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The Party Spirit
''The Party Spirit'' is a 1954 British comedy play by Peter Jones and John Jowett. It premiered at the Grand Theatre, Blackpool before transferring to the Piccadilly Theatre in London's West End where it ran for 131 performances from 23 September 1954 and 15 January 1955. Starring Robertson Hare and Ralph Lynn, the cast also included Roger Maxwell, Frank Thornton and Vera Pearce Annie Vera Pearce (27 May 1895 – 18 January 1966) was an Australian stage and film actress. Her lengthy career was carried out in both her home country and in England. Biography Born in Broken Hill (New South Wales), Pearce spent much of he ....Wearing p.325 References Bibliography * Wearing, J.P. ''The London Stage 1950-1959: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. 1954 plays British plays West End plays Comedy plays Plays set in London {{1950s-play-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Jones (actor)
Peter Geoffrey Francis Jones (12 June 1920 – 10 April 2000) was an English actor, screenwriter and broadcaster. Early life and early career Peter Jones, born in Wem, Shropshire, was educated at Wem Grammar School and Ellesmere College, making his first appearance as an actor in Wolverhampton at the age of 16 and then appeared in repertory theatre in East Anglia. In 1942 he acted on the West End stage in '' The Doctor's Dilemma'' and in 1942 he made an uncredited film appearance in '' Fanny by Gaslight''. An early film credit was as a Xenobian trade delegate in '' Chance of a Lifetime'' (1950). He appeared in the 1949 comedy '' Love in Albania'' by Eric Linklater. He co-wrote the 1954 play '' The Party Spirit'' which ran in the West End with Ralph Lynn and Robertson Hare. His own play '' Sweet Madness'' was staged in the West End at the Vaudeville Theatre in 1952. Radio Between 1952 and 1955 Jones starred alongside Peter Ustinov in the BBC radio comedy ''In All Directi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Theatre, Blackpool
Blackpool Grand Theatre is a theatre in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. Since 2006, it has also been known as the National Theatre of Variety. It is a Grade II* Listed Building. History The Grand was designed by Victorian theatre architect Frank Matcham and was opened in 1894 after a construction period of seven months, at a cost of £20,000 between December 1893 and July 1894. The project was conceived and financed by local theatre manager Thomas Sergenson who had been using the site of the Grand for several years to stage a circus. He had also transformed the fortunes of other local theatres. Matcham's brief was to build Sergenson the "prettiest theatre in the land". The Grand was Matcham's first theatre to use an innovative 'cantilever' design to support the tiers, thereby reducing the need for the usual pillars and so allowing clear views of the stage from all parts of the auditorium. Sergenson's successful directorship of the theatre ended in 1909 when he sold the opera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Play
Comedy is a genre of dramatic performance having a light or humorous tone that depicts amusing incidents and in which the characters ultimately triumph over adversity. For ancient Greeks and Romans, a comedy was a stage-play with a happy ending. In the Middle Ages, the term expanded to include narrative poems with happy endings and a lighter tone. In this sense Dante used the term in the title of his poem, the ''Divine Comedy'' (Italian: ''Divina Commedia''). The phenomena connected with laughter and that which provokes it have been carefully investigated by psychologists. The predominating characteristics are incongruity or contrast in the object, and shock or emotional seizure on the part of the subject. It has also been held that the feeling of superiority is an essential factor: thus Thomas Hobbes speaks of laughter as a "sudden glory." Modern investigators have paid much attention to the origin both of laughter and of smiling, as well as the development of the "play inst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piccadilly Theatre
The Piccadilly Theatre is a West End theatre located at the junction of Denman Street and Sherwood Street, near Piccadilly Circus, in the City of Westminster, London. It opened in 1928. In its early years the theatre presented a wide range of productions, and was briefly a cinema. During the Second World War it presented productions ranging from the premiere of Noël Coward's '' Blithe Spirit'' to John Gielgud's lavish production of ''Macbeth''. Later productions in the 1940s and 1950s included Cole Porter's ''Panama Hattie'' (1943), Coward's revue ''Sigh No More (musical), Sigh No More'' (1945) and Peter Ustinov's ''Romanoff and Juliet (play), Romanoff and Juliet'' (1956). In 1964 the Piccadilly presented the British premiere of ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'', but by this time musicals had begun to outnumber non-musical plays at this theatre, with revivals of ''Oliver!'' and ''Man of La Mancha'', and later productions including ''Gypsy (musical), Gypsy'' (1973), ''A Funn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West End Theatre
West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes"West End"in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1195, Along with New York City's Broadway theatre, West End theatre represents the highest level of Theatre of the United Kingdom, commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London. Prominent screen actors, Cinema of the United Kingdom, British and World cinema, international alike, frequently appear on the London stage. There are approximately 40 theatres in the West End, with the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, opened in May 1663, the oldest theatre in London. The Savoy Theatre—built as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan—was entirely lit by electricity in 1881. Society of London Theatre, The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) announced that 201 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robertson Hare
John Robertson Hare, Order of the British Empire, OBE (17 December 1891 – 25 January 1979) was an English actor, who came to fame in the Aldwych farces. He is remembered by more recent audiences for his performances as the Archdeacon in the popular BBC sitcom, ''All Gas and Gaiters''. Short in stature and of unheroic appearance, Hare made his stage career in character roles. From his early days as an actor he was cast as older men. One of his favourite parts, which he played in Home counties, the provinces before achieving West End theatre, West End success, was "Grumpy", a retired lawyer, in which he toured before the First World War. After war service in the army, Hare got his big break. He was cast in a long-running farce with Ralph Lynn and Tom Walls. His meek and put-upon character was repeated in various incarnations in the eleven Aldwych farces presented by Walls between 1923 and 1933. He also appeared in film versions of most of the farces. After the Aldwych series ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Lynn
Ralph Clifford Lynn (8 March 1882 – 8 August 1962) was an English actor who had a 60-year career, and is best remembered for playing comedy parts in the Aldwych farces first on stage and then in film. Lynn became an actor at the age of 18 and very soon began to be cast in knut or "silly ass" roles. He played such parts as a supporting actor for more than two decades until 1922, when he was cast in the lead of a new West End farce, '' Tons of Money'', in which he achieved immediate stardom. After the success of this play, its co-producer, the actor-manager Tom Walls, leased the Aldwych Theatre in London, where for the next ten years he and Lynn co-starred in a series of successful farces, most of which were written for them by Ben Travers. Many of the Aldwych farces were made into films starring Lynn and Walls, and the two were ranked among the most popular British film actors of the 1930s. He continued his stage career during and after the Second World War, scoring ano ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Maxwell (actor)
Roger Maxwell real name Roger Done Latham (1 January 1900 – 24 November 1971) was an English actor and first-class cricketer. The son of Alexander Mere Latham, he was born at Chelsea on New Year's Day in 1900. He was educated at Wellington College, completing his education there in 1917. With the First World War ongoing, Maxwell attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst from which he graduated into the Middlesex Regiment as a second lieutenant in August 1918. Following the war, he was promoted to lieutenant in September 1921, which was antedated to February 1920. Maxwell played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) against the British Army cricket team at Lord's in June 1920. Batting once in the match, he ended the MCC's first innings unbeaten on 16, sharing in a 58 runs stand for the final wicket with Richard Busk. Progressing into a career in acting, Maxwell's first role was in the 1927 docudrama '' The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Thornton
Frank Thornton Ball (15 January 192116 March 2013), professionally known as Frank Thornton, was an English actor. He was best known for playing Captain Peacock in the TV sitcom ''Are You Being Served?'' and its sequel '' Grace & Favour'' (''Are You Being Served? Again!'') and as Herbert "Truly" Truelove in TV sitcom ''Last of the Summer Wine''. Early life Frank Thornton Ball was born in Dulwich, London, the son of Rosina Mary (née Thornton) and William Ernest Ball. His father was an organist at St Stephen's Church, Sydenham Hill, where Frank learned to play the organ for a short while. Music proved too difficult for him, however, and he wanted to act from an early age. His father, who worked in a bank, wanted him to get a "proper" job, so he began working in insurance after leaving Alleyn's School. He soon enrolled at a small acting school, the London School of Dramatic Art, and took evening classes. After two years working at the insurance company, he was invited to beco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vera Pearce
Annie Vera Pearce (27 May 1895 – 18 January 1966) was an Australian stage and film actress. Her lengthy career was carried out in both her home country and in England. Biography Born in Broken Hill (New South Wales), Pearce spent much of her youth in Adelaide, and made her stage debut there at age five with the World's Entertainers She went on to train as a juvenile performer in pantomimes and musical comedies produced by J. C. Williamson Ltd, and in 1910 scored much acclaim for her role in the Firm's hit production ''Our Miss Gibbs'' (1910). After making her film debut in ''The Shepherd of the Southern Cross'' (1914), Pearce went to England with the aim of carving out a career there but was induced to return to Australia shortly afterwards by Hugh D. McIntosh, General Manager of Harry Rickards Tivoli Theatres Ltd. Pearce made her return to the Australian stage in November 1914 as one of the stars of the ''Tivoli Follies'' revue, and remained with the show throughout i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1954 Plays
Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head office of IBM. * January 10 – BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland Comet jet plane, disintegrates in mid-air due to metal fatigue, and crashes in the Mediterranean near Elba; all 35 people on board are killed. * January 12 – 1954 Blons avalanches, Avalanches in Austria kill more than 200. * January 15 – Mau Mau rebellion, Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya. * January 17 – In Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia, Milovan Đilas, one of the leading members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, is relieved of his duties. * January 20 – The US-based National Negro Network is established, with 46 member radio stations. * January 21 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the , is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Plays
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** British Isles, an island group ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** British Empire, a historical global colonial empire ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) * British Raj, colonial India under the British Empire * British Hong Kong, colonial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
