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384:, Beaumont made large profits from this ostensibly charitable enterprise. Gielgud was a strong influence on Beaumont's aesthetic development, and they maintained a mutually beneficial association which survived despite a personal crisis when Gielgud's then partner John Perry fell for and moved in with Beaumont. Perry remained personally and professionally involved with Beaumont for the rest of the latter's life, and all three remained on close terms. Another close associate was
33:
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and became general manager. Tennent and
Beaumont were unimpressed by the quality of many shows offered by producers for staging in the two groups' theatres. At Beaumont's instigation, he and Tennent went into production and management on their own account in 1936, setting up H M Tennent Limited.
248:
suggests that "Binkie" was
Cardiff slang for a black child or a ragamuffin. William Beaumont died while Binkie was still a boy. Mary Beaumont then let rooms to a lodger, Major Harry Woodcock, a former Army Entertainments Officer and latterly general manager of the Cardiff Playhouse.
394:, he caricatured himself and his friends, including Beaumont, portrayed as "Henry Lyppiatt", the shrewd man of business. Despite the heavy entertainment tax paid on productions by the main Tennent organisation, Beaumont made substantial profits from such new plays as Coward's
351:
Tennent died in 1941, leaving
Beaumont in sole control, and for the next twenty years he was one of the most powerful men in British theatre. He maintained a low profile, shunning the limelight partly from natural reticence (saying, "I haven't the temperament to be a
678:
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Beaumont gained a strong commercial advantage over his rivals by setting up a subsidiary company to present classic plays: he successfully maintained that this operation qualified as "educational", and was thus exempt from tax. With productions such as
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by telling him that the actresses Coward wanted to cast refused to play in it, whereas in reality
Beaumont had not consulted them. He continued to have enormous successes: in 1958, he presented the first British productions of both
243:
timber merchant, whom the young
Beaumont was brought up believing to be his real father. The boy was formally known as Hugh, but was generally called "Binkie". The origin of his nickname is uncertain; John Elsom in a 1991 book
164:. Though he shunned the spotlight so that his name was not known widely among the general public, he was one of the most successful and influential manager-producers in the West End during the middle of the 20th century.
455:
undermined
Beaumont's pre-eminence beginning in the 1950s. He disapproved of both, and stuck to his style of lavish, starry West End productions, even when they began to go out of fashion. He alienated both Coward and
360:") and partly from his belief that he could operate more effectively behind the scenes. The first full-length biography of Beaumont, published in 1989, is subtitled "éminence grise of the West End theatre, 1933–1973".
479:(2281 performances). The latter cost an unprecedented sum to stage, but, thanks to a sustained publicity campaign by Tennent's, advance bookings meant that the show was in net profit two months before it opened.
272:. During Beaumont's time with the company five of its productions transferred to the West End, giving him valuable managerial experience in five West End theatres. During his time with Ridgeway, Beaumont met
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government closed all the theatres in
Britain on the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Beaumont had enough clout to persuade the prime minister to cancel the closures less than a week later.
486:, on which he served with energy and commitment during the last ten years of his life. He also continued to run H M Tennent until his death. His last production for Tennent's was a 1973 revival of
215:
Throughout his life
Beaumont was evasive about his background, given, as one biographer wrote, "to disseminating fanciful accounts of his origins". It was not until a 1989 biography by
198:
plays from the mid-1950s onwards, Beaumont's genre of opulent productions of safe repertoire started to seem conventional. He recognised this by serving on the board of the new
183:, London. His success was based on lavish productions, starry casts and plays calculated to appeal to a West End audience. Among those with whom he was closely associated were
301:
Tennent concentrated on the business side of the enterprise, with
Beaumont as the producer, choosing plays and engaging directors, actors and designers.
264:'s touring company and then of the Barnes Theatre in London for the producer Philip Ridgeway. The Barnes Theatre was famous for its productions of
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in 1936, was a failure. The firm suffered a series of further flops, running short of capital before finding success with the 1937 production of
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Beaumont was always careful to balance innovation and box-office appeal. He combined both in the London premiere of
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theatre chain. In 1933 Tennent engineered the creation of a joint-booking company – which lasted three years – for
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Beaumont sufficiently overcame his suspicion of the subsidised theatre to be a founder member of the board of the
334:(373 performances) and other long-running shows that established Tennent as a highly profitable concern. When the
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with his arrogant and sometimes duplicitous behaviour. Beaumont attempted to sabotage the former's new play
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in 1947, which ran at Drury Lane for 1,543 performances. He promoted the works of new dramatists, including
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Brewer. Morgan divorced his wife for adultery when the boy was two. Mary Morgan then married the
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and became a box-office assistant at the
Playhouse; he was appointed assistant manager of the
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Binkie Beaumont – Éminence Grise of the West End Theatre, 1933–1973
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in Cardiff a year later. He was subsequently business manager for
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The rise of state-subsidised theatre, and the emergence of
843:(fourteenth ed.). London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons.
797:
Coward, Noël (1982). Graham Payn; Sheridan Morley (eds.).
552:, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 7 March 2013
324:, which ran for 799 performances. This was followed by
152:(27 March 1908 - 22 March 1973) was a British theatre
175:, which he co-founded in 1936, was based at the old
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268:and the other Russian classics, often directed by
899:John G – The Authorised Biography of John Gielgud
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626:Glasgow Alhambra by Graeme Smith, published 2011
219:that the facts became widely known. He was born
194:With the rise of state-subsidised theatre and
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546:"Beaumont, Hughes Griffiths (1908–1973)"
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573:Davie, Michael. "Curtains for Binkie".
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550:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
952:British theatre managers and producers
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757:Lewsen, Charles. "The Constant Wife",
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977:20th-century British businesspeople
801:. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
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16:British theatre manager (1908-1973)
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882:. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
824:. London and New York: Routledge.
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639:, 21 December 1933, p. 12
586:"High Court of Justice",
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778:Bruguiere, Ron (2011).
258:Prince of Wales Theatre
221:Hughes Griffiths Morgan
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856:Hoare, Philip (1995).
748:, 31 March 1973, p. 16
577:, 12 March 1989, p. 43
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270:Theodore Komisarjevsky
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129:Morgan Morgan (father)
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927:University of Bristol
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816:Elsom, John (1992).
744:"Mr Hugh Beaumont",
590:, 28 June 1910, p. 3
511:, at the age of 64.
463:Waiting in the Wings
298:Howard & Wyndham
276:for the first time.
154:manager and producer
735:Coward, pp. 436–437
703:Morley, pp. 182–183
694:Huggett, title page
380:, with Gielgud and
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322:George and Margaret
453:kitchen sink drama
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420:Tennessee Williams
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181:Shaftesbury Avenue
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336:Chamberlain
326:Dodie Smith
211:Early years
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763:The Times
759:The Times
746:The Times
683:The Times
637:The Times
588:The Times
558:required)
411:Oklahoma!
358:Diaghilev
280:Tennent's
229:barrister
225:Hampstead
160:" of the
96:Education
67:, England
61:Hampstead
878:(1989).
150:Beaumont
90:, London
849:5997224
488:Maugham
404:Postwar
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104:Penarth
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