Charley's Aunt

W. S. Penley as the original Charley's Aunt, as drawn by Alfed Bryan

Charley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. 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 in February 1892. It was produced by former D'Oyly Carte Opera Company actor, W. S. Penley, 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 on 21 December 1892 and quickly transferred to the larger Globe Theatre on 30 January 1893 to complete its record-breaking run.

The play was a success on Broadway 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

Programme for the original London production

• 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)

Synopsis

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, 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. 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.

W. S. Penley as the first Charley's Aunt

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.

Penley as Babbs in his normal clothes

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.

Productions

Original production

The play was originally given at Bury St. Edmunds on 29 February 1892, commissioned by the local hunt, which sponsored a new play every year for its annual social festivities, known as the "Hunt Bespeak."^[1] Penley produced the piece and played Lord Fancourt Babberly.^[2] Both the local paper and the leading national theatrical paper, The Era, record Charley's surname as Wyckenham.^[3] It was soon simplified to Wykeham. A provincial tour followed, including Colchester, Cambridge and Cheltenham, with the original cast.^[4] Penley recast some of the roles, presenting the play at Derby in May.^[5] 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
• 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

W.S. Penley moving to a larger theatre to accommodate the success of Charley's Aunt

After a further provincial tour, Penley secured the 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^[6]
• 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
• Ela Delahay – Emily Cudmore

The play was an immediate success, opening to enthusiastic audiences and excellent notices from the press.^[7] It soon transferred to the larger Globe Theatre on 30 January 1893. It ran for a record-breaking 1,466 performances across four years, closing on 19 December 1896.^[8]

Revivals

During the original London run, seven companies toured the United Kingdom with the play.^[9] The piece was successfully staged throughout the English-speaking world and, in translation, in many other countries.^[10] It had a major success on Broadway, opening on 2 October 1893 at the Standard Theatre, starring Etienne Girardot, where it ran for another historic long run of four years.^{[citation needed]} It was revived on Broadway several times.^[11] Charley's Aunt was given in a German translation as Charleys Tante at Weimar in August 1894.^[12] The first French production (La Marraine de Charley) was at the Théàtre Cluny in Paris the following month.^[13] The play was produced in Berlin every Christmas for many years.^[14] 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."^[15]

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, which gave Thomas only one third of the royalties.^[16] 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."^[17] Despite this rift, Penley continued to play Fancourt Babberley in the West End until he retired from acting in 1901.^[18]

Thomas revived the play at the Comedy Theatre in London in 1904, once again playing Sir Francis Chesney.^[19] He revived it again in 1905, 1908 and in 1911, when his daughter, Amy Brandon Thomas, played Kitty.^[20] In her later years, Amy played the role of Donna Lucia in revivals.^[21] 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.^[22] 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.^[23] Eventually, for a West End revival in 1949, Victorian dresses and settings were introduced, designed by Cecil Beaton.^[24]

Actors who have played Lord Fancourt Babberley in the West End include Richard Goolden,^[23] Leslie Philips,^[25] John Mills,^[26] Frankie Howerd,^[27] Tom Courtenay,^[28] and Griff Rhys Jones.^[29] Performers who played the juvenile roles early in their careers include Noël Coward,^[30] Betty Marsden,^[26] Ralph Michael^[26] and Gerald Harper.^[27]

Adaptations

Main article: Charley's Aunt (film)

Silent film versions of the play were released in 1915 and 1925, the latter featuring Sydney Chaplin (brother of Charlie Chaplin) and Ethel Shannon.^[31]

Poster for the 1930 film version.

A "talkie" film version starring Charles Ruggles was released in 1930 and is one of the earliest sound comedies. Arthur Askey took the leading role in a 1940 British film Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt that developed themes from the original play. Perhaps the best known film version was released in 1941, directed by Archie Mayo and starring Jack Benny 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 version, Babbs in the Wood, for the amusement of the 1930 London cast and their friends. The Observer commented, "It is quite clear that Mr Brandon-Thomas could earn a handsome living at any time in low – very low – comedy."^[32]

A Broadway musical version, Where's Charley? written by Frank Loesser and starring Ray Bolger, ran between 1948 and 1950 at the St. James Theatre. This was made into a 1952 film (with Bolger repeating his stage role) and began a successful run in London in 1958 at the Palace Theatre. On 28 March 1957, CBS television in the U.S. aired a live production on Playhouse 90, starring Art Carney and Orson Bean. It was directed by Arthur Penn.

A Soviet version was made for television in 1975, entitled Hello, I'm Your Aunt!. 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 in the principal role and featuried Ove Sprogøe, Ghita Nørby and Susse Wold. 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, with young Jean-Pierre Cassel 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 and Kamal El Shenawy.

Notes

1. ^ The Bury and Norwich Post, 1 March 1892, p. 8
2. ^ Adams, William Davenport (1904). A Dictionary of the Drama London: Chatto and Windus. OCLC 499281551
3. ^ The Era, 5 March 1892, p. 21
4. ^ The Era, 12 March 12, 1892, p. 18; 19 March 1892, p 1826; and 26 March 1892, p. 19
5. ^ The Era, 14 May 1892, p. 20
6. ^ Thomas played the part for only the first few weeks of the London run, but he regularly played it in later revivals until shortly before his death. See Stephens, John Russell. "Thomas, (Walter) Brandon (1848–1914)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, January 2008, accessed 5 October 2010 (subscription required)
7. ^ See: The Morning Post, 22 December 1892, p. 3; The Standard, 22 December 1892, p. 3; Birmingham Daily Post, 23 December 1892, p. 5; Liverpool Mercury, 23 December 1892, p. 5; The Graphic, 24 December 1892, p. 770; The Pall Mall Gazette, 24 December 1892, p. 1; and The Era, 24 December 1892, p. 9
8. ^ Stephens, John Russell. "Thomas, (Walter) Brandon (1848–1914)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, January 2008, accessed 5 October 2010 (subscription required)
9. ^ The Times, 25 November 1952, p. 11
10. ^ Obituary: Brandon Thomas: The Times, 20 June 1914, p. 10
11. ^ IBDB listing of Broadway productions of Charley's Aunt
12. ^ The Manchester Guardian, 9 August 1894, p. 5
13. ^ "In Paris", The Theatre, October 1894, p.199
14. ^ "Charley's Aunt in Berlin", The Observer, 21 April 1929, p. 12
15. ^ Goodman, E. J. "Charley's Aunt on the Continent", The Theatre, June 1895, p. 338
16. ^ "Charley's Aunt in Court", The Observer, 15 May 1898, p. 6
17. ^ Burgin, G. B. "Lions in their dens", The Idler, January 1894, p. 170
18. ^ The Observer, 16 December 1900, p. 6
19. ^ "Comedy Theatre – Charley's Aunt", The Times, 6 December 1904, p. 6
20. ^ The Times, 27 December 1905, p. 8; 28 December 1908, p. 5; and 27 December 1911, p. 8
21. ^ The Times, 27 December 1933, p. 8
22. ^ The Times, 19 September 1977, p. 16
23. ^ ^{a b} The Times, 27 December 1938, p. 13
24. ^ The Times, 23 December 1949, p. 6
25. ^ The Times, 22 December 1950
26. ^ ^{a b c} The Times, 11 February 1954, p. 3
27. ^ ^{a b} The Times, 23 December 1955, p. 3
28. ^ The Times, 7 December 1971, p. 12
29. ^ The Times, 10 February 1983, p. 9
30. ^ The Times, 9 November 1964, p. 14
31. ^ "Charley's Aunt as a Film", The Times, 11 April 1925, p. 8
32. ^ The Observer, 12 January 1930, p. 8

External links

• IBDB entry
• History
• Zdravstvuyte, ya vasha tyotya! (Hello, I'm Your Aunt!) at the Internet Movie Database (1975 film version, Soviet Union)
• Charley's Aunt at the Internet Movie Database (1941 film version)
• Charley's Aunt at the Internet Movie Database (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