The Box of Delights
Encyclopedia
The Box of Delights is a children's fantasy
novel
by John Masefield
. It is a sequel
to The Midnight Folk
, and was first published in 1935.
who, on returning from boarding school
, finds himself mixed up in a battle to possess a magical box, which allows the owner to go small (shrink) and go swift (fly), experience magical wonders contained within the box and go into the past.
The owner of the box is an old Punch and Judy
man called Cole Hawlings, whom Kay meets on a railway station. They have an instant rapport, and this leads Cole to confide that he is being chased by a man called Abner Brown and his gang. For safety, Cole entrusts the box to Kay, who then goes on to have many adventures.
The fact that the BBC did remounts of this production suggests that no official recordings exist of these productions. There may be private off air recordings.
by the BBC
in 1984, featuring Patrick Troughton
and Robert Stephens
. It was broadcast November–December, in six parts, with the last episode transmitted on Christmas Eve
. Starring Devin Stanfield as Kay and directed by Renny Rye, it used an innovative mixture
of live action
and animation
, with Quantel Paintbox
and chroma key
effects to bring the adventure alive. Noted for its yuletide atmosphere (it is set during Christmas), the series has become something of a nostalgic treat for followers of cult TV. The seasonal theme music is Victor Hely-Hutchinson
's orchestral arrangement of "The First Nowell" from his Carol Symphony
. The railway station scenes were filmed at and on the steam heritage Severn Valley Railway
and the exterior shots of Abner Brown's theological college were filmed at Eastnor Castle
, near Ledbury
, Herefordshire
.
The episodes are:
The serial
was repeated in 1986, edited into three 50-minute episodes. For this transmission the episodes were entitled:
The television version was shown by PBS in the USA for three years in the late 1980s. BBC Worldwide
released the serial on DVD
in 2004.
In 1985, a 120-minute version was released for sale in the USA on VHS
video by Simon & Schuster Video (NTSC format).
constraints; however, the BBC
did not otherwise alter the plot significantly. The novel describes Kay as using the box on more occasions than those depicted in the television adaptation. The following incidents occur only in the novel:
adapted an opera
libretto
from his book, also incorporating elements of The Midnight Folk
, which was eventually set to music in the late 1980s by British
composer
Robert Steadman
.
is to direct and the screenplay is being written by Frank Cottrell Boyce
.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by John Masefield
John Masefield
John Edward Masefield, OM, was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1930 until his death in 1967...
. It is a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to The Midnight Folk
The Midnight Folk
The Midnight Folk is a children's fantasy novel by John Masefield first published in 1927. It is about a boy, Kay Harker, who sets out to discover what became of a fortune stolen from his sea-faring great grandfather Aston Tirrold Harker...
, and was first published in 1935.
Plot summary
The central character is Kay HarkerKay Harker
Kay Harker is a fictional character, the young hero of the books The Midnight Folk and The Box of Delights by John Masefield, and the BBC series based on The Box of Delights. The series ran in 1984, where the character was played by actor Devin Stanfield...
who, on returning from boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
, finds himself mixed up in a battle to possess a magical box, which allows the owner to go small (shrink) and go swift (fly), experience magical wonders contained within the box and go into the past.
The owner of the box is an old Punch and Judy
Punch and Judy
Punch and Judy is a traditional, popular puppet show featuring the characters of Mr. Punch and his wife, Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically the anarchic Punch and one other character...
man called Cole Hawlings, whom Kay meets on a railway station. They have an instant rapport, and this leads Cole to confide that he is being chased by a man called Abner Brown and his gang. For safety, Cole entrusts the box to Kay, who then goes on to have many adventures.
BBC radio adaptations
There have been three adaptation of The Box of Delights by the BBC on radio.1. Children's Hour
With a script by Robert Holland and John Keir Cross, this six part production was mounted three times by the BBC in 1943, 1948, and 1955.1943 cast
- Kay Harker : John Gilpin (dancer)John Gilpin (dancer)John Brian Gilpin was a leading English ballet dancer and actor.He was born in Southsea, Hampshire, England, and began as a child actor in films, such as They Were Sisters and The Years Between, opposite Michael Redgrave...
- Abner Brown: Robert Farquharson
- Cole Hawlings : Hay PetrieHay PetrieHay Petrie , born David Hay Petrie, was a Scottish actor noted for playing eccentric characters, among them Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop , the McLaggen in The Ghost Goes West and Uncle Pumblechook in Great Expectations .Hay Petrie went to St Andrew’s Academy, Dundee, and St...
- Rat : Philip Wade
- Mouse : Charles Hawtrey (film actor)Charles Hawtrey (film actor)George Frederick Joffre Hartree , known as Charles Hawtrey, was an English comedy actor and musician.Beginning at a young age as a boy soprano, he made several records before moving on to the radio...
- Narrator : Norman ShelleyNorman ShelleyNorman Shelley was an English actor, best known for his work in radio, in particular for the BBC's Children's Hour. He also had a recurring role as Colonel Danby in the long-running radio soap opera The Archers....
1955 remount
- Kay Harker : Patricia HayesPatricia HayesPatricia Lawlor Hayes, OBE was an English comedy actress.Hayes was born in Streatham, London. As a child Hayes attended Sacred Heart School in Wandsworth....
- Cole Hawlings : Deering Wells
The fact that the BBC did remounts of this production suggests that no official recordings exist of these productions. There may be private off air recordings.
2. Saturday play
A one off drama with a new script by John Keir Cross broadcast in 1966 and remounted in 1978.3. BBC Radio 4 1995
Two part drama with script by John Peacock.- Abner Brown : Donald SindenDonald SindenSir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
- Cole Hawlins : Lionel JeffriesLionel JeffriesLionel Charles Jeffries was an English actor, screenwriter and film director.-Early life and career:Jeffries attended the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wimborne Minster, Dorset. In 1945, he received a commission in the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry...
BBC television adaptation
The Box of Delights was adapted for televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in 1984, featuring Patrick Troughton
Patrick Troughton
Patrick George Troughton was an English actor most widely known for his roles in fantasy, science fiction and horror films, particularly in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1966 to 1969,...
and Robert Stephens
Robert Stephens
Sir Robert Stephens was a leading English actor in the early years of England's Royal National Theatre.-Early life and career:...
. It was broadcast November–December, in six parts, with the last episode transmitted on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
. Starring Devin Stanfield as Kay and directed by Renny Rye, it used an innovative mixture
Mixture
In chemistry, a mixture is a material system made up by two or more different substances which are mixed together but are not combined chemically...
of live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
and animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
, with Quantel Paintbox
Quantel Paintbox
The Quantel Paintbox was a dedicated computer graphics workstation for composition of broadcast television video and graphics. Its design emphasizes the studio workflow efficiency required for live news production...
and chroma key
Chroma key
Chroma key compositing is a technique for compositing two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production...
effects to bring the adventure alive. Noted for its yuletide atmosphere (it is set during Christmas), the series has become something of a nostalgic treat for followers of cult TV. The seasonal theme music is Victor Hely-Hutchinson
Victor Hely-Hutchinson
Christian Victor Hely-Hutchinson was a British composer, born in Cape Town, Cape Colony ....
's orchestral arrangement of "The First Nowell" from his Carol Symphony
Carol Symphony
Carol Symphony is a collection of four preludes, written by Victor Hely-Hutchinson in 1927.-History:It had its first performance on 27 September 1929 at a promenade concert at the Queen's Hall which was broadcast live on the BBC's 2LO, with other music by Elgar, Vaughan-Williams and Percy Pitt...
. The railway station scenes were filmed at and on the steam heritage Severn Valley Railway
Severn Valley Railway
The Severn Valley Railway is a heritage railway in Shropshire and Worcestershire, England. The line runs along the Severn Valley from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, following the course of the River Severn for much of its route...
and the exterior shots of Abner Brown's theological college were filmed at Eastnor Castle
Eastnor Castle
Eastnor Castle is a 19th century mock castle, two miles from the town of Ledbury in Herefordshire, England, by the village of Eastnor. It was founded by John Cocks, 1st Earl Somers as his stately home and continues to be inhabited by his descendents. Currently in residence is the family of...
, near Ledbury
Ledbury
Ledbury is a town in Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and south of the Malvern Hills.Today, Ledbury is a thriving market town in rural England. The town has a large number of timber framed buildings, in particular along Church Lane and High Street. One of Ledbury's most outstanding...
, Herefordshire
Herefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
.
The episodes are:
- "When the Wolves Were Running"
- "Where Shall the 'Nighted Showman Go?"
- "In the Darkest Cellars Underneath"
- "The Spider in the Web"
- "Beware of Yesterday"
- "Leave Us Not Little, Nor Yet Dark"
The serial
Serial (radio and television)
Serials are series of television programs and radio programs that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode by episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire television seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from...
was repeated in 1986, edited into three 50-minute episodes. For this transmission the episodes were entitled:
- "When the Wolves Were Running"
- "The Spider in the Web"
- "Fire and Flood"
The television version was shown by PBS in the USA for three years in the late 1980s. BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2010 it made a profit of £145m on a turnover of £1.074bn. The company had made a profit of £106m...
released the serial on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 2004.
In 1985, a 120-minute version was released for sale in the USA on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
video by Simon & Schuster Video (NTSC format).
Differences between the novel and the BBC adaptation
The novel contains more magical adventures or events than appeared in the BBC version. This was presumably because of budgeting and special effectSpecial effect
The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
constraints; however, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
did not otherwise alter the plot significantly. The novel describes Kay as using the box on more occasions than those depicted in the television adaptation. The following incidents occur only in the novel:
- After the Punch and JudyPunch and JudyPunch and Judy is a traditional, popular puppet show featuring the characters of Mr. Punch and his wife, Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically the anarchic Punch and one other character...
show the children are shown various magic tricks that include a miniature army of soldiers that walk out of the wainscott and drill. - Kay Harker and the Jones children take refuge from Abner's men in a tree by a river bank. They are also shown around the tree and the various animal and insect dwellings within it. There is also a scene where the children dance with fairies.
- Kay is taken to witness a medieval jousting match.
- More detail is provided as to how the Box of Delights found its way into the possession of Cole Hawlings. The novel states that the Box came to EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
as an antiquityAntiquitiesAntiquities, nearly always used in the plural in this sense, is a term for objects from Antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures...
and found its way into the hands of a Countess. Cole Hawlings then discovered the hiding place of the Box. Abner Brown also discovered the Box's location but only after Cole had taken it. The BBC adaptation suggests that Cole was given the box by its creator Arnold of Todi. - Arnold of Todi is convinced to come back out of the past. However, he has no interest in re-claiming the box. He attends the Midnight Service towards the end of the book.
Opera
John MasefieldJohn Masefield
John Edward Masefield, OM, was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1930 until his death in 1967...
adapted an opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
from his book, also incorporating elements of The Midnight Folk
The Midnight Folk
The Midnight Folk is a children's fantasy novel by John Masefield first published in 1927. It is about a boy, Kay Harker, who sets out to discover what became of a fortune stolen from his sea-faring great grandfather Aston Tirrold Harker...
, which was eventually set to music in the late 1980s by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Robert Steadman
Robert Steadman
Robert Steadman is a British composerof classical music who mostly works in a post-minimalist style but also writes lighter music, including musicals, and compositions for educational purposes...
.
Film adaptation
Brilliant Films has announced that a film version of The Box of Delights is in development. Mike NewellMike Newell (director)
Michael Cormac "Mike" Newell is an English director and producer of motion pictures for the screen and for television. After the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005, Newell became the third most commercially successful British director in recent years, behind Christopher Nolan...
is to direct and the screenplay is being written by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Frank Cottrell Boyce
-Awards:*2004: Buch des Monats des Instituts für Jugendliteratur/Book of the Month by the Institute for Youth Literature , Millions*2004: Carnegie Medal, Millions*2004: Luchs des Jahres , Millions...
.