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Prince's Theatre
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. Opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, it was the last theatre to be built in Shaftesbury Avenue. History The theatre was designed for the Melville Brothers by Bertie Crewe and opened on 26 December 1911 with a production of ''The Three Musketeers''. It was originally named the New Prince's Theatre, becoming the Prince's Theatre in 1914. The original capacity of the auditorium is unknown, but with standing room in the Stalls it is possible that over 3000 people were able to attend performances. The current capacity is between 1300 and 1400. The Prince's was the last theatre to be built in Shaftesbury Avenue, and is located on the junction between Shaftesbury Avenue and High Holborn. During the First World War, the Prince's advertised itself as ‘The Laughter House where you can forget the War.’ In September 1919, the theatre had considerable success with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shaftesbury Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue is a major road in the West End of London, named after The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. It runs north-easterly from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus. From Piccadilly Circus to Cambridge Circus, it is in the City of Westminster, and from Cambridge Circus to New Oxford Street, it is in the London Borough of Camden. Shaftesbury Avenue was built between 1877 and 1886 by the architect George Vulliamy and the engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette, to provide a north–south traffic artery through the crowded districts of St. Giles and Soho. It was also part of a slum clearance measure, to push impoverished workers out of the city centre. Although the street's construction was stalled by legislation requiring rehousing some of these displaced residents, overcrowding persisted. --> Charles Booth's Poverty Map shows the neighbourhood makeup shortly after Shaftesbury Avenue opened. The avenue is generally considered th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 hands ruled out a musical career. She began her professional acting career with the company of the actor-manager Ben Greet, with whom she toured the US from 1904 to 1908. In Britain she played in old and new plays on tour and in the West End theatre, West End, often appearing with her husband, the actor and director Lewis Casson. She joined the the Old Vic, Old Vic company during the First World War, and in the early 1920s George Bernard Shaw, Bernard Shaw, impressed by seeing her in a tragedy, wrote ''Saint Joan (play), Saint Joan'' with her in mind. She starred in it with great success. She became known as Britain's leading tragedienne, but also appeared frequently in comedy. During the Second World War, Thorndike and her husband toured ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Shrike (play)
''The Shrike'' is a play written by American dramatist Joseph Kramm. The play won the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Plot The play, set in the mental ward of a city hospital, revolves around a theatrical director named Jim Downs, who has been driven to the verge of insanity and suicide by his estranged wife Ann. To outsiders, Ann seems to epitomize sweetness, kindness and graciousness. In reality, she is a bitter, manipulative shrew. Like the shrike, a small predatory bird that kills and impales its prey, Ann seems harmless but her coercion of Jim incapacitates his free will and traps him under her control. Ann married Jim in hopes that he eventually would gain wealth and stardom, and so his lack of success galls her. Her mockery and nagging led Jim to a suicide attempt when he swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills. The play opens with Jim's being admitted to the hospital, where doctors manage to save his life. Upon waking, Jim discovers that he is legally trapped in the hospital ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam Wanamaker
Samuel Wanamaker, (born Wattenmacker; June 14, 1919 – December 18, 1993) was an American actor and director who moved to the United Kingdom after becoming fearful of being blacklisted in Hollywood due to his communist views. He is credited as the person most responsible for saving The Rose Theatre, which led to the modern recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, where he is commemorated in the name of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the site's second theatre. Early life Wanamaker was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of tailor Maurice Wattenmacker (Manus Watmakher) and Molly (''née'' Bobele). His parents were Ukrainian Jews from Mykolaiv. He was the younger of two brothers, the elder being William, long-term cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He trained at the Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago (now at DePaul University) and at Drake University and began working with summer stock theatre companies in Chicago and northern Wisconsin, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as ''Man and Superman'' (1902), ''Pygmalion'' (1913) and '' Saint Joan'' (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to London in 1876, where he struggled to establish himself as a writer and novelist, and embarked on a rigorous process of self-education. By the mid-1880s he had become a respected theatre and music critic. Following a political awakening, he joined the gradualist Fabian Society and became its most prominent pamphleteer. Shaw had been writing plays for years ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buoyant Billions
''Buoyant Billions'' (1948) is a play by George Bernard Shaw. Written at the age of 92, it was his last full-length play. Subtitled "a comedy of no manners", the play is about a brash young man courting the daughter of an elderly billionaire, who is pondering how to dispose of his wealth after his death, a subject that was preoccupying Shaw himself at the time. Creation Shaw began work on the play in 1946, shortly after the end of World War II, but left it unfinished, returning to it in 1948. It was inspired by a Last Supper in Christian art, painting of the Last Supper. Shaw had the idea that a man about to die would be surrounded by people giving him advice on how to dispose of his assets. The play refers to recent political and scientific developments, notably the policies of the Attlee ministry, 1945–1950 Labour government and the invention of the atomic bomb. Characters *Junius *His Father *Clementina Buoyant *Bayano *The Chinese Priest *Sir Ferdinand Flopper *Tom Buoyant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marjorie Reynolds
Marjorie Reynolds (née Goodspeed; August 12, 1917 – February 1, 1997) was an American film/television actress and dancer, who appeared in more than 50 films, including the 1942 musical ''Holiday Inn'', in which she and Bing Crosby introduced the song " White Christmas" in a duet, albeit with her singing dubbed. Early life The daughter of a doctor and his wife, Reynolds was born Marjorie Goodspeed in Buhl, Idaho. She acted under the names Marjorie Goodspeed and Marjorie Moore. When she was three years old, her family moved to Los Angeles, California. She began to take dancing lessons at age 4. She attended Los Angeles High School. Career Beginning at age 6, Reynolds was a featured child actress in such silent films as ''Scaramouche'' (1923). At age 8 she stopped acting to concentrate on education until leaving school at 16 to play a ballerina in Herbert Brenon's ''Wine, Women and Song'' (1933). She went on to appear in bit parts in many films, including ''Gone with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Hylton
Jack Hylton (born John Greenhalgh Hilton; 2 July 1892 – 29 January 1965) was an English pianist, composer, band leader and impresario. Hylton rose to prominence during the British dance band era, being referred as the "British King of Jazz" and "The Ambassador of British Dance Music" by the musical press, not only because of his popularity which extended throughout the world, but also for his use of unusually large ensembles for the time and his polished arrangements. He mostly retired from the music industry after 1940, becoming a successful theatrical businessman until his death. Early life and career He was born John Greenhalgh Hilton in Great Lever near Bolton, Lancashire, the son of George Hilton, a cotton yarn twister. His father was an amateur singer at the local Labour Club and Hylton learned piano to accompany him on the stage. Hylton later sang to the customers when his father bought a pub in nearby Little Lever, becoming known as the "Singing Mill-Boy". He also perf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932. Though most famous for their visual spectacle, revues frequently satirized contemporary figures, news or literature. Similar to the related subforms of operetta and musical theatre, the revue art form brings together music, dance and sketches to create a compelling show. In contrast to these, however, revue does not have an overarching storyline. Rather, a general theme serves as the motto for a loosely-related series of acts that alternate between solo performances and dance ensembles. Owing to high ticket prices, ribald publicity campaigns and the occasional use of prurient material, the revue was typically patronized by audience members who earned more and felt even less restricted by middle-class ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Firth Shephard
Firth Shephard (27 April 1891 – 3 January 1949) was a British writer, theatre producer and presenter of plays. Shepherd attended The Grocers’ Company’s School in Downs Park Road, London,E.5. The Shepherd Show was Firth Shepherds headline variety concert in the 1930s and 40s. He was married to Constance Evans (died 1945). References 1891 births 1949 deaths British theatre managers and producers {{theat-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leslie Henson
Leslie Lincoln Henson (3 August 1891 – 2 December 1957) was an English comedian, actor, producer for films and theatre, and film director. He initially worked in silent films and Edwardian musical comedy and became a popular music hall comedian who enjoyed a long stage career. He was famous for his bulging eyes, malleable face and raspy voice and helped to form the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) during the World War II, Second World War. Born in Notting Hill, London, Henson became interested in the theatre from an early age, writing and producing theatrical pieces while at school. He studied with the Cairns James School of Musical and Dramatic Art as a child, making his professional stage début at the age of 19. His first West End theatre, West End role was in ''Nicely, Thanks!'' (1912) and he later starred in several hit West End Edwardian musical comedies, including ''To-Night's the Night (musical), To-Night's the Night'' (1915) and ''Yes, Uncle!'' (191 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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