ROSS: A Dramatic Portrait. [Play's Premiere Theatre Programme.]

UK,8vo wrappers,[Theatre Programme],1st thus. [First Performance: Thursday,May 12th,1960The first 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn book,was first published by Hamish Hamilton,London,1960 and in 1962,by Random House,New York.] VG.No owner inscrptn with original price sticker seal (1/-) opened on cover's front vertical edge and still in situ.Stapled white glossy paper covers with black text within a (now) ornate yellow bordered design (assumed) faded from orange,unlike the same,but brighter,orange design to rear cover also with black text - Theatre staff list.Both covers and pages creased/crinkled; front cover with 2 indeterminate but small stain splatter and several other residual circular droplet spots.Internally to both front+rear covers are aged,but small,sellotape strenthening(?) strips residue/repair at staples' vicinity and the covers are still attached but not in their entireity - hence the repair.UK,8vo wrappers,12pp [unpaginated] - includes covers comprising b/w portrait photograph of Alec Guinness as Lawrence with his potted biography to it's reverse,page of contemporary ('60s) b/w illustrated product and places adverts with cast list to it's reverse, production credits with potted 'Then and Now' history of the Haymarket Theatre to reverse,a b/w illustrated Christian Dior Stockings advert with short biographies of actors Harry Andrews,Mark Dignam,Geoffrey Keen and Anthony Nicholls respectively to it's reverse,and 2 adverts (Drury Lane - 'My Fair Lady' and for the Globe Theatre - 'The Complaisant Lover' and forthcoming 'A Lovely Light.' to inside of rear cover. Described hard but fairly and honestly given it's age and the fragility of and it's ephemeral nature. A highly collected subject-related item for T. E. L/Lawrence collectors or aficionados,and an unusual item/ephemera that will be an important and welcome addition to the Lawrence canon.
A play about the life of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia),whose title,'ROSS',is taken from the pseudonym Lawrence used after his World War I exploits,to join the RAF as a lowly airman.The original performance and premiere was at the THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET, on Thursday,May 12th,1960 production in London,starring Sir Alec Guinness in the title role; Harry Andrews as Allenby and Gerald Harper as Dickinson.[A later and first US performance/premiere opened on Broadway, NYC in Dec.,1961; presented by David Merrick featuring John Mills as Lawrence.] A play in two acts; the action of the play begins and ends at a Royal Air Force Depot,near London,on an afternoon,the same night and following morning of a day in Winter, 1922.The central passages cover the two years 1916-1918 and are set in the Middle East.The play ran for almost two years (making it Rattigan's second most commercially successful play,after 'While the Sun Shines') Michael Bryant replaced Guinness as Lawrence late in the show's original run. 'Ross' was originally written as a film script for the Rank Organization,with Dirk Bogarde cast as Lawrence.The project fell through due to a combination of financial difficulties and political turmoil in Iraq,where it was to be filmed.A later attempt to adapt the play,with Laurence Harvey as Lawrence,was scrapped when David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia went into production. A highly collected subject,topic and theme on all things Lawrencean and an unusual,uncommon and scarce ephemeral Lawrence-related item and will be an important and welcome addition to the T.E. Lawrence canon. Please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the lighter weight and the value of this item,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!
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