John Wyver writes: a second selection, after too long a break, of articles, video and audio that have especially engaged me over the past week and more.
• Advent Sunday in old money – day 7: professional designer Martin Cater is one of many creating an online Advent calendar, and in his case he is writing delightfully and in a very personal way about different aspects of the popular culture of Christmas. Over the first week, he has cast his eye over tins of biscuits, artificial Christmas trees, fairy lights, sweets, decorations, baubles, and yesterday’s link is about visits to Santa’s grotto – for those of us of a certain age there’s so much here to enjoy (with thanks to Billy Smart for the tip).
John Wyver writes: We might celebrate the television of 8 December 1937 for the one and only appearance of the Trapp Family Singers led by George von Trapp. Formed after winning a singing competition in Salzburg the previous year, the siblings and their father were now on a European tour. They would flee Austria in 1938, settle in the United States, and eventually inspire the 1959 Broadway hit The Sound of Music and the spectacularly successfui film six years later.
John Wyver writes: On this day, Tuesday 7 December 1937, Harry Rutherford squeezed himself into a corner of the crowded Studio A at Alexandra Palace, or so I believe, and made preliminary sketches for his painting ‘Starlight’, the most vivid and alluring image of pre-war television (above).
The contrast between the brightly illuminated elegance of the costumed couple, and the dark mysteries of the dolly-mounted Emitron, the delicate fishing-rod mic, and the looming lamps, is perfectly judged. The finished painting currently graces the reading room of the BBC Written Archives Centre at Caversham, although I fear it fails to receive the attention that it deserves from researchers focussed on their scholarly missions.
John Wyver writes: The afternoon of 6 December 1937 saw the first presentation from Alexandra Palace of what became the most popular production among pre-war dramas. Once in a Lifetime by Moss Hart and George Kaufman, adapted for television by producer Eric Crozier (there’s a production shot above), was played six times, including this matinee, with its last outing in early 1939. A satire about Hollwood, which premiered in New York in 1930, and now given a year and a month after the start of the AP service, this was also the most ambitious television staging to date, and the first programme to run continuously for the hitherto unimaginable length of 90 minutes.
John Wyver writes: There are some surprising names among those who appeared on the 30-line Television service operated by the BBC between 1932 and 1935. Tuesday 5 December 1933 saw the first of two appearances by the then 28-year-old Agnes de Mille, the great American dancer and Broadway choreographer. On this occasion the PasB described her simply as ‘the character dancer’, and she shared a high end variety bill with soprano Vivian Lambelet (not the focus here, but the link will take you to a fascinating article by Christopher Reynolds) and Russian tenor Maxim Turganoff. Seventy years later, and a decade after her death, de Mille appeared on the 2004 37c US postage stamp that is pictured.
John Wyver writes: One of the true eccentricities of performance presented from Alexandra Palace in the later 1930s was the cycle of masques staged by H.D.C. Pepler. On this day, 4 December 1937, mime and mask artist Pepler, working with producer Stephen Thomas, with whom he regularly collaborated, presented a masque based on Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Working with an original score by Cyril Clarke, and with the poem read by Dennis Arundell, a cast of ten, including Pepler himself, and some in masks that Pepler had made, mimed and danced with rhythmic movements for a half-hour afternoon show. (The image is from an earlier Pepler and Thomas masque, The Eve of St Agnes, which we’ll get to.)
John Wyver writes: on the afternoon of this day, Friday 3 December 1937, four members of The Irish Players came to Alexandra Palace at short notice to play Lady Gregory‘s one-act drama The Rising of the Moon. They were a late replacement for Laurence Olivier and Judith Anderson who were booked to give scenes from Michel Saint-Denis’s Old Vic production of Macbeth. But that theatre’s powerhouse, Lilian Baylis, had died just a week before and those giving the Scottish play, to which we will return, postponed their visit. Remarkably, The Rising of the Moon is one of the very few pre-war television dramas of which we have something like a moving image record.
John Wyver writes: ‘First let me say that… Love From a Stranger was, beyond all possible doubt, a winner on the television screen. This play is, as you know, a flesh-creeping affair.’ That’s Grace Wyndham Goldie writing on George More O’Ferrall’s presentation (above) of Frank Vosper’s play adapted from an Agatha Christie short story, first shown on this day, Friday 2 December 1938. The 70-minute drama starring Edna Best and Henry Oscar was played from 9.10pm.
John Wyver writes: I have been in the habit, although not recently, of posting twelve links at the weekend of articles, including audio and video, that have especially engaged me during the past week. Now that I have come back to the blog, and now that it’s December already, I am going to return to making this selection also, at least for today. I tend to avoid well-known sources, and occasionally embrace challenging academic contributions, but in general expect (comparatively) long reads on film, the visual arts, performance, digital culture and literature, plus the occasional dash of explicit politics. Oh, and the Boss.
• Crime, conspiracy and the prospect of chaos: four filmic triumphs from Louis Feuillade: Geoff Andrew’s tribute to the master of French silent film is engaging and erudite, and linked to a Blu-ray box set from Eureka that Andrew hails as ‘a marvellous chance to discover four cinematic treasures from a major filmmaker too often neglected. They are exciting, mysterious, sinister, surreal, chilling, witty, tender, sexy, funny, innocent, sophisticated, timely… and ceaselessly imaginative and entertaining.’ Indeed. Above is a shot from Tih Minh (1918), and this is the trailer…
John Wyver writes: on this St Andrew’s Day in 1932, the 30-line Television service, which for the three months past had been operated by the BBC, presented an ambitious Scotland-themed variety show. Woolwich-born Helen McKay (real name: Ruby Ellen Northover) sang Scottish songs, as did renowned actually Scottish opera singer William Heughan, and Ernest MacPherson contributed violin solos including ‘Loch Lomond’. But I suspect the highlight was an appearance by Pipers of the Scots Guards, although it’s not entirely clear quite how many turned up.
