Home and Beauty

Summary

1952 BBClive studio production of Somerset Maugham’s comedy Home and Beauty.

Theatre play

Home and Beauty by W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) [more information]

Play synopsis

In this light-hearted farcical comedy, which includes some serious social commentary too, Victoria wishes to divorce her two buffoonish husbands (the first of whom was presumed dead in WWI; the second is his friend). They, in turn, compete in their renunciations of her.

Production history

First staged in 1919.

Date of transmission

Sunday 9 March 1952

Time

8.30-10.10pm

Channel

BBC Television

Credits

Producer

Desmond Davis

Playwright

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)

Sets / Settings

Barry Learoyd

Cast

Barry K. Barnes	Frederick
Frank Birch	Mr A. B. Raham
Hélène Burls	Mrs Pogson
Joan Hickson	Miss Montmorency
Philip Leaver	Mr Leicester Paton
S. Moray	Taylor
Barbara Murray	Victoria
Myrtle Reed	Miss Dennis
Geoffrey Sumner	William
Ruth Taylor	Mrs Shuttleworth
Gwenda Wilson	Nannie

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 7.30pm on Thursday 13 March 1952.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

comedy; farce; marriage

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 7 March 1952 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 46; article by Lionel Hale, ‘Two Plays "Intended to Amuse"', p. 45