Mander And Mitchenson
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Raymond Mander (15 July 1911 – 27 December 1983) and Joe Mitchenson (4 October 1911 – 7 October 1992) were theatre historians and joint founders of a large collection of theatrical memorabilia. Both began their careers as actors, but what began as a shared hobby turned into full-time work in running the Mander and Mitchenson Theatre Collection (MMTC) and writing books, reviews and articles on theatre, opera and ballet. The collection remained their private property until 1977, when they handed it over to a trust. After the deaths of the founders the collection was moved first to the Jerwood Library of the Performing Arts in
Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...
, and, in 2010, to the Theatre Collection of the
University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...
. During the founders' lifetimes the collection contributed illustrations to more than four hundred books, and has remained one of the most important resources for authors writing about history of the British theatre.


Biographies


Early years

Raymond Josiah Gale Mander was born in
Clapham Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Ea ...
, London, the only son of Albert Edwin Mander, an architect and surveyor, and his wife, Edith Christina, ''née'' Gale. He was educated at Battersea Grammar School and became an actor when he left school, making his debut at
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...
in Harold Neilson's touring Shakespeare company.Rhymes, Rupert (2004).
"Mander, Raymond Josiah Gale (Ray)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press. Retrieved 19 January 2019
"Obituary: Raymond Mander", ''The Times'', 23 December 1983, p. 12 In the West End he appeared in a spectacular production of ''
Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1216–1281 ...
'' at
Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the boundary between the Covent Garden and Holborn areas of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden and the southern part in the City o ...
in 1938, the year before he first worked with Joe Mitchenson. Francis Joseph Blackett Mitchenson was born in Southgate, London, the only son of Francis William Mitchenson, a general merchant, and his wife, Sarah, ''née'' Roddam. Unlike Mander's family, which had no special association with the theatre, Mitchenson's had stage connexions on his mother's and his father's side. His father was a part-time drama critic, and his mother was a keen amateur actress. Their marriage broke up when Mitchenson was a boy, and he was brought up by his mother. He was educated privately, and at the age of eight he enrolled at the
Fay Compton Virginia Lilian Emmeline Compton-Mackenzie, (; 18 September 1894 – 12 December 1978), known professionally as Fay Compton, was an English actress. She appeared in several films, and made many broadcasts, but was best known for her stage per ...
Studio of Dramatic Art. A fellow student there was
Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. In the BFI, British Film Institute listing of 1999 of BFI Top 100 British films, the 100 most important British films of the 20th century ...
, alongside whom he made his first West End stage appearance, walking on in a drama called '' Libel!'' at the
Playhouse Theatre The Playhouse Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square, central London. The Theatre was built by F. H. Fowler and Hill with a seating capacity of 1,200. It was rebuilt in ...
."Obituary: Joe Mitchenson", ''The Times'', 9 October 1992, p. 17 Mander and Mitchenson met in February 1939, and later in that year they were both cast in a production of ''
The Merry Wives of Windsor ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...
'', Mander as Master Page and Mitchenson as Fenton. They toured with Neilson's company, playing small roles. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Mander worked for the BBC, presenting radio programmes including a series called ''Actors Remember'' in which he interviewed veteran performers, such as Walter Passmore reminiscing about
Richard D'Oyly Carte Richard D'Oyly Carte (; 3 May 1844 – 3 April 1901) was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer, and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era. He built two of London's theatres and a hotel empire, while also establi ...
, Ada Reeve about
George Edwardes George Joseph Edwardes (né Edwards; 8 October 1855 – 4 October 1915) was an English theatre manager and producer of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond. Edwardes started out in theatre ma ...
, and Leslie Henson about
George Grossmith Jr. George Grossmith Jr. (11 May 1874 – 6 June 1935) was an English actor, theatre producer and Actor-manager, manager, director, playwright and songwriter, best remembered for his work in and with Edwardian musical comedies. Grossmith was also a ...
He also wrote material for other presenters, usually in collaboration with Mitchenson. Mitchenson served in the army, until being invalided out in 1943. He resumed his stage career for a few years, before giving up regular acting in 1948.


Collecting

As well as being partners in their private lives, and sometimes appearing in productions together, Mander and Mitchenson shared a passion for collecting theatrical memorabilia. They began their joint collection in 1939,"Mander, Raymond Josiah Gale, (15 July 1911–20 Dec. 1983)
''Who's Who & Who Was Who'', Oxford University Press. Retrieved 19 January 2019
and when on tour in the 1940s they would take every opportunity to add to it. Mitchenson's obituarist in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' wrote, " heywould raid antique shops and second-hand bookshops in search of anything which carried a morsel of theatrical history. It could be a postcard, or a playbill, a painting or a figurine representing some past performance, or, better still, a discarded costume or prop." Their consuming interest gradually overtook their acting careers. They presented small exhibitions of theatre memorabilia around Britain and collaborated on a series of books, the first of which, ''Hamlet Through the Ages'', was published in 1952. It set the pattern for a further eighteen books, published between then and 1980: brief notes accompanying lavish illustrations (this first book contained 257 plates ranging from the frontispiece to a 1709 edition of the play to Guinness's Hamlet in 1951). The ever-expanding collection was housed in Mitchenson's family house in
Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne un ...
. Their biographer Rupert Rhymes writes:
John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...
commented in 1968, "Mander and Mitchenson are a strange freakish pair – no taste but enormous diligence, and they have a remarkable collection of materials of all kinds and are really dedicated collectors – middle aged, one rather dandified, the other with a broken nose, looking like a Shaw burglar".
Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...
, who referred to them as "
Gog and Magog Gog and Magog (; ) or Ya'juj and Ma'juj () are a pair of names that appear in the Bible and the Quran, Qur'an, variously ascribed to individuals, tribes, or lands. In Ezekiel 38, Gog is an individual and Magog is his land. By the time of the New ...
", and dubbed them "the truffle hounds of the theatre", so trusted their theatrical judgment that he left instructions in his will that after his death his estate should take advice from them, together with Sheridan Morley, on the continuing use of his literary and dramatic works.
Sybil Thorndike Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson (24 October 18829 June 1976) was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969. Trained in her youth as a concert pianist, Thorndike turned to the stage when a medical problem with her h ...
, who referred to Mander and Mitchenson as "my dear detectives", gave them gifts and financial donations, calling their collection "the profession's passport to posterity".Croall, p. 455 Rhymes writes of Mander and Mitchenson's place in the theatrical scene in London, "In the 1960s and 1970s 'Ray and Joe' became a theatrical institution and, dressed in style, invariably held court at first nights, reflecting on previous productions and associated gossip." By the end of the 1970s it was clear that the collection required larger premises, and the eighteenth-century Beckenham Place Park was selected, with the aid of the local authority. The move had scarcely begun when Mander died at Hither Green Hospital, London, on 20 December 1983, aged 72, of
bronchopneumonia Bronchopneumonia is a subtype of pneumonia. It is the acute inflammation of the Bronchus, bronchi, accompanied by inflamed patches in the nearby lobules of the lungs. citing: Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition, Copyright 2014 ...
and
emphysema Emphysema is any air-filled enlargement in the body's tissues. Most commonly emphysema refers to the permanent enlargement of air spaces (alveoli) in the lungs, and is also known as pulmonary emphysema. Emphysema is a lower respiratory tract di ...
. Mitchenson moved to Beckenham with the collection and lived there until his death in
Orpington Hospital Orpington Hospital is an acute general hospital in Orpington, London. It is managed by the King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital has its origins in a military hospital built for soldiers originating from the Provinc ...
, London, on 7 October 1992, aged 81, from
renal failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...
and prostatic hypertrophy.


Mander and Mitchenson Theatre Collection

In later years Mander and Mitchenson wrote that the collection was founded in 1939 "with the aim of covering all aspects of the theatre, opera, and ballet", although in its early years it grew haphazardly rather than systematically. Even once it was established and widely-known it remained the private property of Mander and Mitchenson until 1977, when they handed it over to a trust, chaired by
Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...
. Over the years it was expanded by the acquisition of the theatrical portion of the Randall H. New Collection and the library and personal theatre records of John Parker, the long-serving editor of ''
Who's Who in the Theatre ''Who's Who in the Theatre'' is a British reference work, first published in 1912 with sixteen new editions from then until its last issue in 1981. The book was a successor to ''The Green Room Book'', of which four editions were published bet ...
''. Parker's successor, Freda Gaye, described the MMTC as "a veritable museum
hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...
contains engravings, paintings, souvenirs, photographs, china figures, files of programmes of the London and provincial theatres, and a library of several thousand books." She added that it was used extensively by authors, designers, publishers, the BBC and other television producers.Gaye, p. 1718 From as early as 1944 Mander and Mitchenson felt that their collection might eventually be bequeathed to the nation. At one point they hoped it would be housed at the new National Theatre on the
South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial area on the south bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Lambeth, central London, England. The South Bank is not formally defined, but is generally understood to be situated betwe ...
in London when it opened in the 1970s, but the collection was too large to be accommodated there. The Beckenham site proved financially unsustainable, and in 2001, after a brief period in temporary accommodation – a disused cricket pavilion in south London – the collection was moved to a new home as part of the Jerwood Library of the Performing Arts in
Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...
. In 2010 it was announced that the trustees had agreed to house the entire collection permanently at the
University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...
, as part of its extensive theatre archive. There was some controversy about the move from London to Bristol. Rhymes, who was a former chairman of the MMTC Trust, said he was "appalled at the prospect of the collection moving out of London away from Theatreland which was Ray and Joe’s life".Woolman, Natalie
"Mander and Mitchenson theatre collection to quit London"
''The Stage'', 24 November 2010
But the move was backed, and part-funded, by the Noël Coward Foundation and the
Cameron Mackintosh Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh (born 17 October 1946) is a British theatrical producer and theatre owner notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "t ...
Foundation. Bristol University already had an important theatre archive focusing strongly on provincial and 20th-century British drama; the preponderance of London-centred material from the 18th and 19th centuries in the MMTC was seen as an ideal match, creating the second-biggest collection of British theatre memorabilia. The university made it clear that the collection would be available to everyone: "We run ourselves as a public museum, as well as a university archive, so anyone can make an appointment to come and study something from the collection".Clensy, David
"Inside the vaults of theatre's past"
''Bristol Evening Post'', 7 October 2011. NewsBank. Retrieved 19 January 2019


Publications

Mander and Mitchenson contributed introductions to four volumes of
Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...
's collected plays, and numerous articles and reviews to the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
'', ''Theatre Notebook'' and ''
Books and Bookmen A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...
''. They contributed illustrations from their collection to more than four hundred publications. Their own books were: *''Hamlet Through the Ages'', 1952 (2nd, revised edition 1955) *''Theatrical Companion to Shaw'', 1954 *''Theatrical Companion to Maugham'', 1955 *''The Artist and the Theatre'', 1955 *''Theatrical Companion to Coward'', 1957 *''A Picture History of British Theatre'', 1957 *''The Gay Twenties'', 1958 (with J. C. Trewin) *''A Picture History of Opera'', 1959 (with
Philip Hope-Wallace Philip Adrian Hope-Wallace CBE (6 November 1911 – 3 September 1979) was an English music and theatre critic, whose career was mostly with ''The Manchester Guardian'' (later known as ''The Guardian''). From university he went into journalism afte ...
) *''The Turbulent Thirties'', 1960 (with J. C. Trewin) *''The Theatres of London'', 1961, illustrated by
Timothy Birdsall Timothy Birdsall (10 May 1936 – 10 June 1963) was an English cartoonist. __TOC__ Life and work Birdsall was born in London. While an undergraduate at Christ's College, Cambridge, he illustrated ''Granta'' and formed part of the late 1950s t ...
(2nd, revised edition, paperback, 1963; 3rd revised edition 1975) *''A Picture History of
Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...
'', 1962 *''British Music Hall: A Story in Pictures'', 1965 (2nd edition, revised and enlarged 1974) *''Lost Theatres of London'', 1968 (2nd edition, revised and enlarged, 1976) *''Musical Comedy: A Story in Pictures'', 1969 *''Revue: A Story in Pictures'', 1971 *''Pantomime: A Story in Pictures'', 1973 *''The
Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
Companion'', 1977 *''Victorian and Edwardian Entertainment from Old Photographs'', 1978 *''Guide to the W. Somerset Maugham Theatrical Paintings'', 1980 ::Source: ''Who Was Who''.


External links

Books by Mander and Mitchenson at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
:
''Theatrical Companion to Maugham''''Theatrical Companion to Coward''''The Theatres of London''''British Music Hall: A Story in Pictures''''The Wagner Companion''


Notes, references and sources


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * {{authority control 20th-century English people English actors English writers Writing duos