Half a Sixpence was first produced in London's West End at the Cambridge Theatre on 21 March 1963, with Marti Webb, in her first leading role, playing Ann. Anna Barry also appeared as Helen. The production was directed by John Dexter, with choreography by Edmund Balin, and the set was designed by Loudon Sainthill. It ran for 677 performances. [1] Film version [ edit ]

Fun as the musical is, it already shows its age: conspicuously, there is no diversity in the casting. But Kipps confirms Wells’s point that gusto and goodness can overcome the whaleboned snobbery of the class system and the show boasts an invaluable asset in Charlie Stemp, who went on to play the chimney sweep in the stage version of Mary Poppins. Tommy Steele was likable in Half a Sixpence, but there is something a touch calculated about his charm. Stemp radiates kindly innocence and reminds us that Wells subtitled his quietly subversive novel “the story of a simple soul”.

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The show was created to fulfill a licensing requirement of CTV’s Vancouver station, CIVT, which originally promised, as an independent station, to produce 20 episodes of an anthology series entitled The Storytellers. Only ten such episodes were produced. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission did not agree that CIVT’s new network programming supplanted this commitment and asked the station to fulfill its promise. CTV believed the anthology would be more successful as a series with common characters, and Robson Arms was the result. Artie grows up into a young man. Work at the draper's store is difficult. He becomes friends with Harry Chitterlow, an actor-playwright, who discovers that Artie is heir to a fortune left him by his grandfather. Artie becomes wealthy as a result of the inheritance, and invests in one of Chitterlow's shows. He breaks up with Ann, who has become a maid, and becomes engaged to the wealthy upper class Helen Walsingham. Kipps gets Helen's brother Hubert to invest his money. a b Davis, Ronald L. (2005). Just making movies. University Press of Mississippi. p. 80. ISBN 9781578066902.

Kathleen Carroll of the New York Daily News that "for all Gillian Lynne's high-stepping choreography, the film is about as light and as graceful on its feet as an elephant. Only one sequence moves at a rate approximating speed. It is the gay Henley regatta, with Kipps crewing for the Ascot set, slicing the Thames in a racing shell. One longs for the simplicity of the original, when the story, although hardly novel, at least held its own, and when the music, although hardly memorable, was not drummed up into interminable, brassy music hall routines." [12] We'll Build a Palace / I Only Want a Little House" – Arthur Kipps, Helen Walsingham, Mrs Walsingham, James Walsingham The show is based on H.G. Wells's 1905 novel Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul. Steele played Arthur Kipps, an orphan who unexpectedly inherits a fortune, and climbs the social ladder before losing everything and realising that you just can't buy happiness. In Victorian England, a young orphan, Arthur Kipps ("Artie"), finds a sixpence as he walks along a river with his young friend, Ann. Artie is then sent to a nearby town, where he is to serve as apprentice to a draper.

A Proper Gentleman" (Reprise) – Arthur Kipps, Mrs. Walsingham, Helen Walsingham, Mrs. Botting, Young Walsingham and Party Guests Several years later he meets up with Ann once again, and with the coin cut into two he gives one half to Ann as a symbol of their love.

Half a Sixpence is a 1963 musical comedy based on the 1905 novel Kipps by H. G. Wells, with music and lyrics by David Heneker and a book by Beverley Cross. It was written as a vehicle for British pop star Tommy Steele. Time Out London says, "the film lays on the period charm rather exhaustingly, and the songs ... don't exactly sweep you along." [19] Box office [ edit ] This was the final film made by Sidney, director of such films as Annie Get Your Gun, Kiss Me Kate, Bye Bye Birdie and Viva Las Vegas. What’s in a name? Quite a lot in the case of the musical Kipps, which aired on Sky Arts on Wednesday night. The title comes from the 1905 HG Wells novel, but the show itself is a radical rewrite of an earlier musical version of the story, Half a Sixpence, which starred Tommy Steele on stage and film in the 1960s. Julian Fellowes wrote the fresh book, which he titled Half a Sixpence, in 2016, while George Stiles and Anthony Drewe added seven new numbers to the original David Heneker score. What we saw on screen was a filmed performance at London’s Noël Coward theatre in 2017.

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( February 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) The movie was the 13th most popular at the UK box office in 1969. [20] Sidney says the film was "a real smash" in England but "did less than nothing" in the US "because it was an English picture. The film didn't have anyone in it that anyone in this country knew. Unfortunately Tommy Steele had just made two very bad pictures in this country. We followed those and had nothing to build on with him." Sidney also felt the film's financial prospects were hurt by the popularity of Beatlemania. "That brought in a whole new sound," he said. "Maybe if we had been two or three years earlier with the picture, it might have been more successful with American audiences." [9] Awards and nominations [ edit ] Artie sees Ann mistreated by the upper class at a dinner and ends his relationship with Helen. He marries Ann and plans to build a mansion. Ann becomes unhappy with Artie's grandiose ambitions. Hubert absconds with Artie's money leaving him broke. Variety said, "The cohesive force is certainly that of Tommy Steele, who takes hold of his part like a terrier and never lets go. His assurance is overwhelming, and he leads the terping with splendid vigor and elan." [17]