A. E. 24
Examiner of Plays' Summary:
An amusing little spy play. Kirstie is a munition maker and lives with Sally, employed in an office. Miss Muns (the German spy) is a secretary in the office. She comes to see Kirstie and steals the tracing of a new shell. But she had unwisely given sally a skirt, and sally finds in its pocket a letter addressed to A. E. 24 containing a tracing of a shell - not apparently that just stolen. So Miss Muns function is obvious and through by threatening with a revolver she makes sally take off the skirt and then finding the letter gone locks them in, the intrepid girls escape by the window to call the police. I do not think we need trouble about the girl’s taking off her skirt, as it would spoil the dramatic interest if there were anything improper -no doubt she wears a seemly petticoat. Recommended for license. G. S. Street
Researcher's Summary:
Only one so-called ‘trial’ performance in August 1916, ahead of licensing, has been identified. The Era, 11 October 1916, advertised the Benavente Quartette at the Hippodrome, Golders Green, the next week but no more information about the programme there has been found. The actress Kitty Fielder was otherwise appearing in the revue ‘Pick-a-Dilly’ (also in this database) at the London Pavilion.
Licensed On: 8 Oct 1916
License Number: 506
Genre(s):
Keyword(s):
British Library Reference: LCP1916/24
British Library Classmark: Add MS 66145 M
Performances
| Date | Theatre | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Aug 1916 | Bijou Theatre, London | Unknown |
Read Narrative
‘A trial performance of a short one-act play by Miss Clarice Laurence, entitled “A.E. 24,” was given at the *Bijou Theatre last Thursday afternoon. The playlet might with advantage be judiciously stretched to at least twice its present length. It tells with a certain crisp naiveté that is not unattractive how a little work-girl, Sally Lane, outwitted a wicked German spy, Miss Mums, who left evidence of her guilt about in the most reckless manner. Miss Muns held Sally and her nice Scotch friend, Kirstie, up at the point of a pistol, and, locking the door behind her, went off to see if the fateful document was really thrown in the waste-paper basket, as Sally had asserted. No sooner had she left than Sally remembered the fire-escape, and off she and Kirstie trotted to Scotland Yard to foil the direful machinations of the enemy. The little piece was very well played by Miss Kitty Fielder as the Spy, Miss Peggy Talbot Daniel as Kirstie, and by Miss Clarice Laurence, who portrayed the uneducated, quick-witted Cockney girl skilfully and attractively. Miss Laurence has done very useful work in New York in such well-known plays as “Bunty Pulls the Strings,” “Bought and Paid For,” “Kitty Mackay,” &c’ (The Era, 23 August 1916; the performance also noted in The Era, 13 September 1916). [* There was a Bijou Theatre in Bedford Street, The Strand, London (mentioned in The Era, 2 August 1916).]
|
| 16 Oct 1916 | Hippodrome, Golders Green, London | Unknown | Licensed Performance |