Good Morning, Bill ! - Act 1 (1927-28)

The following link is to an article I wrote for the June 2024 edition of Wooster Sauce - The Journal of the P.G.Wodehouse Society on the first London production of the Wodehouse play Good Morning, Bill !

Link to article

The plot summary for the play was based on Tony Ring’s excellent book Second Row, grand circle: a reference guide to the contribution of P.G.Wodehouse to the legitimate theatre which contains summaries of the plots of the plays, quotations from them, a non-London performance history, cross-referenced material from other Wodehouse sources, and other interesting notes.

Tony Ring also records in detail the adjustments to the text demanded by the Lord Chamberlain. The somewhat prurient interest of the Lord Chamberlain's men in Miss Minto's nightwear was quite widely reported in the press at the time, so widely in fact that it seems likely the gossip was briefed to the newspapers by the producers themselves to drum up business.

The main reference for basic data about London stage productions in the era is The London stage 1920-1929: a calendar of productions, performers, and personnel by J.P.Wearing (Published 2014).

The sinking of the Titanic must be one of the single most researched events in British history and Lady Duff-Gordon's involvement in it is covered in many articles, books, and indeed major motion pictures. The image illustrating this blog post is Lady Duff-Gordon on board the RMS Campania (1893-1918).

Biographical information on Ladislas Fodor is thin on the ground, in English at least. A google search will turn up all that is available.