Omnibus (1967)

East of Bedlam (1x7)

Air date: Nov 24, 1967

The regular weekly programme about the creative world of art and artists. Introduced by Henry Livings. The story of an actor-manager in the rip-roaring days of Victorian and Edwardian melodrama. Written and narrated by his grandson, John M. East. "If anything can be deader than dead, it is often a form of popular entertainment. The spellbinders of yesteryear become victims of popular taste which can be as fickle as the weather. About fifty years ago the rip-roaring melodrama of the Victorian and Edwardian era died without much fuss or ceremony. In its time it was full-blooded, packed the theatres, and produced men and women, alive today, who remember the sounds and the smells with remarkable vividness and warmth. Some of them worked for an actor-manager, John M. East, whose grandson has been fascinated and intrigued by the portrait of his forebear which dominates his study. He resolved to find out as much as he could and this year published a book, 'Neath the Mask. The knowledge he a