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Our Boys
''Our Boys'' is a comedy in three acts written by Henry James Byron, first performed in London on 16 January 1875 at the Vaudeville Theatre. Until it was surpassed by the run of ''Charley's Aunt'' in the 1890s, it was the world's longest-running play, up to that time, with 1,362 performances until April 1879. Theatre owner David James (1839–93) was Perkyn in the production. The production also toured extensively. The play contains the famous line, "Life’s too short for chess." The piece played in New York in 1875, at the New Fifth Avenue Theatre, and in 1907 at the Lyric Theatre. It also played in Philadelphia. Arthur Williams appeared in a 1914 London revival of the piece. Roles *Sir Geoffrey Champneys (a county magnate) – William Farren Jr. *Talbot Champneys (his son, a washed-out youth) – Thomas Thorne *Perkyn Middlewick (a retired butterman) – David James *Charles Middlewick (his aristocratic-looking son) – Charles Warner *Poddles (Middlewick's butler) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Farren Jr
William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of England in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will, Wills, Willy, Willie, Liam, Bill, and Billy. A common Irish form is Liam. Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie or the play ''Douglas''). Female forms are Willa, Willemina, Wilma and Wilhelmina. Etymology William is related to the German given name ''Wilhelm''. Both ultimately descend from Proto-Germanic ''*Wiljahelmaz'', with a direct cognate also in the Old Norse name ''Vilhjalmr'' and a West Germanic borrowing into Medieval Latin ''Willelmus''. The Proto-Germanic name is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sophie Larkin
Sophie Larkin (1833–1903) was an English actress of the late Victorian era. She created roles in plays by T. W. Robertson and in the long-running play ''Our Boys'' by H. J. Byron. Life Larkin's London debut was in 1865 at the Prince of Wales's Theatre in ''Naval Engagements''. At the same theatre she subsequently appeared in leading roles in the original productions of plays by T. W. Robertson: in November 1865 as Lady Ptarmigant in ''Society''; in September 1866 as Lady Shendryn in ''Ours''; and in April 1867 as the Marquise de Saint-Maur in '' Caste''."Larkin, Sophie". Charles E Pascoe, editor. ''The Dramatic List: a record of the performances of living actors and actresses of the British stage''. 1880. Robertson in these plays wrote the parts to suit the resident actors and actresses. In January 1868 at St James's Theatre she created the part of Mrs Erskine Meek in ''The Needful'', a comedy by H. T. Craven, and in the following month appeared in a revival of Craven's ''The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amy Roselle
Amy Roselle (28 May 1852 – 17 November 1895), born Amy Louise Roselle Hawkins was an English actress who performed in Britain, the US and Australia. She specialised in Shakespearean roles but also played parts in contemporary dramas. She married Arthur Dacre, and the two toured together with their own theatre company, eventually traveling to Australia. In a murder-suicide pact, her husband shot her dead in 1895. Biography Roselle was the eleventh of the thirteen children of William Hawkins (1807–1878). Her mother's maiden name was Rowsell, from which she took her stage name. Although she later claimed that her father was the headmaster of the Glastonbury Grammar School, according to the census returns he was an insurance agent (1851) and later an unemployed commercial traveller (1861). Her brother Percy was a dwarf and played children's parts into adulthood in pantomimes at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane as "Master Percy Roselle". Sims, George R. ''My Life: Sixty Years' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kate Bishop (actress)
Kate Alice Bishop (1848 – 12 June 1923) was an English actress from Bristol, a member of a theatrical family. Her brother and daughter were also successful actors. Her greatest success was in ''Our Boys'', which ran for more than four years in London. She temporarily retired from the theatre in the late nineteenth century, and returned to play character roles in the early years of the twentieth century. Biography Bishop was born into a theatrical family, the daughter of Charles Bishop. She began acting as a child in Bristol in 1863.''The Times obituary notice'', 13 June 1923, p. 14 Her brother Alfred also successfully entered the theatrical profession. Their grandfather, James Would, shared with William Macready at one time the management of the historic theatre at Bath. Career As a young girl Bishop was a member of Mr J. H. Chute's Bristol company, which included Madge Kendal, Henrietta Hodson and Ellen Terry. In 1868, Bishop appeared with Edward Askew Sothern in a revival o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Lestocq
William Lestocq (born Lestock Boileau Wooldridge; 1852 – 16 October 1920) was a British theatre manager, playwright, and actor.(20 October 1920)William Lestocq (obituary) ''New York Tribune''(20 October 1920)William Lestocq is Dead ''The Evening World'' He was born in Winchester, Hants, adopting his stage name when he began acting seriously in 1869. He was a member of the Vaudeville Theatre company from 1873 to 1885, where his parts included being in the original cast of ''Our Boys'' (1875).(3 November 1897). A Chat With Mr. W. Lestocq, ''The Sketch'', p. 82 A nephew was Humphrey Lestocq, film star. His authorship credits (often as co-author) include the plays ''A Bad Penny'' (1882), ''The Sultan of Mocha'' (1887), ''Uncles and Aunts'' (1888), ''In Danger'' (1889), ''Jane'' (1890) (with Harry Nicholls), ''The Sportsman'' (1893) (adaptation of ''Monsieur chasse!'' by Georges Feydeau), and ''The Foundling'' (1894) (with E.M. Robson). [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David James (actor, Born 1839)
David James (born David Belasco; 1839 – 2 October 1893) was an English comic actor and one of the founders of London's Vaudeville Theatre. He was born in London to a family of Sephardic Jewish origin. He made his stage debut as a child actor at the Princess's Theatre, London, then managed by Charles Kean. As a young man. he appeared in various burlesques. One of his best roles during that time was as Mercury in Francis Burnand's ''Ixion'', which he performed in its 1863 premiere at the Royalty Theatre.''Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906)"James, David (David Belasco" Retrieved 9 February 2014. Rubinstein, William D.; Jolles, Michael; Rubinstein, Hilary L. (2011)''The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History'' p. 471. Palgrave Macmillan. In 1870 he joined Henry James Montague and Thomas Thorne as the first managers of the newly opened Vaudeville Theatre where his greatest success was as Perkyn Middlewick in Henry James Byron's ''Our Boys'' which opened on 16 January 1875 and ran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Thorne
Thomas Thorne (1841–1918) was an English actor and theatre manager. Thomas Thorne was one of the founding managers of London's Vaudeville Theatre, along with David James and Henry James Montague, and performed leading roles in many of the productions there. His father was Richard Samuel Thorne, who managed the Surrey Theatre. His older sister, Sarah Thorne, was an actress. His younger brother, George Thorne, was also an actor, best known for his performances in the comic baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. His nephew was the actor Frank Gillmore, and his great-nieces the actresses Ruth Gillmore and Margalo Gillmore. Thorne was married to Adelaide Newton, whom he had met when they were both actors with the Royal Strand Theatre, but the marriage was not a happy one. According to Erroll Sherson, Thomas Thorne died penniless and insane.Sherson (1925) p. 225 References Sources * Sherson, Erroll''London's lost theatres of the nineteenth cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Williams (actor)
Arthur Williams (9 December 1844 – 15 September 1915) was an English actor, singer and playwright best remembered for his roles in comic operas, musical burlesques and Edwardian musical comedies. As a playwright, Williams wrote several farces as well as some dramas. Born in Islington, London, Williams initially went into business as a law stationer but soon left to take up acting in 1861 when he was 17. He travelled to Gravesend, Kent, where he made his stage début as Alfred Martelli in "The Corsican Brothers". He made his London stage debut at the St James's Theatre in 1868, where his roles included Thomas in ''The Secret'', Baron Factotum in a burlesque of ''Sleeping Beauty'', and Moses in ''The School for Scandal''. After playing in dramas in the 1870s, he appeared in comic operas in the 1880s, in which he created the roles Sir Mincing Lane in ''Billee Taylor'', Sir Whiffle Whaffle in ''Claude Duval'', Amaranth CVIII in ''Lord Bateman'', his most famous role, Lurcher in ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since 1854, the city has been coextensive with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the Delaware Valley, the nation's seventh-largest and one of world's largest metropolitan regions, with 6.245 million residents . The city's population at the 2020 census was 1,603,797, and over 56 million people live within of Philadelphia. Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Quaker. The city served as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony during the British colonial era and went on to play a historic and vital role as the central meeting place for the nation's founding fathers whose plans and actions in Philadelphia ultimately inspired the American Revolution and the nation's inde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charley's Aunt
''Charley's Aunt'' is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. The story centres on Lord Fancourt Babberley, an undergraduate whose friends Jack and Charley persuade him to impersonate the latter's aunt. The complications of the plot include the arrival of the real aunt and the attempts of an elderly fortune hunter to woo the bogus aunt. The play concludes with three pairs of young lovers united, along with an older pair – Charley's real aunt and Jack's widowed father. The play was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds in February 1892. It then opened in London at the Royalty Theatre on 21 December 1892 and quickly transferred to the larger Globe Theatre on 30 January 1893. The production broke the historic record for longest-running play worldwide, running for 1,466 performances. It was produced by the actor W. S. Penley, a friend of Thomas, who appeared as Babberley. The play was also a success on Broadway in 1893, and in Paris, where it had further ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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