History
“Me & My Girl” premiered in London on 16th December 1937 and ran for 1646 performances, with Music Hall star Lupino Lane in the lead. "Nipper" Lane, was one of the biggest comic stars of his day. The show was specifically commissioned and written for him, to highlight his comic talents.
The show holds the honour of being the first musical ever to be televised, being broadcast in May 1939. It was also turned into a film in 1939, directed for MGM by Albert De Courville, under the title Lambeth Walk, with Lupino Lane as Bill and with Sally Gray as Sally. Unfortunately no print is known to have survived.
The book was revised by Stephen Fry retaining the flavour but writing out the dated gags. The show was augmented with many classic Noel Gay songs not previously part of the musical.
The show opened at the Haymarket Theatre in Leicester on 23rd December 1984. It broke all box office records and transferred almost immediately to the West End, where it opened at London's Adeiphi Theatre on 12th February 1985. Robert Lindsay and Emma Thompson played Bill and Sally. The Show ran for 8 years (3, 303 performances) and closed in London on 16th January 1993.
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The Story
Tells the tale of Bill Snibson, a Cockney bloke who suddenly becomes heir to an Earldom.
The Hareford clan, a group of insufferable aristocrats, are clinging to their blue-blooded ways by the tips of their well-manicured fingers. The family’s precarious financial situation can only be remedied by locating a legitimate heir to the earldom of Hareford.
In due course an heir is found, but, unfortunately for the haughty Harefords, he turns out to be the decidedly non-noble Bill Snibson, a swaggering Cockney from Lambeth.
The Earl’s will specifically states that the heir must be deemed a fit and proper person by the two very fit and proper executors, Maria, Duchess of Dene, and Sir John Tremayne.
To complicate matters further, Snibson is madly in love with a girl he refuses to leave behind, fellow Cockney Sally Smith.
Gold-digger Lady Jacqueline ditches her dumbfounded boyfriend, Gerald, when the family solicitor, presents Bill to the flabbergasted family as the new son and heir.
But Bill has still to win the family's approval to inherit the title - and the money. If he doesn't, he'll be given an annuity and sent away.
The formidable Duchess, a good-hearted woman beneath all her jewellery, is determined to make the best of the situation by transforming Snibson into a proper gentleman so he will be suitable to inherit.
There will be an official reception to introduce him to the county set. But Sally is not to be invited. Bill faces up to the Duchess - no Sally, no Bill. But Sally doesn't want to come anyway - not to a posh party.
The party goes ahead and Sally turns up in full Cockney get-up complete with a posse of pearly kings and queens who perform the 'Lambeth Walk' to prove Bill doesn't belong. But they are all invited to the reception and go into dinner.
Next day there's croquet on the lawn. In an effort to make him stay and take up his inheritance, the Duchess has persuaded Sally to tell Bill she no longer loves him. Sally does this, and slips out to an unknown destination.
Bill, helped by Sir John and Parchester, is determined to find Sally (whom he still loves).
Back at her landlady's Sally decides to move on. She's got a telegram from Bill and must escape. However, Sir John arrives and has a cunning plan for her. When Bill arrives, her landlady says she's not there, but Bill waits. He expends all his energy on locating Sally and bringing her back.
Sir John makes the Duchess soften her attitude towards Sally and Bill finally rejects Lady Jacqueline who returns to Gerald.
Bill is about to leave when Sir John enters with a new Eliza Doolittle - it's a posh Sally! The Duchess is delighted and Bill has his girl!
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