André Charlot
Encyclopedia
André Eugene Maurice Charlot (26 July 1882 – 20 May 1956) was a French impresario
known primarily for the highly successful musical
revue
s he staged in London
between 1912 and 1937. He also worked as a character actor
in numerous feature film
s.
Born in Paris, Charlot began his career as the assistant manager of several theatres in the French capital, including the Folies Bergère and the Théâtre du Palais-Royal
. In 1912 he relocated to London and became the joint manager of the Alhambra Theatre
, where he began presenting productions noted for their elegance and simplicity rather than lavish Ziegfeld
-like stagings.
Although he was instrumental in giving Noël Coward
his first big break, Charlot's first meeting with the aspiring writer was less than successful. In 1917, Coward auditioned some of his material for the producer, who was unimpressed. "He plays the piano badly and sings worse," he complained to Beatrice Lillie
, who had introduced the two men, adding, "Kindly do not waste my time with people like that ever again." The following year he purchased one of Coward's songs for Tails Up, and in 1923 he staged London Calling!
, Coward's first publicly produced musical work. It included the tune "Parisian Pierrot," sung by Gertrude Lawrence
, which proved to be Coward's first big hit and one of his signature tunes
. Although the show was a success, Charlot and Coward never collaborated on such a large scale again.
Andre Charlot's Revue of 1924,
starring Lillie, Lawrence, Jessie Matthews
, and Jack Buchanan
, was a major hit on Broadway
. Ticket demand was such that the original six-week run was extended to nine months, and it ultimately ran for 298 performances.
With the Great Depression
, theatre attendance dropped dramatically, and Charot was forced into temporary bankruptcy
after the failure of Wonder Bar in 1930. That same year he collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock
, Jack Hulbert
, and Paul Murray on direction of the film Elstree Calling
. After producing a series of smaller London revues, he moved to Hollywood, where between 1942 and 1955 he appeared in 50 films, often in small, uncredited roles. Among them were The Constant Nymph
, Passage to Marseille
, The Song of Bernadette
, Lady on a Train
, The Dolly Sisters
, Julia Misbehaves
, That Forsyte Woman
, Annie Get Your Gun
, The Snows of Kilimanjaro
, and Interrupted Melody
.
Charlot was married to Florence Gladman, with whom he had two children. He died of cancer
in Woodland Hills, California.
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
known primarily for the highly successful musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
s he staged in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
between 1912 and 1937. He also worked as a character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
in numerous feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
s.
Born in Paris, Charlot began his career as the assistant manager of several theatres in the French capital, including the Folies Bergère and the Théâtre du Palais-Royal
Théâtre du Palais-Royal
The Théâtre du Palais-Royal is a 750 seat theatre at 38, rue Montpensier in Paris. In 1637 Cardinal Richelieu began work on a theatre on the east wing of the Palais-Royal building, to break the theatre monopoly of the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and it was opened in 1641...
. In 1912 he relocated to London and became the joint manager of the Alhambra Theatre
Alhambra Theatre
The Alhambra was a popular theatre and music hall located on the east side of Leicester Square, in the West End of London. It was built originally as The Royal Panopticon of Science and Arts opening on 18 March 1854. It was closed after two years and reopened as the Alhambra. The building was...
, where he began presenting productions noted for their elegance and simplicity rather than lavish Ziegfeld
Florenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. , , was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies , inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat...
-like stagings.
Although he was instrumental in giving Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
his first big break, Charlot's first meeting with the aspiring writer was less than successful. In 1917, Coward auditioned some of his material for the producer, who was unimpressed. "He plays the piano badly and sings worse," he complained to Beatrice Lillie
Beatrice Lillie
Beatrice Gladys "Bea" Lillie was an actress and comedic performer. Following her 1920 marriage to Sir Robert Peel in England, she was known in private life as Lady Peel.-Early career:...
, who had introduced the two men, adding, "Kindly do not waste my time with people like that ever again." The following year he purchased one of Coward's songs for Tails Up, and in 1923 he staged London Calling!
London Calling!
London Calling! was a musical revue, produced by André Charlot with music and lyrics by Noël Coward, which opened at London's Duke of York's Theatre on September 4, 1923. It is famous for being Noël Coward's first publicly produced musical work and for the use of a 3-D stereoscopic shadowgraph as...
, Coward's first publicly produced musical work. It included the tune "Parisian Pierrot," sung by Gertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence was an English actress, singer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End theatre district of London and on Broadway.-Early life:...
, which proved to be Coward's first big hit and one of his signature tunes
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
. Although the show was a success, Charlot and Coward never collaborated on such a large scale again.
Andre Charlot's Revue of 1924,
starring Lillie, Lawrence, Jessie Matthews
Jessie Matthews
Jessie Matthews, OBE was an English actress, dancer and singer of the 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period.-Early life:...
, and Jack Buchanan
Jack Buchanan
Walter John "Jack" Buchanan was a British theatre and film actor, singer, producer and director. He was known for three decades as the embodiment of the debonair man-about-town in the tradition of George Grossmith Jr., and was described by The Times as "the last of the knuts." He is best known in...
, was a major hit on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. Ticket demand was such that the original six-week run was extended to nine months, and it ultimately ran for 298 performances.
With the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, theatre attendance dropped dramatically, and Charot was forced into temporary bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
after the failure of Wonder Bar in 1930. That same year he collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
, Jack Hulbert
Jack Hulbert
John Norman "Jack" Hulbert was a British actor, specialising primarily in comedy productions.-Biography:Born in Ely, Cambridgeshire, he was the elder and more successful brother of Claude. He was educated at Cambridge and appeared in many shows and revues, mainly with the Cambridge Footlights. He...
, and Paul Murray on direction of the film Elstree Calling
Elstree Calling
Elstree Calling is a film directed by Andre Charlot, Jack Hulbert, Paul Murray, and Alfred Hitchcock at Elstree Studios. The film, referred to as "A Cine-Radio Revue" in its original publicity, is a lavish musical film revue and was Britain's answer to the Hollywood revues which had been produced...
. After producing a series of smaller London revues, he moved to Hollywood, where between 1942 and 1955 he appeared in 50 films, often in small, uncredited roles. Among them were The Constant Nymph
The Constant Nymph (1943 film)
The Constant Nymph is a 1943 romantic drama film starring Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine, Alexis Smith, Brenda Marshall, Charles Coburn, Dame May Whitty and Peter Lorre...
, Passage to Marseille
Passage to Marseille
Passage to Marseille is a 1944 war film made by Warner Brothers, directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Hal B. Wallis with Jack L. Warner as executive producer. The screenplay was by Casey Robinson and Jack Moffitt from the novel Sans Patrie by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall...
, The Song of Bernadette
The Song of Bernadette (film)
The Song of Bernadette is a 1943 drama film which tells the story of Saint Bernadette Soubirous, who, from February to July 1858 in Lourdes, France, reported 18 visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was directed by Henry King....
, Lady on a Train
Lady on a Train
Lady on a Train is a 1945 comedy film noir, starring Deanna Durbin and based on a story by Leslie Charteris.-Plot:Debutante Nikki Collins, an enthusiastic reader of detective stories, witnesses a murder in a building while passing by on a train entering New York's Grand Central Station. She goes to...
, The Dolly Sisters
The Dolly Sisters
The Dolly Sisters is a 1945 American biographical film about the Dolly Sisters, identical twins who became famous as entertainers on Broadway and in Europe in the early years of the twentieth century. It starred Betty Grable as Jenny and June Haver as Rosie.-Cast:*Betty Grable as Yansci "Jenny"...
, Julia Misbehaves
Julia Misbehaves
Julia Misbehaves is a 1948 romantic comedy film. It stars Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon as a married couple who are soon separated by his snobbish family. They meet again many years later, when the daughter he has raised, played by Elizabeth Taylor, invites her mother to her wedding...
, That Forsyte Woman
That Forsyte Woman
That Forsyte Woman is a 1949 romance film starring Greer Garson, Errol Flynn, Walter Pidgeon, Robert Young and Janet Leigh...
, Annie Get Your Gun
Annie Get Your Gun (film)
Annie Get Your Gun is a 1950 American musical comedy film loosely based on the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley. The Metro Goldwyn Mayer release, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and a screenplay by Sidney Sheldon based on the 1946 stage musical of the same name, was directed by George Sidney...
, The Snows of Kilimanjaro
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. It was first published in Esquire magazine in 1936. It was republished in The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories in 1938, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories in 1961, and is included in The Complete Short Stories of...
, and Interrupted Melody
Interrupted Melody
Interrupted Melody is a 1955 biographical film which tells the story of Australian opera singer Marjorie Lawrence's struggle with polio. The film was made by MGM, directed by Curtis Bernhardt and produced by Jack Cummings from a screenplay by Marjorie Lawrence, Sonya Levien, and William Ludwig.The...
.
Charlot was married to Florence Gladman, with whom he had two children. He died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in Woodland Hills, California.