#cyril ritchard

[citizenscreen]

The original Broadway production of “Peter Pan", starring Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard, opened at the Winter Garden Theatre 70 years ago today. It ran for 152 performances.

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Carol Channing and Tallulah Bankhead were both born on January 31—Channing in 1921 in Seattle, Bankhead in 1903 in Huntsville, Alabama. Cyril Ritchard decided to give both actresses a slightly premature birthday party at midnight on January 29, 1959.

Photo: Marty Lederhandler for the AP

[gatutor]

Anny Ondra-Cyril Ritchard "Blackmail" 1929, de Alfred Hitchcock.

[ellie88-blog-blog]

Have You Ever Heart the Story of the FIRST White Christmas?

Renowned for their stop-animation classics, Rankin/Bass released "The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow" in 1975. The story narrates a blind shepherd boy who aspires for a white Christmas, and his friendship with a girl named Louisa.

By the end of 1974, Rankin/Bass 17 TV specials in the span of 10 years; 7 of which were geared toward Christmas. Many of these specials becoming stop motion animated classics. Instead of resting on the reruns of beloved classics like “Frosty the Snow Man” and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass release “The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow,”…

[smashorpassgilf]

Cyril Ritchard please?

[ulrichgebert]

Wählte einmal wieder Half a Sixpence statt Doctor D. als Geburtstagsfilm, was jetzt dieses Jahr zwar wieder nicht mit der gelgentlich auftauchenden Häufung von Leslie-Bricusse-Kindermusicals zu entschuldigen ist, dafür mit vergleichenen Studien (vgl. hier), oder wir behaupten, wir machen jetzt ein Projekt mit H. G. Wells-Verfilmungen. Wäre auch nett. Eigentlich muss man sich ja gar nicht dafür entschuldigen.

[princesssarisa]

For similar reasons, it's probably fitting that the 1977 animated version of The Hobbit has two Captain Hooks in the voice cast.

Realized one franchise has 3 Richard III's at least

@ariel-seagull-wings @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @amalthea9 @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @princesssarisa

[ms-cornucopia]

Musical stars Madge Elliott and Cyril Ritchard's wedding at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 1935

Photographer: Sam Hood

©️ Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

[princesssarisa]

Hi, I'd like to ask you a question regarding Mr. Smee from Peter Pan, because he's my favorite character from that movie (the Disney one, obviously):

Character ask: Mr. Smee (Peter Pan)

Favorite thing about them: How funny he is, and how amiable and soft-hearted despite being a pirate.

Least favorite thing about them: Well, he is one of the bad guys, who serves Captain Hook loyally and who casually kills people (in the book) or at least talks about it (in the Disney film).

Three things I have in common with them:

*I can be naïve and bumbling.

*I'm usually cheerful.

*I'm short and heavyset, as he's often portrayed.

Three things I don't have in common with them:

*I'm not a pirate.

*I'm not a middle aged/elderly man.

*I don't wear glasses.

Favorite line:

From the book, about the Crocodile's efforts to eat Captain Hook:

“In a way, it’s sort of a compliment.”

From the Disney version:

"Oh, dear, dear, dear, Captain Hook. Shooting a man in the middle of his cadenza? That ain't good form, you know."

"Well, Captain. It's nice to see you smiling again. Brings back the good old days when we was leading a healthy, normal life, scuttling ships, cutting throats."

"But, Captain, wouldn't it be more humane-like to slit his throat?"

brOTP: Captain Hook.

OTP: Possibly also Captain Hook, since they sometimes give off a "married couple" vibe.

nOTP: Wendy.

Random headcanon: With all due respect to the book Lost Boy or Disney's live action Peter Pan and Wendy, if any pirate was a former Lost Boy, it was Smee, not Hook. He's an orphan, after all: in the book he doesn't even know what a mother is, while in the Disney film, when he hears Wendy sing about mothers he cries inconsolably. He also has an "innocent and heartless" quality that's similar to Peter's: unlike Hook, who knows full well how evil his own deeds are, Smee doesn't seem to realize that killing and pirating is wrong. Maybe many years ago, he was a Lost Boy whom Peter banished when he started to grow up, and who felt lost afterwards without a commanding, charismatic leader to follow, until he met Hook and latched onto him.

Unpopular opinion: I don't think I have one.

Song I associate with them:

"The Elegant Captain Hook," even though it's not about him and he only sings one partial line in it.

Favorite picture of them:

From the Disney version:

Edward Kipling in the 1924 silent film:

Joe E. Marks in the 1960 musical telecast, with Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook:

Bob Hoskins in Hook:

Richard Briers in the 2003 film:

Christian Borle in the 2014 musical telecast, with Christopher Walken as Captain Hook:

[not-wholly-unheroic]

This is a weird question, but y'know how some versions of Hook are super serious nearly all of the time (like in the novel and in Peter Pan and the Pirates) and some of them are only semi-serious (like the Cyril Ritchard one)? Where does Disney Hook sit on that scale of silly to serious? What do you think the ideal ratio is?

Another thing, how rich looking do you like Hook to be? Toned down like his OG stage appearance or crazy, stupid, impractical wealthy looking like Hoffman's Hook?

Love the blog btw :)

Aw, thanks so much! I’m always happy to hear someone is enjoying my content and I’m not just rambling about my favorite character into the void. 😅

So…as this is primarily a Disney Hook blog, I’m admittedly a little bit biased in my preference. I love most versions of Hook (though there are a few I actually really dislike because I feel they do a disservice to the character), but Disney has a special place in my heart because it was Disney’s version that first drew me to the character and convinced me to read the novel. I was intrigued by the fact that he could simultaneously be a legitimately threatening villain and also show emotions like fear and despair that we so rarely saw in animated villain characters from that era. It was these moments of “weakness” that made him actually seem human to me. A Hook (or any character) who is TOO stoic and frightening either becomes entirely unlikable because the audience can’t relate to them or they become a sort of flat, boring stereotype, a sort of caricature of villainy.

The more classic Disney villains are generally meant to be the sort of character we love to hate and hate to love. They’re supposed to be a little over the top and larger than life. They’re meant to revel in their villainy while still being entertaining. We’re supposed to like them at least to a point even if we seriously disagree with their moral standpoint on things. There are a few, however, who become a little too “real” and who I genuinely despise… Frollo comes to mind. There is nothing “fun” about Frollo. He’s a racist, misogynistic, ableist man who mis-uses the name of God and his authoritative position to get what he wants. Is Frollo a well-written villain? Oh, absolutely. Is there anything about him that I find likable or redeemable? I mean, he has a good singing voice… But that’s about the only nice thing I can say about him. He’s a terrible person and I have zero sympathy for him at his death.

But to return to Hook specifically…. What I find interesting is that although Disney’s Hook is often accused of being too silly, really the only thing that makes him a comical villain is his fear reactions to the crocodile (and octopus if you include the sequel). And that is entirely a function of the lens we are given to view him as the audience. The music we hear in the background as the crocodile’s theme is rather lighthearted and the other characters (the heroes) are often making fun of him in the scenes where he’s having a complete breakdown and running/swimming for his life. But if we switched the music to something more ominous (check out the Drewe & Stiles Peter Pan musical theme for the crocodile—it’s frankly terrifying) and saw things from Hook’s perspective…it would really give off the same vibes as, say, Jaws or Jurassic Park. I strongly suspect that if it were our heroes being chased by the crocodile, things would look/sound/feel very different. Case in point…go watch clips of Pinocchio where Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio, and Geppetto are fleeing Monstro the Whale and compare them side by side with Hook’s interactions with the crocodile. One is portrayed as comedic while the other is an action scene where we feel like the characters are genuinely in danger…but realistically, the same thing is happening in both. (Side note… I was absolutely TERRIFIED of that scene in Pinocchio as a kid. I literally had nightmares about it…so maybe I just relate a little too hard to Hook’s reaction and that’s why I’m so defensive of him.)

Compared to certain other Hooks, Disney’s is rather…soft, high-strung, and prone to being emotional but…that’s actually what I like most about him. That said, there are absolutely moments when we are reminded that we should be afraid of him. Heck, he shoots a man dead in his first few minutes of screen time which is more than most villains do. During the scene in Skull Rock, he climbs up behind Peter and—if Wendy hadn’t warned him in time of Hook’s approach—would have sunk the claw in through Peter’s eye socket. Not to mention the fact that he threatens Tiger Lily’s life and afterlife, sends a bomb to a child, and would have gladly allowed every single one of the Lost Boys and Darlings to walk off the plank to drown when they wouldn’t sign on with his crew. We also have him mention in passing “boiling in oil…keelhauling…marooning…” which would seem to imply that these are things he has done before and is willing to do again. In Return to Neverland we arguably have some even scarier moments on-screen. That final showdown with Jane…there are moments where you can see the murder in his eyes. He nearly lops off Jane’s hand at one point and then immediately attempts to run her through with his sword when that fails. A few seconds too late and she would have been a goner. In those moments, we are reminded of exactly what Hook is capable of and why the children should be afraid of him.

Disney’s Hook is, I think, a good mixture of scary and sympathetic; humorous and heavy…and that’s why he’s my favorite Hook. He’s very human and it makes him a lot of fun to play around with as a writer.

To answer your second question regarding Hook’s opulence…I tend to prefer my Hooks to be somewhere in the middle—wealthy but not totally impractical. If you go back through the series I did looking at versions of the Jolly Roger in different Peter Pan media and what we could learn about that particular Hook from his ship, Disney and Isaacs come out as two of the “middle ground” Hooks who I would label as well-off (unlike Jude Law’s Hook, who seems more like any other average sailor in terms of his wealth) but not rich to the point of impractical extravagance (like Hoffman’s Hook).

[themattress]

Favorite Villains of Classic English Literature

Professor Moriarty - This villain is pure, beautiful simplicity: he's an alternate version of the hero with the morality removed. Both Holmes and Moriarty are quirky loners with genius IQs that thrive on challenging their intellects via loaning it out to others in some form of service. But Holmes has a conscience, a sense of right and wrong, which is why his service is that of a consulting detective, whereas Moriarty is a total sociopath whose service is that of a consulting criminal, meaning that he has an invisible hand in almost every crime that's carried out in London. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gives an absolutely perfect description of him and how he operates as a villain: "He is the Napoleon of crime. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the center of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them. He does little himself. He only plans. But his agents are numerous and splendidly organized. Is there a crime to be done, a paper to be abstracted, we will say, a house to be rifled, a man to be removed--the word is passed to the Professor, the matter is organized and carried out. The agent may be caught. In that case money is found for his bail or his defense. But the central power which uses the agent is never caught--never so much as suspected."

Favorite adaptations: Professor Moriarty (Ernest Torrence) in Sherlock Holmes (Fox, 1932), Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill) in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (Universal, 1943), Professor Moriarty (Eric Porter) in Sherlock Holmes (Granada, 1984), Professor Ratigan (Vincent Price) in The Great Mouse Detective (Disney, 1986), Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott) in Sherlock (BBC, 2010), Jamie Moriarty (Natalie Dormer) in Elementary (CBS, 2012), and William "Liam" James Moriarty (Soma Saito) in Moriarty the Patriot (Shueisha, 2016).

Captain Hook - If Professor Moriarty is a great complex presentation of a simple character, then Captain Hook is the opposite: a complex character who is presented simply. A ruthless pirate captain with a limb replaced by the object he derives his name from is the easiest thing in the world to understand, but there's much more to old James beneath that surface: a well-educated English gentleman depressed with the notion that he's squandered his life away but too far gone in his pride to turn back, constantly striving for "good form" even when his occupation doesn't allow for much of it, and obsessed with getting revenge on Peter Pan partly out of jealousy and partly to distract from the inevitability of the end result of what Pan did to him - namely, an ever-pursuing crocodile that will ultimately mark the end of his life when the clock it swallowed finally stops ticking. If Pan shows the problems with never growing up, then Hook shows the problems with losing your innocence when you grow up. For as over the top of a villainous character as he is, he's also a tragic, even relatable one.

Favorite adaptations: Captain Hook (Ernest Torrence) in Peter Pan (Paramount, 1924), Captain Hook (Hans Conreid) in Peter Pan (Disney, 1953), Captain Hook (Cyril Ritchard) in Peter Pan (Broadway, 1954), Captain Hook (Tim Curry) in Peter Pan and the Pirates (Fox, 1990), Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman) in Hook (Amblin, 1991), Captain Hook (Jason Isaacs) in Peter Pan (Universal, 2003), "Jimmy" (Rhys Ifans) in Neverland (Syfy, 2011), Killian Jones (Colin O'Donoghue) in Once Upon a Time (ABC, 2012), Captain Hook (Stan Tucci) in Peter and Wendy (ITV, 2015) and Captain Hook (Jude Law) in Peter and Wendy (Disney, 2023).

And hey, wouldn't you know it! The same actor got the ball rolling in my favorite adaptations of both these characters! Clearly, the two of them were always destined to share this post.

[twistedtummies2]

Top 10 Portrayals of Smee

A while back, I did a list of my favorite portrayals of Captain Hook, the villain of J.M. Barrie’s classic story “Peter Pan.” I also, more recently, made a list of my favorite versions of the titular hero of the tale. Now, I want to shine some light on one of the more prominent side figures of the tale: Captain Hook’s right-hand man (or, depending on interpretation, perhaps his left-hand man), the pirate simply known as Smee. Mr. Smee is, arguably, one of the first great “henchmen” figures in English literature. Many great villains have accomplices and associates who aid them in their journeys, but the idea of a side character who works particularly close to the main villain, gives them someone to work through as an outlet of sorts, and often provides some comedic levity to scenes with their presence? As far as I can determine, this was a relatively new phenomenon in literature when “Peter Pan” was created. Smee is the original bumbling goon: he is loyal to Hook (at least for the most part), and he can be just as nasty as the other pirates when he chooses to be, but he’s generally considered something of a dimwitted softy, both in and out of universe. He’s the primary source of comic relief in the story, and lends a human, humorous edge to Hook and his pirates who, at least in the book, are a rather deplorable bunch. As a result, he’s one of the most recognizable and frequently focused-upon characters in many adaptations, yet he’s also one that seems somewhat unsung: only a select few versions of Smee have really “made it big” and become characters everyone recognizes or knows an actor for playing. I think it’s time to change that, and give the many loyal followers of the nefarious Captain Hook their rightful dues. After all the times they’ve had to rescue him from the Crocodile, they deserve it! So, without further ado, here are My Top 10 Portrayals of Smee!

10. Christopher Gauthier, from Once Upon a Time.

9. Tony Sympson, from the 1976 TV Musical.

8. Jim Gaffigan, from Peter Pan & Wendy.

7. Ed Gilbert, from Peter Pan and the Pirates.

6. The Version from Peter and the Starcatchers. (No illustration available. Again, I’m referring to the books, not the stage play based on the first story.)

5. Michael Nostrand, from the Styne-Charlap Musical. (The most famous stage musical version of the story. Much like Paul Schoeffler as Hook and Cathy Rigby as Peter, Nostrand has been playing this part off and on for decades now.)

4. Richard Briers, from the 2003 Film.

3. Joe E. Marks, from the 1950 Musical AND the Styne-Charlap Musical. (Marks first played the role opposite Boris Karloff as Hook in a 1950 musical treatment. He reprised the role in the completely different Styne-Charlap musical and originated the part there, opposite Cyril Ritchard as Hook.)

2. The Disney Version. (Originally voiced by Bill Thompson.)

1. Bob Hoskins, from Hook AND SyFy’s Neverland. (Especially the former.)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

A Wonderful Day Like Today :: Cyril Ritchard

+

This song popped into my head this morning for no particular reason. Haven't heard it for years. Yet I remember all the lyrics. I looked at all the songs on the soundtrack and remember all the words to all the songs. When did I learn all these songs? I don't remember why I would do that.

The magic 8 ball of memory.

[gsmattingly]

""Piccadilly" review"

On Monday, I saw "Piccadilly" directed by Ewald André Dupont . It stars Gilda Gray and Anna May Wong. I enjoyed this. The story seems a little dated today but I think at the time it was new. The story could have been more melodramatic but it wasn't. I thought it was well done. I enjoyed the acting and I enjoyed the cinematography. The new release was well done. The only issue I had with it was the music. I would have liked something more in keeping both with the time the picture as made and also some music more fitting to various scenes.

[elxgantcaptain]

would you ever consider using cyril ritchard as hook?

/ As fabulous as Cyril is as Hook, he doesn't really fit the Hook character I've grown and developed?