Spread a Little Happiness" is a song by the musical comedy composer

Vivian Ellis Vivian John Herman Ellis, CBE (29 October 1903 – 19 June 1996) was an English musical comedy composer best known for the song "Spread a Little Happiness" and the theme " Coronation Scot". Life and work Ellis was born in Hampstead, London in 1 ...

and writer

Clifford Grey Clifford Grey (5 January 1887 – 25 September 1941) was an English songwriter, librettist, actor and screenwriter. His birth name was Percival Davis, and he was also known as Clifford Gray. Grey contributed prolifically to West End and Br ...

from their 1929 West End musical ''

Mr. Cinders ''Mr Cinders'' is a 1928 musical with music by Vivian Ellis and Richard Myers and a libretto by Clifford Grey and Greatrex Newman. The story is an inversion of the Cinderella fairy tale with the gender roles reversed. The Prince Charming char ...

''. In the original production it was sung by

Binnie Hale Beatrice "Binnie" Mary Hale-Monro (22 May 1899 – 10 January 1984) was an English actress, singer and dancer. She was one of the most successful musical theatre stars in London in the 1920s and 1930s, able to sing leading roles in operetta a ...

as the character Jill Kemp;Gänzl and Lamb, pp. 131–132 a recording of her performance of the song was released by Columbia in 1929. In 1982, the song was sung in a revival of ''Mr Cinders'' at the

King's Head Theatre The King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an off-West End venue in London. It is the second oldest operating pub theatre in the UK. In 2021, Mark Ravenhill became Artistic Director and the theatre focusses on producing LGBTQ ...

, London and later at the

Fortune Theatre The Fortune Theatre is a 432-seat West End theatre on Russell Street, near Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster. Since 1989 the theatre has hosted the long running play ''The Woman in Black''. History The site was acquired by author, playw ...

after the show was transferred there. In this revised version the song was sung by Jim Lancaster, the male lead, rather than by Jill. The song was used as the theme tune for a 2009 BBC Radio 4 comedy series of the same title, written by

John Godber John Harry Godber (born 18 May 1956) is known mainly for observational comedies. The ''Plays and Players Yearbook'' of 1993 rated him the third most performed playwright in the UK after William Shakespeare and Alan Ayckbourn. He has been cre ...

and Jane Thornton, set in a Yorkshire sandwich bar.

Sting version

In 1982, English musician

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

covered the song for the soundtrack of the film ''

Brimstone and Treacle ''Brimstone and Treacle'' is a 1976 BBC television play by Dennis Potter. Originally intended for broadcast as an episode of the series '' Play for Today'', it remained untransmitted until 1987. The play was made into a film version (released i ...

'', reaching number 16 in the UK.

Charts

Weekly charts

Other usage

Comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series ''

The Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

'', published by the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

imprint

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

, includes a piece of the song in issue #6 ''24 hours'' (1989), written by

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...

and illustrated by

Mike Dringenberg Mike Dringenberg (born ) is an American comics artist best known for his work on DC Comics/Vertigo's ''Sandman'' series with writer Neil Gaiman. Early life Mike Dringenberg was born in Laon, France and raised in Germany before moving to the Un ...

and

Malcolm Jones III Malcolm Jones III (1959–1996) was an American comic book artist best known as an inker on '' The Sandman'', where he added his illustrative line and textures to the work of pencillers such as Mike Dringenberg, Kelley Jones, and Colleen Doran. ...

''The Sandman'' #6 (1989)

References

Sources

* * Songs from musicals 1929 songs {{musical-theat-stub