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24-870: BFBS Live Events/CSE is the successor to the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). Originally, it was called the Central Pool of Artists . It emerged during and after the Second World War as the British Armed Forces' concert party . Artists who began their careers in the Central Pool of Artists, and later the CSE, included Benny Hill , Kenneth Williams , Spike Milligan , Stanley Baxter , Edmund Purdom , Ken Platt and Peter Nichols . Nichols later adapted his experiences into

48-675: A 1977 stage play (and later film) called Privates on Parade . In later years, James Fox undertook many CSE tours to entertain British troops on active service in Afghanistan , Bosnia , The Falkland Islands and Iraq . In recognition of this, he was twice invited to perform at the Royal Albert Hall before the Queen as part of the Festival of Remembrance . In 2004, he presented a film highlighting

72-722: A number of magazine stories, called "Love and Forget", "The Ship Sailed at Night" and "A Night in Algiers". Love Story was filmed at Gaumont-British Studios in Lime Grove, Shepherd's Bush, London, and the Minack Theatre in Porthcurno in Cornwall, England. The final concert scenes were filmed at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Lockwood had not played piano since school but learned how to play

96-482: A resort in Cornwall . Not wanting to be recognised, she introduces herself as Lissa. She is soon befriended by Tom Tanner ( Tom Walls ), a salty old Yorkshireman, on government assignment to investigate mines. He sees her sadness, but does not pry. She meets Kit Firth ( Stewart Granger ), a brash young engineer, and they form an association. She does not know Kit will soon be blind due to a war injury. The only one who knows

120-473: A short story by J. W. Drawbell , the film is about a concert pianist who, after learning that she is dying of heart failure, decides to spend her last days in Cornwall . While there, she meets a former RAF pilot who is going blind, and soon a romantic attraction forms. Released in the United States as A Lady Surrenders , this wartime melodrama produced by Gainsborough Pictures was filmed on location at

144-422: A world tour and may not see him again. Despite his profession of love, Lissa leaves, heartbroken. In the coming weeks she travels the world, entertaining the troops. Meanwhile, Kit proposes to Judy and she accepts, but their relationship lacks passion. Despite Tom's advice to her to accept the truth and not cheat another woman out of the love she deserves, Judy insists she will not give up Kit. Sometime later, Lissa

168-637: Is Judy ( Patricia Roc ), his childhood friend who is secretly in love with him. Meanwhile, Tom arranges for a piano to be provided for Lissa and she begins composing,(music later to become famous as the Cornish Rhapsody) inspired by her new environment and by Kit. Later, Kit introduces Lissa to Judy, who is working on an open-air play. Judy persuades Tom to invest in her production of The Tempest . Kit and Lissa's romance grows but, whenever things become serious, Kit backs away. Lissa grows increasingly frustrated, especially after he refuses Tom's offer to supervise

192-501: Is performing at the Royal Albert Hall . After her final number, she spots Kit in the wings in his RAF uniform, and runs into his arms before fainting. When she recovers, she sees Judy. Recognising that he will always love Lissa, Judy announces, to Kit's surprise, that they will not be getting married and leaves abruptly – Kit never belonged to her. Lissa finally reveals she only has months to live. Kit tells her they must take what happiness they can. Arliss admitted gaining inspiration from

216-769: Is the Garrison Theatre at Hurst Castle in the New Forest National Park . Created by servicemen in 1939, the proscenium arch still bears the badge and grenades of the Royal Artillery , and the curtains still hang from an original galvanised gas pipe. Shows are presented from time to time by the Friends of Hurst Castle. Love Story (1944 film) Love Story is a 1944 British black-and-white romance film directed by Leslie Arliss and starring Margaret Lockwood , Stewart Granger , and Patricia Roc . Based on

240-633: The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS), with the CSE likewise re-branding as BFBS Live Events . The first big wartime variety concert organised by ENSA was broadcast by the BBC to the Empire and local networks from RAF Hendon in north London on 17 October 1939. Among the entertainers appearing on the bill were Adelaide Hall , The Western Brothers and Mantovani . A newsreel of this concert showing Hall singing " We're Going to Hang out

264-551: The Minack Theatre in Porthcurno in Cornwall, England. Concert pianist Felicity Crichton Lissa Campbell ( Margaret Lockwood ) leaves her successful music career to devote herself to the British war effort. She applies to be in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force , part of the RAF , but is rejected for health reasons. She then learns that she has a heart condition and does not have long to live. Determined to live her final months fully, she goes to

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288-480: The British stage and screen whose career began in 1905, Walls appeared in Love Story toward the end of his life. Patricia Roc was in some ways the more desirable of the two romantic choices, according to Arnold, who noted that "our eyes go to her more than to Lockwood whenever the two share the screen." Film scholar William K. Everson wrote that the film "enabled the housewives, themselves much put upon, to wallow in

312-572: The Washing on the Siegfried Line " accompanied by Mantovani and His Orchestra exists. Many members of ENSA later had careers in the entertainment industry after the war, including actors Terry-Thomas , Peter Sellers and Kenneth Connor . Tap and acrobatic dancer Vivienne Hole, stage name Vivienne Fayre, a civilian aged 19, was the only ENSA member killed in the war. On 23 January 1945 in Normandy , she

336-552: The acronym ENSA was "Every Night Something Awful" . ENSA plays a modest role in the film Love Story (1944) in which Margaret Lockwood stars as a concert pianist who makes an ENSA tour to North Africa and the Mediterranean region. The film Desert Mice (1959) follows the fictional escapades of an ENSA troop with Sid James assigned to the Afrika Korps . The only known ENSA theatre to have survived in its original condition

360-401: The concerto for realism in her performance. She practiced for hours every day with Harriet Cohen , who performed on the soundtrack. "In the end I was able to play with not too many mistakes," wrote Lockwood. She wrote that she and Roc had to "slap each other's faces constantly, til we both ached." Stewart Granger was making Waterloo Road at the same time as this film. He says Gainsborough

384-408: The doctors estimated his chances of surviving it were 100 to one, and that Judy had talked him out of it. Lissa gets Judy to admit she views blindness as a godsend; Kit would have to turn to her. They agree Lissa will leave him if Judy persuades Kit to have the operation. After Kit leaves for surgery, Judy and her company prepare for their play. For the premiere, Judy is unable to go on until she hears

408-484: The reopening of a mine in which Kit has found much-needed molybdenum , and she finally breaks up with him. Kit confesses to Judy that he has never met anyone as understanding as Lissa. The next day a mining accident traps Tom and his crew. When Kit descends the mine, he too becomes trapped but is able to escape and rescue them, proving he is not a coward. When Lissa finds him practising reading Braille , everything falls into place. She urges him to have surgery, but he says

432-437: The results of the imminent surgery. Lissa placates the audience for the delay by performing her new composition inspired by Kit. During her performance, she is overwhelmed by the same fear, and faints. When Lissa recovers, she is reassured that Kit is well. When Judy thanks her for giving up Kit, Lissa admits that she is not giving up much—because she is dying. True to her word, she says goodbye to Kit, saying she will be going on

456-577: The same studio as Love Story , and also starring Stewart Granger). The biggest British hits of the year were This Happy Breed , with runners up being Fanny By Gaslight , The Way Ahead and Love Story . In his review of the DVD release, Jeremy Arnold excused the film's overly melodramatic storyline and lack of realism and appreciated the context in which the film was released. "For wartime British audiences", Arnold wrote, "a melodramatic romance dealing with death, heroism and sacrifice, lushly photographed amidst

480-426: The shores of Cornwall, must have served as a shot in the arm." Arnold found the film to be "so skillfully made that what seems like contrived melodrama in the abstract comes off more as just a sweeping romantic aura on screen." Arnold praised the acting in the film, writing that Lockwood "delivers a solid performance" and that the supporting actors, Tom Walls and Patricia Roc, stole the film. A well-known comic actor of

504-527: The work of CSE before his performance. This article about a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This United Kingdom military article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This World War II article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Entertainments National Service Association The Entertainments National Service Association ( ENSA )

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528-559: Was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II . ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes . In 1946 it was re-named to Combined Services Entertainment (CSE) operating under the Services Sound and Vision Corporation (SSVC), until 2 March 2020, when the SSVC re-branded to

552-468: Was being driven between shows as a passenger aboard a truck carrying stage scenery which strayed into a minefield. She was buried with full military honours in Sittard War Cemetery. Despite many extremely talented entertainers working for ENSA, the organisation was necessarily spread thin over the vast area it had to cover. Thus many entertainments were substandard, and the popular translation of

576-630: Was bombed while making Love Story , which he later called "a load of crap – and a smash hit!" The film was very popular at the British box office. According to Kinematograph Weekly the 'biggest winners' at the box office in 1944 Britain were For Whom the Bell Tolls , This Happy Breed , The Song of Bernadette , Going My Way , This Is the Army , Jane Eyre , The Story of Dr Wassell , Cover Girl , White Cliffs of Dover , Sweet Rosie O'Grady and Fanny By Gaslight (the latter being from

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