Magyar Melody

Summary
1939 BBC live broadcast from the Her Majesty’s Theatre of the musical romance Magyar Melody which was ‘televised in its entirety’ and billed in Radio Times as ‘the longest West-End production ever shown to viewers’.
Theatre play
Magyar Melody by Eric Maschwitz and Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson [more information]
Date of transmission
Monday 27 March 1939
Time
8.15-11.10pm
Channel
BBC Television
Production company
BBC

Credits

Producer
William Mollison
Playwright
Guy Bolton
Playwright
Eric Maschwitz
Playwright
Fred Thompson
Music
Bernard Grun
Music
George Posford
Lyrics
Eric Maschwitz
Lyrics
Harold Purcell
Orchestra Directed by
Walford Hyden
Dances Arranged by
Joan Davis
Dances Arranged by
Cleo Nordi
Dancer
Betty Bucknell
Dancer
Pierre
Cast
Anne AllanSusan Townsend
Lawrence AndersonDuke of Firth
Stella ArbeninaThe Empress Elizabeth
Sara Fischer
Jimmy GoddenBardos
Binnie HaleRoszi Belvary
Maggie JarvisPeasant Girl
Arthur MargetsonCount Ferenc
Jimmy MillerIstvan
Leo MorestThe Bosniak
Peter MosleyCaptain Szermay
Isobel OhmeadFlora, Lady Herriot
Jeanne Planas
Red Rowna
Barbara SpicerMrs Townsend
Roger TrevilleMichael Herriot
Jerry VernoJarvis
Betty WarrenJulika
Ivor WattRobins
Alan Bourne WebbMajor Lonay
Josephine Yorke

Additional details

Origination
Live from theatre
Vision original
Monochrome
Extant status
No archival copy is known to exist.
Play tags
Hungary, as theme or setting; musical

Print sources

Title
Radio Times, 24 March 1939 (Magazine)
Linking notes
listing and photograph, p. 12
Title
Television: Theatre or Studio? (Magazine review)
Author/creator
Grace Wyndham Goldie (Author)
Reference
The Listener, 6 April 1939, p. 755

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