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Zip Goes A Million
''Zip Goes a Million'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Eric Maschwitz and music by George Posford, based on the 1902 novel ''Brewster's Millions''. It premiered in London in 1951, starring George Formby, and ran for 544 performances. Synopsis Percy Piggott, a window cleaner, stands to inherit a fortune. To receive the money, however, he is required to spend a million dollars in a hurry without letting anyone know what he is doing. He decides to invest in a musical comedy, ''The Garter Girl'', starring Lilac Delaney, which he thinks will be a failure. Other spendthrift ideas include putting money in the stock market and betting on the ponies. Each of these dubious investments is a success, even though a shady banker, Van Norden, and his daughter try to separate Percy from his money and from Sally Whittle, Percy's innocent girlfriend. In the second act, on a South Seas island, Percy succeeds in wrecking a yacht, which is hugely expensive to salvage. After various complica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Posford
George Posford, born Benjamin George Ashwell (23 March 1906 – 24 April 1976), was an English composer and conductor. Early life Benjamin George Ashwell was born in 1906 in Folkestone, Kent. He was educated at Downside School in Somerset and Christ's College at Cambridge University. He studied law, but would become known for his musical achievements, after a song he co-wrote with Rodney Hobson was successfully interpolated in an early 1930s touring version of the show ''Lavender'', which pointed him towards a new career. After Cambridge, Ashwell studied composition and orchestration at the Royal College of Music in London. Career Ashwell became a professional composer in 1930, and would be known as George Posford. He initially specialised in BBC Radio work, before moving into theatre. He composed many songs, often with librettist-lyricist Eric Maschwitz. For radio, they wrote ''Goodnight Vienna'', which then became a 1932 film (the first British musical to be filmed), st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Impresario
An impresario (from Italian ''impresa'', 'an enterprise or undertaking') is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, Play (theatre), plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film producer, film or Television show#Production, television producer. History The term originated in the social and economic world of Italian opera, in which from the mid-18th century to the 1830s, the impresario was the key figure in the organization of a lyric season. The owners of the theatre, usually amateurs from the nobility, charged the impresario with hiring a composer (until the 1850s operas were expected to be new) and the orchestra, singers, costumes and sets, all while assuming considerable financial risk. In 1786 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart satirized the stress and emotional mayhem in a single-act farce ''Der Schauspieldirektor'' (''The Impresario''). Antonio Vivaldi was unusual in acting as both impresario and composer; in 1714 he managed seasons at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Chester
Charlie Chester MBE (26 April 1914 – 26 June 1997) was an English comedian, radio and television presenter and writer, broadcasting almost continuously from the 1940s to the 1990s. His style was similar to that of Max Miller. Life and career Chester was born Cecil Victor Manser in Eastbourne, Sussex. His first job after leaving education was as a grocer's errand boy, but he won talent competitions for his musical instrument playing and singing. Working as a travelling salesman for an embroidery company, Chester realised he had the gift of the gab and decided to become a professional comedian. Known as "Cheerful" Charlie Chester, he was popular with British audiences in the 1940s from his BBC radio show ''Stand Easy''. This show was adapted for television as ''The Charlie Chester Show'' in 1949 and became a stand-up and sketch show for the next 11 years. Frequent cast members included Edwina Carroll, Henry Lytton, Jr., Eric "Jeeves" Grier, Len Lowe, Deryck Guyler, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reg Dixon (comedian)
Reginald Arthur Dixon (24 February 1915 – 25 June 1984), always known professionally as Reg Dixon to distinguish him from the ballroom organist, was a British comedian, best known for his appearances on stage and radio. Biography Born in Coventry, the youngest of seven children, he made his first onstage appearance there at the age of ten, and sang with local dance bands. At first he worked in local factories, but at the age of 16 left home to join a series of touring revues. At one time, he was part of a double act, Scott and Dixon, with a pianist. In the late 1930s, he toured with his own fit-up show through the north of England and Scotland. He served in India, Burma and the Middle East with the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, and then joined Ralph Reader's ''Gang Show''.Roy Hudd and Philip Hindin, ''Roy Hudd's Cavalcade of Variety Acts'', Robson Books, 1998, , p.45 His comedy style was described as lugubrious, in the tradition of earlier northern English perfo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palace Theatre, London
The Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. Its red-brick facade dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus, London, Cambridge Circus behind a small plaza near the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road. The Palace Theatre seats 1,400. Richard D'Oyly Carte, producer of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, commissioned the theatre in the late 1880s. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and intended to be a home of English grand opera. The theatre opened as the Royal English Opera House in January 1891 with a lavish production of Arthur Sullivan's opera ''Ivanhoe (opera), Ivanhoe''. Although this ran for 160 performances, followed briefly by André Messager's ''La Basoche'', Carte had no other works ready to fill the theatre. He leased it to Sarah Bernhardt for a season and sold the opera house within a year at a loss. It was then converted into a grand music hall and renamed the Palace Theatre of Varieties, managed successfu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92 million, and the largest in Northern England. It borders the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The city borders the boroughs of Trafford, Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Stockport, Tameside, Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Oldham, Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Rochdale, Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Bury and City of Salford, Salford. The history of Manchester began with the civilian settlement associated with the Roman fort (''castra'') of Mamucium, ''Mamucium'' or ''Mancunium'', established on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers River Medlock, Medlock and River Irwell, Irwell. Throughout the Middle Ages, Manchester remained a ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palace Theatre, Manchester
The Palace Theatre is one of the main theatres in Manchester, England. It is situated on Oxford Street, on the north-east corner of the intersection with Whitworth Street. The Palace and its sister theatre the Opera House on Quay Street are operated by the same parent company, Ambassador Theatre Group. The original capacity of 3,675 has been reduced to its current 1,955. History The theatre, originally known as "the Grand Old Lady of Oxford Street", opened on 18 May 1891, having been designed by the architect Alfred Darbyshire at a cost of £40,500. The Palace Theatre was redecorated and altered in 1896 to the designs of the renowned theatre architect Frank Matcham, and he again worked on some improvements to the theatre in 1899, when he was commissioned to put in a pass door so that the manager did not have to go outside in the rain and snow to reach backstage, and at the same time he also proposed to carry out some minor alterations and to redecorate the theatre. The interi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety Artistes' Federation
The Variety Artistes' Federation (VAF) was a trade union representing variety performers in the United Kingdom. History The union was founded on 18 February 1906, after discussions between the show business social club and charity the Grand Order of Water Rats (GOWR); the Music Hall Artists Railway Association, which negotiated concessions on rail fares for travelling performers; and the Terriers, another club for variety performers. It was formed in response to grievances by performers that some managers expected them to perform matinées, as well as two evening performances six days a week, without any additional payment, and that some performers were having to make long journeys without notice because of changes to schedules.Roger Wilmut, ''Kindly Leave the Stage: The Story of Variety 1919-1960'', Methuen, 1985, , p.49 Within weeks the union had 4,000 members. It launched a weekly newspaper, ''The Performer'', and in early 1907 staged its first industrial action, which becam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coventry
Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centuries. Founded in the early Middle Ages, its city status was formally recognised in a charter of 1345. The city is governed by Coventry City Council, and the West Midlands Combined Authority. Historic counties of England, Formerly part of Warwickshire until 1451, and again from 1842 to 1974, Coventry had a population of 345,324 at the 2021 census, making it the tenth largest city in England and the 13th largest in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest city in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, after Birmingham, from which it is separated by an area of Green belt (United Kingdom), green belt known as the Meriden Gap; it is the third largest in the wider Midlands after Birmingham and Leicester. The city is part of a larger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hippodrome
Hippodrome is a term sometimes used for public entertainment venues of various types. A modern example is the Hippodrome which opened in London in 1900 "combining circus, hippodrome, and stage performances". The term hippodroming refers to fraudulent sporting competitions, such as in racing or baseball. Etymology The word "hippodrome" is derived from Ancient Greek ''hippódromos'' (), a stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name itself is a compound of the words ''híppos'' (), meaning "horse", and ''drómos'' (), meaning "course". The ancient Roman counterpart was the circus. Description One end of the ''hippodromos'' of the Ancient Greeks was semicircular, while the other was a quadrilateral with an extensive portico. At the front thereof, at a lower level, were the stalls for the horses and chariots. On either end of the ''hippodromos'' were posts (Greek ''termata'') around which the chariots turned. This was the most dangerous part of the track and the Greeks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the semi-exclave of Alaska in the northwest and the archipelago of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The United States asserts sovereignty over five Territories of the United States, major island territories and United States Minor Outlying Islands, various uninhabited islands in Oceania and the Caribbean. It is a megadiverse country, with the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, third-largest land area and List of countries and dependencies by population, third-largest population, exceeding 340 million. Its three Metropolitan statistical areas by population, largest metropolitan areas are New York metropolitan area, New York, Greater Los Angeles, Los Angel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wallas Eaton
Wallas Eaton (18 February 1917 – 3 November 1995), sometimes credited as Wallace Eaton or Wallis Eaton, was an English film, radio, television and theatre actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his voice roles between 1949 and 1960 in the BBC radio-comedy serial '' Take It from Here''. Early life Eaton was born in Leicester, Leicestershire. He was educated at the Alderman Newton School, and later would read History and English at Christ's College, Cambridge. Eaton joined the Army in 1940, and served with distinction during World War II, eventually becoming a major in charge of a searchlight battery. Career His first stage appearance was at the Theatre Royal in his home town of Leicester in 1936. Three years later he made his London debut playing the small part of the Announcer in Auden and Isherwood's '' The Ascent of F6'' at the Old Vic. The following year Eaton played the Second Priest in Eliot's ''Murder in the Cathedral'' in 1940 and he followed this with what wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
