The Sun Never Sets
Costume Design
1938 (made)
1938 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Costume design by Elizabeth Haffenden for Adelaide Hall as Fitema in the play, The Sun Never Sets, adapted from the West African stories of Edgar Wallace by Pat Wallace and Guy Bolton, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, 1938.
Elizabeth Haffenden (1906-1976) trained at Croydon School of Art and the Royal College of Art and worked as a commercial artist, before becoming a costume designer in the 1930s. She designed for theatre and films, a long association with historical drama beginning with her first film, Colonel Blood (1934). In the 1940s she was director of the costume department at Gainsborough Studios, famous for its period melodramas. Her films included The Wicked Lady (1945), the tale of a nobleman's wife who takes to highway robbery and whose low-cut dresses gave the censors cause for concern. Haffenden moved to MGM British Studios as resident costume designer in the 1950s, her designs for Ben-Hur (1959) winning her an Academy Award. She won a second Academy Award for A Man for All Seasons (1966).
The Sun Never Sets, described in the theatre programme as a melodrama, was a musical play based on the stories of popular novelist, Edgar Wallace. A film version of Wallace's 1911 novel Sanders of the River had been a commercial success in 1935, starring Leslie Banks as a British Commissioner in Colonial Nigeria. Banks repeated the role on stage at Drury Lane, with African-American actor and opera singer, Todd Duncan, as a local chieftain and a pre-film stardom Stewart Granger as a kidnapped army captain. Much of the drama was supplied by Edna Best as an aviatrix who has to be rescued from what Ivor Brown (Observer, 12 June 1938) summed up as 'all the various fates that are worse than death'. Reviewers enjoyed the scenery designed by Laurence Irving, which included a tropical swamp and the Temple of the Moon Goddess, and were amused by the melodramatic plot, the spectacular effects, and the heroism of the British contingent, who, as Brown noted, 'never fail to dress for dinner.'
Elizabeth Haffenden (1906-1976) trained at Croydon School of Art and the Royal College of Art and worked as a commercial artist, before becoming a costume designer in the 1930s. She designed for theatre and films, a long association with historical drama beginning with her first film, Colonel Blood (1934). In the 1940s she was director of the costume department at Gainsborough Studios, famous for its period melodramas. Her films included The Wicked Lady (1945), the tale of a nobleman's wife who takes to highway robbery and whose low-cut dresses gave the censors cause for concern. Haffenden moved to MGM British Studios as resident costume designer in the 1950s, her designs for Ben-Hur (1959) winning her an Academy Award. She won a second Academy Award for A Man for All Seasons (1966).
The Sun Never Sets, described in the theatre programme as a melodrama, was a musical play based on the stories of popular novelist, Edgar Wallace. A film version of Wallace's 1911 novel Sanders of the River had been a commercial success in 1935, starring Leslie Banks as a British Commissioner in Colonial Nigeria. Banks repeated the role on stage at Drury Lane, with African-American actor and opera singer, Todd Duncan, as a local chieftain and a pre-film stardom Stewart Granger as a kidnapped army captain. Much of the drama was supplied by Edna Best as an aviatrix who has to be rescued from what Ivor Brown (Observer, 12 June 1938) summed up as 'all the various fates that are worse than death'. Reviewers enjoyed the scenery designed by Laurence Irving, which included a tropical swamp and the Temple of the Moon Goddess, and were amused by the melodramatic plot, the spectacular effects, and the heroism of the British contingent, who, as Brown noted, 'never fail to dress for dinner.'
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | The Sun Never Sets (generic title) |
Materials and techniques | Watercolour and pencil on paper |
Brief description | Costume design by Elizabeth Haffenden for Adelaide Hall as Fitema in the play, The Sun Never Sets, adapted from the West African stories of Edgar Wallace by Pat Wallace and Guy Bolton, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, 1938 |
Physical description | Costume design by Elizabeth Haffenden for Adelaide Hall as Fitema in the play, The Sun Never Sets. Full length female figure in a knee length wrap-around dress, the hem and edges decorated with an interlacing pattern in cream. She has a wide metal necklace and bracelets, a maroon head covering, and a thin metal headband with hoops behind her ear. She balances a white object on her head. Annotated in pencil with details of metals, upper left, and with the title 'RIVER OF STARS / FATIMA [sic]', upper right. Signed and dated, in pencil, lower right hand corner. |
Dimensions |
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Credit line | Given by George Hoare, Archivist of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane |
Summary | Costume design by Elizabeth Haffenden for Adelaide Hall as Fitema in the play, The Sun Never Sets, adapted from the West African stories of Edgar Wallace by Pat Wallace and Guy Bolton, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, 1938. Elizabeth Haffenden (1906-1976) trained at Croydon School of Art and the Royal College of Art and worked as a commercial artist, before becoming a costume designer in the 1930s. She designed for theatre and films, a long association with historical drama beginning with her first film, Colonel Blood (1934). In the 1940s she was director of the costume department at Gainsborough Studios, famous for its period melodramas. Her films included The Wicked Lady (1945), the tale of a nobleman's wife who takes to highway robbery and whose low-cut dresses gave the censors cause for concern. Haffenden moved to MGM British Studios as resident costume designer in the 1950s, her designs for Ben-Hur (1959) winning her an Academy Award. She won a second Academy Award for A Man for All Seasons (1966). The Sun Never Sets, described in the theatre programme as a melodrama, was a musical play based on the stories of popular novelist, Edgar Wallace. A film version of Wallace's 1911 novel Sanders of the River had been a commercial success in 1935, starring Leslie Banks as a British Commissioner in Colonial Nigeria. Banks repeated the role on stage at Drury Lane, with African-American actor and opera singer, Todd Duncan, as a local chieftain and a pre-film stardom Stewart Granger as a kidnapped army captain. Much of the drama was supplied by Edna Best as an aviatrix who has to be rescued from what Ivor Brown (Observer, 12 June 1938) summed up as 'all the various fates that are worse than death'. Reviewers enjoyed the scenery designed by Laurence Irving, which included a tropical swamp and the Temple of the Moon Goddess, and were amused by the melodramatic plot, the spectacular effects, and the heroism of the British contingent, who, as Brown noted, 'never fail to dress for dinner.' |
Collection | |
Accession number | S.27-2019 |
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Record created | February 14, 2019 |
Record URL |
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