Charley's Aunt - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Charley's Aunt is a farce

Farce

In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...

in three acts written by Brandon Thomas

Brandon Thomas

Walter Brandon Thomas was an English actor, playwright and song writer, best known as the author of the farce Charley's Aunt....

. It broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances.

The play was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds

Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds

The Theatre Royal is a restored Regency theatre in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England. One of eight grade 1 listed theatres in the UK, it is the only working theatre on the National Trust's portfolio of properties....

in February 1892. It was produced by former D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...

actor, W. S. Penley

W. S. Penley

William Sydney Penley was an English actor, singer and comedian best remembered as producer and star of the phenomenally successful 1892 Brandon Thomas farce, Charley's Aunt and as the Reverend Robert Spalding in many productions of The Private Secretary.-Life and career:Penley was born at...

, a friend of Thomas's, who appeared in the principal role of Lord Fancourt Babberley, an undergraduate whose friends Jack and Charley persuade him to impersonate the latter's aunt. The piece was a success, and it then opened in London at the Royalty Theatre

Royalty Theatre

The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho and opened on 25 May 1840 as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938. The architect was Samuel Beazley, a resident in Soho Square, who also designed St James's Theatre, among...

on 21 December 1892 and quickly transferred to the larger Globe Theatre

Globe Theatre (Newcastle Street)

The Globe was a Victorian theatre built in 1868 and demolished in 1902. It was the third of five London theatres to bear the name. It was also known at various times as the Royal Globe Theatre or Globe Theatre Royal. Its repertoire consisted mainly of comedies and musical shows...

on 30 January 1893 to complete its record-breaking run.

The play was a success on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

in 1893, where it had another long run. It also toured internationally and has been revived continually and adapted for films and musicals.

Dramatis personae

Stephen Spettigue – Uncle of Amy, guardian of Kitty, and the story's villain
Colonel Sir Francis Chesney – Father of Jack Chesney
Jack Chesney – Oxford undergraduate, in love with Kitty
Charles Wykeham – Oxford undergraduate, in love with Amy
Lord Fancourt Babberley – Undergraduate pulled unwillingly into Jack and Charley's scheme.
Brassett – Jack Chesney's valet
Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez – Charley's aunt from Brazil
Amy Spettigue – Stephen Spettigue's young niece
Kitty Verdun – Stephen Spettigue's young ward
Ela Delahay – orphaned young woman accompanying Donna Lucia (loved by Lord Fancourt)

Act I

Jack Chesney and Charley Wyckeham are undergraduates at Oxford University in love, respectively, with Kitty Verdun and Amy Spettigue. Charley receives word that his aunt, Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez, a rich widow from Brazil whom he has never met, is coming to visit him. The boys invite Amy and Kitty to lunch to meet her, also intending to declare their love to the girls, who are being sent away to Scotland with Amy's uncle, Stephen Spettigue, who is also Kitty's guardian. They seek out another Oxford undergraduate, Lord Fancourt Babberly (known as "Babbs"), to distract Donna Lucia while they romance their girls. While they are out, Babbs breaks into Jack's room to steal all his champagne, but Jack and Charlie intercept him and persuade him to stay for lunch. Babbs tells the boys about his own love, the daughter of an English officer called Delahey whom he met in Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....

, although he does not remember her name. Babbs also uses Jack's room to try on his costume for an amateur play in which he is taking part.

Amy and Kitty arrive to meet Jack and Charley, but Donna Lucia has not arrived yet, and so the girls leave to go shopping until she returns. Annoyed, Jack orders Charley to go to the railway station to wait for Donna Lucia. He soon receives an unexpected visit from his father, Sir Francis Chesney, a former colonel who served in India. Sir Francis informs Jack that he has inherited debts that have wiped out the family's fortunes; instead of going into politics as he had intended, Jack will have to accept a position in Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

. Horrified, Jack suggests that Sir Francis should marry Donna Lucia, a widow and a millionaire, in order to clear the family debts. Sir Francis is hesitant but agrees to meet Donna Lucia before he makes a decision.
Charley receives a telegram saying that Donna Lucia won't be arriving for a few days. The boys panic: the girls are coming, and they won't stay without a chaperone. Fortunately Babbs's costume happens to be that of an old lady. Jack and Charlie introduce Babbs as Charley's aunt. His strange appearance and unchanged voice (he had never acted before) do not do not raise any suspicions. Babbs annoys the boys by accepting kisses from Amy and Kitty; the boys respond to his flirtations with violence.

Sir Francis soon enters to meet Donna Lucia. He takes one look at Babbs and tries to leave, but Jack retrieves him. Spettigue arrives, angered that Kitty and Amy are lunching with the boys without his permission. However the penniless Spettigue soon learns that Charley's aunt is Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez, the celebrated millionaire. He decides to stay for lunch to attempt to woo "Donna Lucia".

Act II

Outside of Jack's rooms on the grounds of St Olde's College, the boys are trying to get their girls alone so that they can confess their love. However, Babbs is in the way, charming the girls as Donna Lucia. Jack's father, Sir Francis, has decided to propose marriage to Donna Lucia, purely for money. Jack urgently corners Babbs and orders him to let his father down gently. Babbs does so, which Sir Francis finds to be a relief. Spettigue still wants to marry "Donna Lucia" for her money.

Meanwhile, the real Donna Lucia, who turns out to be an attractive woman of middle age, arrives with her adopted niece, Miss Ela Delahay, an orphan. The money left to Ela by her father is enough to make her independent for life. Ela reveals that her father had won a lot of money at cards from Fancourt Babberly, for whom Ela still holds a great deal of affection. Donna Lucia recounts the story of a colonel named Frank who she once met over twenty years ago, of whom she was similarly fond. However, he was too shy to propose, and he left for India before he could tell her how he felt. Sir Francis enters, and Donna Lucia recognizes him, and the two rekindle their affection. However, before she can introduce herself, she discovers that someone is impersonating her. To investigate, she introduces herself as "Mrs Beverly-Smythe", a penniless widow.

Jack and Charley finally make their declarations of love to their girls. However, they discover that they need Spettigue's consent to marry. The girls enlist Babbs to get the consent from the greedy Spettigue. Spettigue invites the entire party, including the real Donna Lucia and Ela, to his house, so that he can talk to "Donna Lucia" in private. Babbs, recognizing Ela as the girl he fell in love with in Monte Carlo, tries to escape, but he is caught by Spettigue.

Act III

Babbs is upset by being in the same room as the girl he loves without being able to talk to her. Jack and Charley try to calm him down. Babbs spends time with the real Donna Lucia, Ela, Amy and Kitty, during which the real Donna Lucia embarrasses Babbs by showing how little he really knows about Donna Lucia. Ela takes a liking to the fake Donna Lucia, who sounds like the man she loves, and pours her heart out to Babbs, telling him of the anguish of losing her father and of the man who cared for him in his dying days, Lord Fancourt Babberly. She admits that she loves him and longs to see him again.
Babbs tricks Spettigue into giving letter of consent for the marriages of Charley to Amy and Jack to Kitty by accepting marriage to Spettigue. (Kitty's father's will specified that if she marries without Spettigue's consent, Spettigue would inherit all of the money). Charley can no longer keep up the lie and admits that "Donna Lucia" is not really his aunt. Babbs, now dressed in a suit, confirms that he had been playing the part of Charley's aunt. As he is about to return to Spettigue the letter of consent, the real Donna Lucia reveals herself and takes the letter, stating that it "is addressed to and has been delivered to Donna Lucia d’Alvadorez".

Spettigue storms off, threatening to dispute the letter. Amy is upset at everyone for making a fool of him. Donna Lucia reassures her and gives the girls the letter. Sir Francis and Donna Lucia are engaged (he made the proposal before he realized her identity; the young couples can marry; and Babbs confesses his feelings to Ela.

Original production

The play was originally given at Bury St. Edmunds

Bury St. Edmunds

Bury St Edmunds is a market town in the county of Suffolk, England, and formerly the county town of West Suffolk. It is the main town in the borough of St Edmundsbury and known for the ruined abbey near the town centre...

on 29 February 1892, commissioned by the local hunt

Fox hunting

Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...

, which sponsored a new play every year for its annual social festivities, known as the "Hunt Bespeak." Penley produced the piece and played Lord Fancourt Babberly. Both the local paper and the leading national theatrical paper, The Era
The Era (newspaper)
The Era was a British weekly paper, published from 1838 to 1939. Originally a general newspaper, it became noted for its sports coverage, and later for its theatrical content.-History:...

, record Charley's surname as Wyckenham. It was soon simplified to Wykeham. A provincial tour followed, including Colchester

Colchester

Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...

, Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

and Cheltenham

Cheltenham

Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...

, with the original cast. Penley recast some of the roles, presenting the play at Derby

Derby

Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...

in May. The original and Derby casts were as follows:

Stephen Spettigue – Henry Crisp
Colonel Chesney – Arthur Styan (Gerald Godfrey in Derby)
Jack Chesney – Wilton Heriot (H. J. Carvill in Derby)
Charley Wyckenham – Ernest Lawford (Brandon Hurst in Derby)
Lord Fancourt Babberley – W. S. Penley
W. S. Penley
William Sydney Penley was an English actor, singer and comedian best remembered as producer and star of the phenomenally successful 1892 Brandon Thomas farce, Charley's Aunt and as the Reverend Robert Spalding in many productions of The Private Secretary.-Life and career:Penley was born at...
Brasset – Harry Nelson (Percy Brough in Derby)
Footman – Charles King
Donna Lucia – Ada Branson
Amy Spettigue – Lena Burleigh (Rose Nesbitt in Derby)
Kitty Verdun – Dora de Winton
Ela Delahay – Emily Cudmore

After a further provincial tour, Penley secured the Royalty Theatre

Royalty Theatre

in London, which had suddenly fallen vacant, and opened the play there on 21 December 1892. He again recast the piece, as follows:

Stephen Spettigue – Ernest Hendrix
Colonel Chesney – Brandon Thomas
Brandon Thomas
Walter Brandon Thomas was an English actor, playwright and song writer, best known as the author of the farce Charley's Aunt....
Jack Chesney – Percy Lyndal
Charley Wykeham – H. Farmer
Lord Fancourt Babberley – W. S. Penley
Brasset – Cecil Thornbury
Footman – G. Graves
Donna Lucia – Ada Branson
Amy Spettigue – Kate Gordon
Kitty Verdun – Nina Boucicault
Nina Boucicault
Nina Boucicault was an English actress born to playwright Dion Boucicault and his wife, actress Agnes Kelly Robertson. She had three brothers, Dion William , Dion Boucicault Jr. and Aubrey Boucicault...
Ela Delahay – Emily Cudmore

The play was an immediate success, opening to enthusiastic audiences and excellent notices from the press. It soon transferred to the larger Globe Theatre

Globe Theatre (Newcastle Street)

on 30 January 1893. It ran for a record-breaking 1,466 performances across four years, closing on 19 December 1896.

Revivals

During the original London run, seven companies toured the United Kingdom with the play. The piece was successfully staged throughout the English-speaking world and, in translation, in many other countries. It had a major success on Broadway

Broadway theatre

, opening on 2 October 1893 at the Standard Theatre

Manhattan Theatre

The Manhattan Theatre, directly across from Greeley Square at Sixth Avenue and 33rd Street, was located at 102 West 33rd Street, in New York, NY. It was a 1100-seat theatre which opened in 1875 as the Eagle Variety Theatre, and later re-named the Standard Theatre in 1878...

, starring Etienne Girardot

Etienne Girardot

Etienne Girardot was a diminutive stage and film actor of Anglo-French parentage born in London, England....

, where it ran for another historic long run of four years. It was revived on Broadway several times. Charley's Aunt was given in a German translation as Charleys Tante at Weimar

Weimar

Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...

in August 1894. The first French production (La Marraine de Charley) was at the Théàtre Cluny in Paris the following month. The play was produced in Berlin every Christmas for many years. In 1895, The Theatre recorded that Charley's Aunt had been taken up in country after country. "From Germany it made its way to Russia, Holland, Denmark and Norway, and was heartily welcomed everywhere."

Thomas and Penley fell out and went to law over the licensing of an 1898 American production. Penley contended that the original idea for the play had been his, and that Thomas had merely turned it into a playscript. Penley had, on this pretext, secretly negotiated a deal with the American producer, Charles Frohman

Charles Frohman

Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....

, which gave Thomas only one third of the royalties. Penley told a journalist, in 1894: "The play was my idea and Brandon Thomas wrote it. Later on, we went down into the country and worked at it. Then we worked it out on the stage." Despite this rift, Penley continued to play Fancourt Babberley in the West End

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

until he retired from acting in 1901.

Thomas revived the play at the Comedy Theatre in London in 1904, once again playing Sir Francis Chesney. He revived it again in 1905, 1908 and in 1911, when his daughter, Amy Brandon Thomas

Amy Brandon Thomas

Amy Marguerite Brandon Thomas was an English film and stage actor. She was the daughter of the playwright Brandon Thomas. She is also known as Amy Brandon-Thomas.-Life and career:...

, played Kitty. In her later years, Amy played the role of Donna Lucia in revivals. Thomas's son, Jevan Brandon-Thomas played Jack in three London revivals of the play and directed the annual London revivals from 1947 to 1950. Amy Brandon-Thomas insisted on setting the play in the present at each revival, despite protests from critics that it would be better played in the period in which it was written. Eventually, for a West End revival in 1949, Victorian dresses and settings were introduced, designed by Cecil Beaton

Cecil Beaton

Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, CBE was an English fashion and portrait photographer, diarist, painter, interior designer and an Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre...

.

Actors who have played Lord Fancourt Babberley in the West End include Richard Goolden

Richard Goolden

Richard Goolden was a British actor, most famous for his portrayal of Mole from Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows...

, Leslie Philips, John Mills

John Mills

Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...

, Frankie Howerd

Frankie Howerd

Francis Alick "Frankie" Howerd OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as "a series of comebacks", spanned six decades.-Early career:...

, Tom Courtenay

Tom Courtenay

Sir Thomas Daniel "Tom" Courtenay is an English actor who came to prominence in the early 1960s with a succession of films including The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner , Billy Liar , and Dr. Zhivago . Since the mid-1960s he has been known primarily for his work in the theatre...

, and Griff Rhys Jones

Griff Rhys Jones

Griffith "Griff" Rhys Jones is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, television presenter and personality. Jones came to national attention in the early 1980s for his work in the BBC television comedy sketch shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Mel Smith...

. Performers who played the juvenile roles early in their careers include Noël Coward

Noël Coward

Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...

, Betty Marsden

Betty Marsden

Betty Marsden was an English comedy actress.Originally from Liverpool, she attended the Italia Conti Stage School and ENSA.In the radio series Beyond Our Ken, she played Fanny Haddock, a takeoff of Fanny Cradock...

, Ralph Michael

Ralph Michael

Ralph Michael was an English actor. He was born in London, United Kingdom.His film appearances include: A Night to Remember, Children of the Damned, Khartoum, Grand Prix, The Assassination Bureau, and Empire of the Sun.Television credits include: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Dixon of Dock Green,...

and Gerald Harper

Gerald Harper

Gerald Harper is an actor, best known for his work on television, having played the title roles in Adam Adamant Lives! and Hadleigh ....

Adaptations

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

versions of the play were released in 1915

Charley's Aunt (1915 film)

Charley's Aunt is a 1915 American film. The film is based on the play Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas....

and 1925, the latter featuring Sydney Chaplin

Sydney Chaplin

Sydney Chaplin was an English actor. He was the elder half-brother of Sir Charlie Chaplin and served as his business manager, and the half-uncle of the actor Sydney Chaplin , who was named after him.-Early life:...

(brother of Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...

) and Ethel Shannon

Ethel Shannon

Ethel Shannon was an American actress. She appeared in over 30 silent movies in the early 20th century.-Early life and career:...

A "talkie" film version starring Charles Ruggles

Charles Ruggles

Charles Sherman “Charlie” Ruggles was a comic American actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films. He was also the brother of director, producer, and silent actor Wesley Ruggles .-Background:Charlie Ruggles was born in Los Angeles, California in 1886...

was released in 1930

Charley's Aunt (1930 film)

Charley's Aunt is a 1930 American comedy film directed by Al Christie and starring Charles Ruggles, June Collyer and Hugh Williams. It was an adaptation of the play Charlie's Aunt by Brandon Thomas...

and is one of the earliest sound comedies. Arthur Askey

Arthur Askey

Arthur Bowden Askey CBE was a prominent English comedian.- Life and career :Askey was born at 29 Moses Street, Liverpool, the eldest child and only son of Samuel Askey , secretary of the firm Sugar Products of Liverpool, and his wife, Betsy Bowden , of Knutsford, Cheshire...

took the leading role in a 1940 British film Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt
Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt
Charley's Aunt is a 1940 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde starring Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch as Oxford 'scholars'.The film is one of many to be made based on the farce Charley's Aunt.-Cast:...

that developed themes from the original play. Perhaps the best known film version was released in 1941, directed by Archie Mayo

Archie Mayo

Archie Mayo was a movie director and stage actor who moved to Hollywood in 1915 and began working as a director in 1917....

and starring Jack Benny

Jack Benny

Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...

in the principal role. This version slightly alters the plotline from the original version (for instance, Babbs is framed for accidentally setting off a fire alarm at Oxford University and faces expulsion).

Jevan Brandon-Thomas wrote a pantomime

Pantomime

Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...

version, Babbs in the Wood, for the amusement of the 1930 London cast and their friends. The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...

commented, "It is quite clear that Mr Brandon-Thomas could earn a handsome living at any time in low – very low – comedy."

A Broadway musical

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

version, Where's Charley?
Where's Charley?
Where's Charley? is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by George Abbott. The story was based on the play Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas. The musical debuted on Broadway in 1948 and was revived on Broadway and in the West End...

written by Frank Loesser

Frank Loesser

Frank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and scores to the Broadway hits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for...

and starring Ray Bolger

Ray Bolger

Raymond Wallace "Ray" Bolger was an American entertainer of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of the Scarecrow and Kansas farmworker Hank in The Wizard of Oz.-Early life:...

, ran between 1948 and 1950 at the St. James Theatre

St. James Theatre

The St. James Theatre is located at 246 W. 44th St. Broadway, New York City, New York. It was built by Abraham L. Erlanger, theatrical producer and a founding member of the Theatrical Syndicate, on the site of the original Sardi's restaurant. It opened in 1927 as The Erlanger...

. This was made into a 1952 film

Where's Charley? (film)

Where's Charley? is a 1952 British musical comedy film directed by David Butler and starring Ray Bolger, Allyn Ann McLerie and Robert Shackleton...

(with Bolger repeating his stage role) and began a successful run in London in 1958 at the Palace Theatre

Palace Theatre, London

The Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. It is an imposing red-brick building that dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus and is located near the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road...

. On 28 March 1957, CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

television in the U.S. aired a live production on Playhouse 90

Playhouse 90

Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...

, starring Art Carney

Art Carney

Arthur William Matthew “Art” Carney was an American actor in film, stage, television and radio. He is best known for playing Ed Norton, opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the situation comedy The Honeymooners....

and Orson Bean

Orson Bean

Orson Bean is an American film, television, and Broadway actor. He appeared frequently on televised game shows in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, including being a long-time panelist on the television game show To Tell the Truth....

. It was directed by Arthur Penn

Arthur Penn

Arthur Hiller Penn was an American film director and producer with a career as a theater director as well. Penn amassed a critically acclaimed body of work throughout the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...

.

A Soviet version was made for television in 1975, entitled Hello, I'm Your Aunt!
Hello, I'm Your Aunt!
Hello, I'm Your Aunt! is a Soviet 1975 musical comedy film directed by Viktor Titov loosely based on the play Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas. Runtime - 98 min. Produced by T/O Ekran...

. It was also a musical, but had nothing to do with the Broadway version. The film's title is a Russian figure of speech, exclaimed when somebody receives shocking news they can hardly believe (similar to the English phrase, "Well I'll be a monkey's uncle!"). The film was a hit, and many lines of dialogue subsequently became catch phrases. A 1959 Danish film version starred Dirch Passer

Dirch Passer

Dirch Hartvig Passer was a celebrated Danish actor. He was greatly renowned for his improvisational skills and, with a filmography comprising 90 movies, one of Denmark's most prolific actors....

in the principal role and featuried Ove Sprogøe

Ove Sprogøe

Ove Wendelboe Sprogøe Petersen was a Danish actor. Born in Odense, his parents were Arthur and Inger Sprogøe. He married Eva Rasmussen in 1945, with whom he had three children. One of these is actor Henning Sprogøe....

, Ghita Nørby

Ghita Nørby

Ghita Nørby is a popular Danish actress with 117 film credits to her name from 1956-2005, making her one of the most active Danish actresses ever. She was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to opera singer Einar Nørby...

and Susse Wold

Susse Wold

Susse Wold is a stage and screen actress whose career has spanned five decades. Born Lise Wold in Denmark, she is the daughter of actress Marguerite Viby. She quickly became a leading lady at the Det Kongelige Teater . In addition to her many TV, film and stage roles, Wold has toured the world...

. In the film, Passer sings the song "Det er svært at være en kvinde nu til dags" (English: "It is hard to be a woman nowadays"). Passer had first played the role in Charley's Tante in 1958 at the ABC Theatre where it was a hit and played for 1½ years. In France, an updated version of the play was directed by Pierre Chevalier: La Marraine de Charley, starring Fernand Raynaud

Fernand Raynaud

André Gustave Fernand Raynaud, best known as Fernand Raynaud , was a French stand-up comic star, an actor and a singer...

, with young Jean-Pierre Cassel

Jean-Pierre Cassel

Jean-Pierre Cassel was a French actor.-Life and career:Cassel was born Jean-Pierre Crochon in Paris, the son of Louise-Marguerite , an opera singer, and Georges Crochon, a doctor. Cassel was discovered by Gene Kelly as he tap danced on stage, and later cast in the 1957 film The Happy Road...

among the supporting cast.

The play's story also proved to be popular in Germany and Austria, with at least four different film versions being released in 1934, 1956 (starring Heinz Ruehmann), 1963 (starring Peter Alexander) and a television version in 1976. In Spain, there is a 1981 film version starring Paco Martínez Soria, titled La Tía de Carlos. In 1960, an Egyptian adaptation was filmed, titled Sukkar Hanim, starring Samia Gamal

Samia Gamal

Samia Gamal was an Egyptian belly dancer and film actress.Born in the small Egyptian town of Wana in 1924, Samia's family moved just months later to Cairo and settled near the Khan El-Khalili bazaar. It was many years later that Samia Gamal met Badia Masabni, the founder of modern Oriental dance....

and Kamal El Shenawy.

External links

IBDB entry
History (1975 film version, Soviet Union) (1941 film version) (1925 film version)
List of longest theatre runs, 1875-1920
Advertisement for the show at the Globe in 1893
Numerous photos from Charley's Aunt
Charleys Aunt performance details in the University of Bristol Theatre Archive
Information about the background of Charley's Aunt
Critique in ČSFD.cz
Theatre Company of Jan Hrušínský

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