ABOUT THIS EPISODE
ZERO MAHLOWE – AN APPRECIATION BY BOB HARDY – January 2023
ZERO’s BACKGROUND
Born in London in 1930, Pauline Jones (later to change her name to Zero) was 21 when she first met both Eugene Halliday and his wife Peg. This was during a visit by her to the Isle of Man in the summer of 1951 when she heard first heard him speaking about his ideas to an informal group of people who had gathered to hear him speak on one of the island’s beaches. And it was as a direct consequence of these initial meetings that she began Working with him.
Pauline was at that time a full-time professional stage actress (stage name, Marla Stoles) who had been accepted as a student into The Guildhall School of Music and Drama at the age of 16. She came from a London family of classically trained musicians, and was the sister of the British trumpeter, Phillip Jones CBE.
She moved to Manchester where Eugene and Peg had a large house in Wellington Road which was, as Zero described it me, “(What) you might call a miniature artistic community,” finding temporarily work as an ASM at The Library Theater, where she was soon after to first meet her future husband, David Marlowe, who had come up from The Birmingham Repertory Theater to perform in The Library Theater’s winter Christmas production of ‘Alice In Wonderland’. During this run and after talking together, Zero took David along to one of the Wednesday informal discussion groups that took place at Eugene’s house and they continued to do so until the end of the play’s run, when Zero returned to London and David to Birmingham… Most importantly though, Zero continued her Working relationship with Eugene via a written correspondence, and significantly, so did David…
Not long after this Zero was taken on by The Library Theater as a full-time actress, and was able to move to Manchester as a direct consequence. This of course allowed her to continue to meet and Work with Eugene, and to also attend his Wednesday group discussions.
Zero was now performing regularly with The Library Theater Company, and at one point was cast in Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’. She suggested to the director that David Marlow be offered the part of Brutus. He accepted, and thus he too now became a full-time member of The Library Theater Company.
In 1956 he and Zero married. However, it was soon after this that Peg became increasingly ill with MS. To help Eugene take care of hereof this Zero and David took up resience permanently in Eugene’s house in Wellington Road. This arrangement was to continue there up until 1966 when the four of them moved to ‘Parklands’. A large house that was purchased by the Liverpool businessman Fred Freeman. And it was these five individuals founded the charity ISHVAL there.
From then on up until Eugene’s death in July of 1987 both Zero and David Mahlowe Worked with Eugene Halliday on a daily basis. Parklands was to continue on under the guidance of David Mahlowe, who was to die ten years later in 1996
It was not until 2004 that I began to meet with Zero on a regular basis, initially to interview her extensively about her life, and also the details of her approach to what was surely a unique situation – that of Working with Eugene Halliday on a daily basis for over 30 years. Happily we became friends during which time she was able to confirm to my satisfaction that Working was what Eugene was at
Please note that further information can be found at www.eugenehalliday.com/welcome
On the website, there are links for you to freely download full transcripts of all of the talks available here. eugenehalliday.com encourages dialogue and would warmly welcome opening a dialogue with anyone who has an interest in wanting to discuss the contents of eugenehalliday.com further.
