I need to go back to 1948 or 49 at Mersham le Hatch and the lawn out front of the house where we performed "A Midsummer's Nights Dream." I played Bottom the Weaver, but I don't remember any of the members of the cast. Then a couple of months later, the Ashford theatre held auditions for kids my age to act in a play written by the conservative MP for Ashford, whose name escapes me. I managed to get the part of "Benjy." The play lasted a couple of weeks or so with the Conservative MP showing up for the last performance and joining us on stage.
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CA: The Conservative MP for Ashford whose play you performed in was Edward Percy Smith, who was quite an accomplished play and screenwriter, using the name Edward Percy. I'm guessing the play you were in was "If Four Walls Told", because there is a part for a child called "Benjy Sturgis".
The Wikipedia page for Edward Percy Smith is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Percy_Smith
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You're spot on with my part in "If Four Walls Told." Moreover, you've managed to reveal the identity of the author and politician who came up on the stage on our last night of the production. The only name I can remember of the cast is Olwyn Griffiths, the actress who taught me how to apply and remove the make up that I used.
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I've used Google Earth to attempt identifying the "If Four Walls Told" theatre in Ashford, Kent, but It's no longer there; neither is the Old Saracens Head pub and most of the downtown area.
The theatre was near the railroad station on Beaver Rd, but I can't remember anything about it except that Olwyn Griffiths took care of the grease paint makeup and its removal. I seem to recall a colorless liquid of some kind that was used to remove it. The name "Steiner" seems to reverberate in my brain as being the label on the makeup sticks. I was eleven years old when I did Benjy. I didn't become twelve until December 22, three days shy of Xmas. I rode the bus to and from the theatre, but I cannot recall what time the curtain came down or even the length of the play.
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CA: You said you thought the name of the grease paint you used at Ashford was "Steiner". What an astonishing memory. There are two pictures of Stein makeup on this website:https://www.cosmeticsandskin.com/bcb/greasepaint.php
Indeed, there seems to be quite a market in old Stein greaspaint and containers.
There are scans of a Stein "How to Make-Up" book athttp://taramaginnis.com/c-1919-how-to-make-up-published-by-the-m-stein-cosmetic-co-new-york/.