Queens of France

Summary: This BBC production of Thornton Wilder’s Queens of France featured specially written music based on phrases from La Marseillaise.
Theatre play: Queens of France by Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) [more information]
Play synopsis: The plot of this play, set in 1869, concerns a New Orleans lawyer, Monsieur Cahusac, who specialises in defrauding women by convincing them they are the rightful heirs to the throne of France through relationship to the lost Dauphin.
Production history: 'The first licensed production of Queens of France was given March 9, 1932, at the Hill School in Pottsdown, Pennsylvania, and at the Miss Masters’ School (Wilder’s mother’s alma mater), Dobbs Ferry, New York’ (http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/664/queens-of-france).
Date of transmission: Sunday 20 November 1938
Time: 9.05pm
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Producer

Eric Crozier (1914-1994)

Playwright

Thornton Wilder (1897-1975)

Cast

Origination: Live from studio
Vision original: Monochrome
Later transmissions: Presented again at 3.45pm on Friday 25 November 1938.
Extant status: No archival copy is known to exist.
Play tags: 19th-century setting; American drama; comedy; France, as theme or setting

Title: Radio Times, 18 November 1938 (Magazine)
Linking notes: article by ‘The Scanner’ entitled ‘Television Goes High Hat’, p. 26; listing on p. 27

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