The Disorderly Room

The Disorderly Room
Genre Comedy
Written by Eric Blore
Starring Harry Cranley
Tommy Handley
Fred Hudson
Len Maxwell
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
Production
Running time 15 minutes
Release
Original network BBC Television Service
Original release 17 April 1937 (1937-04-17) – 20 August 1939 (1939-08-20)

The Disorderly Room was an early British television comedy production, written by Eric Blore and starring Tommy Handley. Blore was also an actor who played roles such as butlers in various Hollywood films, while Handley later found greater fame in the BBC radio comedy show It's That Man Again.

The Disorderly Room was first performed on stage at the Victoria Palace Theatre in 1919 and starred Blore, Stanley Holloway, Tom Walls, Leslie Henson and Jack Buchanan.[1] The show was a one-off which consisted of a single sketch, wherein army disciplinary proceedings were put to the tunes of various popular songs of the day. It was first performed live in a 15-minute form on the BBC Television Service at 3.45pm, Saturday, 17 April 1937. Such was its popularity, however, that the production was restaged on various occasions before the suspension of the fledgling television service for the duration of the Second World War in September 1939.

Later performances were on 30 August 1937 (twice: 35 minutes and 30 minutes); 23 December 1937 (15 minutes); 15 August 1939 (30 minutes) and finally on 20 August 1939 (30 minutes). None of these has survived because technology to record them did not exist at the time; the sole surviving remnants are still photographs.

References

  1. ↑ Holloway and Richards, p. 23

Sources

  • Holloway, Stanley; Richards, Dick (1967). Wiv a little bit o' luck: The life story of Stanley Holloway. London: Frewin. OCLC 3647363.
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