Collection of ten part scripts for 'The Goldfish' by Lila Field. With advertising postcard relating to its performance by Miss Lila Field's Company in April 1911 at the Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London.
Material relating to Lila Field's 'The Goldfish'
This material is held atUniversity of Birmingham, Cadbury Research Library, Special Collections
- Reference
- GB 150 MS158
- Dates of Creation
- 1911
- Language of Material
- English
- Physical Description
- 11 items
Scope and Content
Administrative / Biographical History
The children's play 'The Goldfish' was written and produced by Lila Field. It was in this play that Noël Coward made his professional debut, in January 1911, at the age of eleven. He played the part of Prince Mussel, the court jester of King Goldfish’s underwater kingdom. In his autobiography 'Present Indicative', Coward describes how he secured the part after his mother had answered an advertisement in the Daily Mirror for 'a talented boy of attractive appearance'. His salary was to be a guinea and a half a week and the family’s excitement was such that a letter was sent to his teacher, 'announcing that my school attendance would be even more convulsive than it had been hitherto, as I was now a professional actor'. His part, which did not appear until Act III, included both speech and song. The play’s rehearsal period was bedevilled and lengthened by many mothers taking their children out of the cast. It opened at the Little Theatre for a week of matinees and was revived twice, first at the Crystal Palace and later at the Royal Court. Coward was able to use the erratically programmed rehearsals as an excuse for truanting from school, spending his days at Waterloo or Clapham Junction watching trains. The typescript parts, with some manuscript additions, are nearly all annotated inside their front covers, ‘Kindly return to Miss Lila Field, Lyceum Club, 128 Piccadilly.’, and it seems probable that Coward used the one for Prince Mussel, since he was the only boy to play this role.
Information supplied by Christine Penney.
Access Information
Open, access to all registered researchers.
Acquisition Information
Purchased, March 2003
Other Finding Aids
Please see https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=XMS158&pos=4 for more information
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director, Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. The Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.