. Their
evidence took three days to hear. Only part of what they said can
be given here. Before they gave evidence both defence counsel,
Mr. Gresson for Hulme and Dr. Haslam for Parker, addressed the
court.
Mr. Gresson said that the fact that Parker and Hulme
assaulted Mrs. Rieper and killed her is, unfortunately, clear
beyond dispute. He went on, "The actual killing or physical
assault, therefore, cannot be successfully refuted, and the sole
but very important issue in this case concerns the mental
capacity, the sanity or otherwise, of these girls when they
committed their ill-conceived and disasterous assault." The onus
of proving that they were incapable of understanding the nature
and quality of their act and of knowing that such an act was
wrong, rested on the defence. The law assumed that a person was
sane until the contrary was proved. He said that he would call
witnesses who would say that Parker and Hulme were insane when
they committed their attack on Mrs. Rieper, and were still
suffering from a mental illness known as paranoia of the exalted
type associated with folie a deux, a phrase meaning communicated
insanity. He concluded: "The Crown has seen fit to refer to the
accused as ordinary, dirty-minded little girls. Our evidence will
show that they are nothing of the kind. The Crown's description
is unfortunate and medically incorrect. They are mentally sick
girls, more to be pitied than blamed."
Dr. Reginald Medlicott said that he had seen both girls and
read their writings. Each girl had had to endure a great deal of
physical ill health. A younger sister of Parker was a mongolian
imbecile. [note: Downs' syndrome. jp] Her parents' first baby was
a "blue baby" which died at birth. These things raise a query as
to the stock from which she comes. In reference to the girls'
friendship he said: "Their association, I consider, proved tragic
for them. There is evidence that their friendship became a
homosexual one. There is no proof that there was a physical
relationship, although there is a lot of suggestive evidence from
the diary that this occurred. There is evidence that they had
baths together, spent nights in bed together and had frequent
talks on sexual matters." Hulme said, "I don't wish to place
myself above the law. I am apart from it," said Dr. Medlicott.
"Pauline Parker said the fourth world was their idea of
paradise," and Juliet that "we do believe we are geniuses."
When Dr. Medlicott interviewed the girls in prison they
constantly abused him. "Parker told me I was an irritating fool
and displeasing to look at. Hulme pulled me over the coals for
not talking sufficiently clearly. After I had physically examined
Parker she shouted out, 'I hope you break your flaming neck.'
There was," he said, "a gross reversal of moral sense. They
admired those things which are evil and condemned those things
the community considers good. They had weird ideas and their own
paradise, god and religion."
He read to the court a poem, "The Ones That I Worship,"
composed by the girls: [note: Other testimony indicates that the
poem was written in the back of Pauline's 1953 diary and composed
by her. Also, the punctuation and layout in this verbal
transcript is rudimentary and probably not accurate. For a
reasonable guess of its form see 7.4. jp]
There are living amongst two dutiful daughters
Of a man who possesses two beautiful daughters
The most glorious beings in creation
They'd be the pride and joy of any nation.
You cannot know nor try to guess
The sweet soothingness of their caress.
The outstanding genius of this pair
Is understood by few, they are so rare.
Compared with these two every man is a fool,
The world is most honoured that they should deign to rule
And above us these goddesses reign on high.
I worship the power of these lovely two
With that adoring love known to so few.
'Tis indeed a miracle one must feel,
That two such heavenly creatures are real.
Both sets of eyes, though different far, hold many mysteries
strange
Impassively they watch the race of man decay and change.
Hatred burning bright in the brown eyes, with enemies for
fuel.
Icy scorn glitters in the grey eyes, contemputous and cruel.
Why are men such fools they will not realize
The wisdom that is hidden behind those strange eyes
And these wonderful people are you and I.
In Pauline's diary there was, he said, an entry which says
that they had worked out how much prostitutes earned and wondered
how much they could earn that way. Pauline also talked a good
deal of the fun they would have out of their profession. On 25th
April, Parker records, "Deborah and I are sticking to one thing.
We sink or swim together." In another place she records, "We are
so brilliantly clever." There were references to shoplifting,
blackmailing Perry and getting money from her father's safe. On
6th June, Pauline records that she and Hulme are stark, staring,
raving mad. "The whole thing," said Dr. Medlicott, "rises to a
fantastic crescendo. In my opinion they were insane when they
attacked Mrs. Rieper. Paranoia," declared the doctor, "is a form
of insanity in which there is a surface of apparent normality. I
consider Parker and Hulme certifiably insane."
Dr. Medlicott was subjected to a searching cross examination
[note: Understatement! see press reports in 7.6. jp] by the
prosecution. It was elicited that while the girls knew what they
had done was wrong, they considered themselves outside the law.
They had set out, he said, to break the Ten Commandments. Parker
broke them all, but Hulme only broke nine.
Questioned about homosexual relationships between the two
girls, he was asked, "Your reading of the diaries showed that
these young people played about with each other sexually?" "It is
very suggestive but there is no clear evidence of it." "But she
(Parker) did have intercourse with a boy over and over again?"
"No, only once." "But she attempted to have it more than once?"
"It would appear so." "According to the diary the boy was in bed
with her to 3 a.m.?" "Yes." "And the following night he was in
bed with her again and was caught by Mr. Rieper?" "That is so."
"There are other references to them attempting intercourse?"
"That is so." "So she had a good deal of knowledge of the other
sex, didn't she?" "She had."
He said that the girls invented fictional characters, film
stars and saints. A diary entry for 12th June, 1954, read,
"Eventually we enacted how each saint would make love in bed. We
felt exhausted but very satisfied." "I have no doubts about their
gross homosexuality," he told the court.
Asked, "Did these young persons when they attacked Mrs.
Parker know what they were doing?" Dr. Medlicott replied, "They
knew what they were doing." "They knew the nature and quality of
their act?" "They did." "Did they know they were wrong according
to the law?" "They did but they did not recognize the law."
Dr. Haslam, for Parker, called Dr. Francis Bennett, who, he
said, had been consulted about the girls' friendship before the
tragedy occurred. Dr. Bennett, referring to the moral
responsibility of the paranoic, said it was the murder that was
the actual proof of the diagnosis. "There came the threat of
separation. Anything that threatens the paranoic makes him
dangerous. They thought that by removing Pauline's mother the way
would be clear. This idea was stupid but they have steadily
maintained it was justified. Neither will admit contrition or
regret. Pauline told me she would still feel justified today in
killing her mother if she was a threat to their being together.
Juliet Hulme was more outspoken. She not only considers the
murder justified but also that other murders might be justified
if there was a threat to the association of the two accused."
Asked, "Did these girls know when they were killing Mrs.
Parker what they were doing?" he replied, "They knew they were
killing Mrs. Parker." "Do you agree these girls knew they were
committing what the law calls a criminal act?" he said, "That
can't be answered yes or no." "Why?" "Because people can have two
loyalties." "Did they know it was contrary to the law?" "Yes."
"Did they know it was wrong so far as the law was concerned?"
"Yes." "Did they not also know it was wrong in the eyes of
society at large?" "They probably did, but I doubt very much if
they gave any consideration to what society thought."
By the Judge, Dr. Bennett's views were summarized thus:
"In your opinion they knew the act was contrary to the law and
contrary to the ordinary standards of the community, but
nevertheless it was not contrary to their own moral standards?"
"That is so, Your Honour. You have exactly summarized it," Dr.
Bennett replied.
Called by the prosecution, Dr. Kenneth Stallworthy, who had
seen the girls, was asked: "Do you consider them sane or insane?"
He replied, "I consider them sane medically because I did not
consider either certifiable, and I consider them sane in a legal
sense. They knew the nature and quality of their act. I am of the
opinion that they both knew at the time that their action was
wrong in law, and that they were breaking the law. In the diaries
there was evidence of motive, planning and premeditation." In his
interview with Parker she said, "We knew we were doing wrong. We
knew we would be punished if we were caught and we did our best
not to be caught." Hulme told him, "I knew it was wrong to murder
and I knew at the time I was murdering somebody. You'd have to be
an absolute moron not to know murder was against the law." [note:
Some newspaper reports clearly attribute, incorrectly, the
'moron' sentence to be the final sentence of Pauline's comment.
jp]
"The accused," said Dr. Stallworthy, "had some justification
for conceit. Hulme displayed a shrewdness in appreciating
difficult questions and a shrewdness in answering them more like
that of an older, sophisticated person. Parker was well above
average in intelligence and is able to write. These two girls
were very very (sic) fond of each other. The most important thing
in the world to them was to be together. There have been other
great loves in the world where one person would stick (sic)
[note: stop? Maybe transcription error. jp] at nothing to be with
the other."
Two other doctors, called by the prosecution, Dr. Saville
and Dr. Hunter, agreed that the girls were sane. All five doctors
gave detailed reasons for their opinions. Those called by
different sides came to different conclusions. As is noticeable
in other murder trials, when the issue of insanity arises, the
question of the meaning of the mental illness known as paranoia
appears to be undecided. It is, apparently, a compelling force
under which people do things they know to be wrong in the eyes of
the law but to them are not wrong.
On the sixth day of the trial counsel for both girls and for
the Crown addressed the court, the judge summed-up and the jury
arrived at their verdict. The question for the jury was whether
the girls knew what they were doing was wrong. According to the
defence, they were "problem children," who at the time they
committed the act were ill and not criminally responsible for
their actions. According to the prosecution, they were two highly
intelligent and perfectly sane but dirty-minded girls. "In my
submission," said the Crown Prosecutor, "They are not incurably
insane. They are incurably bad."
Mr. Justice Adams told the jury that the burden of proof of
insanity rested on the defence. "The gravamen of this case," he
said, "is the defence of insanity. If the jury found it
established their duty was to return a verdict of not guilty.
Your proper choice lies between 'guilty' and 'not guilty' on the
grounds of insanity." He went on:
Grave crimes are almost invariably committed by persons
knowing that they were doing wrong but nevertheless by some
perversity of the mental process are led to commit the act. In
such cases the only question is, did the accused know that the
act was wrong?
"There is no doctor who has said or even suggested that
either of the accused did not know that what they were doing was
wrong. Is there anywhere else in the evidence any material on
which you can properly conclude that either of the accused did
not know that the act was wrong. If not, your duty is plain; the
proper verdict is a simple verdict of guilty."
The judge asked the jury to consider two important words:
"knowing" and "wrong." "As to the word 'wrong' I tell you, as a
matter of law, that a person knows a thing can be wrong if he or
she knows it to be contrary to the law of the land, and contrary
to the moral standards accepted by ordinary, reasonable members
of the community. It is not permissible to say, 'I knew this was
a breach of the law and a breach of the moral code, but I thought
I was above or beyond the law and that although it was illegal or
immoral I might commit it without infringing my own code of
morality.' That is no defence in law.
"The other important word is the word 'knowing.' It has to
be considered at the very moment of the commission of the crime.
Were their minds so confused that they did not know the act was
wrong?" asked the judge.
After a retirement of two hours and fifteen minutes, the
jury returned a verdict of guilty against each of the accused.
They also found that both were under eighteen years of age. In
consequence the judge sentenced Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme
to be detained during Her Majesty's pleasure.
So ended the most sensational and the most tragic murder of
1954. In time, no doubt, the murder of the mother of one by two
young girls will be quoted as the most dreadful crime of the
century. It was a premeditated, carefully planned crime by two
girls who lived in a world of their own. To prevent being parted,
they committed murder. To them the murder of Mrs. Parker was the
obvious way out of the difficulty. The compulsion was more
powerful than was the fear of discovery and retribution. It
blinded them to their responsibilities as human beings. To
Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme the rights of others were of no
importance. Complete egotists, they were insane only in the sense
that their ideas were those of animals rather than of human
beings. Their law was the law of the jungle and like wild animals
they must be caged until they have shown themselves capable of
living together with other human beings. One day, perhaps, they
may have a second try at life.
Plate, p.31: Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker.
*SNIP HERE*******************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
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End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 12/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
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John D. Porter
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"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 14/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
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********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
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7.8.2 Glamuzina and Laurie, 1989. [jb]
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J. Glamuzina and A.J. Laurie, Sites no. 19, pp. 33-42 (1989)
"Sexual Politics in the 1950s: The Parker-Hulme Murder Case."
**This article appeared before their book on the subject, and it
introduces a modern feminist perspective on the case. The journal
is not widely available, so the majority of the article has been
reprinted here, with some omissions and annotation. The article
serves as an excellent introduction to Glamuzina and Laurie's
book and to their perspective on the case. [jp]
Introduction
In June 1954, in Christchurch, Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker,
aged 15 and 16, killed Pauline's mother. A sensational court case
followed receiving both local and international media coverage
during which a public association of lesbianism with murder,
'evil' and 'insanity' was made. Interest in this case has
continued through the years, most recently with a full page
article in the "The Press" (17 June, 1989) which describes the
case in lurid terms, scarcely differing from the 1950s media
treatment. Other articles and books about the case in medical and
popular crime literature portray Parker and Hulme either as
monstrously 'evil' or as incurably 'insane'. The case has not
been placed in the social context of the 1950s nor has it been
analyzed from a feminist perspective. An analysis of the
treatment of women and girls who kill must incorporate an
understanding of how sexism functions. In an analysis of the
Parker-Hulme case an understanding of how heterosexism functions
is also essential.
Within a patriarchy, all females by definition are deviant.
However, those who overtly defy their prescribed gender roles are
marginalised further and punished accordingly. ...
[snip explanation of academic context of the case and lit review]
In the Parker-Hulme case the girls were perceived as deviants not
only because they had stepped outside their prescribed gender
roles by acting violently and by killing a mother, but because
they had a lesbian relationship which was seen as the reason for
the killing.
In this article, we discuss the context of the case, the way it
was portrayed by the media and the continuing function it has as
a mechanism of social control.
The Background
Pauline Parker was born on 26 May 1938. She was the third child
of Honora Parker and Herbert Rieper. Their first child, a boy,
had died shortly after birth, and their second child, Wendy, was
fourteen months older than Pauline. The youngest child was born
in 1949, when Pauline was nearly eleven. This child, Rosemary,
had Downs Syndrome and was institutionalized when she was two
(stet) years old.
Honora Parker and Herbert Rieper never married. They lived
together for twenty-three years after Herbert left his wife and
two children. Their irregular status was not known to the
community in which they lived, and until the killing occurred,
Honora and the three daughters were known by the name Rieper.
Following the killing, Honora was referred to as 'Mrs Parker' and
Pauline as 'Pauline Parker'.
The family lived in modest circumstances near the Christchurch
Girls' high School in the inner city of Christchurch. Herbert
Rieper managed a fish-shop, and Honora supplemented the family
income by taking in boarders. They had purchased the house in
1946 [note: Not known if it was paid off. jp]. Pauline's
childhood has been described as uneventful, however she was
seriously ill with osteomyelitis and spent many months in
hospital during which time she nearly died.
She started at the Christchurch Girls' High School in 1952 and
was placed in the top stream. Here she met Juliet Hulme. Under
other circumstances, it is unlikely that Juliet and Pauline would
have ever met. Juliet was the oldest child of Henry and Hilda
Hulme, prominent and upper-class [note: The Hulmes would not have
been classed at this level in British society. jp] members of
Christchurch society. They had arrived in the city from England
in 1948 when Henry was appointed as the first Rector for
Canterbury University College [note: This is correct, but
disagrees with HRH's obituary data. see 7.10.1]. They lived in
the large homestead known as Ilam, which is now the University
Staff Club. Soon after their arrival Hilda Hulme also became
prominent in the social and cultural life of the city--as the
wife of the Rector, and also as a member and later Vice-President
of the Christchurch Marriage Guidance Council. She was elected to
the Board of the Christchurch Girls' High School, and was a
regular panel member of the local 3YA Womens' Session Programmes.
The Hulmes had two children, Juliet--considered to be highly
intelligent and who had suffered severe lung problems as a child
necessitating lengthy absences from her parents--and Jonathon,
who was six years younger than his sister. Juliet was born in
October 1938 and was about six months younger than Pauline.
The two girls developed a close friendship which was initially
welcomed by both families. As the relationship became more
intense, concern was expressed not only by the school [note:
First mention of school intervention in a scholarly analysis.
This has been confirmed in private communication to me, quoted
elsewhere. jp], but by Henry Hulme and both Pauline's parents. As
a result, Pauline's mother took her to their local doctor, Dr F O
Bennett [note: No mention of Bennett's social connections to
Hulmes. jp]. He informed Honora after this consultation that in
his opinion the relationship was 'homosexual' but that he thought
that Pauline would grow out of it (DoJ, 1954 [=trial transcripts.
jp]).
Pauline spent a great deal of time at the Hulmes' and was clearly
impressed by their way of life. They entertained frequently and
she met guests such as the British actor Anthony Quayle. Further,
Hilda in particular seems to have developed a close relationship
with her according to the Parker diaries. Meanwhile, events at
the Hulme household became chaotic. Hilda became involved with a
man she had met through Marriage Guidance, Walter Perry, who then
rented a flat at the Ilam residence. Pauline related in her diary
an incident in 1954 during which Juliet had apparently surprised
her mother in bed with Perry. Later she described various
discussions about divorce with the Hulmes. At the same time,
Henry's career as Rector was drawing to a close. From the
beginning he had difficulty with his colleagues and by 1954 he
was asked to resign. The household was about to disintegrate as
Henry's forced resignation meant that the family also had to
vacate Ilam as the university residence. Hilda and Henry had
agreed to divorce, and Hilda and Walter Perry (who later married)
were to remain together. Henry was taking the children with him
on his way to his new job in the UK at Aldermaston [note:
Doubtful that HRH had actually firmed up the Aldermaston job
before his return. He did not start until sometime in '55. jp]--
Jonathon to be with him, and Juliet to stay with an Aunt in South
Africa where the ship was to call. Among other things, this
disintegration meant that Juliet and Pauline would be parted. At
first they hoped that Pauline could go with Juliet and Pauline's
diary indicates that she thought the Hulmes would support this
idea. However, Honora was pleased that the intense relationship
between the girls would finally be brought to an end. [note:
Missing is Honora's obvious and strong opposition to Pauline's
lesbian relationship, forming a large component of her motivation
to separate PYP and JMH. jp].
Pauline's entries in her 1954 diaries indicate that she was
shocked and distressed by the disintegration of the Hulme
household as well as by her impending separation from Juliet. Her
relationship with Honora had been conflicted for some time. Her
increasing identification with the upper-class Hulme household
had also resulted in negative feelings and attitudes towards her
own modest and crowded home. As the events in the Hulme household
became more chaotic Pauline wrote in her diary about 'moidering'
mother--a term which indicates that her plans may initially have
been fanciful rather than serious. On 21 June 1954 she wrote:
[snip quote. see 7.4]. On the following day she wrote: [snip
quote. see 7.4].
Later that day she and Juliet went with Honora to Victoria Park,
where they walked with her along a deserted path. They had
brought with them a half-brick wrapped in a stocking. They killed
Honora with this weapon and fled from the scene to the Victoria
Park tea-kiosk. Here they claimed that Honora had fallen and
injured herself accidentally. The police were called and Pauline
and Juliet were subsequently arrested and brought to trial for
the murder of Honora Parker. Pauline's diaries were an important
piece of evidence as these detailed the plans for the killing.
However, as both girls signed written confessions the prosecution
went to trial with a very clear-cut case against them [note:
Complete and curious lack of analysis of forensic evidence and
huge 'narrative gap' here even cf. "Heavenly Creatures." The
extreme violence of the crime, an important component of public
perception and reaction, is not mentioned and the murder is
referred to as a 'killing'. These points are addressed at greater
length in their book, though still in a controversial manner.
jp].
The Trial
The Supreme Court trial was held in Christchurch from 23-28
August 1954. The facts concerning the killing of Honora Parker
were not disputed. The Crown maintained that Juliet and Pauline
had planned to murder Honora Parker, had lured her to Victoria
Park and there beaten her to death. The motive was said to be
that since Honora had refused Pauline permission to leave
Aotearoa/New Zealand with Juliet they regarded her as an
'obstacle' in their path and had murdered her so that they could
remain together. The central question of the trial was whether
Parker and Hulme were sane in the legal sense. The defence
strategy, restricted by the full confessions made by Parker and
Hulme, was for both to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.
This meant, however, that the burden of proof was transferred
from the prosecution to the defence which had to show that Parker
and Hulme were jointly insane and that they did not understand
the nature and quality of their action in killing Honora Parker--
or if so, that they did not know that this was wrong. Most of the
evidence, then, consisted of arguments from defence and
prosecution medical witnesses regarding the mental state of both
Parker and Hulme.
The main defence medical witness, psychiatrist Dr R.W. Medlicott,
insisted that [snip long quote of diagnosis of paranoia of the
exalted type in a setting of folie a deux]. He also considered
that their homosexuality was one symptom of this form of
insanity. [note: This is clear from Medlicott's article, but was
not a part of his testimony, which was much more equivocal. jp]
The other defence medical witness, Dr F.O. Bennett, the general
practitioner who had examined Pauline in 1953, agreed with
Medlicott and declared, with some confusion, [snip important
quote, given elsewhere, effectively stating PYP & JMH legally
sane but clinically insane].
Three prosecution psychiatrists rejected the defence diagnosis,
dismissing their homosexuality as an 'adolescent phase' and
insisted that both were sane. The Crown Prosecutor summarized:
[snip Brown's famous 'dirty-minded' quote. jp]
As well as presenting medical evidence as to the sanity of Parker
and Hulme, the prosecution also drew attention to the various
activities of the girls, including Pauline Parker's activities
during 1952 and 1953 when she slipped out at night, on some
occasion meeting male friends, on others, Juliet. Some petty
shoplifting they had done was highlighted as evidence of their
criminality, while their creative writing, consisting mainly of
novels and poetry, was claimed to be brutal and violent. The few
entries in Pauline Parker's diaries which referred to the planned
killing of Honora were presented by the prosecution as
unquestionable evidence of premeditation.
Both were found guilty. Because they were under 18 years they
could not be given the death penalty. Instead they were sentenced
to be detained 'during Her Majesty's pleasure'--an indeterminate
sentence. They were transferred to separate prisons following the
trial and were never allowed to meet.
The Department of Justice stated publicly that Parker and Hulme
were to be treated just like any other long-term prisoner. In
fact, the Department took a strongly paternalistic interest in
them, from the local prison staff to the Minister of Justice, who
personally received regular reports on their progress. Both were
allowed to study and at the time of her release Parker had
partially completed a university degree. While they were in
prison the Department did not address their homosexuality
specifically except for separating them from each other and
prohibiting sexual contact between prisoners in custody, as was
usually the case. However, during Parker's probation period,
concern was expressed by departmental officials about her lesbian
associates.
In late 1959 they were both released after having served just
over five years. The Department helped both in establishing new
lives and identities. Juliet Hulme immediately left the country.
Pauline Parker remained in Aotearoa/New Zealand until 1965 when
she was released from parole. She left the country soon
afterwards.
Significance of the Case.
The Parker-Hulme case was given considerable publicity at the
time both in local and international newspapers. Subsequently,
accounts have appeared in medical and popular crime literature as
well as in newspaper articles. These accounts have resulted in
the construction of a number of messages which in some cases have
little relation to the actual events but which served as
mechanisms which reinforced and extended patriarchal ideology and
power.
Most obviously, the 'mad' or 'bad' dichotomy presented at the
trial is a classic illustration of the ways in which women and
girls who kill are portrayed (Smart, 1976; Edwards, 1986). Parker
and Hulme's motive for killing Honora was simply understood as a
desire to 'remove an obstacle' to their impending separation. The
prosecution represented this desire as the product of an 'evil'
and selfish wish to be rid of anyone who apparently stood in
their way, while the defence represented it as the product of
diseased and insane minds acting together. Neither of these
representations include an understanding of the context in which
the killing of Honora occurred. The medical arguments concerning
their sanity were highly profiled and extensively reported.
Headlines such as 'Incurably Insane' ("The Press" 28 Aug 54),
'Hideousness and Ugliness' ("The Press" 27 Aug 54), 'Both Were
Sane' ("Dominion" 28 Aug 54), overlaid reports of the trial and
emphasised the 'mad' or 'bad' dichotomy already established in
the judicial arena. The Crown Prosecutor's Declaration that they
were 'dirty-minded' girls was widely quoted. Evidence of Parker's
association with males, some of whom were from Sri Lanka [note:
should be Ceylon in '54. jp], helped the prosecution in
portraying her as 'immoral' criminal, and 'bad'. Even her own
defence witness, Dr Bennett, described her as a 'silly adolescent
girl out for experience' (DoJ 54).
It was within this context that their relationship was presented
and an association of lesbianism with murder, insanity and
criminality firmly established. Subtitles such as 'Wild
Infatuation' ("The Press" 27 Aug 54), 'Disastrous Association'
("The Press" 30 Aug. 54) and 'Strange Happenings On Moonlit
Lawns' ("NZ Truth"), guided readers to a particular perspective
while headings such as 'Homosexuality and Insanity' ("The Press"
28 Aug 54) gave unequivocal messages. Their relationship was
described as a sexual perversion. Within the medical literature,
Medlicott's diagnosis and description (Medlicott 55) was the
major account of the case and reached a wide 'professional'
audience. This account was reprinted, unchanged, twenty-five
years later in a collection titled 'Deviant Behaviour: New
Zealand Studies' (Medlicott 79). A more 'liberal' view taken by
another local psychologist (Bevan-Brown 61), that the tragedy
arose out of inadequate parenting, reached a smaller audience a
few years later. Both the conservative and liberal psychiatric
views of Parker and Hulme labelled them 'abnormal' and 'deviant'
and drew associations between lesbianism and murder. Little
attempt was made to place the events in a context wider than the
individual personalities of Parker, Hulme and their immediate
families.
Later accounts in newspapers and in popular crime literature
reinforce these associations. A 1987 report stated that Parker
and Hulme took Honora to the Port Hills [stet. Victoria Park is
part of the Port Hills range] and 'battered her to death so they
could continue their lesbian love affair undisturbed' ("Dominion
Sunday Times" 31 May 87). Gurr and Cox in "Famous Australasian
Crimes" introduce Pauline and Juliet as the "Murdering Girls" and
describe their friendship as 'deep and dark', 'terrible' and
'abnormal'. This account includes a picture of the site where
Honora Parker was murdered, with streams of blood clearly
visible, a photograph of the diary entry anticipating Honora's
killing, and a 1953 school photograph of Pauline Parker. Using
extravagant language they construct images of madness and
deviance:
The story they told was one of the strangest ever read
in a court of law; it became a phantasmagoria; the
twisted shapes of a disordered imagination seemed to
swirl visibly in the heavy air of the courtroom (Gurr &
Cox 57).
The Parker-Hulme case entered the juvenile delinquency debates
which occurred not only in Aotearoa/NZ but in England, The United
States and Australia in the 1950s. "Time" debated whether they
were 'rebels' or 'psychopaths' ("Time" 6 Dec 54). Later accounts
drew similar associations with one newspaper headlining an
account of the case with 'Teen Passion Flares--Mother Has To Die'
("Dominion Sunday Times" 16 Mar 69). That 'sexual perverts' could
become 'killers' seemed a logical development to those who
believed that 'sexual perversion' led to 'worse' things. One
popular crime writer, in reference to the case, declared:
It is well known that unnatural relationships often go
hand-in-hand with moral delinquency (Sparrow 73:120).
Women and girls are expected to be the victims rather than the
perpetrators of violence. In this instance, these expectations
were overturned and the dominant culture responded by
objectifying Parker and Hulme. Neither was given the opportunity
to speak at their trial [note: Strictly speaking, not true. Both
were given the opportunity to speak before sentencing and both
declined. It was their own counsel who chose not to have the
girls testify. Because of their ages, testimony had to be
voluntary. jp]. When they were given a voice, it was through the
media and served to reinforce a particular message--for example,
the concept of repentance, with its implied recognition of some
wrong-doing. Initially the media reported that Parker and Hulme
showed no remorse for the killing. However, within a few months
though, headlines such as 'Girl is Now Sorry for Murder' ("Sun"
10 Dec 54) began to appear. [note: Actually, this was confirmed
by Anne Perry recently to be an accurate statement of her
feelings. jp]
An article in 1964 superimposed the words of the author on Parker
and Hulme, in a reinforcement of the 'bad' explanation.
Describing their action as a 'sin' and Honora Parker as 'the
victim of a sexual obsession', Edgar Lustgarten [note: Can you
believe the name?? cf. the girls' view of Borovnia and the 4th
world... jp] considered their 'devotion' to each other as
'frightening in its homosexual intensity'. He wrote:
Who might try to separate us? That was the explosive
question always at the back of their agile, depraved,
suspicious, guilty minds. Their suspicions did not, in
the long run, prove unfounded ("London Evening
Standard" 12 Nov 64).
These accounts through more than thirty years underline the
political response of a male-supremacist society to women and
girls perceived as being out of control.
Impact on Lesbians
The Parker-Hulme case has had a significant impact for lesbians
in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Not only did the case associate
lesbianism with violent death, criminality and insanity, it
became a vehicle for the construction of new expressions of anti-
lesbianism. Some people who had contact with young girls became
watchful and fearful in case the girls formed same-sex
attractions. People who had contact with declared lesbians
sometimes treated them with suspicion as if lesbianism and
violence were inevitably linked. Some girls and women becoming
aware of the possibility that they could be lesbian internalized
negative and stereotyped views of lesbianism which made
identifying as lesbian difficult if not impossible for them. For
some who did identify as lesbian it was important to ensure that
they were as unlike Parker and Hulme as possible in order to
distance themselves in their own minds from those negative
associations.
The way in which the case has been constructed and used by the
media has provided continuing messages of warning to women who do
not conform to their prescribed gender roles and sexual
identities.
Conclusion
The killing of Honora Parker could have been portrayed as a
domestic tragedy, arising out of a particular family situation
with tragic consequences for all involved. The media could have
drawn attention to the context of long-standing difficulties and
unresolved conflicts in both the Parker and Hulme households.
Instead, it became known as the Parker-Hulme case, with the
subject of attention being Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme. The
immediate trigger for the killing (that is, the impending
separation) was mistaken for its cause, while the complex roots
and origins of the tragedy were not examined, except to highlight
the 'abnormality' of the two girls. Parker and Hulme became
examples to be used in a broader political environment concerned
with the maintenance of a male-supremacist gender order. The
'mad' or 'bad' dichotomy presented at the trial is one common
technique used in the processing of women and girls who display
violent behaviours. One result is the absorption of the
particular event into the inventory of examples which may be
employed in the promotion and reinforcement of patriarchal
ideology. The employment of the medical witnesses and the
subsequent discourses in medical literature highlight the role of
the medical profession as an agency of patriarchy. Matthews has
pointed out with respect to psychiatry, in particular, that it
...is an institution very strongly implicated in the
maintenance of the gender order in so far as it is
concerned with 'curing' deviation and restoring
normality (Matthews, 1984:24).
Implicit in this has been the definition and enforcement of norms
regarding sexuality. In this case, heterosexuality as the norm
was firmly reinforced by the juxtaposition with lesbianism as
'abnormal' and 'unnatural', criminal and insane. The case also
illustrates the functioning of the mainstream media as an agent
of patriarchal ideology. It continues to inform popular opinion
about lesbianism and its supposed consequences. In this sense the
case continues to function as a warning to women who transgress
prescribed boundaries as to the likely consequences of their
actions.
References [selected. see also bibliographies elsewhere. jp]
Allen, Jeffner, 1986. "Lesbian Philosophy: Explorations," Palo
Alto: Institute of Lesbian Studies.
Black, W.A.M. and A.J.W. Taylor (eds), 1979. "Deviant Behaviour:
New Zealand Studies," Auckland: Heinemann Educational Books.
Cavin, Susan, 1985. "Lesbian Origins," San Francisco: Ism Press.
Chesney-Lind, M., 1986. "Women and Crime: The Female Offender,"
Signs, 12(1):78-96.
Edwards, S.S.M., 1986. "Neither Bad Nor Mad: The female violent
offender reassessed," Women's Studies International Forum,
9(1):79-87.
Heidensohn, Frances, 1985. "Women and Crime," Basingstoke:
Macmillan.
Kitzinger, Celia, 1987. "The Social Construction of Lesbianism,"
London: SAGE Publications.
Matthews, J.J., 1984. "Good and Mad Women," Sydney: George Allen
& Unwin.
Smart, C., 1976. "Women, Crime and Criminology," London:
Routledge and Kegan Paul.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7.9 Recent press articles.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Clarkson, Neil.
The Press (Christchurch), June 17, 1989. p. 23. [jb]
"Separation threat trigger for a brick attack."
Features the murder of Honora Parker, Christchurch, 22 June
1954. Pauline Yvonne Parker and Juliet Marion Hulme were
convicted.
Clarkson, Neil.
The Press (Christchurch), Supplement, p. 1. October 5, 1991. [jb]
"Murder Without Remorse"
Profiles the defence lawyer, Brian McClelland, who talks
about the trial of Parker and Hulme.
[I would like to get a copy of this. jp]
Darnton, John.
New York Times, Tuesday February 14, 1995. B1-2(N). [jp]
"Author Faces Up to a Long, Dark Secret." (see 7.9.1).
Gristwood, Sarah.
The Australian Women's Weekly, March 1995. pp. 18-21. [sb]
"Haunted by my Horrible Past"
"Jailed at 15 for her part in a brutal murder, author Anne Perry
thought her secret was safe..." (see 7.9.2).
Lyall, Sarah.
New York Times, Wed. Aug. 17, 1994. C9(L). [jp]
"Mystery Writer's Hidden Mystery."
Marchand, Philip.
Toronto Star, Mar. 5, 1995. p. C5 [se]
"Author tries to avoid past as teenage murderer."
McCrum, Robert.
The New Yorker Magazine. to be published. [mf]
"Robert McCrum was just here [Christchurch] recently writing
the definitive Parker/Hulme story. ...I think his article
will answer a lot of your questions and push all our ideas
about 'the moider' into a whole new territory." [note:
personal communication, mf 94/04/20. jp]
Sabbage, Lisa.
New Zealand Woman's Weekly. August 26, 1991. pp. 36-38. [jb]
"The murder that stunned New Zealand!"
Examines the murder of Honora Parker by her daughter,
Pauline, and friend Juliet Hulme in the light of a new book
'Parker and Hulme - a lesbian view' by Julie Glamuzina and
Alison Laurie.
Sullivan, Barbara.
Chicago Tribune, Sun. Mar. 26, 1995. p. 1. [sb]
"Murder was the case."
Article concerning Anne Perry's recent NAm book tour, and
interview with Ms Perry.
Wickens, Barbara.
Maclean's March 27, 1995. p. 61 [jp]
"Haunted by homicide" (see 7.9.3).
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7.9.1 Darnton, NY Times 95/02/14 [jp]
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Darnton, John.
New York Times, Tuesday February 14, 1995. B1-2(N).
"Author Faces Up to a Long, Dark Secret."
PORTMAHOMACK, Scotland, Feb. 8 - Interviewing Anne Perry, the
detective novelist who harbored the dark secret of her identity
as an adolescent murderer, is frustrating. It's like trying to
capture the mist that rolls off the mountains in the Scottish
Highlands where she makes her home.
It's not that she is reluctant to talk. Far from it. The
words come out in compulsive torrents. With little prompting she
speaks about the early years, her childhood pneumonia and
bronchitis, the "courage and love" of her parents, her deep
attachment to her father, a time of trial in prison, her
epiphanic conversion to the Mormon church in Northern California.
It's that when all the words are added up, she has shed
little light on the crime that shocked a nation 40 years ago and
half a world away. The motives that caused two young girls to
conspire and kill the mother of one of them in August (stet)
1954, after taking afternoon tea in a sunny park in Christchurch,
New Zealand, are as elusive as ever.
"Like any other traumatic experience, nature helps you to
put it away," she said. "All I can remember was feeling very
afraid and very jammed into a corner. I didn't want to do it and
I couldn't think of any way of getting out of it."
She cannot, she says, recall anything at all about the crime
itself and very few details about the subsequent trial, other
than "the sense of helplessness when people tell lies about you
and you can't say, 'No, that's not how it was.'"
Miss Perry, 55 (sic) years old, was forced to admit her
prior identity as 15-year-old Juliet Marion Hulme because of
interest in the murder case stirred up by a film, Peter Jackson's
"Heavenly Creatures." The film, which she refuses to see, has
been playing in the United States since November but did not open
here until now.
To counter what she insists is a grotesque and distorted
portrait of herself, she has participated in a publicity campaign
to tell the world "who I really am." What began as "damage
control" has turned into a single-minded and self-absorbed
crusade of revelation, obfuscation and attack.
"I think it's time that possibly we question the
acceptability of making a film about people who are still living,
because of the damage it can do," she said. "It can ruin lives."
"It's like having some disfigurement and being stripped
naked and set up in the High Street for everybody to walk by and
pay their penny and have a look. I would like to put my clothes
on and go home, please, be like anybody else."
Six months ago Miss Perry was beginning to enjoy the
luxuries of a writer on the verge of making it truly big: a
12-room stone cottage here with a spectacular view of Dornoch
Firth and two Jaguars in the driveway. Her 82-year-old mother
lives in a fishing village nearby.
Since 1978, her Victorian-era mysteries featuring Police
Superintendent Pitt and Inspector Monk have been building a
steady readership, especially in the United States, where three
million copies are in print. Recently, she had signed a $1
million contract to deliver eight more books over the next three
years. Her life, outwardly at least, was something of a Scottish
idyll, filled with achievement and modest contentment.
Then, with a phone call from her London agent, the idyll
ended. The agent was puzzled by calls from a New Zealand reporter
with a curious tale, a simple case of mistaken identity, which
should be swiftly refuted.
"I had to say, 'I'm sorry, but you can't,'" Miss Perry
recalled. "'It is true.'
"I thought I would lose everything. I really thought it
would kill my mother."
And so began the mystery writer's long revelation of her own
mystery, beginning with a visit to her mother, who had expected
the secret to break someday, and phone calls to friends and
business colleagues who had no idea of her past. It was, she
said, "one of the worst days I've ever lived through."
The 1954 case was a seminal event for New Zealand. It seared
the repressive, conservative, English-appearing society like a
red-hot poker, the way certain murder cases do.
The prosecutor who won a guilty verdict called it a "coldly,
callously planned murder committed by two high (sic) intelligent
and sane but precocious and dirty-minded little girls." They were
sent to prison for five and a half years, and released with new
identities on the condition that they never see each other again.
The film tries to explain the crime as an outgrowth of an
aberrationally intense friendship with lesbian overtones between
Pauline Yvonne Parker, 16, poor and withdrawn, and Juliet Marion
Hulme, 15, affluent and English, who suffered from weak lungs
that forced her into periods away from her parents.
Based in part on diaries kept by Pauline, the film depicts
the two as outcasts in school who spin an elaborate fantasy world
of movie idols and imaginary princes and villains. As family
relationships deteriorate, they are drawn into a peculiar
emotional symbiosis and the world turns violent.
And when they are about to be separated, because Juliet is
being sent to live with a relative in South Africa and Pauline's
mother refuses to let her go along, they decide their only
recourse is to murder Pauline's mother. Luring her down a pathway
in the park, they repeatedly strike her on the head with a brick
inside a stocking. They make no attempt to cover up the act or
even the incriminating, strangely jocular diary in which the plan
for "moidering" mother was laid out.
Miss Perry tries to refute this version. She is especially
upset at any suggestion of psychological deviance or lesbianism.
"I find it grossly offensive," she said. "I was so innocent
sexually then." Between sentences, she spits out the prosecutor's
words with venom: "dirty-minded little girls!"
She insists that even as a child she knew "the difference
between fantasy and reality." Aside from "normal childhood
imagination," she did not construct elaborate games with clay
figures, she says. And she goes so far as to assert that she was
not really that close to Pauline. She simply felt a debt of
obligation because Pauline had written letters to her when she
was confined to a sanitarium.
The details are sketchy, she insists, and perhaps her
behaviour was affected by a medication she was taking for her
lungs that she heard somewhere was later taken off the market
because it "warps judgement." She feared that Pauline would die
or commit suicide if she did not join in the plot.
"All I can actually remember feeling is: I don't want to do
this. How can I get out of it, hysterically, how can I get out of
it? I can't. Because if I don't do it, she's going to die and
that's going to be even worse. I'm going to be responsible for a
death one way or the other. And this one stood by me, that one I
didn't even know.
"My father lost his job and my parents were going to be
divorced and that all happened within a matter of days, and we
were going to leave the country and Pauline was ill. I just knew
she was throwing up after every meal."
Bulimia? "I'm not going to put a name to it. I just know
that she was throwing up regularly after most meals, and I
believed that if I did not do what I did she would take her own
life. I'm not putting words in her mouth. All I will say is this
is what I believed.
"I mean certainly we were good friends, but it was a debt of
honour. It wasn't a great 'I can't live without you' business
that these idiotic movie makers are making out of it."
Could she not have told her parents about the dilemma? The
question provoked an angry tone. "Come on. My father's just lost
his job and his wife. And she was in a state of distress as well.
And we've only got a few days to. ... (stet ellipsis) I suppose I
was absolutely stunned."
Following her release from prison, she returned to England
and eventually obtained a visa to the United States, where she
worked as a saleswoman, a limousine dispatcher and a flight
attendant. Twenty-six years ago, she converted to the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is still an active Mormon.
Attempts to distinguish between right and wrong preoccupy
her writing. A sense of persecution threads through her
conversation, and expressions of remorse are not volunteered.
But she says she accepted responsibility for her deed after a few
months in prison and "worked through all that." She has not seen
or heard from Pauline since the trial ended. "I wish her well,"
she said, "but I have nothing to say."
Miss Perry has appeared on the "Today" show and was
interviewed for "People" magazine. She notes that she turned down
Oprah Winfrey and "60 Minutes." This month, she is to start a
23-city tour of the United States to promote her new novel
"Traitor's (sic) Gate."
Her publicity agents at Fawcett Columbine have sent out
press packets with clippings, an updated biography and a list of
13 suggested questions, including "How did you put your life back
together after leaving prison?" A cover letter promises that she
is "ready to discuss her past and her future as well as her new
book."
The marketing of Miss Perry as someone who has "courageously
faced the world and shared her painful story" raises the usual
questions about exploiting notoriety for gain. But Miss Perry
insists that her own motives are pure.
"The reason that I'm sticking my head over the parapet at
all is that other people have made such a noise," she said. "It
never occurred to me that 40 years on, something that had been
dealt with and paid for, that anybody would care anymore. It's
like somebody rushing in with the news that Queen Anne is dead.
For Pete's sake, is there anybody who didn't know? I really
didn't think it would surface again so long afterward. And if it
did, it would be, you know, so what?"
Lead photo caption: Anne Perry, a writer of mystery novels who
helped kill a friend's mother when she was 15, in Portmahomack,
Scotland, where she lives.
Second photo caption: Pauline Yvonne Parker, left, and Juliet
Marion Hulme, now Anne Perry, before their murder trial in 1954.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.9.2 Gristwood, Australian Women's Weekly 1995/03. [sb]
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Gristwood, Sarah.
The Australian Women's Weekly, March 1995. pp. 18-21. [sb]
"Haunted by my Horrible Past"
"Jailed at 15 for her part in a brutal murder, author Anne Perry
thought her secret was safe..."
Anne Perry had waited 35 years for the blow to fall. She
should have been going about her usual business--writing best-
selling crime novels, gardening and walking the dogs around the
tiny Scottish fishing village where she lives. Instead, she was
trying to cope with the devastating effects of one phone call.
A journalist had been on the line, her agent told her, with
a crazy story about a film, "Heavenly Creatures", being made
about an old murder case, and how one of the teenagers involved
had grown up to become Anne Perry. But, of course, there couldn't
possibly be any truth in it. Yes, there was, Anne said.
The bare facts are that on June 22, 1954, as a 15-year-old
in New Zealand, she colluded with a friend to murder the friend's
mother. She served a prison sentence, was released with a new
name at the age of 21--and went on to build a fresh life and
career.
Only in the past few years have Anne Perry's historical
mysteries reached the US best-seller lists. But that fame makes
an explosive combination when you mix with it a notorious murder
story--all the more fascinating because, even today, no-one,
probably including Anne Perry herself, can really explain it.
"I've done my best to put it out of my mind," Anne says. "Once
you have admitted that you are at fault, have said, 'I'm sorry,
I'm utterly, totally sorry, without excuse,' and paid your price,
then you have to put it behind you. You have to let it go."
[snip "Creatures" description]...and it's hard to match the
person Anne is today with what she once did. How two bright
girls, from families no more troubled than any others, came to
kill was the great question of the time.
Headlines around the world shrieked "Gym Tunic Murderesses"
and "Teen Passion Flares." At the trial, the argument was about
whether they were bad, as the prosecution claimed, or mad. The
verdict and sentence, in the end, reflected what was seen as
"folie a deux"--two girls who were dangerous together; apart, the
girls may well have grown to a trouble-free adulthood.
//
Anne Perry was born Juliet Hulme in the London suburb of
Greenwich, on October 28, 1938. Her astronomer father worked at
the Royal Observatory and later, during the war, held a senior
position at the Admiralty. Juliet was only eight when, on medical
advice after contracting pneumonia, she was sent to New Zealand
to stay with another family. It was two years before her parents
joined her.
"The effect on me was disorienting, but my mother sent me
away with great anguish. She'd already heard one doctor say, when
I was six, that he would come back to sign my death certificate
in the morning. One of the things that hurt me most was the way
they painted her at the time of the trial," Anne says.
She was 10 when her father was appointed rector (sic) of
Canterbury University College in Christchurch. The Hulmes lived
in the university-owned house, Ilam, with its famous gardens, and
mixed with the top strata of local society. They were a
glamorous, liberal family--or they seemed so to Pauline Parker,
whose father owned a fish shop and whose mother took in boarders.
The two girls met at Christchurch Girls' High School, and a close
friendship was formed.
Before long, Pauline was spending much of her time with the
Hulmes, even writing in her diary of Dr. Hulme as "Father". With
Juliet, she created a vivid imaginary world, peopled by "saints",
such as singer Mario Lanza and actor James Mason, with "temples"
in the garden of Ilam, in which to bury "dead ideas." The
friendship grew if anything more exclusive when Juliet was taken
out of school with tuberculosis. It was "a strange and lonely
time," Anne says now.
Kate Winslet, the actress who spent months trying to get
inside Juliet's mind for the film, says: "Because of being sent
so far away, Juliet never had a home base, a family she could
invest everything of herself in. To me, she was like a child
stiffening its lip, determined not to cry. I think she was
constantly afraid of being on her own."
Separation and loneliness were just what the girls were
threatened with. In the summer of 1954, the Hulmes' marriage was
breaking up and Juliet was to leave New Zealand. Pauline, of
course, was to stay. But the girls convinced themselves they
could go abroad and make a life together--if only Pauline's
mother were not in the way.
Pauline was ill with what to modern ears sounds like
bulimia. "She was literally wasting away," Anne says. "I was
afraid that she was seriously ill to the point where she might
not survive. I felt that I was deserting her. I believed at the
time that her survival depended on her coming with us.
"I don't want in any way to implicate or blame her. I heard
the other day that she's made a success of her life, but I have
had no contact with her from that day to this. But she wished me
to join her in this act and I believed that if I did not she
would take her own life. I sincerely believed that her life was
in the balance. Crazy as this sounds, I thought it was one life
or the other. I just couldn't face the thought of being
responsible for her dying. And I made a very foolish choice."
It is no use pressing Anne for details of the event, or of
the mood which blew up between the girls in the space of a few
frantic days.
"I've completely blocked it out. All I can say is that it
was violent and quick." But contemporary reports told how--in the
context of an apparently normal day filled with shopping and
household chores--the two girls went with Pauline's mother to a
Christchurch park. They had tea, went for a walk--and Pauline
used the half brick provided by her friend to hit her mother
repeatedly over the head.
"I never thought I would get anything out of it," Anne says.
"I was 15, I was ill, and I had been out of circulation with
people because of this chest ailment--for which I'd been treated
with drugs that have since been withdrawn because they do tend to
warp the judgement. I would like to think this was to some extent
responsible, but obviously I was an accomplice. I was party to
this act, and I never pretended otherwise."
The pair were arrested within 24 hours, after police found
diaries in which Pauline wrote of their plan for "the moider."
The spoof spelling, some theorists have since thought, may
suggest that the killing was unreal to the two who did it--a game
that went wrong, another fantasy. But read out in court--and
misinterpreted, says Anne--the diaries were damning. The defence
could only, unsuccessfully, plead insanity. "I don't think the
reason for what we did ever came out," says Anne, who has
probably never heard some of the other theories pundits have been
forming since.
"After three months' solitary confinement I was sent 'at Her
Majesty's pleasure' to the toughest place of incarceration in the
country. I was the only child there. I've chosen not to remember
a great deal of it, because you can't survive if you do. It was
40 years ago. I have done everything I can to live as good a life
as I know how since then. To the best of my belief, I am doing
nobody any harm, and as much good as I am able to."
Anne left New Zealand immediately after her release, in
November 1959, to join her mother in Britain. For the next 15
years she worked in secretarial jobs and as an air hostess,
spending time in the US. She never married, "though I came near
to it once or twice," but stayed close to her family.
She had been trying to write for 12 years before her first
book was published in 1978. Since then, she's become far better
known abroad than in Britain. It's partly because of that fame,
of course, that the trouble began. All the same, the question
that has to be put is whether, after 40 years, Anne's identity
need ever have been discovered but for "Heavenly Creatures."
"Yes," says director Peter Jackson.
In New Zealand, interest in the story never went away.
Almost every year there's a newspaper story. There's been a great
resurgence in the past five or six years, as the 40th anniversary
approached: a book, a play, and five or six other prospective
films."
//
Jane Campion, director of "The Piano," and Dustin Hoffman's
production company are just two of the film-makers who showed
interest. "Deciding to do the film when we did may, at least,
have stopped something more unsympathetic being made," says
Peter--a bearded, friendly man whose film "Heavenly Creatures"
has won great reviews in the US and a Venice Film Festival prize.
"What was important was to make the film as fairly as possible,
not taking sides in any way. There is no simple explanation. I
think it was very much a fatal attraction."
Peter also points out that Anne Perry's former identity was
rapidly becoming an open secret among New Zealand literati. "When
a play about the case was put on in Wellington two years ago, the
team went round to everyone who had known her, and there was one
woman who said, 'I can't talk to you because I'm still writing to
Juliet.' But she let something slip at the party after the
premiere--and from then on, it was a ticking clock."
The story spread, but Peter prayed it wouldn't become
public--at least, not in connection with his film: "But so many
people knew."
The same journalist who had called London contacted him. He
spent an hour trying to persuade her not to run the story. "I
said, 'They're not Nazi war criminals. They don't deserve to be
hunted down.' I was appalled. It makes me feel incredibly
guilty."
How does Anne Perry feel, now that the initial shock has
begun to die? Through the years, she has told the truth about her
past at salient points: to the American immigration authorities,
who granted her a full visa after hearing the trial transcripts,
and to the Mormon church in the US, which she joined when she was
in her 20s.
"I think all Christian faiths will say that if you have paid
the price and you have truly repented, there is forgiveness," she
says. "I've found the most incredible support. I haven't had one
person turn away. Everybody has said, 'You were a child, that was
40 years ago, we are right with you.'
"It shows you the kind of people they are. That basic
goodness can just move you to tears. I've been truly, emotionally
overwhelmed. I didn't know there were so many compassionate,
honourable and decent people around."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.9.3 Wickens, Maclean's 1995/03/27. [jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Wickens, Barbara.
Maclean's, March 27, 1995. p. 61. [jp]
"Haunted by homicide"
**The article (in the "Books" section) contains a number of
factual errors, but there are some new quotes from Anne Perry and
one new fact: Walter Perry was originally from Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada. Anne Perry also refers to him as "Bill Perry."
[jp]
Quotes and extracts from the article:
"It was just six years ago that I made enough money from my
writing to finally pay income tax."
Anne Perry says that her 83-year-old mother, who lives near
her, "has suffered very much."
Her publishers offered to release her from the book
promotion tour. "I very nearly stayed home, but I've got to
either stay in hiding for the rest of my life, or go through this
and come out the other side."
She seems mystified by the interest in her past: "I thought,
'After 40 years, who cares?' The Berlin Wall has come down,
Communism has fallen, the whole world has changed since then."
Her voice becomes edgier when she notes that because she was
a minor, she was not allowed to testify at the trial. Adding to
her frustration is the fact that the prosecution's case (like the
movie) was based largely on the diaries of Pauline. "I don't know
how you can use one person's diary as evidence of another
person's behaviour." She added that such scribblings are wide
open to misinterpretation. For instance, she said that Pauline
referred to seeing "'George in the night.' I believe that in
North America the equivalent is 'the john,' but the prosecution
tried to make out that she had a lover."
Her greatest scorn is reserved for those who insist she has
shown no remorse. A proper, almost brusque, Englishwoman, she is
indeed no meek penitent. But she insists "the misrepresentation
is pretty high--I always expressed remorse."
Perry writes in longhand and works six days a week. She
plans to publish historical fiction in addition to her mysteries,
including a novel set during the French Revolution.
*SNIP HERE*******************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 14/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
John D. Porter
*****************************************************************
"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 15/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7.10 Extended biographies.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.10.1 Hulme, Dr Henry Rainsford. [jp,sb,lfr,mk,G&L,ad]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
**The material omitted from Dr Henry Hulme's official biographies
is as interesting, important and potentially as informative as
the material contained in them. The reasons behind these
omissions may be complicated and difficult to unravel, however--
this is a real man's life, not a neat work of fiction.
"Who's Who" entries are published only after being solicited by
the publisher (in many circles, a sign that one has 'arrived'
socially) and they contain information provided by the subject
(but verified by the publisher). Complete omission of all
personal information from a "Who's Who" listing is not unknown,
though it is not common. However, selective omission of
legitimate family members is unusual, particularly if those
omitted are legitimate children though, again, it is not unknown.
Including the names of divorced spouses is common practice,
especially if there were children born in the marriage.
Dr Henry Hulme's first "Who's Who" entry was in 1974, the year
following his retirement from Aldermaston at age 65. It might be
expected that he would take this opportunity to create a full and
lasting public record of his life, his family and his
accomplishments, since many people take retirement as an
opportunity for reflection and summing up of their life. It was
an opportunity for him to make a formal, public statement about
what was important and who was important in his life.
Whether or not Dr Henry Hulme would have modified his "Who's Who"
entry today, with his second wife now dead and his daughter's new
identity revealed, we shall never know. If there had been an
estrangement between Dr Hulme and his daughter, Juliet/Anne, in
the past--and there are certainly grounds to believe there was--
there is also reasonable evidence (see 7.10.2) that father and
daughter had reconciled and were not strangers at the time of Dr
Hulme's death in 1991. [jp]
Who's Who 1990 [92N has death notice. jp]:
Personal:
born 9 Aug. 1908, [Southport, England. ad][died 8 Jan. 1991.
jp]. Son of James Rainsford Hulme and Alice Jane Smith.
Married 1955 Margery Alice Ducker [died ca. 1990. jp],
daughter of late Sir James A. Cooper, KBE, and of Lady
Cooper.
Education:
Manchester Grammar School; Gonville and Caius College,
Cambridge; University of Leipzig. BA (Math Tripos) 1929;
Smiths' Prizeman, 1931; PhD (Cambridge) 1932; ScD
(Cambridge) 1948. Fellow of Gonville and Caius College,
Cambridge, 1933-38.
Professional:
Chief Assistant Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 1938-45; on
loan to Admiralty during WW II [Director of Naval
Operational Research by War's end. jp]. Scientific Adviser
Air Ministry, 1946-48.
Position:
Chief of Nuclear Research, Atomic Weapons Research
Establishment, 1959-73, retired.
Publications:
on Mathematical Physics and Astronomy in learned journals.
[Hulme, H.R. and Collieu, A. McB., "Nuclear Fusion," Wykeham
Publications, London, 1969. jp]
Recreations: various.
Address:
[snip] near Basingstoke, Hants. U.K. [south-central, near
Aldermaston and London. jp]
**Other biographies:
Dr Hulme also has an entry in:
G.H. Scholefield, ed., "Who's Who in New Zealand," A.H.
& A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1951. [ad]
The entry contains several errors, but does mention his position
as Rector of Canterbury College, beginning in 1948, his marriage
to Hilda and the name of her father, Rev J Reavley, and also the
fact that the couple had one son and one daughter. The errors are
identical to those made by Glamuzina and Laurie in their book,
although G&L do not list this source in their Bibliography, only
"Who's Who."
There is also biographical data on Dr Hulme and information about
his career in New Zealand in:
Gardner, W.J., Beardsley, E.T. and Carter, T.E. (ed.
Phillips, N.C.), "A History of the University of
Canterbury, 1873-1973," Christchurch, University of
Canterbury, 1973. [ad]
where there is a brief C.V. for Dr Hulme as a footnote on p. 319:
Hulme, Henry Rainsford (1908-). Educ Manchester Grammar
School. Univs of Cambridge (MA,PhD,ScD) and Leipzig; Fellow
of Gonville and Caius College, 1931-7; lect in maths, Univ
of Liverpool, 1936-8; Chief Asst, Royal Observatory,
Greenwich, 1936-9; Admiralty Research, 1940-5; Director of
Naval Operational Research, 1945; Scientific Adviser, Air
Ministry, 1945-8; Rector CUC, 1948-54; subsequently Chief of
Nuclear Research, Atomic Weapons Research Establishment
(Aldermaston).
There are obvious errors in the dates of Dr Hulme's positions
early in his career, but the dates and titles of his academic and
his post-war positions (immediately preceding the position at
Canterbury University College) are probably correct because they
would have been of most relevance to the Search Committee for
Rector.
**Analysis of conspicuous omissions from Dr Henry Hulme's "Who's
Who" biography: [jp]
Personal:
Dr Hulme's marriage to and divorce from Hilda Marion Reavley in
1937, and his children from that marriage, Juliet Marion Hulme
and Jonathon Hulme, are missing from the entry. Since "Who's Who"
is really all about establishing family history and legacy, this
is a particularly significant omission. Hilda Marion Reavley came
from a socially-prominent family; her father, Rev J Reavley had
his own entry in "Who's Who," so Dr Hulme was forsaking
association with social prominence by denying his connection with
Hilda.
"Who's Who" does not list the names of children. The number of
children of each sex are listed with the corresponding parent,
however. So Henry Hulme's missing personal data would have
appeared in "Who's Who" as: m, 1937 Hilda Marion Reavley (marr.
diss. 195[4,5?]); one s, one d.
Hence, omitting H Marion Perry (nee Hilda Marion Reavley) from
his entry automatically omitted his son, Jonathon, and his
daughter, Juliet. His second marriage was childless, so this
omission robbed Dr Hulme of all mention of his heirs. The
negative impact on his legacy resulting from these omissions
obviously did not outweigh his desire to obliterate all record of
his marriage to Hilda Hulme from his official biography.
There is evidence that Dr Hulme reconciled with his daughter in
the years following his first "Who's Who" entry, made in 1974.
The entry was not changed over the years, however.
Professional:
Positions from PhD in 1932 and during 'Fellow of Caius College'
(1933-38) are missing. Being a 'Fellow' of a Cambridge College is
largely honorary, usually involving few real duties or
responsibilities. Hence, there may have been independent research
performed at Cambridge in this time, or work performed with other
scientists or other positions not deemed worthy of mention.
Scientifically, the thirties were heady, exciting days in
physics--quantum mechanics was flowering, statistical physics was
progressing rapidly, solid-state physics was developing into a
respectable field, astronomy was exploding with new discoveries.
We know that Dr Hulme was a brilliant mathematical physicist, so
these 'golden years' of modern physics must have been some of the
most exciting and satisfying of his career. Why were they glossed
over? The post-doc or post at Leipzig is probably early in this
period. A complete list of Dr Hulme's scientific publications
will help to clear up many of the uncertainties in the dates of
his academic/research appointments.
Glamuzina & Laurie state that Dr Hulme was a lecturer in
Mathematics at Liverpool from '36-'38 (p. 41), as does the C.V.
in "History of the University of Canterbury." This is probable,
though '46-'48 is also a possibility. One probable reason for
omitting the Liverpool post was simply that Dr Hulme met and
married Hilda Reavley in this period, '36-'38.
JMH was born in Greenwich, London on October 28, 1938, when Dr
Hulme was Chief Assistant at the Royal Observatory (1938-45).
[note: G&L state erroneously that JMH was born in Liverpool
(p.42). jp] Hilda Hulme testified that JMH was 'bomb shocked' in
1940-1, when she was two, during the London blitz, so the family
stayed together in Greenwich into the War and even into the
blitz.
Jonathon was born on March 22, 1944, at which time Hilda Hulme
suffered various serious health problems. It is possible that
these may have been exacerbated by wartime and personal stress,
and/or by post partum depression [note: my speculation, based on
Hilda Hulme's wording in testimony. jp] Hilda Hulme testified at
the trial that she was hospitalized after Jonathon's birth. She
also testified that Dr Hulme had to travel to America when JMH
was 5 3/4 years of age (i.e. ca August 1944). Finally, Hilda
Hulme testified that she was separated from JMH because of her
illness and "wartime conditions" and she also stated, once, in
testimony, that JMH spent time in the North of England during the
war.
So it would appear that the Hulme family stayed together in
Greenwich through much of the war, but that JMH was probably sent
away to live with another family for a period in the latter part
of 1944 when both Hilda and Henry Hulme were unable to look after
her. She may have been sent to a member of Hilda Hulme's family,
or to a member of Henry Hulme's family. During WW II, many
spouses and/or children were relocated to the British countryside
to avoid the blitzes on the big cities, so this was not an
unusual situation. Under ordinary circumstances JMH would have
started her schooling a month before her 5th birthday, in October
1943. Hence, during the period she was probably sent away up
North, late 1944, she would have been of school age.
JMH is described as a "former Liverpool schoolgirl" (part of the
'local/midlands' angle to the "Parker Hulme" murder that
attracted the attention of the Manchester Guardian editorial
staff), so it seems likely that JMH was sent to Liverpool at this
time. If Henry and Hilda Hulme met while he was a lecturer in
Liverpool, which seems likely, then JMH probably went to a member
of the Reavley family. [note: I would really like to get Rev J
Reavley's biography from Who's Who to fill in some of this
background. jp] It was approximately at this time, winter '44-
'45, that JMH became ill with bronchitis and then pneumonia
almost to the point of death. Was she away from her family at the
time? Is this also part of the connection between JMH's illnesses
and her resentment and blame and her mother's obvious guilt over
this illness?
Dr Hulme lists his occupation during 1946-48 as "Scientific
Advisor" to the Air Ministry. This was a feather in Dr Hulme's
cap but may have been equivalent to being an occasional
consultant, or it may have been a full Whitehall (London)
position. If it was only part-time then this also makes the
period 1946-48 a possible, though less likely time for Dr Hulme
to be a lecturer at Liverpool. [However, it should be noted that
most sources suggest Dr Hulme went to Christchurch direct from
the Air Ministry in London. sb]. JMH is sickly this whole time
and does not attend school, according to trial testimony, having
been removed from school between ages 6 and 8. She is sent to the
Bahamas in winter '45-'46, so she would not have lived long in
Liverpool. From the Bahamas, JMH is sent to New Zealand.
Note that the ScD(1948), in Dr Hulme's case, was probably a nod
from Cambridge given to an old boy for outstanding academic
contributions and/or achievements in his field (Mathematical
Physics). Coming only 12 years after his PhD, (which took him the
normal, for Britain, but still damn impressive 3 years) this is a
sign of extremely vigorous, successful academic work. Typically,
one is invited to put one's name up for consideration for this
degree, so it also signifies acceptance into an upper academic
clique. But the degree is not wholly symbolic or automatic
(unlike Cambridge MAs, which Dr Hulme was awarded automatically
upon paying his fee, but which he never even bothered to list,
except on his job applications) and it signifies that he was an
active, successful academic scientist. In fact, this kind of
productive activity and kudos from one's peers are as much
recognition as most active academic scientists aspire to in the
early-to-mid stages of their careers. Given the biographical
evidence suggesting Dr Hulme really did love his science
passionately, omission of this period and the recognition of the
science he performed is very significant to the eyes of a
practicing scientist. The omission would have been made at some
personal cost.
All positions between 1948 (Hulmes emigrate to NZ) and 1959 are
missing--there is no attempt to gloss over this obvious void in
Dr Hulme's curriculum vitae.
One obituary lists Dr Hulme in the post of Vice Chancellor of
University of Otago, NZ from 1948-52(?). This has been confirmed
to be an error--Henry Hulme never held this post [mk]. Dr Henry
Hulme is mentioned only in passing in the history of the
University of Otago, as the Rector of Canterbury University
College and with respect to financial policy in NZ universities.
Morrell, William Parker. "The University of
Otago: A Centennial History." U. of Otago
Press, Dunedin, 1969. p. 171. [mk]
Indeed, it seems unlikely there could have been a
Vice-Chancellorship at Otago at the time. (Incidentally, the
Vice-Chancellor, despite the title, is in fact THE executive
officer; the Chancellor is more of a ceremonial, figurehead
and/or chairperson of the board -type figure.) In 1948, the four
university colleges (Canterbury, Otago, Auckland and Victoria, at
Wellington) were parts of the single University of New Zealand
and that year, for the first time, full-time administrative
positions were advertised to run each one, all to be called
"Rector." The idea that he was VC at Otago comes from the
Guardian obit by some peer of the realm to whom, I would venture
a guess, Rector at Christchurch and Vice-Chancellor at Otago
would have been much of a muchness. (Not like confusing Oxford
and Cambridge, you understand). [sb]
Rector of Canterbury University College, Christchurch, NZ 1948-
54. A stunning omission, as the post of Rector is equivalent to
(Vice) Chancellor or President. This is as high as academic
administrative posts get at the level of an individual University
College. This includes the time period covered in "Heavenly
Creatures." Another argument for Dr Hulme having an academic post
at Liverpool is the Christchurch post, of course, because the job
requires experience in teaching, research and administration.
Press reports during the Hearing and Trial vary slightly but all
mention that Dr Henry Hulme "resigned" from this post. Jackson
has Dr Hulme state that he resigned in "Heavenly Creatures," more
than once. Glamuzina & Laurie mention a forced resignation
because of administrative friction and academic politics, citing
documentation which proves Dr Hulme was informed he would not be
supported by his faculty. A more complex and complete picture is
painted by "A History of the University of Canterbury" (see
7.10.1.1), but it cannot be the whole story. Anne Perry insists
in her NY Times interview, more than once, that her father "lost
his job."
We may conclude that Dr Hulme's resignation was not given
voluntarily. Although there was documented dissatisfaction and
unrest accumulated over Dr Hulme's career as Rector, the
Canterbury faculty may have taken the family scandal in the Hulme
household to be the last straw--ironically, the scandal probably
had little or nothing to do with JMH and PYP at all, but would
have been because of Walter Perry's involvement with Hilda Hulme
and his moving into the Hulme's house to live "as a threesome."
[Early drafts of the script state Henry was pressured to resign
because of this living arrangement. These scenes were not present
in the NAm release of the film. lfr]
The period 1955-59 did involve work that was extremely sensitive
to national security (see obituaries), so this particular
omission might be the omission of a careful, discrete career
administrator and consummate public servant.
**Official Obituaries.
Full obituaries in UK newspapers, and in The Times especially,
are reserved for prominent members of the social establishment.
By the time he died, Dr Henry Hulme had progressed up the social
ladder to be an almost-full-fledged member of the British social
establishment. Dr Hulme's prominence was due to his scientific
and administrative accomplishments, however, not because of his
family heritage. [note: This assessment was confirmed by Anne
Perry in her remarks to me (see 7.10.2.1) jp].
Henry Hulme had attended Manchester Grammar School--one of the
'officially-recognized' leading Public Schools. Today, it would
be called a 'magnet' school whose function was to siphon off the
absolute intellectual cream from Manchester and environs, drawing
from the community at large and not just from the monied elite.
Henry Hulme was not born into high privilege but he did work very
hard and very successfully--and, possibly marry--his way toward
it. His obituaries were written by his peers and reflect the
sensibilities of the society in which he moved at the time of his
death.
The tone and content of these pieces and, again, omissions from
them, are extremely fertile ground for interpretation and
analysis; every word will have been chosen carefully. Both of
these newspapers, for example, carried accounts of the trial and
both would have had files on Dr Hulme which would have contained
that material.
Neither obituary makes mention of Dr Hulme's parents, a sure sign
that the family had not been in the social elite. And neither
mentions his children. It's not uncommon to find obituaries of
the socially prominent which are simply catalogues of family
members present and past. Dr Hulme's obituaries go out of their
way to list his accomplishments, thereby justifying, to those who
would not have known him, his entry into the elite world of
people accorded full obituaries in the Times. Typical of such
pieces, especially for scientists, Henry Hulme's personal life is
relegated to a few aphorisms in a brief concluding paragraph.
**The Guardian piece was written by a Peer, Sir Samuel Curran,
who put in just enough 'insider' information to prove that he
knew Henry Hulme personally and, in his mind, well; this gives
Henry Hulme a posthumous seal of approval in wider Society at
large. Henry Hulme's wife Margery isn't mentioned at all--not
necessarily a snub, especially because she had died recently, and
because scientists traditionally tend to keep separate their
professional and personal lives. There is no mention of a
position at Liverpool, or of Christchurch. However, the piece
does mention a New Zealand post which Dr Hulme himself had
excluded from his 'official' C.V.--one of the 'insider' clues
and, as it happens, an error (see above). Another prominent
'insider' clue is the phrase 'In his company at home one
realized...' And yet another 'insider' clue is the degree to
which Henry Hulme's character traits, or at least those which
were deemed suitable for discussing in an obituary, are
intertwined with the descriptions of his career. [jp]
The Guardian, Wednesday January 23, 1991. p. 39.
"Scientist in the service of Aldermaston" by Sir Samuel Curran.
Henry Hulme, who retired in 1973 as Chief of Nuclear
Research at AWRE (Atomic Weapons Research Establishment), did not
fit the popular picture of a weapons scientist. His earlier
career helps to explain why his style seemed in some ways at odds
with his later activities.
Both at Manchester Grammar School and at Cambridge he showed
outstanding talent in Mathematics and mathematical physics. He
became Smith's Prizeman, gained his PhD and later ScD, and
subsequently pursued studies at Leipzig.
He was appointed to the Greenwich Observatory but for most
of the time he worked as a scientist on loan to the Admiralty, an
experience shared with many of the best UK mathematical
physicists. After the second world war, until 1948, he was
Scientific Adviser to the Air Ministry. Throughout he showed
himself equally at home in the world of academic science or
applied science.
After some years in New Zealand as Vice Chancellor of Otago,
he was lured by Sir William Penney into his small and brilliant
group of scientists and mathematicians at Aldermaston. There
Henry carved for himself a special niche as intermediary between
the experimental scientists and the mathematicians, ensuring the
best use of the best computers available.
In spite of his remarkable gifts he was always diffident in
manner. Nonetheless his transparent intellectual honesty and
lucidity of exposition made him an effective team leader. In the
later 1950s Britain advanced its hydrogen weapon capability at an
unrivalled rate. As in the second world war, so in AWRE, British
science showed the same talent and inventive capability. Even now
the public does not yet realise the awesome nuclear might that
Britain possesses. With Hulme we lose a truly creative thinker.
He was a man of many talents and deep learning. In his
company at home one realised the breadth of culture that he hid
behind a natural humility and reserve. He was at his best when he
was smoothing the path of young scientists, and giving them
something of his particular teaching gift for simplifying
problems.
**The Times obituary is anonymous, so it was not written
specially by a social luminary. That honour was bestowed on few,
and Henry Hulme's social position certainly didn't rank that kind
of treatment, according to the decision-makers at The Times, who
are particularly attuned to such things. In fact, Dr Hulme's
claims to the full obituary were tenuous enough for it to be
virtually all history lesson, which was used to explain in detail
why he should be accorded this honour.
The 'history lesson' in the piece is so obviously partisan,
scientifically informed and gung-ho British that it must have
been written by one of Dr Hulme's Aldermaston peers, perhaps in
response to a request by The Times obituary staff who may not
have had much positive material on file. The sentence that
essentially says Henry Hulme did valuable work, but he can't take
credit for everything is a dead giveaway that the piece was
written by a scientist who was part of the 'team effort' that
produced Britain's Hydrogen Bomb. And of particular importance in
terms of placing the official government seal of approval on Dr
Hulme is the phrase "he was respected and trusted by his
colleagues...". This also tells us, indirectly, that Dr Hulme had
no official secrets from his peers and says, in effect, the
government knew of his past and, particularly, the parts that
aren't listed here, and it still wishes to make it clear that he
was considered to be one of our own. It's an important statement.
The last sentence was probably added by obituary staff, because
it is curiously personal compared to the rest of the piece. [jp]
The Times (London), Wednesday January 23, 1991. p. 16.
"Henry Hulme"
Henry Rainsford Hulme, former chief of nuclear research, Atomic
Weapons Research Establishment, died on January 8, aged 82. He
was born on August 9, 1908.
The early part of the career of Henry Rainsford Hulme was
devoted to the study of mathematical physics allied to astronomy.
A former pupil of Manchester Grammar School, he was a fellow of
Gonville and Caius, Cambridge, and subsequently chief assistant
at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
At the beginning of the war the direction of his career
changed towards the more applied science required by first the
navy, then the air ministry, and finally in the British nuclear
warhead programme where he made a contribution of major
importance over a number of years.
The wartime development of the atomic bomb was based on
US/UK collaboration in which British scientists played an
important part. But this collaboration ceased in 1946 under the
terms of the US McMahon Act when Britain was forced to create its
own independent warhead development programme. This was
eventually based at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment,
Aldermaston. The initial development of a British atomic bomb was
quite successful but it was soon apparent that great advances
were being made in America, in particular with the H-Bomb concept
that was demonstrated in 1952. In the following year the Russians
claimed to have solved the H-Bomb secret and soon after their
announcement tested nuclear devices which gave some confirmation
of this claim.
It was clear that to maintain a British defence policy based
on a nuclear deterrent would make it necessary to establish a
capability in these more advanced types of warheads. In 1954 it
was decided that the AWRE should pursue with all possible speed
an appropriate research and development programme leading to the
development of a thermonuclear warhead capability. There was an
immediate need to strengthen the scientific work at the
establishment and in particular to attract staff of proven
ability who could make an immediate contribution to the
programme. Hulme was one such very successful recruit. When he
joined the programme in 1955 he was attached to the mathematical
physics team where his ability as a mathematician and his
profound grasp of physics enabled him to make an immediate and
very worthwhile contribution to the solution of the problems
involved.
The work at Aldermaston proceeded rapidly and in the
relatively short time of three years the successful nuclear
device tests at Christmas Island confirmed that the immediate
goal of a thermonuclear warhead capability had been achieved.
Hulme's contribution in the course of this work had been
outstanding. But in ventures of the magnitude and complexity of
this nature the overall credit for success must be shared between
many staff working in many fields.
In 1959 he was made chief of nuclear research at Aldermaston
until his retirement in 1973. In addition to the main work on the
warhead programme, for example, in the late 1950s, Hulme was able
to make important contributions in other programmes of research
at the AWRE. Of particular value was his work as a technical
adviser in the lengthy discussions preceding the negotiation of a
test ban treaty in 1963. The discussions threw up many problems
in the assessment of the effectiveness of systems of monitoring
nuclear explosions carried out underground, in the atmosphere or
even in space.
Hulme was a modest man with a ready wit and a great sense of
humour. He was respected and trusted by his colleagues and by his
staff to whom he was always prepared to listen, to encourage and
to inspire.
His wife, Margery, died recently.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.10.1.1 Extracts from "A History of the University of
Canterbury: 1873 - 1973"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Gardner, W.J., Beardsley, E.T. and Carter, T.E. (ed.
Phillips, N.C.), "A History of the University of
Canterbury, 1873-1973," Christchurch, University of
Canterbury, 1973. [ad]
**This book offers a fascinating glimpse of Christchurch history
and society and, in particular, of the tiny, stormy world-within-
a-world into which Dr Hulme and his family came and left their
mark.
The book is extraordinary (almost unbelievable, in fact) in its
tact and reserve and its intense introspection. I shall endeavour
to withhold comment as much as possible and let the reader draw
their own conclusions. "A History..." provides very useful
information about Dr Hulme, his career at Canterbury University
College, and a little about the environment of his new home.
Knowing the other material in this FAQ, there is actually a mine
of information buried between the lines of this book. CUC =
Canterbury University College in my comments below.
Of course, this is the part of Dr Hulme's life completely omitted
from his own biographical material.
** What was CUC like in 1948?
(From data on p. 432)
The College was almost completely contained in one square block
in downtown Christchurch, adjacent to Hagley Park. That year
there were 2534 registered students, 46% being full-time and the
rest part-time (chiefly night students employed in surrounding
businesses--there was a long tradition of educating part-time
students at night, so there was a big community involvement in
the College). There were 93 academic staff (approximately 85
full-time faculty and some 20 or so part-time staff, who were
counted as appropriate fractions in arriving at the staff total),
so departments were small, rather intimate organizations. There
were 17 professorial chairs; these were the big guns.
The community input to the College was through the Council, an
advisory body which contained lay representatives--i.e.
politically savvy, locally prominent and powerful members from
the traditional upper stratum and power ‚lite of Christchurch.
The College staff was represented by the Professorial Board;
these were Dr Hulme's academic peers. The Rector also answered to
the Senate, the governing body of the University, which was
composed of the four Colleges at that time. Christchurch was and
traditionally had been the smallest of the four Colleges in terms
of enrollment. Sentiment was (and had been for years) very
strongly in favour of independence of the College from the
University, and the Senate was viewed as a meddlesome anachronism
on the whole by CUC, necessary for funding and survival.
Christchurch was more than a 'college town' but CUC was
completely intertwined socially with the community, especially in
maters of education. College members served and had input into
education at all levels and, most especially, in CGHS and CBHS.
The ties between these schools and CUC were traditional and very
strong.
(pp. 412-3)
"The beginning of May [Capping Festival Week], the end of the
first term, was devoted to Revue, a student musical presented
with incredible vitality and frequent crudity, and the so-called
'procesh,' a bowdlerized bacchanalia of floats and tableaux,
which followed a route through the city lined with people and
watched by as many office workers as could force their way to a
window. ...[and] the so-called 'Avon Bike Race,' which started as
a wager between two students in 1949--an attraction where young
gentlemen in bathing trunks carried bicycle frames for a quarter
of a mile down the Avon accompanied by bedsteads, rafts, other
young gentlemen with all the appearance of victorious but ill-
disciplined rugby packs, and in later years young ladies scantily
dressed but inalienably genteel..."
(pp. 411-2)
"To the individual [assiciated with the College], press publicity
may have appeared on occasion a mixed blessing. The new teacher
arriving from England found that the intimate details with which
he had bolstered his application for a job had already appeared
in the daily press; his spontaneous rash generalisations on his
discipline or the land in which he found himself soon followed.
...the newspapers in many ways also reflected the ambivalence of
public opinion toward the University. the local pride was not
unmixed with envy and even resentment at the apparently
privileged position of the institution, its staff and students.
... Much of the University's activity--complex, highly
specialised, incommunicable to the general public--led to an
appearance of intellectual and social arrogance..."
** Dr Hulme's recruiting and arrival: (pp. 318-320)
"...a modest advertisement dated 30 May 1947 appeared in the
press of those countries of the Commonwealth peopled by British
stock: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the
United Kingdom. The advertisement read:
Applications are invited for the position of full-time
RECTOR. Salary 2,000 [pounds] per annum (New Zealand
currency). Schedule of duties, etc. obtainable from any
University or University College or from the
undersigned. Applications close in London on 15th
September, 1947.
C.C. Kemp, Registrar.
It was left to the Universities' Bureau of the British Empire to
sort out the applicants and make a recommendation. The Secretary
put forward the names of a couple of headmasters to go on the
selection committee [note: I can't help myself...just refer back
to all that material I included in the discussion of the
importance of School, published lists of 'Leading Headmasters'
etc. etc. jp] but Council [note: CUC Council. This is roughly the
'oversight' body which included (distinguished and politically
active) members from the general Christchurch community. jp]
considered it already sufficiently distinguished, consisting, as
it did, of a former Governor-General, two principals of British
Universities, two Cambridge dons and others. In Christchurch, the
Staff and Appointments Committee of Council, with the addition of
two members of the Professorial Board [note: As the name
suggests, composed solely of faculty. jp], also looked at the
list of applicants and came to the same conclusion as the
committee at the heart of the Empire. The name of Dr H.R. Hulme
was forwarded on 18 November to the University of New Zealand for
approval, which was granted only one week later. ...
Hulme and his family arrived in Christchurch on Saturday, 16
October 1948. He had just passed his fortieth birthday. There is
some evidence that Canterbury was just a little surprised at
attracting a man of his ability. From his record he had obviously
proved himself in research, teaching and administration. He was
described as "tall and rather angular in appearance, and in
conversation he is direct but not abrupt." All the comments
indicate that he was a pleasant, sympathetic person who expected
others to be as reasonable as he was. Beside the average New
Zealander, however, he came from a quite different tradition,
where he had been sheltered from contact with politicians and lay
intervention. In discussion he tended to put his feet up on his
desk or one leg over the arm of a chair--an American rather than
a colonial habit. [note: I would also say characteristic of post-
Great-War, Oxbridge, 'young turk' scientists from the heady
heyday of Oxbridge science. jp] This suggestion of informality
was perhaps not the strongest recommendation in a society which
required at meetings on warm days a formal request to the
chairman that gentlemen be allowed to divest themselves of their
jackets. This habit of Hulme's aroused annoyance not only in
Canterbury but at Senate [note: The oversight body for the whole
4-College University of New Zealand. jp] also, where it is said
that members used to run a sweepstake at meetings on the number
of times he would rise in his seat to express comments. But
social habits are not important unless other tensions are
present. Dr Hulme stepped into a complex situation which it is
not easy to summarize. There were, in essence, two triangular
patterns: the one domestic, the other national, bedevilled by
history, local habits and attitudes of mind."
** Dr Hulme's early career at CUC ('48-'50):
(p. 321)
"The Rector was lodged in the clock tower, about 200 yards away
[note: from the Registrar. jp] in what had been, until his
arrival, the Professorial Board room. [note: Displacing your
colleagues is never a good way to start, even if it is not of
your doing. jp] This now spacious rectorial office, with its
stained glass windows and wooden Venetian blinds, was another
legacy of the past." [And another burr under the saddle. jp]
(pp. 321-2)
"The management of the four schools controlled by the College
[note: including CGHS and CBHS. jp] passed to newly-formed Boards
of Governors under a Secondary Schools Council on 1 April 1949."
[note: This and other sweeping administrative changes at the time
led to a redefinition of duties for the Rector, who became chief
executive officer of the College. Hilda Hulme later became a
member of the Board of Governors for CGHS. jp]
(pp. 323-4)
[note: At the time of Dr Hulme's arrival, there was a battle
raging among the 4 Colleges of the University concerning the
location of prestigious academic disciplines, Departments and
Schools. To me, an outsider, these battles appear to have been
rooted in the worst kind of mindless, blind chauvenism and
provincial one-upmanship, fuelled by petty, longstanding, blood-
feud rivalries. Apparently, Dr Hulme must have seen the situation
in much the same terms. It was all deadly serious business to the
CUC community, however.
One such battle was fought over the School of Forestry. The
University Senate had voted in August 1948, before Dr Hulme's
arrival, to locate the School of Forestry at Auckland University
College. The CUC Council then proposed a motion to rescind that
resolution at the January, 1949 Senate meeting held in
Christchurch. jp]
"The motion for recission was defeated by 16 votes to 9; among
the 'noes' was Hulme. This vote cast a light both on the man and
the system. There is little doubt that he thought it was
dishonest to vote against his own insight and judgement; he
believed in a national good, even if this meant going against his
own Council and Board. Like most outsiders coming into the
university system he knew better. He was not prepared to put
local prestige before the good of the universities as a whole. It
was clear that duplication of university facilities in four
centres and constant parochial bickering were hampering rational
development... Whether one sees his vote as showing independence
and the courage of his convictions, or as intellectual arrogance,
it did not, in any event, help relations between him and the two
bodies with which he was connected in the College."
(P. 322)
"The chief executive officer must have the confidence of both the
Council and the Board. It is clear that within twelve months of
his arrival Hulme did not have the uncritical support of the
governing body." In the Council meeting of November 1949 where
the Rector's new duties were defined, "a question was asked
'whether or not there was any truth in the rumours that the
Rector, when visiting Wellington, had made statements concerning
the Council or individual members of the Council that were in any
way disloyal to the Council.' Hulme had to learn that not only
the College, but also Christchurch and the whole Dominion, was a
small place, where any aside or confidential comment was liable
to be fed promptly into the general grid of gossip."
** The middle years ('50-'52):
The College was one block south of the Riepers' home on
Gloucester St, and it consisted of one city block, bounded by
Worcester Blvd on the north, Montreal St on the east, Hereford St
on the south (the extreme west end of the same street where
Herbert Rieper worked at Dennis Brothers' Fish Supply) and
Rolleston Ave to the west, which was the border of Hagley Park.
Facilities were extremely cramped and frequently decrepit--the
library was an acute embarassment--and there was constant and
very long-standing dissatisfaction and frustration on the part of
the faculty and student body, both.
This was the atmosphere on Dr Hulme's arrival, which coincided
with the formulation of plans, spearheaded by the Engineering
School, to acquire property in the Ilam region on the outskirts
of the city for a new campus. Dr Hulme was an 'Ilamite', a strong
supporter of this idea. There was also national political change
in the air, but it would not turn out to be a financial windfall
for the University. Here is what "A History of..." has to say
about the political atmosphere:
(p.313)
"In 1949 New Zealand was a country which had gone through the
rigours of the depression, the sacrifices of a war fought in
remote lands and 14 years of Labour government; all had left
their mark." [note: For a rather different perspective, see G&L
Chapter 3. jp]
Which sounds like the conservative Christchurch community would
welcome the political changes to come. However, the ousted
Minister of Education, T.H. McCombs, had been a local boy and:
(p. 338)
"Canterbury has never enjoyed greater ministerial support than it
did from McCombs; although his period of office did not extend
for seven fat years, there were certainly seven lean ones to
follow."
** How lean were those years, 1950-52? (p.342)
"A lecturer provided his own toilet paper and, if he had any
pretensions to hygene, his own towel. As there were non-academic
staff who were protected by the Factories Act, the College
eventually supplied disinfectant soap. But a large part of the
economies was achieved at the expense of departmental equipment,
staffing, promotion and academic expansion. ... In fact, [1950-2]
was probably one of the most depressing times the College passed
through." Dr Hulme seems to have worked hard to alleviate this
suffering and bad morale, but the times were against him.
Inevitably, his shaky popularity became more eroded.
The space crunch was eventually alleviated by purchasing or
renting surrounding properties (mostly houses) and by erecting
pre-fab corrugated iron 'temporary huts'. For example, in late
1952, the Dept. of Education moved into the upper storey of a
large house at 28 Gloucester St, right across the road from the
Riepers, which had previously been used as a cerebral palsy
school. I wonder if Rosemary Parker had benefitted from the
displaced school, perhaps been seen informally by staff? Was this
one reason why she was institutionalized around this time,
because 'help' had gone? How would Honora have felt about CUC,
living surrounded by, but a world apart from, the University?
The Council, unanimously behind the concept of relocating to an
Ilam campus, had (p. 344) "as a first and firm gesture of
occupation, as early as 1950, encouraged Hulme, a strong Ilamite,
to move into what was meant to be the Rector's residence, the
Ilam homestead. ... Ilam was named by J.C. Watts-Russell (1825-
75), its first owner, who arrived in Lyttelton by the Sir George
Seymour on 16 Dec 1850. His family home in England was Ilam Hall
in the village of Ilam, five miles north-west of Ashbourne in
north Staffordshire. Watts-Russell, a wealthy ex-army officer,
made Ilam a centre of hospitality and entertainment for the ‚lite
of early Christchurch."
So the Hulmes did not spend all their time at Ilam, just the
final four years. This also explains why JMH started attending
Ilam School in 1950, and not before that. Ilam school was just
across the road from the Ilam Homestead, after all, but probably
nowhere near the home the Hulmes occupied before that [G&L missed
this point]. Later, after the Hulmes had left, Ilam was used as a
storage place for Library stock (if you can believe it!) for 14
years. During that time, student halls of residence were
constructed nearby. Eventually, in 1971, after renovations, the
Ilam homestead was reopened as the University Staff Club.
(p. 421)
"The Colombo Plan under which students selected by their
Government in South-East Asia were supported by the New Zealand
Government in their study at a university institution started in
1951. In 1953 there were over 60 overseas students ... 28% of
overseas students in New Zealand were at Canterbury."
(p. 414)
"Heckling and interruptions at the [graduation] ceremony got so
out of hand in 1952, when the students were found to have taken
control of the public address system and virtualy drowned Hulme's
speech, that in future doors were locked and a guard kept on the
theatre between the preparation in the morning and the arrival of
the guests in the afternoon. That was the year when a halo and
two doves descended above Bishop Warren's head and the Lincoln
students brought a goat out of the wings for a diploma. After
1953 the ceremonies tended to be solemn, tidy and expeditious."
Disaster and crisis struck in early 1953: (p. 344)
"While discussion smouldered, real fire struck the College. At
four o'clock in the morning of Friday, 13 February 1953, the
Registrar and the Rector were called to witness the fire which
had taken hold of the most recent permanent building the College
had acquired, admittedly over a quarter century before." (I would
love to see PYP's complete diary entry for February 13, 1953.) It
was a mess and the loss was huge. Departments were scattered to
the winds in constantly-shifting 'temporary' accommodation which
was to last for 5 years, all told. College politics and back-
biting rose to a frenzy--the two factions were supporters of Ilam
relocation, and supporters of aggressive central-site
redevelopment.
Merchants, naturally, were opposed to relocating the College and
all its staff, faculty and students, to a remote site and the
whole issue became a local political cause celebre and the stuff
of newspaper articles, a flurry of letters to the editor and, on
20 October 1953 a 'lively' public meeting. The matter was even
debated for an entire hour in the New Zealand Parliament on 4
November 1953. Dr Hulme could not have escaped intense criticism;
after all he was supposed to be at the helm and in-house matters
were becoming far too public and out-of-control.
** Some interesting little tid-bits embedded in the 'move to
Ilam' controversy:
The School of Fine Arts had been located in the 'Ross House'
site, on the corner of Gloucester St and Montreal St, a few doors
down from the Rieper's home on the same side of the street. At
the end of 1949 the School of Fine Arts was relocated to the Ilam
site, the first department there. So when the Engineers finally
moved out to Ilam, they (p. 348) "joined the School of Fine Arts.
'Join' is perhaps not the right word, for they were separated by
some 150 yards of paddock, by courses, by interests and
frequently, as far as one could judge, by sex." So Pauline and
Juliet were also, quite literally, connected by proximity to Fine
Arts in real life, and by young women artists who they couldn't
help but have noticed and interacted with. And the paddocks were
right across the road from Ilam ... this must have been where the
pair would go for their secret midnight rides (cf. G&L p. 69).
See what I mean about buried nuggets?
There is more: On 9 Sept 1950, the College lost a battle over the
vacated Ross House site and lost control of the property. (p.
349) "The area was asphalted as tennis courts for the Girls' High
School, in terms of real estate the most expensive (as well as
the most ugly) courts in the city." See 3.1.5.2.
Soon after his arrival, in the meeting of Council of October
1948, Dr Hulme proposed establishing differential salaries; now
this is an American type of idea. (pp. 361-2) "The intention was
to retain or attract good senior staff. The idea was accepted by
Government" and was incorporated into new salary scales announced
in October 1949. "The staff was sharply divided. Even the iciest
academic detachment tends to thaw when salaries are involved...
The Canterbury branch of the Association of University Teachers
had four [!] heated and packed meetings in the first fortnight of
October. ... The Councils of Victoria and Auckland refused to
have anything to do with the scheme. The Canterbury Council, with
considerable hesitation, eventually augmented the salaries of 13
professors, 1 assoc. prof. and 11 senior lecturers. Hulme lost
the support of at least one member of staff who had confidently
assumed he would be amongst that number. The differentials
vanished with the next salary settlement. There is no evidence
that they improved the quality of the staff, but they did leave
bad blood."
** Dr Hulme's later career at CUC ('52-'54):
(p. 362)
"It must be remembered that the Rector ... had few means of
patronage available, nor had he any of the politician's skill or
interest in using it."
(p. 363)
"Amidst the trivia of College management and academic process,
the hints of criticism of the Rector kept recurring. At a Council
meeting in January 1949, for example, he was publicly snubbed by
the chairman [over the issue of paying expenses of faculty
attending conferences] ... who concluded by wishing that the
Rector had discussed the matter with him first. There are
instances of even more open criticism, whether just or not. ...
[For example Hulme] was not with the group of three Council
members which confronted the Minister of Education in November
1952."
(p. 363)
"The point was reached where a small group of Council members met
the Rector before he left to represent Canterbury at the 1953
Congress of the Association of Universities of the British
Commonwealth, urging him to look for a post in the United
Kingdom. On his return, in September, he was in an even more
difficult position, standing between an alienated Professorial
Board and a Council which no longer heeded his advice. A
technical impropriety in communicating a Professorial Board
report on building to some members of Council led to the Board
debate which preceded his resignation on 4 March 1954. A domestic
tragedy which struck soon after the official farewell ceremony in
the College hall on 3 June 1954 must have made his final days in
New Zealand very bitter."
[note: What an extraordinary and important paragraph. My
longstanding suspicion that the 1953 trip was a senior-level job
hunt are confirmed here. My best guess would be that Dr Hulme
sought a position heading a Cambridge College--Gonville and Caius
would be a logical starting point for a search... And if anyone
believes the 'technical impropriety' story they should be given a
good slap. I smell WAB Perry all over that meeting... And, as for
the reference to 'domestic tragedy'--words fail me. jp]
(pp. 363-5)
"It is difficult, perhaps not even fair, to attempt to pass
judgement on that first full-time rectorate and to assess how far
the friction arose from personal causes and how far it was
inherent in the time and the place. It was a small college, in a
small community which, in spite of its deceptive similarity to
the British pattern, had developed traditions, assumptions and
habits of thought and action which were just as firm and taken
for granted as the traditions, assumptions and habits in places
where English was not the native language.
Hulme certainly involved himself in the activities of the
College, mixing with both students and staff. At morning tea,
unlike his successors, he would frequently drop in to the Senior
Common Room to talk to people. On one occasion, when a lecturer
applied to him for a bookshelf for his office, to avoid the
elaborate waste of paper and discussion through the usual
channels, he simply went into town at lunch-time and bought one
at an auction. Because there was no room in the Library, he threw
open the gardens round his home at Ilam to students just before
the examinations and served them with lemonade. As one person has
said, 'he was a charming conversationalist, a man with a profound
appreciation of music, a person of intense outflowing sympathy, a
man whom none could really dislike.'
But in the larger context Hulme was on the one hand subject
in the Council to a lay body, toward some members of which he
could intellectually feel at best affectionate contempt. On the
other hand, he was caught up as primus inter pares in the
politics of a very closed society, the teaching staff, with its
personal animosities and disciplinary allegiances. In these two
areas, which touched only tangentially and demanded different
skills and habits of mind, there were two major developments to
live with: in one--the Ilam solution [to overcrowding]--he saw
eye to eye with the Council, though not necessarily with his
colleagues on the Professorial Board, but in the other he stood
almost alone. [This was the concept of a rationally-planned
federal university system, to avoid duplication and wasting of
resources. jp] He had too much commonsense and too little of the
politician to place Canterbury's interests above those of the
University as a whole. ...
But to stress Hulme's views on the federal universities is
to stress a principle which in itself did not lead to
resignation. It was the particular and local which brought that
about. He came at a low ebb of Government patronage, a period of
exasperation and irritability at the absence of progress in
university affairs. As we have seen, it was precisely in the year
when he left that money started to flow on capital expenditure.
While it is only just to emphasize the financial stringency of
the period, it would be wrong to see Hulme as a sacrificial
victim. His personal qualities played a part and it is possible
that he lacked a sufficient ruthlessness. ... We may assume
perhaps that virtues which made him eminently suitable for, and
successful in, positions of high responsibility in Britain, were
a disadvantage in the highest executive officer of the College at
that time."
** How does CUC view Dr Hulme in hindsight?
(p. 431)
"Certainly a great rift divides the College from the University.
It must be located somewhere in the decade after the Second World
War. In that time, Hight and other professorial giants of the
inter-war years passed from the scene... In the same period, the
first full-time Rector came and went, unhappily vindicating the
warning uttered by Hight nearly 30 years before that
the selection of men unfamiliar with local needs and
conditions might result in ill-designed experiment ...
delicate questions of authority and discipline would arise,
difficult to settle and bound to deter rather than foster
the development of healthy corporate feeling..."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.10.2 Perry, Anne. (aka Hulme, Juliet Marion) [jp,se,ms,mkf]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
**Soon after Anne Perry became a commercially-successful author,
she was invited to provide biographical information for
"Contemporary Authors," the authoritative compilation. No doubt
the invitation was immensely satisfying for her. In many ways
this must have been, for Ms Perry, the equivalent of her father's
admittance into "Who's Who." Her entry is an honest, reasonably
frank and even brave one, with understandable omissions, some
clever smokescreens, no falsehoods and an interesting interview.
In hindsight, the trail from Juliet Hulme to Anne Perry became an
easy one to follow with the publication of this biography--had
she omitted just a few details in the 'personal' section (e.g.
omission of birth day and city, use of initials for parents,
omission of their occupations) she would have made the task much
more difficult. The trail was clearly marked, but no-one took it
up officially for another fourteen years. Apparently, this trail
was an open secret among antipodean literati, which makes Lin
Ferguson's tracking down of Anne Perry less of an accomplishment
than it has been painted.
Of course, it was impossible for Anne Perry to mention her
father, Henry Hulme, or her brother, Jonathon, in her official
biographical data and still retain her anonymity. Now that her
past has been unmasked to the public, she is free to update her
biography as she sees fit. I rather suspect that Ms Perry will
take this opportunity to place her father back into her family
tree once again.
I don't know enough about her brother to make a guess whether or
not she will include him in her biography. He has been completely
absent from her dedications, the only immediate family member
afforded this treatment. [jp]
From: Locker, Frances C., Ed., "Contemporary Authors," vol 101,
pp. 370-371, 1981. Gale Research Co., The Book Tower, Detroit,
MI 48226. [and additions to update data. jp]
Personal:
Born October 28, 1938 in London, England.
Daughter of Walter A.B. Perry (an industrial engineer) and
H. Marion Perry (a teacher of the mentally handicapped;
maiden name, Reavley).
Education:
Educated privately.
Politics:
Liberal. [note: This is a Party, not a philosophy. jp]
Religion:
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon).
Career:
Airline stewardess in Northumberland, England, 1962-64;
Assistant buyer for department store, Newcastle, England,
1964-66; [resident of California 1967-72] Property
Underwriter for Muldoon & Adams in Los Angeles, California;
writer 1972 -; volunteer driver for hospital automobile
service.
Writings: (see 7.11)
Other:
Also contributor of a chapter to a book on the history of
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the British
Isles, Cambridge U. Press.
Addresses: [snip outdated addresses]
Sidelights:
"My major interest is in conflict of ethics," Anne Perry
told CA, "especially involving honesty with one's self, which is
why the Victorian scene, with its layers of hypocrisy, appeals to
me. My other favorite periods are the Spanish Inquisition and the
French Revolution, because of the question of free agency and the
use of force to make others believe as we do, in what we believe
to be their best interest.
"I am not sure what motivates me; a fascination with people,
motives, the belief that the written word is the means by which
we can give something of ourselves, hopefully the best of our
pleasures and our beliefs, to everyone else who can read, in any
country, and in the present or the future. My own joy in reading,
and the wealth gained, has been immeasurable. The world never
stops growing, becoming more complex and more marvelous to one
who can read.
"My working habits? I am compulsive. I usually work at least
some part of every day, except Sunday, frequently all day, if I
have an idea burning a hole in my head.
"Other writers who have influenced me are a little old
fashioned, I'm afraid. I have always loved G.K. Chesterton, his
prose and his poetry. "The Man Who Was Thursday" is so far my
favorite single book, for its lyricism, humor and message that we
all face the same battles, but to overcome when believing
yourself alone, simply because you care so much, is the ultimate
victory. I also admire Oscar Wilde for wit, style, observation,
and in short stories especially, his compassion. Dostoyevsky,
too, for his brilliant understanding and, again, compassion, and
Josephine Tey for her style."
From: Henderson, Leslie, Ed., "Twentieth Century Crime and
Mystery Writers," 3rd ed., Twentieth Century Authors Series, St.
James Press, Chicago, 1991. [jp]
Anne Perry Comments:
I see mysteries as stories of what happens to people and
communities under the pressure of fear and suspicion, especially
the violent changes in perceptions and relationships brought
about by investigation.
I enjoy the Victorian period because of its dramatic
contrast between upstairs and downstairs, manners, morals, the
splendour and squalor so close to each other, the value of a
reputation. There are so many understandable motives for crime,
social ills, injustices, many of which are with us today, albeit
in transmuted form. And I think long gowns, fog, hansom cabs etc.
are fun! I hope my stories reflect expressions, emotion, social
comment--and enjoyment.
"The Writer" 1991, 1993 issues have articles on & interviews with
Anne Perry. [mkf,se]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.10.2.1 Anne Perry's public appearances. [jb,jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dayton, Ohio Feb. 30 1995 [jb]--When asked to comment on the
observation that the Pitt series has always focused on real
social problems, but now increasingly mentions "The Inner
Circle," she said that "Traitors Gate" deals with "loyalty which
other people can't understand, and being judged by others for not
living up to their expectations." She also spoke of the Monk
series as dealing with, "being judged for actions which you
honestly can't remember."
Corte Madera, California, March 29, 1995 [jp]--Anne Perry made a
stop here on her recent book tour. Corte Madera is an affluent
bedroom community in Marin County, located on the northern shore
of San Francisco Bay. The audience was polite, attentive, well-
informed and mostly women, of all ages; I was one of about twenty
men in an audience of about 150. I sat about ten feet from the
small lectern at which Anne Perry spoke and answered questions.
Ms Perry arrived exactly on time and was given a warm
reception. Despite her gruelling schedule up and down the West
coast, she appeared well-rested and energetic. She is still a
slim, attractive woman with striking features and the confident
bearing which caught the attention of the press forty years ago--
I would refer FAQ readers to the contemporary news accounts (and
even academic papers) that made extensive reference to Juliet
Hulme's appearance. Her eyes are, indeed, grey-blue and her brows
are particularly expressive and animated when she speaks.
Anne Perry's accent is just north of Kate Winslet's and
about an octave lower but, otherwise, Ms Winslet's delivery
extrapolated a few years would be quite close to Ms Perry's. Anne
Perry speaks with precision and reads aloud with flair and
considerable polish, if a little softly. We were to find out that
she reads all of her manuscripts aloud, to friends and
neighbours, during the revision and editing stages of her
writing, which is all done in longhand, still.
My overall impression of Ms Perry from her public persona is
that she is gracious, certainly not retiring, and she is
extremely bright and quick, with a formidable intellect. I am
quite sure she does not suffer fools gladly. For the benefit of
any teachers reading this, Ms Perry has that extra, hard-to-
define spark and fire in her eye that all teachers search for in
their brightest students. Teachers will know what I mean.
This evening, Ms Perry began by reading a passage from her
latest novel "Traitors Gate" to steady her 'butterflies' and get
warmed up. The passage described a conversation between two of
her characters. They were discussing the late father of one and
his possible connection with an 'Inner Circle' of politically
powerful members of the establishment who were engineering
economic conquests abroad. The passage came to a suitably
dramatic close, with the two vowing to get to the bottom of the
mysteries surrounding the man's death and the 'Inner Circle', and
Ms Perry stopped reading, to considerate applause. It was easy to
see she was comfortable; her returning smile was genuine and
relaxed.
She took off her glasses and set them aside, and asked for
questions. She had been reading for about ten minutes and, in
all, she would answer questions and discuss points with the
audience for another hour, and then hang around to sign books for
nearly an hour after that. Quite a trouper, but it's also a good
measure of how much she was enjoying herself.
I asked the first question: "I am a scientist, so naturally
I'm very interested in your father's influence on your work. I'm
familiar with his career--he was certainly a very prominent and
influential scientist--and it almost sounds as if you could have
been describing him in your passage..." At this point we traded
comments and information about her father and his career, and we
eventually zeroed in on a more exact description of his
accomplishments and his standing in the community.
Given what I had learned of Henry Hulme's history, and the
considerable evidence for his lengthy and possibly bitter
estrangement from his daughter, I was initially reluctant to pose
this question. But there were two small clues contained in Ms
Perry's bibliography (see 7.11) which suggested that there had
been a reconciliation between them before Dr Hulme's death in
1991, so I decided to go ahead. In the end, I was glad I did and,
strangely enough, I got the impression that Ms Perry was, too. I
got the sense, from what she told me and from how she spoke, that
this may be one of the positive things to have come out of her
past identity being revealed--the fact that she is now free to
talk about her father in public and recognize the family
connection between them, though under the right circumstances. It
is still a new thing for her. In her answers to my question, and
in our later brief discussion, Ms Perry referred to Henry Hulme
only as "my father," not by name, because I had made it clear I
knew who she was talking about, and she referred to Bill Perry as
"my stepfather" during her comments this evening.
Ms Perry told me that her father had been prominent because
of his accomplishments, but he was never considered to be a
member of the social elite; this confirmed my impressions of his
social standing and his background. She spoke knowingly and quite
proudly of his scientific achievements, of which I was familiar
from his C.V. and his publications. To summarize, briefly, it
became apparent from her responses that she had a less-precise
technical knowledge of Dr Hulme's scientific achievements between
1955 and his retirement in 1973, but she was very familiar with
the technical aspects of Dr Hulme's science up to 1954. This
indicated, to me, that their relationship had not been a
particularly close one during her father's Aldermaston years.
These included the years Ms Perry spent in the U.K. and abroad.
I mentioned that I thought I had seen familiar elements in
some of the characters in her books and wondered if she had
included her father in any of her characters. Ms Perry told me
that the character referred to in the quotation she had read from
"Traitors Gate" was not based on her father, since her father had
not been a member of the social elite, but that there was one
character she had deliberately patterned on her father: Oliver
Rathbone's father (a character appearing in Ms Perry's "Monk"
series of books). This admission caused quite a stir in the
audience. Ms Perry also mentioned this association in our later
conversation, for emphasis, so it is clear that she didn't want
me to walk away with the impression that all men in her books
were patterned after her father, or some such thing. Oliver
Rathbone's father first appeared in the novel published the year
after Dr Hulme's death (see 7.11) and dedicated, cryptically at
the time, "to my father."
Then Ms Perry told me three stories about herself and her
father. (The stories she told have been reconstructed from my
notes and are not a verbatim transcript, although I have tried to
keep key phrases intact.) She started off with a story mostly
about her 'recent' past. This was a brief anecdote about how her
father had always had a love of precise language and how he had
actually always been very supportive of her becoming a writer.
She said he had strongly encouraged her writing when she was
young. And, in fact he had even gone so far as to support her,
financially, at the beginning of her career as a writer, bailing
her out of some lean times before she was able to make ends meet
with her writing. By matching her C.V. with her father's, it's
clear these events occurred after Ms Perry returned from America,
in the early to mid 70s, after Henry Hulme's retirement.
Her second story was about her father giving her a bath when
she was a small child. When she was three, she said--so this
story took place in Greenwich in 1942, during the War, some time
after little Juliet had suffered her terrible trauma during the
blitz. Ms Perry made an aside that this was the kind of thing
fathers used to be able to do, but she wasn't sure they were now,
in today's politically-correct climate. She said: "My father had
been bathing me and I had been playing. I dropped the soap and it
disappeared in the soapy water, at which point I had had enough
and went to stand up to get out. My father said. 'Careful. I
wouldn't do that if I were you.' He was worried I would slip. And
I have been told, though I don't remember it, that I turned to
him and said, quite matter-of-fact: 'Nonsense, daddy. If you were
me you would do exactly what I do.' And I stood up anyway. Which
my father found terribly amusing." She continued: "Well, apart
from illustrating that I was a precocious and bold child, I
suppose, it shows how much my father liked the precision of
language." And it showed, to me, that Ms Perry likes to think
that she and her father shared a common view of the physical
world and that they two shaped their ideas about it in similar
ways. She went on to say how her father had always stressed to
her that clear thinking and clear language were not just parallel
ideas, but were intimately connected.
Which brought Ms Perry to her third and final story about
her father. I must admit, I was not prepared for her candor in
this setting. This story was told in such a way that it was
almost anonymous, so members of the audience who weren't
completely familiar with the materials contained in this FAQ, for
instance, would not have been able to place the time, location or
characters. But, by this point in our give and take, I am quite
certain that Ms Perry had a good grasp of my familiarity with her
history and that of her father, so I must conclude that she told
this story deliberately, knowing that it would be perfectly
obvious to me who it was about, and where and when it took place.
From the contents of her final story, it took place in
Christchurch, in late January 1953, just before the start of
Fourth Form. I did not ask Ms Perry to confirm this, but
Medlicott paraphrases Pauline's diary entries from late January
1953 and they confirm that Pauline was determined to do well at
school when she returned, and that her studies were on her mind.
Ms Perry's final story is about Juliet, Pauline and Henry Hulme,
and Christchurch Girls' High School, and the headmistress, Miss
Stewart, and a math teacher, Miss Milne. I have been able to
confirm Ms Perry's identification and her impressions of both
Miss Stewart and Miss Milne (see 3.1.5.2 and below)
After mentioning that her father was a terribly precise
thinker, she said "I remember going to my father with a problem
and 'humming' and 'hawing' and just not being able to get across
what I wanted to say. At which point I just said 'Well, I can't
explain it very well, but I know what I mean.' And he said to me
'No. You don't know what you mean. If you did, you would have the
words to explain it clearly.' And, clearly, he was right. Words,
the precise words, are important and they can only come once an
idea has been grasped, fully. He was very good at getting to the
essence of a problem, and he was able to explain things in a way
that was exact but vivid.
"I remember it was just before school. We were terribly
worried about one class, mathematics, and one teacher in
particular. We knew that we were going to get this particular
teacher and she had a ferocious reputation--everyone was afraid
of her and we were scared stiff of her. She was _so_ demanding,
and so precise in her requirements and her grading, like my
father in that regard. We knew we were going to get all kinds of
difficult subjects, like manipulating and solving quadratic
equations, and we were terrified. Her name was Miss Milne. If
there was one teacher who commanded our respect it was her. Well,
we all watched out for the headmistress, too, but that was
because of who she was. That was Miss Stewart--a small, round
woman, and we only respected her because we had to. But Miss
Milne was different. We respected and feared her because of what
she knew and because of her high standards.
"Well, we went to my father and he explained everything to
us and put us at ease. You see, he understood that Miss Milne was
the way she was because she had a deep love for mathematics, and
a reverence for the subject that made her have these high
standards, out of respect for it. It hadn't occurred to me that a
teacher could have a deep love for what she taught, and just want
to share it, but in a precise, correct way. This completely
changed the way I looked at her. After that, from then on, I came
to admire her deeply, and respect her even more.
"And my father had the same kind of love for mathematics
because he was a mathematical physicist. I remember we went to
him when we got to solving quadratic equations. He showed us that
the equations weren't simply objects on their own, to him. He
drew the graphs and curves for us, and showed us their beauty.
Before that, to me, they had just been lines on a page. But, you
see, he saw the beauty of the curve in the equation, and how both
applied to Nature. And he showed us that it wasn't all that
difficult to solve the things. I actually grew to like quadratic
equations that term and got quite good at solving them."
Ms Perry finished off this part of the question session with
some final thoughts about her father's part in her writing and
that was that. I thanked her for discussing things so frankly and
she moved on to other questions: about the socially-relevant
themes in her books, about her upcoming novels, about her
influences (Chesterton ranked high) and the writers she reads
(she said she often likes to relax with fantasy or science
fiction because the ideas can be so big) and did she write
poetry? ("only when I was very young"), about her writing habits,
about her life now, and about plans for theatrical release of her
projects (she said that the BBC had bought the rights to the
first ten "Pitt" books, and had made noises about producing "The
Cater Street Hangman" and there have been other signs of interest
from other film production companies. So Anne Perry may yet get
to write for Hollywood...).
Then, after she had been through the questions, she signed a
lot of books. When I came up, we talked again about her father,
and I left after some final pleasantries.
** Any independent confirmation of Ms Perry's CGHS memories?
Miss Milne was my math teacher for 2 years, I confirm A.
Perry's comments about her. [mc]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7.11 Anne Perry's Fiction. [jp,se,ms,mkf,ps]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Henderson, Leslie, Ed., "Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery
Writers," 3rd ed., Twentieth Century Authors Series, St. James
Press, Chicago, 1991. [jp]
Helga Borck and GraceAnne A. DeCandido write about the "Pitt"
stories (p. 843):
...These are not lighthearted romps through Victorian rose
gardens, however. Perry's interest lies in showing how
individuals in a restrictive society with rigid notions of status
and propriety may respond to pressures to conform, and how
society in turn protects its interests in the face of deviation
or rebellion. Nor are they for the ethically squeamish. Many of
the deviations Perry examines are sexual in nature (this is
Victorian England, after all) and, while not explicit in her
descriptions, she handles such themes straightforwardly. Perry
maintains a fine balance throughout, neither romanticizing nor
condemning out of hand. Her depiction of Victorian London is rich
and consistent in period detail. Her characters have depth and
complexity, especially in the later books, and even the worst of
them are generally presented with compassion. What is more, they
never come across as moderns in a period play, but are firmly
rooted in their own time and place. ...
Anne Perry's Published Fiction:
Short Stories:
"Digby's First Case," in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (New
York), Feb. 1988.
(note: "Digby's Commercial College" was the vocational
school where PYP was enrolled at her mother's urging in
April '54. Orson Welles' film which made such a big
impression on the young PYP and JMH in June '54 was "Trent's
Last Case." jp)
The "Pitt" Series:
The Cater Street Hangman, St. Martin's Press, 1979.
[no dedication]
Callander Square, St. Martin's Press, 1980.
[no dedication] [se]
Paragon Walk, St. Martin's Press, 1981.
[for my mother]
Resurrection Row, St. Martin's Press, 1981.
[To MEG for all her help.]
Rutland Place, St. Martin's Press, 1983.
[Dedicated with love to my father, with friendship to Judy,
with gratitude to the city of Toronto.]
(note: Dr HR Hulme celebrated his 75th birthday in 1983. jp)
(note: In a recent interview ['95/03] with Canada AM Anne
Perry talked about the time she lived in Toronto for 3-4
months. It was in Toronto that she first saw a "real live
person" buy one of her books, which was very exciting for
her. She was browsing the "The Sleuth of Baker Street" book-
store when someone came in and purchased one of her books.
This could give some insights as to why she made a
dedication to the city of Toronto! ms)
Bluegate Fields, St. Martin's Press, 1984.
[...dedicated to the members of the John Howard Society, who
practice their founder's belief in the right to dignity of
all people.] [se]
(note: The John Howard Society works with ex-criminals. se).
Death in the Devil's Acre, St. Martin's Press, 1985.
[For Bella and Aunt Issy.]
Cardington Crescent, St. Martin's Press, 1987.
[To Ed and Peggy Wells, with thanks for their love and faith
through the years.]
(note: Mrs. Digby, a housekeeper, is an important character
in this novel. See above. lfr)
Silence in Hanover Close, St. Martin's Press, 1988.
[Dedicated to Aunt Ina who was part of the inspiration for
Great-aunt Vespasia.]
(note: JMH was to have been sent to stay with Aunt Ina in
South Africa, according to "Heavenly Creatures." sb)
Bethlehem Road, St. Martin's Press, 1990.
[To Ruth, for her many gifts to me.]
(note: The dedication to Ruth may be speaking of the
biblical Ruth. Why? Well, there is a road to Bethlehem
mentioned in the book of Ruth. Also, the two main characters
in the book of Ruth are Ruth and Naomi, who are daughter and
mother-in-law respectively. The same goes for "Bethlehem
Road." Also, much of the religious discussion in Bethlehem
Road may actually be about the Mormon Church. ms)
Highgate Rise, Fawcett Books, 1991?
[To Meg MacDonald, for her friendship and her unfailing
faith in me, and to Meg Davis, for her friendship and her
guidance and work.] [se]
(note: Meg Davis is Anne Perry's agent in London. She
fielded the initial enquiries from NZ reporter Lin Ferguson
about Anne Perry's former identity as JMH. jp)
Belgrave Square, Fawcett Books, 1992.
[To my friend, Cathy Ross.]
Farriers' Lane, Fawcett Books, 1993?
[For my mother.] [se]
(note: HM Perry celebrated her 80th birthday in 1992. jp)
The Hyde Park Headsman, Fawcett Books, 1994.
[To Leona Nevler, with thanks.]
Traitors Gate, Fawcett Columbine, 1995.
[To Donald Maass--with thanks.]
The "Monk" Series:
The Face of a Stranger, St. Martin's Press, 1990.
[To Christine M.J. Lynch, in gratitude for old friendships
renewed.]
A Dangerous Mourning, Ivy Books, 1991.
[To John and Mary MacKenzie, and my friends in Alness, for
making me welcome.]
Defend and Betray, Ivy Books, 1992.
[to my father]
(note: Dr HR Hulme died in January, 1991. Anne Perry told me
95/03/29 that the character of Oliver Rathbone's father, who
first appears in "Defend and Betray," was patterned
specifically after Dr HR Hulme. jp)
A Sudden, Fearful Death, Fawcett Books, 1993.
[To Elizabeth Sweeney, for her friendship, and patience in
reading my handwriting.]
Sins of the Wolf, Fawcett Books, 1994.
[To Kimberley Hovey for her help and friendship.] [se]
**Anne Perry's characters.
I would like to collect more information about Anne Perry's
characters, and to build up profiles of her recurring characters,
especially. Contributions to this are very welcome. (I hope this
will become a separate section in ver 3.0) [jp]
One comment that I would make is that all of her recurring
female characters are unconventional, strong and intelligent and
don't really care what others think of them. They are passionate
and follow their hearts and do what they think is right rather
than what is expected of them. They often act rashly or
impulsively, only thinking of the consequences later.
Her recurring male characters are more tolerant,
sympathetic, insightful and supportive than I'm sure most of the
men were in those times. It has been commented to me that Thomas
Pitt sometimes seems more female than male because of his
sensitivity to others' feelings. This characteristic could also
be because he is a good detective!
Her recurring characters are very similar in personality. Ms
Perry is very consistent. [se]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.11.1 "The Cater Street Hangman" [spoilers]. [jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Perry, Anne. "The Cater Street Hangman," Fawcett Crest, N.Y.
1992. copyright 1979. orig. pub. St. Martin's Press, London.
ISBN 0-449-20867-2.
"The Cater Street Hangman" is Anne Perry's first published novel.
Her work is rich with social context and, especially, with
realistic depictions of Victorian family life and personal life
that are quite detailed. To convey such material convincingly, an
author may draw upon personal experience or beliefs when writing
critical passages, especially when writing a first published
novel. So examining "The Cater Street Hangman" for insight into
Anne Perry or even the "Parker Hulme" murder case is not
unreasonable. After all, in 1979, Anne Perry's new identity had
been intact for twenty-one years. When she wrote "Cater Street
Hangman" she may have believed that her prior identity as Juliet
Marion Hulme might never be revealed.
It is also possible that Ms Perry made a conscious effort to
avoid possible tie-ins with the "Parker Hulme" case in her
writing. Perhaps she drew upon personal experience sparingly.
Although this possibility needs to be considered, Ms Perry's
recent statements (see above) would not tend to support such
deliberate obfuscation in her early work. Or even in her present
work.
So, examining "The Cater Street Hangman" and Ms Perry's other
writings for information about young Juliet Hulme or young
Pauline Parker or Honora Parker or Henry Hulme or any of the
other people listed in 7.1 remains very much an open and
fascinating possibility. Ms Perry has stated publicly (see 3.2.4,
7.11) that some of her characters have been patterned after
family members, and even herself.
Below is a brief quotation from "The Cater Street Hangman." The
chosen passage is quite illustrative of Ms Perry's style in her
earlier novels. "The Cater Street Hangman" introduces many
characters who reappear in the "Pitt" series of books, so it is
an invaluable starting point for anyone who wishes to take up
reading Ms Perry's fiction. Starting with "The Cater Street
Hangman" is highly recommended.
Ms Perry tends to write under the assumption that characters from
previous novels will be familiar to readers of her later works.
One of the fascinating aspects of her "Pitt" series, for
instance, is the way recurring characters age, develop, mature
and change as the series progresses.
Quotation from "The Cater Street Hangman" [SPOILER WARNING].
Charlotte Ellison is walking home along foggy Cater Street, site
of five murders in recent months, including the murder of
Charlotte's own sister Sarah. Inspector Pitt has been
investigating the murders. Charlotte is returning from a courtesy
call to Martha Prebble, the overworked and long-suffering Vicar's
wife, bedridden with a fever. Perry describes her: "She was a
handsome woman, broad-busted, strong, with fine, strong hands."
[p. 19]. It is night. Charlotte imagines she hears footsteps
behind her, perhaps the footsteps of the Cater Street Hangman...
[begin quotation p. 284]
The footsteps were right behind her. She would not be taken
by surprise. She swung round to face him.
"He was there in front of her, her own height, no more, but
broader, far broader. The gaslight shone on his head as he moved.
Don't be idiotic. It was Martha, only Martha Prebble.
"Martha!" she said in an ecstasy of relief. "What on earth
are you doing out of bed? You are ill! Do you need help? Here,
let me--"
But Martha's face was twisted into an unrecognizable
distortion, her eyes blazing, her lips drawn back. She raised her
powerful arms and the gaslight caught on the thin sliver of a
cheese cutting wire in her hands.
Charlotte was paralyzed.
"You filth!" Martha said between her clenched teeth. There
was saliva on her lips and she was shivering. "You creature of
the devil! You tempted me with your white arms, and your flesh,
but you shan't win! The Lord said, better you should not have
been born than that you should have tempted and brought to
destruction one of these, my little ones, and brought them to
sin. Better you should have a millstone tied round your neck and
put into the sea. I shall destroy you, however many times you
keep coming, with your soft words and your touch of sin. I shall
not fail! I know how your body burns, I know your secret lusts,
but I shall destroy you all, till you leave me alone in peace.
Satan shall never win!"
Charlotte only barely understood--some tortured haze of love
and loneliness, of twisted hungers, suppressed for long years
till they broke loose in violence that could no longer deny
itself.
"Oh no! Martha." Her own fear was consumed in pity. "Oh,
Martha, you misunderstood, you poor creature--"
But Martha had raised the wire, stretched taut between her
hands, and was coming towards her, less than a yard away.
The spell was broken.
Charlotte screamed as loudly as her lungs would permit. She
screamed Martha's name over and over and over again. She swung
the basket at her, at her face, hoping to scare her, to blind her
temporarily, even to knock her over.
It seemed like eternity, and Martha's hands were already on
her arms, gripping her like steel, when the enormous figure of
Pitt came out of the fog, and a second later, two constables.
They grasped Martha, hauling her off, forcing her arms behind her
back.
Charlotte collapsed against the street wall; her knees
seemed to have no strength to support her and her hands were
tingling with pins and needles.
Pitt bent down to her, taking her face in his hands very
gently. "You blazing idiot!" he choked. "What in God's name were
you doing going to see her alone? Do you realize if I hadn't gone
to see you again today, and they had not told me where you'd
come, you'd be lying on this very stone, dead like Sarah and all
the others?"
She nodded and gulped, tears beginning to run down her face.
"Yes."
"You--you--" He was lost for a word fierce enough.
Before he could struggle any further there were more heavy
feet on the pavement, and a moment later the vicar's solid form
materialized out of the fog.
"What's going on?" he demanded. "What's happened? Who's
hurt?"
Pitt turned to him, bitter dislike in his face. "No one is
hurt, Mr. Prebble--in the way you mean. The injury is a lifelong
one, I think."
"I don't know what you mean. Explain yourself! Martha! What
on earth are those policemen doing with Martha? She should be at
home in bed. She is ill. I found her missing; that's why I came
out. You can let her go now. I shall take her home."
"No, Mr. Prebble, you won't. I'm afraid Mrs. Prebble is
under arrest, and will remain with us."
"Under arrest!" The vicar's face twitched. "Are you insane?
Martha could have done nothing wrong. She is a good woman. If she
has been foolish--" His voice hardened a little in irritation, as
if he has been trespassed against. "She is not well--"
Pitt stopped him. "No, Mr. Prebble, she is not. She is so
ill, she has murdered and disfigured five women."
The vicar stared at him, his face working as he struggled
between disbelief and rage. He swivelled to stare at Martha,
sagging, eyes wild, saliva on her lips and chin, policemen
holding her up. He swung back to Pitt.
"Possessed!" he said furiously. "Sin!" His voice rose. "Oh
frailty, thy name is woman."
Pitt's face was frozen with his own anger. "Frail?" he
demanded. "Because she cares, and you don't? Because she is
capable of love, and you are not? Because she has weaknesses,
hungers, and compassion, and you know none of these? Go away, Mr.
Prebble, and pray, if you know how!"
The fog swirled in, and he was lost.
"I was sorry for her," Charlotte said softly. She sniffed.
"I still am. I didn't even know women could feel like that--about
other women. Please don't be angry with me?"
"Oh, Charlotte--I--" He gave up. "Stand up. You'll get cold
sitting on the stone. It's wet." He pulled her to her feet,
looked at the tears running down her face, then put his arms
round her and held onto her as tightly as he could, not bothering
to push the hair out of her eyes or to pick up the basket, just
clinging to her.
"I know you're sorry for her," he whispered. "Dear God, so
am I."
[FIN - end quote p. 287]
*SNIP HERE*******************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 15/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
John D. Porter
*****************************************************************
"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 06/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
-----------------------------------------------------------------
3.2 About the real people.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
** Who is profiled in this section? [jp]
This section contains information about the real people
involved most directly with the real-life "Parker Hulme" case and
who were portrayed in the film "Heavenly Creatures."
Other biographical information can be found in section 7.1,
including sketches of people not portrayed in the film.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.2.1 Names.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** What is the naming convention used in this section? [jp]
All names used in this section are legal names of actual
persons connected with the "Parker Hulme" murder case. Legal
names of several people were changed over the years, as noted.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.2.2 Hulme, Henry Rainsford. [jp,sb,jb,ap,G&L,mk,ad]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Detailed biographic material for Henry Hulme is presented
and discussed in 7.10.1. Henry Hulme was 45 at the time of the
"Parker Hulme" murder. He was a Mathematical Physicist by
training, and was recognized to be quite brilliant. Not much has
been written about Dr Hulme's character and personality, but he
has been described by his peers as a reserved, modest and
cultured man, though informal in some of his personal habits. It
was said he had a ready wit, a great sense of humour and he was a
gifted and knowledgeable conversationalist, direct in his words
but not abrupt. He was said to be an effective and generous
mentor for younger scientists, pleasant and sympathetic in his
dealings with them. From some of his actions, it would seem that
Dr Hulme had large reserves of intellectual honesty, and he was a
reasonable man, but he was somewhat lacking in cutthroat
political savvy. On the negative side, it has been implied that
Dr Hulme may have been impatient and even arrogant, at times,
with his intellectual inferiors, perhaps expressing frustration
with and even contempt for them in private remarks. His daughter
described him to me (see 7.10.2.1) as a man with a deep
appreciation of precise language and a profound love of
mathematics, a man who saw the underlying beauty of mathematics
and physics in their connection with Nature.
Henry Rainsford Hulme was born on August 9, 1908 in
Southport, England to James Rainsford Hulme and Alice Jane Smith.
These were modest beginnings, and Henry Hulme's family was not
part of the social elite. His quite ordinary start in life may
have left an indellible impression on Henry Hulme and may have
driven him during much of his adult life.
Henry Hulme was admitted to Manchester Grammar School, a
highly regarded 'magnet' Public School (private high school in
the English system) for the best and brightest. He was
sufficiently proud of his career at Manchester Grammar to list it
in his official biography material, and being admitted to
Manchester Grammar was probably Henry Hulme's first big career
break, at the age of twelve. Reading between the lines of his
Curriculum Vitae, Henry Hulme was a very determined and ambitious
man, as well as being a very intelligent and able one, and he
made several career moves during his life which appear to have
been designed to effect quick advancement and generate
recognition and respect.
Obviously in the top academic track, Henry Hulme went from
Manchester Grammar on to Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge
University, where he was to study at both the undergraduate and
graduate levels. After being awarded his BA (Math Tripos) in
1929, at the age of 20, Henry Hulme went on to do graduate work
in the early 30s, an exciting time for physics, and at Cambridge,
an exciting place to be if you were a physicist. Lord Rutherford
was an icon at Cambridge, then. Henry Hulme was Smith's Prizeman
in 1931. After being awarded his doctorate in 1932, at 23, Dr
Hulme spent time in Germany (possibly on a post-doctoral
fellowship), studying at the University of Leipzig. Henry Hulme
was in Germany at the same time as the prominent diarist
Christopher Isherwood, whose "Berlin Stories" chronicled, through
the eyes of an Englishman, the tremendous social unrest and
upheaval that would come to sweep the Nazis to power. Dr Hulme
returned to England and was a Lecturer in Mathematics at
Liverpool University between 1936 and 1938.
Dr Hulme met Hilda Marion Reavley, possibly in Liverpool,
and they married in June, 1937. He was almost 29 and she was 25,
the daughter of a socially-prominent Anglican clergyman. In 1938,
at age 30, Dr Hulme assumed the position of Chief Assistant at
the Royal Observatory, and the Hulmes moved to Greenwich, a green
and tranquil suburb of London, south and east of the central
City, on the south bank of the Thames. The Royal Observatory is
located in parkland, on a hill overlooking the Thames river
valley. This is the location of the Greenwich Meridian, reference
'zero' for all lines of longitude, and time standards of the day.
The Naval Academy is nearby, downhill, on the Thames. Dr Hulme's
firstborn was a daughter, Juliet Marion, born in Greenwich
October 28, 1938, as the stormclouds of war were gathering.
'On loan' to Whitehall and the Admiralty for the duration of
World War II, and a rapidly-rising scientific advisor and
administrator, Dr Hulme continued to live in Greenwich with his
family, with serious consequences for the health and well-being
of his wife and his daughter. A son, Jonathon, was born on March
22, 1944. In August 1944, Dr Hulme travelled to America on war
work. At the time, his wife was hospitalized with complications
from the birth of their son, and his daughter was sent to the
north of England to live. By the War's end, Dr Hulme was Director
of Naval Operational Research.
After WW II, Dr Hulme became Scientific Advisor to the
British Air Ministry from 1946 to 1948. On May 30, 1947, Lord
Rutherford's alma mater, Canterbury University College, placed an
advertisement for the newly-created position of full-time Rector,
the top administrative position. Dr Hulme applied and, on
November 18, the Universities Bureau of the British Empire
forwarded their recommendation to the University of New Zealand
for approval: Dr Henry Rainsford Hulme. A week later, around
November 23, Dr Hulme was offered the position of Rector,
Canterbury University College. He accepted and began to make
plans for relocating himself, his wife and his son to New
Zealand. His daughter was already out of the country, for the
good of her health, and would be sent on ahead to New Zealand. In
mid-1948, before taking up his new post as head of Canterbury
College, Dr Hulme was honoured by his own alma mater, Cambridge
University, with the award of the D.Sc. degree.
Dr Hulme and his family arrived in Christchurch, NZ, on
Saturday, October 16, 1948 and Dr Hulme became the first full-
time Rector of Canterbury University College. This was the
position held by Dr Hulme during the period of time featured in
"Heavenly Creatures." As Rector, which was the top administrative
post at the College, Dr Hulme became a prominent member and a
leader of Christchurch Society. The Hulmes moved into the
Rector's official residence, Ilam, in early 1950. It was a
spectacular colonial homestead and the site of many social
functions attended by community leaders, such as the Anglican
Bishop of Christchurch, politicians and even nationally- and
internationally-prominent people, such as Lady Rutherford and the
British actor Anthony Quayle.
However, Dr Hulme's career as Rector did not begin well.
Soon after his arrival, Dr Hulme alienated many of his colleagues
on the faculty by voting against his own College Council
"regarding the site of a proposed School of Forestry. ... His
relationship with the College deteriorated steadily as other
issues arose until finally, in mid March 1954, he was asked by
his colleagues to resign" according to G&L, paraphrasing official
University of Canterbury history [G&L, p. 45. Actually, Dr Hulme
submitted his resignation on March 4. At that point in the time
line of the case, individual days are very important to get
right. See 7.3. jp]. There is a whole career's worth of events
inbetween that beginning and that end, and a huge set of
complicated forces and factors which defined the course of
events. For more detail, see section 7.10.1.1. There may also
have been other factors contributing to Dr Hulme's forced
resignation.
Dr Hulme's family situation essentially self-destructed
while he was Rector of Canterbury College. There have been
published rumours that Dr Hulme may have had extra-marital
dalliances during this time. Around the beginning of 1954, he
eventually became party to an unusual living arrangement with
Walter (Bill) Perry, his wife's lover, moving into Ilam. This was
probably the final straw for his exasperated colleagues and a
further incentive for them to demand Dr Hulme's resignation as
Rector. It is clear that Dr Hulme also became preoccupied with
his daughter's relationship with Pauline Parker in this same
period, though just how 'serious' an issue it was to him isn't
known. This is a truly complicated set of conditions and
circumstances, explored more fully in the time line of the FAQ,
section 7.3.
Dr Hulme's tremendous and very public fall from exalted
grace, not to mention the extreme personal humiliation
'inflicted' upon him by people he trusted--his colleagues and his
family--affected Dr Hulme greatly. It now seems clear that Dr
Hulme eventually planned a bitter retreat from New Zealand with
his children in tow, leaving his wife and her lover to their own
devices. Apparently unwilling to parent his daughter and, it
seems, loathe to leave her in his wife's custody, Dr Hulme
planned to deposit Juliet in South Africa, on his way home to
Britain with his son. In a critical and complex sequence of
events (see the time line, 7.3) Dr Hulme tendered his
resignation, discussed divorce with his wife, collected his
essential possessions and made plans to steam home to England.
Then, just 12 days before the planned departure date, Dr
Hulme's daughter, Juliet, helped her friend murder Honora Parker.
Dr Hulme played an important role in the extraordinary
events immediately after the murder, but it appears that he had
reached the limit of what he would endure on behalf of his
disintegrating family. The legal handling of Pauline and Juliet
following the murder was very ill-conceived, bungled even, and it
would seem that Dr Hulme adopted a completely 'hands off'
attitude. Mere days after his daughter's arraignment, Dr Hulme
said good-bye to his daughter, took his son, boarded the liner
"Himalaya" bound for England and never looked back. He gave one
press conference on board denouncing his daughter, the last
public statement he was ever to make about the case. He did not
provide significant evidence to the police, or testify at any
legal proceeding or provide a deposition on behalf of either
girl. He did not attend the hearing, the inquest or his
daughter's trial for murder. In many ways, it is incredible that
he was permitted to leave the country when he did. When Dr Hulme
hit landfall in Marseilles, he disembarked and disappeared from
public view, without comment.
In 1955 Dr Henry Hulme made two brilliant career moves.
First, he accepted a job at the Atomic Weapons Research
Establishment at Aldermaston in the United Kingdom, Britain's
'Los Alamos.' Second, he divorced his first wife and then married
Margery Alice Ducker, daughter of Lady Cooper and her husband, a
Peer of the Realm, Sir James A Cooper, KBE.
Dr Hulme devoted himself to physics once again and, three
years later, in 1958, he became a proud father of Britain's
thermonuclear Hydrogen Bomb, his third brilliant career move
after leaving New Zealand. Dr Hulme made an extremely valuable
contribution to Britain's becoming an independent nuclear power,
restoring much of its faltering international prestige and clout.
Remember, this was the height of the Cold War, the era of Sputnik
and Soviet expansionism and the Suez Crisis. Britain had paid
dearly for 'winning' the War with the Allies, by losing the last
vestiges of the Empire, Palestine and much respect.
In 1959 Dr Hulme was appointed head of Nuclear Physics
Research at Aldermaston and he remained in this important and
politically-influential post through the 60s, the Cuban Missile
Crisis, the Test Ban Treaty (he was an important advisor on
space-based detection schemes for verification), the Space Race,
the global upheaval of 1968 and on into the era of Dï¼µente. He
retired in 1973, at the age of 65. It is conceivable that Henry
Hulme may have had the clout, in late 1959, to influence events
in New Zealand, at least to the extent of having his daughter's
case reviewed at her twenty-first birthday, but there is no
evidence that he interfered in any way.
In 1974 Henry Hulme was recognized by an invitation to join
the socially elite ranks of the original "Who's Who." His
biography is analyzed in section 7.10.1. The inescapable
conclusion of that analysis is that Henry Hulme chose to
completely obliterate all record of Hilda Marion Reavley from
every official account of his life. In so doing, he also
discarded his children and heirs from his biography. His second
wife, Margery, died in 1990 and Dr Hulme himself died within the
year, on January 8, 1991, at the age of 82.
There is evidence that Dr Hulme reconciled with his daughter
in the years before his death. See 7.11. He did not change his
official biography, however.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.2.3 Hulme, Hilda Marion. [jp,jb,G&L]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hilda Hulme was 41 in 1954.
Hilda Marion Reavley was born in 1912 in England to a
socially-prominent Anglican clergyman, the Rev J Reavley. She met
and then married Henry Hulme in 1937, when she was 25, the year
before Dr Hulme took up his post at Greenwich. Soon after moving
to the green and pleasant London suburbs, Hilda bore Henry Hulme
a daughter, Juliet, in late 1938. Hilda was 26. War broke out,
and her husband was seconded by the Admiralty for war duty. Hilda
and Juliet stayed with Dr Hulme, remaining an intact family, in
London.
Hilda Hulme testified in court that she was caught out in an
air raid with Juliet when her daughter was two, and the harrowing
experience had been extremely traumatic for Juliet, resulting in
"bomb shock" and screaming nightmares which lasted many weeks.
Hilda Hulme bore her husband a son, Jonathon, on March 22,
1944, when Juliet was 5. Hilda Hulme testified that she had
severe post-partum complications and had to be readmitted to
hospital soon after returning home. The experience of waking to
find her mother taken away in the night was said to have been
very traumatic to Juliet, and was said to have coloured her
attitude towards her brother and to have affected her later
relationship with him. Hilda testified she was confined for some
period in hospital, her illness too great to permit visitors,
including her daughter. This would have been an unusual
condition, though not if Hilda Hulme had also been suffering from
severe post-partum depression, certainly common enough and even
more understandable than under normal circumstances, given the
uncertainty and violence of the war. In August, 1944, Dr Hulme
had to go to America on war work and Hilda Hulme chose to send
her daughter to the North of England, "because of her illness and
the war conditions." War relocation of children and families from
London to the countryside, or up north, was not uncommon, but it
was always difficult.
Hilda Hulme chose to stay with her husband and young son
when it became necessary to send her daughter away, alone, for
the good of her health, first to the Bahamas and, later, to New
Zealand. Almost a year after Dr Hulme was offered, and accepted,
the post of Rector of Canterbury College, Hilda Hulme moved to
New Zealand with Dr Hulme and Jonathon, arriving in Christchurch
on October 16, 1948. She was reunited with her daughter around
the time of Juliet's tenth birthday after a separation, this
time, of about two years. In her trial testimony, Hilda Hulme
said Juliet was demanding, very clinging and dependent and very
difficult to discipline, at their reunion.
In Christchurch, Hilda Hulme became the pillar of the
University community she was expected to be as the Rector's wife,
and more. The couple became prominent in Christchurch Society,
thanks to Henry's position but also thanks, in good measure, to
Hilda Hulme's considerable work in the community. Hilda Hulme
seems to have tackled her new duties body and soul.
In 1949, Hilda and Henry Hulme again sent Juliet Hulme away,
for the good of her health, to a private boarding school in the
North Island of New Zealand. Juliet would return within the year.
Also in 1949, Hilda Hulme joined the Christchurch Marriage
Guidance Council, which had been formed the previous year, seen
to be a "daring and progressive organization" [G&L] modelled
after the British Marriage Guidance Council. The general
principles of the Council stated [G&L] that the family unit was
the basis of society, with permanent monogamous marriage the
foundation of the family; everything possible should be done to
prevent the tragedy of the broken home, and the train of evils
which follow in its wake. Fertile unions should be promoted, and
it was a firm belief that sexual intercourse should not take
place outside of marriage. Hilda Hulme's work on the Marriage
Guidance Council brought her into social contact with prominent
members of Christchurch religious and professional establishment,
with the Bishop of Christchurch, with psychiatrists and doctors
(including Dr Bennett and Dr Bevan-Brown, who would later write
on the case), Rex Abernethy (the magistrate who would preside
over the arraignment of Pauline Parker) and even ST Barnett, who
would become Minister of Justice and oversee the sentencing,
incarceration, rehabilitation and eventual release of Pauline
Parker and Juliet Hulme.
Soon after Hilda Hulme joined the Christchurch Marriage
Guidance Council, she organized a series of lectures giving
advice to engaged couples. She was elected the Council's
representative on the Canterbury Council of Social Services in
1950, the year the Hulme family relocated to Ilam. Hilda Hulme
was also an active and popular marriage counsellor, highly
regarded by her peers. She attended a training course for social
workers in Wellington in 1952, the same year she was elected one
of the Vice-Presidents of the Council. Hilda Hulme was re-elected
a Guidance Council Vice-President in April 1953 and again in
March 1954 and she remained a very active member until her
resignation from the Council in May, 1954. The need for Hilda
Hulme to resign from the Council was precipitated by her
increasingly-public relationship with Walter Perry and the whole
business stunned Council members. By then, Hilda Hulme had
managed to break nearly every fundamental, founding principal of
the Council, and add a few more serious conflicts of interest for
good measure, over the space of six months.
In 1951 Hilda Hulme was a regular panel member of the
Women's Session program on "3YA," one of the local radio
stations. The panels discussed topics of the day, including
religious instruction in schools, whether or not compulsory
school uniforms were necessary, raising children etc and
recordings of the discussions were exchanged with other stations.
Hilda Hulme was also elected to the Board of Christchurch
Girls' High School, which her daughter Juliet and Pauline Parker
would attend--additional pressure on the girls to keep up
appearances as model pupils, and additional pressure on the Hulme
family when the girls blithely went their own way, according to
G&L. Hilda Hulme tried to intervene, as a Board member, when
Pauline Parker left school at her mother's insistence.
According to Pauline Parker's diary entries, it appears as
if Hilda Hulme grew quite fond of Pauline, but there may have
been more to their relationship than the elements chronicled by
Pauline on paper. For example, Hilda Hulme testified that she was
led to believe that Pauline Parker was often subjected to severe
corporal punishment at home, that Pauline was very unhappy at
home and that her mother did not understand or love her. Indeed,
Glamuzina and Laurie believe that the relationship between Hilda
Hulme and Pauline Parker, and especially Hilda's actions and
words to Pauline, are key to understanding the murder.
In mid 1953, Hilda Hulme traveled back to Britain with her
husband while her daughter was confined with TB in Christchurch
Sanatorium. Soon after the Hulmes' return to New Zealand in late
August, 1953, Hilda Hulme met Walter Perry, through her work as a
counsellor with the Marriage Guidance Council; Perry was a client
who came for counselling. Within a very few months, around
Christmas 1953, Walter Perry would move into Ilam to live "as a
threesome" with Henry and Hilda Hulme.
Hilda Hulme's whirlwind relationship with Walter Perry
apparently sealed the breakdown of her marriage and set into
final motion a number of important events, including the
generation of public pressure on both herself and Henry Hulme.
Pauline Parker's diaries indicated that Pauline was initially
shocked and distressed by this set of developments, but not
hostile towards Hilda Hulme. Divorce was discussed and, after a
complicated sequence of events, it appears as if Hilda Hulme was
not going to get custody of either of the two children, despite
the fact that Henry Hulme was obviously not prepared to be a
parent to his daughter, Juliet. Henry and Hilda Hulme made plans
to divorce and Hilda Hulme and Walter Perry made plans to start a
new life together, alone.
Then, 12 days before the Hulme family was to be scattered to
the winds, Hilda Hulme's daughter, Juliet, helped Pauline Parker
murder Honora Parker, Pauline's mother.
Hilda Hulme appears to have been in reasonable control of
the situation on the evening following the murder, but she
appears to have gone into a kind of shock, for all intents and
purposes, soon after that. With her husband apparently abrogating
all parental and spousal responsibility, Hilda assumed the lion's
share of responsibility for her daughter's legal defense and many
mistakes were apparently made. Hilda Hulme stood by her daughter
in the face of extraordinary legal proceedings and in the searing
glare of a publicity that few people have ever experienced.
Although her actions would seem to be to her considerable credit,
the real situation may be more complex than it appears, with
credit and blame being more difficult to define and assign. There
was no lack of tragedy, though.
Hilda Hulme was evicted from Ilam when her husband departed
New Zealand with her son, at the beginning of July. She auctioned
their possessions in July 1954 to raise money for trial expenses
and lived with Walter Perry in the Hulmes' Port Levy house
throughout the trial and for a brief period following it.
Hilda Hulme testified at all stages of the legal proceedings
on behalf of her daughter, though tabloid (and even broadsheet)
news accounts from the time make it clear that she was very close
to complete nervous collapse many times during the proceedings.
Hilda Hulme testified under subpoena. She was obliged to inform
the world of her most intimate personal affairs, as well as those
of her daughter, in a largely-pointless trial whose outcome could
have been predicted ahead of time. Glamuzina and Laurie contend
that Hilda Hulme may not have remained in the country for the
legal proceedings had she not been forced to remain and give
testimony, by law.
A few days after her daughter was convicted of murder and
then sentenced to be detained During Her Majesty's Pleasure,
Hilda Marion Hulme changed her name, legally, by deed poll in
Christchurch, to H Marion Perry. She would be referred to as Mrs
H Marion Perry from that point on. Less than a week later, she
left New Zealand with Walter Perry, by steamer, never to return.
As there had been with Henry Hulme, there was also a final press
conference shipboard for Walter and H Marion Perry, denouncing
Juliet. It was reported that H Marion Perry refused to discuss
any aspect of the whole affair for many years. She never made
another public statement about the case.
H Marion Perry and Henry Hulme were divorced and H Marion
and Walter Perry were married, taking up residence in England but
settling far from Henry Hulme. The couple appears to have
remained together, taking in Juliet upon her release from prison.
H Marion Perry is still alive (she is 83 in 1995) and she
now lives near her daughter on the north-east coast of Scotland.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.2.4 Hulme, Juliet Marion. [jp]
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Juliet Hulme was aged 15 years and eight months when she
helped murder Honora Parker in June, 1954.
Juliet Marion Hulme was the firstborn child of Henry and
Hilda Hulme, born on October 28, 1938 in Greenwich, on the South
Bank of the River Thames, south-east of the City of London. At
the time of her birth, her father had recently assumed the post
of Chief Assistant at the Royal Observatory.
Juliet was an extremely bright and, by her own description,
a mischievious and precocious child, but she was also a sickly
one, suffering from several different, serious, respiratory
ailments when young. In addition, she suffered severe
psychological trauma during the London Blitz, when she was two.
It was reported that she suffered from debilitating screaming
nightmares for several weeks after this episode, perhaps for
months, and on and off during her childhood. The birth of her
brother Jonathon in March 1944, when she was five, was also a
traumatic experience for Juliet because of her mother's serious
post-partum complications and hospitalization. First, her mother
was spirited away from home in the night, then hospitalized for
an extended period with no visitors, then her father left her to
go to America and she was sent away, alone, to the North of
England (probably Liverpool). This was to be the first of many
sudden and lengthy separations from her family, and there is
considerable evidence that the accumulation of all her childhood
separations from her family, and from her Mother in particular,
had a profound effect on Juliet Hulme.
In the winter of 1944, when Juliet was six, she contracted
bronchitis, which became severe pneumonia, and Juliet came close
to death. It was reported that the physician called to the house
to see Juliet told her mother he would be back the next morning
to sign her death certificate. Juliet survived, but the episode
had an extreme effect on Juliet and her family. She was withdrawn
from school and remained sickly and largely sheltered and
housebound for the next two years. In the mean time, the War
ended and her father was promoted within the Admiralty to
Director of Naval Operational Research, then becoming Scientific
Advisor to the Air Ministry in 1946.
When she was eight, in late 1946, Juliet again contracted
another serious case of pneumonia. After she had recovered, on
the advice of a physician, Juliet was sent to the Bahamas to live
with another family. She remained with them for 13 months, from
the age of eight, until she was nine.
In late 1947, Dr Hulme was offered and accepted the position
of Rector of Canterbury College in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Juliet's parents then decided to send her to the Bay of Islands
in the northern tip of the North Island of New Zealand, for the
sake of her health. When she was about ten, Juliet apparently
suffered another health crisis, and she was confined to a
sanatorium. This crisis either precipitated or approximately
coincided with the emigration of her family to New Zealand in mid
October 1948. Pictures of Juliet from this time, just after the
arrival of her family, show her to be a bright, serious and very
pretty child, with a round face and a very direct gaze. Hilda
Hulme testified that Juliet was clinging and hard to discipline
when the family was reunited.
Juliet's reunion with her family in Christchurch was to be
short-lived. Hilda Hulme testified that she and her husband soon
became concerned with the state of Juliet's health and, in early
1949, Juliet was sent away to a private boarding school (possibly
Queenswood) in Hastings, on the eastern coast of the North
Island, on Hawke's Bay. Hilda Hulme also testified that Juliet
was very unhappy there, and she returned to her family within the
year. It is likely that Juliet was tutored privately for the
remainder of the 1949 school year.
Early in 1950, Dr Hulme moved his family into the Ilam
homestead, the official residence of the Rector, located on the
grounds of the proposed new 'Ilam' site for Canterbury University
College. The homestead was a grand colonial house, with
spectacular gardens, built near a meandering confluence of the
river Avon on the western outskirts of Christchurch. Nearby were
horse paddocks, open grazing farmland, and the CUC's School of
Fine Art, the only department to have moved to the Ilam site.
Most students of the School were young women. Ilam was to become
a busy centre of College social functions and, of a December, Dr
Hulme would throw open the grounds to students studying for
finals, bringing them lemonade on the lawns. Young Juliet was
enrolled at Ilam School, an elementary and junior school
virtually across the road from the homestead, and she apparently
spent two happy years there. These two years spent close to her
family were probably close to idyllic for Juliet, but they were a
nightmare for Canterbury College and for Juliet's father. See
7.10.1.1.
When it came time for Juliet to enter high school, in
February 1952, she was apparently enrolled briefly at St
Margaret's, a private Anglican girls' school north of Hagley Park
in Christchurch. Hilda Hulme testified that Juliet was given
intelligence tests at this time, scoring very high (actually,
Juliet Hulme's IQ was measured, then, to be 170). On the basis of
these tests, it was decided to place Juliet into a larger, public
High School, Christchurch Girls' High School, since Juliet would
be stimulated, intellectually, in a larger, busier environment.
St Margaret's was 3 km from Ilam. CGHS was two blocks north of Dr
Hulme's office at CUC, and Hilda Hulme was on the Board of
Governors of CGHS. These may have also been factors in the
decision. Juliet met Pauline Parker at CGHS. This is the
beginning of the time period covered in "Heavenly Creatures."
Photos of Juliet taken in the gardens of Ilam at the age of
twelve or thirteen (e.g. the "daffodils" photo) show her to be a
'sophisticated,' serious and slightly self-conscious girl, but
happier than she appeared in her earlier photos, and apparently
in good health. Her hair is short and sunbleached at the tips, so
she must have spent a lot of active time, outdoors.
Two years later, after contracting tuberculosis and being
subjected to a period of quarantine and isolation in Cashmere
Sanatorium, an experience which had a profound effect on her,
Juliet helped Pauline Parker kill Honora Parker.
Initially, Juliet denied involvement in the crime, probably
according to prearrangement with Pauline. However, she changed
her mind and made full, detailed statements to police, which were
entered into evidence during the trial. See 7.5.7. It is Juliet's
statements which have provided most information about the murder
itself. Juliet was subjected to a battery of physical and
psychological testing in the six weeks between the murder and the
trial.
Photographs of Juliet at the time of her trial show her to
have grown into a slim, poised and very attractive young woman,
now with shoulder-length, darker hair. Press reports commented
extensively on her striking appearance and her bearing and her
behaviour during the hearing and the first days of her trial;
some called it arrogant, others refined, others remorseless.
During the final day of her trial, however, during the summing up
and sentencing, Juliet Hulme sat with her fingers plugging her
ears and her gaze downcast. She was convicted of murder and
sentenced to an indefinite period of incarceration, During Her
Majesty's Pleasure.
The sentencing of Juliet Hulme, the events which occurred
during her incarceration and the terms and conditions of her
eventual release are all quite complex issues, dealt with at some
length in Glamuzina and Laurie's book. Only a brief outline will
be presented here.
Many factors went into the sentencing and decisions were
made all the way up to the level of Secretary of Justice and the
Minister of Justice. Juliet benefitted from a recent change in
the law which forbade capital punishment for persons under 18
years of age convicted of capital crimes (this was the first
case, though the law was 3 years old), and incarceration "During
Her Majesty's Pleasure" for an indefinite duration was
automatically prescribed. This sentence ensured that periodic
review would be made of her "progress toward rehabilitation" and
it also allowed for highly conditional terms of release. This was
an era of quite sweeping reform and change in the NZ system of
justice and there was an official emphasis on rehabilitation and
re-integration into society, especially where young offenders
were concerned.
The public, however, was outraged by the crime and, perhaps
to an even greater degree, by what was perceived to be
unrepentent attitudes and callous behaviour on the part of the
two girls in the time between their arrest and their conviction.
The public was demanding harsh and vengeful punishment and
sentencing became very much a political issue in this climate.
Juliet and Pauline were sentenced to separate terms of
incarceration specifically because it was perceived that absolute
separation would be the most severe punishment for them, not
because of psychiatric arguments voiced during the trial. They
were not permitted any form of communication whatsoever, again to
maximize their punishment. Juliet Hulme was perceived by the
public to have been the dominant and willful 'ringleader' and it
was decided to give her the harshest treatment possible, at least
on paper--largely, it would seem, to appease the public's thirst
for vengeance.
Juliet was transferred to Mount Eden prison, a tough,
primitive, high-security facility described as medieval in
construction and atmosphere, containing both male and female
inmates in separate wings and the site of capital punishment in
New Zealand. She served out the bulk of her sentence at Mt Eden
and there were several hangings in the central yard while she was
there. She was placed in solitary confinement for the first three
months of her sentence, emerging "remorseful" according to
newspaper reports. During her time in prison, she was not visited
by any family member and their correspondence with her was
described as very infrequent. In a very real sense, Juliet Hulme
faced her punishment for her crime almost completely alone. It
appears to have been a galvanizing experience for her.
Although conditions for Juliet Hulme in prison were grim and
harsh, she was nonetheless afforded special privileges and her
conditions also improved greatly as time went by and the public
attended to other things. The Howard League for Penal Reform
intervened on Juliet's behalf early in her incarceration and this
kindness seems to have made a lasting impression on her (see
7.11). During her sentence she continued her studies at the
Advanced level, taking Italian, English and Mathematics, her
father's specialty, and she passed University Entrance. Juliet
was also tutored on occasion by academics and former colleagues
of her father's. She was permitted to correspond with people
outside the prison, though all mail was screened and censored and
recorded. She was permitted visitors if they had legitimate ties
and they obtained the special permission required for each visit,
and there were some visits by former classmates and family
friends, for example. Apparently she was also permitted to take
some meals with the Warden and his family. Overall, both Juliet
and Pauline were treated during their incarceration in a
"strongly paternalistic way" according to Glamuzina and Laurie.
The Minister of Justice received regular reports on their
progress. Juliet was eventually transferred to Arohata Borstal,
Wellington, near the end of her sentence.
Late in 1959, soon after her twenty-first birthday, Juliet
Hulme was released secretly from prison (a public announcement
was made two weeks later) and given an anonymous new identity.
The terms of her release were that she would leave the country
and she would have no contact with Pauline Parker, though these
conditions were not made public at the time of her release, for
some reason, and the public was led to believe that Juliet's
release was final and unconditional. In fact, if she had broken
any of the conditions of her release, Juliet would have been
subject to re-imprisonment according to the terms of release
"During Her Majesty's Pleasure." Juliet Hulme ceased to exist at
that time.
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3.2.5 Parker, Honora Mary. [jp,sb,G&L,maw]
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Honora Mary Parker was born in 1909 to Robert William
Parker, a chartered accountant, and Amy Lilian Parker, in
Birmingham, England. Birmingham is in the industrial Midlands of
England, traditionally an economically depressed region of the
country during this century, but Robert Parker's profession would
have placed his family on the lower end of the working middle
classes. In an interesting and, I think, very significant twist
of fate, Honora Parker and Henry Hulme were born less than a year
apart, not all that far from each other in the geography of their
birthplaces and quite close in terms of the social stations of
their families. It would have been inconceivable for Honora
Parker not to be aware of these things even if she and Dr Hulme
never broached the subjects and they may have been extremely
important factors in determining Honora Parker's attitudes toward
the Hulmes. It is hard to believe that Honora would not have
dwelt upon the similarities in their beginnings in life and the
huge disparities between her lot in life and Henry Hulme's. It is
equally hard to believe, given her background, that Honora would
not have taken considerable satisfaction in Dr Hulme's fall from
grace and from the revelation of his 'tainted' family situation.
At the age of 18, in 1927, Honora Parker emigrated to New
Zealand with her mother, Amy. The fate or circumstances of
Honora's father aren't known. Honora settled in Raetihi, NZ,
where she eventually met Herbert Rieper, fifteen years her senior
and an accountant in the firm where Honora worked. This
description of him makes Herbert Rieper sound like a reasonable
approximation to Honora's father, of course. Something to ponder.
According to trial testimony, some time between 1929, when
Honora was about 20 and under the age of majority, and 1931,
Honora Parker and Herbert Rieper began their relationship and
began living together as husband and wife. They were never
married, a fact eventually known only to themselves and adults in
their immediate families. See the section on Herbert Rieper
(3.2.9) for more on this part of their lives.
By 1936, Honora Parker and Herbert Rieper had moved to
Christchurch, NZ, living as husband and wife on Mathesons Road in
the Phillipstown area of the city, described as "industrial" by
Glamuzina and Laurie, but in many respects it seems to have
become Honora and Herbert's 'neighbourhood'. Mathesons Road lies
outside the eastern border of the old town, a couple of blocks
north of Lancaster Park and the railway tracks. Hereford St,
where Herbert Rieper managed Dennis Brothers' Fish Supply, was
two blocks to the north. There was a Methodist Church one block
north, on Cashel St and Bromley Methodist Cemetery lay a short
distance farther east, across Linwood Park and Linwood Ave.
Honora's first child with Herbert was a boy, born a 'blue
baby', in 1936, with cardio-pulmonary defects and he died almost
immediately after birth. Their second child, Wendy Patricia
Parker, was born in March 1937, when Honora was 28 and Herbert
42. Pauline Yvonne Parker was Honora's third child, born May 26,
1938, when Honora was 29. During WW II, Pauline had severe health
problems which would have placed serious financial strain on the
family. Nevertheless, in 1946, Honora Parker and Herbert Rieper
purchased a house on 31 Gloucester St, about 3 km west of
Mathesons Road, near Hagley Park in the old town and sited
between Canterbury College and CGHS. The house was registered in
Honora Parker's name as "the wife of Herbert Rieper." There may
have been compelling legal reasons not to register the house in
Herbert's name. The Riepers apparently had a family lawyer, Dr A
Haslam. He would eventually defend Pauline Parker for the murder
of her mother.
Honora and Herbert had a fourth child, Rosemary Parker, in
March 1949, when Honora was 40 and Herbert was 54. Rosemary was
born with Downs' Syndrome and her disability was severe enough
for her to be institutionalized at the age of two or three by her
parents. Rosemary was sent to Templeton Farm outside
Christchurch, where she was visited regularly by her family and
brought home for occasional visits, according to testimony.
Pauline Parker was said to have been very fond of Rosemary. For
more on Rosemary Parker and Templeton, see section 3.2.10 on
people missing from the film.
Honora's mother, Amy, was a frequent guest at the Rieper
house, though she apparently lived elsewhere in Christchurch.
Herbert might have called her 'Mother Parker'. Pauline called her
Nana Parker; 'Nan' or 'Nana' was and is a common term for
grandmother in parts of England, especially among working- or
lower-middle class people. The Hulmes probably would have used
the term 'Gran' or 'Granny'.
Honora took in boarders at 31 Gloucester St and ran the
house as a boarding house. Unfortunately, it isn't clear when
Honora began taking in boarders, but it is actually possible that
she began as late as January 1953, judging by some of Pauline
Parker's diary entries. Pauline stated that her mother was going
to take in 'Training School' boarders; these would have been
Teachers' Training School pupils [maw] so Pauline may have had
role models and an environment that was reasonably stimulating,
intellectually, with these boarders. These are extremely
important points, overlooked in all accounts I have seen. With
their home so close to Canterbury College, it would also have
been natural for the Riepers to take in College students,
although College students did have the reputation of being rowdy.
Honora, Wendy and Herbert were contributing financially to
the family during the time period seen in "Heavenly Creatures."
Pauline was not, though there were apparently plans in the air
for her to start pulling her weight in the family; Pauline was
apparently due to start work the week of Juliet Hulme's planned
departure.
Glamuzina and Laurie conclude, on the basis of diary entries
largely referred to but not quoted, that there was considerable
friction and conflict between Honora and Pauline Parker and that
it was quite longstanding. They conclude that Honora may have
slapped Pauline several times in one episode, but that Honora
apparently did not indulge in "excessive corporal punishment"
when it came to disciplining her daughter. Glamuzina and Laurie
conclude that the mother-daughter dynamics and relationships in
both the Rieper and the Hulme households were the most important
co-factors in the "Parker Hulme" murder, the ones responsible for
defining who was murderer and who was victim. The primary
aggravating factors, they claim, were the circumstances and
stresses brought about by the disintegration of the Hulme
household.
Honora Mary Parker was 45 when she was murdered by her
daughter, Pauline, and by her daughter's friend, Juliet Hulme, on
Tuesday June 22, 1954. At the time of her murder, Honora Parker
was described as a quite ordinary, greying, middle-aged woman
with dentures, much like anyone's mother. Really, though, very
little is known of Honora Parker; she died very much a plain,
invisible woman who was transformed, almost immediately upon her
tragic death, into things she probably had not been in life.
These new and re-worked fragments of the real woman were trotted
out and displayed and used by people with vested interests in the
case, which makes re-constructing the real person difficult. On
Thursday, June 24, 1954, Honora Parker's body was cremated, after
funeral services were held at Bromley Methodist Cemetery, back in
the old neighbourhood.
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3.2.6 Parker, Pauline Yvonne. [jp,sb,jb,G&L]
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Pauline Yvonne Parker was born on May 26, 1938, in
Christchurch, New Zealand, the third-born child of Honora Mary
Parker, 29, and Herbert Detlev Rieper, 43.
As a young child of five, Pauline contracted osteomyelitis
and was hospitalized for nine months. She was near death at one
point, and the illness and treatment were extremely painful for
her. Little Pauline was reported to have borne the pain bravely
and quietly. Two years later, at the age of seven, she was forced
to undergo a second painful operation to drain infection from her
leg. Pauline's illness left her with a permanent, though not
crippling, handicap which would excuse her from physical
education and sports throughout childhood. Pauline had chronic,
recurring pain in her leg throughout her childhood and youth and
she took pain killers quite frequently throughout this time.
Otherwise, her childhood was described by her father as
"uneventful." She attended a local primary school but had to be
in a class by herself for nearly two years following her
discharge from hospital because of the school's organization.
Pauline was eight when her family moved to 31 Gloucester St.
Throughout much of her later childhood, Pauline attended
East Belt Methodist Church regularly with her sister, Wendy,
though her parents were not regular parishoners. She and her
sister went on outings and vacations in the country sponsored by
the Church. Pauline was described as a serious, mature, bright
girl and an imaginitive, gifted writer. She became interested in
creative modelling in plasticine and wood and became quite
accomplished. Upon entering Christchurch Girls High School in
February 1952, at the age of 12, Pauline was placed into the top
stream. Note that Pauline entered High School at the normal age,
despite having been hospitalized for the better part of a year.
Soon after Juliet Hulme began attending Girls' High, Pauline
Parker began a friendship with Juliet that would come to distance
Pauline from her family. The friendship between the two girls was
also to push the bounds of local social norms in many ways; their
physical closeness at school was disapproved of and commented
upon as early as mid-1952. Glamuzina and Laurie paint Pauline's
family, in particular, as becoming progressively more concerned
at the growing friendship between Pauline and Juliet,
disapproving of the changes they saw in Pauline and in her
behaviour and her attitudes as the friendship grew.
The two girls were separated for the first time by Juliet's
quarantine in the TB sanatorium. Pauline Parker was a loyal,
loving and extremely important friend to Juliet during this very
difficult time in Juliet's life. In later years, Juliet Hulme
would comment that she would come to feel an extreme debt of
gratitude and obligation to Pauline Parker because of Pauline's
unwavering support and companionship during this "dark and lonely
time." Juliet would refer to Pauline's friendship as a "lifeline"
during her confinement at the sanatorium.
Pauline wrote extensively during this time, in the form of
letters to Juliet, stories and in personal diaries beginning in
January, 1953. Pauline's diaries would eventually provide most of
the physical evidence for premeditation of Honora Parker's
murder. They would also be used extensively by the army of
psychiatrists in their testimony during the trial. Glamuzina and
Laurie claim that much of Pauline's diaries have been
sensationalized and mis-interpreted.
Pauline also had several other important friendships and
relationships throughout her adolescence, most notably with the
boarder 'Nicholas' and with a group of Ceylonese University
students. Indeed, Glamuzina and Laurie emphasize that Pauline and
Juliet both had many other friends and G&L downplay the 'intense
exclusivity' of their relationship, because that aspect was
seized upon by the psychiatric profession as a symptom of the
girls' 'madness.'
Pauline's school picture from October 1953 shows her to be a
serious, rather short, dark-haired girl with an oval face and
full, dark brows. At "seven stone" (98 lbs) she appears slim
compared to her classmates and rather more sad than brooding,
with arms held quite stiffly behind her and her face downcast.
Her hair is dark and had been curled and pinned on either side of
her head, a little untidily. All the girls around her have short
hair styles, their hair just a little flyaway, so there was a
slight breeze that day. Pauline's uniform is well-fitting, neat
and pressed, her collar starched, and her tie is loosely but
correctly knotted and placed. For some reason, my eye is drawn by
the creases at the elbow of her white cotton shirt--they are
sharp, as if the shirt were new and the day had been a little hot
and sticky. The sun is not high and, coming as it does from the
north-west, it says that the girls of Form IVA were photographed
rather late in the afternoon, that October Spring day. The public
would read much into the fact that all other girls in the
photograph except Pauline were looking into the camera, and
smiling.
At the urging of Dr Hulme, Honora Parker took her daughter
to be examined by Dr Bennett in December 1953 and Pauline was
apparently 'diagnosed' to be a homosexual. It isn't clear whether
or not Pauline was informed of this diagnosis; according to her
diary, it would appear that Honora Parker made vague references
to the poor state of Pauline's health, and that her condition was
the result of her association with Juliet Hulme. Honora at first
threatened to separate Pauline from her friend and then she
forbade Pauline from seeing Juliet over the summer holidays. It
was during this time, when the two girls were separated, that the
Hulme household went into convulsion with the arrival of Walter
Perry. The crumbling of the Hulme household accelerated with the
coming of the New Year and things reached a head in both homes
around Easter, 1954.
When the Hulme family started disintegrating, Pauline became
concerned and upset at first, according to her diary. Pauline had
formed a close relationship with Hilda Hulme before this
upheaval, or perhaps a close attachment would be a more correct
description, according to her diaries. Pauline had apparently
believed that Hilda and Henry Hulme would support her in her
desire to leave her family for thiers. The Hulme family upheaval
changed all that, and it seems that Pauline and Juliet came up
with several alternative 'escape' schemes.
When the Hulme household started to crumble, Honora Parker
was apparently pleased that the relationship between the girls
would be broken up and she became very pleased when she learned
that Dr Hulme was to leave the country, with Juliet, according to
evidence presented during the trial. Around this time Honora
removed her daughter from school and enrolled her at Digby's
Commercial College. According to Glamuzina and Laurie,
"Suggestions were made that she had fallen behind in her
schoolwork [when she left the High School]. The school record
shows no indication of this." This is also a very important point
which needs to be clarified. Pauline Parker's diary records a
tremendous rush of events and an increase in tension and friction
through May and June, 1954, as the physical breakup of the
Hulme's household drew closer. The time line is complicated. See
7.3.
Just 12 days before the Hulme household was due to
disintegrate completely, Pauline Parker murdered her mother, with
Juliet Hulme's assistance, on Tuesday June 22, 1954.
At first, both girls maintained that Honora Parker's death
had been an accident, but Pauline confessed to the crime later
that evening when she was interrogated, alone, at Ilam. See
7.5.6. She apparently planned to exonerate Juliet, hoping that
Juliet would escape punishment. After making her brief, rather
uninformative confession, Pauline Parker offered little more
concrete information about the murder in the weeks and months
ahead, or her reason for committing it, and she has kept her
silence on these matters to this day. She admitted, during
questioning, that she was aware of her crime and that it went
against the moral standards of the community--sufficient evidence
to find her legally sane.
During the arraignment and trial, pictures of Pauline show
her to be slightly heavier-set than she was before Christmas, and
a dowdy dresser in her 'civilian' clothes. In several pictures,
it appears as if she had a bandage or some prosthetic device on
her chin, although this was often retouched in newspaper
accounts. The contrast between Juliet, who always appeared
fashionably smart and well-tailored, and Pauline, who looked much
older and more tired than her years, was striking in pictures
from that time. Most of Pauline's pictures showed that she walked
with her fists tightly clenched by her side.
After being convicted of the murder of her mother, Pauline
was sentenced to indefinite incarceration, Pauline was removed to
a Borstal (roughly equivalent to lower-security Juvenile
Detention) near Wellington, Arohata Women's Reformatory, where
she served out most of her sentence. This more lenient
environment, compared to Mt Eden, was partly the result of lack
of prison facilities in New Zealand and also because Pauline was
viewed by the public, after the trial, to be slightly the dupe or
victim of Juliet Hulme's intense persuasion. The public perceived
the murder, for reasons best known to itself, to have been
something of a 'thrill killing' in some respects, possibly at
Juliet's instigation. There may have also been a little racism
and English backlash involved in these sentiments, too. Pauline
and Juliet were not allowed to communicate in any way or meet
during their incarceration. It was reported that Pauline was
extremely distraut by these circumstances in the early stages of
her prison term.
Pauline Parker's relationship with her family members was
extremely strained after the murder, as might be expected. Her
father was not present at her conviction or sentencing and he
made brief and bitter statements to the Press after the trial and
upon his daughter's release from prison. Pauline was visited once
by her father in prison and it would appear that this was their
last contact. Pauline was moved to Christchurch Womens' Prison,
Paparua before Juliet was moved to Arohata in the later stages of
her incarceration. She was visited by other family and friends
when she was moved back to Christchurch.
Early in her incarceration Pauline converted to Roman
Catholicism and apparently became a devout Catholic. Pauline
enrolled in courses in English, French, Latin, Mathematics,
Drawing and Design and, later, Maori. She completed University
Entrance and made considerable progress towards her Bachelor of
Arts degree, eventually completing it soon after her release from
prison.
In late 1959, Pauline Parker was furnished with a new
identity and released on parole after Juliet Hulme had been
released and had left the country. During her parole, Pauline was
subject to controls in terms of her movements and her employment
and she was closely monitored. Department of Justice officials
noted their concern over Pauline's association with lesbians
during her probation period, a good indication of the scrutiny
under which she was placed. It also illustrates the type of
official labelling, discrimination and repercussions mentioned
previously in 3.1.11. Pauline Parker remained on parole until
1965. Apparently, upon her release from parole, Pauline Parker
moved from New Zealand.
Pauline Parker became an anonymous private citizen after her
release from prison and she has continued to maintain her
anonymity. Ms Parker has not identified herself, and she has made
no public statements about any of the matters covered in this
FAQ. Recent press reports place her back in New Zealand, in
Auckland, still leading her life in the private sphere and
working in a Christian book shop. She would have celebrated her
57th birthday at the end of May, 1995.
Stevan Eldred-Griggs (NZ social historian): "Pauline clearly
longed to escape the shabbiness and domestic work of the
boardinghouse her mother ran. She fantasized about Italian opera
singers, literature, rising to the upper class--common enough
escape fantasies."
Jackson: Deplores the continuing media hunt for Pauline Parker.
"It's horrible. It's not that these girls are Nazi war
criminals." Jackson frequently makes this comparison. It is
actually a reference to Medlicott's article. See 7.8.1.
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3.2.7 Perry, Anne. [jp]
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After leaving New Zealand in 1959, first for a stopover in
Sydney, Australia and then for her destination in the UK, Juliet
Hulme became Anne Perry, a fact revealed in 1994. Her new surname
was taken from her mother, H Marion Perry and her stepfather,
Walter (Bill) Perry. Ms Perry lived with Walter and H Marion
Perry for several years on her return to England. A detailed
'official' biography of Anne Perry is given in section 7.10.2.
Anne Perry held a variety of jobs in England in the early
60s. She was a flight attendant on domestic UK flights and lived
and worked in Newcastle, in the north-east corner of England, for
a time. Then, in 1967, Anne Perry was at last granted a visa to
live and work in the United States. She made a complete admission
of her past to US Immigration authorities, who reviewed the
transcript of her trial before granting her a visa. It is not
known if her father, Henry Hulme, played any role in securing his
daughter's visa, though it is almost certain that he would have
been consulted because of the sensitive nature of his high-
security position at the time.
So, finally, thirteen years after dreaming about escaping to
California with Pauline Parker, Anne Perry came to San Fransisco
in the Summer of Love. She was 29 in 1967.
While living in San Francisco, Anne Perry was introduced to
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by an
acquaintance, and she became a Mormon. She made a complete
disclosure of her identity and her past to the Church, which
welcomed her warmly. Ms Perry has written on the history of the
Mormon Church in the UK.
Anne Perry eventually moved to Los Angeles and worked, among
other jobs, as an Underwriter by day, while writing at night. She
was not able to sell any of her writing. She stuck it out for
several years in LA, in a variety of jobs, until she decided she
had had enough. She eventually moved back to the UK in the early
1970s.
Back in the UK Anne Perry continued writing for several very
lean years with no commercial success. During that time, it
appears as if Anne Perry and her father, Henry Hulme, finally
reconciled (see 7.10.2.1).
Anne Perry's first novel, "The Cater Street Hangman," was
accepted for publication and then published in 1979. Prior to
this, she had written several works of historical fiction but had
never managed to sell them. By moving into the Victorian era, and
the genre of the murder mystery, Ms Perry had at last hit upon a
commercial product. Since that time she has worked at a furious
pace to build up her reputation, and her readership, to its
present level of success. Ms Perry just published her twentieth
novel, "Traitors Gate," and has just completed (March '95) a book
tour of North America.
Anne Perry now lives a mile from her mother on the eastern
coast of Scotland, in a huge renovated stone barn overlooking the
sea. She has three dogs and two cats and a neighbour who raises
pigs. Her community is a small, close-knit one. Ms Perry never
married, though she says she came close to it, a couple of times.
** Who made the connection between Anne Perry and Juliet Hulme?
Investigative reporter Lin Ferguson of Sunday News (NZ)
revealed in July 1994, when "Heavenly Creatures" was playing in
film festivals, that Juliet Hulme's present identity was Anne
Perry. Although filmmakers Walsh and Jackson were aware of the
rumours surrounding Juliet Hulme's identity and whereabouts, and
their extensive research and attention to known detail actually
put many clues to Juliet's new identity into the film, the film
was careful not to include the new rumors or explicit statements
which would have identified Ms Perry, or Pauline Parker.
After apparently overhearing a comment made by a New Zealand
friend of Anne Perry, Ferguson took up Juliet's trail with "Mr
Walter Perry," the engineer/lodger/lover featured in "Heavenly
Creatures," and the knowledge that the girls had had a burning
desire to become published authors. Searching "Contemporary
Authors" (see 7.10.2), Ferguson quickly found an author who
listed Walter Perry, an engineer, as her father, and Juliet
Hulme's birth date as her own. Phone calls to Meg Davis, Ms
Perry's literary agent in London, led to Perry's acknowledgement
that she was Juliet Hulme (see 7.8).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.2.8 Perry, Walter Andrew Bowman. [jp,G&L]
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Walter (Bill) Perry was born in Winnipeg, Canada. He was an
engineer by training and profession.
Walter Perry moved to New Zealand in July 1953, while the
Hulmes were abroad in England, at the direction of Associated
Industrial Consultants, a British Company based in London. When
Walter Perry's marriage broke up, he became a client of the
Christchurch Marriage Guidance Coucil, where he met Hilda Hulme,
some time after her return to Christchurch at the end of August,
1953. The two fell in love, in what must have been something of a
whirlwind romance. Even disregarding Hilda Hulme's defiance of
her 'scandalous' professional conflict of interest, the social
disparity between Walter Perry and Hilda Hulme, mentioned
previously in the FAQ, and the time line surrounding their
relationship are very important points to consider.
Hilda Hulme had an enormous amount of social standing to
lose by undertaking a relationship with Walter Perry. Throwing
away a lifetime's worth of respect and social standing is not
something undertaken lightly or on the spur of the moment and, to
me, the velocity of Walter and Hilda's relationship is highly
suggestive of serious and longstanding domestic problems between
Henry and Hilda Hulme. In effect, Walter Perry was probably more
a catalyst of the upheaval to come than its cause, more a trigger
than the reason. As things would turn out, this was not to be a
casual and temporary fling for either Walter Perry or Hilda
Hulme. In fact, their relationship would be tested to limits
experienced by few people, and it would survive. To me, this
indicates a genuine and rather deep emotional need in Hilda Hulme
part which Walter Perry was apparently able to fulfill.
Around Christmas, 1953, Walter Perry moved into a semi-
private flat at Ilam to live with the Hulmes. He had a private
housekeeper, but she would be dismissed before Easter, 1954.
Walter Perry's relationship with Hilda Hulme was apparently known
to Henry Hulme and even accepted by Dr Hulme, according to
testimony. The unusual living arrangement at Ilam generated
significant gossip and social pressure, however, and it would
precipitate the final breakup of Hilda and Henry Hulme's
marriage. It also probably contributed to the forced resignation
of Henry Hulme from his post as Rector of Canterbury College.
While at Ilam, Walter Perry was discovered in flagrante
delicto with Hilda Hulme by Juliet Hulme around Easter, 1954.
This event crystallized a family crisis with very wide-reaching
repercussions because it occurred at a critical moment amidst
several other key events:
* it was a few weeks after Dr Hulme received the letter
asking for his resignation, so the three adults had already
planned the breakup of the family,
* it was less than two weeks after Pauline's removal from
school by her mother, and Pauline had been frustrated by her
inability to get a job,
* it was just one day after Pauline's first day at Digby's
Commercial College,
* it was just three days before Dr Hulme informed the girls
of the plans for divorce but not the specific plans to
remove Juliet from New Zealand.
The Easter event and ensuing crisis were well-documented by
Pauline Parker and were entered into testimony during the trial,
though Pauline's account was disputed by both Walter Perry and
Hilda Hulme. There is no doubt that Walter Perry had become a
significant presence and influence at Ilam by this time.
Significantly, Walter Perry was also very well-informed
about the girls' activities and writings. Ilam was apparently a
house with enormous numbers of poorly-guarded secrets. At the
trial, he claimed that Juliet had shown and discussed with him
some of her work; if true, it would indicate a more intimate
relationship between the two than has generally been painted.
Although it was claimed in the trial that he had been blackmailed
by the girls, it seems pretty clear that there were no secrets
between the three adults by this stage, so his giving money to
Juliet was probably just an attempt to win her affection, the
step-parent trap or, perhaps, it was a genuine attempt to soothe
an obviously-troubled girl.
Within a month, Hilda Hulme was forced to resign her
positions because of Walter Perry and Pauline Parker mentioned
despair and suicide and the word murder for the first time. One
diary entry after Easter quoted in the open press mentions Walter
Perry, and it is an important one.
Walter Perry was still living at Ilam when Pauline and
Juliet murdered Honora Parker on June 22, 1954.
On the evening following Honora's murder, Walter Perry was
involved in several absolutely key events. First, at Hilda
Hulme's request, Walter Perry took the girls' bloody clothing to
a commercial dry cleaners before the arrival of the police. There
have also been persistent rumours that Walter Perry was also
involved in the destruction of other damning evidence that night,
including Juliet Hulme's diaries and writings. Walter Perry also
sedated both girls the evening of the murder, before they were
interrogated by police. He was present at all but one critical
interrogation session.
In addition, Walter Perry apparently advised both Pauline
Parker and Juliet Hulme to simply "tell the truth," without
benefit of counsel, apparently with the blessing of Henry and
Hilda Hulme. In a very real sense, then, it was Walter Perry who
defined the defense strategy, because it was the girls' damning
confessions which left the defense with few options.
When Henry Hulme left New Zealand a couple of weeks later,
Hilda Hulme and Walter Perry were evicted from Ilam. They
auctioned the Hulmes' private possessions to raise money for the
defense and their expenses and they took up residence at the
Hulmes' holiday home at Port Levy.
Walter Perry testified on behalf of Juliet Hulme at both the
inquest and the trial, though his testimony was not much
assistance to the defense. To his considerable credit, Walter
Perry stood by Hilda Hulme emotionally and even physically
throughout this period, apparently unconcerned about being
photographed with Hilda Hulme after their relationship had been
made public through testimony.
After the trial, Walter Perry left New Zealand for the UK
with H Marion Perry. He made a statement to the press during the
sea voyage which was disparaging to Juliet Hulme but which also
expressed his concern for Hilda Hulme. That was his last public
statement about the case. Walter Perry married H Marion Perry
after her divorce from Henry Hulme. The couple settled in the UK.
After Juliet Hulme was released from prison, she moved back
to the UK and lived with Walter and H Marion Perry for a time.
Juliet Hulme adopted the surname Perry (revealed in 1994) and, as
Anne Perry, she listed Walter Perry as her father in her official
biographies written before 1994. Ms Perry now refers to "Bill"
Perry, in public, as her stepfather. [This was how she referred
to him during her comments in Corte Madera, 95/03/29. jp].
Walter Perry is now deceased. [sb]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.2.9 Rieper, Herbert Detlev. [jp,sb,G&L,maw]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Herbert Detlev Rieper was born on October 22, 1894 in
Strahan, Tasmania to Katie Thurza Stubbings and Claude Detlev
Rieper, a shop assistant of German origin. He came to New Zealand
in 1910, at the age of sixteen. At the outbreak of World War I,
Herbert Rieper enlisted in the Army and was eventually stationed
in Cairo, Egypt. [For an account of similar wartime experiences
and travels and for excellent background information on New
Zealand society, school system etc., see "Volume One: To the Is-
Land" of Janet Frame's "Autobiography" where Ms Frame describes
her father's service. jp]
While stationed in Cairo, Herbert Rieper met and married
Louise McArthur (nＦ Mackrie) in 1915, when he was 21 and she was
34. Louise Rieper had been born in India of English parentage and
had been married previously. By the standards and conventions of
the day, Louise Rieper sounds to have been an independent,
unconventional woman and, perhaps, something of an adventurer.
The couple returned to New Zealand at the end of the War,
settling in Napier on the Hawke's Bay, on the eastern shore of
the North Island.
The Riepers' first child was born in Napier in 1919 when
Herbert was 25 and Louise was 37. They moved to Raetihi in 1922
and their second was born there in 1924, when Herbert was 29 and
Louise was 43. Herbert was working as a bookkeeper when he met
Honora Parker in Raetihi, around 1928. He was probably about 35
when he left his family and took up with Honora. Louise was about
47 at the time and their children were about 10 and 6. Honora was
about 20. However, Herbert Rieper testified in the trial that
these things happened two years later; Herbert probably
calculated at some point before the trial that Honora was under
the age of majority (21) when they took up together, so came to
claim they had been together for 23 years, not 25, as he had
previously said in interviews. Note the symmetry in age
differences; Louise was to Herbert as Herbert was to Honora. For
more on Raetihi, see below.
Herbert and Louise Rieper were never divorced, which was the
reason why he and Honora Parker were never married. Herbert
Rieper apparently paid some maintenance to his first family but
had little contact with them. By 1936, Herbert Rieper and Honora
Parker had moved to Christchurch. The fact that Herbert and
Louise Rieper were never divorced is probably the reason why the
house at 31 Gloucester St was put in Honora Parker's name; this
would ensure that Honora and her children would retain the house
if Herbert were to die.
Glamuzina and Laurie describe Herbert Rieper as a quiet,
polite and dapper little man. In 1954, Herbert Rieper was the
manager of Dennis Brothers' fish shop on Hereford St in
Christchurch. He was 61 years old, so would have been close to
retirement under better economic circumstances. Perhaps Herbert
Rieper's impending retirement and the loss of income that would
come with it was one of the financial pressures on the Rieper
household which drove Honora to take in boarders. Perhaps the
family wanted to pay off the house before Herbert retired. Money
worries were obviously an extremely important factor in the
equation, contributing greatly to the atmosphere in the Rieper
home. I tend to think that they were more prominent and important
than has been emphasized in treatments to date.
The public was, obviously and justifiably, extremely
sympathetic to Herbert Rieper after the murder of his wife, and
all people associated with the case appear to have been extremely
reluctant to offer any criticism of him. This has continued in
the discussion and analysis of the case since then, including, to
a large degree, Glamuzina and Laurie's book. However, and no
matter how much he may have loved them, it seems apparent to me
from his statements and his testimony that Herbert Rieper
probably had very little to do with the actual rearing of his
children or with disciplining them. He may not have been an
'absent' parent, but he was probably very much of the 'hands-off'
variety, preferring to leave such things to his wife. For
example, Medlicott was obviously frustrated by the extremely
vague and limited information about Pauline's medical history
which he could glean from Herbert Rieper (see 7.8.1). Herbert
Rieper's sketchy information to Medlicott about his daughter,
conisting mostly of information about how she helped him with his
hobbies and bare-bones facts about her illness, should be
contrasted with Hilda Hulme's detailed information to Medlicott
about her daughter.
Herbert Rieper testified in the Hearing and Inquest that he
himself played a critical role in the events from Easter, 1954,
up to Honora's murder but, by the time of the trial, his name was
mostly absent and it was clear that Honora Parker initiated and
carried through with many of the actions and decisions concerning
Pauline. Unfortunately, this 'hands off' approach of his made
Herbert a very unreliable witness when it came to details of
dates and even the sequence of key events. He said that Honora
finally approached Henry Hulme some time after Easter, 1954,
determined to secure Henry's cooperation to break up the
friendship of Pauline and Juliet. Around that time, the Riepers
learned of Henry Hulme's plan to take Juliet to South Africa. It
isn't clear what Herbert Rieper learned about the Hulmes'
personal situation at that time. This is a crucial time period in
the case, with few entries available from Pauline's diaries.
Herbert Rieper's experiences on the day of his wife's murder
were truly heart-wrenching and tragic. He was out of the shop and
missed the message that his wife had been "hurt," so didn't show
up to Victoria Park until after work, two hours after his wife's
death, driven by a colleague. He was the prime suspect, briefly,
and was kept in the dark about what had happened to Honora for
several hours while being interrogated quite aggressively by
police officers at the scene. Officers secured his permission to
interrogate his daughter without legal counsel, and to search his
house and her room under the same conditions, thereby having him
sow the legal seeds of the extraordinary trial. He was obliged to
divulge his marital status and that of Honora Parker and the
legal status of his children, all dutifully recorded and then
reported worldwide the following day. And, the following day,
Herbert Rieper was required to identify his wife's body--which
must have been a particularly unpleasant and traumatic experience
because of the nature of Honora's injuries. He held the funeral
for his wife the very next day, on Thursday June 24, 1954.
Herbert Rieper was apparently affected greatly by Honora
Parker's murder. He provided rather sketchy background
information about Pauline to police and psychiatrists after his
daughter's arrest. He testified at both the inquest and trial,
but did not bother to attend the trial after his testimony was
over. His testimony was not particularly informative and it is
quite painful to read; it must have been unbearable to listen to
him give it. Herbert Rieper refused to attend court on the day
his daughter was convicted of murder, and stated from his home
that he "had nothing to say" at the close of the trial. Reading
between the lines, Herbert Rieper became terribly bitter and
hostile toward the Hulmes and his daughter.
The trial placed an extreme financial burden on Herbert
Rieper. He was still paying legal fees many years later; these
were reduced when the legal firm became aware of his hardship.
Herbert Rieper apparently had little to do with his daughter
after the murder. He visited Pauline once in prison, but found
the process "depressing." It is doubtful that father and daughter
ever reconciled, and there is no record that they had any contact
after Pauline's release on parole. When his daughter was released
from prison in 1959, Herbert Rieper was quoted as saying about
the sentence served by Pauline and Juliet: "It still doesn't make
up for robbing a person of their life. It was evil between them
that did it. Pure evil."
Herbert Rieper died in Christchurch in 1981, at the age of
92, after a long battle against pneumonia, a disease which
figures prominently in this story. His sister died in
Christchurch in 1973.
** Where is Raetihi and what was it like? [jl,lw,maw]
Raetihi is in the North Island, about 39 deg 20 min S, 175
deg 20 min E. Or, if you can find Lake Taupo in the middle of the
North Island (biggest lake), then find Wanganui on the coast to
the southwest; Raetihi is halfway between them. Nearest town is
Ohakune. [jl]
Raetihi is in the central North Island, just SW of Mt
Ruapehu. Raetihi, and the nearby town of Ohakune are places where
skiers on Mt Ruapehu stay overnight. They are also the centre of
a large market-gardening district (carrots, potatoes, etc.) [lw]
I used to stay in Raetihi with my grandparents every
Christmas holidays. It was a very sleepy little town--such a
small town that there was just one main street with a few shops.
I suspect that its two major 'industries' were its dairy factory
and the stock sales yard. As a kid, I used to go fishing with my
grandfather and have very many happy memories of the area. The
trout were GOOD. Absolutely the best breakfast, poached trout...
mmmmm...
Raetihi is at the top of the parapara (the local name for a
road which connects, ultimately, with Wanganui, on the coast to
the SW). It is a very winding road but it is the main connection
between Wanganui and the centre of the North Island. I used to
get there by bus from Wanganui, or by train from Wellington.
I think Herbert Rieper and Honora Parker probably ended up
there by chance. The trip from the King country through to Napier
is still pretty rough even today, worse than the trip from
Raetihi to Wanganui. [maw]
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3.2.10 Real people missing from the film. [jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The most important real person missing from the film would
be Pauline's younger sister, Rosemary Parker. She did not live at
the Rieper home during the time period of "Heavenly Creatures"
but she would have been a significant and important part of
Pauline's life; Pauline was reported to have been very fond of
her.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.2.10.1 Parker, Rosemary and Templeton Farm. [jp,lw,maw]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Rosemary Parker was born in March 1949 with Downs' Syndrome
or, as she was described by Dr Medlicott during trial testimony,
Rosemary was born a "Mongolian imbecile." Honora Parker was 40,
Herbert Rieper was 54, Wendy was 12 and Pauline was almost 11
when Rosemary was born. There was a small school for children
with cerebral palsy across the street from the Riepers' home, so
they may have benefitted from that close proximity in some way.
When Rosemary was two [1951, G&L] or three [1952, Medlicott] she
was institutionalized in Templeton Farm, a facility for the
mentally ill or disabled (but not the criminally insane) outside
Christchurch, about 15 km west of the city centre. There was a
bus, the #25, which went all the way out to Templeton from
Cathedral Square.
Glamuzina & Laurie comment on the public perception of the
mentally ill and handicapped at the time, and paint a rather
hostile and negative picture. There seemed to be an inordinate
emphasis on health, fitness and the participation in sport, and
team sports especially, as being indicative of 'normal' child
development at the time, in NZ. By inference from trial accounts
and G&L's discussion, at the time she was born, Rosemary would
have been a financial, emotional and social burden and a handicap
to all the Riepers, in many ways. During trial testimony, Dr
Medlicott referred to Rosemary Parker and to Pauline's older
brother who had died at birth (see 7.1) and commented: "These
things raise a query as to the stock from which she comes." He
was a professional; no doubt the common folk thought the same.
Herbert Rieper testified that Rosemary was visited regularly
at Templeton Farm and was taken home occasionally, and G&L
comment that there is evidence for visits and home visits in
Pauline's diaries (only one entry is quoted by them), but G&L
don't give numbers, which is very unfortunate. It is quite
possible, of course, that Herbert Rieper may have given testimony
about Rosemary which was either ill-informed or deliberately
'rosy,' putting the family in as positive a light as he could.
That would only be human nature. Naturally, Herbert Rieper was
not aggressively cross-examined over any of his statements made
during the trial. Most went completely unchallenged.
Apart from the impact of Rosemary on the day-to-day life of
the Rieper home, she is very, crucially, important for another
reason: In real life, the Riepers collected Pauline from Ilam on
Sunday, June 20, 1954, at the conclusion of Pauline's last visit
before Juliet's scheduled departure. From Ilam they proceded to
Templeton Farm, to visit Rosemary.
How should this visit be seen, especially given its timing?
As an object lesson to Pauline about her responsibilities to her
family? Or, perhaps, as a treat and a kindness because seeing
Rosemary would take Pauline's mind off Juliet and her leaving?
How would Pauline have been affected by a trip to Templeton Farm?
Was visiting Rosemary really a welcomed, happy, regular event, to
be looked forward to? Or, was it a painful, maybe depressing,
once-in-a-blue-moon thing? What was it like, going to Templeton
Farm, and how would Pauline have seen such a trip, coming
straight from Ilam? [jp]
Templeton Farm is attached to the Templeton Hospital and is
near Paparua Women's Prison. Templeton Hospital is a residential
institution for mental patients who cannot live in the community,
such as the mentally retarded and brain-damaged, not the
psychotic. There is a sort of a farm attached to give the inmates
something to do, and some work training for those who might
someday be able to be released. [lw]
Templeton Farm is a reasonable drive outside Christchurch; I
would guess about 1/2 hour. It is about 5 miles down the road
from Paparua Prison. Putting Rosemary Parker into Templeton Farm
would have been a financial relief to her family because this was
something the state actually paid for. If they were a typical
family, I suspect the visits would have been once-in-a-blue-moon.
I have a sister who contracted meningitis as a baby, and she
is still in Templeton Farm. When I was young, people would be
pretty gross to families with handicapped kids, if they knew. My
sister didn't go into Templeton Farm until her early teens and I
remember with sorrow how some others treated us because of our
sister. I remember someone hitting both my sister and me with an
umbrella at the bus stop because I couldn't keep her either still
or quiet. We loved my sister, but you certainly would not have
told strangers you had a handicapped sibling in those days. One
would have thought it was catching.
The bus still runs past Templeton. It takes my mother about
1 1/2 hours to travel into town from the suburbs then out to
Templeton Farm by bus.
We used to take my sister out regularly for drives etc, as
did most families who remembered their handicapped kids. However,
lots of people just dumped their handicapped kids and forgot
them, probably the majority. It was very rare to see other
visitors at Templeton. Visits there were never pleasant and I was
always glad to get out of the place. I doubt whether anyone would
have enjoyed them. The place looked awful and smelt awful and the
staff were VERY brusque.
Paparua Prison, just down the road, was not particularly
secure; my sister used to run away to the prison, as she was fed
lollies by the prisoners. She was a fantastic runner but this
ultimately led to her being drugged on a regular basis so she
would not cause trouble. She was so heavily drugged for several
years, until my father complained, that she became epileptic,
which is really sad, to add another burden to one already so
burdened--totally deaf and severely mentally retarded.
Some families made a special effort for their child. The
girl in the bed next to my sister's was such a case. Her family
would take her camping fairly regularly. One tragic weekend they
took her to Castle Hill, which lies between Porters Pass and Cass
on the way to Arthurs Pass. She ran away and couldn't be found by
nightfall, inspite of searching for several hours. They found
her the next day--she had frozen to death in the frost overnight.
She had done exactly what they had managed to teach her in the
home; she had taken off all her clothes and neatly folded them,
and laid down to sleep. They built a little stone gate, from
nowhere to nowhere, at the spot where she died. [maw]
** Where can I read more about the NZ mental health system? [jp]
The second volume of Janet Frame's Autobiography, "An Angel
At My Table," has anecdotal information about the New Zealand
mental health system in the period after WW II. There are other
references in section 7.7.
** How else does Templeton figure into the case? [jp,maw]
As will be clear after reading the background material in
section 7, the prosecution contended that PYP and JMH harboured
fantasies and schemes about being committed together in a mental
institution, after the murder. The prosecution argued that the
two girls supposedly thought conditions there would be 'softer'
than prison, and they would be released sooner than they would be
released from prison, once they were declared 'cured.' These
speculations were used to strengthen the portrait of the girls as
callous, scheming and coldly calculating. One prosecution
psychiarist from Sunnyside Hospital testified he tried to
convince the girls that the opposite was more likely to be true.
Because PYP had intimate, personal knowledge of the mental
health system, through her sister Rosemary, this scenario seems
quite unlikely, to me. [jp]
I very much doubt this story. Every kid growing up at the
time in Christchurch was afraid of the "loonybin" and being taken
there was a threat used against kids to keep them in line. This
was the Christchurch equivalent of the ghoulie getting you. It
was "known" by kids that they would electrocute you there if they
caught you. I lived in Hoon Hay, a Christchurch suburb near the
Cashemere Hills, and Sunnyside Hospital was just down the road.
When I biked past it I went extra fast. My sister was eventually
put into Templeton because the family doctor presented my father
with an ultimatum: either commit his daughter to Templeton, or
his wife to Sunnyside. If you ever saw some of the poor, sad
patients wandering in the grounds, you certainly did not get the
impression that they were particularly well looked-after, or
particularly well cared-for, or that it was a place that might be
at all desirable. [maw]
*SNIP HERE*******************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 06/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
John D. Porter
*****************************************************************
"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 07/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
=================================================================
4 Comparing the film to real life.
=================================================================
** How accurate was "Heavenly Creatures" meant to be? [jp]
Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson have both stated that they
intended the film to portray known facts as accurately as
possible.
** How accurate was it? [jp]
Overall, Walsh and Jackson did an exemplary job, especially
in the dense way they communicated cultural values and community
attitudes. The physical locations and artifacts and objects were
all outstanding in their precision, as well.
However, several important plot simplifications were made,
and some of these resulted in quite serious distortion of
important fact. A few characters and situations were made up.
Of equal importance, the filmmakers made some significant
omissions of fact, inevitable when a story this complicated is
brought to the screen.
However, their omissions actually have a significant impact
on the overall tone of the film, and on the impressions carried
away concerning the character of the girls' home lives, the
nature of the girls' relationship and of other important
relationships, the possible motives for the murder, the
chronology of the planning of the murder and even about the
murder itself.
Although the film presents a tight, consistent set of facts
(which still carry enormous ambiguity) and it is an outstanding
effort, it is the omissions from the film which lead me to give
it a grade of B for accuracy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
4.1 The Epilogue.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
** What information is given in the printed epilogue? [jp]
This is the text of the printed epilogue from "Heavenly
Creatures:"
In the hours following Honora's murder, a police search of
the Rieper house unearthed Pauline's diaries.
This resulted in her immediate arrest for the murder of her
mother. Juliet was arrested and charged with murder the
following day.
After Pauline's arrest it was discovered that Honora and
Herbert Rieper had never married. Pauline was therefore
charged under her mother's maiden name of Parker.
In August 1954, a plea of insanity was rejected by the jury
in the Christchurch Supreme Court trial, and Pauline Yvonne
Parker and Juliet Marion Hulme were found guilty of murder.
Too young for the death penalty, they were sent to separate
prisons to be "Detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure."
Juliet was released in November, 1959 and immediately left
New Zealand to join her mother overseas.
Pauline was released two weeks later but remained in New
Zealand on parole until 1965.
It was a condition of their release that they never meet
again.
** Is the information in the epilogue correct? [jp]
Yes, in every detail presented (except the legal phrase is
detained during Her Majesty's pleasure since it may also please
Her Majesty to release you). There was some confusion (possibly
deliberate) about the 'conditional' nature of the girls' release,
according to statements made by New Zealand Prison authorities to
the press at the time, but Jackson's version is correct. The
information in the epilogue does not tell the whole story,
however, and the real-life events are, perhaps, even more
poignant and tragic. See section 7.3.
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4.2 Events before the film.
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** How old was Honora when she ran away from home with Bert?
[jp,sb]
In "Heavenly Creatures," Pauline says to Honora: "Nana
Parker told me you were only 17 when you ran away with dad." I
have yet to find a source for this statement in real life.
Pauline's statement in the film was physically impossible,
in real life, because Honora Parker was born in England and did
not emigrate to New Zealand until she was 18.
According to Herbert Rieper's trial testimony, Honora was 45
when she was killed, Herbert was 61, and they had lived together
for 23 years. (Some previous statements made by Herbert Rieper
indicated that the couple may have been together for 25 years--
this would have made Honora under the age of majority at the time
she and Herbert Rieper took up together, so numbers may have been
changed). That would have made Honora 22 (20) and Herbert 38 (36)
when they started living together, in 1931 (1929).
** Was Pauline's flashback accurate? [jp]
Essentially, yes. Herbert Rieper testified that Pauline was
struck with osteomyelitis when she was 5, and that he had visited
her in the hospital.
** Was Juliet's flashback accurate? [jp]
No. Juliet was sent to the Bahamas "for the good of her
health" but after WW II when she was 8, not during the War when
she was 5, and there is no evidence she was hospitalized there.
** How accurately were the girls' ailments portrayed? [jp,jb]
The facts presented in the film essentially matched those
presented during the trial, though the extent and seriousness of
the girls' ailments was probably more extreme in real life than
was portrayed in the film.
Pauline had suffered from extremely painful osteomyelitis at
the age of 5, and was reported to have nearly died. It was also
reported that her bout with this disease was her first memory as
a child. She was hospitalized for 9 months and underwent very
painful treatments very bravely. Even changing the dressings was
reported to be very painful. She underwent a series of operations
over the span of nearly 3 years to "drain the muck out"
("discharge" according to medical reports). She was left
permanently, though not severely, handicapped by this disease and
she experienced chronic pain throughout her childhood and
adolescence, for which she took pain killers. She was advised not
to perform strenuous sports, and was excused from PhysEd. Pauline
may also have been affected, emotionally, by her illness and by
having to be isolated in a class all by herself for two years
after being released from the hospital. Her academic achievement
didn't appear to be adversely affected by this isolation, though.
Juliet had been very sickly, on and off, as a child with
various respiratory ailments, some very severe, including a very
serious case of pneumonia when she was 6. At that time, she
almost died. Juliet did contract TB, as shown in the film.
But, Juliet also had additional, significant medical
problems not shown in the film. Perhaps most significantly, she
had been severely 'bomb shocked' as a young child. This is an
almost archaic term for extreme psychological trauma encountered
during wartime. If Juliet had been a soldier, it would have been
called 'shell shock.' Juliet and her family lived in London
during the Blitz of WW II and this and other family conditions
had a severe emotional impact on Juliet. 'Bomb shock' is a
slightly catch-all psychological phrase, but her mother did tell
consulting psychiatrists that the two of them were caught out
unprotected in London during an air raid and suffered a near
miss. Bombs and bombing, WW II and death (this was during the
frenzy of the cold war, after all) actually held a significant
place in the girls' testimony and interviews. Oddly enough, her
childhood experiences probably would have made Juliet a prime
candidate for what would now be called 'post-traumatic stress
disorder.'
Juliet was separated from her family more times than
depicted in "Heavenly Creatures" and her behaviour upon being
reunited with them was one of extreme overdependence, both not
shown in the film. Hilda Hulme testified that Juliet was very
difficult to discipline and was demanding and prone to temper
tantrums. These things were only alluded to in the North American
release version of the film.
There was also considerable indirect evidence entered into
testimony during the trial of Juliet having continuing, more
severe psychological problems. These problems were mostly
connected with Juliet's being separated repeatedly from her
family. However, it should be borne in mind that the defense
strategy was to have Juliet declared criminally insane, so some
(perhaps more than some) of the psychological testimony may have
been biased toward exaggeration of her problems.
Herbert Rieper's testimony about his daughter's character
was pretty straightforward and tended to paint Pauline as a moody
but quite ordinary girl with no serious psychological problems
before she met Juliet Hulme. However, it was also clear from his
testimony that Herbert Rieper was, in many ways, a typical father
for his times--he actually knew very little in the way of details
about his daughter's health or her personal life.
** Where was Juliet sent "for the good of her health?" [jp]
Before she was sent away for the good of her health, Juliet
was sent away to the North of England soon after her brother was
born. Then, after contracting pneumonia for the second time,
Juliet was indeed sent to live with another family in the Bahamas
for 13 months, but she was aged 8, not 5. Then she was sent to
the North Island of NZ, where she lived with another family. She
was apparently institutionalized, eventually, because of another
breakdown of her health, before her family moved to Christchurch.
Soon after the Hulme family moved to Christchurch, Juliet
was again sent away because of her health, according to Hilda
Hulme's testimony, to a boarding school in the North Island of
NZ. Juliet returned to Christchurch before the events shown in
"Heavenly Creatures." In all, Juliet spent a total of about 4 1/2
of her first 11 years separated from her family 'for the good of
her health' and for other reasons.
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4.3 Physical Details.
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** How accurate were physical details in the film? [jp]
The film was absolutely outstanding in this respect. There
were almost no anachronisms (see 3.1.27), and attention to known
detail by the filmmakers concerning the time, the place and the
events etc of the case was superb. Locations, sets, costumes,
props--all were pretty much spot on. Walsh and Jackson really did
their homework in writing the script, and then all the
professionals involved in the film turned it into a precise
recreation, by attention to detail.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
4.4 Events during the film but before the murder.
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** Did the girls really pretend to be Biggles? [jp]
I have not been able to find an explicit reference to
Biggles in existing quotes from Pauline's diaries.
** Did the girls really invent all of those characters? [jp]
Yes, and then some. This was one of the significant
simplifications made by the filmmakers, and it is an
understandable one. The police reported seizing fourteen school
exercise books filled with stories written by Pauline and Juliet
(handwriting was from both, according to testimony) from the
Rieper house. There were also innumerable letters written by both
girls which contained their stories, apparently written over a
much longer period of time than simply the time spent by Juliet
in the sanatorium.
According to court testimony (which also simplified the
whole thing significantly) the girls eventually constructed two
imaginary kingdoms/dynasties. Juliet's, more or less, was the one
shown in the film.
Hilda Hulme testified that Juliet first wrote as Charles II,
Emperor of Borovnia. She then became Deborah, the Emperor's
mistress, and they had a son, Diello (Dialbo according to some
news accounts. Dialbo is a rather obvious anagram of Diablo,
Spanish for "the Devil."). Diello was crowned King of Borovnia by
the girls in a lavish Coronation ceremony in December 1953.
Pauline first wrote as Lancelot Trelawney, a Cornish soldier
of fortune, who eventually wed the Empress of Bolumnia (Volumnia
in some accounts) and thereby became Emperor of that Kingdom.
They had a daughter, Mariole.
Many other characters were also mentioned as having had
their identities assumed by Pauline or Juliet at one time or
another: Nigel, Philip, Justin, Dominic among them.
The tales gradually became more and more violent in a kind
of gory one-upmanship, eventually featuring extreme violence,
sadism, bondage, the rape of maidens and the torture of knights,
according to testimony.
The question is, would these stories be viewed any
differently today? Were they really an indication of serious
mental imbalance? Or, just the products of healthy imaginations?
** Did the girls really invent 'the Saints?' [jp]
Yes, the Saints shown in the film are accurate, and Mario
Lanza figured prominently in trial testimony. However, in real
life there were also many more Saints, the status of being a
Saint was given and revoked often, and the whole interpretation
of the meaning of 'Saints' was debated by psychiatrists and
lawyers extensively. James Mason was undeniably the most
important Saint in real life, not Mario Lanza. The girls also had
the concept of Gods, a state higher than being a Saint, which was
not made part of "Heavenly Creatures." Among the Gods were:
Rupert Brooke, Caruso, Julius Caesar and Charles II.
It is probably fair to say that the concept of 'Saint' was
much more complicated in real life than the way it was depicted
in the film, and it probably changed with time. From Pauline's
diary entries, in particular, it would appear that the concept of
the Saints gradually became more and more sexual and erotic as
time progressed, and it appeared as if Pauline eventually used
them as a code or euphemism for erotic fantasy and/or sexual
activity (see 7.4). The importance of the Gods seemed to increase
with time.
Also, the girls differentiated between Saints and Gods and
promoted and demoted from these categories. In fact, the whole
religious/theological structures created by JMH and PYP were
largely glossed over in "Heavenly Creatures," which is
understandable because they were really quite complex.
** Did the girls really have a shrine at Ilam? [jp]
Yes, although they apparently erected it as a monument to
"dead ideas" as well as a place to worship the Saints and their
Gods. Trial testimony mentioned that they also interred small
dead animals there, such as dead mice. Medlicott testified it was
a temple to Minerva. Its significance may have been overstated in
trial testimony.
According to trial testimony, the girls would spend all
night at the shrine and would conduct 'religious ceremonies' to
Raphael, their favourite angel and Pan, their favourite God, on
the lawns of Ilam in the middle of the night.
It is true that religious and theological musings made up a
significant part of the girls' writing and conversations, and
this was omitted from the film. They had much more to say about
the nature of the "Fourth World" and its religious significance,
the nature of the Gods there, death, Heaven, life after death etc
than was portrayed in "Heavenly Creatures."
** Did Dr Bennett exist? [jp,lfr,sb,mc]
Yes. He was a general practicioner, active in the
Christchurch Marriage Guidance Council and friend of Henry Hulme.
He was consulted privately by Dr Hulme in early December 1953 and
again in May 1954 concerning the girls' relationship. This is an
important fact, and explains the filmmakers' portrayal of Henry
Hulme as a man with a manipulative streak and many hidden
agendas. However, these incidents may have been more complicated
than they were portrayed. At Dr Hulme's suggestion, Honora Parker
did take Pauline to be examined by Dr Bennett a week after Dr
Hulme's first consultation, just before the start of Christmas
holidays that year (which were very eventful and stressful, as
described in section 5).
According to trial testimony, the Hulmes did not subject
Juliet to "psycho-analysis" as Dr Bennett had told them there was
no need, and it might even prove to be damaging to one so young.
However, it had apparently been decided by Dr Bennett and the
Hulmes that it was alright to subject Pauline to examination,
although his examination could hardly be called a psychoanalysis.
In addition, Honora Parker may have played a more active role in
the decision to examine Pauline than was portrayed.
In his trial testimony, Dr Bennett admited he got little
more than "yes" or "no" from Pauline in his examination, although
he had no hesitation in 'diagnosing' her as a homosexual.
Dr Bennett eventually acted as a witness for the defense,
after he had performed "extensive" examinations of both girls
following the murder. As a professional and trusted family
friend, he may have played a key role in convincing the defense
to enter a plea of 'not guilty by reason of insanity.'
** Did Rev Norris exist? [jp,se,sb]
I haven't been able to confirm the existence of Rev Norris,
but Juliet's maternal grandfather was an Anglican minister.
** How accurate was the portrayal of the school? [jp]
Except in a very few small details, the school was portrayed
very accurately (see section 3.1.5). All uniforms shown, for
example, were exact (there is a school photograph with Pauline
recreated exactly in the film). The opening hymn "Just A Closer
Walk With Thee" would not have been part of the girls' school
experience (see 3.1.19). Grades would have been reported as
percentages and also as rankings in class, rather than using 'As
and Bs'.
** How accurate was the Riepers' home? [jp,G&L]
This was the only physical location that no longer existed.
The filmmakers had to recreate the Riepers' home from photographs
and the living memory of neighbours. The Riepers' home was
located right downtown in an area that had mixed residential and
small-business buildings and was probably slightly less clean and
residential and a bit more gritty than depicted.
** How accurate was Ilam? [jp,jl,ad]
The filmmakers shot on location in Ilam and its grounds. The
house is virtually the same on the exterior as it was in 1954, as
it is owned and maintained by the University. Peter Jackson
stated in an interview that Juliet's 'balcony scene' was a
special effect because the balcony has been remodelled (glassed
in) since 1954. Interiors had to be reconstructed (see 3.1.7 and
5.4.1).
** Are Pauline's diary entries real and accurate? [jp]
Yes, they are real, and yes, with certain provisos, they are
reasonably accurate, though many used in the voiceover were
edited for dramatic impact. The diary entries used in the film
are among the entries entered into evidence at the trial. There
are also many existing diary quotations that were not used in
"Heavenly Creatures" and these have also been collected in
section 7.4.3.
The only caveat, of course, is that the existing quotations
may not actually be representative of Pauline's diary entries.
This is a point made emphatically by Glamuzina and Laurie in
their book. Naturally, the police would have abstracted the
entries most directly related to the murder, and the
psychologists would have abstracted diary entries which would
tend to support their points of view. We may get a distorted view
of Pauline from these quotes.
** Do Pauline's diaries still exist? [mf]
Michelanne Forster: "I was told [in 1989] by the [New Zealand]
Justice Department and the [Christchurch] police that Pauline's
diaries no longer existed."
** Did the girls make plasticine figures? [jp]
Jackson maintains that Juliet made plasticine models and
these were displayed on the mantle at Ilam, according to several
eye witnesses. It isn't at all clear that both girls made
plasticine figures of their characters; this may have been a
clever and effective artistic device used by Jackson to bring the
girls' imaginations to life for the audience.
Anne Perry (Juliet Hulme) denies that she made plasticine
figures as part of role-playing games.
There is considerable documentation to support the notion
that Pauline Parker made plasticine figures to represent fantasy
characters in exactly the way shown in "Heavenly Creatures" and
that there were elaborate ceremonies performed with them.
** What 'character' references were left out of the film? [jp]
Jackson left out many contemporary 'character' references
abstracted from Pauline's diaries and from the girls' writings
and statements after the murder which tended to paint the girls
in an unflattering light. Some may be found in section 7.4,
though caution should be exercised in taking reports at face
value, especially from secondary or tertiary sources. And, when
it comes to statements made at trial, the motivations of those
making the statements needs to be weighed carefully, too.
For example, it was stated in testimony that the girls had
listed the Ten Commandments and had kept a running tally of which
ones they had broken. By the time of the trial, Pauline noted she
had broken all ten, while Juliet had broken nine out of ten. This
exercise was taken to be extremely telling, and damning, during
the trial, but more complete diary entries for the day make the
whole thing seem quite childish and quite ordinary (see 7.4.3).
The girls were accused of having blackmailed Walter Perry
over his relationship with Hilda Hulme but there is compelling
evidence that this is an incorrect interpretation of the events.
Pauline did make a half-hearted attempt to steal money from
Herbert Rieper's shop, but she did not succeed. The girls did
perform petty shoplifting at Woolworths and other stores. They
apparently did steal and pawn some items from Ilam, as shown in
the film.
Pauline and Juliet made statements about becoming
prostitutes to earn money for their escape, calculating what
could be earned and what would have to be done to earn it. Much
was read into these statements during the trial, but they seem
quite naive, ludicrous and fanciful in hindsight. There is
absolutely no evidence that these 'plans' were ever considered
seriously by either girl, let alone that any were carried out. On
the other hand, much more conventional, and practical, plans such
as checking steamship departure dates, finding out the cost of
fares, trying to find jobs to earn money were pursued. This makes
the whole issue of the few, off-the-cuff remarks about
prostitution seem insignificant, the point rather belaboured.
Trial testimony noted considerable evidence of juvenile
delinquency such as lying, cheating, blackmailing, thieving,
shoplifting and truancy but, in hindsight, these may have to be
weighed by the contemporary attitudes of the community before
coming to any judgement about their seriousness.
In their interrogations after the murder, both girls made
clear statements to the effect that they had no regrets and
considered the killing justified, on many occasions. These need
to be examined and weighed carefully, in my opinion. Some of the
existing statements may have been quoted out of context and there
is always the issue of the girls indulging in mind games with
their interrogators. For example, Dr Bennett testified to this
exchange with Juliet Hulme:
FO Bennett: "I asked Juliet about hell and she said:"
JMH: "No. There is no hell The whole idea is too primitive and
too inartistic."
FOB: "Do you believe that in heaven or paradise you'll meet all
the people you knew on earth?"
JMH: "Of course."
FOB: "Then you probably will meet Pauline's mother."
JMH: "I suppose so."
FOB: "With blood on her face."
JMH: "Well, she wouldn't arrive in that state. Anyway, she'll be
in heaven and we'll be in paradise. Even if we didn't meet
her, it wouldn't matter. She wasn't a happy woman. The day
we killed her she seemed to know and she didn't seem to bear
any grudge."
FOB: "Do you have any regrets?"
JMH: "None whatever. Of course, I did not want my people to get
involved in this, but we have been so terribly happy since.
It was well worth it."
FOB: "Who then are the best people?"
JMH: "The best people are those who fight against all obstacles
in the pursuit of happiness."
FOB: "Even to murder?"
JMH: "Oh yes, if necessary."
These and many other quotations in a similar vein, presented in
testimony by Medlicott and Bennett both, paint a picture of an
extraordinarily callous person. Of course, it is equally possible
that Juliet was a girl seriously disconnected from reality, and
not necessarily a cold sociopath. In any event, this testimony
inflamed the public and had a direct consequence in the
sentencing.
And, of course, there is the evidence about the relationship
between Juliet and Pauline, which was quoted and misquoted and
edited heavily in press reports. Much of the available evidence
has been collected in section 7.
** Was Pauline's encounter with 'Nicholas' accurate? [jp,jb,G&L]
There were diary references which suggested that Pauline had
two sexually-significant encounters with a boarder, referred to
as 'Nicholas' in the trial, and these were vaguely similar to
what was depicted in the film. However, 'Nicholas' played a much
bigger role in real life than was depicted in "Heavenly
Creatures." He apparently spent two nights in Pauline's bed
before being discovered by Mr Rieper but Pauline's relationship
with him lasted much longer and had a significantly different
tone to it (much more intellectual) than the version we see in
the film and the time line of her relationship with 'Nicholas'
was quite different. One psychiatrist was careful to point out in
testimony that Pauline only wrote of one incidence of completed
intercourse.
Evidence was presented that Pauline frequently slipped out
of her room at night during 1952 and 1953, sometimes meeting with
Juliet and sometimes with boys. Some of Pauline's trysts were
with boys (University students) from Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and this
inter-racial aspect was used by the prosecution to support their
description of her as "immoral, criminal and bad."
** Did the girls really go to see "The Third Man?" [jp]
Alas, no they didn't. Pauline actually didn't refer to Orson
Welles by name in any of the diary extracts which still exist,
but by his "Third Man" character name "Harry Lime." It was as
"Harry Lime" that he was tabulated in her table of the Saints.
This is an interesting fact, and illustrates the influence
of pop culture on the girls. Orson Welles supported himself in
the early 50s, among other ways, by 'milking' the tremendous
popularity of Harry Lime. There were serialized radio shows, some
written by Welles, based on the Harry Lime character and these
were very popular, world-wide. The shows played in the U.K., the
U.S. and were even translated, by Welles, into French for the
French/euro market. Also, Anton Karas' 'Harry Lime' theme was an
extremely popular recording on the radio. Pauline does mention
that she had seen pictures of Harry Lime, too, so the girls also
devoured film magazines, no doubt.
The film the girls actually saw was "Trent's Last Case"
(British Lion/Republic), directed by Herbert Wilcox, screenplay
by Pamela Bower from the novel by E.C. Bentley and starring
Michael Wilding, Margaret Lockwood and Orson Welles. It was
released in July 1953, so it still took a year to get to
Christchurch NZ, but this is a bit smaller delay than the three
years implied by "The Third Man" in "Heavenly Creatures."
So, the use of "The Third Man" in "Heavenly Creatures" was a
little bit of justifiable artistic license on the part of
Jackson.
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4.5 Family situations.
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** How accurate is the portrayal of Pauline's home life? [jp,sb]
The filmmakers chose to soften and simplify the portrait of
Pauline's home life considerably, even compared to the bland
picture of the Rieper family that was painted in trial testimony.
This was a critical decision on the part of Jackson and Walsh,
and it has quite wide-ranging implications insofar as
understanding the possible reasons for the murder.
For example, Pauline's infant sister, Rosemary, who was born
with severe Downs' syndrome when Pauline was 11, was not shown in
the film. Rosemary was finally institutionalized in 1951 or '52
and she is discussed in section 3.2.10.1. Herbert Rieper testfied
that Rosemary was visited regularly and brought home from time to
time. It's possible that Rosemary was a severe burden on the
family in general, and on Pauline in particular, in the years she
spent at home, although it was reported that Pauline was
extremely fond of Rosemary. Rosemary, and the financial burden
and responsibilities and demands of her care, could have been an
extremely potent source of tension between mother and daughter,
and she was omitted from the film.
The degree of poverty in the family was probably not
portrayed to anywhere near the extent that the real-life Pauline
would have perceived it. The family was literally living on the
edge of solvency most of the time and money issues would have
been a neverending source of concern and serious conflict. Every
little expense Pauline would have wanted to incur, especially if
it was to keep up with Juliet in some way, would have been the
source of a family fight.
To an adolescent particularly, the accumulated effect of
being left out of social events and not belonging because of lack
of money is galling: how many parents have heard "it isn't fair"
from their teenagers, refused permission to do something or buy
something because the resources weren't there? No doubt Honora
heard it day in and day out from Pauline.
There was evidence in trial testimony that Pauline hid
significant expenses from her parents; for instance, she bought a
horse without her parents' knowledge (Juliet had one...) although
this isn't shown in the film. Herbert Rieper testified he
relented and allowed her to keep the horse, thinking it would
distract Pauline from her friendship with Juliet but obviously
there must have been a huge explosion when he and Honora first
found out about this horse. Remember, trial testimony among other
things made it very clear that Honora was the disciplinarian in
the Rieper home.
And class issues, though presented reasonably well in the
film, were probably far more exaggerated and significant in the
real-life Rieper household, especially because Honora was
actually born in England herself and would have been steeped in
British class consciousness. The amount of class tension between
the working-class Riepers and the well-to-do Hulmes would have
been palpable in most of their dealings with each other.
It wouldn't stretch the bounds of reason to imagine that
vicious working-class cynicism and contempt could have been
directed quite maliciously and relentlessly at Pauline.
Especially if it was perceived that she was trying to rise above
her station in life. And that contempt would have come
principally from Pauline's working-class family, especially if
their lives were inconvenienced by Pauline's shirking her family
duties in the frivolous pursuit of 'bettering' herself with the
Hulmes. Just by default, there would have been a huge amount of
resentment of the Hulmes by the Riepers, and no doubt Pauline
became a very convenient surrogate target for the Riepers' bile.
** How accurate is the portrayal of Juliet's home life? [jp,lfr]
Similarly, the film glosses over many, many of the
complexities in Juliet's home life which were brought out in
trial testimony.
In particular, the role of Walter Perry in the whole story
was much greater than shown in the North American version of the
film, although it appears as if many of these issues were
included in the Wellington premiere version of the film.
And, of course, most of the dynamics within the crumbling
Hulme family weren't portrayed in the film, since the filmmakers
chose to portray the story consistently from Pauline's
perspective. This was probably a wise choice, artistically,
because it gave the film a self-consistent and very compelling
voice, and it was certainly true that most of the direct physical
evidence presented at trial concerned Pauline and her thoughts
and attitudes. Still, it may have led to a distorted perception
of the Hulmes by audiences. And, it may have led to the
minimization of elements which were very important ones as far as
the motives for the real-life crime are concerned.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
4.6 Evidence about the girls' relationship.
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** How accurate is the portrayal of the girls' relationship? [jp]
Many important physical 'facts' related to the girls'
relationship were presented in a commendably non-judgemental and
accurate way by the filmmakers. All of the physically-verifiable
points discussed previously in section 3.1.11 were drawn from
court testimony presented during trial and were presented
reasonably-accurately in the film, with a couple of exceptions.
This would include at least some aspects of the night with the
Saints, incidentally.
But, significantly, the filmmakers chose to ignore many
issues raised in testimony and recorded in the literature. This
may have been done in an effort to present a self-consistent
portrait of the girls' relationship, or even because the film
could have become unbalanced with too much background exposition.
There is also the suspicion that the filmmakers may have left out
those pieces of evidence which did not fit the filmmakers'
picture of the girls' relationship.
** Which points were portrayed inaccurately? [jp,lfr,jb]
The most glaring inaccuracy was the character of the girls'
relationship during the crucial last few weeks before the murder.
The reader is referred to section 3.1.11 for a more detailed
account.
The other quantitatively inaccurate aspect of the girls'
relationship, and this is almost unavoidable in a film
representation, was the amount of time they spent together and
how that changed as the months went by. To their credit, the
filmmakers did a reasonable job of portraying how their families
saw the girls, and they used this as an indirect way of informing
the audience about how much time the girls spent together.
** What was left out of the film? [jp,sb,lfr]
The filmmakers left out things the girls did together which
were too complex to be digested easily or categorized neatly.
They are without a doubt extremely important pieces of the puzzle
if an accurate assessment of the girls' relationship is ever to
be constructed, but they are hard to classify, especially in the
context of an already-ambiguous film.
For example, the filmmakers chose not to show the girls'
many escapes to the country, obliquely referred to in the "Donkey
Serenade" scene (which was a real event, accurately depicted).
According to court testimony, the girls frequently skipped school
together (truancy was extremely easy to detect at their small
school) and rode to the countryside.
The girls' obvious truancy would have been a concrete piece
of evidence available to the parents, proving that their
daughters were spending an inordinate amount of time together. It
could have been a very important part of the equation of the
parents' response to the girls' relationship. Truency could have
been concrete evidence used by Honora to justify punishing
Pauline, for example. Skipping school was a very big deal in both
households; it was a very public (and illegal) act, especially in
this small community. Hilda Hulme was on the Board of Directors
of CGHS.
Finally, the existing quotations from Paulinie's diary
portray a much more complicated relationship than the one
portrayed in the film, and one which evolved over time. Also,
although reference to physical intimacy is, in a strict and
formal sense, oblique and almost 'coded' in Pauline's diaries, it
really is pretty clear to most readers that there was a much more
significant physical component to the girls' relationship than
was depicted in "Heavenly Creatures." The filmmakers chose to
stick with those passages with the 'hardest evidence' and didn't
include episodes where physical intimacy wasn't stated
explicitly. They were obviously swayed by the statements made by
Pauline and by Juliet to the psychiatrists, which show an
incredible naivité when it came to sexual matters.
Obviously, this kind of evidence doesn't fit in neatly with
a Borovnian fantasy narrative or, for that matter, with either of
the two options presented to us by the filmmakers: a neat picture
of the girls as knowing, adult lovers, or as loving sisters. The
trial testimony and the other material is dramatic and compelling
evidence in support of an extreme emotional dependence of one
girl for the other, and for an intense relationship which is hard
to categorize in all its facets.
** What are the overall differences: film vs. real life? [jp]
To modern sensibilites, the overall impression made by the
evidence presented in court is one of a relationship based on
both girls trying to satisfy very deep emotional needs that
weren't being filled in their respective families. And, perhaps
curiously, that it really was a relationship with a very large
intellectual and spiritual component. It seems pretty clear that
their relationship was probably much more complicated than a
superficial crush or puppy love or even 'simple' romantic love.
There was more evidence presented in testimony than in the film
that the girls had a physically-intimate relationship. Many
aspects of their relationship really did fall pretty far outside
the bounds of a simple mature sexual or romantic attraction.
So the main difference between the film and the evidence
presented in real life lies in the complexity and the tone of the
girls' relationship. The film effectively conveyed the desperate
longing of one girl for the other, but it may have missed the
mark slightly in all the girls' different needs for each other.
Trial evidence suggets that Juliet had many other aspects to her
need for Pauline other than the lonliness brought about by her
being sent away "for the good of her health." And trial evidence
also paints a picture of Pauline as a girl beset by considerable
external personal and family problems, which Juliet and her
family helped relieve.
In some aspects of their personal relationship, one gets the
impression from some post-trial analysis and from viewing some
trial testimony in hindsight, that Pauline was more the leader
and Juliet more the follower, while the opposite seemed to be
true in other aspects. The public, as will be clear from the
material collected in section 7, viewed Juliet as the
manipulative and domineering mastermind of the whole affair.
Dominant-submissive pairing is a classic component of "folie ů
deux" but whether or not this was an appropriate diagnosis will
be left to the reader to judge.
** On the other hand...? [jp,lfr]
Who really knows? Clearly, understanding the girls'
relationship is key to undestanding the murder, but all the
evidence presented in the trial should be filtered through the
culture, events and times before being considered seriously. It
can only be a distorted, incomplete set of data from a source so
far away from the here and now. And there is no doubt that other
relationships were just as important in their combined influence.
So, it is certainly conceivable that Jackson and Walsh may
have presented a more accurate picture of some aspects of the
girls' relationship than the one that emerged from the trial. The
filmmakers' artistic vision is certainly more coherent and
consistent than the muddled testimony of the many psychiatrists
who testified in court, and it paints an emotionally-believable
portrait. It just might not be anywhere close to the whole story,
however. "Heavenly Creatures" is one opinion, not the final word.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
4.7 The murder compared to real life.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
** How accurate was the portrayal of the murder? [jp]
As mentioned previously, most facts related to the murder
which were shown in the film were accurate, on the whole,
compared to evidence read into court testimony.
Unfortunately there were also facts related to the murder
which weren't shown explicitly in the film and these missing
facts have a rather profound effect on the perception of this
crime. Jackson attempted to convey the missing pieces of
information indirectly, but he was only partly successful in his
attempts, judging from the perceptions of many viewers.
** What facts were omitted from the film? [jp]
The film's murder was in agreement with a subset of the
facts revealed by the post mortem and investigation.
The most glaring difference between the murder shown in the
film and the real-life murder deduced from the full set of
forensic evidence was the extreme violence of the real-life
murder, which was far in excess of the film's version, horrific
as that may have been for most viewers.
One important detail not shown in the film was the fact that
Honora was found lying on her back. Coupled with the nature of
her injuries (see 7.2), it was clear that she had faced her
assailants through most of the attack. It was also clear that she
had fought back against the attack.
The next most important omission concerned the emotional
state of all three principals. There was evidence entered into
testimony of a violent argument between Pauline and her mother
immediately preceeding the murder, and Juliet may have also
participated in this argument.
** Why would Jackson 'edit' the murder in the film? [jp]
The most obvious reason for 'editing' the depiction of the
murder is simply that it would not be possible to get a
completely graphic, explicit rendering of the murder past censor
boards. Jackson has experienced this problem before in his
previous films, and he was also attempting to distance himself a
bit from his reputation as a master of the gore-fest. So, he had
to make a difficult artistic decision, and he chose to attempt to
convey the horror and brutality of the murder a little
indirectly, though he has stated that he wanted the murder to be
horrific and anything but entertaining. Jackson used clever
innuendo (listed below) to imply those 'facts' he chose to leave
out. The innuendo may have been just a bit too subtle, though.
The extremely powerful impact of the murder scene in
"Heavenly Creatures" upon the audience is proof that Jackson
succeeded in portraying, in part, the spirit of the crime, but
some of the bare facts of the case carry an impact that is even
greater.
** What 'innuendo' did Jackson use? [jp]
Primarily the physical state of the girls when they
approached the tea shop in the opening sequence of the film.
Without showing the actual murder in detail, this was Jackson's
opportunity to imply the extraordinary violence of the crime. The
patterns of the spatters and the quantity and placement of the
blood were reasonably-close representations of the evidence
entered into trial; if anything, he may have exaggerated the
amount of spattered blood slightly on Juliet's face. There is an
incongruity between this image and the image of the murder shown
later at the close of the film, and it is up to the audience to
interpolate between the two (see 4.8).
In the murder sequence, Jackson has Honora cry out horribly.
Many viewers commented to me that Honora's cries were very
distressing to them. This is a very subtle but important
reference to the events in the real murder. Similarly, Jackson
also showed Pauline crouching behind Juliet when Juliet picked up
the brick, and the sound of Juliet's blow, in particular, was
another very important piece of innuendo. Pauline's tone of voice
was also a muted piece of innuendo pointing to the possibility of
anger during the murder.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
4.8 The narrative gap in the murder scenes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
** What is the narrative gap in the murder scenes? [jp]
The murder scene is presented in two pieces in the film. The
immediate aftermath of the murder is shown at the film's opening.
The murder itself is depicted at the film's close. Comparing the
scenes in the film with the detailed forensic evidence of the
case, it becomes apparent that there is a time gap between the
two scenes.
** What is the evidence for the narrative gap? [jp]
Very simply and graphically put, Honora Mary Parker
exhibited forty-five separate wounds to her head, neck, face and
hands. The murder scene in the film showed a very small fraction
of those wounds being inflicted. Hence, the audience was not
subjected to a graphic, real-time depiction of most of the
violence inflicted against Honora. What we saw in the film,
horrible as it may have been was, indeed, just the beginning of
Honora's murder.
** What did Jackson leave out? [jp,jb,mk]
The evidence supplied by Honora's wounds implies that she
did not die quickly, or meekly, or painlessly. The autopsy dryly
referred to wounds on her fingers, interpreted as having been
obtained when she tried to defend herself. Audrey Amos, a
policewoman who saw Honora's body, said her fingers were
practically severed by blows from the murder weapon--a brick,
remember. It was speculated that Honora was conscious and she may
have fought back, or at least may have tried to avoid her
daughter's blows, for some time. Jackson's 'hommage' to these
facts are Honora's terrible cries during the murder scene and the
brief shot of her crouching on the ground with blood trickling
down her face, her arm half-raised.
Twenty-four of the wounds on Honora's face and head were
consistent with their having been caused by extreme-force,
crushing blows from the murder weapon, i.e. the brick. Under
cross examination, the pathologist stated that some blows may
have cause more than one wound. In "Heavenly Creatures" we only
see 7 blows being struck, 4 from Pauline and 3 from Juliet. Even
taking into account the multiple-wound-per-blow idea (simple
physics would probably make more than 3 wounds per blow very
improbable), this is still a serious undercount of the number of
serious wounds. Since there were minor wounds, too, the
implication was that there were many more blows, some glancing.
Try counting to twenty-four, slowly. If there were that many
blows to Honora, it would create a different impression of the
murder than does the few blows shown in the film. The pathologist
testified that it would have taken only a few of the major head
injuries to render the victim unconsciousness. This tends to make
the murder appear to be a situation of gross 'overkill', but the
situation may not be simple to interpret. This may be one reason
why Jackson did not show all the facts.
Glamuzina and Laurie tend to de-emphasize the violence of
the murder in their analysis (actually, they refer to it as 'the
killing' throughout their book) and they argue that repetetive
'overkill' is more common in juvenile homicides and does not
necessarily imply the same thing as it would in an adult
homicide. They cite studies which show children having
unrealistic ideas about what is required to produce death, and
also that children often express deep fears that the adult, who
has been omnipotent to that point, will get up again and seek
revenge for having been injured.
Finally, even though the real murder was extraordinarily,
shockingly violent (and seen to be those things at the time--one
reason for the continuing emotional reaction the murder produces
in those who remember it) it may not have been brutal. Brutality
speaks more to the state of mind of the murderers, and that
remains unknown.
** So the overall effect of the narrative gap is...? [jp]
...a severe toning down of the violence of the murder. We
are left with a vastly more sympathetic portrait of the girls
from the film's murder than we would have obtained had the whole
murder been recreated graphically, in real time. Or, had we been
present at the murder as witnesses.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
4.9 Anne Perry's statements.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
** What are Anne Perry's comments about the film? [jp]
Anne Perry has been severely critical of the film "Heavenly
Creatures" in her public statements, although she states she has
not seen it (see 7.8). In a Feb '95 interview with the NY Times
she claimed the film offered a grotesque and distorted portrait
of herself and that her relationship with Pauline Parker had been
misrepresented by the "idiotic movie-makers." A to-and-fro
series of press volleys followed, between Perry and Walsh and
Jackson. Perry has since softened her criticism of "Heavenly
Creatures" somewhat, while maintaining the substance of her
statements about the murder itself. Followup quotes:
Walsh: "We don't appreciate being referred to as 'idiotic
movie-makers.' In all the interviews we've done for the movie,
we've treated her with absolute respect." (Feb. 18, '95)
Walsh: "We tried so hard to get the research right. Fiction
was our enemy. We wanted to tell their story from a humanitarian
perspective to New Zealanders who've seen the girls as monsters
all this time." (Feb. 18 '95)
Walsh: "I can understand Perry('s)...revisionist approach.
Forty years on, she has a career to protect. She's rebuilt her
life..." (Feb. 18, '95)
Perry: "That was an unfortunate quote and I don't remember
saying it--it must have been in the heat of the moment.
From what I've been told, I don't feel the movie was
grotesque and distorted at all--as the Times said.
It is all extremely painful. What others see as fair and
objective is not the way you see yourself." (Feb. 18, '95)
** What are Anne Perry's statements about the murder? [jp,se]
Anne Perry's public statements since July '94 concerning her
memories of the "Parker Hulme" murder case are listed here
without comment and without full attribution (all sources are
listed as articles in this FAQ). It is left up to the interested
reader to argue for or against Ms. Perry's interpretation of
evidence, or to accept or reject new evidence she may present.
* Ms. Perry states she "did not construct elaborate games with
clay figures."
* She describes the time she was confined in the sanatorium as
"a strange and lonely time."
* During her confinement to the sanatorium, "Pauline was my
only contact with the outside world. I didn't know if I was
going to get better, and she stood by me as a lifeline."
* Juliet was under medication for a severe chest ailment and
the medication may have clouded her judgement.
* Pauline Parker was desperately unhappy and suicidal and it
was to avoid Pauline's suicide that Juliet participated in
the murder. Perry states: "I believed that if I did not do
what I did she would take her own life. I'm not putting
words in her mouth. All I will say is this is what I
believed."
* As evidence of Pauline's extreme emotional distress, Ms.
Perry says that Pauline Parker was throwing up after eating.
* The days immediately preceeding the murder were a confusing
rush of traumatic events. Perry states: "My father lost his
job and my parents were going to be divorced and that all
happened within a matter of days, and we were going to leave
the country." Could she not have told her parents about the
dilemma? The question provoked an angry tone. "Come on. My
father's just lost his job and his wife. And she was in a
state of distress as well. And we've only got a few days
to... (stet ellipsis) I suppose I was absolutely stunned."
* Both Juliet and Pauline were devoted to Juliet's father and
were deeply upset by what was happening to him.
* Ms. Perry says Juliet was not a lesbian nor mentally ill.
Perry is especially upset at any suggestion of psychological
deviance or lesbianism. "I find it grossly offensive," she
said. "I was so innocent sexually then."
* Perry denies that Juliet and Pauline were such close friends
that the breaking up of their relationship was the reason
for the murder. "I mean certainly we were good friends, but
[the murder] was a debt of honour. It wasn't a great 'I
can't live without you' business that these idiotic movie
makers are making out of it." (from the Darnton NYT article)
"All I can actually remember feeling is: I don't want to do
this. How can I get out of it, hysterically, how can I get
out of it? I can't. Because if I don't do it, she's going to
die and that's going to be even worse. I'm going to be
responsible for a death one way or the other. And this one
stood by me [PYP], that one [HMP] I didn't even know."
* Ms. Perry claims not to remember much of the period leading
up to the murder or the murder itself. "Like any other
traumatic experience, nature helps you to put it away," she
said. "All I can remember was feeling very afraid and very
jammed into a corner. I didn't want to do it and I couldn't
think of any way of getting out of it." "All I can say is
that it was violent, and quick."
* Ms. Perry says her memories of the arrest and trial are
hazy, but "I want to make it plain that my family stood by
me absolutely."
* Ms. Perry recalls little of the trial, other than "the sense
of helplessness when people tell lies about you and you
can't say, 'No, that's not how it was.'"
* Ms. Perry states that Pauline's diaries were misinterpreted.
As an example, she says that Pauline "wrote about seeing
'George in the night.' I believe that in North America the
equivalent is 'the john,' but the prosecution tried to make
out that she had a lover."
* Ms. Perry admitted to a sense of frustration because she was
not permitted to testify during the trial and because, she
states, the prosecution's case was based heavily on
Pauline's diary entries and "I don't know how you can use
one person's diary as evidence of another person's
behaviour."
* Ms. Perry has stated in several interviews that she fully
accepts blame for her part in the crime and has said "I'm
sorry. I'm utterly, totally sorry, without excuse." She also
states "I think all Christian faiths will say that if you
have paid the price and you have truly repented, there is
forgiveness."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
4.10 Opinions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[sb]
I have now had a chance to look at all the stuff and I've come to
an understanding of it that satisfies me, at least, for now. I do
think that the answer lies very much in the character of the real
Honora Parker, and it is hard to be sure what that really was. I
do agree that some kind of abuse is unlikely, it would have come
out somewhere.
It seems to me to be likely that what was really bugging
Pauline was not the threat of her relationship with Juliet being
thwarted in itself, but her aspirations to another sort of life
and to the realisation of her artistic ambitions, at least partly
through her relationship with Juliet and Juliet's parents. Given
the times, Honora Parker might well have been a very dull,
ignorant and hostile working-class NZ housewife. She was probably
a lot less sympathetic than Sarah Peirse's portrayal, and may
have poured scorn on Pauline's aspirations, probably with more
venom or at least irritation than we see in the film. This might
be a bit of a class conflict reading: Pauline aspiring to a more
"refined" existence, and her mother reacting with scorn and
possibly anger at Pauline getting above herself. Thus she is the
"obstacle" Pauline describes her as in her diary, not so much to
her relationship with Juliet, as to her ambitions and
aspirations.
In this reading, one can see the girls' idea of their
relationship in the light of a partnership of two geniuses (the
diaries etc. support this I think), each supporting and
understanding the other in a way no outsider can, and not as a
primarily "romantic" partnership. Thus it is essential for
Pauline to get away from her own ignorant clod of a mother, and
join with Juliet, and Juliet's parents, as the latter, and
especially Dr Hulme, are seen as supportive of the finer things
of life, including art and scholarship etc., and will not laugh
at the girls' ambitions and aspirations. Another layer of
prejudice here could be the Hulmes's Englishness, Pauline not
wanting to be seen as just a rough colonial, possibly Honora
laughing at her pretensions etc.
I must say the evidence strongly suggests that neither girl
felt any remorse after the murder, even while realising it was
wrong. The evidence seems to suggest that even after being
arrested they were "happy" at achieving their goal. None of this
is in the movie of course. I can only suppose that they had both
somehow in their minds relegated Honora Parker to some sort of
non-human status, someone not deserving to live, despite
recognising that murdering her was wrong in some sort of
technical moral sense.
This reading makes sense, to me, of AP's comments now, and
her anger at the film's reading. She says that the real reason
has never "come out"; that she didn't expect to get anything out
of it (I was very puzzled by this when I first read it); and it
wasn't this great "I can't live without you". All this makes more
sense if we assume that she thought she was helping Pauline to
get rid of an obstacle to her (Pauline's) future plans and
ambitions, that she was helping her as a good friend, and also as
a fellow genius: her comment at the time that they were apart
from the law supports this last bit. And of course she wouldn't
get anything out of it, in the same way as Pauline would, as it
was Pauline's obstacle to a better life being removed, not an
obstacle to their continued relationship.
Obviously I am attempting here to enter into the logic of
their world, rightly or wrongly. I do actually agree that in some
sense the girls were in love, whatever the physical relationship
may have been, and whatever its future may have been, were it
allowed to run its course. But if what I am suggesting above is
the construction they put on it themselves, then or since, one
can understand AP's anger and frustration, then and now, at the
way the relationship itself has been foregrounded as a sort of
adolescent romance gone wrong.
[eg]
Here is what made this movie so completely tragic. The two girls
commit this murder because of who they are. The very qualities we
prize in tham lead them to tragedy. We fall in love with their
intelligence and their imagination. We like their friendship
because it gives them happiness. Yet, the same friendship and the
same intelligence we prize lead them to murder. It's almost
exactly like Julius Caesar. We like Brutus because he is so
straight and narrow. Yet his rectitude leads to the murder of
Caesar and his downfall.
=================================================================
5 "Heavenly Creatures" Database.
=================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------
5.1 Credits. [Mir,aa,sb,lfr,MDB]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
**Opening crawl:
A WingNut Films Production
Co-produced with Fontana Film Production GmbH
in association with the New Zealand Film Commission.
for Jim
**Opening Titles and credits:
==================
Heavenly Creatures
==================
Sarah Peirse
Diana Kent
Clive Merrison
Simon O'Connor
and introducing: Kate Winslet as Juliet
and introducing: Melanie Lynskey as Pauline
Executive Producer Hanno Huth
Co-producer Peter Jackson
UK Casting John and Ros Hubbard
NZ Casting Liz Mullane
Costume Designer Ngila Dickson
Prosthetic Effects Richard Taylor
Digital Effects George Port
Production Designer Grant Major
Editor Jamie Selkirk
Original Music Peter Dasent
Cinematographer Alun Bollinger
Screenplay Frances Walsh & Peter Jackson
Producer Jim Booth
Executive Producer Hanno Huth
Director Peter Jackson
**Closing credits crawl:
As it appeared in the NAm version of the film, with a few
additions and annotations. [jp]
CAST
(Credits Order)
Pauline Parker. . . . . . . . . . . . . Melanie Lynskey
Juliet Hulme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kate Winslet
Honora Parker . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Peirse
Hilda Hulme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Diana Kent
Henry Hulme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clive Merrison
Herbert Rieper. . . . . . . . . . . . . Simon O'Connor
John/Nicholas . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jed Brophy
Bill Perry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Elliott
Doctor Bennett. . . . . . . . . . . . . Gilbert Goldie
Rev Norris. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Geoffrey Heath
Wendy Rieper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kirsti Ferry
Jonathon Hulme. . . . . . . . . . . . . Ben Skjellerup
Miss Stewart (Headmistress) . . . . . . Darien Takle
Miss Waller (French teacher). . . . . . Elizabeth Moody
Mrs Collins (Art teacher) . . . . . . . Liz Mullane
Mrs Stevens (English teacher) . . . . . Moreen Eason
Mrs Zwortz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pearl Carpenter
Grandma (Nana) Parker . . . . . . . . . Lou Dobson
Laurie (boarder). . . . . . . . . . . . Jesse Griffin
Steve Bayliss (boarder) . . . . . . . . Glen Drake
Boarders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nick Farra
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chris Clarkson
Professor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ray Henwood
Professor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Nicoll
Professor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Maxwell
Laura . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Raewyn Pelham
Agnes Ritchie (tearoom owner) . . . . . Toni Jones
Miss Digby. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Glenys Lloyd-Smith
Mrs Bennett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wendy Watson
Orson Welles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . E. Jean Guerin
Mario Lanza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephen Reilly
Diello. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrea Saunders
Charles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ben Fransham
Pauline aged 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . Jessica Bradley
Juliet aged 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alex Shirtcliffe-Scott
Farmer/Policeman. . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Thomson
Pauline stunt doubles . . . . . . . . . Michael Wilson
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nicky McCarthy
[Joan (not listed in film credits). . . Melanie Lindstrom]
Special thanks to the brave Borovnian extras.
Line Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bridget Bourke
Production Manager. . . . . . . . . . . Honor Byrne
Production Assistant. . . . . . . . . . Linda Klein-Nixon
Location Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . Martin Long
Unit Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Graham Thompson
Production Co-ordinator . . . . . . . . Jaqui Wood
Production Assistant. . . . . . . . . . Anna Hutchinson
Production Runner . . . . . . . . . . . Lisa Chatfield
First Assistant Director. . . . . . . . Carolynne Cunningham
Second Assistant Director . . . . . . . Phee Phanshall
Third Assistant Director. . . . . . . . Emma Johns
Assistant Director Trainee. . . . . . . Andrew Hampson
Continuity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lynn-Maree Dansey
Continuity Trainee. . . . . . . . . . . Merrim Ruck
Wardrobe Supervisor . . . . . . . . . . Pauline Laws
Standby Wardrobe. . . . . . . . . . . . Gavin McLean
Standby Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . Cushin Paley
Wardrobe Assistant (Auckland) . . . . . Jamie MacEwan
Wardrobe Assistant. . . . . . . . . . . Lee-Ann Mercer
Machinists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Geraldine Ward
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beryl Hampson
Art Director. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jill Cormack
Props Buyer/Set Dresser . . . . . . . . Meryl Cronin
Assistant Art Director. . . . . . . . . David Turner
Stand-by Props. . . . . . . . . . . . . Ben Hinchey
Art Department Runner . . . . . . . . . Joyce Palmer
Storyboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christian Rivers
Construction Manager. . . . . . . . . . Ken Turner
Stand-by Carpenter. . . . . . . . . . . Nigel Thomas Kerr
Carpenters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ron Turner
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mac McDonald
Scenic Artist . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ian McDonald
Sculptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maurice Quinn
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bobbi Vincent
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rob Gordon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . James Johnston
Set Painters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark McEntyre
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brendan Devlin
Make-Up/Hair Supervisor . . . . . . . . Margorie Hamlin
Hair/Make-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Debbie Watson
Wig Maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cheryl Newton
Assistants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sue Franks
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jovnuka Karm
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jaqueline Gavin
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Erena Kennedy
Additional Cinematography . . . . . . . Allen Guilford
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Mahaffie
Camera Assistant. . . . . . . . . . . . Gerry Vasbenter
Clapper/Loader. . . . . . . . . . . . . Sharon Hawke
Steadicam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Mahaffie
Additional Steadicam. . . . . . . . . . Rick Allender
Video Split . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tim Haigh
Camera Trainee. . . . . . . . . . . . . Adam Clark
Video Diary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amanda Jenkins
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nigel Black
Rushes Projectionist. . . . . . . . . . Barry Scott
Stills Photography. . . . . . . . . . . Pierre Vinet
Publicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Graphitti
Sound Recordist . . . . . . . . . . . . Hammond Peak
Boom Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alex Paton
Gaffer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T.K. Bickford
Electrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brendan Shadbolt
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brett Mills
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solomon Bollinger
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joe Bollinger
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roger Norton
MINIATURES
Supervisor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Richard Taylor
Technicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grant Wallis
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Beattie
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Thorinmeister
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mandy Kingsbury
MINIATURE SHOOT
Camera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alun Bollinger
Camera Assistant. . . . . . . . . . . . Gerry Vasbenter
Gaffer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Warwick Peace
Grip/Assistant. . . . . . . . . . . . . Ian McCarroll
Video/Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . Tim Haigh
Post Production Supervisor. . . . . . . Jamie Selkirk
Assistant Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . Emma Haughton
Negative Cutting. . . . . . . . . . . . Upper Deck Film Services
Sound Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Hopkins
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Greg Bell
Sound Assistants. . . . . . . . . . . . Craig Tomlinson
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hamiora Williams
Sound Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Hedges
Assistant Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . John Boswell
ADR/Foley Recordist . . . . . . . . . . Michael Jones
Sound Post Production . . . . . . . . . Pacific Sound
Facilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Village Sound Recorders
Ltd.
Sound Mixing Studios. . . . . . . . . . The Film Unit
Colour Grading. . . . . . . . . . . . . Lynn Seaman
Opticals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Scudden
Camera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reimer Schoenbremm
Laboratory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Film Unit
Titles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sue Rogers
Music Supervisor. . . . . . . . . . . . Chris Gough/Mana Music
Original Music
Composed and Produced by. . . . . . . . Peter Dasent
Orchestrations. . . . . . . . . . . . . Bob Young
Orchestral Score
Performed by . . . . . . . . . . . . . Auckland Philharmonic
Orchestra
Conductor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Scholen
Recorded at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . York Street Studios,
Auckland
Additional Music
Performed by. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Dasent
Recorded at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Film Unit, Wellington
Recorded and Mixed by . . . . . . . . . John Neill
Music [note: see 5.6]
Christchurch historical footage courtesy of National Archives of
New Zealand.
The Third Man extract courtesy Lumiere Pictures Ltd.
Fran and Peter thank all those who were so generous with their
memories during the research for this film.
Filmed entirely on location in Canterbury, New Zealand.
With the particular assistance of:
Christchurch City Council
The Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust
Ferrymead Historic Park Trust
Lyttelton Port Company
and
Jane and Shane Lodge
Richard Coop
Barbara and Charles Sweetman
Kathleen Bennett
Canterbury Embroiderers Guild
Banks Peninsula District Council
Tutchuarewa Manor, Port Levy
Theatre Royal
Petajon S. The Photographer
Canterbury Regional Council
University of Canterbury
Queen Mary Hospital
Centennial Hal, Spreydon
"Otabuna" Homestead
Hagley Community College
Sanitarium Health Food Company
Marmoleum Resilient Flooring furnished by Skellerup
Additional Lighting . . . . . . . . . . Gordon Fawcett
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Graham Hall
Grip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hamish McIntyre
Assistant Grip. . . . . . . . . . . . . Linda Halfe
Crane Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . Bary McGuinn
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steve White
Additional Grip . . . . . . . . . . . . James Creery
Grip Trainee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeremy Tomkins
Casting Assistance. . . . . . . . . . . Bryce Campbell
Acting Coaches. . . . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Peirse
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Ward-Lealand
Catering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Colin Sutherland
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flying Trestles
Visual Effects By W.E.T.A. Ltd.
Digital Effects
Operator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Port
Borovnian Prosthetics and Suit Effects
Designer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Richard Taylor
Co-ordinator/Foam Technician. . . . . . Tamia Rodger
Technicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bill Thomson
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sean Foot
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grant Wallis
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maurice Quin
Additional Assistants . . . . . . . . . Hugh Thomson
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . James Bell
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maida
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joe Kreyl
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Hutchinson
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nicola Rodger
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chantal Taylor
Thanks to:
Students of New Zealand Film and TV School
Wayne Birmingham
Joan Earl
Barry Thomson
Harry Sinclair
Tom Robins
Hugh Young
Wormald New Zealand Ltd Fire Protection and Security
New Zealand Police
Rosie Bolton, Act Now
Alan McConnell Talent Studio
Tramway Historical Society
Vintage Car Club of Canterbury
St. Andrews College
Radio New Zealand Sound Archives
Completion Bond . . . . . . . . . . . . First Australian
Completion Bond Co.
Legal Services, Los Angeles . . . . . . Peter Martin Nelson
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nelson, Guggenheim &
Felker
Legal Services, Wellington. . . . . . . Rudd, Watts & Stone
Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Willis Corroon Ltd.
Arriflex cameras and lenses supplied by Film Facilities Ltd.
Filmed on Eastman Colour Negative
Dolby Stereo
(c) 1994 WingNut Films Ltd.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
5.2 Crew.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5.2.1 Peter Jackson. [Mir,aa,MDB]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Peter Jackson (Writer-Director) has won many awards and
received worldwide attention for his first three films, "Bad
Taste," "Meet the Feebles" and "Dead Alive" (aka "Braindead").
"Bad Taste," a science-fiction comedy that was started as a short
and finished as a feature, premiered at the 1988 Cannes Film
Festival and went on to become an international cult classic. His
next film, "Meet the Feebles," a unique and offbeat adult puppet
spectacular, garnered enthusiastic critical and audience acclaim.
"Dead Alive" (aka "Braindead"), Jackson's first and only "zombie"
movie, won 16 awards at film festivals around the world, casting
Jackson into the international spotlight.
Born in Wellington, New Zealand on Halloween Day in 1961,
Jackson's interest in filmmaking started when he was a child. At
age eight, armed with his parents Super-8 home movie camera,
young Peter began making a series of mini-epics using his
neighborhood pals as cast and crew. In later years, after
acquiring a 16mm camera, Jackson began work on "Bad Taste,"
financed fully from his weekly wages as a photo engraver for a
local newspaper, the Wellington Evening Post. After seeing the
first 75 minutes of the film, the New Zealand Film Commission
gave Jackson funding to complete the picture and ultimately set
him on his path as a writer-director. The actors were Jackson's
fellow photoengravers.
Jackson's offbeat take on life stems from a strong childhood
diet of television and other early influences, such as "Monty
Python's Flying Circus," Gerry Anderson's "Thunderbirds," the
1933 "King Kong" and the films of Buster Keaton.
"Heavenly Creatures," Jackson's most recent production is
his fourth film. He is currently working on two projects, "Jack
Brown, Genius," a film by New Zealand director Tony Hiles on
which Jackson is co-producer, special effects supervisor, and 2nd
unit director, as well as "The Frighteners," a feature length
screenplay that he is writing for acclaimed Hollywood director
Robert Zemeckis. Jackson also recently secured a first-look
production deal with Miramax Films.
Jackson's current project is "The Frighteners," with Michael
J. Fox. Filming is taking place in Christchurch in June 1995.
[mk]
Filmography as Producer:
Bad Taste (1987)
Meet the Feebles (1989)
Heavenly Creatures (1994) (co-producer)
Filmography as Director:
Bad Taste (1987)
Meet the Feebles (1989)
Braindead (1992) (aka Dead Alive (1992))
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
Filmography as Writer:
Bad Taste (1987)
Meet the Feebles (1989)
Braindead (1992) (aka Dead Alive (1992))
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5.2.1.1 "Trash City" interview with Jackson. [jm]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The following article and 1992 interview with Peter Jackson was
kindly supplied by Jim McLennan of "Trash City." Jackson was just
about to embark on "Heavenly Creatures." For more information
about "Trash City" contact: edi...@trashcity.org [jp].
Very few low-budget film directors have ever make it to the
rarefied atmosphere of a Reuters news bulletin, a medium more
accustomed to reporting foreign exchange news and political
comment. With the appearance of th[at] story, Peter Jackson can
safely be said to have "made it" beyond the world of fandom.
His debut, 'Bad Taste' was ensured of a place in the genre
hall of fame as soon as it was seized by Customs immediately on
it's arrival in Britain, and his latest movie, 'Braindead', seems
set to acquire even greater fame/notoriety. Yet Jackson's eye for
combining splatter with humour leaves the viewer helpless with
laughter most of the time, rather than throwing up. TC had a chat
with this unique film-maker in Nuremberg, at the public premiere
of 'Braindead':
TC - The speed of the film was incredible...
PJ - Yeah, I don't like boring movies! When I see 'Bad Taste'
now, I don't like all that stuff at the beginning when
they're talking and I think, "God, get on with it - why did
I put all this stuff in, why don't we get on with the
action?". On 'Braindead' I was determined not to have too
much dialogue, just enough to set the stories and the
characters, and then just let it rip.
TC - What's the aim behind the high level of comedy in your
films?
PJ - I have a fairly large sense of humour, one of my idols is
Buster Keaton, and you look at some stuff in 'Braindead',
it's Buster Keaton with blood. I don't take stuff seriously
- I saw 'Hellraiser 3' the other day at Cannes; it's OK,
it's a good film, I didn't hate it or anything - I thought
it was quite good - but it was all just so serious. Some guy
walking round with pins sticking out of his face. I just
can't sit there and think "This is really scary". If I made
a Hellraiser film, I'd like Pinhead to be whacked against a
wall and have all the pins flattened into his face. I
immediately start thinking of funny things and gags - that's
just the way I am. I doubt I could ever control myself
sufficiently to make a serious horror film.
TC - How does it feel for a film fan who began as an amateur
film-maker, to be[come recognized world-wide].
PJ - It's good. I'm no different from any other fans. I like
going to watch movies; I'm looking forward to 'Evil Dead
III' as much as you guys. I'm just lucky, I guess, that I've
had the opportunity to be able to make movies as well. I
know that often fans make movies and some of them are very
good, but I've managed to make them on 16mm and do it
professionally. I guess I'm actually lucky to be living in
New Zealand, because the New Zealand government are quite
supportive of what I'm doing, and they've given me several
million dollars to make these sorts of movies. Not many
other fans around the world have got the chance to spend
that sort of money!
TC - Is being a film director your dream career?
PJ - It'll be my dream career when I've got total freedom to do
what I want without having to worry about the budget. At the
moment I'm always worried about what I'm going to do next,
and whether I'm going to be able to get the money.
'Braindead' cost $3 million New Zealand dollars - that's
about the limit that I can make a film for as it's almost
impossible for me to get any more money there. And some of
the ideas I've got are for bigger budget - I've got an idea
for a $10 million movie, but at this stage I've no idea when
or how I'm gonna make it. So it's a dream come true but I
still don't feel as if I've got total freedom to do what I
want. It's always a struggle.
TC - What were the budgets for your three movies to date?
PJ - In US dollars, 'Bad Taste' was about $150,000, 'Meet the
Feebles' was about $450,000 and 'Braindead' was 1.8 million
so it's quite a leap up from the other films, but we had to
use actors which cost an enormous amount of money. Puppets
were much cheaper!
TC - Have you ever considered moving to the US and filming in
Hollywood, or would you prefer to stay in New Zealand?
PJ - I wouldn't got to the United States unless I had a firm
offer. I couldn't just go over there and say "Hey guys, here
I am in town, give me some work." It would depend on what
the script was - if it was one of my scripts, and I needed a
lot more money to make it, and the opportunity was there in
Hollywood, or it was someone else's script that I really
liked. I'd like to do it one day just to get the experience.
To have a broad experience of film-making you've got to make
a film in America, just to find out what it's all about.
What I have in New Zealand, and 'Braindead' is a direct
result of this, is total freedom. The Film Commission never
came up and told me what to do, they turned up about once
just to have a look, they were there for about an hour
looking around, then they went off again. They never came to
the rushes, they basically give me the money, then six
months later, I screen the movie for them and it's finished.
They can't do anything about it and they don't try to. It's
a great way to be - don't care about censorship, don't care
what the investors think, don't care about what anyone
thinks, I just do my own stuff. If I was in Los Angeles, as
you will be fully aware, it would be a very different story.
I'd be having to make a film for somebody else, I would be
employed by someone to make their movie. They would have
authority over what I was doing, and I wouldn't like that
situation, I'd find it very hard to deal with.
TC - Had you any problems convincing the Film Commission to give
you money for your films?
PJ - The Film Commission didn't give me money for 3 years for
'Bad Taste', they turned me down a lot. And we tried to make
'Braindead' in 1989, the Film Commission wouldn't put all
the money up then, though the amount of money we were asking
for was the same, ultimately, as what they did put up in
1991. No, there's no real problem, see I work on the scripts
with other writers - Steven Sinclair and Fran Walsh wrote
'Braindead' with me - and we just work on the scripts and
make sure that they are of a certain standard. The Film
Commission get given a lot of scripts to read, by filmmakers
wanting money and they can only afford to finance 3 or 4 a
year, so what you've got to do is make sure that your script
is one of the three or four best scripts that they're going
to read. It really comes down to doing the work on the
script and making sure that it's good enough before you give
it to them to read.
TC - Had they any problems with the gore?
PJ - They never had much experience of these films before 'Bad
Taste'. In New Zealand, over the last 10 or 12 years,
there's been fifty or sixty movies made and only about three
or four of them have made a profit. 'Bad Taste' was one of
them, so they thought "Hey, you put blood and gore in a
movie and it can make money for us". And they get money
back so they can invest it in someone else's film the next
year. so it's a good thing to do. Plus they know the fan
reactions round the world, I sometimes give them copies of
odd magazines and articles that have been written about the
film so they realise that a lot of people round the world
like that type of movie. I don't think they'd be quite so
keen if they were serious horror movies, like 'Texas
Chainsaw Massacre' or something, but my movies are basically
comedies, they've a lot of humour in them. The two top
people at the Film Commission were in Cannes and they came
along to 'Braindead', and it was a really good screening,
there was a lot of laughing and clapping. They're not going
to see any other New Zealand movie which has that sort of
reaction at all, so I think they realise that these films
aren't so bad.
TC - What have been the things that turned out much more
difficult, and what was easier?
PJ - I was a bit worried about working with actors in 'Braindead'
for the first time, because I'd never worked with
professional actors, but that was easier than I thought.
You've just got to basically explain to them what you want
to do. 'Braindead' was a much easier movie to make from my
point than 'Meet the Feebles', which was the hardest thing
I've ever done in my life. That was a real nightmare, from
beginning to end - it was a very, very difficult film to
make in all sorts of ways. We managed to finish it and get
it out and I was exhausted by the end of that, and I
thought "God, that was like going through hell" so I had a
bit of trepidation with 'Braindead' because it's a much
bigger film in many respects, with more complications. But
'Braindead' was very simple, actually, in the end I found it
a very easy film to make. It looks very complicated when
you see it, but we planned all the effects, it was very
thoroughly story-boarded, we had 12 weeks to shoot it and we
basically went through on a fairly good schedule. We weren't
too rushed most of the time, and it was very straightforward
in terms of production. Working with puppets was a
nightmare, it was really horrible, very, very difficult,
working with actors is much easier.
TC - Have you had any reaction from the Hensons to 'Meet the
Feebles'?
PJ - The only thing I heard is that there was a screening in Los
Angeles of 'Meet the Feebles', for Universal. I wasn't
there, I wasn't even in the country, but Universal wanted to
have a look at the film and Lisa Henson - Jim Henson's
daughter, she's an executive at Universal - saw it and
apparently enjoyed it. She was quite shocked when she saw
Kermit nailed on a cross!
TC - 'Braindead' is, I think, the goriest movie I've ever seen.
Is this the direction you're going to keep going in?
PJ - I'm not going to continue making films like 'Braindead' all
my life, but on the other hand I don't want to have a career
where I leave that kind of film behind and never go back to
doing a splatter film. The next film I make will probably be
one called 'Heavenly Creatures.' It's a true story about a
New Zealand murder case that happened in 1954. That's
something different as well, it's a psychological drama with
a bit of comedy. Then after that, I don't know; one day we
might do a 'Bad Taste 2' which I guess would have to be more
gory than 'Braindead'. You get into a situation where you
have to top yourself every time, do better than the film
before, and I don't want to spend my life making films that
have more gore than the last one, there'd be no end to it.
I don't know - maybe I'll never make another film as gory as
BD. I don't have a plan. Who knows what's going to happen -
you might get married or divorced or go to another country,
you just don't know. All I know is that I'm like you guys,
I'm a fan of these sorts of movies and I'll probably keep on
making them in one form or another.
TC - Do you have any advice for film-makers wanting to follow in
your footsteps?
PJ - I just think you should go ahead and do it. If anyone wants
to make movies badly enough, and are prepared to sacrifice a
lot, then they'll make it. Ultimately, if you want to make
movies, a lot of it depends on how much of yourself - or how
much money - you're prepared to sacrifice. I did 'Bad Taste'
over four years, that took an enormous amount of effort to
keep going, and I spent $17,000 of my own money. I was
working at a job I hated doing, in a newspaper, but I did
it because it was paying for my film stock, and paying for
my processing, and I spent 17 grand over three years. And
anybody can do that. Anybody can keep on going, keep
spending their own money, and make a really good movie. If
you believe in yourself, you will ultimately make a good
film and that will impress people. People are always looking
out for new talent, for new young filmmakers. It's not
impossible to start making movies if you've never had the
experience, everyone's got to make their first movie
sometime. So if you have something you made that is of a
good enough standard, someone in Los Angeles - John Landis
or Joe Dante or Sam Raimi - might look at one of your films
and say, "Hey, this guy's great" and give you a call. You
just never know what's going to happen so go for it and
don't give up, one day it'll pay off.
TC - Any final message?
PJ - I'm very happy that anyone likes the films that I'm making.
As I said, I'm just a fan myself, I'm no-one more special,
I've just been lucky to be able to make the films. The films
that I'm making are very reflective of my sense of humour,
and the types of movies that I like watching, and in a sense
if I know that there are a lot of other people out there
that basically share the same sort of tastes as I do, I'm
really pleased. Then I feel I'm not alone in liking these
films.
*SNIP HERE*******************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 07/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
John D. Porter
*****************************************************************
"Heavenly Creatures" - FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 13/15 ) rev. 1995/08/03
*****************************************************************
********************************Copyright (c) John D. Porter 1995
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.7.3 Extract from "The Greatest Criminals of All Time." [jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Green, Jonathon.
"The Greatest Criminals of All Time." Stein and Day, New York,
1982. p. 217. "Hulme, Juliet and Parker, Pauline."
**This short description appears to be recycled primarily from
"The Encyclopaedia of Murder" and it contains many errors (left
to the interested FAQ reader to find, this time). The most
notable passage is probably the description of JMH and PYP, one
of the few instances where JMH is not characterized as the
ringleader. [jp]
Parker was 16, the daughter of a common-law marriage that
had lasted 25 years. She was headstrong, dominating and
intelligent. Hulme was 15, daughter of an ex-Rector of Canterbury
University College in New Zealand. She was a good girl, meek and
polite. In 1953 the two had met and formed a deep friendship,
redolent with fantasy. They wrote novels and dreamt of saving
enough money to have them published in America. They wrote
letters to each other in their fantasy roles. Juliet was
'Deborah, mistress of the Emperor Charles II of Borovnia'.
Pauline was Lancelot Trelawney, a soldier of fortune who wooed
Deborah and married her, becoming the Emperor himself. Their
fantasies escalated to violence and sex. They slept together,
'imagining how the saints make love', and Pauline experimented
with a boy in order to make reports to her friend. They went
shoplifting and wondered about the potential returns from
prostitution or blackmail. In 1954 they moved towards murder,
planning more and more seriously to kill Pauline's mother,
Honoria (sic). On 22 June 1954 they killed her, beating her with
45 blows from a brick wrapped in a sock and inflicting 24 wounds
to the head, face and body. Then they rushed into a nearby
teahouse, Pauline screaming, 'Mummy's dead!'. The police were not
taken in and they arrested Pauline that same evening. At first
she claimed complete responsibility, but Juliet refused to let
her suffer alone. At their trial the defense claimed that they
had acted through 'paranoia of the exalted type' and communicated
insanity. They were certainly certifiably mad, but the
prosecution convinced the jury of the girls' intelligence,
shrewdness and above all the cold-blooded planning of the murder,
set out in their diaries and leters. This was a 'callously
planned and premeditated murder,' it was alleged, 'committed by
two highly intelligent and perfectly sane but precocious and
dirty-minded girls'. The jury agreed. The girls were detained at
Her Majesty's Pleasure. They were released in 1958.
Plate caption: Juliet Hulme (l) and Pauline Parker (r): 'Deborah
of Borovnia' and 'Lancelot Trelawney', they wondered how the
saints made love and killed without remorse.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.7.4 Extract from "Partners in Crime." [sb]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hall, Allan.
"Partners in Crime." Blitz Editions, Leicester, 1993. [sb]
pp. 43-49. "PARKER & HULME // Their Secret World"
**The material in this chapter is apparently recycled from
several sources. It contains many errors in fact: some small,
some significant, but some new information, too. Which, in light
of the volume of errors, should be weighted appropriately. It is
a typical example of a 'sensational' popular account and can be
used to get a feel for how much these accounts can inform, and
how much they can possibly mislead. The tone of this account
typifies the public perception and reaction at the time of the
murder, and so this is a useful example in that regard, as well.
Also useful, oddly enough, are the more 'titilating' facts
from the trial included in this chapter. More sober treatments
tended to leave these out (e.g. Furneaux's chapter, section
7.7.2). It is interesting to note that this account, though
'sensational,' actually leaves out all reference to the personal
lives of people other than Pauline and Juliet, even though those
tidbits were also the stuff of headlines during the trial.
Stripped of the surrounding moralizing and editorializing
found in sensational treatments, the lurid facts that oftentimes
can only be found in these sources can be used to fill in
background information about the family lives of the girls, and
about the activities of the girls which weren't directly related
to the planning and execution of the murder. Personally, I tend
to dismiss these aspects unless I can obtain confirmation, but it
is not automatically true that sensational material must be
fictional.
This article also has informative photographs of the Hulme
family, the murder site and outside the courthouse during the
trial. Photographs are more like raw data; the viewer can use
them to draw independent conclusions. [jp]
//Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme were anything but normal
schoolgirls. These teenage lesbain lovers bashed in the head of
Pauline's mother who had tried to separate them. Were they
criminally insane or just murderous little minxes?//
There is much in 'Partners in Crime' that dwells on the
madness generated by two people that would not have occurred had
the partnership never been formed. Normal lives and patterns of
behaviour vanish as two personalities, each bland and safe on its
own, ignite into intrigue and danger when combined.
Such was the madness that descended on two adolescent girls
in New Zealand in the 1950s--girls who retreated into their own
special world of aloofness, superiority and forbidden sex, a
world that held murder.
When Juliet Marion Hulme and Pauline Yvonne Parker were
brought before the Crown in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1954
the case received worldwide attention because of its morbid
themes. Like the case of Loeb and Leopold (Chapter XXX),
psychologists were at pains to try to explain the fusion of two
normal minds into a single entity bent on misery and death. For
that is what happened to Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker when
their perfect world was threatened.
In order to prevent separation from one another, they
plotted and carried out, the murder of Mrs Honora Mary Parker.
Mrs Parker, forty-five, Pauline's mother, was bludgeoned to death
by the two, who tried to cover their tracks by claiming she had
fallen. But in the end their own inflated ideas of their
intelligence and skill failed them badly and the most basic
police methods proved that they were the killers. The full extent
of their wickedness and depravity revealed at the trial shocked
this colonial outpost as nothing before or since.
It was on 22 June, 1954 that the two hysterical girls,
covered in blood, shattered the tranquility of afternoon tea at a
sedate Christchurch restaurant when they burst through the doors.
'Mummy's been hurt,' blurted out Pauline. 'She's hurt, covered
with blood.' [note: Inaccurate quote. jp] Tearfully they begged
the manageress of the restaurant to phone for police while they
gulped down sugared tea in an apparent attempt to ease their
shock. Some of the customers went with police and the girls to a
beauty spot in a nearby park close to a smal bridge over a
stream. Lying in a pool of blood, her face unrecognizable, was
Mrs Parker. Her head was brutally batterred. It was a bad fall.
Initially the girls told police that Mrs Parker had fallen
and slipped on a board. 'Her head just kept banging and banging,'
blurted out Pauline to police, in a none-too-convincing
explanation of why her mother came to have some forty-nine
serious head wounds, any one of which would have been enough to
render her unconscious [note: No such conclusion entered into
testimony. jp]. The officers knew that they were dealing with
something far more sinister than an accident and both young
girls--Pauline was sixteen and Juliet fifteen years and ten (sic)
months [note: 8 months. 10 months at the trial, which is the
phrase used by Furneaux in 7.7.2. jp]--were taken into custody
for further questioning.
As they were led away a sharp-eyed policeman found near the
pathway, a few feet from the body of Mrs Parker, a brick wrapped
in an old stocking [note: JMH and contemporary press stated the
brick was not found in the stocking. jp]. It was found to be
covered in blood and great clumps of her hair were stuck to it.
Clearly, this and not a board or a plank of wood had been the
instrument which despatched the unfortunate woman. Later, a
pathologist examined the corpse and said that there was bruising
around the throat consistent with her having been held down as
blow after blow rained down on her head.
Once in custody Pauline confessed almost immediately to the
murder. She said she had 'made up my mind' a few days before the
event to kill her mother during an outing in the park and that
Juliet, who was walking with them, was not implicated in the
crime. She told detectives: 'She knew nothing about it. As far as
I know, she believed what I had told her, although she may have
guessed what had happened but I doubt it as we were both so
shaken that it probably did not occur to her.'
But while she was being questioned, one of the officers
guarding her turned his back to her, and she tried to burn a
piece of paper on which she had written: 'I am taking the blame
for everything.' This was seen as a message that she intended to
smuggle to Juliet--Juliet, who, on learning of the abortive bid
to contact her, changed her story immediately and confessed to
being a willing accomplice.
// IT WAS TERRIBLE BUT INSANE?//
'I took the stocking,' said Juliet, 'and hit her too. I was
terrified. I wanted to help Pauline. It was terrible--she moved
convulsively. We both held her. She was still when we left her.
After the first blow was struck I knew it would be necessary for
us to kill her.' [note: Partial quote. jp]
There would have been no need for a protracted criminal
trial, along with all its publicity, had the pair pleaded guilty
to murder. Instead, they chose to plead Guilty of murder by
insanity (sic) [note: They actually pled 'Not Guilty' of murder
by reason of insanity. jp]--something the Crown was not prepared
to accept. While in custody they had both seemed perfectly aware
of what they had done, had both shown little remorse and had both
only wanted to return to their 'perfect world'. Their insistence
on a plea of insanity meant that the spotlight would now be
directed at their dark world.
In his opening speech the prosecutor Mr Anthony Brown
ominously told the jury: 'I feel bound to tell you that the
evidence will make it terribly clear that the two young accused
conspired together to kill the mother of one of them and horribly
carried their plan into effect. It was a plan designed solely so
they could carry on being together in the most unwholesome
manner.'
Brown went on to explain how something 'unhealthy' had
developed between the two girls; how they had met at school as
friends but then their relationship had deepened and broadened
into something much more than girlish camaraderie. He remarked
that it was a relationship 'more commonly seen between members of
the opposite sex, and of a more advanced age', than that seen
between two schollgirls. Unhappy when apart, disturbingly
attached to each other when together, Mr Brown painted a portrait
of two girls sharing an unnatural love.
Mrs Parker, not surprisingly, was most unhapy about the
relationship and was doing her best to break it up when she met
her end. She had been in touch [note: Herbert Rieper testified
that he had made the initial approach to Hulme, but this seems
more consistent with Honora. jp] with Juliet's father, Dr Hulme,
a (sic) Rector of Canterbury University College, New Zealand.
Earlier that year he had resigned his post with the intention of
taking a new position in Cape Town, South Africa. [note:
Incorrect. Hilda Hulme testified Henry Hulme planned to travel to
UK via S.A., and to leave JMH in S.A. jp] He agreed to take
Juliet with him, to get her away from Pauline. The date agreed
for his departure was 3 July--and the two girls vowed to kill Mrs
Parker before then, her punishment for engineering their
separation. [note: This conclusion of vengeance or retribution is
inconsistent with trial evidence. see 7.4. jp]
'Their first idea was to carry out this crime in such a way
so that it apeared that it was an accident which befell Mrs
Parker,' said Brown. They persuaded Mrs Parker, having pretended
for a couple of weeks prior to her death that they no longer
cared about being separated [note: No evidence presented in trial
to support this conclusion. jp], to take them on a picnic to the
country. Juliet Hulme brought along the brick from the garden of
her home and the deed was accomplished. All (sic) this was
corroborated in a sensational diary kept by Pauline Parker and in
notes passed between the two--correspondence which the Crown said
was definitely the work of people who were quite aware of what
they were doing.
'In it,' said Brown, waving Pauline's leather-bound diary
before the jury, 'she reveals that she and Juliet Hulme have
engaged in shoplifting, have toyed with blackmail and talked
about and played around in matters of sex. There is clear
evidence that as long ago as February she was anxious that her
mother should die, and during the few weeks before 22 June she
was planning to kill her mother in the way in which she was
eventualy to be killed.' It was damning evidence.
On 14 February, (sic) he read:'Why, oh why, could mother not
die? Dozens of people, thousands of people, are dying every day.
So why not mother and father too?' Later, in April, she wrote:
'Anger against mother boiled up inside me. It is she who is one
of the main obstacles in my path. Suddenly a means of ridding
myself of the obstacle occurred to me. I am trying to think of
some way. I want it to appear either a natural or an accidental
death.'
In June it continued: 'We discussed our plans for moidering
[sic] mother and made them a little clearer. Peculiarly enought
(sic) I have no qualms of conscience (or is it just peculiar we
are so mad!)' On 22 June, the actual day of the crime, Pauline
penned this entry: 'I am writing a little bit of this up in the
morning before the death. I felt very excited like the night
before Chrismassy (sic) last night. I did not have pleasant
dreams, though.' She did not elaborate on these.
[note: The diary quotations above are not all accurate, or
complete. see 7.4. jp]
The reading of the diary caused a stunned shock to the
court. The two looked for all the world like normal schoolgirls
and yet they had plotted and committed murder. There was even
more damning testimony about them which showed that they were
sneering, arrogant vixens who enjoyed illicit adult pleasures
wrapped up in a fantasy world of their own making. And much of
this damaging testimony was delivered by Juliet's mother.
//THE STRANGE DEBORAH AND LANCELOT//
Mrs Hulme told the court how the girls were planning to
publish a novel (although they hadn't yet written one) and
practised writing in strange letters to each other using romantic
pseudonyms. Juliet was often called Charles II, Emperor of
Borovnia, then she changed to Deborah and then Bialbo. Pauline
Parker, at the start of this bizarre correspondence, had called
herself Lancelot Trelawney, a Cornish mercenary. Names of
medieval drama.
The letters were initially full of romance as they created a
fantasy world into which they escaped, but soon the tone changed
to something far more sinister. They became violent, sadistic,
with maidens raped and knights tortured as the girls' own lust
for each other became ever more urgent. Soon they were sleeping
together and even indulged in bondage. One said: 'I loved how we
enacted how each saint might make love in bed. We have never felt
so exhausted...but so satisfied!' [note: Inaccurate quote. jp] It
is no surprise that their parents wished to see the girls parted
permanently.
Further details emerged of how they spent their days when
they were supposed to be in school. They often slipped away to a
country barn where they frolicked in the hayloft as lovers,
finishing their day by washing each other in a country stream.
They talked of going to America, of becoming rich and famous and
buying a house together where they would have eunuchs as
servants.
Juliet said she wanted to be 'safe' with Pauline--as a child
she was brought up in the East End (sic) of London at the time of
the London Blitz [note: Hulmes lived in Greenwich, normally
referred to as part of 'the South Bank' of London. The 'East End'
was and is an extremely economically depressed, industrial area
hard-hit in the blitz. jp], something which traumatized her
deeply. One of their 'games' involved Pauline cradling her as she
made noises like bombs exploding around her. And all the while
they played out this weird relationship, all schoolfriends and
other playmates were excluded; it was, as described in one of
Juliet's missives to Pauline, 'their perfect world', one to which
no other was admitted. [note: I have not been able to confirm
this aspect of the relationship in any other source as yet. It
must be viewed as suspect, therefore. jp]
Initially, Mrs Hulme, who had emigrated with her husband and
Juliet when the child was five years old [note: These statements
are all wrong. see 7.3. jp], welcomed her friendship with Pauline
because it seemed to bring her out of her shell. 'Had I known
where this would lead, I would have killed it stone dead there
and then,' she sobbed.
Another entry in Pauline's diary, and one which was
instrumental in proving their sanity, was the one which read:
'Prostitution sounds a good idea to make money and what fun we
would have in doing it! We are so brilliantly clever, there
probably isn't anything we couldn't do.' Was this, said the
prosecution, the words of a pair who claimed they did not know
what they were doing? Further, when Pauline was called to testify
(sic) [note: Neither girl testified on the stand at the trial.
jp], her own arrogance virtually broke their defence. When asked
if she knew that it was wrong to murder she sneered: 'I knew it
was wrong to murder and I knew at the time that I was murdering
somebody that it was wrong. You would have to be an absolute
moron not to know that something was wrong.' [note: Inaccurate
quote, it was made by JMH and it was entered into testimony by Dr
Kenneth Stallworthy. see 7.1. jp]
Lawyers for the two girls said there was no question that
they were the killers but that they should not hang--a
possibility, despite their age because they were being judged as
adults [note: Unlikely in the extreme. see 7.7.1. jp]--because of
the abnormality of their minds. One medical expert, a Dr
Medlicott, pointed out that each of the girls had suffered bad
physical health as toddlers and that their siblings were also
prone to illnesses, suggesting somehow that this contributed to
the unbalanced state of their young murderers' minds. [note: The
trial statements about siblings referred to PYP only. jp]
Discussing the bizarre relationship between them the doctor
told the court: 'Juliet told me: "I do believe that we are indeed
geniuses. I don't wish to place myself above the law--I am apart
from it." And when I performed a medical examination upon Miss
Parker she turned to me and said: "I hope you break your flaming
neck." In my opinion they are agressive, dangerous, but most
certifiably insane."
It was not (sic) an opinion shared by expert Dr Charles
Bennett [note: Bennett was a witness for the defense and the
following quote is out of context. see 7.1. jp] who told the
court: 'I find that they probably, very probably, knew what they
were doing and knew it was wrong in the eyes of society at large.
But I doubt very much if they gave any consideration whatsoever
to what society thought of them at all.'
In the end, after a careful summing up by the judge, it was
left to the jury to decide whether the girls were mad or not. Mr
Justice Adams said: 'The important word is the word "knowing". It
has to be considered at the very moment of the commission of the
crime. Were their minds so confused that they did not know this
act was wrong? This is what you, ladies (sic) and gentlemen of
the jury, have to consider.' [note: Quote embellished. The jury
was all male. jp]
Consider it they did and in just two and a quarter hours
returned a verdict of Guilty. There was a fleeting smile flashed
between the two girls, these supreme egotists, when they were
spared the rope by a merciful judge and ordered to be detained at
Her Majesty's Pleasure--which meant indefinitely. But in a move
which, to many, seemed to mock justice, they were freed just four
(sic) years later after intense psychiatric counselling. [note:
JMH and PYP released Nov/Dec 1959, five years later. see 7.3. jp]
They remained friends but the spark from that earlier
relationship had been extinguished by the separation. [note: This
is completely wrong; there was no communication or contact
between them after August 28, 1954. see 7.3. jp].
Herbert Rieper--he was with Pauline's mother for twenty-five
(sic) years although he never married her--never recovered from
her death. He never forgave the girl and when his daughter was
freed he said: 'It still doesn't make up for robbing a person of
their life. It was evil between them that did it. Pure evil.'
Caption, Fig. 1, p. 42: Juliet Hulme, on the left, and Pauline
Parker were so in love that they were prepared to murder anybody
who threatened their relationship.
Caption, Fig. 2, p. 43: The childish face of Juliet Hulme hid a
passionate nature and a willful nature.
Caption, Fig. 3, p. 44: The distinguished father of Pauline
(sic), Dr H.R. Hulme, Rector of Canterbury University College,
Christchurch. He intended to take his daughter away from her
friend.
Caption, Fig. 4, p. 45: Juliet Hulme photographed at the time she
was involved with Pauline but before they turned into killers.
Caption, Fig. 5, p. 46: The girls ran into the Victoria Tearooms,
crying that Mrs Parker had fallen and was badly hurt.
Caption, Fig. 6, p. 47: Mrs Hulme broke down frequently during
the trial of her daughter for murder. She refused to speak about
the case for many years after the event.
Caption, Fig. 7, p. 48: It was on this pathway, near the
planking, that the two girls bludgeoned the mother to death.
Caption, Fig. 8, p. 49: The trial aroused tremendous interest.
Crowds clamoured outside the court for a glimpse of the young
lesbian killers.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.7.5 Extract from "Encyclopaedia of Murder." [jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Wilson, Colin and Pitman, Patricia
"Encyclopaedia of Murder." Pan Books, London, 1961. Reprinted Cox
& Wyman Ltd, Reading, U.K., 1984. ISBN 0 330 28300 6
Plate 30: (P.A. Reuter Photos Ltd.) Pauline Yvonne Parker, with
head bowed, nine months before being accused of murdering her
mother. [= Oct. '53. School photo]. A better print of this photo
may be found in Gurr and Cox.
pp. 500-501. PARKER, Pauline Yvonne.
...death was due to a fractured skull, and there were forty-five
injuries in all; the throat was bruised, as was one finger--
probably the result of attempting to ward off blows.
At their trial...both girls appeared unrepentant. Details were
given of their strange relationship. They had written letters to
each other, each assuming bizarre identities: Juliet had been,
among other things, Charles II, 'Emperor' of Borovvia (sic), and
the 'Emperor's' mistress Deborah; Pauline had chosen to be
Lancelot Trelawney, a Cornish soldier of fortune. They believed
themselves to be geniuses: 'I am apart from the law', Juliet
Hulme had said. They continued erotic experiments: '...we enacted
how the saints would make love in bed', Pauline Parker had
written in the diary. ... Both were released [from prison] in
1958. [date incorrect. jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.7.6 Glamuzina & Laurie "Parker & Hulme."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Glamuzina, Julie and Laurie, Alison J.
"Parker and Hulme: A Lesbian View." New Women's Press, Auckland,
NZ, 1991. Accession 25654735. ISBN 0908652542. 214 pp., ill., 22
cm, incl. biblio. and refs. pp. 197-208, index.
**This is the only major scholarly work to have been written on
the case. It is an invaluable source of background material
related to the case, the times and the society and for its
unique, modern feminist perspective on the case. Unfortunately,
the book is currently out of print and is hard to find in North
America. The book will be reprinted in North America (approx.
October '95) by: Firebrand Press, 141 The Commons, Ithaca, NY
14850 ($12.95).
I have only recently (June '95) obtained a copy, so my
comments here are preliminary. This is a meaty little read, and
there is much to ponder, debate and go over. Contributions to
this section are particularly welcome. [jp]
**Table of Contents: [incl. subheadings not listed by G&L. jp]
Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . .6
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Alison. . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Julie . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . 18
The Killing. . . . . . . . . . . 20
Chapter One The Place . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Chapter Two The Families . . . . . . . . . . 36
The Parker/Rieper Family. . . . . 36
The Hulme Family. . . . . . . . 40
Chapter Three The Time. . . . . . . . . . . . 48
What were the 1950s like? . . . . 48
Chapter Four The Relationships . . . . . . . . 61
Chapter Five The Diaries. . . . . . . . . . . 76
Chapter Six The Trial . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Chapter Seven The Punishment . . . . . . . . .100
Chapter Eight The Stories. . . . . . . . . . .110
Newspaper and magazine stories . .111
Popular crime stories. . . . . .117
Medical stories . . . . . . . .120
Chapter Nine Why Was Honora Parker Killed? . . .134
Women who kill. . . . . . . . .134
Children who kill . . . . . . .139
A Maori interpretation . . . . .147
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . .148
Chapter Ten Lesbians in New Zealand. . . . . .150
Chapter Eleven Impact of the Case on Lesbians . . .165
Personal accounts . . . . . . .166
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . .182
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . .186
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . .197
Unpublished sources. . . . . . .197
Published sources . . . . . . .197
Newspapers . . . . . . . . .197
Official publications . . . . .198
Periodicals . . . . . . . . .198
Articles, Books, Pamphlets, Theses
. . . . . . . . . . . .199
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . .209
**Kudos:
G&L clearly state their perspectives and the scope of their
study in the Introduction. They state that they do not agree with
the simplistic choice presented by the Judicial process at the
time of the crime, namely, that Pauline and Juliet were either
'mad' or they were 'bad.' G&L condemn the association made then
and propagated since the crime between lesbianism, mental illness
and murder. They state that they believe the events surrounding
the crime have not yet been placed in an appropriate social or
political context in the analyses which have been presented to
date. They go on to say "We use a pro-lesbian, feminist view to
illuminate the case. This viewpoint is particularly helpful when
considering issues of sexuality and gender." (p. 18).
The chapters on "The Place" and "The Time" are slim, but are
very useful for providing a thumbnail sketch of Christchurch and
New Zealand society in the 50s. There is additional information
in this FAQ about Christchurch, CGHS and the times which may also
be useful.
The sections and chapters which provide information on the
life of lesbians and the public perception of lesbians in the 50s
are absolutely invaluable for providing perspective. This
material would be hard to find anywhere else in such a readable
and condensed form. This is really a very positive attribute of
the book. I was particularly taken by the personal anecdotes;
these concrete examples made everything much less 'academic' and
much more immediate and understandable, for me.
The chapter on "The Punishment" provides details of the
prisons and the particulars of Pauline and Juliet's experiences
during incarceration which are unique. This information is not
available anywhere else in the literature.
The bibliography is an excellent resource for anyone wishing
to pursue the case in any detail. [jp]
**Criticisms:
My biggest criticism of G&L, and my biggest disappointment
in the book, is the treatment of the diaries and writings. Given
that G&L were permitted to view and use the official diary
transcripts as sources, I was amazed to find very few new diary
quotes in the book. In fact, the total amount of quoted material
in G&L is far less than that to be found in this FAQ.
This omission of diary quotes is especially frustrating for
the reader since G&L contend that a biased and distorted portrait
of Pauline was painted in the press and during the trial by the
selective quotation of sensational material most related (or
perceived to be most related) to the murder... and we must simply
take their word for this. I happen to agree that much information
of value has been omitted by this process of selective quotation,
so I was disheartened to find G&L indulging in the same thing.
I was also very disappointed with the extremely superficial
analysis of the diary material and the writings in the very slim
Chapter Five and elsewhere. In particular, it surprised me to
realize that G&L didn't appear to consider the possibility that
Pauline Parker would use sarcasm or irony in her diary entries;
everything seems to have been taken pretty much at face value.
The other point which stood out for me was that G&L appear
not to have constructed a time line like that given here in
section 7.3, apart from the one they constructed for the day of
the murder. Some of the points they raise in their analysis of
events appear to have been made out of context of the immediately
surrounding circumstances and events. Just as a simple example,
G&L mention on p. 164 that Hilda Hulme had probably given Juliet
(and, through her, Pauline) information about sexuality and sex
education, making the point that the pair may not have been
completely ignorant of lesbianism, though it seems doubtful they
had accurate information about the subject. But, incredibly, G&L
make no comment at all about the date of Pauline's diary entry
describing this... June 10, 1954! G&L don't mention another part
of Pauline's diary entry made on that day: "I am feeling
particularly close to Deborah" nor do they mention that the very
next night was apparently Pauline and Juliet's first full
'consummation' of their relationship. Or any of the other
surrounding events.
And, since Henry Hulme has become something of a side-
project for me, I was also disappointed in G&L's superficial (and
somewhat error-riddled) treatment of Dr Hulme's career, life,
character, motivations and his relationships with the other
principals in the case. I, too, tend to believe that family
dynamics, relationships and social context are more important in
this case than have been stressed to date, so I was also somewhat
disappointed with G&L's treatment of these aspects, especially
given their strong statements at the beginning of their book.
However, I must say it is refreshing to have a work as
substantial and thoughtful as G&L to sink my teeth into. I shall
continue to think about this material for future editions of the
FAQ. [jp]
**Errors:
There aren't too many factual errors in G&L. Here are some I
have picked up on my first pass through the book: [jp]
p. 21 G&L offer some rather speculative interpretation of the
forensic evidence when they assert that "Honora lost
consciousness quickly and died within minutes."
p. 25 Hilda Hulme testified that Juliet herself read aloud
and recited poetry before falling asleep in her
mother's arms the night after the murder, and Juliet
also recited poetry when she awoke the next morning.
p. 26 The initial inquest was held in Magistrate's Court on
July 16, 1954, not July 14. G&L consistently state
throughout the book that the initial inquest was held
on July 14 (which is Bastille Day).
p. 41 There are several errors in Dr Hulme's biography. Dr
Hulme did not graduate (in '32) with a ScD from
Cambridge (it was awarded later, in '48); he was a
Fellow of Caius College from '33-'38 (not '31-'37); he
was Chief Assistant at the Royal Observatory from '38-
'45 (not '36-'38); he was Scientific Advisor to the Air
Ministry from '46-'48 (not '45-'48).
[note: G&L's erroneous data coincide with the entries
in "Who's Who in New Zealand," G.H. Scholefield, ed.,
A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1951. ad]
p. 42 Juliet Hulme was born in Greenwich, London, not in
Liverpool. According to Anne Perry, she was also sent
to a sanatorium in New Zealand's North Island before
her parents moved to New Zealand in '48 and there are
other errors and omissions in G&L's version of JMH's
early years.
p. 43 The name of the sanatorium where Juliet was confined is
given as Christchurch Sanatorium and as Cashmere
Sanatorium. Cashmere Sanatorium appears to be correct.
p. 45 G&L state that Dr Hulme secured a position at
Aldermaston before leaving the Rectorship (anecdotal
evidence). This may not be correct since he did not
start his appointment until 1955.
p. 45 Dr Hulme may have returned to England on the date
originally scheduled, July 3, 1954 (unconfirmed). He
did attend the initial arraignment on June 25, 1954.
G&L state that Dr Hulme did not attend any judicial
proceedings and that he sailed on the planned date.
p. 46 G&L state that the Hulmes returned to England in 1953
"on holiday." This is inaccurate, and slightly
malicious because the official answer is in a book
contained in G&L's bibliography (see 7.10.1.1). My best
guess is that Dr Hulme was on a hunt for a top academic
post in England, probably at Cambridge.
p. 62 G&L state that Pauline referred to the Ceylonese
University students as 'THEM' without giving a
supporting quote. According to Pauline's chart of the
'Saints' in the front of her 1953 diary, this doesn't
seem to be correct.
p. 74 There are several diary quotes and their interpretation
which may contain assumptions or small errors. This is
too bad, as the quotes are key ones, referring to the
premediatation of the murder and the nature of the
planning and the timing of it.
p. 75 The critical diary entry for the last day, June 22,
1954, contains many typographical errors -- unexpected,
because G&L had previously criticized Medlicott and
others for being sloppy in their reporting of entries,
and this entry in particular.
p. 82 Throughout Chapter Six, "The Trial," G&L mis-spell
several names of the legal counsel, including Alan
Brown, the Crown Prosecutor, and the expert witnesses,
including Dr Saville.
p. 90 G&L state that "Medlicott's contention was that the
girls' madness was in inverse proportion to the time
they spent together" when, of course, Medlicott stated
there was a direct correlation, not an inverse one (an
inverse relation would have implied that separation of
the two would result in madness; formally, folie …
deux, Medlicott's diagnosis, requires an extremely
close association for the 'transmission of delusion' to
occur).
pp. 88,92 G&L apparently did not recognize the considerable
difference between simply being a Member of the Royal
Austral(as)ian College of Physicians (Medlicott) and
being a Fellow of the RACP (Bennett); the latter is by
far the more prestigious.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7.8 Scholarly articles related to the case.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The articles listed here have been chosen because they
address, in some way, topics which have been raised in connection
with the "Parker Hulme" case. The reader is on their own to
decide whether or not an article contains material which is
useful or valid, or not. A word of friendly warning: opinion can
get heated and emotion can run a little high concerning the
material in these articles, according to my correspondence...
I am always looking for appropriate additions to this list
because it is anything but exhaustive. In particular, there is a
dearth of articles by women and/or written from a woman's
perspective and/or espousing a feminist viewpoint. Glamuzina and
Laurie's book contains a very useful bibliography (pp. 197-208);
unfortunately, they cite journal articles without page numbers.
[jp]
Chesney-Lind, M.
Signs, 12(1): ??? (1986). [G&L]
"Women and crime: The female offender."
Chiswick, D.
British Medical Journal, 283: ??? (1981, Nov. 14). [G&L]
"Matricide."
Coates, M.
Nursing Mirror and Midwives Journal, 133(16): 44-46 (1971). [jp]
"Folie a deux."
Corder, B.F. et al.
American Journal of Psychiatry, 133: ??? (1976, Aug. 8). [G&L]
"Adolescent parricide: A comparison with other adolescent
murder."
Cormier, B.M. et al.
Journal of Criminology and Correction, No. 1: ??? (1971). [G&L]
"The psychodynamics of homicide committed in a specific
relationship."
Duncan, J.W.; Duncan, G.M.
American Journal of Psychiatry, 127(11): ??? (1971). [G&L]
"Murder in the family: A study of some homicidal adolescents."
Edwards, S.S.M.
Women's Studies International Forum, 9(1): ??? (1986). [G&L]
"Neither bad nor mad: The female violent offender reassessed."
Glamuzina, J.; Laurie, A.J.
Sites, no. 19 (Spring 1989), pp. 33-42. [jb]
"Sexual Politics in the 1950s: The Parker-Hulme Murder Case" (see
7.8.2).
Gluckman, L.K.
New Zealand Medical Journal, 63(407): ??? (1966, July). [G&L]
"Lesbianism: A clinical approach."
Hiller, A.E.; Mandish, A.
Australia and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 15: ??? (1982).
[G&L]
"Women, crime and criminal justice: The state of current theory
and research in Australia and New Zealand."
Kiraly, S.J.
Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, 20(3): 223-227 (1975).
[jp]
"Folie a deux: A case of 'demonic possession' involving mother
and daughter."
Kirkman, Allison.
Women's Studies Journal 8(1), 135-139 (1992). [jb]
"Review of Parker and Hulme: a Lesbian View"
Defends this reexamination of the 1954 murder case. Uses the
book's analysis of the crime as a means of discussing NZ
society's attitudes towards lesbianism, and the dichotomy of
badness or madness they presume. Demonstrates that the
murder was characterized as a lesbian crime and that it has
continued to influence NZ perceptions of lesbianism and NZ
lesbians' views of themselves.
Lange, E.; Ficker, F.
Psychiatria Clinica, 9(3-4): 168-182 (1976). [jp]
"Double suicide and symbiotic psychosis: suicide a deux and folie
a deux" (Ger) [jp]
Symbiotic psychoses (induced delusions) are marked by
'solitude by twos' -- together in alienation to the
environment. This special psychological situation is
dangerous and the foundation to develop 'suicide by twos'
(double suicides). The relations between the psychotic
partners (domination-subordination) change over to relations
of double suicide (instigator-participant). The presuicidal
sybiotism of 2 cases is described.
Laurie, A.J.
Sites, 15: ??? (1987, Spring). [G&L]
"Lesbian-Feminism: A Re-view."
Lee, Anna.
Trivia, 9: ??? (1986, Fall). [G&L]
"Therapy, the evil within."
Lloyd, J.H.
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 7(3): 193-199
(1973). [jp]
"Religion and insanity - folie partagee - folie a trois."
MacKenzie, D.F.
New Zealand Medical Journal, Special Number: ??? (1967). [G&L]
"Homosexuality and the Justice Department."
McKnight, C.K. et al.
Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, 11(2): ??? (1966,
April). [G&L]
"Matricide and mental illness."
Medlicott, R.W.
British Journal of Medical Psychology, 28: 205-223 (1955). [jb]
"Paranoia of the Exalted Type in a Setting of Folie a Deux: A
Study of Two Adolescent Homicides" (see 7.8.1).
Glamuzina and Laurie criticize this paper in detail in their
book.
Medlicott, R.W.
New Zealand Law Journal, 37(22): pp ??? - ??? (1961). [sb]
"Some reflections on the Parker-Hulme and Leopold-Loeb cases with
special reference to the concept of omnipotence."
p. 347: "From what I have heard from various sources neither
girl was a serious problem in prison but I suspect the basic
core of their arrogance persisted."
Medlicott, R.W.
British Journal of Medical Psychology, 43: 271-279 (1970). [sb]
"An examination of the necessity for a concept of evil: some
aspects of evil as a form of perversion."
p. 277 "The two girls have ultimately redeemed themselves
and are now leading reasonably constructive lives. Like
Raskolnikov them illustrate that adoption of evil is not
necessarily irreversible."
Glamuzina and Laurie criticize this paper in some detail in
their book.
Medlicott, R.W.
New Zealand Medical Journal, 91(655): 181-184 (1980). [jp]
"The psychiatric aspects of violence."
Mohr, J.W.; McKnight, C.K.
Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, 16: ??? (1971). [G&L]
"Violence as a function of age and relationship with special
reference to matricide."
Mouridsen, S.E.; Tolstrup, K.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied
Disciplines, 29(4): 511-515 (1988). [jp]
"Children who kill: a case study of matricide."
Only a small number of children who murder have been
reported in the literature. Matricide in particular is
infrequently mentioned. The examination and treatment of a
9-year-old boy who intentionally killed his mother is
presented. No severe family conflicts or other psychogenic
factors which could explain the action were found. ...no
somatic pathology was verified. ...the boy was psychotic,
probably suffering from a schizophrenic disorder which is
presumed to have developed in the years preceding the
matricide.
New Zealand Department of Justice.
Regina vs Pauline Yvonne Parker and Juliet Marion Hulme:
Transcripts of Supreme Court Proceedings. 1954. [jb]
[I don't yet know to get access to these. jp]
d'Orban, P.T.; O'Connor, A.
British Journal of Psychiatry, 154: 27-33 (1989). [jp]
"Women who kill their parents."
The literature on parricide is reviewed with special
reference to women. 17 female parricides (14 matricides, 3
parricides) were identified: in a remand prison (11), a
Special Hospital (5) and a Regional Service Unit (1). 6 were
schizophrenic, 5 had psychotic depression, 3 had personality
disorders, 1 was alcoholic. 2 of the patricides had no
psychiatric disorders but retaliated against violent
fathers. Regardless of psychiatric diagnosis matricides were
mostly single, socially-isolated women in mid-life, living
alone with a domineering mother in a mutually-dependent but
hostile relationship. Similar characteristics are found in
male matricides, who are predominantly schizophrenic. It is
suggested that these features are of greater significance in
matricide than the specific form of psychiatric disorder.
Compared with filicides, matricides were significantly
older, were single, and more often suffered from mental
illness and substance abuse. Attention is drawn to the
possible homicidal risk associated with delusions of
poisoning and hypochondriacal delusions.
Phillipp, E.
New Zealand Medical Journal, 67(430): ??? (1968). [G&L]
"Homosexuality as seen in a New Zealand city practice."
Rubinstein, L.H.
British Journal of Medical Psychology, 42(2): 99-108 (1966). [jp]
"The theme of Electra and Orestes: a contribution to the
psychopathology of matricide."
Salama, A.A.; Wilson, R.
Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 27(4): 334-335 (1982). [jp]
"Two sisters folie a deux: a case study of attempted suicide."
Saliah, M.A.
British Journal of Psychiatry, 139: 62-67 (1981). [jp]
"Suicide pact in a setting of folie a deux."
2 women friends. Their shared delusion was based on their
life situation and experience.
Sargent, D.
Social Work, 7: ??? (1962). [G&L]
"Children who kill - a family conspiracy?"
Scherl, D.J.; Mack, J.E.
Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychology, 5(4):569-593
(1966) [jp]
"A study of adolescent matricide."
Sheppard, C.
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Corrections, 13(1): ???
(1971). [G&L]
"Towards a better understanding of the violent offender."
Simmonds, J.F.; Glenn, T.
Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 6(1): 61-73
(1976). [jp]
"Folie a deux in a child."
Folie a deux is the transference of delusional ideas and
behaviours from one person to another with whom there has
been a close association. Its occurrence in children has
been rarely described in the literature, which was reviewed
for case reports, diagnostic criteria and etiological
theories. A detailed case history of a 10-year-old girl who
had delusions of special powers and delusions of persecution
as well as hypochondriacal and hysterical symptoms is
presented as an example of folie a deux between child and
parent. This girl had developed a symbiotic incestuous
relationship with her stepfather, a paranoid schizophrenic
patient. Six criteria for making the diagnosis of folie a
deux in a child were applied to the case studied. General
and specific aspects of treating this disorder were
discussed.
Soni, S.D.; Rockley, G.J.
British Journal of Psychiatry, 125(0): 230-235 (1974). [jp]
"Socio-clinical substrates of folie a deux."
Sosin, Deborah Ann.
Adolescent Psychiatry, Developmental and Clinical Studies, XI:
??? (1983). [G&L]
"The diary as a transitional object in female adolescent
development."
Stirling, Pamela.
Listener, 130(2681), 12-16 (1991). [jb]
"Let's moider mother."
Outlines the Parker and Hulme case. Talks to Alison Laurie
and Julie Glamuzina about their book 'Parker and Hulme: a
lesbian view' which discusses the murder and society's
reaction to it from a lesbian feminist viewpoint.
Tate, A.B.
The Australian Police Journal, : ??? (1955, July). [G&L]
"The Parker-Hulme Murder"
[note: I would really like to get a copy of this. jp]
Tucker, L.S. Jr.; Cornwall, T.P.
American Journal of Psychiatry, 134(10): 1146-1147 (1977). [jp]
"Mother-son folie a deux: a case of attempted patricide."
Weeks, R.B.; Kelly, G.L.
Child Psychology and Human Development, 5(3): 131-141 (1975).
[jp]
"Folie a deux or not folie a deux."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.8.1 Medlicott, R.W. 1955. [jb,jp]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Medlicott, R.W.
British Journal of Medical Psychology, 28:205-223 (1955). [jb]
"Paranoia of the Exalted Type in a Setting of Folie a Deux: A
Study of Two Adolescent Homicides"
**Dr Medlicott was the principal psychiatric consultant/witness
for the defense. He wrote this paper and submitted it to a
prestigious medical journal soon after the trial. Later, it was
reprinted intact in an anthology in 1979.
It is an extremely interesting piece of work, not only
because of what it tells us about Parker and Hulme, but also
because of what it tells us indirectly about Dr Medlicott--his
attitudes, sensibilities and prejudices--and the defense
strategy, such as it was, and the opinions and prejudices of the
times. Dr Medlicott interviewed the girls for a total of only
seven hours each, but he did study Pauline's diaries intensively.
Dr Medlicott was, apparently, quite highly regarded by his peers.
The article is also interesting for what it tells us about
Jackson and Walsh and their approach to the case. It is obvious
that Jackson and Walsh used Medlicott's article as one of their
primary sources. Many scenes conform exactly to the material
described here, particularly in the depiction of the Rieper home
life; yet there are also many things in the article which Jackson
and Walsh chose not to depict.
Glamuzina and Laurie present a detailed discussion and
point-by-point rebuttal of Medlicott's arguments and conclusions
in Chapter 8 ("The Stories") of their book: "Parker & Hulme," in
a section entitled "Medical Stories," pp. 120-133. Needless to
say, Glamuzina and Laurie present a very different perspective on
this material: "These (medical and psychiatric) institutions have
played a crucial role in the construction of femininity, and in
controlling the minds and bodies of women." (p. 120).
Medlicott was not a prolific author, but he published
articles in scholarly journals until at least 1980. He appears to
have had a special interest in the connection between psychiatry
and the arts, e.g. Medlicott, R.W., Aust. & N.Z. J. of Psychiatry
4(1), 15-23 (1970). "Leda and the swan--an analysis of the theme
in myth and art." He published a few more articles on the case
over his lifetime, and these have been listed in the section
above.
Medlicott's style can be a little turgid, and his paragraphs
interminably-long, but the material is compelling. The article
has not been reprinted here in its entirety--the Discussion
section has been abbreviated slightly, with annotations. [jp]
On the afternoon of the twenty-second of June 1954 two
breathless and apparently agitated adolescent girls rushed up to
the manageress of a tea kiosk in a small park on the outskirts of
Christchurch and blurted out a garbled account of an accident
which had supposedly happened to the mother of one of the girls.
Investigation revealed the body of a woman so badly battered
about the head as to exclude the possibility of accident. When
the girls were interviewed by the police later in the day the
daughter confessed to the murder of her mother. She accepted full
responsibility for the murder and denied that her friend had any
part in the affair.
On further questioning next day, however, the friend
confessed to her part in the crime. When the murdered woman's
house was searched two diaries were discovered in the daughter's
bedroom. The last entry had been made on the morning of the crime
and was headed 'The day of the happy event', and read: 'I am
writing a little of this up on the morning for (sic) [note:
before. jp] the death. I felt very excited and the-night-before-
Christmassy last night. I did not have pleasant dreams though. I
am about to rise.' [note: Glamuzina and Laurie are very critical
of Medlicott for using this version of the diary entry. jp]
The writer, after repeated interviews with the girls and
careful examination of their writings, was satisfied that both
girls suffered from paranoia of the exalted type. This diagnosis
was supported by Dr Francis Bennett, the other medical witness
for the defence. Three State Hospital psychiatrists, brought by
the prosecution, denied the girls were insane but agreed, on
cross-examination, that their sanity was a matter on which
medical men might differ.
The presiding judge, in his address to the jury, pointed out
that disease of the mind is not of itself a sufficient defence.
He stated: 'The law does not relieve persons of criminal
responsibility merely because they are insane.' As will be
discussed later, both girls stated quite clearly that they knew
the nature and quality of their act and that it was wrong both
according to the law of the country and the morals of the
community. The jury brought in a verdict of 'Guilty.'
From a clinical point of view the material is sufficiently
unusual to warrant recording in the medical literature. Because
of the widespread interest in the case it is impossible to
disguise in any way the people involved. It is therefore
necessary to rely on evidence presented in court and to exclude
many personal details revealed by the girls and their relatives.
This unfortunately leaves some gaps in the story, and excludes
the analysis of more than surface psychodynamics.
THE CASE HISTORIES
Of the two girls, Pauline P. is a dark, rather sulky looking but
not unattractive girl of stocky build, who had her sixteenth
birthday one month previously; while Juliet H. is a tall,
willowy, frail, attractive blonde with large blue eyes. She is
five months younger than Pauline.
Prior to their meeting.
Pauline P.
Pauline's mother and father had lived together as man and
wife for twenty-three years, and the fact that the father had a
previous undissolved marriage was unknown both to the family and
the community in which they lived. Their house was comfortable
and the home a stable one. The mother appears to have been a
woman of normal intelligence with average social activities and
interests. The father said she was a lovable woman, and that they
had never seriously quarrelled during the many years they had
lived together. There seemed no doubt that she was intensely
interested in her children. The father, who was a company
manager, was fifteen years older than his wife. He was fond of
his children. It is apparent from Pauline's diaries that her
mother assumed the major responsibility in disciplining her. This
discipline had been reasonable, had never been severe, and
corporal punishment according to her father was never resorted
to. Pauline's illicit behaviour over the year or more before the
murder could not be attributed to a lack of discipline or neglect
on the part of her parents.
Of the family, the first-born, a boy, had been a 'blue baby'
and died within twenty-four hours. The second, Pauline's older
sister, is an attractive blonde of seventeen years of age. She is
of average intelligence, likeable in manner, sociable and keen on
sport, and has never given her family any cause for concern. Of
different temperament and interests to Pauline they have never
had much in common. Pauline was the third child. The fourth child
is a Mongolian imbecile girl of five years who was placed in an
institution two years ago. Pauline was very fond of this child,
and apparently very good to her when she was home on leave or
whenever the family visited her in the institution.
Pauline was a wanted baby, her birth was normal and
according to her father she had been a plump happy infant. When
just under five years of age she was taken to hospital with
severe osteomyelitis of her leg. She was precariously ill after
her admission, but when the acute stage was over she appeared to
adjust well to hospital and in spite of painful dressings did not
cry. She returned home after nine months, but her leg continued
to discharge for two years until her second admission to hospital
and operation. The osteomyelitis was Pauline's first memory. Her
doctor's advice against her participating in active sports
deprived her of much group participation. She attended school
until leaving a few months before the murder and her progress
there prior to her meeting with Juliet had been satisfactory. Her
intelligence was never tested, but it was at least of high
average standard or possibly a little above average.
It was not possible to obtain a very clear picture of
Pauline prior to her association with Juliet, but there is
evidence that she was sensitive, imaginative but self-contained,
and unable to tolerate criticism. She said she had always liked
being by herself ever since she could remember, and as a small
child would shut herself off in a room with her dolls. She had
never had firm and lasting friendships on account of ruining all
her friendships with outbursts of temper. Seven years ago she had
played for some time a fantasy game with one friend in which they
dressed up and imagined they had a secret staircase at a nearby
museum. This friendship, she said, would not have lasted had they
not quickly become separated by circumstances. She attended
Church regularly up till her imprisonment. Except for a short
period of intense scrupulousness in her primary school days,
however, she had never been particularly devout and in spite of
repeated endeavours her Church had never been able to involve her
in its group activities. She spent much of her time from early
childhood in modelling either wood or plasticine. She showed
talent and was encouraged by her family.
Juliet H.
Juliet came from a socially more prominent and an
intellectually more sophisticated background than Pauline. Her
mother is a self-possessed, highly intelligent woman with many
cultural and social activities. She has always been alive to the
psychologically recommended practices in child care, and there is
no doubt that consciously at least she had always been careful to
do the right thing for Juliet. Juliet's father is a University
man of high academic qualifications and record. Although fond of
his two children he has not had the same contacts with them as
his wife who was the one who assumed the major responsibility of
bringing them up. The other member of the family, Juliet's
younger brother, is ten years of age and is a healthy well-
adjusted boy apparently fond of his sister.
As a small baby Juliet was described as 'delightful'. She
was born in England and at about two years of age she and her
mother were caught in an air raid in London after which for a
short period she had nightmares with screaming. In her third year
she developed tantrums when crossed. From then on she appears to
have been an excitable, self-willed, demanding child intolerant
of criticism. She was precocious, sensitive, full of fantasy and
found it difficult to stop play-acting games, and liked to remain
a fairy or some other fantasy creature long after her playmates
had become bored with the game. Her mother went to considerable
pains to interest her in her brother's arrival, but unfortunately
on the night of her return from the nursing home the mother was
taken seriously ill and she and the baby were taken to hospital
immediately. Juliet was very distressed next morning to find them
gone. From that time Juliet did not accept her brother and
resented any attention he received. She had had a lot of physical
illness; at six years of age she was dangerously ill with
pneumonia, and as she remained ill for two years her schooling
was interrupted; and when eight years of age, on medical advice,
she was flown to friend in the Bahamas. Her family moved to New
Zealand, and after thirteen months separation she rejoined them
in New Zealand. On being reunited with her mother she was for a
start dramatically over-dependent and it was very difficult to
fit her into the family group. At eleven years of age at the time
of her menarche she was in rather poor health and was sent to a
private boarding school in another part of the country. After a
time she was unhappy there and returned home. Prior to entering
secondary school she was given intelligence tests and her
intelligence quotient was reported as being in the region of 170.
On advice it was decided to cancel the plans for private
schooling and to send her to the local girls' high school. It was
at high school about the middle of 1952 in the third form that
Pauline and Juliet met and became friendly.
After their meeting.
Their story after their meeting can be divided into a number
of phases.
(1) Prior to the bicycle ride incident in August 1952.
At the commencement their friendship appears to have been a
healthy one and to have been welcomed by both the children's
parents. Shortly after the meeting Juliet remarked 'Mummy, I've
met someone at last who has a will as strong as my own.'
Pauline's mother told Juliet's mother that she was pleased at the
friendship because Pauline had been a lonely child with
difficulty in making friends. This apparently normal friendship
lasted only a month or two and gave way to something much more
intense.
(2) From the bicycle ride incident to the end of 1952.
In August 1952 the two girls went for a bicycle ride into
the country where they stopped by some light bush, removed their
outer clothing and ran among the bushes ecstatically. They were
so ecstatic that they went home leaving these clothes behind
them. When talking about this episode Pauline said that
previously they had just been friends but after this there was an
indissoluble bond between them. It would seem that two unusual
kindred spirits had come together. From then on they began to
build up and share a rich fantasy life. By the end of 1952 they
developed an increasing urge to write; they had their own
fictional characters and they would creep out at nights for
midnight sprees in which they would act these fictional
characters until the early hours of the morning.
These fictional characters they commonly referred to as
their 'families'. One special group constituted the 'Saints'. The
'Saints' were referred to as HE, HIM, IT, etc., and in the front
of the 1953 diary [of PYP. jp] was the following key list:
The Saints
Mario Lanza = Poor Mario = HE |
James Mason = The James = HIM |
Harry Lime = Harry III = IT |
Mel Ferrer = The Angry Man = THIS |- THEY
Suie Bjuling = The Last One = THAT |
Guy Rolfe = King John = HIS |
WHOSE + THEY = THEM
THEY + WE = US
WHOSE + WE = WHICH
Monsieur de la Tour d'Azyr = Gervais = WHAT
Rupert of Hentzau = Rupeit = WHO
The 'Saints' were special figures representing ideal
characters, and were commonly given the form of film actors who
most resembled their ideals. The actual actors could change from
time to time. Other members of their 'families' were characters
from books they were writing.
They questioned the whole scheme of things, and gradually
the substance of their writing changed from the not unusual
highly imaginative outpourings of adolescents to an increasingly
morbid preoccupation with evil. They quickly became a self-
sufficient unit, more and more self-bolstering, less and less
dependent on others, and the scene was set for a break with
society and its morality. They became increasingly conceited and
arrogant and set themselves above the common masses. Pauline
became disdainful of her less socially prominent family and was
moody and withdrawn in her own home.
(3) From the commencement of the 1953 diary to the 'Port Levy
Revelation' April 1953.
From New Year 1953 right up to the morning of the murder
Pauline kept a diary. This diary was kept hidden from the family
and was not meant to be read by others than herself. But she and
Juliet had no secrets from each other and this intimate diary,
although primarily chronicling Pauline's exploits and thoughts,
gives us a wealth of information about both girls and will be
quoted repeatedly.
The 1953 diary opened with a New Year resolution 'To be
lenient with others'. During January, while she was staying in
the country with some friends and did not see Juliet, her
behaviour appeared to have been normal. She showed a healthy
interest in an older boy and the normal jealousy of a young girl
to a rival. There was little talk of writing or fictional
characters. She returned home with good intentions of doing well
at school. After her return she and Juliet were frequently
together and soon were preoccupied with their 'Saints', play
acting and writing. By March things were assuming a sinister turn
and their interest in school work and commonplace activities was
diminishing rapidly. Pauline was modelling a plasticine family
based on their fictional characters and held a masked ball for
them. Her fictional family intruded into the diary with
bewilderingly frequent and tangled escapades; there were bedroom
scenes, highway robberies and often more than one violent death a
day. On the eighteenth of March the first grossly megalomanic
statement appeared: 'We have decided how sad it is for other
people that they cannot appreciate our genius. But we hope the
book will help them to do so a little, though no one could fully
appreciate us.' The tension which increased rapidly during March
culminated on Good Friday, the third of April, with the 'Port
Levy revelation'. The two girls were staying with Juliet's people
at a week-end cottage at Port Levy, and Pauline wrote that
evening: 'To-day Juliet and I found the key to the 4th World. We
realize now that we have had it in our possession for about six
months but we only realized it on the day of the death of Christ.
We saw a gateway through the clouds. We sat on the edge of the
path and looked down the hill over the bay. The island looked
beautiful [there is actually a small island offshore. jp]. The
sea was blue. Everything was full of peace and bliss. We then
realized we had the key. We now know that we are not genii as we
thought. We have an extra part of our brain which can appreciate
the 4th World. Only about 10 people have it. When we die we will
go to the 4th World, but meanwhile on two days every year we may
use the key and look in to that beautiful world which we have
been lucky enough to be allowed to know of, on this Day of
Finding the Key to the Way through the Clouds.' Fixed ideas that
they were different from other people, that they had an extra
part of their brain and that they had a Fourth World or as they
later called it 'Paradise' persisted from this time.
(4) Following the Port Levy Revelation on to the end of 1953.
On the day following the 'Port Levy revelation' Pauline's
fictional characters behaved even more aggressively than usual.
In the diary record within a paragraph Roland slaps Carmelita's
face when she turns his proposal of marriage down because she is
engaged to Roderick, and in a blazing fury he shoots Roderick.
The horse 'Vendetta' kills Gianina the night before her marriage
to Nicholas. On the ledge of 'Satan's Hollow' 'Vendetta' crashes
down on to Nicholas and with a wild scream turns into the sunset,
his revenge complete.
The close association of their megalomanic ideas with
Pauline's preoccupation with murder was probably significant. The
savage horse, a classic representation of unconscious hostile
aggressive impulses, was certainly running wild at this stage.
The two girls were together almost every day, and Pauline at
least was in a highly excitable state. She remarked in one entry
in the diary that her average hours of sleep for the preceding
week were four and three quarters a night. The tension remained
high right through into May and it would seem likely that if it
had not been for certain events their increasingly wild fantasies
might have been translated into action at this stage. However,
Juliet developed pulmonary tuberculosis and went into a
sanatorium which limited the amount of time the two girls spent
together. Pauline started sneaking out at night to visit first
some Ceylonese students [Canterbury University College. jp] and
later became involved with another student, Nicholas. These
occurrences produced sufficient interruption in the closeness of
their association for the tension to lessen between May and
December. In spite of decreased tension there was plenty of
grandiose or morbidly aggressive material produced during the
remainder of the year. For example, on the fifteenth of June,
Pauline wrote 'Juliet and I decided the Christian religion had
become too much of a farce and we decided to make up one of our
own.' Also in the back of the 1953 diary Pauline wrote an
extraordinarily exalted poem about Juliet and herself entitled
'The Ones that I Worship'. This poem reads: [note: text and
punctuation differ from version read into trial transcript. jp]
There are living among two dutiful daughters,
Of a man who possesses two beautiful daughters
The most glorious beings in creation
They'd be the pride and joy of any nation.
You cannot know nor yet try to guess
The sweet soothingness of their caress
The outstanding genius of this pair,
Is understood by few, they are so rare.
Compared with these two, every man is a fool
The world is most honoured that they should deign to rule
And above us these Goddesses reign on high.
I worship the power of these lovely two
With that adoring love known to so few
'Tis indeed a miracle, one must feel,
That two such heavenly creatures are real,
Both sets of eyes, though different far, hold many mysteries
strange,
Impassively they watch the race of man decay and change
Hatred burning bright in the brown eyes with enemies for fuel
Icy scorn glitters in the grey eyes, contemptuous and cruel
Why are men such fools they will not realize
The wisdom that is hidden behind those strange eyes.
And these wonderful people are you and I.
While Juliet was in the sanatorium the two girls kept up a
voluminous correspondence, writing to each other in the parts of
the characters in their stories. Sudden death, suicide and murder
assumed extravagant proportions. They were preoccupied with ideas
of great power, especially to murder without reprisal, and
vicious characters were greatly respected. The Empress of
Volumnia (one of their fictional countries) who was only thirteen
'has a violent temper and when in a tantrum has killed all the
people who have incurred her wrath. Also she is very proud and
refuses to interview anyone in the lower classes.' Her people
loved her and would not have had her otherwise. Their favourite
character Diello whose coronation will be referred to later was
particularly vicious. Death and murders were treated lightly as
is shown in the following extracts. 'Barton... silly bounder...
tried to shoot me, and I have a terrible temper when roused and I
am afraid I broke his back and put him in the mere (lake)...
(stupid blighter). And Linker... poor fellow... you know I really
quite liked him... indiscriminate in his choice of friends and is
now... alack!... in the mere with Barton.' A female character
says 'I don't kill people... I thought you might like to know
since you asked me some time ago. My father hasn't killed anyone
for quite a while. I would like to kill someone sometime because
I think it is an experience that is necessary to life.' Some of
the imagery was equally violent: 'Sunrise makes the peaks
crimson, as if some giant hand had dipped and smeared it with
blood.'
Juliet was in the sanatorium between late May 1953 and early
September 1953 when, on her request, she was allowed to continue
treatment at home. She responded satisfactorily to drug
treatment. Both isoniazid and streptomycin were used, but there
was no evidence that they produced any psychological changes. Her
mother and father were due to leave on a trip to England about
the time Juliet's tuberculosis was discovered. She insisted her
mother should accompany her father. When her parents returned she
was pleased to see them, but her mother soon realized that her
real affections lay with Pauline.
Between May and October Pauline attempted to establish a
firm relationship with boys. These boys were university students
much older than she was. As mentioned she started to meet
Ceylonese students, and in June was sneaking out late to visit
them. In July she went to bed first with one of them and later
with a white student, Nicholas, who at the time was boarding in
their home. Her father discovered her in bed with Nicholas and he
was sent away. During August she met Nicholas secretly and in
September was sneaking out of her home at midnight and spending
till four or five o'clock in the morning with him. In spite of
the compromising situations the first seriously attempted
seduction did not occur till September and was interrupted
because of its painfulness. In October intercourse took place on
the one and only occasion. The most striking thing about the
sexual behaviour was the apparent lack of real erotic involvement
on her part. In interview she said frankly when asked about this
intercourse: 'It wasn't for me. I wasn't interested.' When asked
if she loved Nicholas at the time she was visiting him she
replied: 'I liked to think I did. I was more flattered than
anything else. I found boys of my own age fools. He was supposed
to be clever.' Following this sexual experience her attempts at
heterosexual functioning rapidly failed, although she continued
to visit Nicholas, talking with him until well into the morning
on occasions right through until December. She discussed all her
nocturnal experiences with Juliet and appreciated on one occasion
some jealousy on Juliet's part. On the eighth of October she
wrote: 'It's so nice to think Juliet and I could continue our
friendship unmolested, with no outside interests.' This was
followed significantly enough in the same day by their discussing
the people they would wipe out. On the twenty-eighth of October
she stated: 'told Nicholas this evening that I was no longer very
much in love with him because of my imaginary characters.'
In the later part of 1953, with the distraction of Nicholas
rapidly diminishing and with Juliet out of the sanatorium, the
tension gradually mounted again and fantasy preoccupation
increased. After much planning on Friday the eleventh of December
Diello was crowned Emperor of Borovnia, their other fictional
country. Pauline was awake at five o'clock on the day of the
coronation in an excited state and noted the same 'Christmassy'
feeling as on the morning of the murder. This ceremony had a much
more than usual significance and as Diello was a particularly
vicious character whom they had developed from his childhood in
their writings it is probable that his coronation represented in
some way the crowning of evil. By this time they had definitely
set themselves apart from society, had few healthy interests and
their main preoccupations were with morbid topics.
During the later part of 1953 Pauline recorded a number of
quite severe mood swings. On November the second she wrote: 'To-
day I felt thoroughly, utterly and completely depressed. I was in
one of those moods in which committing suicide sounds heavenly.'
On the twentieth of December, after her mother threatened that if
Pauline's health did not improve, she could never see Juliet
again she remarked: 'The thought is too dreadful. Life would be
unbearable without Deborah.' (Some time before the girls decided
that they should be called 'Gina' and 'Deborah'.) Later in the
same entry she wrote: 'I rang Deborah and told her of the threat.
I wish I could die. That is not an idle or temporary impulse, I
have decided over the last 2 or 3 weeks that it would be the best
thing that could happen altogether, and the thought of death is
not fearsome.'
(5) From New Year 1954 to the morning of the murder.
On New Year's Day Pauline wrote: 'My New Year resolution is
a far more selfish one than last year, so there is more
probability of my keeping it. It is to make my motto "Eat drink
and be merry for to-morrow you may be dead".' It is interesting
that she misquoted 'for to-morrow you die'--for 'to-morrow you
may be dead'. During the first three weeks they were separated,
and prior to seeing Juliet again on the twenty-third of January
Pauline's diary contained more normal material than for some
months but was not as normal as in the preceding January when she
was staying in the country with friends. Shortly after they were
reunited they had a discussion about being prostitutes and the
charge they should make. The next day Pauline wrote: 'I went over
to Deborah's room early this morning about 7:30. It suddenly
occurred to me that we had not celebrated He's day so we decided
to to-day. In He's honour we ate some birthday cake, drank He's
health, played all He's records and made a little edifice of He.
We have shifted His to the Gods now. We worked out how much
prostitutes would earn and how much we would make in such a
profession and "should" gradually changed to "shall". We have
worked out some glorious plans and worked out a whole new family
for our future.' On the sixth of February they celebrated Him's
day in glittering black and went through what they termed the
'Saints Day' ritual. They were now both writing feverishly.
Pauline's book 'The Donkey's Serenade' was finished by the end of
February and she immediately followed it with another. By the
time of the murder they had completed or were in the process of
writing six books between them, in addition to plays, poetry and
an opera.
On the twenty-eighth of February the first mention of the
'Plan' occurred. Pauline was at Juliet's home and wrote: 'Deborah
and I started discussing our quest for "Him". We have now decided
to hurry things up terrifically, in fact to start now. We had a
marvelous time planning the life and the flight and how we will
obtain all the money and what we will do.' The plan was to get to
New York together, where they would find someone to publish their
books and then they would go to Hollywood where they expected to
be hailed as actresses. Shortly after this Pauline was visiting
shipping companies, and between then and the murder they
collected money by various means including stealing. Ambitious
plans are not unusual in adolescents but there was more than
usual neglect of reality here. Their books were mostly unfinished
and untyped and they were completely uncritical about them. When
Juliet started writing she used to read her novel chapter by
chapter to her mother but later guarded her writings from
everyone and was, like Pauline, completely contemptuous of
anyone's opinion. By this time they had not the slightest doubt
that they were outstanding geniuses so far removed from the
common people as to need no one's approval but their own. There
was no jealousy between them and they congratulated each other on
their productions. In actuality their writings, although profuse
and imaginative, did not show talent and there was nothing to
suggest that they would be published.
During the next three months [March, April, May. jp] the
girls spent an increasing amount of time together, with Pauline
staying frequent week-ends in Juliet's home. In the diary one can
sense the mounting tension in that time with increasing
exaltation broken only by either irritable bad-tempered episode
or depression with suicidal thoughts. As Pauline expressed it in
one entry, they soared between heaven and hell. The diary of this
period was full of references to the 'Saints'. They built in the
garden a temple of 'Rafael Pan', their favorite angel and god,
and held various ceremonies there including the burial of
discarded ideas. They would finish one book only to start
another. Pauline's mother stopped her going to school because she
had completely lost interest in her studies and did little else
but write. While Pauline was with Juliet she wrote of frequent
long baths together and hours spent together in Juliet's bed
unknown to her parents. Although Juliet was still away from
school convalescing from tuberculosis she and Pauline often
talked and acted their characters in bed together, till after
five o'clock in the morning, again without the knowledge of their
parents. At this stage Juliet's father resigned from his position
and it was decided the family would return to England. This meant
that unless Pauline could go with them they would be separated.
On the twenty-fifth of April Pauline wrote: 'But one thing
Deborah and I are sticking together through everything (We sink
or swim together).' Although Juliet's mother stated that it was
made clear that Pauline would not be going with them the two
girls were convinced that if Pauline could overcome her parents'
opposition she could go. [note: Medlicott completely omits all
mention of the Hulme family disintegration, Walter Perry, all the
key diary entries placed into the trial record from this key
period. jp]
Over this period, March, April and May 1954, there was rapid
deterioration in the girls' relationship with their families and
in their behaviour. The antisocial wishes previously expressed in
the behaviour of their fictional characters were now being
realized in real life. Pauline became increasingly antagonistic
to her mother. Just prior to this period she wrote in February
that she loathed her mother and later: 'Why could not Mother die.
Dozens of people are dying all the time, thousands, so why not
Mother and Father, too. Life is very hard.' On the twenty-eighth
of April Pauline decided to remove the one person who openly
disapproved of their relationship and whom she believed stood in
the way of their remaining together. This entry reads: 'Mother
went out this afternoon so Deborah and I bathed for some time.
However I felt thoroughly depressed afterwards and even quite
seriously considered committing suicide. Life seemed so much not
worth the living, and death such an easy way out. Anger against
Mother boiled up inside. Suddenly a means of ridding myself of
this obstacle occurred to me. If she were to die.... I spent the
evening writing and managed to finish my chapter.' The next day
she wrote that the last thing she wanted to do was to go to
Borstal, and that although she did not want to go to too much
trouble she wanted her mother's death to appear natural or
accidental. On the thirteenth of April Pauline wrote: 'Mrs C.
came to tea and was thoroughly objectionable. Her ghastly
attitude towards the Japanese has made me fonder than ever of
them. I did not write this evening but I sat up and talked to
Mother. I told Deborah of my intentions and she is rather worried
but does not disagree violently. It is now 10:30.' There was no
further mention of the plan until just before the murder. Murder,
however, was not their only preoccupation. They copied out the
Ten Commandments so that they could break them. Juliet attempted
blackmail; they went on at least two shoplifting expeditions and
Pauline got the keys of the shop her father managed, stole out in
the middle of the night to burgle it but found a policeman
outside. There were also several passages in the diary suggesting
overt homosexual activity.
During June, the month of the murder, the two girls were
together at Juliet's home for eleven or twelve days. The diary
was almost completely morbid, preoccupation with the Saints
extreme and the girls were obviously in a persistently excited
state. On the sixth of June Pauline wrote: '...We went to sleep
at 4:30 to-morrow morning after talking all night. We were
discussing at first how we sometimes had a strange feeling that
we had done what we were doing before. We realized why this was
and why Deborah and I have such extraordinary telepathy and why
people treat us and look at us the way they do and why we behave
as we do. It is because we are MAD. We are both stark staring
raving mad. There is definitely no doubt about it and we are
thrilled by the thought. (Proof n'est capos!) [note: possibly a
joke by PYP or mistranscription by Medlicott. Proper french would
be n'est ce pas? = 'is it not?' jp] All the cast of the Saints
except Nino are mad too. This is not strange as it is probably
why we love them. We have discussed it fully. Dr. H. is MAD as
MAD as a March hare. We are feeling thrilled and scared by the
thought.' On the seventh of June Pauline wrote: '...We wrote a
great deal into the Saints' book and discussed Him. We realize
now that we cannot be revolted. We can discuss the most unsavory
subjects. (Such as whether the Saints sanitary habits are
prevented by sex) during a meal...' [note: not clear if previous
parenthetical note is Medlicott paraphrasing or not. jp] On the
ninth of June: 'I was feeling particularly mad to-day. I raved
quite a lot at Digby's and terrified the girl next to me...
Mother and I had a disagreement as I wished to see 'Trent's Last
Case' to-night and the bloody bitch would not let me... I have
come to bed all scented and sweet (physically).' [note: not clear
if previous parenthetical note is Medlicott's or PYP's. jp]. On
the tenth: '...I am feeling particularly close to Deborah.' On
the eleventh and twelfth of June: '...we were then driven out to
see It in "Trent's Last Case". It was the first time I had ever
seen It. Deborah had always told me how hideous he was, and I had
believed her, though from his photos he did not look too bad.
"It" is appalling. He is dreadful. I have never in my life seen
anything that so...in the same category of hideousness but I
adore him (Scar). We returned home and talked for some time about
It, getting ourselves more and more excited. Eventually we
enacted how each Saint would make love in bed, only doing the
first seven as it was 7:30 a.m. by then. We felt exhausted and
very satisfied..." (The next night): 'We came to bed quite early
and spent the night very hectically. We went to sleep after
getting almost through. We had a simply marvelous time and we
definitely are mad but very pleasingly so...' On the thirteenth:
'We gave ourselves two new Saints. "Onward Heel" and "Buster". Of
all people my God. We had very amusing discussions about God,
Christ and the Holy Ghost. In fact the whole day was very amusing
and exciting... We spent a hectic night going through the Saints.
It was wonderful! Heavenly! Beautiful! and Ours! We felt very
satisfied indeed. We have now learned the peace of the thing
called Bliss, the joy of the thing called Sin.' On the
fourteenth: '...We were feeling absolutely exhausted which was
scarcely surprising. We discussed which Saints we wished to have
about us at such a time and found very few. We talked of Him's
new character a little and loved it. We discussed the spicy ideas
whom (s'queerly) we have grown to love... Two more spicy ideas
became Saints... We intend to decorate the Cathedral. I am very
happy. We have both spent a glorious Saintly day.' On the
fifteenth: '...I had the most beautiful dream about That and Gay
and Boinard and Deborah and myself at Port Levy. It was so
heavenly that I am determined to make it come true. We came home
late and we intend to sleep. It is a glorious night, very similar
to the one at the island at Port Levy.' On the sixteenth: '...We
came to bed late and spent a very hectic night. It was wonderful.
We only did 10 Saints altogether but we did them thoroughly. I
prefer doing longer ones. We enjoyed ourselves greatly and intend
to do so again. We did not get to sleep until about 5:30.
Obviously I am writing this to-morrow.' On the seventeenth:
'...confessed we were disappointed in the Saints so we had an
absolute clean up and threw out 8 of them. We discussed the ones
left fully and felt very happy over them. We did not misbehave
last night.' On the eighteenth: '...We had several brilliant
ideas to write an opera each, to produce our own films and to
murder all odd wives who get in our way. We went to town and
bought books to paste our characters in. We planned our moiders
and talked seriously as well...' On the nineteenth: 'We
practically finished our books to-day and our main Ike (stet) for
the day was to moider Mother. This notion is not a new one, but
this time it is a definite plan which we intend to carry out. We
have worked it out carefully and are both thrilled by the idea.
Naturally we feel a trifle nervous, but the pleasure of
anticipation is great. I shall not write the plan down here as I
shall write it up when we carry it out. (I hope). We both spent
last night and the one before having a simply wonderful time in
every possible way. We also planned a few odd pictures and recast
most of the "Saints' Christmas." We burnt all our film books this
evening.' On the twentieth: '...Afterwards we discussed our plans
for moidering Mother and made them a little clearer. Peculiarly
enough I have no (qualms of) conscience (or is it peculiar, we
are so mad)...' [note: not sure if parentheses and punctuation
are PYP's or Medlicott's. jp]. On the twenty-first: 'I rose late
and helped Mother vigorously this morning. Deborah rang and we
decided to use a rock in a stocking rather than a sand-bag. We
discussed the moider fully. I feel very keyed up as though I were
planning a Surprise party. Mother has fallen in with everything
beautifully and the happy event is to take place to-morrow
afternoon. So next time I write in this diary Mother will be
dead. How odd yet how pleasing. I have discussed various odd
Saints with her to-day as I thought it would be interesting to
have her opinion. She loathes That and It. I washed my hair this
afternoon. I came to bed at quarter to 9.' The diary entry for
the twenty-second of June on the morning of the murder has
already been quoted.
According to Juliet's mother the girls knew early in June
that Juliet and her father were to leave New Zealand on the third
of July. From the diary and from conversation with them it would
appear that they never really believed they would be separated,
although at the time they recognized Pauline's mother as an
obstacle to their both going together. The diary entries quoted
revealed the increasing excitement, exaltation and extraordinary
attitude of mind in which the crime was approached. This was
borne out by witnesses. Juliet's mother reported how Juliet left
home on the day of the murder radiantly happy [note: HM Hulme
actually testified that JMH looked this way on the day before the
murder. jp] and Pauline's father told how at lunch before going
to the park the girls seemed very happy, laughing and joking
during the meal.
(6) The murder.
Juliet brought a broken brick from her home which Pauline
put into a stocking and carried it in a shoulder bag. The plan
was that her mother should stoop to pick up a pink stone dropped
by Juliet while Pauline swung the stocking delivering the fatal
blow. Mrs P. was to fall dead, and the death to be ascribed to
her falling and striking her head. For two intelligent and not
unsophisticated girls the plan was extraordinarily naive, and
before Mrs P. was dead about forty-five blows had been struck,
Juliet joining in on the attack. The stocking and the brick were
found at the scene of the crime and both girls' clothing was
blood-stained. [note: Medlicott's lack of forensic detail and
lack of physical and psychiatric analysis of the crime itself is
noteworthy, and is probably a good indication of his lack of
experience with criminal proceedings cf. the Crown's witnesses.
jp]
(7) Following the murder.
From the statements of those seeing the girls on the
afternoon following the murder Pauline appeared to be somewhat
dazed and shocked while Juliet was very excited. [note: trial
testimony was much more extreme in these characterizations. jp]
They themselves later maintained they were acting, but this was
probably bravado as they could not accept any weakness in
themselves. Certainly within a short time they were exulting in
their murder, and at no time since have shown remorse or even
regret. On the evening of the murder Pauline was observed to be
writing in the police station on a piece of scrap-paper, of which
the detective gained possession. On the following morning, after
further discussion in which this was referred to, she managed to
snatch it and throw it in the fire. It was rescued before being
completely burnt. The detective stated that the note commenced
with a reference to Pauline finding herself in an unexpected
place. She then made reference to having committed her 'moider'.
She then went on to write about the treatment she had received:
'All the H-s have been wonderfully kind and sympathetic. Anyone
would think I've been good. I've had a pleasant time with the
police talking 19 to the dozen and behaving as though I hadn't a
care in the world.' There were then several sentences he couldn't
remember but the final sentence was: 'I haven't had a chance to
talk to Deborah properly but I am taking the blame for
everything.'
During the trial they did not appear disturbed by any of the
unpleasant details, but grimaced when anything was said which
disturbed their vanity and often hid their heads while sexual
material was discussed. They were not concerned about the outcome
of their trial, and could not appreciate at any time that the
likely outcome was their permanent separation. When this was
pointed out to them they simply said that as they had committed
the murder to remain together no one would be so illogical as to
separate them.
PSYCHIATRIC CONDITION AT THE TIME OF THEIR INTERVIEWS.
The girls were interviewed on five separate occasions, the first
two of these being within a week of the crime. They were seen
separately, and the conditions of interview were quiet and
comfortable. Over seven hours was spent with them. Their physical
appearances have already been described. In attitude, emotional
responses and thought content they were strikingly alike; any
differences were of degree only. In bearing they were both
assured; Juliet was a little more sophisticated and had an easier
manner; but neither was ever ill at ease. _Rapport_ was easy in
the sense that one had no difficulty in getting them to talk and
there was no suggestion of schizophrenic withdrawal.
They never really accepted the writer on an equal footing;
contempt was never far from the surface, and at times they were
openly hostile and abusive. Their hostility could be particularly
venomous, although their abuse was puerile. When the question of
their possible separation was brought up Pauline glared at the
writer menacingly while obviously toying with the idea of
throwing the ink-well at him and when it was removed jeered:
'You're not worth it.' At another time she said: 'You're an
irritating fool, displeasing to look at and have an irritating
way of speaking.' At another time she hoped New Zealand would be
bombed and the writer directly under the bomb. [note: consult the
time line for cold war and bomb references. jp] She shouted, when
the writer was leaving after making a physical examination, 'I
hope you break your flaming neck'. Juliet was more subtle, as,
for example, when the writer was non-commital in an argument
about religion she interjected: 'You do think, don't you?' Their
interpersonal relationships were dominated by profound conceit
and an arrogance of greater persistence and degree than the
writer had previously encountered.
Ordinarily their conversation flowed easily and coherently,
but when they started talking on religio-philosophical themes the
pressure increased and Juliet in particular would sometimes
appear suddenly to 'slip into gear' and rush on in a high pitched
voice into a torrent of jumbled ideas as though the rushing train
of thought had taken possession of her.
Both girls reported extreme mood swings between ecstasy and
misery with suicidal preoccupation. Both were hyper-irritable
during the interviews, and as recorded in Pauline's diary rages
and death-wishes were easily precipitated. The outstanding thing,
however, about their mood was definite exaltation. The diary
showed clearly how this had built up to an increasing pitch over
the months prior to the murder, and apart from an immediate
short-lived period of shock directly after the murder, it had
been persistent. When they launched on their crucial religio-
philosophical themes the exaltation would increase to a high
pitch and be accompanied by gross excitement.
Their thought content was consistent with their state of
exaltation, their arrogance and conceit. They never doubted that
they were outstanding geniuses far above the common herd of
mankind. When asked about her poem 'The Ones that I Worship'
Pauline explained that she and Juliet did not look upon
themselves as sisters and had simply chosen Juliet's father for
the sake of rhyme. She did not appear to see anything fantastic
in the statements about themselves, but she stated she did not
usually voice these they were so obvious. ('What's so obvious?')
'That I think I am wonderful. I do seriously think I'm wonderful.
There's nothing about ourselves we don't approve of.' When the
girls were first interviewed the writer knew that they were
trying to prove themselves insane, with the idea that in a mental
hospital they could 'recover' and be at liberty quite soon. 'We
would be perfectly safe,' Juliet said, 'unless someone tried to
part us again.' They both presented reasons for their 'madness'.
They pointed out the supposed relationship between genius and
madness, said they both were subject to mood swings between
ecstasy and extreme depths of misery, that they were both prone
to compulsive thoughts such as putting their hands into a fire or
jumping out of a window and that they were both 'telepathic', and
gave various examples of their thinking of the same thing at the
same time. Juliet suggested the threat of separation had driven
them temporarily insane. Naturally the writer was not impressed
by their evidence of insanity and did not feel they really
believed they were insane. He was, however, impressed by their
persistent state of exaltation, the way they exalted in their
crime, the complete lack of remorse and by their fantastic
conceit, arrogance and self-inflation. The impression that their
disturbance was really one of psychosis was increased when they
entered into religio-philosophical discussions. During the first
week-end visit Juliet said they had their own religion with a
personal non-Christian God and that only about twenty-five people
in all time approached their level. Both of them showed
preoccupation with great power and, as will be discussed later,
the complete right to do as they wished. The diagnosis of
psychosis was confirmed on the second week-end visit when they
were questioned about the 'Fourth World' and the poem 'The Ones
that I Worship'. Thee was no opportunity for them to confer
between interviews and they both gave consistent accounts which
firmly established their nuclear delusions. They both affirmed
that they were outstanding geniuses and that the only incorrect
statement in the diary account of the 'Port Levy revelation' was
the statement that they were not 'genii' after all. They both
firmly believed they had an extra part to their brain, and Juliet
expressed it thus: 'There's an extra part and attached to the
usual part of our brains it makes the whole thing different. The
only way to describe it is to say that because of it you can
appreciate the "Fourth World" and why. You can appreciate the
whole nature of everything.' They said they now usually called
the 'Fourth World' 'Paradise', and affirmed it was their own
personal Paradise, that they could now see it whenever they
wanted to and would go there when they died. They said they were
producing their own religion and bible. Both girls were
repeatedly questioned as to whether this 'Fourth World' was not
just phantasy but were quite clear that it was not. Juliet said:
'It's metaphorical in the sense that it is not exact but it is
definitely there. I do believe it exists,' She made it quite
definite that it was not part of their fiction. Pauline said they
had known about this 'Fourth World' about six months prior to the
'Port Levy revelation', and their experience at Port Levy simply
clarified it. She maintained it occurred to both of them
simultaneously. When it was suggested that this experience could
be part of their vivid imagining she replied: 'I know it's real.'
It was then pointed out to her that other people would look upon
it as a delusion but she snapped back contemptuously: 'They don't
matter.'
Both the girls could consciously hallucinate almost at will,
hearing music and voices and seeing fleeting scenes. Pauline said
the things they heard would seem irrelevant and at the time
unimportant, but later these things would often turn out to be
important. At one time a small child's voice said 'She couldn't
die'. She went on to say that it turned out afterwards (after the
murder) to be what she said about her mother. Juliet said these
reveries were often pure imagination at the start but then
something came in which altered it, something which could happen
in Paradise.
The girls knowledge of right and wrong, their ethical
beliefs, conscience, guilt and remorse were examined carefully.
Unfortunately, the only aspect of these which the McNaghten rules
is concerned with is the knowledge of right and wrong. In this
sphere both girls were quite clear that they had murdered and
that murder was wrong both according to the law of their country
and according to the moral standards of the community in which
they lived. Juliet is reported to have said: 'I would have been
an absolute moron not to know murder was against the law.'
Pauline's jottings on the night after the crime made it quite
clear that she understood their act offended the morals of the
community. It was obvious from the entry in the diary about not
wanting to finish in Borstal that they knew beforehand that they
would be punished if caught. Although they knew their murder, and
for that matter their other actions such as theft and attempted
blackmail, were wrong, both according to the law and the morals
of the community, they were just as definite that these actions
did not conflict with their personal moral or ethical
conceptions. They had built up together a personal code which was
definite but different from the community in which they lived.
This code was typical both of Nietzsche's cult of the superman
and Stirner's egoistic man as well as others which will be
discussed later. Juliet laid bare its foundations when she
emphasized that their god was unlike the Christian God in that
all people in his eyes were not equal. She went on to say: 'Our
god is a nice chap, he doesn't necessarily label all "sin" bad or
evil, it can be good.' Out of the inequality of man in the eyes
of God grows the privileges of the few 'to do what they will'.
Later it becomes the duty of these few to achieve their ends
irrespective of the means and as Juliet said: 'The best people
are those who fight against all obstacles in pursuit of
happiness.' On another occasion Juliet said: 'Anything really
great is worth having at any cost.' They both expressed
repeatedly the right to do what was in the interest of their
happiness, irrespective of the law. Juliet also said there really
was no right or wrong. If she were king of a country she would
make laws for others to adhere to and punish them if they did
not. She added that as king the laws would not apply to her. In
their stories their favorite fictional characters act above the
law. When the question of the individual man as an integral part
of society with duties towards his fellows was raised Juliet
became very heated and said: 'I believe you are a complete thing
in yourself and every person is quite single and different from
every other person. Right and wrong is different in each case.'
Both considered themselves definitely apart from the law, and
although they appreciated that the law would punish them it was
not a law to which they owed any allegiance or respect. Their
moral code showed an almost complete reversal of values. Diello,
a particularly vicious character, was their favorite creation and
'It' whose hideousness Pauline described was loved. In many ways
they openly embraced evil. In earlier times one would have said
they had become 'possessed' by evil spirits. Juliet never
expressed any qualms of conscience. Conscience, she said, was
bred in people so that they punished themselves; it was
senseless. She might have felt it she added when she was younger.
Pauline, like Juliet, never showed real remorse. It will be
remembered however that she hallucinated a small child's voice
saying 'She couldn't die' and that in spite of the exultant
'night-before-Christmassy' feeling on the morning of the murder
she had had bad dreams the preceding night which suggest that
some part of her personality at least was protesting. On one
visit she informed the writer that if she went to sleep on her
right side she had dreams about her mother: '...that I only hurt
her and hadn't killed her. In these dreams she comes back and
she's rather nice.' She added defiantly 'I turn on to my left
side.' In spite of the feelings that they were quite justified in
their murder both girls used certain devices to lessen its
significance. For example, on no real evidence they painted
Pauline's mother as an unhappy woman and Juliet was reported as
saying: 'The day we killed her I think she knew beforehand what
was going to happen and she didn't seem to bear any grudge.'
Judgement is difficult to assess in persons with such
distorted ethical conceptions. There was evidence, however, that
in certain directions their judgement was defective. For their
intelligence and sophistication they were quite uncritical of
their writings and their plans for publication and filming. The
murder was very poorly planned. The most outstanding defect in
judgement, however, was their complete inability to foresee, at
least after their detection, the natural outcome of their action,
namely separation. They showed an inability to think things
through to their logical conclusion whenever any of their
personal wishes were involved.
As to insight there is no doubt that the girls never
considered themselves insane in the ordinary sense. The diary
references to their being 'mad' contains perhaps a glimmering of
insight into the grossly exalted, excited state in which they
were at the time, but this 'madness' was a distinction in which
they exulted and of which they were proud.
DISCUSSION
The diagnosis.
Paranoia was defined by Kraepelin as a fixed type of disease
due exclusively to internal causes and characterized by
persistent systematized delusions, the preservation of clear and
orderly thinking and absence of hallucinations. ...[snip]...
Folie a deux or communicated insanity has been frequently
described in psychiatric literature. In the majority of instances
it is induced by a stronger character, the inducer, upon the
weaker, the inducee (folie imposee), but delusions may occur
simultaneously in predisposed associated individuals (folie
simultanee). There is no evidence of either of these girls
imposing their ideas on the other, and there seems no doubt that
they developed their psychoses simultaneously.
Age of onset of psychosis and the influence of adolescence.
In classical descriptions paranoia is an illness of middle
age. These descriptions are, however, weighted in favor of the
persecutory form and as arrogance and megalomanic trends are not
uncommon during adolescence there would appear nothing unusual in
the development of paranoia of the exalted form at this age. In
discussing adolescent girls Helen Deutsch (1946) points out...
[snip descriptions of adolescent narcissism]... Helen Deutsch's
account can be applied to Pauline and Juliet. These girls
unfortunately went into adolescence already strongly narcissistic
and each acted on the other as a resonator increasing the pitch
of the narcissism. ...[snip observations of PYP and JMH isolation
from social and group experiences]
Their rejection of moral values, and analogies in the literature.
First, it is clear from their histories that this rejection
of moral values was recent. Juliet, prior to meeting Pauline, had
been selfish and demanding, but had never shown delinquent
behaviour nor was her conduct particularly unusual. Pauline had
apparently always been self-sufficient and intolerant of
criticism, but her behaviour had been good and her father related
how as a child if she had broken any of his tools modelling wood
she would always be at the gate when he came home to tell him.
There had certainly been no delinquent behaviour, and on reading
the diary one noted a gradual change of attitude and conduct as
time progressed. The striking differences in the 1953 and 1954
New Year resolutions will be remembered. Secondarily there is no
evidence that their rejection of moral values and antisocial
behaviour was dependent on any strong grudge against society.
Thirdly, they did not slip into bad behaviour through so-called
'weakness of character'. Bad behaviour to them was not just an
easy way out. They were not easily influenced. Anyone spending
any time with either of the two girls could be in no doubt that
they possessed considerable strength. The facts that their
rejection of moral values and their antisocial behaviour was
recent, not mediated by any basic grudge against society and not
due to their being 'weak' and easily influenced, excludes an
alternative diagnosis of psychopathic personality.
The old conception of paranoia as a monomania or partial
insanity is long discarded, and it is generally accepted that in
spite of the apparent lucidity of the paranoiac there are subtle
changes pervading the whole personality. These two girls with
their fantastic arrogance and conceit, their emotional exaltation
and their grandiose delusions naturally showed far reaching
changes in their moral and ethical outlook and behaviour. In
particular, their defences against unconscious aggressive forces
were swept away and their super-egos almost silenced. As has been
stated previously, their moral values became reversed and they
embraced evil as good. These aggressive impulses were so much in
ascendancy that one might have predicted their expression in a
violent act even had external circumstances been different. Their
murder was a direct result of pervasive personality changes.
Pauline's mother was not a persecutor. In spite of Pauline's
outbursts of anger towards her it is doubtful if either girl
persistently hated her. They believed she stood in the way of
their remaining together. In this they were quite correct, but
they could not see far enough ahead in spite of their
intelligence to appreciate that many other factors stood in the
way of their remaining together and publishing and filming their
books. As Bleuler (1924) states: the paranoiac often cannot
recognize or feel the just rights of others. The two girls gave
no thought to Mrs. P.'s right to live. 'Furthermore', he says,
'their own cause is so very much the only important, I might say
the only sacred thing in the world, that a few lies and acts of
violence also disappear in the face of it and are furthered and
sanctified by the great purpose. Like a cancer the delusion
extends to ever-widening areas, and there is far-reaching
domination by the delusion of the entire personality in its
behaviour and strivings.' The two girls were so disturbed
mentally by the time of their threatened separation that they set
about their murder with joyous abandon.
Some similar cases.
Although these girls' distorted moral and social attitudes
and antisocial behaviour developed as part of an exalted paranoia
there are close analogies in the literature especially those
associated with what we might call 'the cult of the superman'.
Nietzsche. The foremost protagonist of the superman cult was
Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche himself was a frail, unhappy man,
who, had he followed his dictum 'Goest thou to women--taketh thy
whip' would have had the whip quickly wrested from him. ... [snip
description of 'superman' philosophies]... Nietzsche's ethical
conceptions are very similar to those of Pauline and Juliet.
Nietzsche, however, was a man of words and never like the two
girls attempted to translate his ideas into action.
Max Stirner was in real life Kasper Schmidt, a teacher in a
girls' school. ...[snip description of ideal egoist man rejecting
morality of others]... Pauline and Juliet's unbounded egoism was
consistent with Stirner's philosophy but inconsistent with man's
role as a social creature.
Dostoyevsky's Raskolnikov (Crime and Punishment) provides
striking similarities. ...[snip description of arbitrary morality
of social elite]... Raskolnikov's arrogant, belligerent,
petulant, aggressive and self-incriminating behaviour during his
examination corresponded vividly with that of Pauline and Juliet
after their murder.
Leopold and Loeb, who were both sons of millionaires in
Chicago, adopted a superman philosophy and set about a career of
crime for crime's sake which culminated in their teens in the
murder of a school boy. ...[snip description of egomania,
homosexual relationship between physically-disparate men,
subordination of emotion and morality]... Neither Leopold nor
Loeb expressed the same grossly delusional ideas as Pauline and
Juliet, yet it would seem that they were moving in the same
direction.
Aleister Crowley the English magician who styled himself
'the great beast' taught ethical ideas very similar to those of
Stirner. His motto summed up his philosophy and was: 'Do what
thou wilt, that is the law. There is no other law.' He was never
himself certified as insane, but he left an extraordinary trail
of havoc with wives, concubines and disciples, becoming insane,
addicted to drugs, or committing suicide.
The Nazi S.S. Organization, according to Alexander (1948),
was of a paranoiac nature. Although this may seem a far cry from
these two girls there are several very close analogies. ...[snip
descriptions of 'very close analogies']...Both the girls came to
treat death very cheaply as something of no particular concern.
Homosexuality.
There is of course no doubt that the relationship between
these two girls was basically homosexual in nature. Pauline made
attempts in 1953 of establishing heterosexual relationships, but
in spite of intercourse on one occasion there was no evidence of
real erotic involvement. All her escapades were fully discussed
with Juliet which is a common feature amongst people basically
homosexual in orientation. In spite of the most incriminating
evidence in the diary they both denied physical homosexual
relations to all examiners. Whether their acting of the Saints
making love was not recognized by them as homosexual is not
known. They both had sexual dreams about the Saints but none of
those dreams was analysed. As the Saints were always shared
figures there would appear good reason to suspect that
heterosexuality was limited to the manifest content and the
latent content might reveal the dreams were basically homosexual
in nature. It was suggested that as their love-making scenes
involved fictional or actual characters who were males, that this
was not consistent with homosexuality but constituted a
substitute relationship for heterosexuality. There was no
evidence, however, that Juliet was ever interested in boys, and
Pauline's attempts at heterosexuality ended in failure. In spite
of their lack of restraint in discussing their aggressive
behaviour they were obviously loath to admit homosexual leanings,
and it would seem likely that the choice of male partners in
dreams and in play acting was simply a disguise.
Repressed homosexuality has a special role in persecutory
paranoia, but there is some reason to believe that homosexuality
might be prominent in other types of paranoia. The homosexual
relationship between Leopold and Loeb has been mentioned, and
Burr (1935) states that he cannot recall a case of paranoia in
which he really knew the conduct of the patient and did not
discover that he was homosexual.
SUMMARY
Case histories of two adolescent girls who developed paranoia of
the exalted type in the setting of a simultaneous folie a deux is
described. They presented gross conceit and arrogance, were
exalted in mood, held ideas of a grandiose delusional nature,
showed gross reversal of moral values and finally murdered the
mother of one of them. Particular attention is drawn to the early
onset of paranoia in this instance and its relation to
adolescence. Analogous distortions of ethical conceptions and
reversal of moral values from the literature are briefly
described and compared.
REFERENCES [selected. jp]
Bleuler, Eugen Paul (1924). Textbook of Psychiatry. New York: The
Macmillan Company.
Deutsch, Helene (1946). The psychology of Women. A Psychoanalytic
Interpretation. London: Research Books Ltd.
*SNIP HERE*******************************************************
Copyright (c) 1995, John D. Porter.
All rights reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-
profit use is granted, with proper attribution. All other uses
must receive prior permission from the appropriate author(s) or
copyright holders.
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End of "Heavenly Creatures" FAQ ver. 2.0 ( 13/15 )rev. 1995/08/03
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