Start of Famous Post-war Careers
Hattie Jacques, Bill Owen, Ian Carmichael, Clive Dunn, John Le Mesurier, Ian Wallace and John Hewer appeared regularly on the bill. They provided a strong lead to the brilliant newcomers joining the company — Daphne Anderson, Patsy Rowlands, Maggie Smith, Marian Studholme, Marion Grimaldi and Margaret Burton being but a few.
Leonard was asked to present a similar show at the Festival Gardens, for the Festival of Britain. So favourable was the response, that the great theatre chain of the time, Moss Empires, invited Sachs to undertake a long tour of all the major variety theatres in the United Kingdom. This triggered the interest of BBC Leeds, and in due course The Good Old Days reached BBC television. Originally only a few programmes went out, and Don Gemmel (Leonard's successor as Director of the Players') was Chairman. Such was public acclaim, that the show was scheduled for first four, then thirteen, then twenty-six weekly editions. It remained a part of the BBC light entertainment for 32 years and was frequently to be found in the 'top ten' in terms of ratings.
In 1954, the Players' commissioned a short 'end-piece' designed to fill the third part of the usual Players' evening. The author and composer was Sandy Wilson — the work he provided was The Boy Friend. From its first appearance, barely forty-five minutes long, the merit and charm of the piece was self-evident. After a triumphant four-week run, Sandy was asked to expand the piece. The full-length version again earned immense acclamation, but West End Management would not offer the play a transfer.
Courageously, Don Gemmel, Gervase Farjeon and Reginald Woolley arranged a short Christmas season at Swiss Cottage's Embassy Theatre. Once again, audience and critics were in total accord, and on the morning the reviews appeared, 'The Boy Friend' was offered five or six West End theatres. It eventually transferred to the Wyndham's Theatre, where it played to more than 95% capacity for five years, and made a star of Julie Andrews in New York.
More recently, on the occasion of the Players' Diamond Jubilee in 1996, Sir Peter Ustinov was installed as Honorary President in front of a capacity audience. Many members of the Royal Family to have passed through the doors including the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex.
Read more about this topic: Players' Theatre
Famous quotes containing the words start, famous, post-war and/or careers:
“We’re built, as a nation, on the grounds of a concentration camp. It’s like saying “OK, here’s Auschwitz. Here’s where we’ll start our country.””
—Peter Carey (b. 1943)
“When I was bound apprentice, in famous Lincolnshire,
Full well I served my master for more than seven year,
Till I took up poaching, as you shall quickly hear:
Oh, ‘tis my delight on a shining night, in the season of the year.”
—Unknown. The Lincolnshire Poacher (l. 1–4)
“Much of what Mr. Wallace calls his global thinking is, no matter how you slice it, still “globaloney.” Mr. Wallace’s warp of sense and his woof of nonsense is very tricky cloth out of which to cut the pattern of a post-war world.”
—Clare Boothe Luce (1903–1987)
“So much of the trouble is because I am a woman. To me it seems a very terrible thing to be a woman. There is one crown which perhaps is worth it all—a great love, a quiet home, and children. We all know that is all that is worthwhile, and yet we must peg away, showing off our wares on the market if we have money, or manufacturing careers for ourselves if we haven’t.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)