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Non-D'Oyly Carte BroadcastsReported by Chris Webster
5-May-39: Trial by Jury
BBC Studio Broadcast This was"the first time a G&S opera was broadcast in its entirety from a studio" (Gamp;S Journal, vol. 5, p. 171), but the description of the broadcast that followed would tells us that it was a complete broadcast — and more. "Before giving unstinted praise to this presentation, there are two things I must get off my chest. It is perhaps kindest to overlook the unsuitability of the leading lady (a delightful and clever enough artist in her own line). Then, the stentorian type of announcement that the BBC seems to find inseparable from a broadcast of the 'variety' type is scarcely a fitting prelude to the delicate structure of a G&S opera. "After a metaphorical beating of the big drum, it was a bit alarming to find that, apparently, the performance was to start, not with the opening chorus, but with the entrance of the Defendant. However, this actually turned out to be a most ingenious device whereby each character, as his or her name was announced, sang a snatch of music from the part, thus fixing it in the mind of the unseeing audience" It appears the opera then started proper from the beginning and went well. The writer concluded his article with a hope that more radio presentations will follow but hoping that "the standard of Trial By Jury can be maintained and that more attention be paid to the female side of the productions." The personnel is not given as a list but is detailed in the text and may be listed as:
Here's a good one from G&S Journal, vol. 5, p. 196: 22/9/40 — "Grahame Clifford ('by permission of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company') gave a quarter-hour recital of negro songs, and right capitally he did so." The same article continues, "The following Saturday, Stanford Robinson gave a programme entitled 'Sullivan but not Gilbert,' consisting of excerpts from Cox and Box, Ivanhoe, The Chieftain, Haddon Hall, The Beauty Stone, and The Rose of Persia."
Date unknown: The Gondoliers
The time is given as '7.5' (although to my 'young' eyes this seems more like 7.50, I think this was how 7.05 used to be shown). All I have for this is a cutting showing a D'Oyly Carte photo from The Gondoliers of the boys and their wives with the Don which probably wasn't current — I can recognise Grannie and Lawson, but I would think that this broadcast would be well after Lawson's time with the company — with a caption stating "A scene from the D'Oyley [sic] Carte production of The Gondoliers. The opera is to be broadcast from Vienna on Sunday, at 7.5pm." Your guess is as good as mine !!
Spring 1941, 6.55pm: H.M.S. Pinafore
BBC Studio Recording This must be after 1937, as there is an accompanying photo showing Oldham in a D'Oyly Carte performance in New York 1937. (Sometimes a clue can be found from what is printed on the other side of the cutting. This is not the case here, but I am amused to notice part of a cast list for another programme which features an actor called Frank Cellier).
BBC Theatre Orchestra (leader, Tate Gilder) Conductor: Stanford Robinson Adapted for broadcasting by Geoffrey Dunn The cutting I had originally worked from did not give the date of this broadcast or state to what extent it had been "adapted for broadcasting," and its length was also uncertain, but I have now found a reference to this in the Journal (vol. 5, p. 207), which has narrowed the date down, and it appears that this was a hour-long adaptation, with cuts that upset the devotees who thought that listeners who were not familiar with the opera would not understand what was happening because of the poor editing. The line "Ralph Rackstraw, three paces to the front — march!" was reduced to "Rackstraw, come here," so we can imagine how the adaptor's mind may have worked in getting the opera down to an hour. Two musical cuts that were noted are "A British Tar" and Josephine's Act Two number. This article will be worth reproducing in full at some point, as it also comments on individual performances. It seems that this broadcast followed on from the previous writer's hopes that more BBC performances would follow Trial, and this was the first of what I think was an "occasional regular series" that it seems took in all of the operas, abridged to either 60 or 90 minutes.
Late 1941/Early 1942: The Pirates of Penzance
BBC Studio Broadcast The Gilbert and Sullivan Journal, vol. 5, p. 222. (February 1942) states that Pirates had been "the latest" broadcast. The writer thought this was the best "so far," but perhaps because it had suffered the fewest cuts, so maybe Pinafore (the earliest of this new run) was the only one cut to 60 minutes. Percy Hemmings was Major-General Stanley, and George Baker was the Pirate King.
13-May-42: The Gondoliers
BBC Studio Broadcast The Gilbert and Sullivan Journal, vol. 5, p. 229, reviews this reasonably well, but with the usual reservations. Act One was cut to 70 minutes. Act Two was cut to 45 minutes. It seems most of the cuts were in the dialogue with just a few musical cuts — part of the male chorus's entry from Act One, the Duchess's solo, and "Here is a case unprecedented" from Act Two. The personnel as far as was given within the text was:
The production was adapted by Geoffrey Dunn, who also stood in at short notice for the billed Marco, Jan van der Gucht, who was ill. He is said to have done an excellent job. Christopher Stone narrated, deputising for a sick Geoffrey Toye. Stone also gave a "capital little 5 minute talk" as an introduction, and his narration was "never intrusive." This broadcast was part of the BBC's Sullivan centenary week broadcasts. The February '43 Journal tells us of several more recent broadcasts, dating them as "summer and autumn." There was a Sorcerer ("less badly cut, but lacking the Gilbertian touch"), a Ruddigore ("of which the less said the better"), and revivals of Pinafore (with an "improved" cast) and Iolanthe (so there must have been a previous one). There is also mention of a revival of Trial, and on another page is a reference to a Cox with Derek Oldham, George Baker and Murray Davies ("a newcomer whom I should like to hear in some of the 'Lytton' parts"). Stanford Robinson is mentioned in connection with Cox, but no doubt he, along with the orchestra etc., was involved in all the broadcasts. There are lots more non-D'Oyly Carte G&S broadcasts which are important, but I think other contributors will be able to give better details of these than me, as I only have skimpy notes and these are jotted all over the place. [Where links are shown, it means that the item is covered elsewhere on this site. Where there are no links, it mens that details about the performance have not yet been added to the site. —ed.]
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