Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hello Simon,
I adapted the book as a one-man show in the early 1980s. I produced it and starred in it at the Edinburgh Festival, in the West End and then did a UK tour before filming it for Channel 4. You might think what I did to be ‘of dubious quality’ , but it seemed to work rather well. if you want any advice – or indeed if you want to use my adaptation – then please get in touch.
Regards,
Jeremy NicholasHi Jasmine,
This is lovely – any more details? Have you any photos of your grandmother at the time she worked for the Jeromes? It would be nice to put something in the next edition of Idle Thoughts.
Jeremy NicholasHello Peter,
Firstly, my apologies for not replying sooner but due to the problems with the Forum your message somehow eluded me and others.
Your research is intriguing. Francois Coppe’s [excuse lack of correct accents!] play Le Luthier de Cremone was adapted by Jerome and produced as a play called Fennel in 1888. This revised version of 1913 would seem to have reverted to the original title. We should add this to the bibliography. The play was also made into an early silent movie.in 1909 directed by D W Griffiths with Mary Pickford making her debut. One wonders if the infant Hollywood used or nicked Jerome’s translation / adaptation?
Jeremy NicholasHello Bill,
Our wonderful bibliography, as you will have seen, does not include this edition which must qualify as one of the most obscure (and unlikely!) pieces of Jeromianalia – a new word which I’ve just coined. Is there any chance you could pass on details to me, possibly with a photo of the cover, so I can add it to Frank Rodger’s definitive bibliography?
Best wishes,
Jeremy NicholasAmericans, by and large, seem to be as ignorant about (and as indifferent towards) Jerome as the British. During 2009, the 150th anniversary of Jerome’s birth, only one UK national newspaper chose to run anything to mark the event. That exception was The Daily Telegraph who only sprang into action after they published my letter bemoaning the lack of interest in Jerome. They dispatched, at my suggestion, a reporter – the fragrant Celia Walden (now sadly married to Piers Morgan) – to Walsall to see if anyone had ever heard of its most famous son. The results were predictably depressing. Interestingly, the only two countries to have contributed to the sesquicentenary in their national press were Russia and Czechoslovakia where Jerome is, clearly, more highly regarded.
This is terrific. Lodrun, is there any chance of a photograph of the petrol station? Maybe there’s even a contemporary b&w pic of the garage you could track down in one of those ‘Cheltenham Past & Present’ books? How did you find out about JKJ’s stop at the garage? Newspaper report?
An interesting one! The Society has no knowledge of Jerome ever living in or owning a house in East Molesey, so it would be fascinating to see written evidence (census, deeds, etc) of him living there – and when. For your information, here is a list of all Jerome’s known dwellings, updated from the one published in a recent edition of Idle Thoughts:
JEROME K JEROME WAS HERE… all of Jerome’s known addresses
1859 Belsize House, Bradford Street, Walsall, Staffordshire
1861 23 Lichfield Street, Walsall, Staffordshire
1861-62 (3 Oct) Worcester Road, Stourbridge, Worcestershire
1862-70 Sussex Street, Poplar (now Lindfield Street), London
1870 (11 Aug-) Springfield Road, Colney Hatch (77 Springfield Villas), London
1871 (5 Aug-) Springfield Road (St. John’s Villas), London
1873 (22 Jun-) Finchley, north London
1874 (21 May) Holloway, north London
1875 (20 Jul) Mother died at 12 Moray Road, W. Islington, London
1881-84 36 Newman Street , London (1881 Census) (latest research indicates that JKJ’s memory was at fault when he says he also lodged in Whitfield Street at this time)
1884-85 (or ’86) 19 (now No. 32) Tavistock Place, London
1886 33 Tavistock Place, London
1888- 104 Chelsea Gardens, London
1891-93 7 Alpha Place, St. John’s Wood, London
1893- Mayfair (My Life and Times)
1898 5 Park Row, Albert Gate, London
1899 Freiburg (two addresses)
1900 Sidonienstrasse 15, 11, Dresden
1901-09 Goulds Grove, Wallingford, Oxfordshire
1910-17 Monks Corner, Marlow Common, Buckinghamshire
1918-20 Wood End House, Marlow, Buckinghamshire
1920-23 Ridge End House, Marlow Common, Buckinghamshire
1923 (March) 189 Earls Court Road, London, S.W. 5
1924 (May-Oct) 77 Elm Park Mansions, Chelsea, London
1926-27 41 Belsize Park, London, N.W. 3
