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'Searle was the first theatre-column illustrator to provide proper caricatures of artistes, and his extenive notes enabled him to show them in attitudes which playgoers would recognize in the production itself'.
(Russell Davies' Ronald Searle)
The theatre critic for Punch was Eric Keown, depicted right in 'snuff taking pose' (Russell Davies) in the book An Experience of Critics, 1952.
"Although he loved the theatre he hated the job. Sitting near Keown and Searle was a theatregoer's nightmare. Keown was a lanky 6'7" and 'the moment he came into the theatre and sat down, people behind him groaned . . . So with one ear I'm listening to what's going on and the other ear is concentrating on the notebook.' Searle also had his 'mono' (small telescope): 'You can't get the detail without it . . .so I had that and I had my sketchbook . . .and my torch . . .and furious people next to me.'
The artist then returned home where he would stay up until three in the morning to finish the drawing before the 9 am deadline."
(Ronald Searle: Graphic Master, Cartoon Museum catalogue, 2010)
Searle recalls: ". . . he was called Eric Keown, we were inseparable, known as Laurel and Hardy, I was the little beard that I'm still, he was 6 feet 8 inches, something like 2.07 meters, no could see anything sitting behind him." -Liberation
Examples of Searle's theatre sketchbooks
17 February 1954 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' (Princes Theatre) - Binnie Hale, Michael Denison & Margaret Rutherford
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26 January 1955 'Richard II' (Old Vic) - John Neville & Eric Porter
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Subject: The Winter's Tale (Edinburgh Festival) - John Gielgud, Diana Wynyard & Flora Robson
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1 September 1954 'Macbeth' (at the Edinburgh Festival) - Paul Rogers & Ann Todd
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10 May 1950 ' Julius Caesar' (Stratford) - John Gielgud, Harry Andrews, Andres Cruickshank & Anthony Quayle
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9 November 1955 'The Winter's Tale' (at the Old Vic) - Paul Rogers plays Leontes
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30 September 1953 'All's Well That Ends Well' (at the Old Vic) - Michael Hordern, John Neville & Claire Bloom
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6 October 1954 'Saint Joan' - Siobhan McKenna & Kenneth Williams
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PEN AND INK 16 X 16 INCHES PROVENANCE: HUGH MILLS (GIVEN TO HIM BY THE ARTIST, PROBABLY IN 1959)
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PEN AND INK 14 1/2 X 16 INCHES PROVENANCE: THE ESTATE OF WILLIAM HEWISON
THE CENCI BEATRICE...BARBARA JEFFORD
COUNT CENCI...HUGH GRIFFITH
OLD VIC
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THIS ILLUSTRATED A REVIEW BY ERIC KEOWN OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 'S 'JULIUS CAESAR' BY THE OLD VIC COMPANY AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL AND OF OTHER EDINBURGH FESTIVAL PRODUCTIONS. (Chris Beetles)
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signed, inscribed and dated 'Ronald Searle./1959' (lower left) and 'Punch (Feb 11)/[Clown Jewels]/Charlie Naughton/"Monsewer Eddie Gray/Bud Flanagan/Victoria Palace, London' (upper left)
black ink, unframed 15¼ x 16¼ in. (38.8 x 41.3 cm.)
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Alec Guiness as Boniface "Hotel Paradiso", Wintergarden Theatre, London, May 1956
signed 'Ronald Searle' (lower right) and inscribed 'Punch theatre/Hotel Paradiso J/Boniface.../ALEC GUINESS/Wintergarden Theatre/May 1956' (upper left)
pen and black ink and grey wash, unframed
15 x 15¼ in. (38.1 x 38.7 cm.)
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25 March 1953 ' Titus Andronicus' at Cambridge Arts
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29 June 1949 'Othello' at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre - Godfrey Tearle, Diana Wynyard and John Slater
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26 July 1950 'The Taming of the Shrew' (Open Air) Antony Eustrel and Ruth Lodge
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Romanoff and Juliet (Manchester) - Peter Ustinov 30 May 1956
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14 July 1954 original page (as reproduced in 'Punch' magazine) Out of the Blue (Phoenix) - Jonathan Miller and Dermot Hoare
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3 April 1957 Malatesta (Lyric, Hammersmith) - Donald Wolfit
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8 May 1957 The Glass Cage (Piccadilly) - Murray Davis and Frank Peddie
30 May 1956 The Moscow State Circus - Oleg Popov
Photographed from the original at
Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst - Wilhelm Busch
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11 May 1955 'The Tender Trap' (Saville Theatre) - Geraldine McEwan and Brian Reece
'The classic thriller, The Late Edwina Black, was written by William Dinner and William Morum, and first produced at the Ambassador's Theatre, London in 1949. Set in 1895, the drama concerns a murderess who, out of vindictiveness, devises suicide to incriminate others and destroy them.' (Chris Beetles)
Denholm Elliot as Jan Wicziewsky in 'South' April 6 1955
Geraldine McEwan (Marina) & Richard Johnson (Pericles) in 'Pericles' Stratford Upon Avon,
July 16 1958
Elizabeth Seal (Gladys), Edmund Hockridge (Sid Sorokin), Joy Nichols (Babe Williams) & Max Wall (Hines) in 'The Pajama Game' Coliseum, 19 October 1955
Photographed from the original at
Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst - Wilhelm Busch
Photographed from the original at
Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst - Wilhelm Busch
'Humpty Dumpty On Ice'
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Bill Royston 'King James IV' Stratford-upon-Avon 13th August 1958
J
oan Greenwood 'Lysistrata' 15th January 1958
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'Misalliance'
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'Pericles' 15th July 1958
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'South Sea Bubble'
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'The Rivals'
'The Woman on the Stair'
28th January 1959
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15 November 1950 MRS INSPECTOR JONES (SAVOY THEATRE) - JESSIE ROYCE LANDIS, BARRY JONES etc
POINT OF DEPARTURE (LYRIC THEATRE HAMMERSMITH) - Dirk Bogarde, Hugh Griffith
Frankie Laine at the Palladium September 16th, 1953
A Doll's House
Aren't We All?
Carrington V.C.
The Confidential Clerk
Le Hero et le Soldat
Philotus
Jill balcon as Zenoctrate & Donald Wolfit as Tamburlaine in 'Devil's disciple' Oct 1951
'Blue Magic' with Tommy Cooper and Shirley Bassey
25 Feb 1959(Prince of Wales Theatre)'
Punch theatre Sketchbook November 1950
'The Imperial Nightingale' (Birmingham Repertory Theatre) Punch 22nd January 1958
Frankie Laine at the Palladium September 16th, 1953
A Doll's House
Aren't We All?
Carrington V.C.
The Confidential Clerk
Le Hero et le Soldat
Philotus
Jill balcon as Zenoctrate & Donald Wolfit as Tamburlaine in 'Devil's disciple' Oct 1951
'Blue Magic' with Tommy Cooper and Shirley Bassey
25 Feb 1959(Prince of Wales Theatre)'
Punch theatre Sketchbook November 1950
'The Imperial Nightingale' (Birmingham Repertory Theatre) Punch 22nd January 1958
Kenneth Mackintosh as The Emperor of China
Albert Finney as Bamboo
Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst - Wilhelm Busch
Long Day's Journey Into Night, Punch 17 September 1958
Alan Bates as Edmund Tyrone
Ian Bannen as James Tyrone
Gwen Frangcon-Davies as Mary Cavan Tyrone
Anthony Quayle as James Tyrone Sr
'The Shadow of Doubt' (Saville theatre, London) Punch 13 july 1955
Raymond Huntley as Manning
John Clements as Arthur
'Joie de Vivre' (Queen's Theatre, London) Punch July 1960
Joanna Rigby as Diana Lake
'Anastasia'
'The Rose Tattoo'
21 January 1959
'Tartuffe' (Old Vic)
18th February 1959
'A Taste of Honey' (Theatre Royal, Stratford)
11th February 1959
' Henry V' 1955
'Saturday Night at the Crown' 1957
'The Bright One'
'The Velvet Shotgun'
'The Duchess of Malfi' (Aldwych) 28 December 1960
'The Miracle Worker' (Royalty) 15 March 1961
'Can can' (Coliseum) 20th October 1954
Long Day's Journey Into Night, Punch 17 September 1958
Alan Bates as Edmund Tyrone
Ian Bannen as James Tyrone
Gwen Frangcon-Davies as Mary Cavan Tyrone
Anthony Quayle as James Tyrone Sr
'The Shadow of Doubt' (Saville theatre, London) Punch 13 july 1955
Raymond Huntley as Manning
John Clements as Arthur
'Joie de Vivre' (Queen's Theatre, London) Punch July 1960
Joanna Rigby as Diana Lake
'Anastasia'
'The Rose Tattoo'
21 January 1959
'Tartuffe' (Old Vic)
18th February 1959
'A Taste of Honey' (Theatre Royal, Stratford)
11th February 1959
'The Merchant of Venice' (Stratford Festival) 1 April 1953
Michael Redgrave, Peggy Ashcroft & Harry Andrews
Michael Redgrave, Peggy Ashcroft & Harry Andrews
Anna Neagle as Queen Victoria (yet again)
18 March 1953
Michael Redgrave 13 May 1953
'Troilus & Cressida' (Stratford) 21 July 1954
Anthony Quayle, Muriel Pavlow & Laurence Harvey
'Richard III' 1953' Henry V' 1955
'PHEDRE' with JEAN-FRANCOIS CALVE & EDWIGE FEUILLERE 1957
'Saturday Night at the Crown' 1957
'The Bright One'
'The Velvet Shotgun'
'The Duchess of Malfi' (Aldwych) 28 December 1960
'The Miracle Worker' (Royalty) 15 March 1961
'Can can' (Coliseum) 20th October 1954
4 comments:
There's a caricature of the young Kenneth Williams by Searle, re-published in the 'Kenneth Williams Diaries'.
If memory serves, Williams loves the caricature. Then, later, he sees another Searle caricature of himself and lays into it in his inimitable way.
Thanks for the tip - I'll track that one down.
Always delighted to see another Searle fan. I was not familiar with many of these drawings. Thanks for a great blog!
Thanks for this latest bunch. The guy was just brilliant and brimming with englishness
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