---
description: Long before Ken Russell —who passed away this year—was a film director, he was a photographer. In tribute, Time LightBox revisits his 1950's photo series The Last of Teddy Girls.
title: Cool Cats and Tom Boys: Ken Russell’s ‘The Last of the Teddy Girls’
image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83ba3ec0ad0030f3/69879b0e428a9ed9f6cc8a01/1etpm0172413.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9
---
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# Cool Cats and Tom Boys: Ken Russell's 'The Last of the Teddy Girls'
by
[Phil Bicker](/author/phil-bicker/)
## Phil Bicker
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Dec 20, 2011 7:00 PM CUT
The following images are from Ken Russell's January 1955 series The Last of the Teddy Girls 14-year-old Jean Rayner in the exploratory stage of Teddyism.
The following images are from Ken Russell's January 1955 series The Last of the Teddy Girls 14-year-old Jean Rayner in the exploratory stage of Teddyism.©TopFoto/Ken Russell / The Image Works
by
[Phil Bicker](/author/phil-bicker/)
## Phil Bicker
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Dec 20, 2011 7:00 PM CUT
Long before Ken Russell, who passed away in late November, became the notorious film director responsible for _Women in Love_, _The Devils_, _The Boyfriend_ and The Who’s rock opera _Tommy,_ he was an art student and, later, a freelance photographer. In the 1950’s Russell’s work was published regularly in the preeminent British photo news magazines of the day, including _Picture Post_. After his work had been tucked away in his agency’s archive for half a century, Russell’s early photos resurfaced half a dozen years ago and received renewed interest with an exhibition at the Proud Gallery in London.
In 1955, the fledgling photographer created a series called _The Last of the Teddy Girls,_ which featured photographs taken against the war-torn backdrop of London’s East End. The images are one of the first reportage series to be made of British youth culture, presenting pictures of working class girls in Neo-Edwardian dress—a fascinating counterpoint to their drape-coated and drainpipe-wearing male counterparts the Teddy Boy. _The Last of the Teddy Girls_ also provided a rare and unique glimpse of a little recognized and under-documented subculture of austere post war Britain.
These quiet portraits—a direct contrast to Russell’s later bombastic directorial style—are an unexpected and exceptional historical record of cool. They document both the attitude and innocence of 1950’s youth and are an embodiment of the rebellious nature that Russell possessed throughout his life.
The following images are from Ken Russell's January 1955 series The Last of the Teddy Girls 14-year-old Jean Rayner in the exploratory stage of Teddyism. ©TopFoto/Ken Russell / The Image Works
Rose Price and admirers in matching polka dot clutch bag and gloves. ©TopFoto/Ken Russell / The Image Works
Rose Hendon and Mary Toovey pose with unknown young Teddy Boys in Southam Street. Rosie left school that year to go and work in a McVities biscuit factory. ©TopFoto/Ken Russell / The Image Works
Pat Wiles, a worker on the assembly line of a toy factory. ©TopFoto/Ken Russell / The Image Works
Elsie, 15, and Rose Hendon with Mary Toovey and Jean Rayner, 14, in front of the Seven Feathers Club in Edenham Street, North Kensington. ©TopFoto/Ken Russell / The Image Works
Iris Thornton of Plaistow in front of a comic stall. ©TopFoto/Ken Russell / The Image Works
Pat Wilson posing with umbrella aloft. ©TopFoto/Ken Russell / The Image Works
18-year-old Rose Price, shop assistant from Tottenham, sporting a manly hairstyle. ©TopFoto/Ken Russell / The Image Works
16-year-old Eileen from Bethnal Green, with two teddy boys "duelling" over her on an East End bombsite. ©TopFoto/Ken Russell / The Image Works
Two unnamed Teddy Boys at a funfair—one of only two pictures taken of Teddy Boys on this shoot. ©TopFoto/Ken Russell / The Image Works
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