|
Harry Grattan
Harry Grattan (c. 1867 – 25 September 1951) was a British stage actor, singer, dancer and writer best known for his performances in musical comedies in the decades around 1900. Life and career Gratton started early as a child actor (along with his sister, Emilie), playing in ''Rip Van Winkle'' (1875), ''Slave Life'' (1875), ''Orson'' in 1876 (a show written for him and his sister by their father, H. P. Grattan), ''Little Goody Two-Shoes'' (1876) and ''Little Red Riding Hood; or, Harlequin Grandmama'' (1877). He played Captain Corcoran in the "Children's Pinafore" in 1879–80 at the Savoy Theatre The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy Pala ... (Emilie played Josephine). ''The Era'' wrote that, in the role, he was "very successful indeed, and looked the character completely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New Aladdin
''The New Aladdin'' is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts by James T. Tanner and W. H. Risque, with music by Ivan Caryll, Lionel Monckton, and additional numbers by Frank E. Tours, and lyrics by Adrian Ross, Percy Greenbank, W. H. Risque, and George Grossmith, Jr. It was produced by George Edwardes at the Gaiety Theatre, opening on 29 September 1906 and running for 203 performances. The London production starred Grossmith, Harry Grattan (who also choreographed), Lily Elsie, Edmund Payne and Gaby Deslys (making her London debut). Gertie Millar, the established star of the Gaiety soon became available and replaced Elsie in the leading role, but shortly thereafter ''The Merry Widow'' made Elsie a big star. The Aladdin story had been dramatised extensively in England before and was very popular in pantomime versions, but this was the first book musical on the subject. P. G. Wodehouse wrote a comic dramatisation of the creation of ''The New Aladdin'' called "The Cooks and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1951 Deaths
Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United Kingdom announces abandonment of the Tanganyika groundnut scheme for the cultivation of peanuts in the Tanganyika Territory, with the writing off of £36.5M debt. * January 15 – In a court in West Germany, Ilse Koch, The "Witch of Buchenwald", wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment. * January 20 – Winter of Terror: Avalanches in the Alps kill 240 and bury 45,000 for a time, in Switzerland, Austria and Italy. * January 21 – Mount Lamington in Papua New Guinea erupts catastrophically, killing nearly 3,000 people and causing great devastation in Oro Province. * January 25 – Dutch author Anne de Vries releases the first volume of his children's novel '' Journey Through the Nigh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1867 Births
Events January–March * January 1 – The Covington–Cincinnati Suspension Bridge opens between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, in the United States, becoming the longest single-span bridge in the world. It was renamed after its designer, John A. Roebling, in 1983. * January 8 – African-American men are granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia. * January 11 – Benito Juárez becomes Mexican president again. * January 30 – Emperor Kōmei of Japan dies suddenly, age 36, leaving his 14-year-old son to succeed as Emperor Meiji. * January 31 – Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Bey Karam leaves Lebanon aboard a French ship for Algeria. * February 3 – ''Shōgun'' Tokugawa Yoshinobu abdicates, and the late Emperor Kōmei's son, Prince Mutsuhito, becomes Emperor Meiji of Japan in a brief ceremony in Kyoto, ending the Late Tokugawa shogunate. * February 7 – West Virginia University is established in Morgantown, West Virginia. * Febru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betty Bolton
Betty Bolton (7 January 1906 – 2 April 2005) was a British actress, beginning as a child star during World War I and continuing her career in the 1920s and 1930s. She was one of the first performers to appear on early British television. Early life and career Bolton made her debut in 1916, at the age of 10, in a revue called ''Some'', at the Vaudeville Theatre in London. Gertrude Lawrence was the principal dancer. Bolton's mother Maud was a West End stage manager. 'Betty', as she was originally billed (no surname), played in several revues by Harry Grattan, such as ''Odds and Ends'' and ''Mind Your Backs'' during World War I, some of them produced by Andr Charlot, playing precocious children. Photographs from two of these revues, including ''Cheep'' (1917) and ''Back Again'' (1919), show her remarkable powers of facial expression. The last show in which she performed as a child was the musical fantasy ''Fifinella'', in late 1919. Adult career Bolton was a versatile performer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
André Charlot
André Eugène Maurice Charlot (26 July 1882 – 20 May 1956) was a French impresario known primarily for the successful musical revues he staged in London between 1912 and 1937. He also worked as a character actor in numerous films. Early life and career Born in Paris, Charlot began his career as the assistant manager of several theatres in the French capital, including the Folies Bergère and the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. In 1912 he relocated to London and became the joint manager of the Alhambra Theatre, where he began presenting productions noted for their elegance and simplicity rather than lavish Ziegfeld-like stagings. Although he was instrumental in giving Noël Coward his first big break, Charlot's first meeting with the aspiring writer was less than successful. In 1917, Coward auditioned some of his material for the producer, who was unimpressed. "He plays the piano badly and sings worse," he complained to Beatrice Lillie, who had introduced the two men, adding, " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighting occurring throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of Asia. An estimated 9 million soldiers were killed in combat, plus another 23 million wounded, while 5 million civilians died as a result of military action, hunger, and disease. Millions more died in genocides within the Ottoman Empire and in the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war. Prior to 1914, the European great powers were divided between the Triple Entente (comprising France, Russia, and Britain) and the Triple Alliance (containing Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy). Tensions in the Balkans came to a head on 28 June 1914, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronald Jeans
Ronald Jeans (10 May 1887 – 16 May 1973) was a British playwright with a career spanning nearly 50 years. Early life Ronald Jeans was born in Oxton, Merseyside, the younger son of Sir Alexander Grigor Jeans (1849–1924), the founder and managing editor of the '' Liverpool Post and Mercury'', and his wife, Ellen Gallon (d. 1889). Career According to his entry in the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', "Between the 1930s and 1955 he was one of the West End's most reliable sources of undemanding, expertly crafted social comedy." Jeans wrote the 1916 short revue "Oh, Law!" produced by Fred Karno, which was a revue version of Karno's most famous sketch "Mumming Birds." The plot of "Oh, Law!" centered on a dispute between rival revue producers in a copyright battle over the fictional show "Have a Banana!". It starred Vernon Watson as lead comic, impersonating music hall stars of the day. Selected plays *''Hullo, Repertory!'' (1915) *''No Reflection on the Wife'' (1915) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivor Novello
Ivor Novello (born David Ivor Davies; 15 January 1893 – 6 March 1951) was a Welsh actor, dramatist, singer and composer who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. He was born into a musical family, and his first successes were as a songwriter. His first big hit was " Keep the Home Fires Burning" (1914), which was enormously popular during the First World War. His 1917 show, ''Theodore & Co'', was a wartime hit. After the war, Novello contributed numbers to several successful musical comedies and was eventually commissioned to write the scores of complete shows. He wrote his musicals in the style of operetta and often composed his music to the libretti of Christopher Hassall. In the 1920s he turned to acting, first in British films and then on stage, with considerable success in both. He starred in two silent films directed by Alfred Hitchcock, '' The Lodger'' and ''Downhill'' (both 1927). On stage, he played the title charact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hitchy-Koo
''Hitchy-Koo'' is a 1912 American popular song and a series of musical revues, inspired by the song, staged on Broadway each year from 1917 through 1920 and on tour in 1922. Described by ''Variety'' magazine as a "hit song of 1912", the song was composed by Lewis F. Muir and Maurice Abrahams with lyrics by L. Wolfe Gilbert. Historian Eve Golden stated that the song is "a popular standard from the second-wave of ragtime tunes". Ian Whitcomb wrote that it was one of the first American popular songs to influence musical taste and culture in the United Kingdom with the "invasion of American popular music" in 1912. History First published and performed in 1912, "Hitchy-Koo" was a staple of the vaudeville repertoire in the 1910s and 1920s, enjoying popularity in both American and British theatres. The song was first recorded in 1912 for Columbia Records by the vaudeville comedy duo Collins & Harlan. Other vaudeville entertainers who performed the work included Fanny Brice. The song was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miss Hook Of Holland
''Miss Hook of Holland'' is an England, English musical theatre, musical comedy (styled a "Dutch Musical Incident") in two acts, with music and lyrics by Paul Rubens (composer), Paul Rubens with a book by Austen Hurgon and Rubens. The show was produced by Frank Curzon and opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 31 January 1907, running for a very successful 462 performances. It starred Harry Grattan and Isabel Jay. The show also had a Broadway run starring Bertram Wallis and an Australian production in 1907 and enjoyed various tours and revivals, including a 1914 revival starring Phyllis Dare. There was also a "matinee version" of the show called ''Little Miss Hook of Holland'', played by children for children. The musical was popular with amateur theatre groups, particularly in Britain, from 1911 through the 1950s.Bond, Ian"Rarely Produced Shows". St. David's Players, Retrieved 22 July 2010 1907 was a busy year on the London stage with numerous other notable openings, inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Spring Chicken
''The Spring Chicken'' is an Edwardian musical comedy adapted by George Grossmith, Jr. from ''Coquin de Printemps'' (1897) by Jaime and Duval, with music by Ivan Caryll and Lionel Monckton and lyrics by Adrian Ross, Percy Greenbank and Grossmith.Howarth, Paul and Colin Johnson"''The Spring Chicken''" British Musical Theatre, Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 2 November 2016Gillan, Don Stage Beauty, accessed 15 April 2022 Produced by George Edwardes at the Gaiety Theatre in London, it opened on 30 May 1905. It ran for a very successful 401 performances. The London production starred Grossmith, Harry Grattan, and Gertie Millar, with Henry Lytton later joining the cast. ''The Spring Chicken'' had a Broadway run in 1906 and toured in Britain and America. Roles * Gustave Babori (Advocate) – George Grossmith, Jr. * Boniface (His Head Clerk) – Lionel Mackinder * Baron Papouche (His Client) – Harry Grattan * Félix (Head Waiter at "The Crimson Butterfly") – Robert Nai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
