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Young Woodley (play)
''Young Woodley'' is a 1925 play by the British writer John Van Druten. It concerns a schoolboy at a top British public school who falls in love with his headmaster's wife and is eventually expelled. Because of its negative depiction of public school life, and its controversial subject matter, the play originally was banned in the United Kingdom and only staged in 1928. However, it was a major success in the United States, and Van Druten moved there to work. The ban in Britain was lifted, and the play ran for over 400 performances in the West End, making a star of its lead Frank Lawton. It was revived at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 2007. It was included in Burns Mantle's ''The Best Plays of 1925-1926''. Adaptations A 1928 silent version '' Young Woodley'', directed by Thomas Bentley, was made at Cricklewood Studios but never released. In 1930 the play was adapted into a film by British International Pictures. It was directed again by Bentley with Lawton's reprising his ...
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John Van Druten
John William Van Druten (1 June 190119 December 1957) was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observations of contemporary life and society. Biography Van Druten was born in London in 1901, son of a Dutch father named Wilhelmus van Druten and his English wife Eva. He was educated at University College School and read law at the University of London. Before commencing his career as a writer, he practised law for a while as a solicitor and university lecturer in Wales. He first came to prominence with '' Young Woodley'', a slight but charming study of adolescence, produced in New York in 1925. However, it was banned in London by the Lord Chamberlain's office owing to its then controversial portrayal of a schoolboy falling in love with his headmaster's wife. In Britain, it was first produced privately (by Phyllis Whitworth's Three Hundred Club) ...
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Independent School (United Kingdom)
In the United Kingdom, independent schools () are fee-charging schools, some endowed and governed by a board of governors and some in private ownership. They are independent of many of the regulations and conditions that apply to state-funded schools. For example, pupils do not have to follow the National Curriculum, although, some schools do. They are commonly described as 'private schools' although historically the term referred to a school in private ownership, in contrast to an endowed school subject to a trust or of charitable status. Many of the older independent schools catering for the 12–18 age range in England and Wales are known as public schools, seven of which were the subject of the Public Schools Act 1868. The term "public school" derived from the fact that they were then open to pupils regardless of where they lived or their religion (while in the United States and most other English-speaking countries "public school" refers to a publicly-funded state schoo ...
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West End Theatre
West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1195, Along with New York City's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London. Famous screen actors, British and international alike, frequently appear on the London stage. There are a total of 39 theatres in the West End, with the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, opened in May 1663, the oldest theatre in London. The Savoy Theatre – built as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan – was entirely lit by electricity in 1881. Opening in October 2022, @sohoplace is the first new West End theatre in 50 years. The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) announ ...
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Frank Lawton
Frank Lawton Mokeley (30 September 1904 – 10 June 1969) was an English actor. His parents were stage players Daisy May Collier and Frank Lawton (I). His first major screen credit was ''Young Woodley'' (1930). In the mid-1930s, Lawton appeared in some Hollywood films, most significantly as the adult David Copperfield in MGM's classic literature adaptation of ''David Copperfield'' (1935). However, Lawton never made his big breakthrough in Hollywood and returned to British film and theatre. He was married to actress Evelyn Laye from 1934 until his death in 1969 aged 64. They acted together several times, including in the TV series '' My Husband and I''. During World War II, he joined the British Army in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps and rose to the rank of major. He was assigned as a liaison officer to the U.S. Army and ultimately was awarded the Legion of Merit, Degree of Legionnaire for his service. In the West End, he appeared in Alex Atkinson's '' Four Winds'' (1953) a ...
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Finborough Theatre
The Finborough Theatre is a fifty-seat theatre in the West Brompton area of London (part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) under artistic director Neil McPherson. The theatre presents new British writing, as well as UK and world premieres of new plays primarily from the English speaking world including North America, Canada, Ireland, and Scotland including work in the Scots language, alongside rarely seen rediscovered 19th and 20th century plays. The venue also presents new and rediscovered music theatre. The Finborough Arms The Finborough Arms was built in 1868 to a design by George Godwin and his younger brother Henry. It was one of five public houses built by Corbett and McClymont in the Earls Court area during the West London development boom of the 1860s. The pub opened in 1871. The ground floor and basement of the building was converted into The Finborough Road Brasserie from 2008 to 2010 and The Finborough Wine Cafe from 2010 to 2012. The pub reopened under i ...
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Burns Mantle
Robert Burns Mantle (December 23, 1873February 9, 1948) was an American theater critic. He founded the ''Best Plays'' annual publication in 1920.Chansky, Dorothy (2011)"Burns Mantle and the American Theatregoing Public" in ''Theatre History Studies'' (via Google Books). Vol. 31. Biography Mantle was born in Watertown, New York, on December 23, 1873, to Robert Burns Mantle and Susan Lawrence. As a child he moved to Denver, Colorado. By 1892, he was working as a linotype machine operator in California and then became a reporter. By the late 1890s, Mantle was working as a drama critic for the ''Denver Times''. He later moved to Chicago, Illinois, and then New York City, New York, in 1911. He was at the '' New York Evening Mail'' until 1922, and then the '' Daily News'' until his retirement in 1943. Mantle was succeeded as the drama critic at the ''Daily News'' by his assistant John Arthur Chapman.Staff (August 16, 1943)Burns Mantle Quits as Drama Reviewer" Associated Press ...
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Young Woodley (1928 Film)
''Young Woodley'' is a 1928 British silent drama film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring Marjorie Hume, Sam Livesey and Robin Irvine. The film was never released, and was subsequently remade by Bentley as a sound film '' Young Woodley'' in 1930. It was made at Cricklewood Studios.Wood p.66 It was based on the play '' Young Woodley'' by John Van Druten. This silent version was released to the home movie market running 8 x 200 ft reels, standard 8mm on Amber Stock. Premise The wife of a school headmaster becomes romantically involved with one of his pupils. Cast * Marjorie Hume as Laura Simmons * Sam Livesey as Doctor Simmons * Robin Irvine as Woodley * Carl Harbord as Ainger * Gerald Rawlinson as Vining * John Cromer as Mr Woodley * Tom Helmore Tom Helmore (4 January 1904 – 12 September 1995) was an English film actor. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1927 and 1972, including three directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Helmore was born in London, Englan ...
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Thomas Bentley
Thomas Bentley (23 February 1884 – 23 December 1966) was a British film director. He directed 68 films between 1912 and 1941. He directed three films in the early DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process, ''The Man in the Street'' (1926), ''The Antidote'' (1927), and ''Acci-Dental Treatment'' (1928). Bentley was born in St George Hanover Square, London and originally trained as an engineer but went on to become a vaudeville performer well known for impersonating the characters from the novels of Charles Dickens on stage, touring Britain and Australia.McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. p. 66-67; His directing career in silent films began in 1910 after he was signed by Cecil Hepworth to write and direct five adaptations of Dickens' novels. He would go on to helm more Charles Dickens adaptations throughout his career. After his retirement from directing in 1941 he became technical advisor to the ...
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Cricklewood Studios
Cricklewood Studios, also known as the Stoll Film Studios, were British film studios located in Cricklewood, London which operated from 1920 to 1938. Run by Sir Oswald Stoll as the principal base for his newly formed Stoll Pictures, which also operated Surbiton Studios, the studio was the largest in the British Isles at that time. It was later used for the production of "quota quickies" (to meet the requirements of the Cinematograph Films Act 1927). In 1938, the studios were sold off for non-film use. __NOTOC__ Fictional studios ''Cricklewood Greats'' was a 2012 spoof documentary created by Peter Capaldi for BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002
, about a different and entirely fictional film production company, also set in Cricklewood, w ...
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British International Pictures
Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC also owned approximately 500 cinemas in Britain by 1943, and in the 1950s and 60s owned a station on the ITV television network. The studio was partly owned by Warner Bros. from about 1940 until 1969; the American company also owned a stake in ABPC's distribution arm, Warner-Pathé, from 1958. It formed one half of a vertically integrated film industry duopoly in Britain with the Rank Organisation. History From 1927 to 1945 The company was founded during 1927 by Scottish solicitor John Maxwell after he had purchased British National Pictures Studios and its Elstree Studios complex and merged it with his ABC Cinemas circuit, renaming the company British International Pictures. The Wardour Film Company, with Maxwell as chairman, was the distributor of ...
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Madeleine Carroll
Edith Madeleine Carroll (26 February 1906 – 2 October 1987) was an English actress, popular both in Britain and America in the 1930s and 1940s. At the peak of her success in 1938, she was the world's highest-paid actress. Carroll is remembered for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's '' The 39 Steps'' (1935). She is also noted for largely abandoning her acting career after the death of her sister Marguerite in the London Blitz to devote herself to helping wounded servicemen and children displaced or maimed by the war. She was awarded both the Legion d'Honneur and the Medal of Freedom for her work with the Red Cross. Early life Carroll was born at 32 Herbert Street (now number 44) in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, daughter of John Carroll, an Irish professor of languages from County Limerick, and Helene, his French wife. She graduated from the University of Birmingham, with a B.A. degree in languages. While at university she appeared in some productions for the Birmingham Universit ...
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Sam Livesey
Samuel Livesey (14 October 1873 – 7 November 1936) was a Welsh stage and film actor. Life Livesey's father, Thomas, had been a railway engineer before leaving the industry to establish a travelling theatre with his wife Mary. The two had six children who all grew up working in the theatre. In 1893, after Thomas's death, Mary opened a purpose built theatre, the Prince of Wales in Mexborough. The family performed frequently on the stage and in touring productions. Sam and his brother Joseph married actresses who were themselves sisters: Sam married Margaret Ann Edwards in 1900 and Joseph married Mary Catherine Edwards in 1905. Sam and Margaret had two children who subsequently followed their profession, the actors Jack and Barry Livesey. But by 1913 both Joseph and Margaret Ann had died. Sam then married Mary Catherine and adopted her son Roger (his nephew) as his own. Roger Livesey also went on to become a highly successful stage and screen actor. The couple had a daughter tog ...
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