As Long as They're Happy (play)

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As Long as They're Happy is a comedy play by the British writer Vernon Sylvaine which was first staged in 1953. A successful hit, it ran at the Garrick Theatre in the West End for 370 performances between July 1953 and May 1954. [1] Veteran entertainer Jack Buchanan directed and starred as a stockbroker trying to cope with the extravagant behaviour of his daughters.

Vernon Sylvaine (1896–1957) was a British playwright and screenwriter. He is known for writing several popular stage farces. He began working in film in 1937 when his stage hit Aren't Men Beasts! was turned into a film of the same title starring Robertson Hare and Alfred Drayton. Hare and Drayton starred in two further adaptations of his plays A Spot of Bother (1938) and Women Aren't Angels (1943). He adapted his own play for the 1943 comedy-thriller Warn That Man starring Gordon Harker, Basil Radford and Judy Kelly. His 1948 play One Wild Oat was turned into a 1951 film of the same title.

Garrick Theatre theatre in the West End of London

The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, named after the stage actor David Garrick. It opened in 1889 with The Profligate, a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and another Pinero play, The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith, was an early success at the theatre. In its early years, the Garrick appears to have specialised in the performance of melodrama. The theatre later became associated with comedies, including No Sex Please, We're British, which played for four years from 1982 to 1986.

West End theatre term for mainstream professional theatre staged in and near the West End of London

West End theatre is a common term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of "Theatreland" in and near the West End of London. Along with New York City's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London.

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Film

In 1955 it was made into a musical film directed by J. Lee Thompson and with Buchanan reprising his starring role. [2]

J. Lee Thompson English film director

John Lee Thompson was a British film director, active in London and Hollywood, best known for such movies as Ice Cold in Alex, Cape Fear and The Guns of Navarone.

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References

  1. Wearing p.239
  2. Chibnall p.117-18

Bibliography