This Happy Breed was a stage play written by Noel Coward, first staged in 1939 as part of a double bill with the same author's Present Laughter. In 1941, the two plays became part of a triple bill, having been joined by Coward's new play Blithe Spirit. The title is a well-known phrase from Shakespeare's Richard II, Act ii, Sc. 1, and refers to the English people. Noel Coward Sir Noel Peirce Coward (December 16, 1899 – March 26, 1973) was an English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Present Laughter is a comedic play written by Noel Coward and first staged in 1939 as part of a double bill with his lower middle-class domestic drama This Happy Breed; in 1941 the double bill was expanded to include Cowards new play Blithe Spirit. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... Blithe Spirit (1941) is a comic play written by Noel Coward. ... Shakespeare redirects here. ... Title page of Richard II, from the fifth quarto, published in 1615. ... Title page of Richard II, from the fifth quarto, published in 1615. ... The English are an ethnic group and nation primarily associated with England and the English language. ...

The action of the play is centred on the fortunes of the lower middle-class Gibbons family in the suburbs of South London between 1919 and the outbreak of World War II in September 1939; it is one of very few Coward plays to deal entirely with domestic events outside an upper-class or upper middle-class setting. A number of scenes are nonetheless reminiscent of previous Coward works, such as the Bridges scenes in Cavalcade (1931) or the short play Fumed Oak from Tonight at 8:30 (1936). This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Cavalcade was a spectacular stage play written by Noel Coward, premiered in London in 1931 and later made into a commercially and critically successful film, though it is little remembered now. ... Tonight at 8:30 (1936) is a unique cycle of short plays by Noel Coward, the first production of which was a bold experiment in the history of theatre. ...

The play very subtly hints at the non-violent ways in which social justice issues might be incorporated into post-war national reconstruction, examines the personal trauma caused by the sudden death of sons and daughters, and also hints at the forthcoming return of English men from the war. It is also an intimate portrait of the economy and politics of Great Britain in the 1920s and 30s, as well as showing the advances in technology - we see the arrival of primitive crystal radio sets, home gas lights being replaced by electric lights, the arrival of telephones and mass broadcast radio. The 1920s was a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... The 1930s (years from 1930–1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ... The crystal radio receiver (also known as a crystal set) was first built circa 1900 by Greenleaf Whittier Pickard, who used crystalline minerals to detect radio signals. ...

Film Version

This Happy Breed
Directed by	David Lean
Produced by	Noel Coward Ronald Neame
Written by	Noel Coward Anthony Havelock-Allan David Lean Ronald Neame
Starring	Robert Newton
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	1944
Running time	115 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

The play was the subject of a highly successful feature-film adaptation in 1944. Directed by David Lean as his first major movie as sole director, it was the most successful cinema film of 1944, and was shot in colour. The cast included Robert Newton, Celia Johnson, Stanley Holloway, John Mills, and Alison Leggatt. The film included narration by Sir Laurence Olivier. Image File history File links Thishappybreed. ... Sir David Lean, KBE (March 25, 1908 – April 16, 1991) was an English film director and producer, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Doctor Zhivago . ... Noel Coward Sir Noel Peirce Coward (December 16, 1899 – March 26, 1973) was an English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ... Noel Coward Sir Noel Peirce Coward (December 16, 1899 – March 26, 1973) was an English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ... Sir Anthony James Allan Havelock-Allan, 4th Baronet (28 February 1904–11 January 2003) was a British film producer. ... Sir David Lean, KBE (March 25, 1908 – April 16, 1991) was an English film director and producer, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Doctor Zhivago . ... Ronald Neame is a British film cinematographer, producer, screenwriter, and director. ... Robert Newton as Long John Silver. ... Universal Pictures is the main motion picture production/distribution arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal. ... Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Sir David Lean, KBE (March 25, 1908 – April 16, 1991) was an English film director and producer, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Doctor Zhivago . ... Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Robert Newton as Long John Silver. ... Dame Celia Johnson (1908-1982) was an English actress, famous for her role in the 1945 film, Brief Encounter, opposite Trevor Howard. ... Stanley Augustus Holloway (October 1, 1890 - January 30, 1982) was a British actor and entertainer famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen. ... John Mills as Professor Bernard Quatermass in the Thames Television science-fiction serial Quatermass (1979). ... Alison Leggatt in This Happy Breed (1945) Alison Leggatt (February 7, 1904 - July 15, 1990) was an English character actress. ... Laurence Olivier, as photographed in 1939 by Carl Van Vechten Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM (May 22, 1907 – July 11, 1989) was an English actor and director, esteemed by many as the greatest actor of the 20th century. ...

The film version of This Happy Breed was an influence on Mike Leigh's Life is Sweet (1990), another intimate and sympathetic study of a south London family, in which the This Happy Breed line "Capitalist!" is re-used by the Nicola character and delivered in exactly the same way as in This Happy Breed. Mike Leigh OBE (born February 20, 1943 in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire) is an award winning English film and theatre director. ... Life Is Sweet (1990) is a British film directed by Mike Leigh. ...

Sir David Lean, KBE (March 25, 1908 – April 16, 1991) was an English film director and producer, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Doctor Zhivago . ... In Which We Serve is a 1942 war film written by and starring Noel Coward, and directed by Coward and David Lean, both making their directorial debut. ... Noel Coward Sir Noel Peirce Coward (December 16, 1899 – March 26, 1973) was an English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ... This Happy Breed was a stage play written by Noel Coward, first staged in 1939 as part of a double bill with the same authors Present Laughter. ... The film Blithe Spirit is a 1945 British comedy film of the popular Noel Coward play. ... Brief Encounter (1945) is a British film directed by David Lean starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. ... Great Expectations is a 1946 British film directed by David Lean and based on the novel by Charles Dickens. ... Oliver Twist (1948) is the second of David Leans two Dickens adaptations. ... The Passionate Friends is a 1949 film by David Lean. ... Madeleine is a 1950 film by David Lean, based on a true story about a woman tried in 1857 for the murder of her lover. ... The Sound Barrier is a 1952 film by David Lean. ... Hobsons Choice is a 1954 film directed by David Lean, based on the play of the same name by Harold Brighouse. ... Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi in Summertime Summertime is a 1955 film directed by David Lean starring Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi. ... The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) was an Anglo-American World War II war film based on the novel Le Pont de la Rivière Kwaï by French writer Pierre Boulle. ... Lawrence of Arabia is an award-winning 1962 film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. ... Doctor Zhivago (Russian: Доктор Живаго) is a 1965 film directed by David Lean and based on the famous novel by Boris Pasternak. ... Ryans Daughter is David Leans 1970 film which tells the story of an Irish girl who has an affair with a British soldier during World War I, despite opposition from her nationalist neighbours. ... A Passage to India is a 1984 film directed by David Lean, based on the novel of the same name by E. M. Forster. ...

Further reading

• Andrew Higson. "Re-constructing the nation: This Happy Breed, 1944", Film Criticism, Vol.XVI, No's.1-2, 1991-92, pp.95-110.

• David Ravit. "'Everything in the Garden is Lovely': Male Friendship, the Great War and the British Far Right in Noel Coward's This Happy Breed". (2006, forthcoming).

One of the most influential doctrines in history is that all humans are divided into groups called nations. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into far right. ...

External links

• This Happy Breed on the IMDB.
• The British Film Institute's web-site for This Happy Breed.