Flash Harry (St Trinian's)
Henry Cuthbert Edwards aka Flash Harry is a fictional character from the St. Trinian's series of films who first appears in the 1954 The Belles of St Trinian's and who may also be a spiv. The term refers to "an ostentatious, loudly-dressed, and usually ill-mannered man". Sir Malcolm Sargent was also (and earlier) nicknamed "Flash Harry".
In the St Trinian's movies, Harry is a long-term associate of the girl pupils, a Cockney involved in all sorts of shady dealings. His father sold racecards and, when he was 12, Harry himself was employed as a boot polisher by Miss Fritton, headmistress of St Trinian's. As an adult, Harry is one of the few whom the pupils trust: he helps to bottle and sell their gin, distilled in the school chemistry lab, and places bets on race horses for them. Harry also runs the St Trinian's Matrimonial Agency for the teenage Sixth Form girls, setting them up with wealthy men. He even runs a betting scam of his own.
By the time Amber Spottiswood (Dora Bryan) becomes headmistress, Harry's official connection to the school is as "chairman of the board of governors" and he earns money as a costermonger while the school is closed. He sets up a betting shop on the school grounds under the name Harry Hackett Ltd and takes bets from locals and pupils.
Harry appears to be quite well known in the criminal community: another crook (Lionel Jeffries) referring to him as "riff-raff".
Read more about Flash Harry (St Trinian's): Portrayers
Famous quotes containing the words flash and/or harry:
“Tom: All right, boys. C’mon. Why don’t you say I’m a yellow belly and a big mouth at that?
Shep: You yellow? Who thinks you’re yellow? Did you hear what he said? A guy who’s got the nerve to marry? That’s more than Flash Gordon ever did.”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“Members of the faculty, faculty members, students of Huxley and Huxley students. I guess that covers everything.”
—S.J. Perelman, U.S. screenwriter, Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, and Norman Z. McLeod. Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff (Groucho Marx)