Charles B. Cochran
Sir Charles Blake Cochran (25 September 1872 – 31 January 1951), generally known as C. B. Cochran, was an English theatrical manager and impresario. He produced some of the most successful musical revues, musicals and plays of the 1920s and 1930s, becoming associated with Noël Coward and his works.
After beginning his career as an actor in America about 1890, Cochran became a manager and press agent for
Early life
Cochran was born in
In 1911, Cochran had a success with the play The Miracle.[2] Another notable show was Houp La! in 1916. The following year, he became responsible for the productions of the Oxford Music Hall, including the surprise hit The Better 'Ole (1917), which ran for over 800 performances. He later showed an interest in many of the best known English theatres either as lessee or licensee. Cochran was also responsible for bringing Nikita Balieff and Balieff's theatre group "Chauve-Souris" to London.[citation needed]
Later years
From the 1920s, after a major financial setback, he produced musical
In the early 1930s he mounted the original London productions of several
He died on 31 January 1951, aged 78, after being trapped in a bath full of scalding water at his home in London.[6]
Productions
- The Miracle (1911)
- Houp La! (1916)[7]
- The Better 'Ole (1917)
- In the Night Watch (1918)
- As You Were (1918)
- The Man Who Came Back (1920)
- League of Notions (1921)
- Fun of the Fayre (1921)
- The Man in Evening Clothes (1924)
- One Damn Thing After Another (1927)
- This Year of Grace (1928)[8]
- The Middle Watch (1929)
- Many Waters (1929)
- Bitter Sweet (1929)[8]
- Wake Up and Dream (1929)
- Private Lives (1930)[8]
- Cavalcade (1931)[8]
- Words and Music (1932)[8]
- Nymph Errant (1933)
- Conversation Piece (1934)[8]
- Anything Goes (1935)
- Escape Me Never (1935)
- Paganini (1937)
- Big Ben (1946)
- Bless the Bride (1947)
- The Ivory Tower (1948)
Publications
- Secrets of a Showman (1925)
- C.B.C.'s Review of Revues and Other Matters (1930)
- I Had Almost Forgotten (1932)
- Cock-a-Doodle-Do (1941)
- A Showman Looks On (1945)
Notes
- ^ COCHRAN, Sir Charles Blake, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014
- ^ a b c d "Cochran, Sir Charles Blake", The Billboard, 10 February 1951, accessed 20 February 2015
- ^ Kane, Josephine. (2013). The Architecture of Pleasure: British Amusement Parks 1900–1939. Routledge. p. 42
- ^ HOARE, STEPHEN (2021). Piccadilly. The History Press.
- ISBN 978-0906741436.
- ^ Morley, p. 128
- ^ "A Cosy New Theatre", in The Times dated 24 November 1916, p. 11
- ^ a b c d e f Written by Noël Coward
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the New International Encyclopedia(1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
- Morley, Sheridan (1987). Spread a Little Happiness: The First Hundred Years of the British musical. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-01398-4.
- Coward, Noël (1986). Autobiography. Methuen London. ISBN 0-413-60660-0.
External links
- Charles B. Cochran at the Internet Broadway Database
- "How Wireless Helps the Theatre", by Cochran, in The Radio Times, 30 November 1923