The Man with the Flower in His Mouth

Summary: BBC Television production of Luigi Pirandello’s The Man with the Flower in his Mouth, about which John Wyver writes as follows: ‘This offering was part of John Logie Baird’s experimental television service, and although there are other contenders for the title of "first television drama", it does seem to be the earliest production of an existing play’ (source: http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/100-television-stage-plays-1-1930-1939).
Theatre play: The Man with the Flower in his Mouth [L’uomo dal fiore in bocca] by Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936) [more information]
Play synopsis: An avant-garde, one-act play in the form of a philosophical conversation about cancer (the ‘flower in his mouth’ was an epithelioma, a cancerous growth on the lip) between two men seated at a cafe table.
Production history: The Man With the Flower in his Mouth, first staged in 1922, was in 1937 said to be ‘one of the few Pirandello plays that are well known in the English theatre. It has been broadcast, and twice televised on the old thirty-line system. One of the television broadcasts was with puppets, produced by Jan Bussell. The play ends on a grim note, and the philosophy contained in it is characteristic of the author’ (Radio Times Television Supplement, 16 July 1937, p. 2).
Date of transmission: Monday 14 July 1930
Time: 3.30pm (22 mins)
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC; Baird Studios

Producer

Lance Sieveking

Playwright

Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936)

Scenic Artist

C. R. W. Nevinson

Assistant Producer

Sydney A. Moseley

Cast

Earle Grey	The Man, a role which was to have been played by Val Gielgud who was ill on the day
Lionel Millard	The Customer
Gladys Young	The Woman

Title: 100 television stage plays: [1] 1930-1939 (Blog article)
Author/creator: John Wyver (Author)
Reference: http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/100-television-stage-plays-1-1930-1939, published 22 August 2011

Title: Adventure in Vision: The First Twenty-Five Years of Television (Book)
Author/creator: John Swift (Author)
Reference: London: John Lehmann, 1950
Linking notes: pp. 46-47, and four images facing p. 40

Title: Baird Versus the BBC (Website)
Author/creator: Richard G. Elen (Author)
Reference: http://www.transdiffusion.org/tv/baird/bairdvbbc, accessed 19 November 2012

Title: British television’s first play, 81 years ago today (Blog article)
Author/creator: John Wyver (Author)
Reference: http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/british-televisions-first-play-81-years-ago-today, published 14 July 2011

Title: First Television Play: The Man with the Flower in His Mouth (Newspaper review)
Reference: The Observer, 6 July 1930, p. 10

Title: Television’s very first drama (review) (Blog article)
Author/creator: John Wyver (Author)
Reference: http://www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/blog/index.cfm?start=1&news_id=747, published 14 July 2011

Title: The First Play by Television: BBC and Baird Experiment (Newspaper review)
Reference: The Times, 15 July 1930, p. 12

Title: The Man with the Flower in his Mouth - All About the First Ever TV Play (Blog article)
Author/creator: Derek Brady (Author)
Reference: http://www.tech-ops.co.uk/page142.html, accessed 19 November 2012

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British Universities Film & Video Council