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The Letter (play)
''The Letter'' is a 1927 play by W. Somerset Maugham, dramatised from a short story that first appeared in his 1926 collection ''The Casuarina Tree''. The story was inspired by the real-life Ethel Proudlock case which involved the wife of the headmaster of Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur who was convicted in a murder trial after shooting dead a male friend in April 1911. She was eventually pardoned. Synopsis In the play, the action takes place in the house of a plantation owner, Robert Crosbie, and his wife Leslie in the then-British colony of British Malaya, Malaya, and later in the Chinese quarter of Singapore. With the husband away on business, the wife claims that she shot her husband's friend, Geoff Hammond, in self-defence, following an attempted rape; it is later revealed that Hammond was her lover, but had rejected her in favour of a native woman. The play focuses on the steps taken by the wife's lawyer to convince the court of her innocence, following the discovery ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Casuarina Tree
''The Casuarina Tree'' is a collection of short stories set in the Federated Malay States during the 1920s by W. Somerset Maugham. It was first published by the UK publishing house, Heinemann, on September 2, 1926. The first American edition was published shortly afterwards on September 17, 1926 by George H. Doran. It was re-published by Collins in London under the title ''The Letter: Stories of Crime''. The book was published in French translation as ''Le Sortilège Malais'' (1928) and in Spanish as ''Extremo Oriente'' (1945). The stories are loosely based on Maugham's experiences traveling with his companion Gerald Haxton in the region for six months in 1921 and four months in 1925. He published a second set of short stories based on these travels, '' Ah King'', in 1933. Maugham was considered ''persona non grata'' among the expatriate British community in the Federated Malay States following the publication of ''The Casuarina Tree'' as he was felt to have betrayed confiden ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinemann (publisher)
William Heinemann Ltd., with the imprint Heinemann, was a London publisher founded in 1890 by William Heinemann. Their first published book, 1890's ''The Bondman'', was a huge success in the United Kingdom and launched the company. He was joined in 1893 by Sydney Pawling. Heinemann died in 1920 and Pawling sold the company to Doubleday, having worked with them in the past to publish their works in the United States. Pawling died in 1922 and new management took over. Doubleday sold his interest in 1933. Through the 1920s, the company was well known for publishing works by famous authors that had previously been published as serials. Among these were works by H. G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, W. Somerset Maugham, George Moore, Max Beerbohm, and Henry James, among others. This attracted new authors to publish their first editions with the company, including Graham Greene, Edward Upward, J.B. Priestley and Vita Sackville-West. Throughout, the company was also known for its classics an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internet Broadway Database
The Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It was conceived and created by Karen Hauser in 1996 and is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community. This comprehensive history of Broadway provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre in the 18th century up to today. Details include cast and creative lists for opening night and current day, song lists, awards and other interesting facts about every Broadway production. Other features of IBDB include an extensive archive of photos from past and present Broadway productions, headshots, links to cast recordings on iTunes or Amazon, gross and attendance information. Its mission was to be an interactive, user-friendly, searchable database for League members, journalists, researchers, and Broadway fans. The League recently added Broadway Touring shows t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Letter (1940 Film)
''The Letter'' is a 1940 American crime melodrama directed by William Wyler, and starring Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall and James Stephenson. The screenplay by Howard E. Koch is based on the 1927 play of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham derived from his own short story. The play was first filmed in 1929, by director Jean de Limur. The story was inspired by a real-life scandal involving the wife of the headmaster of a school in Kuala Lumpur who was convicted in a murder trial after shooting dead a male friend in April 1911. She was eventually pardoned. Plot On a moonlit, tropical night, the native workers are asleep in their outdoor barracks. A shot is heard; the door of a house opens, and a man stumbles out of it, followed by a woman who calmly shoots him several more times, the last few while standing over his body. The woman is Leslie Crosbie, the wife of a British rubber plantation manager in Malaya; her manservant recognizes the man whom she shot as Geoff Hammond, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Wyler
William Wyler (; born Willi Wyler (); July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a Swiss-German-American film director and producer who won the Academy Award for Best Director three times, those being for ''Mrs. Miniver'' (1942), ''The Best Years of Our Lives'' (1946), and '' Ben-Hur'' (1959), all of which also won for Best Picture. In total, he holds a record twelve nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director. Born in Alsace, then in Germany, but later part of France, Wyler was a troublemaker in the schools of his youth. He immigrated to United States in 1921, working first for Universal Studios in New York before moving to Los Angeles. By 1925, he was the youngest director at Universal, and in 1929 he directed '' Hell's Heroes'', Universal's first sound production filmed entirely on location. In 1936, he earned his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director for '' Dodsworth'', starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton and Mary Astor, "sparking a 20-year run of alm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeanne Eagels
Jeanne Eagels (born Eugenia Eagles; June 26, 1890 – October 3, 1929) was an American stage and film actress. A former Ziegfeld Girl, Eagels went on to greater fame on Broadway and in the emerging medium of sound films. She was posthumously nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her 1929 role in '' The Letter'' after dying suddenly that year at the age of 39. Early life Eugenia Eagles was the second of six children born to Edward, of German and French Huguenot descent, and his wife Julia Eagles (née Sullivan), who was of Irish descent. Her birth year – depending on the source – is given as 1888, 1890 (official bio year), 1891, 1892, 1893 (death certificate), or 1894. Jeanne, who later changed the spelling of her surname to "Eagels", would later claim that her father was a Spanish architect and she was born in Boston. In reality, she was born in Kansas City, Missouri and her father was a carpenter. Eagels attended St. Joseph's Catholic School and Mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest film studio in the United States (behind Universal Pictures), and the sole member of the Major film studio, "Big Five" film studios located within the city limits of Los Angeles. In 1916, film producer Adolph Zukor put 24 actors and actresses under contract and honored each with a star on the logo. In 1967, the number of stars was reduced to 22 and their hidden meaning was dropped. In 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital form only. The company's headquarters and studios are located at 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, California. Paramount Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, Motion Picture Associ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Letter (1929 Film)
''The Letter'' is an American pre-Code dramatic film directed by Jean de Limur and released by Paramount Pictures. It was the first full-sound feature shot at Astoria Studios, Queens, New York City. A silent version of the film was also released. The film stars stage actress Jeanne Eagels in her final role and O.P. Heggie. The film was adapted by Garrett Fort from the 1927 play '' The Letter'' by W. Somerset Maugham. It tells the story of a jealous married woman who kills her lover and is brought to trial. Plot Bored and lonely living on her husband's rubber plantation, Leslie Crosbie takes a lover, Geoffrey Hammond, but he eventually tires of her and takes a Chinese mistress, Li-Ti. When Leslie learns of Geoffrey's new mistress, she insists on seeing him while her husband is away and tries to rekindle his love. However, Geoffrey is not moved and informs Leslie that he prefers Li-Ti. Leslie becomes enraged and shoots Geoffrey repeatedly. At the murder trial, Leslie perjures her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean De Limur
Jean de Limur (13 November 1887, Vouhé, Charente-Maritime – 5 June 1976, Paris) was a French film director, actor and screenwriter. His works include '' La Garçonne'' (1936) and '' The Letter'' (1929). A French army officer and a designer, he first came to the United States with his parents, Count and Countess de Limur in September 1920; their destination was Burlingame, California, where lived Jean's brother André (who married Ethel, daughter of William Henry Crocker). Filmography * '' The Arab'' (1924) actor * ''Human Desires'' (1924) * ''The Legion of the Condemned'' (1928) co-screenplay * '' The Letter'' (1929) director * ''Jealousy'' (1929) director * '' My Childish Father'' (1930) * '' Paprika'' (1933) director * ''L'Auberge du Petit-Dragon'' (1935) * '' La Garçonne'' (1936) director; with Arletty, Edith Piaf Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Andrews
Anthony Colin Gerald Andrews (born 12 January 1948) is an English actor. He played Lord Sebastian Flyte in the ITV miniseries ''Brideshead Revisited'' (1981), for which he won Golden Globe and BAFTA television awards, and was nominated for an Emmy. His other lead roles include ''Operation Daybreak'' (1975), ''Danger UXB'' (1979), ''Ivanhoe'' (1982) and ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' (1982), and he played UK Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin in ''The King's Speech'' (2010). Early life and career Andrews was born in London, the son of Geraldine Agnes (née Cooper), a dancer, and Stanley Thomas Andrews, an arranger and conductor for the BBC. He grew up in North Finchley, London. At the age of eight, he took dancing lessons, making his stage debut as the White Rabbit in a stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll's ''Alice in Wonderland''. He attended the Royal Masonic School for Boys in Bushey, Hertfordshire. After a series of jobs that included catering, farming and journalism, he secured a po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jenny Seagrove
Jennifer Ann Seagrove (born 4 July 1957) is an English actress. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and first came to attention playing the lead in a television dramatisation of Barbara Taylor Bradford's '' A Woman of Substance'' (1984) and the film '' Local Hero'' (1983). She starred in the thriller ''Appointment with Death'' (1988) and William Friedkin's horror film ''The Guardian'' (1990). She later played Louisa Gould in ''Another Mother's Son'' (2017). She is known for her role as the character of Jo Mills in the long-running BBC drama series ''Judge John Deed'' (2001–07). Early life Seagrove was born Jennifer Ann Seagrove in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya (now Malaysia) in 1957, to British parents, Pauline and Derek Seagrove. Her father ran an import-export firm, which afforded the family a privileged lifestyle. When Seagrove was less than a year old, her mother suffered a stroke, and was unable to care for her. Seagrove attended St Hilary's School in Godalming, ... [...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 English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ... 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 Ed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
