Stanley Augustus Holloway was an English actor, comedian, singer and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady. He was also renowned for his comic monologues and songs, which he performed and recorded throughout most of his 70-year career.
Marriott Edgar, born George Marriott Edgar in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, was a British poet, scriptwriter and comedian, best known for writing many of the monologues performed by Stanley Holloway, particularly the Albert series. In total he wrote sixteen monologues for Holloway, whilst Holloway himself wrote only five.
Bernard Vorhaus was an American film director of Austrian descent, born in New York City. His father was born in Kraków, then part of Austria-Hungary. Vorhaus spent many decades living in the UK. Eearly in his career, he worked as a screenwriter, and co-produced the film The Singing City. He was blacklisted in Hollywood for his communist sympathies, and returned to England, where he resumed his career. Known, alongside Michael Powell, for his quota quickies, Vorhaus also worked in Europe.
The Last Journey is a 1936 British drama film directed by Bernard Vorhaus and starring Godfrey Tearle, Hugh Williams and Judy Gunn.
Julian Holloway is a British actor. He is the son of comedy actor and singer Stanley Holloway and former chorus dancer and actress Violet Lane. He is the father of author and former model Sophie Dahl.
Will Fyffe, CBE was a Scottish music hall and performing artist on stage and screen during the 1930s and 1940s.
The Prime Minister is a 1941 British historical drama film directed by Thorold Dickinson and starring John Gielgud, Diana Wynyard, Fay Compton and Stephen Murray.
Money for Speed is a 1933 British sports drama film directed by Bernard Vorhaus and starring John Loder, Ida Lupino, Cyril McLaglen and Moore Marriott. It is centered on the sport of speedway racing, which was at its peak of popularity at the time.
Mary Elizabeth Lawson was a stage and film actress during the 1920s and 1930s. In addition to her performances on stage and screen, Lawson was known for her romantic affairs, including with tennis player Fred Perry and her future husband, the married son of the Dame of Sark. Lawson and her husband died in the Second World War during a German bombing raid on Liverpool.
The Gaunt Stranger is a 1938 British mystery thriller film directed by Walter Forde. It stars Sonnie Hale, Wilfrid Lawson and Alexander Knox.
An Alligator Named Daisy is a 1955 British comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Donald Sinden, Jeannie Carson, James Robertson Justice, Diana Dors, Roland Culver and Stanley Holloway.
Julius Hagen (1884–1940) was a German-born British film producer who produced more than a hundred films in Britain.
The Ghost Camera is a 1933 British mystery film directed by Bernard Vorhaus, starring Henry Kendall, Ida Lupino and John Mills, and based on "A Mystery Narrative", a short story by Joseph Jefferson Farjeon.
Said O'Reilly to McNab is a 1937 British comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring Will Mahoney, Will Fyffe and Ellis Drake. It was made at Islington Studios by Gainsborough Pictures. The film's sets were designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky. Leslie Arliss and Marriott Edgar wrote the screenplay.
Crime on the Hill is a 1933 British mystery film directed by Bernard Vorhaus and starring Sally Blane, Nigel Playfair and Lewis Casson. The plot was based on a successful play by Jack de Leon and Jack Celestin. It was made by British International Pictures at Welwyn Studios in autumn 1933.
The English comic singer, monologist and actor Stanley Holloway (1890–1982), started his performing career in 1910. He starred in English seaside towns such as Clacton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze, primarily in concert party and variety shows. The first of these, The White Coons Show, was soon followed by the more prestigious Nicely, Thanks! in 1913. From here, he went on to co-star in The Co-Optimists, a variety show which brought him to wider audience attention. After the First World War, he returned to London and found success in the West End musicals at the Winter Garden Theatre, including Kissing Time (1919), followed in 1920 by A Night Out. The Co-Optimists continued until 1927, and he then appeared in Hit the Deck, a comic musical which appeared both in London and on Broadway. Reporting for The Manchester Guardian, the theatre critic Ivor Brown praised Holloway for a singing style "which coaxes the ear rather than clubbing the head."
Dusty Ermine is a 1936 British crime film directed by Bernard Vorhaus and starring Anthony Bushell, Jane Baxter and Ronald Squire. In the United States it was released under the alternative title Hideout in the Alps. It was based on the play of the same title by Neil Grant.
D'Ye Ken John Peel? is a 1935 British adventure film directed by Henry Edwards and starring John Garrick, Winifred Shotter and Stanley Holloway. It was made at Julius Hagen's Twickenham Studios. It takes its name from the traditional hunting song of the same name. The film's sets were designed by the art director James A. Carter.
The Night Club Queen is a 1934 British musical mystery film directed by Bernard Vorhaus and starring Mary Clare, Jane Carr and Lewis Shaw.
Queens of Industry were women who were chosen by their industries, through local, regional and national beauty-pageant style competitions, to become the mascots or official representatives of their fields. This twentieth-century phenomenon began in 1925 when a Railway Queen was crowned to mark the centenary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. It spread to the other major industries in Britain, first to textiles such as cotton, wool and silk, and then to other industries including coal. The practice stopped in the 1980s in Britain, but continued in other countries into the twenty-first century.
