Kristine Hughes – Page 114 – Number One London

Leading Man News

Emma Thompson received her star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame last month
and showed up at the unveiling with a pig and a pint.

Yipppeee for Emma Thompson. Yes, I know Emma’s not a leading man, but she is working on a new project, a remake of My Fair Lady, to star Carey Mulligan as Eliza Doolittle and rumour is that she’s tapped Colin Firth to play Henry Higgins, with Hugh Grant in a supporting role. Emma has said in interviews that she was dissatisfied with the original film version’s sugary take on the storyline of Pygmalion which, however one slices it, revolves around a father’s having sold his daughter to an older man in a form of prostitution. Emma has said:

“It’s a very terrible thing [Eliza Doolittle’s father] does, selling his daughter into sexual slavery for a fiver. I suppose my cheekiness is in saying, “This is a very serious story about the usage of women at a particular time in our history. And it’s still going on today.”

About the original film, and its female lead, Emma said:

“I’m not hugely fond of the film. I find Audrey Hepburn fantastically twee … Twee is whimsy without wit. It is mimsy-mumsy sweetness without any kind of bite. And that’s not for me. She can’t sing and she can’t really act, I’m afraid. I’m sure she was a delightful woman — and perhaps if I had known her I would have enjoyed her acting more, but I don’t and I didn’t, so that’s all there is to it really.”

With equal honesty, Emma spoke to the Daily Telegraph of Firth’s chances of playing Higgins, “He would do it brilliantly, but because it’s a really expensive movie it’s really up to the studio. They’re always really picky about these things.”

So, does this mean that Emma’s version of My Fair Lady will be more like dark molasses than white sugar? In the end, will Colin Firth actually play Henry Higgins? We’ll have to wait and see, but in the meantime, as Victoria let us know in yesterday’s post, it’s dead cert that Firth will be playing King George VI in The King’s Speech. Set to open in November, Geoffrey Rush plays royal speech therapist Lionel Logue, who worked to help George VI overcome his stammer. Helena Bonham Carter will play the Queen Mum (!?).

Mack the Knife

Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear

And it shows them pearly white

Just a jackknife has old MacHeath, babe

And he keeps it … ah … out of sight.

Ya know when that shark bites, with his teeth, babe

Scarlet billows start to spread

Fancy gloves, though, wears old MacHeath, babe

So there’s nevah, nevah a trace of red.

Now on the sidewalk … uuh, huh … whoo … sunny mornin’ … uuh, huh

Lies a body just oozin’ life … eeek!

And someone’s sneakin’ ‘round the corner

Could that someone be Mack the Knife?

Don’t you love Mack the Knife? I do. I’ve added Bobby Darin’s version of the song to nearly every cd I’ve burned. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Mack the Knife has it’s roots in England . . . . . The character of Macheath, later to become Mack the Knife, first appeared in The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay (1685-1732). The Beggar’s Opera, a comic ballad opera, took London by storm with it’s portrayal of the lower-class criminals satirizing the government and upper-class society. The main character of The Beggar’s Opera is a swashbuckling thief called Macheath who is polite to the people he robs, shuns violence, and shows impeccable good manners while cheating on his wife. The character is usually understood as partly a satire of Sir Robert Walpole, a leading British politician of the time. The Beggar’s Opera was a success from its first production in 1728, and continued to be performed for many years. It was the first musical play produced in colonial New York and legend has it that George Washington enjoyed it very much.

The Beggar’s Opera by Hogarth

The play was so popular that it prompted Hogarth to fashion a painting upon it. Here is the description of the above painting from the Tate Britain website: “Between 1728 and 1731 Hogarth painted numerous versions of a climactic scene from John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, the great theatrical sensation of the period. Hogarth concentrated on a scene set in Newgate prison in which the play’s leading character, a condemned highwayman called Captain Macheath, is shown at the centre of a tug-of-love. The characters of Lucy Lockit and Polly Peachum, both of whom believe themselves married to Macheath, plead with their fathers – respectively a corrupt prison-warden and a crooked lawyer – to set him free. In both versions of A Beggar’s Opera displayed here, Hogarth included the stage trappings and protagonists of the theatrical environment in which Gay’s work was first staged. An elaborate curtain hangs over the proceedings, and Hogarth paints recognisable portraits of such actors as Lavinia Fenton (dressed in white), who famously played Polly Peachum. Furthermore, Hogarth depicts the most fashionable members of the theatre audience sitting on the stage, as was commonplace at this time.”

But back to the song . . . . . the much covered popular tune (Armstrong, Fitzgerald, Darin, Sinatra, Buble, et al) was composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama Die Dreigroschenoper, or, as it is known in English, The Threepenny Opera – based on The Beggar’s Opera. It premiered in Berlin in 1928 and the song became a popular standard. “Mack the Knife” was introduced to the United States hit parade by Louis Armstrong in 1956, but the song is most closely associated with Bobby Darin, who recorded the song in 1958 and won Record of the Year in 1959.

Aah … I said Jenny Diver … whoa … Sukey Tawdry

Look out to Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown

Yes, that line forms on the right, babe

Now that Macky’s back in town …

Kurt Weill’s widow, Lotte Lenya, was the star of both the original 1928 German production and the 1954 Blitzstein Broadway version and she happened to be present in the studio during Armstrong’s recording. He spontaneously added her name to the lyrics, which already named several of Macheath’s female victims. All the other women’s names, Suky Tawdry, Jenny Diver, Lucy Brown, etc., appear in the original German version.

You can watch a classic video of Bobby Darin singing Mack The Knife here.

Do You Know About Dr. Finlay?

Yes, yet another medical based British telly series to tell you about. Based on a novella entitled Country Doctor by author and doctor A.J. Cronin, Dr. Finlay’s Casebook was a television series that was broadcast on the BBC from 1962 until 1971. The storylines centred on a general medical practice in the fictional Scottish town of Tannochbrae during the late 1920s.

The latest television series featuring Dr. Finlay is set in the post-WWII era, with the plot lines revolving around a small local medical practice in Scotland. One of the recurring themes is the transition to the National Health Service, instituted in Britain in 1948. Doctor Finlay supports the move, while other doctors resist the change. The show stars David Rintoul as Dr. Finlay, Ian Bannen as his semi-retired practice partner, Dr. Cameron, and Annette Crosbie as his housekeeper, Janet. Other central characters include Finlay’s assistant, Dr. Neil, played by Jason Flemyng and Finlay’s new partner, Dr. Napier, played by Jessica Turner. The series is a Scottish Television production (now known as STV Productions) that was filmed in Auchtermuchty, Fife, Scotland. It aired in the U.S. on PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre.

Life in post-war Scotland–or to be precise, post-war Tannochbrae–is not getting any easier for Dr. John Finlay. His workload is increasing now that former partner Dr. Cameron is semi-retired, his relationship with young Dr. Neil is strained, and he is also preparing the practice for the setting up of the National Health Service. Meanwhile the ever-reliable housekeeper Janet is preparing for her marriage to local pharmacist Angus Livingstone, though she is worried about her successor at Arden House.

The interactions between three generations of doctors adds extra depth and interest to the stories. Each fellow has his own quirks and weaknesses. We like them all, even when they are cantankerous (Cameron), humorless (Finlay), or cocky (Neil).

A look at the plot synopsis for the first episode, which aired on 9 May 1993, will give you the flavor of this character driven series: In 1946, Dr. John Finlay is finally demobilized and he returns to life in private practice in his native Scotland. His partner, Dr. Alexander Cameron, has stayed on passed his retirement age to keep the practice open pending his return but it is now far less prosperous that when he left it and is barely paying for itself. Dr. Cameron hires a new locum, Dr. David Neil, to join the practice but fails to consult Finlay before doing so. Finlay and Neil begin to question the elder member of the practice’s judgment when they suspect he had mis-prescribed medication to a pregnant woman.

For the remainder of the series, the private lives of the characters and concerns of the patients drive the plots and often tug at the heartstrings. Settle in with a cuppa and enjoy these dvds, which should be available through most public libraries.

Burke and Hare – The Comedy?

Tag line: No Job Too Small. No Body Too Big. No Questions Asked.

Burke and Hare, directed by John Landis, is a comedic take on the true story of the 1828 Edinburgh body-snatchers William Burke (Simon Pegg) and William Hare (Andy Serkis). These two 19th century entrepreneurs discover that a dead body can fetch a hefty price when the demands of the leading medical professors Dr. Knox (Tom Wilkinson) and Dr. Monroe (Tim Curry) reach beyond that of the local supply. The film also features John Cleese, Hugh Bonneville, Isla Fisher, Stephen Merchant and an appearance by Christopher Lee.

Director Landis said of the film, “It has horror things within it — it’s about dissection and grave robbing, after all — but it’s a very black romantic comedy, hopefully in the tradition of the old Ealing Studios’ Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Ladykillers.”

Simon Pegg, who plays Burke, said, “Hare’s the mastermind, the schemer. Burke’s a little more of a frustrated romantic. But they weren’t hand-rubbing, evil villains; they kind of fell into it, really. They felt they were justified. The movie dares you to be sympathetic towards them and, quite cannily, actually feel a little for them. And you constantly have to keep going, ‘No! They’re bad!’”

The film, which has been stuck in production glue – or congealed blood – for quite a while and seemed forever stalled, was finally being touted by it’s director in Cannes a few months ago and is said to be released in October in England. It’s U.S. release date is a somewhat vague “2011,” but we thought we’d give you the heads up, anyway. You can read all about the gruesome, real life events surrounding the crimes of Burke and Hare here.

Camile Silvy – Royal Photographer

Actress Adelina Patti (1843-1919)

After reading a bit about the Exhibition on Camile Silvy running at the National Portrait Gallery 15 July – 24 October 2010, I was prompted to do a bit of research into the man. Camile Silvy was a pioneer of early photography and one of the greatest French photographers of the nineteenth century. This exhibition includes many remarkable images which have not been exhibited since the 1860s.

The Exhibition contains over 100 images, including a large number of carte de visites, focusing on a ten-year creative burst from 1857-67 working in Algiers, rural France, Paris and London, and illustrate how Silvy pioneered many now familiar branches of the medium including theatre, fashion and street photography and early image manipulation and photographic mass production.

Working under the patronage of Queen Victoria, Silvy photographed royalty (Prince Albert, at left) aristocrats and celebrities. He also portrayed uncelebrated people, the professional classes and country gentry, their wives, children and servants. The results offer a unique glimpse into nineteenth-century society through the eyes of one of photography’s outstanding innovators.

Silvy became a member of the Société Française de Photographie in 1858. By 1859, he had moved to London and opened a portrait studio producing cartes-de-visite, the small, calling card-sized photographs invented by André Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri in 1854. At the height of ‘Cartomania’ in the summer of 1861, he was personally conducting as many as forty sittings a day, but the following year he began the habit of leaving the studio in the hands of others during the winter months, at first in those of his partner, Auguste Renoult, and then, after the partnership was dissolved in May 1864, in those of other members of his staff.

Silvy kept record books in which he recorded the day-to-day business of the studio, as well as one unmounted print from each sitting, placed four to a page, with the name of the sitter entered above. From volume two onwards, the date was also recorded daily. There are some seventeen thousand sittings, spread over twelve volumes, acquired by The National Portrait Gallery in 1904.

Silvy continued to make and exhibit extraordinary larger photographs, some of the best being views taken immediately outside the studio. One of these from 1859 or 1860 (now in the J. Paul Getty Museum) shows a man buying an evening paper from a boy who leans against a lighted gas lamp on a misty afternoon. A figure hurrying along the pavement is caught in a blur—probably used deliberately for the first time to suggest rapid movement.

Lady Elizabeth Hay, the 2nd Duchess of Wellington

Lord Palmerston
(1784-1865)

Lord Dufferin
(1826-1902)

Earl of Essex
(1803-1892)

In 1868, when the popularity of the carte-de-visite had waned, Silvy sold his London studio and returned to France. In 1869, at the age of 35 Silvy abruptly retired from photography. He fought in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 before being diagnosed with manic-depression in 1875. Silvy would spend much of the next three decades in various psychiatric asylums. With his health wrecked by poisoning from photography chemicals, he succumbed to bronchopneumonia in the Hôpital de St Maurice, France in 1910. Silvy died at age seventy-five.