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The Happy Day
''The Happy Day'' is a musical comedy in two acts by Seymour Hicks, with music by Sidney Jones and Paul Rubens, and lyrics by Adrian Ross and Rubens. It was produced by George Edwardes's company (by the estate's executor, Robert Evett) and was directed by Evett. The story concerns a royal couple who dislike each other but ultimately fall in love. A masquerade scene provides opportunities for mistaken identity. The musical opened at Daly's Theatre in London on 13 May 1916 and ran for 241 performances. It starred Winifred Barnes, José Collins and Arthur Wontner, who played the Ruritanian prince. Later Bertram Wallis joined the cast. Background ''The Happy Day'' opened during World War I in the same year as three other tremendously successful shows in London: ''Chu Chin Chow'', ''Theodore & Co'' and ''The Bing Boys are Here''. Audiences, including servicemen on leave, wanted light and uplifting entertainment during the war, and these shows delivered it. The show was Jones's l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sidney Jones (composer)
James Sidney Jones (17 June 1861 – 29 January 1946), usually credited as Sidney Jones, was an English conductor and composer, who was most famous for composing the musical scores for a series of musical comedy hits in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. Jones's most famous musical was ''The Geisha'', but several of his pieces were among the most popular shows of the era, enjoying long runs, international tours and revivals. In 1892, after nine years of conducting touring companies of British operettas for Alfred Cellier and George Edwardes, Edwardes engaged Jones to conduct several operettas and musical comedies in London. Jones had begun composing incidental music and supplemental songs for some of the shows he conducted and even wrote scores of his own in 1889 and 1892. In 1893, one of his songs, "Linger Longer, Loo", composed for the 1892 burlesque ''Don Juan'' at the Gaiety Theatre, became popular throughout the English-speaking world. Jones's first hit show was ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bertram Wallis
Bertram Wallis (22 February 1874 – 11 April 1952) was an English actor and singer known for his performances in plays, musical comedies and operettas in the early 20th century, first as leading men and then in character roles. He also later appeared in several film roles. Early years Wallis was born in London. He was the son of Frederick Augustus Wallis and Sarah Mary (née Williams). A huge man who stood almost 7 feet tall, he won the Westmorland Scholarship to study voice at the Royal Academy of Music, where he won the Parepa-Rosa gold medal and the Evill Prize. After his studies, his first role was Amiens in George Alexander's production of ''As You Like It'' in 1896. Edward German composed the music for the production, and Wallis's performance of his songs won praise: "Mr. Bertram Wallis as Amiens sings his solos so well as to quite justify Jacques's remark, 'More, I pr'y thee, more'." Soon afterwards, he played in ''Much Ado About Nothing'', his last production of a Sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West End Musicals
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance languages (''ouest'' in French, ''oest'' in Catalan, ''ovest'' in Italian, ''oeste'' in Spanish and Portuguese). As in other languages, the word formation stems from the fact that west is the direction of the setting sun in the evening: 'west' derives from the Indo-European root ''*wes'' reduced from ''*wes-pero'' 'evening, night', cognate with Ancient Greek ἕσπερος hesperos 'evening; evening star; western' and Latin vesper 'evening; west'. Examples of the same formation in other languages include Latin occidens 'west' from occidō 'to go down, to set' and Hebrew מַעֲרָב maarav 'west' from עֶרֶב erev 'evening'. Navigation To go west using a compass for navigation (in a place where magnetic north is the same dire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1916 Musicals
Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Empire, British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled. * January 9 – WWI: Gallipoli Campaign: The last British troops are evacuated from Gallipoli, as the Ottoman Empire prevails over a joint British and French operation to capture Constantinople. * January 10 – WWI: Erzurum Offensive: Russia defeats the Ottoman Empire. * January 12 – The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, part of the British Empire, is established in present-day Tuvalu and Kiribati. * January 13 – WWI: Battle of Wadi (1916), Battle of Wadi: Ottoman Empire forces defeat the British, during the Mesopotamian campaign in modern-day Iraq. * January 29 – WWI: Paris is bombed by German Empire, German zeppelins. * January 31 – WWI: An attack is planned on Verdun, France. February * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lauri De Frece
Lauri de Frece (3 March 1880 – 25 August 1921) was an English actor and singer who appeared in musical theatre and in films of the silent era. His original name was Maurice de Frece. He was the younger brother of Walter de Frece and the husband of Fay Compton. He was sometimes been confused with a cousin called Lawrence Abraham de Frece, who was born in 1881 and died later the same year. Life Born in Liverpool, Lauri de Frece was one of four sons of Harry de Frece, of the Gaiety Music Hall, Liverpool, a prosperous theatrical manager and agent from a Jewish theatrical family. The four sons were well educated at the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, in the hope of keeping them out of the theatre. However, Frece's brother Jack became the manager of the Alhambra Wooden Theatre, Liverpool, his brother Isaac managed the Theatre Royal, Liverpool, and in 1890 his brother Walter gave up an apprenticeship with a Merseyside architect to marry Vesta Tilley, taking a job in the o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Illustrated London News
''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in 2003. The company continues today as Illustrated London News Ltd, a publishing, content, and digital agency in London, which holds the publication and business archives of the magazine. History 1842–1860: Herbert Ingram ''The Illustrated London News'' founder Herbert Ingram was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, in 1811, and opened a printing, newsagent, and bookselling business in Nottingham around 1834 in partnership with his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Cooke.Isabel Bailey"Ingram, Herbert (1811–1860)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 17 September 2014] As a newsagent, Ingram was struck by the reliable increase in newspaper sales when they featured pictures and shocking stories. Ingram beg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Bing Boys Are Here
''The Bing Boys Are Here'', styled "A Picture of London Life, in a Prologue and Six Panels," is the first of a series of revues which played at the Alhambra Theatre, London during the last two years of World War I. The series included ''The Bing Boys on Broadway'' and ''The Bing Girls Are There''. The music for them was written by Nat D. Ayer with lyrics by Clifford Grey, who also contributed to ''Yes, Uncle!'', and the text was by George Grossmith, Jr. and Fred Thompson (writer), Fred Thompson based on Rip and Bousquet's ''Le Fils Touffe''. Other material was contributed by Eustace Ponsonby, Philip Braham and Ivor Novello. ''The Bing Boys Are Here'' opened in 1916 in the West End and ran for 378 performances. It was one of the three most important musical hits of the London stage during World War I (the other two being ''The Maid of the Mountains'' and ''Chu Chin Chow''); music or scenes from all of these have been included as background in many films set in this period, and they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theodore & Co
''Theodore & Co'' is an English musical theatre, musical comedy in two acts with a book by H. M. Harwood and George Grossmith Jr. based on the French comedy ''Théodore et Cie'' by Paul Armont and Nicolas Nancey, with music by Ivor Novello and Jerome Kern and lyrics by Adrian Ross and Clifford Grey. It was produced by Grossmith and Edward Laurillard and directed by Austen Hurgon, opening at the Gaiety Theatre, London, Gaiety Theatre on 19 September 1916 and running for 503 performances. It starred Grossmith, Fred Leslie and Leslie Henson. ''Theodore & Co'' opened during World War I in the same year as two other tremendously successful shows in London: ''Chu Chin Chow'' and ''The Bing Boys are Here'', and the successful ''The Happy Day''. Audiences wanted light and uplifting entertainment during the war, and these shows delivered it. Victoria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chu Chin Chow
''Chu Chin Chow'' is a musical comedy written, produced and directed by Oscar Asche, with music by Frederic Norton, based (with minor embellishments) on the story of ''Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves''. Gänzl, Kurt"''Chu Chin Chow'' Musical Tale of the East In 3 Acts, Music by Frederic Norton" Operetta Research Center, 9 July 2016 The piece premièred at His Majesty's Theatre in London on 3 August 1916 and ran for five years and a total of 2,238 performances (more than twice as many as any previous musical), a record that stood for nearly forty years until ''Salad Days''. The show's first American production in New York, with additional lyrics by Arthur Anderson, played for 208 performances in 1917–1918, starring Tyrone Power."Chu Chin Chow (1934): A Robust Operetta ... [...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] |
Arthur Wontner
Arthur Wontner (21 January 1875 – 10 July 1960) was a British actor best known for playing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's master detective Sherlock Holmes in five films from 1931 to 1937. Career Wontner's acting career began on the stage where he played such roles as Tybalt in ''Romeo and Juliet'', Bassanio in ''The Merchant of Venice'', Bunny Manders in '' Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman'' and Cardinal Richelieu in ''The Three Musketeers'' (1930, West End). In 1926, Wontner appeared in '' The Captive'' alongside Basil Rathbone, both of whom went on to play Sherlock Holmes on film. Sherlock Holmes Wontner landed the role of Sherlock Holmes thanks to his performance of Holmes imitation Sexton Blake in a 1930 stage production. He played the famed sleuth in five films from 1931 to 1937. *''The Sleeping Cardinal'' (1931) (US title: ''Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour''), based on Doyle's two stories, "The Final Problem" and "The Adventure of the Empty House" *''The Missing Rembrandt'' (19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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