34-455: The Gay Lord Quex may refer to: The Gay Lord Quex (play) , an 1899 play by Arthur Wing Pinero The Gay Lord Quex (1917 film) , a British silent film adaptation directed by Maurice Elvey The Gay Lord Quex (1919 film) , an American silent film adaptation directed by Harry Beaumont Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
68-464: A different view of Pinero's work: "the reason for choosing this play to revive is baffling". In Punch , Sheridan Morley commented that Gielgud had rightly been trying for years to get the play revived. Morley continued: "the play is less than perfect, which is to say it's marginally worse than The Importance of Being Earnest , but still more stylish and more intriguing than any comedy I can think of written between Wilde's and Private Lives which
102-472: A discreditable past, and a young woman who, though it be for a good motive, has descended to immodesty and mean cunning". The Bishop of Wakefield , who had not seen it, denounced The Gay Lord Quex as "The most immoral play that ever disgraced the stage of this country". The theatrical newspaper The Era promptly ridiculed the bishop and pointed out that the play depicted a formerly wicked man renouncing his old ways and turning to constancy and virtue. When
136-529: A palmistry practice in London and enjoyed a wide following of famous clients from around the world, including famous celebrities like Mark Twain , W. T. Stead , Sarah Bernhardt , Mata Hari , Oscar Wilde , Grover Cleveland , Thomas Edison , the Prince of Wales , General Kitchener , William Ewart Gladstone , and Joseph Chamberlain . So popular was Cheiro as a "society palmist" that even those who were not believers in
170-424: A way to supplement my income from doing magic and mental shows. When I started I did not believe in palmistry. But I knew that to "sell" it I had to act as if I did. After a few years I became a firm believer in palmistry. One day the late Stanley Jaks, who was a professional mentalist and a man I respected, tactfully suggested that it would make an interesting experiment if I deliberately gave readings opposite to what
204-493: Is all of forty years". The play was twice adapted into silent films : a British one in 1917 , directed by Maurice Elvey , with Vanbrugh reprising her role, and an American one in 1919 , directed by Harry Beaumont , starring Tom Moore . An early television production of excerpts from the play, directed by Royston Morley , was broadcast by the BBC in April 1938. Morley also directed
238-530: Is an 1899 comedy play by the British playwright Arthur Wing Pinero . It depicts the vicissitudes of a reformed philanderer attempting to embark on monogamy. The original production provoked controversy, some critics finding the plot at best questionable and at worst immoral. The play premiered at the Globe Theatre , London, on 8 April 1899, and ran for 300 performances. It was produced by John Hare , who also played
272-432: Is impressed to find that her motives are not mercenary and that she is simply determined that he shall not marry Muriel. He points out that he has locked the door, and that if Sophy is discovered to be alone with him in a bedroom her fiancé would assuredly break off their engagement. Any scandal she causes will therefore be as damaging to her as to him. He convinces her that he is truly reformed and she promises not to stand in
306-493: Is the pseudoscientific practice of fortune-telling through the study of the palm . Also known as palm reading , chiromancy , chirology or cheirology , the practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those who practice palmistry are generally called palmists , hand readers , hand analysts , or chirologists . There are many—and often conflicting—interpretations of various lines and palmar features across various teachings of palmistry. Palmistry
340-716: Is widely viewed as a pseudoscience due to various contradictions between different interpretations and the lack of evidence for palmistry's predictions. Palmistry is a practice common to many different places on the Eurasian landmass; it has been practiced in the cultures of Sumer, Babylonia, Arabia, Canaan, Persia, India , Nepal, Tibet and China. The acupuncturist Yoshiaki Omura describes its roots in Hindu astrology (known in Sanskrit as jyotish ), Chinese Yijing ( I Ching ), and Roma fortune tellers . Several thousand years ago,
374-516: The 16th century the art of palmistry was actively suppressed by the Catholic Church . Both Pope Paul IV and Pope Sixtus V issued papal edicts against various forms of divination, including palmistry. Palmistry experienced a revival in the modern era starting with Captain Casimir Stanislas D'Arpentigny's publication La Chirognomie in 1839. The Chirological Society of Great Britain
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#1732891636170408-661: The Garrick in 1908, Sir John Hare's farewell production of the piece, in which he played Quex to the Sophy of Nancy Price . A production at His Majesty's in 1923 was directed by Basil Dean and starred George Grossmith Jr. as Quex, Irene Browne as Sophy and Viola Tree as the Duchess. In 1975 Sir John Gielgud directed a production at the Albery Theatre , with Daniel Massey in the title role, Judi Dench as Sophy and Siân Phillips as
442-555: The palmist Frank Pollitt; he practises in the next door premises and is Sophy's fiancé. Sophy is the foster-sister of the beautiful Muriel Eden, and is set against Muriel's intended marriage to the notorious middle-aged roué, the Marquess of Quex. Sophy does not believe that he is, as he claims, a reformed character and believes a more suitable husband for her foster-sister would be the charming young Captain Bastling. Lady Owbridge invites
476-554: The 'Wells' (1898). Although most of his stage works had been critical and commercial successes, Pinero wrote The Gay Lord Quex in the wake of a conspicuous failure, a "romantic musical drama", The Beauty Stone , written jointly with J. Comyns Carr to music by Arthur Sullivan ; it closed in July 1898 after only 50 performances. By contrast, The Gay Lord Quex , which opened at the old Globe Theatre on 8 April 1899 and ran until 9 February 1900, achieved 300 consecutive performances. After
510-508: The 1900 publication The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading by William Gurney Benham . In 1970, Parker Brothers published a game designed by Maxine Lucille Fiel called "Touch-Game of Palmistry" which allowed players to do "palm reading and analysis" through selecting cards that matched designated palm features. Scientific literature regards palmistry as a pseudoscientific or superstitious belief. Psychologist and noted skeptic Ray Hyman has written: I started reading palms in my teens as
544-496: The BBC's first post-war television production of the play, with Ronald Ward as Quex (1947). Later BBC television versions were transmitted in 1953 with André Morell as Quex, with Joyce Heron and Alan Wheatley ; and 1983, starring Anton Rodgers , Lucy Gutteridge and Hannah Gordon . BBC Radio broadcast versions of the play starring Peter Cushing (1954), Jack Hulbert (1964), and Nigel Patrick (1973). Palmist Palmistry
578-525: The Duchess. An American production in 1917 was presented at the Thirty-Ninth Street Theatre, New York, with John Drew Jr. as Quex and Margaret Illington as Sophy. The original production of the play sparked controversy. Some commentators objected to the plot. The Pall Mall Gazette praised the acting, found the plot implausible, and thought some playgoers would find the piece in questionable taste. The Standard regretted that at times
612-620: The Hindu sage Valmiki is thought to have written a book comprising 567 stanzas, the title of which translates in English as The Teachings of Valmiki Maharishi on Male Palmistry . Since ancient times, palmistry is considered to be a branch of Samudrika Shastra ( Sanskrit : सामुद्रिक शास्त्र) which included the studies of marks all over a person's body such as astrology and palmistry ( Hast-samudrika ), as well as phrenology ( kapal-samudrik ) and face reading ( physiognomy , mukh-samudrik ). From India,
646-631: The London run, Hare and his company took the piece on tour in the British provinces and, in November 1900, to New York, where it played at the Criterion Theatre . Sophy Fullgarney is a manicurist whose clients include the Countess of Owbridge and the Duchess of Strood. The former is elderly and kind; the latter is younger and romantically inclined. They are both also clients of "Valma", the professional name of
680-721: The action to 1923, but praised the author's "narrative power … a triumph of talent and a rare good tale". The theatre critic of The Observer felt that the piece lacked subtlety, but was not without dramatic effectiveness. Reviewing Gielgud's 1975 revival, Robert Cushman wrote in The Observer that the standard description of the play as a society drama was wrong, and that it was in fact "a social comedy with farcical interludes". Cushman praised Pinero's accomplished plotting and what he described as very funny dialogue, but found Dench's Sophy and Phillips's Duchess more completely convincing than Massey's Quex. In The Times , Jeremy Kingston, took
714-577: The art of palmistry spread to China, Tibet and to other countries in Europe . Palmistry also progressed independently in Greece where Anaxagoras practiced it. Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) reportedly discovered a treatise on the subject of palmistry on an altar of Hermes , which he then presented to Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C.E.), who took great interest in examining the character of his officers by analyzing
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#1732891636170748-555: The lines indicated. I tried this out with a few clients. To my surprise and horror my readings were just as successful as ever. Ever since then I have been interested in the powerful forces that convince us, reader and client alike, that something is so when it really isn't. Skeptics often include palmists on lists of alleged psychics who practice cold reading . Cold reading is the practice that allows readers of all kinds, including palmists, to appear psychic by using high-probability guessing and inferring details based on signals or cues from
782-453: The lines on their hands. A chapter of a 17th-century sex manual , misattributed to Aristotle, is occasionally incorrectly cited as being the treatise in question. The text it is not contained in his canonical works . In Renaissance magic , palmistry (known as "chiromancy") was classified as one of the seven "forbidden arts", along with necromancy , geomancy , aeromancy , pyromancy , hydromancy , and spatulamancy ( scapulimancy ). During
816-469: The occult had their hands read by him. The skeptical Mark Twain wrote in Cheiro's visitor's book that he had "exposed my character to me with humiliating accuracy". Edward Heron-Allen , an English polymath , published various works including the 1883 book, Palmistry: A Manual of Cheirosophy , which is still in print. There were attempts at formulating some sort of scientific basis for the art, most notably in
850-439: The other characters to her country house, where the Duchess, an old flame of Quex's, insists on his drinking a farewell glass of champagne in her room after dinner. It is a wholly innocent rendezvous, but would appear highly scandalous if others knew of it. Sophy spies on them, and is discovered. The Duchess hastily departs, leaving Quex and Sophy to confront each other. To avoid a scandal he attempts to bribe her to remain silent. He
884-504: The other person. Although some Christians condemn palmistry as a form of divination , Jewish and Christian traditions are largely ambivalent about divination in general. During the 16th century the Catholic Church condemned the practice of palmistry. However, there is a long tradition of practicing palmistry within both Jewish and Christian mysticism , and some practitioners, such as Comte C. de Saint-Germain, have argued that
918-415: The piece opened on Broadway , The New-York Evening Post concluded its review, "There should be no question of the success of Mr Hare's venture. He has an excellent company, and a play which, for unconventionality, deft workmanship and real interest, stands out as conspicuously as gratefully in the dreary wastes of the contemporary drama." The revivals in the 20th century received mixed notices, both for
952-418: The play and the players. Reviewing the 1923 production the dramatic critic of The Times praised the play: "The dramatist, you feel throughout, has a story to tell, means to tell it for all it is worth, and will never let you down. The critic found Grossmith's Quex rather too self-effacing, but praised the two principal actresses. In The Manchester Guardian , Ivor Brown ridiculed Dean's decision to update
986-404: The plot, finding that it hinged on "a moment of genuine ethical exaltation"; it concluded, "Mr Pinero's genius is as strong as ever". The Times commented that intellectually Pinero stood alone among British dramatists, and praised the "undeniable humanity and interest" of the piece, but wished it had sprung from something loftier than "a combat of wits between a roué , who has to shuffle out of
1020-413: The theme of the piece was "not very wholesome", but judged the best parts of it striking and effective. The Morning Post expressed minor reservations about the moral tone of the play, but was otherwise full of praise, making comparisons with Sheridan's The School For Scandal . The Graphic expressed no moral qualms and judged the play "brilliantly successful". The Era was also untroubled by
1054-496: The title The Gay Lord Quex . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Gay_Lord_Quex&oldid=902887413 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages The Gay Lord Quex (play) The Gay Lord Quex
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1088-630: The title role. Others in the cast included Charles Cherry , Frank Gillmore , May Fortescue , Irene Vanbrugh and Mabel Terry-Lewis . The play was revived in the West End in five productions during the 20th century and has been adapted for the cinema, radio and television. By 1899 Pinero was established as a leading playwright, with a series of long-running plays from the mid 1880s onwards. His works ranged from farces such as The Magistrate (1885) and Dandy Dick (1887) to more serious pieces including The Second Mrs Tanqueray (1893) and Trelawny of
1122-504: The way of his marriage to Muriel. Quex is concerned that the handsome young Captain Bastling is a rival for Muriel's affections. Sophy tricks Bastling into revealing that he is as dissolute a philanderer as Quex used to be. Muriel sees how untrustworthy he is, and prefers the reformed Quex. The play has had several West End revivals. The first was at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1902, followed by productions at Wyndham's Theatre in 1905 and
1156-637: Was founded in London by Katharine St. Hill in 1889 with the stated aim to advance and systematise the art of palmistry and to prevent charlatans from abusing the art. Edgar de Valcourt-Vermont (Comte C. de Saint-Germain) founded the American Chirological Society in 1897. A pivotal figure in the modern palmistry movement was the Irish William John Warner, known by his sobriquet , Cheiro . After studying under gurus in India , he set up
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