Bensonian obituaries

Today is the anniversary of Frank Benson's death: on the evening of December 31st 1939.  At 81, and increasingly frail through the first bitter winter of the Second World War, he had caught a cold which then developed into pneumonia over Christmas.  It was six years since he had finally retired from touring.  His final words, (according to J.C. Trewin) were 'Thank you very much.'

Yesterday, I spent a luxurious day 'playing' with the data base, filling in a few more gaps, before deciding to see what I could find in terms of comments in obituaries.  His death was widely reported across the country, and many newspapers reflected on memories of past theatre performances which his name conjured up.

The Scotsman talked of his 'electric personality...the Don Quixote of the stage...'. The Yorkshire Post reflected that he was 'the doyen of an age of full-blooded acting, of golden speech, of graceful movement, a page of theatrical history has closed forever with his death.'  The Birmingham Daily Post considered 'no man in his time better deserved to be called the father of the English Stage.'

My favourite comment, however, comes from the Manchester Evening News: 'Behind the scenes tonight, in almost every theatre in the land they will be talking of Bensonian days for there is hardly a show put on but numbers in its cast someone who is a link with those tours in some way.'

#SAVE HARKER'S STUDIO

You know how much I love serendipity? Well, yet again things have all somehow come together at the same time in the Merry Shrew Universe to illuminate yet another dusty corner of my theatrical research. Although what happens on stage is relatively easy to uncover, the workings of the Backstage World are a different matter entirely.  Discovering information about set and costumes, lighting and special effects can be very difficult and so finding something about that realm is a joy.

This summer I spent a week in Galloway in Scotland and managed to con my fellow travellers into a trip to Wigtown.  This is Scotland's 'Book town' - a bit like a Scots Hay-on-Wye - and amongst other delights I found a rarity in the wonderful Old Bank Bookshop - a copy of Joseph Harker's memoirs Studio and Stage published in 1924.  In all my rummaging in bookshops over the years I'd never seen a copy. Naturally, I had to bring it home...

Joseph Harker was a famous scenic painter, best known for his work with Henry Irving and Beerbohm Tree. (Rumour has it that Bram Stoker actually named Jonathan Harker after him when he wrote Dracula.) Harker also produced work for the Bensons, notably working on their production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I read his book in one sitting - with a wry smile at his comments about 'modern staging' - and then, once I was back at home, did a little light Googling. To my amazement I discovered that Harker's actual studio in Walworth is still in existence and still being used for painting scenery.  Look here to see some fabulous photographs of the interior, which is currently a theatrical chandler's shop.  There is even a Pathe newsreel showing Harker painting a forty-foot canvas in the studio.

Sadly, its fate seems very uncertain.  Southwark Council have granted planning permission for the building to be 'redeveloped' (their word: mine would be much more emotive!) into 'luxury flats' when the current lease comes to an end in January 2018. The criminal and wanton destruction of this Grade 2 listed building is barbaric.  It is a unique and living piece of heritage as well as being an unbroken link back to Edwardian Theatre.  

However, it won't go down without a fight.  There's an online petition and pressure from all sorts of organisations and groups, including the Victorian Society, the Theatres Trust and The Harker family themselves to try and make the council reconsider their decision.  I really hope they do. Once destroyed, another link in the fragile chain between then and now will be broken.

Greenock Hyperbole!

Discovered today in the GREENOCK TELEGRAPH of May 18th 1889, reminiscent of Mr Vincent Crummells.

Living the Dream again...

There's been a flourish of busy-ness in the Merry Shrew universe over the past few weeks.  The wonderful Louis Marder bursary from The Shakespeare Institute paid for another three day visit to the archives in Stratford and a stay in the lovely cottage we used last year.  I really love Stratford 'out of season' and having a proper little house to stay in makes it feel as if I'm actually 'living my dream' and residing there...

We slipped into an already well-rehearsed pattern: up for a leisurely breakfast, then off to the Archive and Library, where we scribbled like mad at our respective tasks for about five hours - no lunch break to maximise working time! - before crawling out into the late afternoon in search of warmth and food.  Then back to the cosy cottage for  a review of the day's findings before crashing out with a bottle of red, a good film ('Paddington' was our very favourite this time!) , meals courtesy of  Marks and Spencer and the occasional Malteaser/Jaffa Cake for a late night snack!  Food and archives.  What more does a girl need?

Having had a chance to assess the material accessed this time, I'm finding things are finally beginning to fit together.  Working with prompt books, costume lists, set lists, photographs and newspaper reviews, I feel as if I'm finally getting a handle on what exactly it was that Benson was touring round the provinces for all those years.   The most exciting thing has been, oddly, the discovery of colour. I know it's a ridiculous cliché to think of the past as being in sepia tones, but discovering the fact that the drapes for the castle interiors in Hamlet were purple has been a revelation.

Discovering the vast amount of money lost on tours to South Africa and North America during 1914 has been less surprising - and the minutes of the company management meetings include an alarmingly long list of creditors.

I still am in several minds about what to do with all this information.  I'm coming to the end of the two year period stipulated by the SBT and I really do need to consider how best to 'publish' the things I've discovered.  I have a few ideas... but still lack the academic confidence to dive in just yet. In the mean time, I'm spending as much time as possible typing up and collating the information available about productions.

How lucky am I ?

A 'Nearly Twelfth Night' visit

I'm aware that I've seriously let the side down here since August.  New year's resolution is to try harder....

Canal basin frozen solid on January 5th. Bemused gulls standing on the ice, wondering where the water went...

My long (and very welcome!) Christmas holiday finally came to an end on January 9th. I made the most of the extra time post-New Year to make a flying visit to Stratford upon Avon, mainly to see the RSC production of 'The Rover' at the Swan Theatre and to visit the newly re-opened New Place gardens.  I love Stratford 'out of season' and this was probably the quietest I've ever seen it.

Because we were staying after the New Year holiday and the local schools had gone back we managed to get a very reasonable accommodation deal at the Shakespeare Hotel in Chapel Street, somewhere I was excited to stay because of its strong Benson connections.

There has been a 'hostelry' on this site since 1637 and the hotel's website promised 'creaking floorboards and winding staircases' which were both well in evidence.  We stayed in the older part of the hotel and I allowed myself some fanciful speculations about which Old Bensonians might have stayed in 'Belmont' in the past...

The old colonnaded entrance now graces Marks and Spencer's! 

The Shakespeare Hotel was run, in Benson's time, by the Justins family and was a favourite post-show haunt of the Bensons and their company when they were in Stratford.  In later days, it became the venue for the annual 'Old Bensonian' reunion lunches.

Beside the front door is a slate plaque which replaces one unveiled by Benson in the 1920s after extensive renovations had restored the Tudor frontage to the main entrance. Commemorating the First World War it was replaced by a grant from the War Memorials Trust in partnership with Mercure Hotels who now own the building.

http://www.warmemorials.org/search-grants/?gID=198

Incredibly cosy, the hotel boasted a couple of spectacular open log fires in the public areas of the hotel and we could quite easily have settled down with a good book and stayed there.  However, the weather was cold and crisp and perfect for walking and so we dragged ourselves out into the winter sun to rediscover the New Place gardens - one of my very favourite Stratford locations.

We had the gardens more or less to ourselves, which was lovely.  We've recently sponsored a hornbeam tree there as a memorial to a greatly missed friend and so we made its acquaintance and then rediscovered the peace and tranquillity of the gardens where we've spent so many summer afternoons over the years.  (As it was a very 'cold and frosty morning' we were also gratified to be able to go around the mulberry bush!)

It did feel a little strange to be in Stratford and not to be 'digging' for Bensonian treasure in the SBT archives,  However, February half term looms on the horizon: another stay in our lovely hired cottage and three whole days of archive work ahead.  I'm already making lists...