The Apollo of Bellac

Summary: 1955 BBC production of The Apollo of Bellac by Jean Giraudoux.
Theatre play: The Apollo of Bellac [L’Apollon de Bellac] by Jean Giraudoux [more information]
Play synopsis: 'The play is set in the reception room of the International Bureau of Inventions, during autumn in Paris. It focuses on a timid, young woman by the name of Agnes. After she arrives, she is given the most powerful secret in life by a homeless man from the little town of Bellac. Like Giraudoux himself, the man comes from the Limousin region of France. The secret he gives her is to tell all men that they are handsome ("How handsome you are!" or "Comme vous êtes beau!") and they will play right into your hands. She quickly catches on and the men of the Bureau fall for her left and right. In the Valency translation, it ends with her meeting the handsome (and single) Chairman of the Board, and everyone wondering what has happened to the great man (the homeless inventor) who quietly slipped away’ (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apollo_of_Bellac).
Production history: Dated to 1942.
Date of transmission: Friday 12 August 1955
Time: 10.15-10.40pm
Series: Appointment with Drama
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Producer

Tony Richardson

Playwright

Jean Giraudoux

Translator

Henry Mara

Cast

Title: Lady Editor (Magazine review)
Author/creator: Philip Hope-Wallace (Author)
Reference: The Listener, 18 August 1955, p. 270
Notes: Of The Apollo of Bellac: ‘Mr Richardson also had a verbose and whimsically amusing Giraudoux fantasy... on which Denholm Elliott, Natasha Perry, Campbell Cotts and Jane Henderson, as wife of same, went gamely to work.'
Includes enthusiasti creview of The Powder Magazine and a production photgraph.

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