Charles Darrell

Charles Darrell was a prolific playwright with works including 'When London Sleeps' (1896) to 'Money and the Girl' (1919). Darrell was born in London on 29 June 1859 and died on 25 March 1932. A few weeks after his death, the Daily Herald, 6 May 1932, noted poignantly, 'It is a tragic coincidence that, at a time when the old melodrama, “When London Sleeps,” is being filmed by one of the English companies, Charles Darrell, who wrote it, has only been dead for three or four weeks. A friend of his who wrote to tell me could not add much about him, and I did not find anyone who knew much more than his name. Indeed, when they were filming the play, the other day, some of the company insisted that it was written by G. R. Sims. These old melodramas are, in many cases, much more famous than the people who wrote them. Very often they were done merely to fill up a gap, and they went on year after year. In numerous cases, too, they were sold outright for a few pounds’.