Elephant and Castle Theatre, London

"B" Company Refer Sidney Barnard Esq. Elephant Theatre where a triumphant success was scored last week. Nearly a thousand people turned away on Saturday. (The Stage - Thursday 25 March 1915)

The Stage, Thursday 13 May 1915, announced, ‘Tomorrow (Friday) [14 May 1915] at one o’clock at the Elephant and Castle Mr. F. Rawson Buckley will produce a new one-act play by Val Gurney, entitled The Missing. The parts will be played by Mr. George Barran, Mr. J. A. Bentham, Mr. F. Rawson Buckley, and Mr. Bartlett Garth. The performance is one given under the mistaken impression that such a thing as used to be generally known as a *“copyright” performance is necessary’. [* ‘The copyright performance of a play was a first public performance in the United Kingdom, staged purely for the purpose of securing the author’s copyright over the text. There was a fear that, if a play’s text was published, or a rival production staged, before its official preview or premiere, then the author’s rights would be lost; to forestall these abuses, the practice arose of staging a copyright performance, which was notionally public, but in practice staged hastily before an invited audience with no publicity and no regard for the artistic quality of the acting or production … Many less commercially viable plays were never performed other than in a single copyright performance … Copyright performances were rendered unnecessary by the Copyright Act 1911, which secured the author’s rights over unpublished and unperformed works and derivatives’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_performance).] The Globe, 15 May 1915, reported, ‘At the Elephant and Castle Theatre yesterday afternoon Mr. F. Rawson Buckley and his company gave an invitation performance of a new one-act play, “Missing.” The piece is well written and vigorously acted, and should do well either on the “halls” as a sketch or as a curtain-raiser’.

The Stage, 22 July 1915, reviewed C. Vernon Proctor’s drama The Unmarried Mother which was presented at the Elephant and Castle on Monday 19 July 1915. The cast was: Private Walter Newton, Sydney Grant; Lieut. Dennis Allen, Roland Hope; Gerald Blake, J. Scott Leighton; John Chalmers, Conrad Clerke; Martha Chalmers, Ella Sennett; Ethel Chalmers, Olive Jeffrey; Mrs. O’Goblin, Amy Wood; Jimmy O’Goblin, Sammy Johns; The Chaplain at the Hospital, Archie Grant; Eileen, the Unmarried Mother, Laurie Adair. The setting was: Sc. 1, A Room in Chalmer’s House, London; Sc. 2, Near the Dock, Porthampton; Sc. 3, Mrs O’Goblin’s Cottage, Porthampton; Sc. 4, A Room in Chalmers’s House, London; Sc. 5, A Street in London; Sc. 6, A Hospital in London. The review continued: ‘The author of The Unwanted Child, C. Vernon Proctor, has now attempted a eulogy, a regular panegyric, of the “Unmarried Mother,” in his new play of that supposedly topical title, brought out by Mr. Oswald Cray at the Elephant and Castle this week. It was received with much not altogether discriminating applause on Monday afternoon by a popular audience that took up with warm approval such assertions of the unfortunate heroine as that she became “the unmarried mother of a soldier’s child before she could be his wife,” because “the laws of Nature were stronger than the laws of man,” adding that “a mother is more sacred than a wife,” and that “It is every woman’s right to be a mother.” All the same, the sad case of Eileen, who had somehow been prevented from marrying Private Walter Newton, of the Porthampton Battalion of Kitchener’s Army, before he went to the War, whence he returned grievously wounded, a Sergeant, and a V.C., was scarcely paralleled by the happier lot of her quasi-stepsister, Ethel Chalmers, who was duly married by Lieutenant Dennis Allen, a genial young Irishman in the R.A.M.C., before he crossed the Channel. However, Eileen quite won the sympathy of the house in all her woes and vicissitudes, which included an attempt to poison her baby Walter’s milk made by her most unnatural father, Gerald Blake, who had wanted to marry Ethel himself, and had, before the action opened, made Martha (afterwards the second Mrs. Chalmers) the “unmarried mother” of Eileen. “Like mother, like daughter,” it may be said, though at the end Eileen is made “an honest woman,” and her child is apparently legitimised, by her being married to Newton on his supposed death-bed in hospital. He makes an astonishing speedy and complete recovery, for, after having been given up by the Hospital Chaplain, who, apparently in default of doctors, seems to be in charge of the case, Newton suddenly, in the middle of a harangue, bethinks himself of getting married at once to Eileen. Among the necessary appliances used are his prayer-book (which he had sent with his V.C. to Eileen, in a parcel which she had left unopened) and the wedding-ring, which he had bought in Flanders, and had been wearing round his neck. Less improbable and more interesting than this dénouement and Eileen’s preceding and semi-blasphemous tirade are the transformation wrought by love for Eileen in a lazy lout and loafer bearing the melodramatically familiar name of Jimmy (often used to denote a gold coin), who finally enlists and becomes a very smart lad in khaki, and some sayings of his lenient and sensible mother. Expressing doubts as to whether Eileen had behaved rightly, Mrs. O’Goblin, however, keeps an open mind, for she observes, “This War has changed one’s views about everything,” and “The whole world seems to have been turned upside down.” Blake, in the end, meets with his deserts [sic], for he is thrashed soundly by the indignant Mr. Chalmers, and is then run over by a taxi after trying to strangle the unfortunate Martha, who had been one of his many victims. Mr. Vernon Proctor, it should be noted, has been as ready as other contemporary dramatists, to catch the spirit of the time as it flies by, for, when Eileen is turned out of doors by Chalmers, and Ethel accompanies her into exile, he makes the former become a uniformed railway-ticket collector (though she loses her post through Blake’s machinations), and Ethel a similarly attired tram-conductor. Vigorously played by the members of Mr. Oswald Cray’s company, this “latest drama on the Burning Question of the Day,” seems quite to the hearts of the patrons of the Elephant ... The Unmarried Mother is pretty sure to do well on tour in the drama-houses’. The Stage, 29 July 1915, published a letter from C. Vernon Proctor: ‘To the editor of The Stage. Sir,- In your excellent criticism of [The Unmarried Mother] your correspondent talks of Eileen’s “semi-blasphemous tirade” at the end of the play. That the outburst is daring I do not deny; that it is blasphemous, I do. It jerks one out of orthodoxy, but that is a good thing, as the present times witness to the utter failure of religion. The fact that the heroine demands justice of God in passionate terms, and that that demand is answered in the unexpected ending of the play, is not only not blasphemous, but is intended to restore faith in the goodness of God, which the state of Europe is making us doubt. That there is something wrong somewhere in our practice of religion no one can deny, and The Unmarried Mother is a sincere attempt to bring us back to the faith of which we are all losing grip’. Also: ‘Mr. C. Vernon Proctor’s play should certainly be of some service to the recruiting sergeant as it contains many direct appeals to the patriotic sentiment’ (The Era, 28 July 1915). In an advertisement in The Stage, 29 July 1915, Oswald Cray claimed that The Unmarried Mother took £336 0s 1d the previous week at the Elephant and Castle: ‘£100 to anyone who can prove these are not my actual returns. Refer Charles Barnard, who has booked it to return in a few weeks as so many hundreds were turned away on the Saturday night'.

When Oswald Cray advertised in The Stage, 12 August 1915, both The Unmarried Mother and Walter Saltoun’s The Abode Of Love, his address for the following week was the Elephant and Castle Theatre, London, but with an implication that The Abode Of Love was to be staged there.

The Stage, 21 October 1915, listed The Unmarried Mother as On Tour from 18 October at the Elephant, London.

Reviewed in The Stage, 28 October 1915: ‘The Zeppelin raid in the last act is carefully and realistically presented … Mr. Carlton Wallace should have in his latest drama a potent attraction. Good business is the order here’.

‘Mr. Ernest R. Abbott’s in this interesting play [The Love Child] is doing exceedingly well here [the Elephant and Castle] this week. Miss Ada Abbott is most convincing in the leading part of Meg Huxter. Mr. Frank Kelland as Lord Kingdom [sic] and Mr. John Johnston as Curly Saunders were both excellent; and Mr Herbert Barrs and Mr. W. H. Davis Brown as the two Crooks were smart in their respective rôles. A word of praise is due to Miss Millie [sic - Nellie] Crowther for her clever impersonation of Tommy. The comedy of Miss Marion Holly as Eliza and Mr. Edwin Keene as the Butler was much enjoyed; and Miss Agnes Kingston was good as the aristocratic Lady Kingdom [sic - Kingdon]’. The Era, 3 November 1915.

The Era, 10 November 1915, listed The Little Grey Home in the West (South) as On The Road from 8 November at the Elephant and Castle, S.E. Also The Stage, 11 November 1915. Reported separately in The Stage, 11 November 1915.

The play was produced by Leonard Mortimer's company. It featured: Leonard Mortimer (Slow), Violet Wilkinson (Gwendoline), Rupert Talbot (Geoffrey Gard), Ernest Stidwell (Noel), Henry G Gilpin (Otto Nuber), Louis Gaye (Peebles), and Whitchurch Welsh Quartette.

‘Miss Emma Litchfield’s latest play was produced here [the Elephant and Castle] on Monday with great success. It is an absorbing play of heart interest, and holds the attention of the audience from the first act until the fall of the curtain ... “Home Once More” is well staged and produced personally by the authoress. Some of the popular songs of the day are sung during the evening, whilst the incidental music is by Mr. W. Stephenson, the musical director of the Elephant and Castle’ (The Era, 26 January 1916). Reviewed in The Stage, 27 January 1916: ‘“Home Once More.” On Monday, January 24, 1916, was produced here [the Elephant and Castle] for the first time in London a drama, in seven scenes, scenes, by Emma Litchfield, entitled:- Home Once More’. The cast was: Captain Geoffrey Forrester, R.N. … Mr. S. P. Goodyer-Kettley Lieut. Eric Lorraine, R.N.A.S. … Mr. Conrad E. Stratford Lieut. Aubrey Neilson, D.S.O. … Mr. Lionel Balmont Jack Anderson, A.B. … Mr. Tom H. Solly Barney McChree … Mr. A. B. Lyons Detective Kirby … Mr. Chas. Edwards Stella Richmond … Miss Ena Newham Yvette d’Arville … Miss Lillie Livesey Mary Lorraine … Miss Emma Litchfield Sc. 1, The Home, Captain Forrester’s House Party; sc. 2, Lodge of Captain Forrester’s House; sc. S, Mr. and Mrs Forrester’s Home; sc. 4, Gardens of Captain Forrester’s House; sc. 5, The Home Garden; sc. 6, Country Lane, Jack Ashore; sc. 7, Home once more. The review continued: ‘Miss Emma Litchfield’s drama, Home Once More, which was produced at the end of July last year at the Royal, Macclesfield, and has since been toured with much success, is this week making its first appearance before a London audience at Mr. Charles Barnard’s house, and is being received with every sign of success. Not only is the authoress-actress very popular with Elephant and Castle audiences, but all her plays bear the hall-mark of an experienced play-writer, and contain just sufficient of those qualities which make for popular and healthy amusement. Home Once More, which is described as “of home and heart interest,” does not belie its description. When first produced the drama was played in four acts, but to meet the requirements of the twice-nightly system here it is now in seven scenes, and its present form is perhaps better. The story is well told ... Except for one minor change, the cast remains the same as on the first production. Miss Litchfield plays the sacrificing sister and wife Mary Lorraine in a bold and sympathetic manner, which quickly gains her the well-deserved applause of the house. Hers is a capital study, always natural and sincere. Mr. S. P. Goodyer-Kettley is capital as Captain Forrester, acting with ease and judgment throughout. Mr. Stratford strikes just the right note as the week and easily led youth Eric Lorraine, while Mr. Lionel Balmont gives character to his reading of Lieutenant Neilson. Miss Ena Newham makes the most of her opportunities as the scheming Stella. The comic portions of the play are naturally and cleverly portrayed by Mr. Tom H. Solly, an excellent sailor; Mr. A. B. Lyons, as the Irish gardener Barney McChree; and Miss Lillie Livesey, a pretty and energetic Parisienne, as Yvette d’Arville’.

Performed all week with matinees Monday and Thursday at 2.30 (The People, 5 March 1916)

'Good, wholesome, direct drama, with many telling lines and effective scenes [the play] is a sure attraction for a popular audience.'..... 'All the characters in this adroitly-constructed and well-written twice-nightly domestic drama are admirably played by the members of Mr. Will H. Glaze's company.' .... 'The play was effectively staged, and met with the heartiest of receptions on the night of our visit.' ('The Era', 22 March 1916, p. 11)

‘“The Black Sheep of the Family” will occupy the stage of the Elephant Theatre during the week. Matinees, Monday and Thursday, 2.30’ (The People, 28 May 1916). The Black Sheep of the Family ‘is this week repeating its success at the Elephant and Castle’ (The Era, 31 May 1916).

Performed by Harry Fox's company. 'A very promising and spirited opening with scenes far out in Manitoba: but in its second part the piece tends to become merely a War drama of the now stereotyped sort' (Stage, 8 June 1916)

First performance in London recorded in The Era, London on 26 July 1916. Also recorded in Hand-list of plays, Allardyce Nicoll, English Drama 1900-1930, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1973 p. 710.

The Era, 26 July 1916, reviewed The Wife With Two Husbands, a drama by C. Vernon Proctor, produced at the Elephant and Castle Theatre on Monday 24 July. The cast was: John Bluntt, Jerrold Heather; Constance Bluntt, Daisy Cook; Kate Bluntt, Olive Jeffrey; Norah, Heather Hugh; Granny, M. Nelson-Ramsay; Morris Kennard, Harry C. Robinson; George Fairley, Conrad Clerke; Charles Court, Allan Carruthers; Martha, Florrie Macinnes. The review continued: ‘The soldier or sailor hero is favourite character in the play of to-day; and it follows as a matter of course that he should be closely associated with the war. In the new drama, produced for the first time on Monday, and played by Mr Oswald Cray’s company, the soldier who leaves his country to fight her foes abroad is John Bluntt, and the plot turns upon the report that he has been killed in one of the fierce attacks at the front...'. The Stage, 27 July 1916, also reviewed the production and concluded: 'Altogether Mr. Cray should have reason to expect prosperous tours with “The Wife With Two Husbands”’.

Cast included: Harry Tresham (John Hope), Clifford Rean (Robert Charlton), John Burton (Simon Keen), Newton Pearce (Tom Tough), J Fulton Millar (Otto Brandt), P Neston (Capt. Johnson), H Webster (Dr Stanton), H Sydney (Pte Brown), Nancy Mitchell (Winnie Wilson), Emma Rainbow (Mrs Maynard), Gabrielle Romero (Mrs Brandt), Winifred Rutland (Isobelle Brandt), Leah Corentez (Elsie Maynard)

6.30 & 9pm (The People Sunday 3 December 1916)

When Miss Emma Litchfield’s company advertised Home Once More in The Stage, 18 January 1917, the address for the following week was the Elephant and Castle. And when Mrs. Lillie Livesey (Mrs. Lionel Balmont) of the Home Once More company inserted a theatrical card in The Stage, 18 January 1917, her address for the following week was the Elephant and Castle. ‘As a happy sequel to “Babes in the Wood,” which terminated at a South London theatre on Saturday night, they are playing this week a drama entitled “Home Once More”‘ (Daily Mirror, 22 January 1917). Also Listed in The Stage, 25 January 1917.

Performers: Matthew H Glenville and Co.

Performed by Will Casey and company.

Performed for one week.

The Era, 30 May 1917, reviewed ‘“Always Welcome.” Play, in Seven Scenes. By Emma Litchfield, Produced for the First Time at the Elephant and Castle Theatre, Monday, May 28’. The cast was: Philip Webster … Conrad E. Stratford Lieut. Harry Clifton, R.N. … Lionel Balmont Louis Dugarde … Geoffrey Chate Ned Forde … Tom H. Solly William Forde … Thomas Campbell Mickey O’Connor … Willie Barrett P.C. Carter … T. C. Jackson Doris Delamere … Annie Laurie Tiny Little … Clare Elkington Mabel Webster … Winifred Rutland Rosie Summers … Lillie Livesey Emma Summers … Emma Litchfield. The review continued: ‘Miss Emma Litchfield’s new play, first presented on May20 at the Theatre Royal, Tonypandy, scored a big success, and the Metropolitan verdict has proved equally favourable. Philip Webster, alias West, becoming aware of the fact that William Forde leads a double life - a merchant in City and living on the charity of his married daughter, a “real good sort,” who is totally unaware of his wealth – induces Emma Summers’ daughter, Rosie, to give up her sailor-lover and marry him, he (Webster) being under the impression that Rosie is Forde’s heiress. Desperately pushed for money, and recognising his first wife in Forde’s typist, he murders the old man. The wife is charged with the crime, but is able to establish her innocence. Harry is eventually restored to his sweetheart, Mabel is forgiven for helping her wastrel husband, and thus the story ends happily. Miss Emma Litchfield was excellently suited in the part of Emma Summers. A powerful piece of acting, as the despicable Philip Webster, came from Mr. Conrad E. Strafford. Mr Lionel Balmont did his best with the thin part of the blind sailor lover, Harry. A capital impersonation was Mr. Tom H. Holly’s Ned Forde. Mr. Geoffrey Chafe was distinctly good as a volatile French chauffeur, Louis Dugarde. Mr Willie Barrett’s Irishisms, as Micky O’Connor, were effective. Miss Lillie Livesey was sweet and pathetic as the unfortunate heroine, Rosie. Miss Winifred Rutland successfully represented the unsympathetic part of Mabel Webster. Tiny Little was in the hands of Miss Clare Elkington, a clever study of a Cockney servant. Miss Annie Laurie made Doris Delamere a demure yet knowing damsel’ (The Era, 30 May 1917). The Stage, 31 May 1917, also reviewed the play: 'That popular actress-authoress, Miss Emma Litchfield, whose successful plays have ever won favour at the Elephant, has thither for Whitsuntide her latest drama, with the capital and cheering title of “Always Welcome,” produced only last week at Tonypandy. In the composition of this, employing generally familiar materials, Miss Litchfield has done good, sound, effective work'. The review continued with a detailed account of the plot.

[The play] 'had its name changed in the course of the spring to the more stirringly topical title of "The Middy V.C. Comes Home," under which style it is being played, twice nightly, and the Elephant this week. Originally presented in four acts, of eight scenes, it is now given in five scenes ...' ('The Stage', 19 July 1917, p. 14)

Reviewed at length in The Stage, 11 October 1917, and in The Era, 17 October 1917. The cast was: Rev. James Maxwell, J. P. Marsden; Richard Maxwell, James Hart; Capt. the Hon. Robert Saltire, J. P. Kennedy; Corporal Tim Trimfoot, J. Mailey; Private ‘Erb, Charles Leverton; Dr. Walton, Fred E. Chabot; Old Jawkins, George Smith; Selina Kettle, Lena Brand; Dora Wendover, Millie Phillips; Rose Maxwell, Lillian Fenn. 'After having been toured for some months, Clifford Rean’s drama, with title in keeping with its description as a “realistic play of the times,” is being played at the Elephant this week by Mr. Will H. Glaze’s company, under the direction of Mr. Fred E. Chabot, himself appearing as a young R.A.M.C. surgeon in one of the three rather painful and harrowing war scenes included in the sum total of nine’ (The Stage, 11 October 1917).

Brought out in the provinces but a few weeks ago, Eva Elwes's latest drama "The Girl Mother", has reached the Elephant and Castle, where it is being played with the vigorous effect required by the company organised by Mr. T. Edward Ward, the general manager and producer, and the versatile and easily-writing authoress. ('The Stage', 18 October 1917, p. 17)

(The Stage - Thursday 25 October 1917)

Advertised in The People, 4 November 1917 (title only). When Arthur Hinton advertised in The Stage, 8 November 1917, for theatres for The Black Sheep of the Family, his address was the Elephant and Castle, S.E.

The Stage, 13 December 1917, reviewed Deliver the Goods. The review began, ‘On Monday, December 10, 1917, Mr. Charles Barnard presented [at the Elephant and Castle] Mr. Leonard Mortimer and company in the play, by Leonard Mortimer, in three acts, entitled:- “Deliver the Goods”’. The cast was: Kenyon Ross, Richard Langdon; Peter Ross, Leonard Mortimer; John Williams, Harry Gilbey; Ivor Hickman, Bob Harrold; Fritz, J. E. Wilson; Mary Haslewood, Ivy Shepperd; Vesta Mary Wood, Peggy Wyse; Hannah Williams, Amy Lorraine; Cinderella Wells, Ida Clifford. The review continued: ‘An effective blend of romance and actuality is often to be found in Leonard Mortimer’s plays, and is to be noted again in his latest piece with the slangy and expressive title of Deliver the Goods,” performed at the Elephant this week ... Herein again, as in his “When Love Creeps in Your Heart,” Mr. Mortimer has worked once more the Capital v. Labour vein, his method being differentiated from that of John Galsworthy in “Strife” by reason of the special purpose of this “During and After the War” drama, styled a moving story of selfishness and sacrifice, and ending with vigorous appeal “for the future prosperity of our brave sons when they return in their hundreds and thousands from across the seas.” In this, with his exhortations to Master and Man to work together, Leonard Mortimer may be said to be trying to aid the Minister of Reconstruction. Apart from any such question of beneficent and not purely destructive propaganda, “Deliver the Goods” has some good dramatic situations in it'.

Reviewed at length under the title A Son of the Sea in The Era, 6 February 1918: ‘Drama, in Ten Scenes, by Clifford Rean, Produced for the first time in London, at the Elephant and Castle Theatre, Monday, Feb. 4’. The cast was: Paul Tregarron, Clifford Rean; Richard Tregarron, John Worth; Rev. John O’Farrell, Edmund O’Grady; Jacob Polperro, Wilford Bailey; Jack Hern, Tom Wheeler; Coroner, George Gormley; Jane Polperro, Maude Ryder; Edith Tregarron, Maude Steeples; Aunt Sarah, Clara Spillard; Poppy Wentworth, Marie Desmond. The review began: '“A Son of the Sea” is a capital story, vividly depicting the life story of those who “follow the flag” on the waters; and the play met with a cordial recognition on Monday from a large audience’ (The Era, 6 February 1918). Also reviewed at length under the title A Son of the Sea in The Stage, 7 February 1918; the cast was as in The Era, 6 February 1918; the review continued, 'A plain, straightforward story of seafaring life, “A Son of the Sea” has eight of its ten scenes laid in, or in the neighbourhood of, West Foy, in Cornwall, the others taking place in South America, and in the Dragon’s Teeth lighthouse off this portion of the Cornish coast, the locale of at least two shipwrecks in the course of the action ... [the play has] ‘a passing suggestion of a Grand Guignol “shocker”’.

The Era, 13 February 1918, reviewed The Voice On The ‘Phone, ‘Drama in Eight Scenes, by Clifford Rean, Produced at the Elephant and Castle Theatre, Monday, Feb. 11’. It noted that the play was originally produced on 7 September last at the Hippodrome, Huddersfield, under the title Blackmail. ‘The author has now rewritten the play, which contains many cleverly contrived situations, It is presented by Mr. Will H. Glaze’s company in praiseworthy style’. The cast was: Sir Charles Inglemere, James Stillwell; James Inglemere, Geoff Chate; Julius Dawn, Alfred Stretton; Farmer Hulton, Charles E. Johnson; Silas P. Judd, R. Wilson; James, George Gormley; Gwendolen Dawn, Renee Bevan; Lady Marion Inglemere, Nita Langford; Miss Hinton, Nellie Norman; Mrs Hulton, Marie D’Yonson; Dorothy, Florence Lyndon. The Era’s review continued: ‘The plot shows that Julius Dawn, confidential secretary to Sir Charles Inglemere, has forged his employer’s name to a cheque, to obtain the means of sending his young sister, who is in the early stages of consumption, to Switzerland, and he is expecting discovery and arrest at any moment. He overhears a plot between Sir Charles and Farmer Hulton to substitute the latter’s little son for Sir Charles’ heir, who is said to have died while out to nurse with a farmer’s wife, as they fear that the news of her child’s death would prove fatal to Lady Inglemere. When the news of Dawn’s forgery come s over the ‘phone, and Sir Charles taxes him with his crime, he insolently informs Sir Charles that he knows of the deception that is going to be practised, and compels him to withdraw his prosecution as the price of silence. Twenty years elapse, and Dawn’s sister has become a great revue actress, known as Gwen La Vie. Dawn compels Sir Charles to agree to a marriage between her and his supposed son, James. She is invited to the house, where she scandalises everyone by her outrageous conduct. After various exciting incidents James is proved to be Sir Charles and Lady Inglemere’s son, and Dawn and Gwen are arrested for the manslaughter of the farmer’s wife, whose written confession clears up the mystery' (The Era, 13 February 1918). The Stage, 14 February 1918, reviewed W. H. Glaze’s company in Clifford Rean’s ‘The Voice on the ‘Phone’, produced at the Elephant and Castle Theatre, London on Monday 11 February. It noted that the play was originally called ‘Blackmail’. The cast was as listed in The Era, 13 February 1918, except that The Stage omitted the character of James played by George Gormley. The Stage’s review continued by saying that ‘Blackmail’ was a better title, ‘for blackmailing is the main theme of an exciting play, overgrown with unnecessary complications, it seems, and the voice mentioned is heard only by the personage most nearly concerned in what would be termed the prologue, were not the piece being given at the Elephant in twice-nightly form. Owing to the ill health of his wife Lady Marion, due to the death of their first born, Sir Charles Inglemere, described as “leader of the Church Party in the House,” and afterwards a Cabinet Minister, had put their second son James out to nurse with the wife of a tenant, Farmer Hulton. Both Mrs. Hulton’s boy and James Inglemere are taken ill with scarlet fever, and a telephonic message, delivered on a private wire with which Sir Charles has had connected his house and the farm, informs him that his son has died. Fearful as to the effect which this news might have upon the life and the reason of his ailing wife, Sir Charles, who holds a mortgage on Mosberry Farm, forces, seemingly, the apparently over persuaded Hulton to agree to the substitution of the living Hulton boy for the dead James, the plot being overheard, from behind a screen, by Inglemere’s secretary Julius Dawn, who had just forged his employer’s signature on a cheque for £500 to enable his presumably consumptive sister Gwendolen to pass the winter in Switzerland. With the hold thus gained over Sir Charles, Dawn begins to blackmail the former, and we find that he has persistently carried on the process for twenty years, during which James has become a hardworking hospital doctor, nearing his M.D., and Gwendolen has blossomed into a popular revue artist, known as Gwen La Vie, and boomed into notoriety by her Press agent Silas Judd, a pushing American journalist. Dawn, not content with bleeding Sir Charles regularly, and forcing him to receive Gwendolen as a guest at his house, tries to bring about a match between this “vulgar creature” and the refined and thoughtful James, already in love with a girl named Dorothy. Enraged at the contemptuous rejection of the scheme, Gwen blurts out all she knows about James’s parentage, it appearing also that Dorothy was Hulton’s daughter, and, therefore, seemingly his sister. However, in the end, it turns out that the long-continued system of blackmailing had, unknown to Dawn, been based upon an artful scheme of the Hultons, who had falsely given it out that James Inglemere had died, whereas it had really been their child. Mrs. Hulton, spoilt by success or remorse, had become a confirmed drunkard, and had hidden under her hearth a confession with regard to the deception practised upon the Inglemeres, the farmer making a similar, unbelieved avowal, on his wife’s death, due to a fall caused by a scuffle with the Dawns, and the ex-secretary having forged another confession, as to James being Mrs. Hulton’s child, supposed to be in the hand of a woman whose writing he had probably never seen! He must have been a clever forger indeed. However, in spite of this inconsistency, and of Judd’s successful blackmailing of the easily squeezed Sir Charles for £10,000 for the real confession (whereas the Dawns had wanted £3,000 only for the false one), Mr. Rean’s drama is one calculated to become acceptable to popular audiences. It is being played effectively at the Elephant by one of the companies of Mr. W. H. Glaze' (The Stage, 14 February 1918).

First performance on Lord Chamberlain's copy

The Stage, 28 February 1918, advertised, ‘P. T. Selbit presents Love and The Law By Charles Darrell. This play has been produced with enormous and emphatic success, and can be seen next Monday, March 4, at the Elephant and Castle Theatre, with a great cast, including: Miss Mabel Coleman. Miss Muriel Dean. Mr. Chris Olgar. Mr. Edmund Sydney. … this intensely human play ... deals with the present-day social evil, and has a punch that goes right home to crowded audiences’. The Era, 6 March 1918, reviewed Love and The Law, ‘Drama in Six Scenes, Written by Charles Darrell, Produced for the first time [sic] at the Elephant and Castle Theatre on Monday, March 4, 1918’. The cast was: Mr. Onslow Arden, J.P. … Frank Irwin Mr. David Hardmann … Harry Evans Caleb Partmann … J. Adrian Byrne Corporal Dick Treowen … Chris Olgar Freddy Hartop … Eddie Rose P.C. Rosser … Fred Hunter Mrs. Cornelia Partmann … Mabel Coleman Alice Winter … Bettina Forest Nannie Tompkins … Lally Wynn Jane Tipcot … Florence Stanton Constance … Muriel Dean. The Era's review continued: ‘“Love and the Law” made a successful bid for popularity on Monday and should prove a profitable venture for Mr. P. T. Selbit, who presents the play. Constance Hayden is a confidential clerk to a firm contractors, which is run by a woman named Cornelia Partmann, and in the course of her duties discovers gross malpractices committed by her superior. Mrs. Partmann’s ambition is to amass wealth, so that her only son. whom she idolizes, may never “soil his hands with manual work.” This worthy, Caleb Partmann, is an unspeakable blackguard, and squanders the wealth his mother provides him with in betraying young girls. An entanglement of this sort with his mother’s typist, Alice Winter, he denies, with the result that Mrs Partmann instantly dismisses her, and Constance, who takes the girl’s part, is also discharged. Constance meets Caleb and appeals to him to “right” Alice Winter. His reply is to summon a constable and charge her with “soliciting.” Through pressure from Caleb she is sentenced to six months in a reformatory, on the perjured evidence of Alice Winter. After many exciting adventures, and chiefly through the instrumentality of Dick Treowen, who loves and believes in Constance, Alice Winter confesses the wrong she committed, and her bully confederate is sent to 12 months’ “hard,” Constance being honourably acquitted. and free to marry her gallant soldier-lover. An excellent interpretation is given by a capable body of players. Particularly pleasing is the portrayal by clever Miss Muriel Dean of the arduous rôle of the brave Constance; Miss Mabel Coleman well delineates the passion for amassing wealth of Mrs. Cornelia Partmann; while unstinted praise is deserved by Miss Bettina Forest as the wayward Alice Winter. Mr. J. Adrian Byrne as the heartless libertine, Caleb Partmann, plays with great force, and won execrations from pit and gallery for his many villainous crimes. A manly and true-hearted Tommy, Dick Treowen, is capitally portrayed by Mr. Chris Olgar’.

Advertised in The People, 17 March 1918, and listed in The Stage, 21 March 1918.

The play was staged here between 8 and 13 April 1918. The cast were: Alfred D. Adams (actor and general manager for Mr. Glaze), Henry Elliott (actor), Betty Seymour (actress), C. V. Artoni (actor), Fred T. Carroll (actor), Mr. George Harton (actor), Louise Adams (actress), George Wallace (actor), E. Nixon (actor), C. Gormley (actor). A review in 'The Stage' (18 April 1918) noted: 'the attractive and really significant title of 'When the Joy Bells Are Ringing',[...] Mr. Rean has chosen a war theme, worked out by means of a temporarily successful attempt at personation, with the exchange of papers, identification-discs, and so on. Enlisting as a private after having been disowned by his father, a bigoted and bullying old Tory Squire, named Wildmarsh, the hero, Sidney Wildmarsh, is thought to have been killed “somewhere in the trenches”, and his identity is assumed by his double, Ned Henderson, a jewel-thief and bank-forger, who, with his Pistol-like associate, known as the Major, had taken refuge in the same regiment, so it happens, after their escape from the detectives on the night of a Zeppelin raid. The bogus Sidney is, however, denounced as an impostor by the real hero’s wife, Myrtle, niece of the village Pastor, the Rev. Thomas Probyn, the girl, just then having been called before the congregation to declare who was the father of her unborn child, having promised young Wildmarsh not to reveal their secret marriage without his consent. So, her protestations as to the personation not being heeded, she and her uncle are hounded out of the village of Staplemoor, mainly owing to the machinations of Eli Hagson, a deacon of the chapel and a hypocritical grocer, afterwards charged with profiteering, and finally arrested for complicity in a case of cheque-forging, of which the sham Sydney made his supposed father the victim. Hence Henderson and his accomplice the Major, the latter caught red-handed after burgling the Squire’s safe, are nabbed on the Terrace of Staplemoor Hall (one of several good sets used for the production) as the joy bells are ringing for the granting of a commission to the Squire’s son. Meanwhile, the real Sydney, dressed in hospital blue, and supposed to be suffering from shell-shock, meets with his wife, whom he acknowledges (whereas the impostor had averred, truthfully as it happens, that she was not his wife), and a family group of husband, wife, baby, and grandsire, is seen on the Terrace, whilst the bells of the title are still pealing merrily. In the part of the red-nosed Major Mr. Alfred D. Adams, the general manager for Mr. Glaze, gave a clever and diverting character performance, a skilful piece of doubling being that effected by Mr. Henry Elliott as Sydney and his shadow. Miss Betty Seymour was an earnest and pathetic Myrtle especially good in the scenes of partial confession, after the manner of The Scarlet Letter, and a good, sound, vigorous impersonation of the much-troubled Pastor was that presented by Mr. C. V. Artoni. Mr. Fred T. Carroll duly made “the gruel thick and slab(?)” as the insidiously malignant Hagson, and the light relief was supplied acceptably by Mr. George Harton, very bright as Jerry Goslin, one of the various soldiers seen in the piece, and by Miss Louise Adams, a buxom and amusing exponent of Sally Drake, whom he marries. Mr. George Wallace made a typical heavy father of the blustering old Squire, and other parts were filled by Mr. E. Nixon and Mr. C. Gormley’.

The Era, 17 April 1918, reviewed The Man Who Made Good, ‘Drama, in Six Scenes, by G. [sic – C.] Vernon Proctor, Produced at the Elephant and Castle Theatre, Monday, April 15’. The cast was: Vernon Sheldrake, H. A. Langlois; Esther Bastion, Laurie Adair; Betty Sheldrake, Florrie MacInnes; Bartlett, Archie Grant; General John Sheldrake, Conrad Clerke; Alice Sheldrake, Edna Lester; Harry Sheldrake, Frank V. Fenn; Rose Giller, Dora Weber; Mark Tapley Topper, Allan Carruthers; Martha Topper, Amy Wood. Also reviewed in The Stage, 18 April 1918, ‘from the always thoughtful and stimulating pen of C. Vernon Proctor … an interesting and in most respects plausible drama’.

This performance (theatre and start date) is included in a list of previous performances of “Married on Leave” in The Stage of Thursday 1 August 1918. The People of Sunday 21 April 1918 noted that “Married on Leave” was to be performed at the Elephant Theatre the following week, twice nightly with matinées on Monday and Thursday. . The Era of Wednesday 24 April 1918 reviewed “Married on Leave” at the Elephant Theatre on Monday 22 April. The review described the play as ‘an attractive war play with a strong comedy element’. Raymond Vernon is a German spy. In the last act ‘a realistic representation of a fight in the air is shown’. The review summarises the plot and comments briefly on the actors’ performances.

Performers: Frankie Hertie (actor), Roy Selfridge (actor), Wyndham Clare (actor), Ernest Lester (actor), Courtney Robinson (actor), Pat Quinn (actor), Arthur Crawley (actor), Percy Steven (actor), Florrie Hall (actress), Lilian Maitland (actress) Reviews: "First time in London" - review, The Era.

Reviewed at length in The Era, 21 August 1918, on the occasion of the play being produced for the first time in London at the Elephant and Castle Theatre on Monday 19 August. It was originally produced at the Theatre Royal, Worcester, on 17 June [sic]. The cast was: Captain Derrick Tressillian, Edward Furneau; Captain George Delpre, Edward Warden; Rev. Noel Wheeler, J. O. Stevenson; Reuben Egg, J. H. Knowles; Sergeant Barney Croft, Arthur C. Crossey; Private Bing, Fred Butcher; Inspector Lomax, H. Wheeler; Peggy Dimple, L. Snape; Angela Hope, Stella Cedron; Mavis Hope, Daisy Spalding. The review summarised the plot and praised the acting.

Advertised in The People, 6 October 1918, after shows at Stratford and Dalston, but the name of the theatre is incomplete in the copy on the BNA, with only ‘ANT’ visible.

Reviewed at length in The Era, 30 October 1918: ‘Play in Nine Scenes, By Clifford Rean. Produced, for the First Time in London, at the Elephant and Castle Theatre, Monday, October 28’. The cast was: Sir William Vallender, Richard Webb; Dennis Royston, Wilson Benge; Captain Frank Cave, Jerrold Ord; P.C. Hogg, Frank Radcliffe; Tony Blizzard, Tom J. Taylor; Van Ick, Eric Williams; Captain Holtz, Fred Starkey; German Red Cross Corporal, Harold Thompson; German Red Cross Private, W. A. Roe; Molly Mugglethorp, Amy Corallie [sic – Coralli?]; Susan, Lizzie Lennon; Madame Van Ick, Maggie Massey; Ruth Vallender, Sadie Smith. The review summarised the plot and praised the actors but is largely illegible on the British Newspaper Archive.

The Stage, 7 November 1918, listed For Sweethearts and Wives as On Tour from 4 November at the Elephant, S.E.

Listed in 'Productions of the month' for November 1918. ('The Era', 8 January 1919, p. 19)

Performed for the week by Emma Litchfield's company.

Performed 24-29 March.

The Stage, 17 April 1919, reviewed at length ‘Love, Honour, and the Woman’ by Vincent W. Carlyle, performed by Joseph Millane’s company on Monday 14 April 1919 at the Elephant and Castle. The cast was: Richard Thornton, Vincent W. Carlyle; Harold Thornton, George Gaisford; Montgomery Fitzgerald, Fergus Leslie; Poulter, Leonard C. Way; Josephine, Violet St. John; Dorothy Thornton, Winnie Crichton; Lady Constance; Evie Conway; Bess, Florence Churchill ... “Love, Honour, and the Woman” is pretty sure to meet with favour from popular audiences’. Also: when Joseph Millane’s Companies advertised in The Stage, 24 April 1919, for theatres for Love, Honour, and the Woman, Atonement and Hushed Up, (‘cast includes Florence Churchill’), the contact was Joseph Millane, Elephant and Castle Theatre, London. Which play did they perform in the second week?

The Stage of Thursday 24 April 1919 listed “Married on Leave” as being performed that week at the Elephant and Castle, twice nightly with matinées on Monday and Wednesday.

Presented by the Elephant Repertory company. Produced by N. Carter Slaughter who also starred in the play alongside Grace Sweeting.