Hassan [scenes], Part 1

Summary

Part 1 of the two-part BBC production of scenes from James Elroy Flecker’s verse drama Hassan; part 2 was transmitted on 14 June . The Radio Times Television Supplement (4 June 1937, p. 4) notes that ‘The story of Hassan of Bagdad and how he came to make the Golden Journey to Samarkand [...] will be told in two parts, Part 1 this afternoon and again tonight, and Part 2 on Monday, June 14. Flecker’s famous play, with its colourful story, will be the subject of the most elaborate and complex production undertaken by More O’Ferrall since The School for Scandal. He has avoided the use of explanations and dialogue between scenes, just as the producer of a talking picture avoids the use of explanatory subtitles, and he hopes that the continuity of the production will thus be as smooth as that of the full-length original’.

Theatre play

Hassan by James Elroy Flecker (1884-1915) [more information]

Play synopsis

A verse drama in five acts about Hassan’s journey to Samarkand.

Production history

'The incidental music by Delius was composed for the original production in 1923 at His Majesty’s Theatre. [...] ‘Hassan was a posthumous work of James EIroy Flecker, who died in Switzerland in 1915 at the age of thirty-one, leaving two unpublished plays and a number of books of poetry. In the original production Henry Ainley appeared in the title role, with Malcolm Keen as the Caliph, and Leon Quartermaine as Ishak’ (Radio Times Television Supplement, 4 June 1937, p. 4).

Date of transmission

Monday 7 June 1937

Time

3.20pm

Series

Theatre Parade

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

George More O’Ferrall (1907-1982)

Playwright

James Elroy Flecker (1884-1915)

Composer

Frederick Delius (1862-1934) (original music for the first production in 1923)

Conductor

Hyam Greenbaum (BBC Television Orchestra)

Decor

Peter Bax

Dances Arranged by

Marian Wilson

Dancer

Joan Butterfield

Dancer

Renee Joliffe

Dancer

Alisonne Keighley

Dancer

Thérèse Langfield

Dancer

Mayura Vincent

Cast

Robert Adams
D. Bryant
F Callen
George Carr
Frank Cellier	Hassan
D. A. Clarke-Smith	The Caliph Haroun Ar Raschid
Leong Foo
Eric Fort
Greer Garson	Yasmin
J. Johns
Boris Ranevsky
Ivan Samson
E Skeet
John Wyse	Rafi

Additional details

Later transmissions

Broadcast again at 9.20pm on 8 June 1937.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

Iraq, as theme or setting; Uzbekistan, as theme or setting; verse drama

Print sources

Title

BBC Television Programme Records: vol. 1, 1937-38 (Book)

Reference

London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1938

Linking notes

listing on p. 46

Title

Radio Times, 2 July 1937 (Magazine)

Linking notes

image of Clarke-Smith as the Caliph on p. 1

Title

Radio Times, 24 December 1937 (Magazine)

Linking notes

Image on p. 7 as part of article "Television: Great Strides Were Made in Coronation Year’ with caption: ‘Hassan was the most lavish studio production yet attempted at Alexandra Palace.'

Title

Radio Times, 4 June 1937 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing and illustration on pp. 4-5

Associated programmes

Hassan [scenes], Part 2 (BBC, 1937)
Hassan by James Elroy Flecker (1884-1915)
BBC Television (Theatre Parade)