24-556: Rudolf Wilhelm Besier (2 July 1878 – 16 June 1942) was a Dutch/English dramatist and translator best known for his play The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1930). He worked with H. G. Wells , Hugh Walpole and May Edginton on dramatisations. Besier was born in Blitar , East Java ( Dutch East Indies ), in 1878 as the son of an English mother, Margaret Ann Collinson, and the Dutch soldier Rudolf Wilhelm Besier, who died six months before he
48-531: A depraved monster, although the author and original director denied that the play did so. The Barretts of Wimpole Street was Rudolf Besier's only real success as a playwright. It was first staged on 20 August 1930, at the Malvern Festival in Malvern, Worcestershire . Elizabeth Barrett lived near Malvern as a child, which suggested to the director, Sir Barry Jackson , the appropriateness of opening
72-565: A musical, Robert and Elizabeth , with book and lyrics by Ronald Millar and music by Ron Grainer . It opened in London on 20 October 1964, starring June Bronhill , Keith Michell and John Clements and ran for 948 performances. Victor Gollancz Ltd Victor Gollancz Ltd ( / ɡ ə ˈ l æ n t s / ) was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century and continues to publish science fiction and fantasy titles as an imprint of Orion Publishing Group . Gollancz
96-446: A note for her father. Barrett, devastated, wants revenge. "A smile of indescribable ugliness flickers across his face" and he orders Elizabeth's beloved dog to be destroyed – but she has taken Flush with her. Learning from Henrietta that his cruel vengeance has been thwarted, Barrett stands perfectly still, "staring straight before him and mechanically tearing Elizabeth's letter into little pieces, which drop to his feet". Cornell revived
120-756: A personal interest in it. She had it staged in Cleveland in 1931, and then in New York. It was revived and produced in many countries, and was made into two films and a musical. Rudolf Besier died in Surrey in 1942, aged 63. The Barretts of Wimpole Street The Barretts of Wimpole Street is a 1930 play by the Dutch/English dramatist Rudolf Besier , based on the romance between Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett , and her domineering father's unwillingness to allow them to marry. Presented first at
144-491: Is unthinkable". To Moulton-Barrett, love entails "cruelty and loathing and degradation and remorse ... With the help of God, and through years of tormenting abstinence, I strangled it in myself. And so long as I have breath in my body, I'll keep it away from those I was given to protect and care for". When Bella arrives, Elizabeth confesses that she too has an admirer – the handsome young poet Robert Browning. Invigorated by his renewed declaration of love, she gets up and walks for
168-598: The Malvern Festival in August 1930, the play transferred to the West End , where it ran for 528 performances. An American production, produced by and starring Katharine Cornell , opened in 1931 and ran on Broadway for 370 performances. The play has subsequently been revived onstage and adapted for television and the cinema. The play caused some protests from the descendants of one of the central characters, Edward Moulton-Barrett, objecting to what they saw as his depiction as
192-606: The SF Masterworks series, and the Fantasy Masterworks series previously appearing under the Orion sister-imprint Millennium. Gollancz has published award-winning and award-nominated books by, among others: In 2005, Gollancz set up a manga publishing arm, Gollancz Manga , which published UK editions of various Viz Media properties. As of 2014, Gollancz no longer publish manga and Viz Media have re-released
216-827: The Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia , the pair having drifted apart on political grounds. He did publish The Red Army Moves by Geoffrey Cox on the Winter War , which was critical of the Soviet attack on Finland, but also foresaw that the Red Army would defeat the Germans. He also published works by German exiles, such as Hilde Meisel . Gollancz was the original publisher of a number of authors and their books including: Many of Gollancz's books were published in one of their familiar house dust jackets, of which
240-496: The early 1960s through the late 1990s, Gollancz Science Fiction was the pre-eminent hardcover science fiction publishing list in the UK, for the first quarter century being both recognisable by, and famous for, its distinctive Gollancz Yellow dust-jackets with black and magenta typography, providing a major part of the publisher's output, alongside Gollancz' crime fiction and general fiction lists. Full-colour dust-jackets were introduced on
264-497: The first time in years. Some months later, Elizabeth is so much better that she is planning a trip to Italy, on her doctor's advice. Her father cannot bear to let her go. When Browning begs her to marry him and leave for Italy together, Elizabeth pleads for time. When Barrett discovers that Henrietta has an admirer, he is so angry that he assaults her and makes her swear never to see him again. Elizabeth, realising that she must act, secretly marries Browning and elopes with him, leaving
SECTION 10
#1732786989230288-514: The merged Orion/Cassell group turned Gollancz into its science fiction/fantasy imprint. Gollancz was left-inclined in politics and a supporter of socialist movements. This is reflected in some of the call for the books he published. Victor Gollancz commissioned George Orwell to write about the urban working class in the North of England; the result was The Road to Wigan Pier . His break with Orwell came when he declined to publish Orwell's account of
312-737: The most famous was bright yellow, with the title and author rendered in a vibrant, bold typography. The Left Book Club, the first book club in the UK, was a publishing group pioneered by Gollancz that exerted a strong left-wing influence in Great Britain from 1936 to 1948. It offered a monthly book choice, for sale to members only, as well as a newsletter that acquired the status of a major political magazine. It also held an annual rally. Membership peaked at 57,000 but it eventually ceased publishing in 1948. The books and pamphlets were published with their distinctive covers — orange for paperback (1936–1938) and red for hardback (1938–1948) editions. From
336-474: The play on 14 October 1951, starring Pauline Jameson as Elizabeth, Griffith Jones as Browning and D. A. Clarke-Smith as Edward Moulton-Barrett. On 2 April 1956 NBC 's Producers' Showcase aired a production featuring Cornell as Elizabeth. A 1982 TV film of the play was made by the BBC starring Jane Lapotaire as Elizabeth, Joss Ackland as her father and Jeremy Brett as Browning. The play also spawned
360-568: The play takes place in Elizabeth Barrett's bed-sitting room in her father's house. She is an invalid, taking comfort from her pet spaniel , Flush. Her sister Henrietta tells her that their father is in a fury because of the impending visit of their cousin Bella, who is about to marry – something Barrett will not allow his daughters to do: "So long as Papa's alive none of us will ever be able to marry with his consent – and to marry without it
384-597: The play there before presenting it in the West End . The production starred Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as Elizabeth Moulton-Barrett and Scott Sunderland as Robert Browning. The production was later seen in Birmingham before opening, with the original cast unchanged, at the Queen's Theatre in London on 23 September 1930, where it ran until 2 January 1932, a total of 528 performances. The production provoked protests from some of Edward Moulton-Barrett's grandchildren about
408-784: The play twice on Broadway: at the Martin Beck Theatre (1935) and the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (1945). There was a West End revival of the play in 1948 at the Garrick Theatre , starring Margaret Johnston , Alec Clunes and Tom Walls . It was filmed in 1934, starring Fredric March , Norma Shearer and Charles Laughton . That film was remade scene-for-scene and almost shot-for-shot, in colour, in 1957, starring Bill Travers , Jennifer Jones and John Gielgud . Both films were directed by Sidney Franklin . BBC television broadcast an adaptation of
432-466: The portrayal of their grandfather as a monster with "unspeakable vices". Besier and Jackson issued a statement that neither when writing the play nor in its production was there any intention to portray Barrett as a man with incestuous impulses, and that such interpretation of the play was erroneous and unfounded. The text of the play was published by Victor Gollancz in 1931. It is dedicated to Hugh Walpole . In search of an American production, Besier
456-534: The publisher's series. The following titles have been published: In 2011, Gollancz launched the SF Gateway website, an online library that features out-of-print science fiction books republished as e-books . Gollancz aims to make 5,000 or more books available by 2014 and the website will be integrated with the online Encyclopedia of Science Fiction . In terms of the number of published works that have been nominated for major awards, Gollancz ranks as one of
480-417: The science fiction list from the mid-1980s adding significantly to production costs, but also to commercial sales - an important consideration with increasing pressure upon the UK's public library system's budgets. In 1998, Gollancz was diminished into just the science fiction and fantasy imprint Gollancz Science Fiction after it was acquired by Orion Publishing Group . Gollancz has also proceeded to publish
504-564: Was born and after whom he was named. He had some limited success early in his career in England, which began with The Virgin Goddess (1906) produced by Otho Stuart and with music by Christopher Wilson . Then followed a series of plays, mainly dramas, but including some satires and comedies. In 1912 he collaborated with H. G. Wells on dramatising Wells's Kipps ; he also worked with Hugh Walpole on Robin's Father (1918). Secrets (1922)
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#1732786989230528-656: Was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz , and specialised in the publication of high-quality literature, nonfiction, and popular fiction, including crime, detective, mystery, thriller, and science fiction. Upon Gollancz's death in 1967, ownership passed to his daughter, Livia, who in 1989 sold it to Houghton Mifflin . Three years later in October 1992, Houghton Mifflin sold Gollancz to the publishing house Cassell & Co . Cassell and its parent company Orion Publishing Group were acquired by Hachette in 1996, and in December 1998
552-614: Was rebuffed by 27 producers before the actress Katharine Cornell took an interest in the play and had it staged at the Hanna Theatre in Cleveland , Ohio on 29 January 1931. The play then went to Broadway, where it opened on 9 February, at the Empire Theatre , starring Cornell and Brian Aherne , running for 370 performances. The Stage commented in 1974 that Elizabeth was Cornell's most famous part. The action of
576-430: Was written with May Edginton (1883–1957). Besier's major success came with The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1930), based on Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning 's courtship. After being rejected by two London producers, it premièred at the Malvern Festival of 1930, directed by Sir Barry Jackson . Besier failed to interest American producers, 27 of whom rejected his play, but the actress Katharine Cornell took
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