Aldwych

[Tom Walls, English stage and film actor and director of the famous Aldwych farces.] Autograph Signature (‘Best Wishes / Tom Walls’) from autograph album.

Author:

Tom Walls [Thomas Kirby Walls] (1883-1949), English stage and film actor, remembered for producing, directing and acting in 1920s Aldwych farces and their 1930s film adaptations

Publication details:

No place or date.

£30.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 9.5 x 11.5 cm leaf of blue paper, with rounded outer corners, torn from an autograph album. In good condition, lightly aged, with spotting on reverse. Reads: ‘Best Wishes / Tom Walls.’ Good bold writing, with stylistic flourish linking the cross-stroke of the T in ‘Tom’ with the S of ‘wishes’, and two small vertical strokes at the centre of the underlining of the signature. See image

Keywords:

[Sir Edward Seymour Hicks, actor-manager, to theatre historian W. J. MacQueen-Pope.] Autograph Letter Signed and Airgraph letter, both long and gossipy, expressing dissatisfaction with South Africa. With copy of letter to Hicks from MacQueen-Pope.

Author:

Seymour Hicks [Sir Edward Seymour Hicks] (1871-1949), actor-manager who built the Aldwych and Hicks theatres in London [W. J. MacQueen-Pope [Walter James MacQueen-Pope] (1888-1960), theatre historian]

Publication details:

ALS: undated, but with Capetown postmark of 6 July 1942. Airgraph: 25 November 1942. Both letters c/o Barclays Bank, Cape Town, South Africa. MacQueen-Pope's copy letter: 23 September 1942; Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, WC2 [London].

£120.00

The three items in good condition, lightly aged. An entertaining and characteristic exchange, with MacQueen-Pope's letter (Item Three) dating from between Hicks's two. ONE: ALS from 'Seymour H.' to 'My dear old Poppie'. Undated, with envelope with Capetown postmark dated 6 July 1942, addressed to 'McQueen Pope Ere. | Drury Lane Theatre | Drury Lane | London | W. C. 1 | From Sir Seymour Hicks'. 2pp, 8vo. 79 lines of closely-written text, headed 'Private & Confidential'.

Keywords:

[ The Gaiety Theatre, Aldwych, London. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed from H. Hugh Harvey to theatre historian W. J. Macqueen-Pope, reminiscing about 'theatrical matters' andn in particular the Gaiety Theatre.

Author:

H. Hugh Harvey, English musicologist and broadcaster [ The Gaiety Theatre, Aldwych, London; Walter James Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre manager and historian ]

Publication details:

Both on his letterhead, 24 Wessex Gardens, Golder Green, NW11 [ London ]. 12 and 16 January 1950.

£100.00

Both in good condition, on aged paper. ONE: 2pp., 4to. He reminds Macqueen-Pope that two years previously he was 'kind enough to receive me at your Office and, after a long and most interesting chat on things theatrical (over an hour, as I recall!) you wrote into my copies of your "Drury Lane" and "Carriages at Eleven" two very greatly appreciated inscriptions, by way of friendship'. He now has his 'delightful "Gaiety" and splendid 'Haymarket", and asks for 'another pow-wow' at 359 Strand.

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[ Peter Ustinov, actor and playwright. ] Corrected typescript of his unpublished play 'The Man behind the Statue', performed under the management of Robert Donat at the Opera House, Manchester, in 1946.

Author:

Peter Ustinov [ Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov ] (1921-2004), English actor and author [ Robert Donat (1905-1958), Oscar-winning actor ]

Publication details:

'The property of: Robert Donat, 23 Three Kings' Yard, Davies Street, W.1. [ London ]' Undated [but only performed at the Opera House, Manchester, in 1946. ]

£580.00

158pp., 4to. Typed text on rectos only. With manuscript emendations (possibly in the hand of Judith Spearman, stage manager) throughout, including deletions and a few short additional passages, as well as stage directions. Makeshift thumb index at head. In fair condition, with moderate signs of age and wear, bound with pink ribbon into buff card covers. Typed label on front cover, together with 'Judith Spearman' and 'Effects' in pencil.

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Autograph Letter Signed from the playwright Ben Travers to 'Miss Saunders', reporting that he is 'in the thick of this "Week in the Country" business', but that he will contribute to the 'Grand Magazine', despite being 'a rotten short story writer'.

Author:

Ben Travers (1886-1980), English playwright, best-known for his farces at the Aldwych Theatre in London in the 1920s and 1930s

Publication details:

On letterhead of the Queen's Hotel, Southsea. 29 June 1927.

£50.00

1p., 12mo. On aged and ruckled paper, with pinholes to one corner. He is 'in the thick of this "Week in the Country" business'. 'When I come to town I'll come & see you about your proposition of the series for the Grand Magazine, but I'm a rotten short story writer, you know.'

Keywords:

Aldwych

[Tom Walls, English stage and film actor and director of the famous Aldwych farces.] Autograph Signature (‘Best Wishes / Tom Walls’) from autograph album.

[Sir Edward Seymour Hicks, actor-manager, to theatre historian W. J. MacQueen-Pope.] Autograph Letter Signed and Airgraph letter, both long and gossipy, expressing dissatisfaction with South Africa. With copy of letter to Hicks from MacQueen-Pope.

[ The Gaiety Theatre, Aldwych, London. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed from H. Hugh Harvey to theatre historian W. J. Macqueen-Pope, reminiscing about 'theatrical matters' andn in particular the Gaiety Theatre.

[ Peter Ustinov, actor and playwright. ] Corrected typescript of his unpublished play 'The Man behind the Statue', performed under the management of Robert Donat at the Opera House, Manchester, in 1946.

Autograph Letter Signed from the playwright Ben Travers to 'Miss Saunders', reporting that he is 'in the thick of this "Week in the Country" business', but that he will contribute to the 'Grand Magazine', despite being 'a rotten short story writer'.

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