OTD in early British television: 10 July 1935
John Wyver writes: Under producer Eustace Robb, the BBC’s 30-line Television service mounted increasingly elaborate productions of classic ballets. Among his most enthusiastic collaborators was former Diaghilev star Lydia Sokolova, who first adapted the one-act Cléopâtre which Michel Fokine had originally choreographed for Diaghilev in 1909. Sokolova followed up with an adaptation of George Balanchine’s The Gods go a’Begging, and on consecutive Wednesdays 3 and 10 July 1935 a version of Fokine’s 1910 Carnaval, to music by Schumann.
Born Hilda Tansley Munnings in Essex, Sokolova was given her stage name by Diaghilev when she joined his company in 1913. She danced with Nijinsky and led the touring company in Leonide Massine’s celebrated 1920 The Rite of Spring. On Diaghilev’s death, she returned to Britain to teach and choreograph, and to collaborate on early television ballets.
Carnaval seems to have been the most delicate, most exquisite ballet Michel Fokine ever created, as well as the most difficult to pinpoint. As was the case with many of his works, the roles depended to a large degree upon the talents of the original performers, and if one looks at just the steps (except for the one Harlequin solo) they are almost simplistic.
It was the infusion of lightness, gaiety, coyness, and self-absorption, combined with an underlying sadness—all of which must be contributed by the dancers—that resulted in what most critics of the time regarded as a most effective adaptation of Schumann’s music and characters.
The image shows Lydia Sokolova as Columbine, Travis Kemp as Pierrot, Stanley Judson as Eusebius (Kemp and Judson were billed in each other’s role) and, as Pantalon, Algeranoff.
[OTD post no. 205; part of a long-running series leading up to the publication of my book Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain in January 2026.]
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