Gay Divorce - Programme & Insert, 1934
Title
Gay Divorce - Programme & Insert, 1934
Date
24 September 1934
Description
Full programme for Cole Porter musical Gay Divorce, plus separate insert in regard to the following week's performance by Sir John Martin Harvey.
What's the story?
Cole Porter’s musical Gay Divorce premiered on Broadway in 1932 and starred Fred Astaire. It was his last stage musical before moving to Hollywood.
The musical is now rarely performed, despite containing the classic Cole Porter song Night and Day.
This production starred Louise Browne, Olive Blakeney and Richard Dolman.
The programme for this show is also very interesting as it contains a separate insert in regard to performances the following week at the Theatre Royal by Sir John Martin-Harvey.
Harvey (1863 – 1944) was an actor of some repute. He joined Sir Henry Irving’s Lyceum Theatre company in 1882 and worked in the company for many years.
When Irving died in 1905, Harvey continued to revive his old manager’s plays, such as the famous melodrama The Bells, often using Irving’s own props that Harvey had purchased.
Week beginning 1 October 1934 Harvey is scheduled to make his farewell appearances at the Theatre Royal in several plays, namely The Breed of The Treshams, David Garrick, The Burgomaster of Stilmonde and The Only Way.
The Only Way was an adaptation of Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, which he had been performing since 1899, whilst still under the wing of Irving.
It seems clear that Harvey is very much of the tradition of the late nineteenth-century actor-manager and from the programme insert we can see that contemporary changes to popular culture, namely the rise of cinema, concerned him and the Theatre Royal management greatly.
The programme insert states:
‘Sir John Martin-Harvey ventures to ask for the support of all Patrons of the Theatre, and particularly the County Families of the District.
In these days of the mechanical reproduction of plays by means of Films, a valiant effort must be made to preserve the best traditions of the English stage; and the management trust that every playgoer will support Sir John and themselves in this effort.’
The musical is now rarely performed, despite containing the classic Cole Porter song Night and Day.
This production starred Louise Browne, Olive Blakeney and Richard Dolman.
The programme for this show is also very interesting as it contains a separate insert in regard to performances the following week at the Theatre Royal by Sir John Martin-Harvey.
Harvey (1863 – 1944) was an actor of some repute. He joined Sir Henry Irving’s Lyceum Theatre company in 1882 and worked in the company for many years.
When Irving died in 1905, Harvey continued to revive his old manager’s plays, such as the famous melodrama The Bells, often using Irving’s own props that Harvey had purchased.
Week beginning 1 October 1934 Harvey is scheduled to make his farewell appearances at the Theatre Royal in several plays, namely The Breed of The Treshams, David Garrick, The Burgomaster of Stilmonde and The Only Way.
The Only Way was an adaptation of Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, which he had been performing since 1899, whilst still under the wing of Irving.
It seems clear that Harvey is very much of the tradition of the late nineteenth-century actor-manager and from the programme insert we can see that contemporary changes to popular culture, namely the rise of cinema, concerned him and the Theatre Royal management greatly.
The programme insert states:
‘Sir John Martin-Harvey ventures to ask for the support of all Patrons of the Theatre, and particularly the County Families of the District.
In these days of the mechanical reproduction of plays by means of Films, a valiant effort must be made to preserve the best traditions of the English stage; and the management trust that every playgoer will support Sir John and themselves in this effort.’
Type
Programme and Separate Insert
Location of item
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Rights
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Contributor
Researchers: Pete Hewitt, Ian Webster & David Longford
