Germaine Yvonne Arnaud was a French-born pianist, singer and actress, who was well known for her career in Britain, as well as her native land. After beginning a career as a concert pianist as a child, Arnaud acted in musical comedies. She switched to non-musical comedy and drama around 1920 and was one of the players in the second of the Aldwych farces, A Cuckoo in the Nest, a hit in 1925. She also had dramatic roles and made films in the 1930s and 1940s, and continued to act into the 1950s. She occasionally performed as a pianist later in her career. The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre was named in her memory in Guildford, Surrey.
John Norman Hulbert was a British actor, director, screenwriter and singer, specializing primarily in comedy productions, and often working alongside his wife (Dame) Cicely Courtneidge.
Enid Georgiana Stamp Taylor was an English actress. Her childhood home was 17, Percy Avenue, in Whitley Bay, Northumberland, in what is now Tyne and Wear.
Thomas Kirby Walls was an English stage and film actor, producer and director, best known for presenting and co-starring in the Aldwych farces in the 1920s and for starring in and directing the film adaptations of those plays in the 1930s.
Me and Marlborough is a 1935 British comedy film, directed by Victor Saville, and starring Cicely Courtneidge, Tom Walls, Barry MacKay, Peter Gawthorne, Henry Oscar and Cecil Parker.
Foreign Affaires is a 1935 British comedy film directed by and starring Tom Walls. It also features Ralph Lynn, Robertson Hare, Norma Varden and Cecil Parker. The screenplay is by Ben Travers, and the cast included cast members from the Walls and Travers Aldwych Farces.
Pot Luck is a 1936 British comedy film directed by and starring Tom Walls. The screenplay is by Ben Travers based loosely on his 1930 stage play A Night Like This. It also featured Ralph Lynn, Robertson Hare, Diana Churchill and Martita Hunt. The cast included members of the regular Aldwych Farce company.
Tons of Money is a 1930 British comedy film directed by Tom Walls and starring Ralph Lynn, Yvonne Arnaud, Mary Brough, Robertson Hare and Gordon James, the same artistes responsible for the Aldwych farces. It was a remake of the 1924 film Tons of Money which had been based on the 1922 play Tons of Money by Will Evans and Arthur Valentine. It was made at British and Dominion's Elstree Studios with sets designed by the art director Lawrence P. Williams.
Take My Tip is a 1937 British musical comedy film directed by Herbert Mason, produced by Michael Balcon and starring Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge, Harold Huth and Frank Cellier.
The Improper Duchess is a 1936 British comedy film directed by Harry Hughes and starring Yvonne Arnaud, Hugh Wakefield and Wilfrid Caithness. The film is based on the 1931 play of the same name by J. B. Fagan in which Arnaud had starred.
Winifred Florence Shotter was an English actress best known for her appearances in the Aldwych farces of the 1920s and early 1930s.
On Approval is a 1930 British comedy film directed by and starring Tom Walls and also featuring Yvonne Arnaud, Winifred Shotter and Robertson Hare, the same artistes responsible for the Aldwych farces. It was based on the play On Approval by Frederick Lonsdale, as was the 1944 film On Approval.
Dear Mr. Prohack is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Thornton Freeland and starring Cecil Parker, Glynis Johns and Dirk Bogarde. It is a modern-day version of Arnold Bennett's 1922 novel Mr Prohack, as adapted in the play by Edward Knoblock.
Who's Your Lady Friend? is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Carol Reed and starring Frances Day, Vic Oliver and Betty Stockfeld. The secretary of a beauty specialist accidentally brings the wrong person back from the railway station, triggering a series of confusions. It was based on a comedy play by Bela Jenbach and Rudolf Österreicher, which had previously been made into an Austrian film The Gentleman Without a Residence three years earlier. It was an independent production made at Ealing Studios. The film's sets were designed by the art director Erwin Scharf.
Canaries Sometimes Sing is a 1931 British romantic comedy film directed by Tom Walls. The film is a four-hander, starring Walls, Cathleen Nesbitt, Athole Stewart and Yvonne Arnaud. It is a screen version of the witty and sophisticated comedy of manners play of the same title by Frederick Lonsdale, which had been a big critical and popular success when premiered at London's Globe Theatre in 1929, with Stewart and Arnaud cast in the roles which they would recreate in the film. A surviving review of the film notes favourably: "Glittering, superficial, but very skilful...superbly played."
George in Civvy Street is a 1946 British comedy film directed and produced by Marcel Varnel starring George Formby with Ronald Shiner, and Ian Fleming. It was made by the British subsidiary of Columbia Pictures. This was Formby's last big screen appearance. After the film was unsuccessful at the box office, he resumed his career in the music hall. The working title for the film was "Remember the Unicorn".
Second Best Bed is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Tom Walls and starring Walls, Jane Baxter and Veronica Rose. The screenplay is by Ben Travers, based on an earlier story of his. Walls and Travers had worked together on the Aldwych farces. The screenplay concerns a newly married couple who soon run into domestic difficulties when the wife refuses to obey her husband's every order.
The Aldwych farces were a series of twelve stage farces presented at the Aldwych Theatre, London, nearly continuously from 1923 to 1933. All but three of them were written by Ben Travers. They incorporate and develop British low comedy styles, combined with clever word-play. The plays were presented by the actor-manager Tom Walls and starred Walls and Ralph Lynn, supported by a regular company that included Robertson Hare, Mary Brough, Winifred Shotter, Ethel Coleridge, and Gordon James.
A Cuckoo in the Nest is a farce by the English playwright Ben Travers. It was first given at the Aldwych Theatre, London, the second in the series of twelve Aldwych farces presented by the actor-manager Tom Walls at the theatre between 1923 and 1933. Several of the cast formed the regular core cast for the later Aldwych farces. The plot concerns two friends, a man and a woman, who are each married to other people. While travelling together, they are obliged by circumstances to share a hotel bedroom. Everyone else assumes the worst, but the two travellers are able to prove their innocence.
Stormy Weather is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Tom Walls and starring Walls, Ralph Lynn and Robertson Hare.
