A Man About The House (play)
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A Man About The House (play)
''A Man About the House'' is a play by the British writer John Perry, adapted from Francis Brett Young's 1942 novel of the same title about an Edwardian English spinster who inherits an Italian villa, and falls in love with and marries the butler who has secret designs on the estate that had once belonged to his family. It premiered at the Grand Theatre, Derby on 15 October 1945 before transferring to the West End. It ran for 100 performances from 27 February to 25 May 1946 at the Piccadilly Theatre. The cast included Flora Robson, Basil Sydney and Ernest Thesiger Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger, CBE (15 January 1879 – 14 January 1961) was an English stage and film actor. He is noted for his performance as Doctor Septimus Pretorius in James Whale's film ''Bride of Frankenstein'' (1935). Biography ....Wearing p.223 References Bibliography * Wearing, J.P. ''The London Stage 1940-1949: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel''. Rowman & Littlefield, 20 ...
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Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's administrative limits as of 2022. Its province-level municipality is the third-most populous metropolitan city in Italy with a population of 3,115,320 residents, and its metropolitan area stretches beyond the boundaries of the city wall for approximately 20 miles. Founded by Greeks in the first millennium BC, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban areas in the world. In the eighth century BC, a colony known as Parthenope ( grc, Παρθενόπη) was established on the Pizzofalcone hill. In the sixth century BC, it was refounded as Neápolis. The city was an important part of Magna Graecia, played a major role in the merging of Greek and Roman society, and was a significant cultural centre under the Romans. Naples served a ...
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Grand Theatre, Derby
The Grand Theatre, Derby was a theatre in Derby in the English Midlands. It was opened in 1886, designed in an Italian renaissance style by a Birmingham architect Oliver Essex. It originally had a capacity of 2,500. Shortly after opening the theatre suffered a major fire, in which two people were killed and the building substantially damaged. Rebuilt it became a successful venue for touring companies and pantomime. In 1950 the theatre was closed down and was later converted into a ballroom. In 1924 the play '' Dracula'' starring Hamilton Deane began its tour in Derby. In 1945 the play ''A Man About the House ''A Man About the House'' is a British drama film directed by Leslie Arliss and released in 1947. The film is a melodrama, adapted for the screen by J. B. Williams from the 1942 novel of the same name by Francis Brett Young. A theatrical ada ...'' premiered at the Grand before transferring to the West End.Wearing p.223 References Bibliography * Armitage, Jill. ' ...
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Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gained city status in 1977, the population size has increased by 5.1%, from around 248,800 in 2011 to 261,400 in 2021. Derby was settled by Romans, who established the town of Derventio, later captured by the Anglo-Saxons, and later still by the Vikings, who made their town of one of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw. Initially a market town, Derby grew rapidly in the industrial era. Home to Lombe's Mill, an early British factory, Derby has a claim to be one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. It contains the southern part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. With the arrival of the railways in the 19th century, Derby became a centre of the British rail industry. Derby is a centre for advanced transport manufactur ...
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Francis Brett Young
Francis Brett Young (29 June 1884 – 28 March 1954) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, composer, doctor and soldier. Life Francis Brett Young was born in Halesowen, Worcestershire. He received his early education at Iona, a private school in Sutton Coldfield. His father, Thomas Brett Young, was a doctor and his mother also came from a medical family, so it was natural that he go to the school for the sons of doctors, Epsom College. He was there when, at fourteen, he suffered the death of his beloved mother. He later went on to train at the University of Birmingham to become a qualified physician. He met his future wife, Jessie Hankinson, while he was lodging at Edgbaston in Birmingham and she was training at Anstey College of Physical Education, then housed in nearby The Leasowes (the former home of William Shenstone, the author he most admired). He started medical practice on the steamship SS ''Kintuck'', on a long voyage to the Far East. He returned with th ...
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A Man About The House (novel)
''A Man About the House'' is a 1942 novel by the British writer Francis Brett Young. Two sisters living a life of genteel poverty in North Bromwich discover that they have inherited a villa near Capri from an uncle. In the warmth of the Italian climate they both flourish, but the presence of the villa's handyman provides a troubling note. Adaptations In 1946 Flora Robson and Basil Sydney appeared in a stage adaptation ''A Man About the House'' by John Perry at the Piccadilly Theatre in the West End. In 1947 it was made into a British film of the same title directed by Leslie Arliss and starring Dulcie Gray, Margaret Johnston Margaret Johnston (10 August 1914 – 19 June 2002) was an Australian actress. Johnston was best known for her stage performances, but also appeared in 12 films and a handful of TV productions before retiring from acting in 1968 to devote herse ... and Kieron Moore.Goble p.514 References Bibliography * Hall, Michael. ''Francis Brett Young''. Ser ...
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Edwardian Era
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victorian era. Her son and successor, Edward VII, was already the leader of a fashionable elite that set a style influenced by the art and fashions of continental Europe. Samuel Hynes described the Edwardian era as a "leisurely time when women wore picture hats and did not vote, when the rich were not ashamed to live conspicuously, and the sun really never set on the British flag." The Liberals returned to power in 1906 and made significant reforms. Below the upper class, the era was marked by significant shifts in politics among sections of society that had largely been excluded from power, such as labourers, servants, and the industrial working class. Women started to play more of a role in politics.Roy Hattersley, ''The Edwardians'' (2004). ...
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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 is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London. Famous screen actors, British and international alike, frequently appear on the London stage. There are a total of 39 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. Opening in October 2022, @sohoplace is the first new West End theatre in 50 years. The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) announced ...
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Piccadilly Theatre
The Piccadilly Theatre is a West End theatre located at 16 Denman Street, behind Piccadilly Circus and adjacent to the Regent Palace Hotel, in the City of Westminster, London, England. Early years Built by Bertie Crewe and Edward A. Stone for Edward Laurillard, its simple façade conceals a grandiose Art Deco interior designed by Marc-Henri Levy and Gaston Laverdet, with a 1,232-seat auditorium decorated in shades of pink. Gold and green are the dominant colours in the bars and foyer, which include the original light fittings. Upon its opening on 27 April 1928, the theatre's souvenir brochure claimed, "If all the bricks used in the building were laid in a straight line, they would stretch from London to Paris." The opening production, Jerome Kern's musical ''Blue Eyes'', starred Evelyn Laye, one of the most acclaimed actresses of the period.
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Flora Robson
Dame Flora McKenzie Robson (28 March 19027 July 1984) was an English actress and star of the theatrical stage and cinema, particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity. Her range extended from queens to murderesses. Early life Flora McKenzie Robson was born on 28 March 1902 in South Shields, County Durham, of Scottish descent to a family of six siblings. Many of her forebears were engineers, mostly in shipping. Her father was a ship's engineer who moved from Wallsend near Newcastle to Palmers Green in 1907 and Southgate in 1910, both in north London, and later to Welwyn Garden City. She was educated at the Palmers Green High School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she won a bronze medal in 1921. Career Her father discovered that Flora had a talent for recitation and, from the age of 5, she was taken around by horse and carriage to recite, and to compete in recitations. This established a pattern that remained with ...
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Basil Sydney
Basil Sydney (23 April 1894 – 10 January 1968) was an English stage and screen actor. Career Sydney made his name in 1915 in the London stage hit ''Romance'' by Edward Sheldon, with Broadway star Doris Keane, and he costarred with Keane in the 1920 silent film of the play. The couple married in 1918, and when Keane revived ''Romance'' in New York City in 1921, Sydney made his Broadway debut in the parts. He stayed in New York for over a decade playing classical roles such as Mercutio in '' Romeo and Juliet'' (1922), Richard Dudgeon in '' The Devil's Disciple'' (1923), the title role in ''Hamlet'' (1923), Prince Hal in ''Henry IV, Part I'' (1926), and Petruchio in ''Taming of the Shrew'' (1927). In 1937 he starred in the murder mystery '' Blondie White'' in the West End. He made over 50 screen appearances, most memorably as Claudius in Laurence Olivier's 1948 film of ''Hamlet.'' He also appeared in classic films like ''Treasure Island'' (1950), '' Ivanhoe'' (1952), and ...
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Ernest Thesiger
Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger, CBE (15 January 1879 – 14 January 1961) was an English stage and film actor. He is noted for his performance as Doctor Septimus Pretorius in James Whale's film ''Bride of Frankenstein'' (1935). Biography Early life Third of the four children of Hon. Sir Edward Peirson Thesiger (1842–1928), KCB, Clerk Assistant to Parliament, and Georgina Mary, daughter of William Bruce Stopford Sackville, of Drayton House, Thrapston, Northamptonshire, of the family of the Earl of Courtown, and grandson of the 1st Lord Chelmsford, Thesiger was born in London, England. He was the first cousin once removed of the explorer and author Wilfred Thesiger (1910–2003), and the nephew of the 2nd Lord Chelmsford. Thesiger attended Marlborough College and the Slade School of Art with aspirations of becoming a painter, but quickly switched to drama, making his professional debut in a production of ''Colonel Smith'' in 1909. He also processed with the Men's League ...
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1945 Plays
1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: ** Germany begins Operation Bodenplatte, an attempt by the ''Luftwaffe'' to cripple Allied air forces in the Low Countries. ** Chenogne massacre: German prisoners are allegedly killed by American forces near the village of Chenogne, Belgium. * January 6 – WWII: A German offensive recaptures Esztergom, Hungary from the Russians. * January 12 – WWII: The Soviet Union begins the Vistula–Oder Offensive in Eastern Europe, against the German Army. * January 13 – WWII: The Soviet Union begins the East Prussian Offensive, to eliminate German forces in East Prussia. * January 16 – WWII: Adolf Hitler takes residence in the ''Führerbunker'' in Berlin. * January 17 ** WWII: The Soviet Union occupies Warsaw, Pola ...
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