Sheila Mathews is now ‘Saturday’s Girl’

0

The TVTimes talks to Sheila Mathews, presenter of ABC’s ‘Quick on the Draw’.

When Independent Television hit the screens of London and the south, a petite blonde named Sheila Mathews soon won the hearts of viewers as Friday’s Girl — the title of her 30-week 15-minute series.

Matthews-19570428-09-500x668
From the Midlands TVTimes for week commencing 26 April 1957.

Now she is charming ABC’s week-end audiences in a different role! As a demonstrator in the Saturday advertising magazine Quick on the Draw, she shows how to use all kinds of things, from the latest cake mixture to a machine for cutting grass the easy way.

“I’ve learnt to much about housewifery I think I should make the most competent housewife ever,” she laughs.

But in case any male reader should consider himself a likely candidate for the role of husband, there’s nothing doing. Sheila is far too busy to think about boy friends.

“The programme takes up my whole week,” she says, “but I always have Sunday off – my one chance to have a good rest.”

Monday finds her checking with producer Eddie Kebbell on what clothes she will need for Saturday’s programme. If she hasn’t already got them in her extensive wardrobe, she goes out to buy them.

Tuesday she has a script conference with Eddie. Wednesday she has a hair do. If she has to learn something especially difficult for her demonstrations, she spends the rest of Wednesday practising. Thursday and Friday are rehearsal days.

There may also be a cabaret to do, or a broadcast, and as Sheila is primarily a singer and dancer, lessons have to be kept up.

When Eddie Kebbell – who also produced her in Friday’s Girl – wanted a vivacious personality for Quick on the Draw, he immediately thought of Sheila. “I think she is a great artist,” he says.

Sheila has no illusions about show business. “I’m the most impatient person in the world regarding my career,” she says. “Of course I would like to he a big star.”

But at 27, she admits there is still plenty of time to reach the top. She is sincere enough to agree that she doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life trying to attain that ambition.

Television presents its problems, says Sheila. Once, in Friday’s Girl, she forgot the words of a sing she was signing. She fitted-in with the first words which came into her head. No one noticed the difference!

She finds advertising products fun, but exhausting, too. Remembering trade names and their various uses can be nerve-racking. So far, she hasn’t slipped up.

About the author

George Bartram was a features writer for the TVTimes.

Leave a Reply