LizzieM 9,507 Posted November 28, 2016 Report Share Posted November 28, 2016 Off at a tangent Merthyr Imp but years ago I bought a very nice Wedgewood Soup Tureen in an antique/secondhand Shop that supposedly had belonged to Dandy Nicols. SOMEBODY broke the lid so we dumped it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted December 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2016 A week later in 1979 was another play - a 'four-hander', which was very economical for touring productions. All fairly well-known names, although Richard Easton was probably only known for appearing in 'The Brothers' on TV. Another play I can't really remember anything about. Notts County advertising in the programme. I wonder if the Theatre Royal reciprocated? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted December 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2016 Continuing with this, and a month later in 1979 two plays were presented in the week, however I think I only went to see 'The Elder Statesman' - about which I can remember nothing! Star of many things on TV, Kate O'Mara, was in it, along with Robert Flemyng a well-known presence in films from the 1950s onwards. 'Powerful microcomputers' were now available to buy: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted January 1, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2017 An interesting production of 'The Beggar's Opera' starring Edward Woodward as Macheath and others well-known from TV such as Michele Dotrice (who later became Woodward's second wife) and John Savident, later well-known for 'Coronation Street' (so I'm told). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
trevorthegasman 150 Posted January 3, 2017 Report Share Posted January 3, 2017 Went to that production remember Edward Woodward calling out to the audience to save him but alas he got little response the night we went... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted January 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2017 The following week the National Theatre visited the Theatre Royal with a production of 'When We Are Married' by J. B. Priestley. I remember this as being really good as with most of this author's plays, and it's a pity that - apart from recent productions of 'An Inspector Calls' - he seems to have fallen out of fashion. I've copied the cast list as it's a memorable one, including Robin Bailey back again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,457 Posted January 3, 2017 Report Share Posted January 3, 2017 .....and apparently including the recently-deceased Liz Smith. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted January 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 December 1979, and a visit from English National Opera North as they were still known then. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LizzieM 9,507 Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 We saw TOSCA at the Rome Opera House on New Years Eve in the early 1990s. We'd gone for a few days with friends and thought it was right for the men to wear dinner jackets but we were wrong, the majority of the male members of the audience were very very casually dressed. A wonderful evening it was too, very memorable. The following morning, NY Day, we caught a bus from our hotel to The Vatican to see the Pope give his NY address. Our friend had his wallet lifted, even though he'd got it in a front pocket of his trousers and underneath a big overcoat. He and my husband then spent hours filling out numerous forms in the police station. What a waste of a day, didn't have binoculars to see the Pope either, he was just a little dot on a balcony about 100 yards away! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted January 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2017 April 1980, and an Agatha Christie thriller about which I can remember very little. Only a few minor TV actors in the cast. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted January 11, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 This one from 1979 has slipped out of order. In May that year was this really funny comedy which I can still remember bits of to this day, especially a great comic performance from Eric Sykes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted January 14, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2017 June 1980, and a comedy which I remember was about a village cricket team (hence the title) but nothing else has stuck in my mind about it. The cast which included one or two names well known on TV, including James Ellis of Z-Cars, on this occasion without a Northern Irish accent. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
trevorthegasman 150 Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 Bit sad that one as in Nov 1980 Imogen Hassall from a famous family committed suicide,her grandfather did some of the best advert posters, I have a collection including 'Skegness is so Bracing" LNER..... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chulla 4,946 Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 A while back the design of Park Drive packets was mentioned on this thread. While sorting out cigarette cards for a different thread, some sets were kept in Park Drive packets. Here you can see the old original packet of 10 plain (the green band was later replaced by a gold band), and the modern-looking 10 plain packet. The old blue packet seen here was for 5 Park Drive Navy Cut, with the modern 10 tipped packet alongside. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,304 Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 #117 18 months ago, while the 1950s tiled replacement fireplace was being removed from my 1930 house, one of the items which fell out of the chimney cavity was an empty Park Drive packet, red and gold, unfiltered. Scratched in the cement on the reverse of the fire surround was the date June 1955! A piece of history! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
carni 10,094 Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 Cor Chulla, seeing those Parkie packets just makes me fancy a puff. I can almost see myself sitting on the top deck of the "Red Bus" bouncing along Colwick Rd, 7.30am on my way to work. The air would have been thick with smoke, and the smell of struck matches. If I was quick I could fit one and a half parkies in on the journey to town. Flip the last one and save the dog end for break. Cough Splutter. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted January 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 In our shop in the early 1960s it was one shilling and ten pence ha'penny for a packet of ten Park Drive - three ha'pence change from a florin. We sold so many like that I could just hand over the change without working it out in my head. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted January 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 12 hours ago, trevorthegasman said: Bit sad that one as in Nov 1980 Imogen Hassall from a famous family committed suicide, I hadn't realised that - it could very well be significant then, that there was a printed slip in the programme: 'due to illness, the part of 'Ginnie' will be played by Hilary Crane and not Imogen Hassall as advertised.' Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plantfit 7,580 Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 I find the adverts in these programs interesting,I know thats not the point of the thread,but just as comparisons very interesting,Thanks for posting Rog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chulla 4,946 Posted January 16, 2017 Report Share Posted January 16, 2017 Not quite concerned with this thread. except it was given to me years ago by my good friend Herbert Watson (Eastwood man at the time) who saw this production when he was serving with No.3 Squadron RAF at Wunstorf, Germany in the immediate post-war years. I thought that Merthyr Imp might be interested It. None of the cast are recognizable names. The programme is autographed 'Murderously Yours, Tod Slaughter' Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted January 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2017 I remember seeing Tod Slaughter's 1930s film of that on TV years ago. All this is long before the musical version of recent years of course. Apparently Slaughter was his real surname. 'Walter Plinge' in the cast list usually signified the part was being played by one of the other named actors. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted January 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2017 November 1980, and the Old Vic Company visited the Theatre Royal with a comedy by the Victorian dramatist Arthur W. Pinero, the subject being the life and loves of theatrical people. Pinero is rather like J. B. Priestley in that while his plays were still being performed going into the 1980s and 90s, since then they seem to have gone out of fashion. This production featured Bill Fraser and Robert Lindsay as the most notable TV faces. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chulla 4,946 Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 Arthur Wing Pinero wrote a play about a soldier badly disfigured in WW1. I think he was encouraged in this by the authorities to show that there is life and love after such a tragedy. It was called The Enchanted Cottage. Years later Hollywood made it into a superb film starring Dorothy McGuire and Robert Young. All you romantics, catch it next time it comes on TV, or borrow to DVD from me. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
carni 10,094 Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 Chulla, I watched your DVD of The Enchanted Cottage and I agree it is a superb film, especially for us romantics, I loved every moment of it. Well recommended. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted January 30, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2017 Early December 1980 and the National Theatre Company presented a Restoration comedy by John Vanbrugh, a dramatist who was equally famous as an architect. Can't really remember much of it, but the stars were Geraldine McEwan and Dorothy Tutin backed up by Brenda Blethyn and Nicky Henson. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.