Roger Foss

Author, ex-actor, ex-theatre critic Latest #WW1 book: ‘Till The Boys Come Home: how British theatre fought the Great War @TheHistoryPress.

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

@lib_thinks Dear Libby, Roger thought very highly of you and these words would mean so much to him, as they do to me. Of course, I am biased, but I thought he was great writer.

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

Apologies for having to make this post here. I am Liam, Roger’s husband. Roger sadly passed away on Easter Sunday. Mercifully it was rather sudden, calm and pain free. I can be contacted on Instagram if you need to reach out to me. @LiamJFD Much Love, Liam

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

@nat71985 Dear Natalie. Thank you for your lovely message. I appreciate it. Yes if you could let the members know I’d appreciate it very much. Sending hugs. Liam

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

(See my post above). Obviously this account will be deactivated shortly. Thank you for your understanding. X Liam

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

#APRIL1918 With wartime rationing rules in force chocolate Easter Eggs are in short supply this Easter but some theatres across Britain are promising a special Easter Monday confection, including the Empress Brixton where Harry Bright’s ‘Hilarity’ promises holiday fun and frolics

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

#April1915 Despite loss of manpower and transport chaos touring concert parties are ready to face their first wartime summer season. ‘The Gay Sparks troupe is embracing the fighting spirit with ‘A Life on the Ocean Wave’, a naval revue complete with a full-sized battleship set.

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

Born #OTD1899 by 1914 when war is declared Charlie Chaplin is a global film star yet has since been ridiculed in the UK for failing to enlist. Eventually he does don khaki - in ‘Shoulder Arms’ released in 1918, after the Armistice.

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

#April1916: When long-running play ‘The Man Who Stayed at Home’ about German spies and English spy-catchers transfers from the Royalty to the Apollo co-author Lechmere Worrall tells the press “The only way to deal with the spy peril is to round up all Germans naturalised or not”

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

By #April1917 many professional male seaside concert party entertainers are either away at the Front or have been killed in action, so in Brighton from Easter and throughout the summer Ellison's ‘All Lady’ troupe will be taking centre stage and keeping holidaymakers happy.

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

#OTD1918 The attractions at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens cannot fail to attract Easter holiday crowds eager to forget the war, especially the revival of last season’s ‘Some Show’ featuring eight John Tiller Girls and a troupe of ’12 Military Maids’ dancing their way to victory.

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

#OTD1916 Sarah Bernhardt’s short sell-out season of war playlets at the London Coliseum ends this week with new tragic drama Une d’Elles (One of Them) in which she plays a grieving mother. It is written by her young granddaughter Lysiane Bernhard.

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

#OTD1918: Another transatlantic import lands in the West End when American writer Fred Barker’s ‘The Naughty Wife’ opens at the Playhouse with Gladys Cooper in the title role. “We not only import plays of American life but plays Americans have imitated from Paris” Saturday Review

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

#April1916 The US is not a war ally yet but has been good at exporting performers, plays and musicals to our West End. `the latest is James Forbes’ backstage farce The Show Shop at the Globe. A distinctly British cast led by Lady Tree convey the comedy but sound terribly English.

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

#OTD1917: As the US is now a war ally the US embassy in London is inviting American actors based or working here to join the US Army volunteers, while at the Hippodrome Shirley Kellogg, the American star of 'Zig-Zag', is now singing the American war song ‘Over There’ in the show.

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

#OTD1917 The US has joined the war and in London the first trade screening of film ‘America Awakes’ will be at two theatres, the Alhambra and the Scala. The silent drama depicting Americans unprepared to fight German aggression caused a sensation when first released in the US.

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

#April 1917 When so many mothers are grieving for sons killed in action JM Barrie’s ‘The Old Lady Shows Her Medals’ at the New theatre enters the mind of a lonely charlady with no soldier son of her own who invents one to experience the wartime ‘motherliness’ of women who weep.

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

#April1916 As concert parties prepare to entertain Easter holidaymakers, the Daily Express’s own troupe is giving free shows for the wounded at military hospitals in the London area. Artistes include ‘wonderful child elocutionist’ Annie Trilnick and boy violinist Raoul Vidas.

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

#April1918 When shortages, ration books and registering at food shops are part of wartime life Fred Karno’s new topical revue ‘Rations' has hit the road giving Robb Wilton many comic opportunities including a sketch as a meatless butcher coping with a queue of oddball customers.

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

#OTD1918 West End playgoers aren’t deterred by a new 9.30pm wartime ‘lights out’ curfew. New spy drama ‘By Pigeon Post’ is a big draw at the Garrick, not to see leading actors Madge Titheradge and Arthur Wontner but to enjoy the real stars - 20 War Office carrier pigeons.

[Roger Foss @fossroger]

#March1916 Numerous Shakespeare birthday events and Tercentenary year productions at Stratford-upon-Avon are planned for April but it is wartime and the Bard of Avon has already been officially cast as the nation’s “poet patriot” urging men to sign up and fight.