''Keep Your Seats, Please'' is a 1936 British

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Monty Banks Montague (Monty) Banks (18 July 1897 – 7 January 1950), born Mario Bianchi, was a 20th century Italian-born American comedian, film actor, director and producer who achieved success in the UK and the United States. Career Banks was born Mario ...

and starring

George Formby George Formby, (born George Hoy Booth; 26 May 1904 – 6 March 1961) was an English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian who became known to a worldwide audience through his films of the 1930s and 1940s. On stage, screen and record he s ...

Florence Desmond Florence Dawson (31 May 1905 – 16 January 1993), better known by her stage name Florence Desmond, was an English actress, comedian and impersonator. Biography Early life and career Born in London in 1905, Desmond was educated at the Dame A ...

and Alastair Sim. It marked the film debut of the child star

Binkie Stuart Binkie Stuart (March 11, 1932 – August 4, 2001) was a Scottish film actress. During the 1930s she enjoyed brief fame as a child actress and was considered Britain's answer to Shirley Temple. Early life She was born as Elizabeth Alison Fra ...

. The film was made by

Associated Talking Pictures Associated may refer to: *Associated, former name of Avon, Contra Costa County, California * Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto, a school in Canada *Associated Newspapers, former name of DMG Media, a British publishing company See also *Associati ...

. The film follows a

farcical Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity or ...

plot based on the 1928 Russian

satirical novel Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

The Twelve Chairs ''The Twelve Chairs'' ( rus, Двенадцать стульев, Dvenadtsat stulyev) is a classic satirical novel by the Odesan Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, published in 1928. Its plot follows characters attempting to obtain jewelry hidden ...

'' by

Ilya Ilf Ilya Arnoldovich Ilf (born Iehiel-Leyb Aryevich Faynzilberg, russian: Иехи́ел-Лейб Арьевич Фа́йнзильберг) ( in Odessa – 13 April 1937, Moscow), was a popular Soviet journalist and writer of Jewish origin who usu ...

and Yevgeni Petrov. The film features Formby's

signature tune A signature song is the one song (or, in some cases, one of a few songs) that a popular and well-established recording artist or band is most closely identified with or best known for. This is generally differentiated from a one-hit wonder in th ...

, "

When I'm Cleaning Windows "When I'm Cleaning Windows" is a comedy song performed by Lancastrian comic, actor and ukulele player George Formby. It first appeared in the 1936 film ''Keep Your Seats, Please''. The song was credited as written by Formby, Harry Gifford and ...

Plot

George Withers learns he is supposed to inherit some valuable jewels from his aunt, and enlists the aid of his dubious lawyer to ensure he gets them. It transpires the stones are hidden in the lining of one of six antique chairs, and his aunt has left instructions for her nephew to purchase the chairs at auction. But unfortunately they are sold separately, as he arrives too late to bid.

Cast

as George Withers *

as Florrie *

Gus McNaughton Gus McNaughton (29 July 1881 – 18 November 1969), also known as Augustus Le Clerq and Augustus Howard, was an English film actor. He appeared in 70 films between 1930 and 1947. He was born in London and died in Castor, Cambridgeshire. He ...

as Max * Alastair Sim as A. S. Drayton *

Harry Tate Ronald Macdonald Hutchison (4 July 1872 – 14 February 1940), professionally known as Harry Tate, was an English comedian, who performed in the music halls, in variety shows, and in films. Career Born in Lambeth, the son of a Scottish tea m ...

as Auctioneer *

Enid Stamp-Taylor Enid Georgiana Stamp Taylor (12 June 1904 – 13 January 1946) was an English actress. Her childhood home was 17, Percy Avenue, in Whitley Bay, Northumberland, in what is now Tyne and Wear. Taylor first became known when she won a beauty pa ...

as Madame Louise *

Hal Gordon Hal Gordon (1894–1946) was a British film actor. A character actor, he appeared in over 90 films in both comic and straight roles. He started off as a lawyer's clerk but finding it dull he decided on the stage, making his music hall debut i ...

as Sailor * Tom Payne as Man from Child Welfare * Beatrix Fielden-Kaye as Woman from Child Welfare * Clifford Heatherley as Doctor Wilberforce *

as Binkie *

May Whitty May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

as Aunt Georgina Withers *

Harvey Braban Harvey Braban (19 May 1883, in Brighton, Sussex, UK – 1943) was a British stage actor. He also appeared in films between 1920–1938. Braban performed regularly in West End plays, and also occasionally on Broadway. From 1920 he began appe ...

as Detective Jones *

Ethel Coleridge Ethel Coleridge (14 January 1883 – 15 August 1976) was an English actress, best known for her roles in the original Aldwych farces in the 1920s and 1930s. Life and career Coleridge was born Ethel Coleridge Tucker in South Molton, Devonshire, a ...

as Spinster *

Syd Crossley Syd Crossley (18 November 1885 – 1 November 1960) was an English stage and film actor. Born in London in 1885, Crossley began his career as a music hall comedian. He appeared in more than 110 films, often cast as a butler, between 1925 an ...

as Bus Conductor * Maud Gill as Fanny Tidmarsh *

Jimmy Godden Jimmy Godden (11 August 1879 – 5 March 1955) was a British film actor. He was educated at Christ's Hospital and was in the Civil Service before becoming a concert pianist. Godden later turned to the stage and made his debut in pantomime at the ...

as X-Ray Doctor * Mike Johnson as Mr. O'Flaherty * Margaret Moffatt as Mrs. O'Flaherty *

Frank Perfitt Frank James Robert Perfitt (1880 – 1958) was a British film actor, born in Norwich, Norfolk in 1880. He died in Surrey in 1958. Selected filmography * '' The Flying Fifty-Five'' (1924) * '' Love and Hate'' (1924) * ''The Sins Ye Do'' (1924) * ...

as Bus Inspector

Critical references

Sky Movies Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema ...

wrote, "Formby's on form - especially singing 'Keep Your Seats, Please' and '

' -

's a much stronger leading lady that George usually had, and Alastair Sim made one of his first major impacts in films as the unscrupulous lawyer who also has his beady eye on the hidden fortune".

References

Bibliography

* Low, Rachael. ''Filmmaking in 1930s Britain''. George Allen & Unwin, 1985. * Perry, George. ''Forever Ealing''. Pavilion Books, 1994. * Wood, Linda. ''British Films, 1927-1939''. British Film Institute, 1986.

External links

{{The Twelve Chairs 1936 films British comedy films 1930s English-language films Films directed by Monty Banks 1936 comedy films Associated Talking Pictures Films set in England Films based on Russian novels Ilf and Petrov British black-and-white films 1930s British films