Typescript script of 'At Mrs Beam's', with scrapbook containing 72 theatrical programmes, related ephemera & copy of 'Nachrichten für die truppe'.

(Theatre and Variety in Occupied Jersey.)

Published by -1944, 1941

About this Item

two programmes pasted-on per page, several loose, title-page of typescript detached, wrappers inscribed 'Submitted - Alec Coutanche. Bailiff 8/xii/1941, appd. by the Field Command Az Poli 02-11 30 Dec 1941', typescript: pp. 89, 4to; scrapbook: pp. 40, folio, typescript with pink wrappers, slightly soiled, secured with treasury tags, modern ring-bound scrapbook, good. A testament to the determination of the Jersey people, numbering 41,000 following the 1940 evacuations, to maintain morale during the German occupation. In addition to variety performances, featuring 'light music and cheery chatter', held at various congregational and parish halls, there are six distinct troupes featured here, including The Fifty-Fifty Club, The Spot Players, the Amateur Dramatic Club, and most notably, the Jersey Green Room Club, offering an array of theatrical fare which would be deemed appropriate by the occupying Field Command - pantomimes, thrillers, comedies including Barrie's 'Dear Brutus', Priestley's 'Dangerous Corner', Sayers' 'Busman's Honeymoon', Wallace's 'The Case of the Frightened Lady' and 'Leave it to Psmith'. C.K. Munro's 'At Mrs Beam's' (the typescript) was performed at the Opera House, in 1942 by the Jersey Green Room Club, who were responsible for the most ambitious productions, notably 'The Paladins', advertised on the reverse of a thriller programme, a romantic operetta featuring the stirring anthem 'Faithful and Free' (a cast member reported, years later, 'the whole audience joined in with us, to the chagrin of the German Officers in the auditorium, it's a wonder we were not all shot.'); and 'The Merchant of Venice', during which Shylock was enthusiastically applauded. (www[.]jgrtheatre[.]co.uk/about.html) 'Nachrichten für die truppe' was a propaganda leaflet, air-dropped by the 8th Air Force in the final stages of the war: this copy No. 158, 1944 'Der Weg in die Ruhr ist offen'.

Seller Inventory # 73534

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Typescript script of 'At Mrs Beam's', with scrapbook containing 72 theatrical programmes, related ephemera & copy of 'Nachrichten für die truppe'.
• Publisher: -1944
• Publication Date: 1941
• Seller catalogs:
  • Modern First Edition