The Whiteheaded Boy

Summary

1951 BBC live studio presentation of the Dublin Players production of Lennox Robinson’s comedy The Whiteheaded Boy.

Theatre play

The Whiteheaded Boy by Lennox Robinson (1886-1958) [more information]

Play synopsis

Comedy. Denis Geoghegan returns home from Dublin, where he has been at medical college. He is the white-headed boy who exploits his special place in a loving if indulgent family. But he has failed his exams for the third time and his bread-winner brother George decides he must be packed off to Canada...

Production history

Written in 1916.

Date of transmission

Tuesday 2 October 1951

Time

8.30-10.00pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Theatre company

Dublin Players

Credits

Producer

Fred O’Donovan (1889-1952)

Playwright

Lennox Robinson (1886-1958)

Sets / Settings

James Bould

Cast

Liam Gannon	Denis
Christine Hayden	Hannah
Peggy Hayes	Mrs Geoghegan
Belle Johnston	Kate
James Kenny	Peter
Doreen Keogh	Delia Duffy
Siobhan McKenna	Baby
Minnie McKittrick	Aunt Ellen
Carroll O’Connor	Donagh Brosnan
Denis O’Dea	George
Fred O’Donovan (1889-1952)	John Duffy
Joan Plunkett	Jane

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

Canada, as theme or setting; comedy; Republic of Ireland, as theme or setting

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 28 September 1951 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing and photograph, p. 49; article by Lionel Hale, ‘A Fast, Fluent Play’, p. 46