Record

Performance TitleA Coronation Costume Ball, in aid of Providing a National Theatre
Performance Date13 May 1937
Performance DayThursday
Performance Time22:00
Main PerformersLewis Casson,
Ann Casson (Joan of Arc),
Irene Vanbrugh,
Dame Sybil Thorndike,
Constance Allen,
Barbara Davis,
Gwyneth Idris,
Dinah Martin,
Cynthia Phillips,
Judy Briggs,
Adza Hodgins,
Marjorie Kay,
Ruth Noble,
Margaret Riddiough,
Audrey Cousin,
Yolande Holroyde,
Gwyneth Lewis,
Frances Ogilvy,
Joy Smiles,
Admiral Tayler,
Wallis Junior,
Patrick O'Neill,
Mr Wallis,
Mr Walter Piers,
Sir John Martin Harvey,
Leiutenant. Colonel Noel Campbell,
Miriam Lewes,
Mrs Ernest Taylor,
Lady Martin Harvey,
Mrs Noel Campbell,
Sheila Allard,
Ann Furrell,
Mrs F B O'Neill,
Lillah McCarthy,
J Clifford Turner,
Grizel Cochrane,
Nancy Body,
Josephine Colvin,
Margaret Jeavons,
Sheila McLeod,
Ruth Reeves,
Yvonne Burgin,
Mhora Campbell Colquhoun,
Diana King,
Helen Palmer,
Mary Schooling,
Margaret Chesterton,
Prudence Cox,
Elaine Lewis,
Anne Reed,
Maureen Williamson,
Eric Cowley,
Donald Gordon,
Humphrey Harman,
James Ottaway,
Frank Ransford,
Geoffrey Wynne Davies,
Esme Percy,
Joan Kemp Welch,
Coral Fairweather,
Irene Wynne Davies,
Joan Meade,
Phyllis Row,
Ben Wright,
Doreen MacRae,
Stringer Davies,
Patricia Sunley,
Leslie Coles,
Molly Ransford,
Tom Gill,
Oriel Ross,
Tristan Rawson,
Hugh Kamstra,
Mrs Gerald Aylmer,
Hon.Mrs.I.Forbes Adams,
Frances Grenfell,
Miss Costley White,
Lady Mary Balfour,
Mrs Debenham,
Angela Mitchell,
Jean Thin,
Jean Cator,
Pamela Lady Glenconner,
Frederica Montagu,
Gloria Congreve,
Mary Godwin,
Adela Ferguson,
Alexander Part,
W Earle Grey,
Robert Eddison,
Reginald Jarman,
Bruce Winston,
Henry Stewart,
Arthur Burne,
Alison Pickard,
W E Holloway,
Ernest Milton,
Edith Sharpe,
Thea Holme,
John Finn,
Joan Murray,
Peggie Cochrane,
Joan Temperley,
Jeanne Macintyre,
Father Armstrong,
Countess of Oxford and Asquith,
Evan Talbot,
Mrs Evan Talbot,
Peter Cooke,
Hon. Robert Cecil,
Lady Violet Benson (Manners),
Lionel Benedict Nicolson (Sackville-West),
Earl Waldegrave,
Lady Olga Montagu,
Earl of Burlington,
Captain Fairfax Lucy,
Mrs Fairfax Lucy,
Myles Hildyard,
Richard Talbot,
Mr Grenfell,
Mrs Grenfell,
Toby Hildyard,
Viscount Knebworth,
Hon.Viola Lyttelton,
Ann Throckmorton,
Lucy Harington,
Arbell Mackintosh (Cavendish),
Margaret Pollock (Harington),
Cecile Pollock (Harington),
Ruth Lyster,
Margaret Seymour,
Mr Seymour,
Lady Elizabeth Townshend,
Elizabeth Barclay,
Joy Richmond,
Ann Richmond,
Mrs Best,
Freda Bamford,
Wilfrid Walter,
Cathleen Nesbitt,
Margaret Scudamore,
Nicholas Hannen,
Ivor Novello,
Dorothy Dickson,
Michael Acton Bond,
Beatrice Grosvenor,
Lady Craik,
Alan Napier,
Lady Rachel Stuart,
Leslie Banks,
Princess Antoine Bibesco,
Cecil Ramage,
Veronica Turleigh,
Malcolm Kean,
Violet Vanbrugh,
William Devlin
Leslie French,
Lady Margaret Cavendish-Bentick,
Catherine Balfour,
Mrs Mark Pilkington,
Jacqueline Swinnerton-Dyer,
Lady Ann Cavendish-Bentick,
Agnes King,
Sanchia Whitworth,
Mrs Harry George,
Lady Frances Cole,
Lady Moyra Ponsonby,
Mrs Fordham Flower,
Margaretta Scott,
Princess Gayenne Mickealdze,
Rosemary Grosvenor,
Lady Gloria Fisher,
Jennifer Fry,
Lady Sybil Cavendish,
Lady Tichbourne,
Miss M Vesey,
Primrose Rollo,
Lady Ursula Manners,
Laura Bonham Carter,
Lady Jean Ramsay,
Margaret Stirling,
Bridget Vesey,
Princess Priscilla Bibesco,
Anna Konstam,
Constance Stanley,
Tristram Yelin,
Mr C Hildyard,
Hon. Anthony Asquith,
Peter Cardew,
Henry Kingsbury,
Fordham Flower,
Nigel Fisher,
Giles Isham,
Jack Hawkins,
Philip Desborough,
Brandon Acton Bond,
John Wyse,
Robert Holmes,
Hubert Gregg,
Lydia Lopokova,
Michael Martin-Harvey,
Rupert Scott,
Francis James,
Elizabeth Brough,
Rosalind Atkinson,
Holland Bennett,
Hedley Briggs,
Rosemary Bulteel,
Elsa Brunelleschi,
Yvonne Cadwallader,
Evlyn Brand,
Elizabeth Brown,
Mabel Wrycroft,
Sheila Cranmer-Byng,
Heather Brown,
Joan Burrows
Felecity Andreae,
Joyce Platte,
Beve Hodges,
Mary Booth,
Joan Barratt,
Palma Nye,
Pat Bulman,
Annabel Farjeon,
Denise Horne,
Moyra Fraser,
Valerie Wade,
Joyce Carey,
Joan Ross,
Lady Alexander,
Adele Dixon,
Dorothy Saunders,
Mary Sheridan,
Dora Sevening,
Kay Hammond,
Cyril Maude,
Mervyn Johns,
Anthony Ireland,
Griffith Jones,
Miles Malleson,
Oliver Johnston,
Kenneth Barnes,
George Howe,
Ronald Kerr,
Mary Hinton,
Cecil Trouncer,
Ivy Des Voeux,
Mark Dignam,
Gillian Scaife,
Roger Maxwell,
Waldo Wright,
Vivien Leigh,
Nelson Keys,
Dorice Fordred,
Harold Warrender,
George Mulcaster,
Judge Thesiger,
Reginald Tate,
Michael Redgrave,
Wallace Wood,
Ernest Thesiger,
Griselda Gould,
Patience Thesiger,
Ion Swinley
Orchestra or BandAmbrose and His Orchestra,
5th Highland Light Infantry Pipers,
Mayfair Orchestra
Set ListAmbrose and His Orchestra:
Foxtrot: 'Pennies From Heaven',
Foxtrot: 'The Rhythm's OK in Harlem',
Foxtrot: 'The Night is Young and You Are Beautiful',
Foxtrot: 'One, Two, Button Your Shoe',
Waltz: 'Paradise in Waltz Time',
Foxtrot: 'Trust in Me',
Foxtrot: 'Boo Hoo',
Foxtrot: 'All Alone On Vienna',
Foxtrot: 'I'm Still in Love With You',
'Gone'
Foxtrot: 'When My Dream-Boat Comes Home',
Foxtrot: 'Head Over Heels',
Foxtrot: 'On The Avenue',
Waltz: 'Waltz Medley',
Foxtrot: 'So Do I',
Medley: 'Communityland',
Foxtrot: 'Small Hotel',
Foxtrot: 'The Goona Goo,
Foxtrot: 'Gee, But You're Swell',
Foxtrot: 'Goodnight My Love'

00:00 Arrival fo Royal Guests,
00:30 Trumpet Fanfare
00:35 Procession of the History of Drama - Sophocles to Shaw (Miss Irene Vanbrugh (Comedy), Dame Sybil Thorbdike (Tragedy), Mr Lewis Casson (Garrick), Sir John Martin-Harvey (Oedipus) - procession leads)
Royal PresenceHM King George V,
HM Queen Mary,
HRH The Duke of Gloucester,
HRH The Duchess of Gloucester,
HRH The Ducgess of Buccleuch,
HRH Princess Juliana,
HRH Prince Bernhard,
HRH Prince Chichibu of Japan,
HRH Princess Chichibu of Japan,
HRH Prince Paul of Yugolslavia,
HRH Princess Paul of Yugoslavia,
HRH Crown Prince of Sweden,
HRH Crown Princess of Sweden,
Nawab of Bahawanpur
Performance NotesRobert Atkins - director
Jack Carlton - assistant director
Elsie Fogerty,
Sir John Martin Harvey,
Jack Carlton,
Robert Atkins - producers
Geoffrey Whitworth,
Reginald Jarman,
Clifford Bax,
Madame Brunelleschi,
Ninette De Valois,
Madame Rambert,
Kenneth Barnes,
Arthur Sinclair,
Anmer Hall,
Irene Vanbrugh,
Angus MacLeod,
Ernest Thesiger - choreographers,
J Gower Parks,
Scott Slimon - costume designers

The setting was 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and the decorations were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens RA to imitate a mediaeval garden, in which a pageant of Queen Elizabeth's Court and Shakespeare's heroines were presented.

The Procession of the History of Drama included an impression of a 15thC mystery play, the Court of Queen Elizabeth I with Lady Oxford and Asquith as Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare's kings and queens impersonated by actors such as Mr Leslie Banks, Mr Nicholas Hannen, Mr Ivor Novello and Miss Violet Vanbrugh, and finally a procession of Shakespeare's women.

Guests at the Ball included the American Ambassador Mr Robert Bingham, the High Commissioner for Canada Mr Vincent Massey, Nepalese Minister, Lord Moynihan, Lady Moira Lyttelton, Baroness d'Erlanger, the Dowager Stanley of Alderley, Mrs Peter Ralli, Sir John and Lady Lana, Katherine Duchess of Westminster, Mrs J W Gerard, the Marquess of Milford Haven, the Maharajah of Cooch Behar, Lady Clare King, Sire Abe Bailey, Mr Gerald Brickhurst, the Earl of Lytton, Countess of Lytton, the Maharajah of Darbhanga, Sir Robert Mond, Lord Iliffe, Baronessde Bush, the Marchioness of Salisbury, Lady Hatfield, Mr Sydney Carroll, Lady Bird, Anthony Eden, Mrs Anthony Eden, Lady Worsley, Dowager Lady Swaythling, Lady Zia Wenher, Mrs Harry Brown, Mrs Ormond Lawson-Johnson, Lady Giffard Foz, Lady Rosemary Jeffreys, Lady Sybil Phipps, Mrs Bowes Daly.

"Many overseas visitors were present last night either in boxes or in the tiers above, and so beautiful was the scene spread before them that it may well linger in their memories of this festal time...The Hall had been so decorated that the boxes curved round a rose-red Tudor palace and comely garden of clipped yew, which Sir Edwin Lutyens has designed against an immense azure sheet. In the rest of the Hall there was little or no decoration, and none was needed for the dancers brought every variety of colour and costume to the floor, and beneath nets of coloured balloons held to the roof ready to be released hung a circle of illuminated crowns."
(The Times, 14 May 1937)
Related Archival MaterialProgramme (RAHE/1/1937/40),
Handbill (RAHE/6/1937/13)
URLhttps://thirdlight.royalalberthall.com/pf.tlx/cYXcYRscD_31XD
https://thirdlight.royalalberthall.com/pf.tlx/RuR7X9R0l1VU
https://thirdlight.royalalberthall.com/pf.tlx/hAEh_xbhnCG0u
Catalogue
Reference NumberTitleDate
RAHE/6/1937/13Coronation Costume Ball13 May 1937
RAHE/1/1937/40Coronation Costume Ball to help to provide a National Theatre13 May 1937
Work
Ref NoTitleNo of Performances
OwhosovodifefA Coronation Costume Ball, in aid of Providing a National Theatre1
Performers
CodeName of Performer(s)
DS/UK/1700George VI (1895-1952); British King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India (1938-1947)
DS/UK/1368Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (1900-2002); HM; British Queen consort of King George VI
DS/UK/3523Casson; Sir; Lewis Thomas (1875-1969); MC; British actor, theatre director
DS/UK/23116Casson; Ann (6 November 1915-2 May 1990); English stage and film actress
DS/UK/3524Vanbrugh; Dame; Irene (1872-1949); DBE; English actress
DS/UK/3522Thorndike; Dame; Agnes Sybil (1882-1976); CH DBE; British actress
DS/UK/23117Allen; Constance (8 October 1902-15 April 1983); British actress
DS/UK/23118Hodgins; Adza (17 December 1917-5 May 1995); English actress
DS/UK/23119Kay; Marjorie (-25 June 1949)
DS/UK/23120Smiles; Joy Marguerite (30 January 1917-2003)
DS/UK/6004Martin-Harvey; Sir; John (22 June 1863-14 May 1944); English stage actor
DS/UK/23121Margarita; Helena (28 August 1866-29 March 1949); English actress
DS/UK/6001McCarthy; Lillah (22 September 1875-15 April 1960); English actress and theatrical manager
DS/UK/23122King; Diana (2 August 1918-31 July 1986); English actress
DS/UK/23123Ottaway; James (25 July 1908-16 June 1999); British film, television and stage actor
DS/UK/6425Percy; Saville Esme (1887-1957); English actor
DS/UK/14773Welch; Joan Kemp- (1906-1999); British actress, theatre director, television producer
DS/UK/23124Fairweather; Coral (15 August 1907-31 August 1994); English actress
DS/UK/23125Ross; Oriel (10 June 1907-20 October 1994); English actress
DS/UK/3516Novello; Ivor (15 January 1893-6 March 1951); Welsh composer and actor
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