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The Boy Friend (musical)
''The Boy Friend'' (sometimes misrepresented ''The Boyfriend'') is a musical by Sandy Wilson. Its original 1954 London production ran for 2,078 performances, briefly making it the third-longest running musical in West End or Broadway history (after '' Chu Chin Chow'' and ''Oklahoma!'') until they were all surpassed by '' Salad Days''. ''The Boy Friend'' marked Julie Andrews' American stage debut. Set in the carefree world of the French Riviera in the Roaring Twenties, ''The Boy Friend'' is a comic pastiche of 1920s shows, in particular early Rodgers and Hart musicals such as '' The Girl Friend''. Its relatively small cast and low cost of production makes it a continuing popular choice for amateur and student groups. Sandy Wilson wrote a sequel to ''The Boy Friend''. Set ten years later, and, appropriately, a pastiche of 1930s musicals, in particular those of Cole Porter, it was titled ''Divorce Me, Darling!'' and ran for 91 performances at London's old Globe Theatre in 1965 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandy Wilson
Alexander Galbraith "Sandy" Wilson (19 May 1924 – 27 August 2014) was an English composer and lyricist, best known for his musical '' The Boy Friend'' (1953). Biography Wilson was born in Sale, Cheshire, England, and was educated at Harrow School. In 1942 he won a State Scholarship for a wartime course at SOAS and was assigned to study Japanese. He was thus one of the so-called 'Dulwich Boys' who studied at SOAS and boarded at Dulwich College. While there he put together a satirical review titled 'A Matter of Course' based on his experiences on the Japanese course. He was one of the few not to complete the course and he subsequently served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in Great Britain, Egypt and Iraq. After the war he went to Oriel College, Oxford and while a student wrote revues for the Oxford University Experimental Theatre Club and then attended the Old Vic Theatre School on a production course. Most of his work for the stage was material for revues, such as Hermione ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Ransom Center
The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the purpose of advancing the study of the arts and humanities. The Ransom Center houses 36 million literary manuscripts, one million rare books, five million photographs, and more than 100,000 works of art. The center has a reading room for scholars and galleries which display rotating exhibitions of works and objects from the collections. In the 2015–16 academic year, the center hosted nearly 6,000 research visits resulting in the publication of over 145 books. History Harry Ransom founded the Humanities Research Center in 1957 with the ambition of expanding the rare books and manuscript holdings of the University of Texas. He acquired the Edward Alexander Parsons Collection, the T. Edward Hanley Collection, and the Norman Bel Geddes Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Hewer
John Hewer (13 January 1922 – 16 March 2008) was an English actor and business manager who became familiar with audiences for playing Captain Birdseye in ads for Birds Eye. Biography Hewer was born in Leyton, Essex, the son of an engine driver. He attended Leyton High School following which he worked for the Social Services Department for London County Council (LCC) dealing with people who had problems paying their rent. During World War II when he served as a navigator in the Fleet Air Arm, with which he travelled to Vancouver and the Caribbean and witnessed the result of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hiroshima bombing. During the war Hewer performed with a group that entertained other service personnel.John Hewer: Icon of TV advertisements - ''T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Berry (actor)
Eric Berry (9 January 1913 – 2 September 1993) was a British stage and film actor. Biography Eric Berry was born in London on 9 January 1913 to parents Frederick William Berry and Anna Lovisa Danielson. He attended the City of London School and trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Berry was briefly married to actress Constance Carpenter. He died of cancer on 2 September 1993 in Laguna Beach, California. Career Eric Berry made his first stage appearance in April 1931 in a production of ''Spilt Milk'' at what was then known as the Everyman Theatre, Hampstead. He made his West End theatre debut the following year in a production of ''The Cathedral'' at what is now the Noël Coward Theatre, then referred to as the New Theatre. Berry first appeared on Broadway in September 1954 as Percival Browne in a production of '' The Boy Friend'' at the Royale Theatre, a production which set a record for the longest-running Broadway production of a British musical. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royale Theatre
The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (formerly the Royale Theatre and the John Golden Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 242 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp in a Spanish style and was built for real-estate developer Irwin S. Chanin. It has 1,100 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. Both the facade and the auditorium interior are New York City landmarks. The facade is designed in a Spanish style with golden brick, terracotta, and stone and is divided into two sections. The western portion of the facade contains the theater's entrance, with five double-height arched windows and a curved pediment above. The eastern portion is the stage house and is topped by a loggia. The auditorium contains Spanish-style detailing, a large balcony, and an expansive vaulted ceiling. The auditorium's interior features murals by Willy Pogany a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Berry In The Boy Friend 1955
The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* aina(z)'', meaning "one, alone, unique", ''as in the form'' ''Æ∆inrikr'' explicitly, but it could also be from ''* aiwa(z)'' "everlasting, eternity", as in the Gothic form ''Euric''. The second element ''- ríkr'' stems either from Proto-Germanic ''* ríks'' "king, ruler" (cf. Gothic ''reiks'') or the therefrom derived ''* ríkijaz'' "kingly, powerful, rich, prince"; from the common Proto-Indo-European root * h₃rḗǵs. The name is thus usually taken to mean "sole ruler, autocrat" or "eternal ruler, ever powerful". ''Eric'' used in the sense of a proper noun meaning "one ruler" may be the origin of ''Eriksgata'', and if so it would have meant "one ruler's journey". The tour was the medieval Swedish king's journey, when newly elected, to s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Violetta Farjeon
Violetta à Beckett Williams (27 September 1923—16 July 2015) was an English actor and singer who spoke fluent French and specialised in the performance of roguish and sometimes suggestive French chansons. For most of World War II she entertained Free French Forces in London and then joined the ''Late Joys'' Victorian music hall company at the Players' Theatre. She made her name with a five-year West End run playing "Hortense" in the Players' original 1953 London production of Sandy Wilson's pastiche 1920s musical '' The Boy Friend''. In her work in musical comedy she used as her stage name the single word Violetta. As an actor she was styled by her married name, Violetta Farjeon. Early life Farjeon was born in Kensington, London on 27 September 1923 to Captain Christopher à Beckett Williams (1890—1956) and Aimée Violet Evelyn Theyre (1886—1962).England and Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1923 Births Her father was an English classical composer and arranger, a write ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Sterndale-Bennett
Joan Sterndale-Bennett (5 March 191427 April 1996) was a British stage and film actress, best known as a character comedian for her work at the Players' Theatre in London. Career Born into a musical family, her father Thomas Case Sterndale Bennett was a songwriter, entertainer and a grandson of the composer William Sterndale Bennett. Her mother Christine Bywater was a professional oratorio singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and later with the American choreographer Buddy Bradley, she started with repertory in 1933 in ''Strange Orchestra'' at Worthing before moving to London's West End. From 1938 she appeared in the Herbert Farjeon reviews ''Nine Sharp'', ''Diversion'', ''Light and Shade'', ''In Town Again'' and the pantomime ''The Glass Slipper''. In that same year at the invitation of Leonard Sachs she joined the Players Theatre which was to be the start of a forty-year association at the home of traditional music hall in London and which provided her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Paddick
Hugh William Paddick (22 August 1915 – 9 November 2000) was an English actor. He starred in the 1960s BBC radio show ''Round the Horne'', performing in sketches such as "Charles and Fiona" (as Charles) and "Julian and Sandy" (as Julian). He and Kenneth Williams were largely responsible for introducing the underground language polari to the British public. Paddick also enjoyed success as Percival Browne in the original West End production of '' The Boy Friend'', in 1954. Biography Born in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, Paddick preferred theatre to any other form of acting and spent most of his life on the stage, from his first role while at acting school in 1937 until his retirement. He appeared in the original Drury Lane production of ''My Fair Lady'' as Colonel Pickering. He was also an accomplished musician – singer, pianist and organist. He can be heard at the piano accompanying Julian and Sandy in a number of their sketches on both ''Round the Horne'' and ''The Bona World of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anne Rogers
Anne Rogers (born 29 July 1933) is an English actress, dancer, and singer. Career Anne Rogers was born in Liverpool and began her stage career at the age of 15. She was in the original London production of '' The Boy Friend'', playing the female lead of Polly Browne for nearly four years. She was unable to play in the Broadway production of ''The Boy Friend'' because of London commitments, but later went to the U.S. to play Eliza Doolittle in the Hollywood and Chicago productions of ''My Fair Lady'', winning the Sarah Siddons Award for her performance. After two years, she returned to London to play the same role for three years at the Theatre Royal (Drury Lane). She appeared on Broadway in "Half a Sixpence" and "42nd Street.When she played Jessie Matthews in the 2000 West End production of "Over My Shoulder," the Telegraph welcomed her back as a "marvelous old trouper." [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime, and was head of state of 15 realms at the time of her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch and the longest verified reign of any female monarch in history. Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon the abdication of his brother Edward VIII, making the ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth the heir presumptive. She was educated privately at home and began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In November 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, a former pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916. It was designed to seat 759 patrons on three levels; later refurbishment increased this to four seating levels. The theatre was Grade II* listed by English Heritage in September 1960. History Wyndham had always dreamed of building a theatre of his own, and through the admiration of a patron and the financial confidence of friends, he was able to realise his dream. Wyndham's Theatre opened on 16 November 1899, in the presence of the Prince of Wales. The first play performed there was a revival of T. W. Robertson's ''David Garrick''. A number of successes followed, including Lena Ashwell playing the lead role in '' Mrs Dane's Defence'' in 1900, upon which Wyndham said that “''the app ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
