Jacqueline Fahey
Is a writer and painter best known for her depictions of domestic life from a feminist perspective in the 1950s, 60s and 70s
You’re 85 — how does that feel? I feel good but I don’t want to live past 90. I’ve seen people do that and I’ve thought, “Uh-oh, that’s no fun.” I had to have a small medical procedure about six months ago. The anaesthetist told me it would be fine — and it was, it was extraordinary, it felt really good. The next day I asked him, “Was that the stuff that Michael Jackson got addicted to?” and he said, “Yeah, it was.” I said, “Look, when I’m ready to go, could you do another small operation and somehow mess it up?” That’s how I’d like to go, it was perfectly pleasant. What was it like going to art school in Canterbury in the 1950s? It was the 40s! I went there after the war in 1946 with all the returned servicemen. There were pilots who had been made partially deaf or part mad by their experiences. I was in love all the time. Constantly. I wanted to shop around. I liked going out with all different guys — which you could do in those days because they would be lucky if they got a kiss goodnight. I took a long time to actually get around to having intercourse. But I wasn’t going to wait until marriage, no. I made up my mind that I would choose when that happened. Not have it imposed on me by society. You’ve written that there was a prejudice against Irish Catholics — what was that like? Christchurch was very first-fourships, it was absurd. My name was sufficient for the Christ’s College boys to see me as Irish, not a New Zealander, even though my people had been here since 1850 and that
Classifieds Jacqueline Fahey, who married a psychiatrist, says there are still mentally ill people who recognise her on the street.
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Puzzles
TV Listings Sorting out the scary ones Confusion generated by the Frankenstein Flowerpot pictured in Sideswipe last week warrants some clarification. From left to right, Frankenstein’s Monster (aka Adam), Gomez Addams (played by John Astin from the 1960s TV series, The Addams Family), Herman Munster (in 1960s sitcom The Munsters, played by Fred Gwynne) and Lurch (played by Ted Cassidy from The Addams Family).