The Confidential Clerk [excerpt]

Summary: 1953 BBC presentation of an excerpt from the Edinburgh International Festival production of T. S. Eliot’s The Confidential Clerk at the Lyceum Theatre.
Theatre play: The Confidential Clerk by T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) [more information]
Play synopsis: A comic verse play. ‘Sir Claude Mulhammer, a wealthy entrepreneur, decides to smuggle his illegitimate son Colby into the household by employing him as his confidential clerk. He hopes that his eccentric wife, Lady Elizabeth Mulhammer, will take a liking to the boy and allow him to live as her adopted son. She in fact becomes convinced that Colby is actually her own son. Meanwhile Lucasta Angel wants to marry B. Kaghan, but neither seems to have any parents at all. A drama of mistaken identity and confusion ensues’ (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Confidential_Clerk).
Production history: Premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in 1953, before transferring to the West End. It played for almost a year at the Duke of York’s Theatre before embarking on a UK Tour. It was produced by Henry Sherek and directed by E. Martin Browne. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Confidential_Clerk).
Date of transmission: Sunday 30 August 1953
Time: 8.30-9.15pm
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Producer

E. Martin Browne (1900-1980)

Television Presentation by

Michael Henderson

Playwright

T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)

Sets / Settings

Hutchinson Scott

Introduced by

Henry Sherek (1900-1967)

Cast

Title: Radio Times, 28 August 1953 (Magazine)
Linking notes: listing and illustrated article by Henry Sherek, ‘Bringing Eliot to the Million’, p. 14

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