The Box of Delights
First edition cover | |
Author | John Masefield |
---|---|
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Genre | Fantasy novel |
Publisher | Heinemann |
Publication date | 1935 |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages | 309 |
Preceded by | The Midnight Folk |
The Box of Delights is a children's fantasy novel by John Masefield. It is a sequel to The Midnight Folk, and was first published in 1935.
Plot
Kay Harker is returning from boarding school when he finds himself mixed up in a battle to possess a magical box. It allows the owner to shrink in size, to fly swiftly, to go into the past and to experience the magical wonders contained within the box.
The current owner of the box is an old Punch and Judy man called Cole Hawlings whom Kay meets at the railway station. They develop an instant rapport, which leads Cole to confide that he is being chased by a magician called Abner Brown and his gang, which includes Kay's former governess. For safety, Cole (who turns out to be the medieval philosopher and alleged magician Ramon Llull) entrusts the box to Kay. The schoolboy then goes on to have many adventures as he protects the box from those who wish to use it for bad deeds.
Adaptations
BBC radio
There have been several radio adaptations of The Box of Delights.
Children's Hour
This six-part adaptation, with a script by Robert Holland and John Keir Cross, was produced three times by the BBC as part of its Children's Hour, in 1943, 1948 and 1955.
1943
- Kay Harker: John Gilpin
- Abner Brown: Robert Farquharson
- Cole Hawlings: Hay Petrie
- Rat: Philip Wade
- Mouse: Charles Hawtrey
- Narrator: Norman Shelley
- Peter Jones: Peter Mullins
- Jemima Jones: Sheila Potts
- Maria Jones: Dorothy Gordon
- Caroline Louisa: Joan Carol
- Foxy man: Malcolm Graeme and Gibb McLaughlin
- Chubby man: Wilfred Babbage
- Sylvia Pouncer: Joan Young
- Inspector: Dick Francis
- Rogers: Malcolm Graeme
- The Head: Arthur Bush
1948
- Kay Harker: David Page
- Cole Hawlings: Harcourt Williams
- Caroline Louisa: Rosemary Davis
- Foxy Man: Carleton Hobbs
- Chubby Man: Wilfred Babbage
- Peter Jones: David Spenser
- Maria Jones: Dorothy Gordon
- Jemima Jones: Audrey Blair
- Porter: Preston Lockwood
- Sylvia Pouncer: Gladys Young
- Rat: David Kossoff
- The Inspector: Dick Francis
- Pirate: Arthur Bush
- Mouse: Charles Hawtrey
- Thomson: Arthur Bush
- Narrator: Norman Shelley
1955
- Kay Harker: Patricia Hayes
- Cole Hawlings: Deering Wells
- Caroline Louisa: Rosemary Davis
- The Foxy Man: Carleton Hobbs
- The Chubby Man: Wilfred Babbage
- Porter: Eric Lugg
- Peter Jones: William Simons
- Maria Jones: Dorothy Gordon
- Jemima Jones: Marise Hepworth
- Rat: Ernest Jay
- The Inspector: Frank Atkinson
- Rum Chops: Arthur Bush
- Mouse: Charles Hawtrey
- The Bishop's Sister: Susan Richards
- Ellen: Janet Morrison
- The Head: Arthur Bush
- Narrator: Norman Shelley
Saturday Night Theatre
This was a one-off drama, with a script by John Keir Cross, broadcast in 1966, and repeated in 1968 and 1969. It was then remade with a new cast in 1977.
1966
- Kay Harker (a man): Harman Grisewood
- Kay Harker (a boy): Patricia Hayes
- Cole Hawlings: Cyril Shaps
- Foxy-faced man: Henry Stamp
- Chubby man: Wilfred Babbage
- Miss Caroline Louisa: Carol Marsh
- The Lady of the Ring: Noel Howe
- Maria Jones: Jo Manning Wilson
- Susan Jones: Sian Davies
- Peter Jones: Eva Hadbon
- The Bishop: Preston Lockwood
- Abner Brown: Felix Felton
- Rat: Norman Shelley
- Alf Rat: Stanley Unwin
- Police Inspector: Hector Ross
- Sylvia Daisy Pouncer: Joan Matheson
1977
- Kay Harker (a man): David Davis
- Kay Harker (a boy): Jean English
- Abner Brown: Heron Carvic
- Cole Hawlings: Cyril Shaps
- Foxy Man: Roy Spencer
- Chubby Man: Paul Meier
- Caroline Louisa: Irene Sutcliffe
- Sylvia Daisy Pouncer: Kathleen Helmk
- Rat: Norman Shelley
- Lady of the Ring: Grizelda Hervet
- Inspector: Rod Beacham
- Jemima Jones: Nicolette McKenzie
- Maria Jones: Anne Rosenfeld
- Susan Jones: Jane Knowles
- Peter Jones: Judy Bennett
- Bishop: Lewis Stringer
- The boy: John Levitt
- The Bronze Head: John Gabriel
Radio 4
1995
Two-part drama with a script by John Peacock.
- Abner Brown: Donald Sinden
- Cole Hawlins: Lionel Jeffries
BBC Television 1984
The Box of Delights | |
---|---|
Created by | John Masefield |
Starring |
Devin Stanfield Patrick Troughton Robert Stephens |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
No. of episodes | 6 |
Production | |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Release | |
Original network | BBC One |
Original release | November 1984 |
External links | |
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The BBC TV adaptation of the The Box of Delights was broadcast in six parts between 21 November and 24 December in 1984. It featured notable British actors of the time, such as Patrick Troughton, Robert Stephens, Patricia Quinn, John Horsley and James Grout, and starred a newcomer, Devin Stanfield, as Kay. An innovative mixture of live action and animation, using Quantel Paintbox and chroma key effects, was used to portray the adventure. The music included an orchestral arrangement of "The First Nowell" from the Carol Symphony by Victor Hely-Hutchinson, and incidental music by Roger Limb.
Awards
The BBC TV production of The Box of Delights won three British Academy of Film & Television Arts awards (BAFTAs) and a Royal Television Society award: The serial was nominated for five BAFTAs - for best Children's Programme, Video Cameraman, Graphics, Video Lighting and VTR Editor; and won three - for best Children's Programme, VTR Editor and Video Lighting.[1] The Royal Television Society award was won for Technique, for Robin Lobb and the BBC Special Effects team.[2]
The episodes:
- "When the Wolves Were Running"
- "Where Shall the 'Nighted Showman Go?"
- "In the Darkest Cellars Underneath"
- "The Spider in the Web"
- "Beware of Yesterday"
- "Leave Us Not Little, Nor Yet Dark"
Railway station scenes were filmed at Bewdley and Arley on the steam heritage Severn Valley Railway; Tewkesbury became the fictional Tatchester; the bishop's children's party was done at Kinlet Hall, Shropshire (the location of Moffats Independent School, whose pupils and staff served as extras); Hereford Cathedral and its choir took centre stage in the final episode; and the exterior shots of Abner Brown's theological college were filmed at Eastnor Castle, near Ledbury, Herefordshire.[3]
During December 1986 the series was repeated on BBC1 as three 50-minute episodes. For this transmission the episodes were titled
- "When the Wolves Were Running"
- "The Spider in the Web"
- "Fire and Flood"
The television version was shown by PBS in the US for three years in the late 1980s.
BBC Worldwide released the serial on DVD in 2004.
Opera
John Masefield adapted an opera libretto from his book, also incorporating elements of The Midnight Folk, which was eventually set to music in the late 1980s by the British composer Robert Steadman.
See also
References
- ↑ "BAFTA Awards Search the box of delights". www.bafta.org. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
- ↑ "RTS Awards database". Retrieved 31 January 2014.
- ↑ "The Box of Delights (1984) Filming Locations". IMDB. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
- Flynn, Simon: "A Magic Curiously Suited to Radio?": The BBC and The Box of Delights. The Journal of the John Masefield Society, No. 12 (May 2003), pp. 21–35.
External links
- The Box of Delights at BBC Programmes
- The Box of Delights (television adaptation) at the Internet Movie Database
- Box Of Delights DVD
- "Sea Fever", "Cargoes" and other examples of Masefield's poetry