Theatrical producer André Charlot brought Parisian revue to Great Britain in 1912 and dominated his field for 25 years. He greatly influenced American musical theater with Charlot’s London Revue in New York in 1924. He created the kind of intimate revue the world came to identify as British, and was known for discovering and nurturing some of the greatest personalities in the century’s theater, including Beatrice Lillie, Gertrude Lawrence, Jack Buchanan, and Noel Coward.
This biography, researched from sources including his personal memoirs, covers Charlot’s life and career from his youth in Paris to his time in Edwardian and interwar London, concluding with his final years in Hollywood playing all-purpose Europeans in B-movies and his death in 1956. Two unpublished essays by André Charlot are included as appendices: “Beverly Hills, 1937” and “A Quiet Game of Bridge.” The work is illustrated with family photographs from all periods of Charlot’s life, production photographs from his revues, contemporary charicatures from Tatler Magazine, and production stills of Charlot as an actor from Hollywood films.

The late James Ross Moore was an author, columnist, and writer and narrator for BBC national radio. He lived in Cambridge, England.

James Ross Moore
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 197
Bibliographic Info: 56 photos, appendices, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2005
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1774-2
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8133-0
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii

Preface      1

1. Paris, 1882–1908: “Raring to Go”      3

2. Paris and London, 1908–1912: “Brimming with Confidence”      18

3. London, 1912–1914: “Let’s Put on a French Revue”      30

4. London, 1914–1919: Perfecting Intimate Revue      47

5. 1919–1923: Transatlantic Days      64

6. London, New York and Hollywood, 1924–1926: Crest of the Wave      81

7. 1926–1937: A Tale of Four Cities      107

8. Hollywood, 1937–1956: Trying to Repeat the Past      132

Epilogue      158

Appendix 1. Beverly Hills, 1937 by André Charlot      163

Appendix 2. A Quiet Game of Bridge by André Charlot      167

Selected Bibliography      175

Index      179