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The French Mistress
''The French Mistress'' is a comedy play by the British entertainer Sonnie Hale under the pen name Robert Munro about the arrival of a new young French teacher at a traditional public school. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre in June 1955. Four years later it enjoyed a West End run of 185 performances, first at the Adelphi Theatre before transferring to the Prince's Theatre. The cast included Hugh Wakefield and Richard Bird. Cast and Performance Locations Performed at The Adelphi Theatre, Strand, London, 13 Jun 1959; presented by Jack Hylton; directed by Joan Riley; settings by Denis Wreford Transferred to: The Prince's Theatre, London, closing performance, 21 Nov 1959; The Theatre Royal, Windsor, Apr 1959 Originally at: The Wimbledon Theatre, 20 Jun 1955; directed by Robert Monro On tour: 1956: The Lyceum, Edinburgh Casts: Sonnie Hale, Kathleen St John, John Law, Nigel Beard, Robin Lloyd, Juliet Winsor, Bruce Heighley, Kenneth Outwin, Olive Milbourne, Sydney King, Nicholas ...
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Sonnie Hale
John Robert Hale-Monro (1 May 1902 – 9 June 1959), known as Sonnie Hale, was an English actor, screenwriter, and director. Early life John Robert Hale-Monro was born in Kensington, London, the son of Belle Reynolds and actor Robert Hale. His sister, Binnie Hale, was also an actress. Hale was educated at Beaumont College."Mr. Sonnie Hale." Times ondon, England10 June 1959: 14. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 19 August 2016. Career He worked chiefly in musical and revue theatre, but also acted in several films with occasional screenwriting or directing credits. He first performed on stage at the London Pavilion in 1921 in the chorus of the revue ''Fun of the Fayre''. A major personal investment in a show to tour the country planned for late 1939 proved financially ruinous due to the outbreak of war and the subsequent closure of most theatres. His slight acquaintance Evelyn Waugh advised him against such an investment. His reply was reported to be the sardonic "War is ...
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A French Mistress
''A French Mistress'' is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Cecil Parker, James Robertson Justice, Agnès Laurent, Ian Bannen, Raymond Huntley, Irene Handl and Thorley Walters. It is based on a stage play, ''The French Mistress'' by Sonnie Hale under the pen name Robert Monro, first produced in 1955 at the Theatre Royal Windsor, starring Hale. Production Production was filmed at Shoreditch Training College, Englefield Green, Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, formerly the Royal Indian Engineering College. Plot summary A young French woman, Madaleine Lafarge, is unintentionally appointed as the French teacher at an English public school for boys, which is not used to having women teachers. She causes a stir with pupils and other school staff, and complications ensue. A romance develops between Lafarge and the headmaster's son who is also a teacher at the school. This is a cause of concern for the headmaster when he comes to believe that she ...
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Comedy Plays
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term originated in ancient Greece: in Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by political satire performed by comic poets in theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance pitting two groups, ages, genders, or societies against each other in an amusing '' agon'' or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions posing obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth then becomes constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to resort to ruses wh ...
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1955 Plays
Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijiangshan Islands: The Chinese Communist People's Liberation Army seizes the islands from the Republic of China (Taiwan). * January 22 – In the United States, The Pentagon announces a plan to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), armed with nuclear weapons. * January 23 – The Sutton Coldfield rail crash kills 17, near Birmingham, England. * January 25 – The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union announces the end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1941. * January 28 – The United States Congress authorizes President Dwight D. Eisenhower to use force to protect Formosa from the People's Republic of China. February * February 10 – The United States Seventh Fleet helps t ...
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Denis Cannan
Denis Cannan (14 May 1919 – 25 September 2011Denis Cannan(obituary)
'''', 17 October 2011)
) was a British dramatist, playwright and script writer. Born Denis Pullein-Thompson, the son of Captain Harold J. Pullein-Thompson and novelist , he changed his name by deed poll in 1964. His younger sisters were ,



Tamahine
''Tamahine'' is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Philip Leacock and starring Nancy Kwan, Dennis Price and John Fraser. It is a film about a Polynesian woman who believes she can change the culture of Hallow School, a British boys' boarding school. The story was filmed at Wellington College in county Berkshire. The film had its World Premiere on 18 July 1963 at the Empire, Leicester Square in London's West End.The Times, 18 July 1963, Page 2 Plot When her father dies, orphan teenager Tamahine is sent from her South Pacific island home to live with Charles Poole, her father's cousin and the headmaster of Hallow, a prestigious all-male school in England. Richard, Charles' son and school student, falls in love with her, but she considers him tabu because of the closeness of their family relationship. Another suitor is the art master, Clove, after he breaks up with Charles' daughter Diana. Meanwhile, Tamahine has trouble adjusting to the puzzling social mores of her n ...
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Ian Bannen
Ian Edmund Bannen (29 June 1928 – 3 November 1999) was a Scottish actor with a long career in film, on stage, and on television. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in '' The Flight of the Phoenix'' (1965), the first Scottish actor to receive the honour, as well as two BAFTA Film Awards for his performances in Sidney Lumet's ''The Offence'' (1973) and John Boorman's '' Hope and Glory'' (1987). On stage, he was renowned for his interpretations of William Shakespeare and Eugene O'Neill, and was an original member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He won the 1981 Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Brian Friel's ''Translations''. Early life Bannen was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, the son of Clare (née Galloway) and John James Bannen, a lawyer. After attending St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and Ratcliffe College, Leicestershire, Bannen served in Egypt as a corporal in the British Army.
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James Robertson Justice
James Robertson Justice (15 June 1907 – 2 July 1975) was a British actor. He is best remembered for portraying pompous authority figures in comedies including each of the seven films in the ''Doctor'' series. He also co-starred with Gregory Peck in several adventure movies, notably '' The Guns of Navarone''. Born in south-east London, he exaggerated his Scottish roots but was prominent in Scottish public life, helping to launch Scottish Television (STV) and serving as Rector of the University of Edinburgh. Biography The son of Aberdeen-born mining engineer James Norval Justice and Edith (née Burgess), James Robertson Justice was born James Norval Harald Justice in Lee, a suburb of Lewisham in South East London, in 1907. Educated at Marlborough College in Wiltshire, Justice studied science at University College London, but left after a year and became a geology student at the University of Bonn, where he again left after just a year. He spoke many languages (possibly up ...
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Agnès Laurent
Agnès Laurent (28 January 1936 – 16 February 2010) was a French actress.Agnès Laurent , BFI
. Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk (2 July 2015). Retrieved on 2015-10-16. She mainly acted in France, but is perhaps known in the United Kingdom for playing the title role in the British comedy film '' A French Mistress''.


Selected filmography

* '''' (1956) * '' Mannequins of Paris'' (1956) * ''



Cecil Parker
Cecil Parker (born Cecil Schwabe, 3 September 1897 – 20 April 1971) was an English actor with a distinctively husky voice, who usually played supporting roles, often characters with a supercilious demeanour, in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969. Career Parker was born in Hastings, Sussex, the second son (and fifth of six children) of German-born Charles August Schwabe, manager of the Albany Hotel, Hastings, and his English wife Kate (née Parker), a church organist. He was educated at St Francis Xavier College, and at Bruges in Belgium.Who's Who in the Theatre by John Parker (11th Edition) (1952) (London) He served with the Royal Sussex Regiment in the First World War, reaching the rank of sergeant. He began his theatrical career in London in 1922, adopting the surname "Parker" from his mother's maiden name. He made his first film appearance in 1933 and subsequently became a familiar face in British and occasionally American films until his death. He appeared less ...
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Roy Boulting
John Edward Boulting (21 December 1913 – 17 June 1985) and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting (21 December 1913 – 5 November 2001), known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers and identical twins who became known for their series of satirical comedies in the 1950s and 1960s. They produced many of their films through their own production company, Charter Film Productions, which they founded in 1937. Early life The twin brothers were born to Arthur Boulting and his wife Rosetta (Rose) ''née'' Bennett in Bray, Berkshire, Bray, Berkshire, England, on 21 December 1913. John was the elder by half an hour. John was named Joseph Edward John Boulting and Roy was named Alfred Fitzroy Clarence Boulting. Their elder brother Sydney Boulting became an actor and Theatrical producer, stage producer as Peter Cotes; he was the original director of ''The Mousetrap''. A younger brother, Guy, died aged eight. Both twins were educated at Reading School, where they formed a fi ...
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Pearson Dodd
Pearson may refer to: Organizations Education *Lester B. Pearson College, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada *Pearson College (UK), London, owned by Pearson PLC *Lester B. Pearson High School (other) Companies *Pearson PLC, a UK-based international media conglomerate, best known as a book publisher **Pearson Education, the textbook division of Pearson PLC ***Pearson-Longman, an imprint of Pearson Education *Pearson Yachts Places *Pearson, California (other) *Pearson, Georgia, a US city *Pearson, Texas, an unincorporated community in the US *Pearson, Victoria, a ghost town in Australia *Pearson, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community in the US *Toronto Pearson International Airport, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada *Pearson Field, in Vancouver, Washington, US *Pearson Island, an island in South Australia which is part of the Pearson Isles *Pearson Isles, an island group in South Australia Other uses *Pearson (surname) *Pearson correlation coefficient, a statistical mea ...
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