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Non-D'Oyly Carte Broadcasts

Reported by Chris Webster

5-May-39:Trial by Jury
BBC Studio Broadcast

This was “the first time a G&S opera was broadcast in its entirety from a studio”(G&S Journal, vol. 5, p. 171), but the description of the broadcast thatfollowed would tells us that it was a complete broadcast — and more.

Before giving unstinted praise to this presentation, there are two things I must getoff my chest. It is perhaps kindest to overlook the unsuitability of the leading lady(a delightful and clever enough artist in her own line). Then, the stentorian type ofannouncement that the BBC seems to find inseparable from a broadcast of the 'variety'type is scarcely a fitting prelude to the delicate structure of a G&S opera.

After a metaphorical beating of the big drum, it was a bit alarming to find that,apparently, the performance was to start, not with the opening chorus, but with theentrance of the Defendant. However, this actually turned out to be a most ingeniousdevice whereby each character, as his or her name was announced, sang a snatch ofmusic from the part, thus fixing it in the mind of the unseeing audience.

It appears the opera then started proper from the beginning and went well. The writerconcluded his article with a hope that more radio presentations will follow but hopingthat “the standard ofTrial By Jury can be maintained and that more attention bepaid to the female side of the productions.”

The personnel is not given as a list but is detailed in the text and may be listed as:

Here's a good one fromG&S Journal, vol. 5, p. 196: 22/9/40 —“Grahame Clifford ('by permission of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company') gave aquarter-hour recital of negro songs, and right capitally he did so.”

The same article continues, “The following Saturday, Stanford Robinson gave aprogramme entitled ‘Sullivan but not Gilbert,’ consisting of excerpts fromCox and Box,Ivanhoe,The Chieftain,Haddon Hall,The Beauty Stone, andThe Rose of Persia.”

Date unknown:The Gondoliers

The time is given as '7.5' (although to my 'young' eyes this seems more like 7.50,I think this was how 7.05 used to be shown). All I have for this is a cuttingshowing a D'Oyly Carte photo fromThe Gondoliers of the boys and their wiveswith the Don which probably wasn't current — I can recognise Grannie and Lawson,but I would think that this broadcast would be well after Lawson's time with the company— with a caption stating “A scene from the D'Oyley [sic] Carte productionofThe Gondoliers. The opera is to be broadcast from Vienna on Sunday, at 7.5pm.”Your guess is as good as mine !!

Spring 1941, 6.55pm:H.M.S. Pinafore
BBC Studio Recording

This must be after 1937, as there is an accompanying photo showing Oldham in aD'Oyly Carte performance in New York 1937. (Sometimes a clue can be found fromwhat is printed on the other side of the cutting. This is not the case here, butI am amused to notice part of a cast list for another programme which features anactor called Frank Cellier).

The cutting I had originally worked from did not give the date of this broadcastor state to what extent it had been "adapted for broadcasting," and its lengthwas also uncertain, but I have now found a reference to this in theJournal(vol. 5, p. 207), which has narrowed the date down, and it appears that this was ahour-long adaptation, with cuts that upset the devotees who thought that listenerswho were not familiar with the opera would not understand what was happening becauseof the poor editing. The line "Ralph Rackstraw, three paces to the front — march!"was reduced to "Rackstraw, come here," so we can imagine how the adaptor's mind mayhave worked in getting the opera down to an hour. Two musical cuts that were notedare "A British Tar" and Josephine's Act Two number. This article will be worthreproducing in full at some point, as it also comments on individual performances.

It seems that this broadcast followed on from the previous writer's hopes that moreBBC performances would followTrial, and this was the first of what I thinkwas an "occasional regular series" that it seems took in all of the operas, abridgedto either 60 or 90 minutes.

Late 1941/Early 1942:The Pirates of Penzance
BBC Studio Broadcast

The Gilbert and Sullivan Journal, vol. 5, p. 222. (February 1942)states thatPirates had been "the latest" broadcast. The writerthought this was the best "so far," but perhaps because it had sufferedthe fewest cuts, so maybePinafore (the earliest of this new run)was the only one cut to 60 minutes. Percy Hemmings was Major-GeneralStanley, and George Baker was the Pirate King.

13-May-42:The Gondoliers
BBC Studio Broadcast

The Gilbert and Sullivan Journal, vol. 5, p. 229, reviews this reasonably well,but with the usual reservations. Act One was cut to 70 minutes. Act Two was cut to45 minutes. It seems most of the cuts were in the dialogue with just a few musicalcuts — part of the male chorus's entry from Act One, the Duchess's solo, and"Here is a case unprecedented" from Act Two. The personnel as far as was given withinthe text was:

The production was adapted by Geoffrey Dunn, who also stood in at short notice forthe billed Marco, Jan van der Gucht, who was ill. He is said to have done anexcellent job. Christopher Stone narrated, deputising for a sick Geoffrey Toye.Stone also gave a "capital little 5 minute talk" as an introduction, and his narrationwas "never intrusive." This broadcast was part of the BBC's Sullivan centenary weekbroadcasts.

The February '43Journal tells us of several more recent broadcasts, datingthem as “summer and autumn.” There was aSorcerer (“less badly cut, butlacking the Gilbertian touch”), aRuddigore (“of which the less said thebetter”), and revivals ofPinafore (with an “improved” cast) andIolanthe(so there must have been a previous one). There is also mention of a revival ofTrial, and on another page is a reference to aCox with Derek Oldham,George Baker and Murray Davies (“a newcomer whom I should like to hear in some ofthe 'Lytton' parts”). Stanford Robinson is mentioned in connection withCox,but no doubt he, along with the orchestraetc., was involved in all thebroadcasts.

There are many more non-D'Oyly Carte G&S broadcasts thatare important,but I think other contributors will be able to give better details of these than me,as I only have skimpy notes and these are jotted all over the place.

[Where there are no links, it means that details of the performance have not yetbeen added to the site. —ed.]

• H.M.S. Pinafore — Guthrie/Stratford — Broadcast NBC 24 Nov. 1961
• H.M.S. Pinafore — "Omnibus" TV 10 May 1959 — Cyril Richard
• GrouchoMikado
• The Mikado — Hungarian Television
• Trial by Jury — Guthrie/Stratford — Broadcast 22 Jan. 1962
• Trial by Jury — Danish 1963
• Trial by Jury — Hungarian
• The Yeomen of the Guard — Hallmark Hall of Fame/NBC — Drake & Cook
• The Yeomen of the Guard — BBC TV — Hammond-Stroud/Masterson (1979?)
• The Zoo — Stanford [not a broadcast, as far as I know —ed.]
• The Zoo — BBC — 1972.

A Scene from Tyrone Guthrie'sPinafore for theStratford Festival, with Eric House (Sir Joseph Porter) and Andrew Brownie (Ralph).

Related Broadcasts

27 & 29 March 1929 —Ivanhoe

"W. S. Gilbert: Barrister, Poet and Playwright — An Appreciation" byJ. Francis Toye. Date unknown. Time 7.55

“'Everybody's Scrapbook' tonight at 9.30 brings you another album of thingsworth remembering. One of the pages will be devoted to that great SavoyardSir Henry Lytton....” Date unknown

“2.00 — Speeches at the Luncheon in Honour of Sir Henry Lytton of theD'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Relayed from the Savoy Hotel. The speakers areRt. Hon. David Lloyd George MP, Lord Sankey (Lord Chancellor) and Sir HenryLytton.” Date not given, but certainly traceable I'm sure.

From theJournal, March '32, p. 74 — “Saturday the 23rd Januarywas a red letter day for Sullivan in British broadcasting. Not only was therean hour of his theatre music — including choral and solo numbers fromThe Emerald Isle andThe Rose of Persia — in the LondonRegional programme, but a fine rendering of theIn Memoriam overture(by the RAF Central Band) was given on the National wavelength. Later theBBC Theatre Orchestra used favourite items for linking up a vaudeville programme,and the mixture was by no means incongruous.”

25-May-41: “Sullivan: the Man and His Music.” BBC studio broadcast.The same article that deals with the '41Pinafore also documents this broadcast.Oldham and Gladys Ripley took part with the BBC Theatre Chorus and Orchestra,conducted by Stanford Robinson, with a narrative written by Wilfred Rooke Leybeing read by Ivan Sampson. The content included music fromThe Tempest,The Merchant of Venice,Cox and Box,Iolanthe,The Golden Legend,The Gondoliers,The Yeomen of the Guard,“Onward, Christian Soldiers,” and “The Lost Chord.”

The BBC broadcasts during Sullivan's centenary week included a broadcast ofThe Golden Legend from the Albert Hall given by the London PhilharmonicOrchestra with the Alexandra Choir. It was conducted by Sir Henry Wood, andthe soloists were Muriel Brunskill, Astra Desmond, Joan Hammond, Dennis Noble,Henry Wendon and Leyland White.

The centenary celebrations concluded with a programme called“Sullivan: Musician-Laureate” on Friday 15th May, of which Ihave no further information, and there had been a talk givenon the previous Sunday morning (10th) by Thomas F. Dunhillentitled “The Gondoliers and its Creator.” The titlespeaks for itself, but a transcript of the broadcast was printed(with the BBCs permission) in the sameJournal (vol. 5, pp. 232/3).

24-Aug-43: “My Dear Gilbert — My Dear Sullivan.” A sort of docu-play which tome sounds banal. I'd rather send a scan than type out the comments about this sillyprogramme. It was written by Wilfred Rooke Ley (writer of the narrative to"Sullivan: the Man and his Music" above), and featured Norman Shelley as Gilbertand Austin Trevor as Sullivan, with others playing other roles that drift in and out.

There were about 4 different serialisations between the '40s and the '50s ofLeslie Bailey's G&S radio play. The first two (both from the '40s) aremost interesting on paper (I haven't heard any of them), because they includesuch names as Sheffield, Fancourt and Green. It would take me a while to fullydetail these so I am being very brief here.

BBC Concert (60s):

“Ho, Jolly Jenkin” — Michael Langdon

“The Heights of Glentown” — Jean Allister, Dennis Noble, Kenneth Bowen

“Red is the Rosebud” — April Cantello

“O, Life Has Put Into My Hands” — Jean Allister

The Rose of Persia — Selected Exc. — Cantello, Allister, Bowen, Noble

“Come, Mighty Must” — Monica Sinclair

Derek Oldham BBC Interview — 50 min. (Just before his death)
Martyn Green Interview — WQRS, NYC 13 Jul. 1969 - 60 min.
Martyn Green Interview — NBC "Person to Person" 1960