Charles Dickens Novel Dombey and Son in 8 parts from 1959
http://www.mediafire.com/folder/m5mf1u1w7sy70/Dombey_and_Son_1959_(8)
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Charles Dickens Novel Dombey and Son in 8 parts from 1959
http://www.mediafire.com/folder/m5mf1u1w7sy70/Dombey_and_Son_1959_(8)
You need to be a member of Times Past to add comments!
Replies
Thank you
Thank you!
Thanks Mike.
I am in for a treat this weekend.
I was 10 years old when this was made and it's in better nick than I am.
Programme Guide (by Jim):
Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son
BBC Home Service: Children's Hour
To Paul Dombey, business is all and money can do anything. In the tight orbit of his daily life there is no room for dealing with emotions because emotion has no market value. He runs his family life as he runs his firm: coldly, calculatingly, and commercially. The only person he cares for is his little son, whom he wishes will follow him in his business as he did his father, while his motherless daughter Florence craves affection from her unloving father, who sees her only as a 'base coin that couldn't be invested'. As Dombey's callousness extends to others - from his defiant second wife Edith to Florence's admirer Walter Gay - he sows the seeds of his own destruction. Can this heartless businessman be redeemed?
A compelling depiction of a man imprisoned by his own pride, 'Dombey and Son' explores the devastating effects of emotional deprivation on a dysfunctional family and society as a whole.Adapted for radio by H. Oldfield Box in eight parts from Charles Dickens' seventh novel, "Dombey and Son" (full book title, rarely used, is "Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail and for Exportation"), published in monthly parts (October 1846 - April 1848).
Produced by Claire Chovil in London
1) 'Mr. Dombey's Dearest Wish is Fulfilled' (Sunday 18th October 1959 @ 5:20 p.m.)
Dombey sat in the corner of the darkened room in the great armchair at his wife's bedside, and Son, a babe newborn lay tucked up warm in a little basket bedstead, nearby. Mr. Dombey, usually so cold and self-contained, was exulting: At last, after ten years of marriage the one overwhelming desire of his life had been fulfilled....
With Ralph Truman [Mr. Paul Dombey], Judith Stott [Florence Dombey, Paul's Daughter], Dera Cooper [Mrs. Fanny Dombey, Paul's First Wife], Martin Starkie [Walter Gay, Sol's Nephew - the New Boy in the County House], Ivan Samson [Solomon Gills, a Ship's Instrument Maker; Proprietor of 'The Wooden Midshipman'], Norma Griffin [Susan Nipper, Companion to Florence], Mary O' Farrell [Mrs. Louisa Chick, Paul's Sister], Elizabeth Bradley [Mrs. Polly Toodle, called 'Mrs. Richards' by Mr. Dombey and his Sister; Hired as Wet-Nurse to Dombey's baby, Paul], Frederick Treves [Captain Ned Cuttle, a Friend of Solomon and Walter], Phoebe Hodgson [A Very Ugly and Dirty Old Woman], Roger Grainger [Towlinson, the Dombey's Footman], and Carleton Hobbs [The Narrator].
Other parts played by members of the cast.
Size: 27,390 kb kbps: 128 kHz: 44 Time: 29 min. 12 sec. (Mono)
2) 'Captain Cuttle to the Rescue' (Sunday 25th October 1959 @ 5:20 p.m.)
Dombey & Son. The son whom Mr. Dombey had so long desired; his future partner in his great city trading house in whom all his selfish hopes and ambitions are now centered. The only person whom this cold-hearted man has ever really loved. Florence, his little daughter, he has always utterly disregarded. Since that memorable day when Florence had been lost and Walter Gay had so strangely found her, five years have passed. Florence is now eleven; little Paul, five. A warm, wistful, delicate child, though no one has dared even to whisper to his father that there is need for any uneasiness as to his health. And Mr. Dombey, his eyes set on the future, does not for a moment entertain such an idea.
Every evening when he comes home from the city, Paul is brought downstairs to his library and sits with him there by the fire, and a strange pair they make: Mr. Dombey, so erect and solemn, gazing at the blaze; the child with his old, old face and precocious conversation....
With Ralph Truman [Mr. Paul Dombey], Judith Stott [Florence Dombey, Paul's Daughter], Martin Starkie [Walter Gay, Solomon's Nephew], Ivan Samson [Solomon Gills, Proprietor of The Wooden Midshipman], Mary O' Farrell [Mrs. Louisa Chick, Paul's Sister], Frederick Treves [Captain Ned Cuttle, a Friend of Solomon and Walter], Marjorie Westbury [Paul Dombey Jr.], Vivienne Chatterton [Mrs. Pipchin, Brighton Boarding House Operator], Roger Grainger [Mr. Brogley, the Broker's Man], and Carleton Hobbs [The Narrator].
Other parts played by members of the cast.
Size: 27,762 kb kbps: 128 kHz: 44 Time: 29 min. 36 sec. (Mono)
3) 'Dr. Blimber's Establishment' (Sunday 1st November 1959 @ 5:20 p.m.)
Another year has passed and gradually, aided by the Brighton air, little Paul Dombey has grown stronger. He is still the strange, quiet, dreamy child he had been when first consigned to Mrs. Pipchin's care, but at least he can now dispense with his invalid carriage. Mr. Dombey views his improvement with more than satisfaction and has decided that Paul is now quite well enough for the next step in his education to be entered upon....
With Ralph Truman [Mr. Paul Dombey], Judith Stott [Florence Dombey, Paul's Daughter], Martin Starkie [Walter Gay, Solomon's Nephew], Norma Griffin [Susan Nipper, Companion to Florence], Frederick Treves [Captain Ned Cuttle, a Friend of Solomon and Walter], Marjorie Westbury [Paul Dombey Jr.], Vivienne Chatterton [Mrs. Pipchin, Brighton Boarding House Operator], Paul Hansard [James Carker, Mr. Dombey's Manager], Robert Grant [Mr. Toots, Scatterbrained Classmate of Paul Dombey Jr at Dr Blimber's Academy], Lionel Marson [Doctor Blimber, Headmaster at Blimber's Academy in Brighton], Hilda Schroder [Miss Cornelia Blimber, the Doctor's Daughter and Schoolmistress at the Academy], and Carleton Hobbs [The Narrator].
Other parts played by members of the cast.
Size: 27,748 kb kbps: 128 kHz: 44 Time: 29 min. 35 sec. (Mono)
4) 'The Midshipman Receives Company' (Sunday 8th November 1959 @ 5:20 p.m.)
Little Paul Dombey was dead and Walter Gay, by a strange chance, had actually been present at his death bed. On learning this, Captain Cuttle was more convinced than ever that Mr. Dombey, far from disliking Walter as Walter himself believed, had regarded him with special favour. And thus, when the Captain did break to old Sol Gills for tidings that Walter was to be sent to Dombey's offices in Barbados, he drew such a rosy picture of Walter's future in the firm that old Sol, who had, at first, been stunned by the news, began to think that instead of being saddened, he ought to be transported with joy....
With Ralph Truman [Mr. Paul Dombey], Frederick Treves [Captain Ned Cuttle, a Friend of Solomon and Walter], Ivan Samson [Solomon Gills, Proprietor of 'The Wooden Midshipman'], Martin Starkie [Walter Gay, Solomon's Nephew], Judith Stott [Florence Dombey, Paul's Daughter], Norma Griffin [Susan Nipper, Companion to Florence], Paul Hansard [James Carker, Mr. Dombey's Manager], Robert Grant [Mr. Toots, Friend of Florence Dombey], Roger Grainger [Towlinson, the Dombey's Footman], and Carleton Hobbs [The Narrator].
Other parts played by members of the cast.
Size: 27,658 kb kbps: 128 kHz: 44 Time: 29 min. 29 sec. (Mono)
5) 'Edith' (Sunday 15th November 1959 @ 5:20 p.m.)
With Walter's ship, the Son and Heir, long overdue at Barbados, and his uncle, old Sol Gills, gone away without a word of warning, even to his friend, Captain Cuttle. The Captain himself had moved into the empty Wooden Midshipman and there he had stayed, faithfully keeping the place shipshape and Sol's instruments in the shop brightly polished. Refusing to abandon hope when the day would come when Walter or his uncle would return, or both of them. And there we find him, one evening, when the door of the shop opens and a pale, lanky young man sidles into it....
With Ralph Truman [Mr. Paul Dombey], Elizabeth London [Edith Dombey (formally, the Young Widow Granger), Paul's 2nd Wife], Robert Grant [Mr. Toots, Friend of Florence Dombey], Frederick Treves [Captain Ned Cuttle, a Friend of Solomon and Walter], Judith Stott [Florence Dombey, Paul's Daughter], Ivan Samson [Solomon Gills, Proprietor of 'The Wooden Midshipman'], Paul Hansard [James Carker, Mr. Dombey's Manager], Betty Hardy [Mrs. Skewton, Edith's Mother], Roger Grainger [Towlinson, the Dombey's Footman], and Carleton Hobbs [The Narrator].
Size: 26,850 kb kbps: 128 kHz: 44 Time: 28 min. 38 sec. (Mono)
6) 'Miss Nipper Speaks Out' (Sunday 22nd November 1959 @ 5:20 p.m.)
A husband resolved to dominate and be obeyed; a wife determined not to be subdued. Such was the marriage of Mr. Dombey and that beautiful young widow, Edith Granger. It was not, however, until two months after their return from their honeymoon that the first open disagreement between them occurred. Mr. Dombey had given a big dinner by way of a house-warming. His guests included a number of important people, many of them valued associates in his business. But to them all, Edith had behaved with a haughty aloofness which had not escaped her husband's eye. And now, with the exception of Mr. Carker, his manager, all the guests had departed....
With Ralph Truman [Mr. Paul Dombey], Elizabeth London [Edith Dombey, Paul's 2nd Wife], Robert Grant [Mr. Toots, Friend of Florence Dombey], Judith Stott [Florence Dombey, Paul's Daughter], Paul Hansard [James Carker, Mr. Dombey's Manager], Norma Griffin [Susan Nipper, Companion to Florence], Frederick Treves [Captain Ned Cuttle, a Friend of Solomon and Walter], Vivienne Chatterton [Mrs. Pipchin, Dombey's Housekeeper], Betty Hardy [Mrs. Skewton, Edith's Mother], and Carleton Hobbs [The Narrator].
Size: 27,642 kb kbps: 128 kHz: 44 Time: 29 min. 28 sec. (Mono)
7) 'The Flight of Florence' (Sunday 29th November 1959 @ 5:20 p.m.)
After her father's accident, from which he made a complete recovery, Florence, who was now nearing her 17th birthday, entered upon a period of loneliness greater that she had ever yet had to endure. Susan Nipper had gone; Edith, her stepmother, no longer displayed for her her old, open affection. She dared not, for fear of making Florence the innocent victim of her father's anger. And Florence, while forbearing to judge, could no longer blind herself to the fact that her father's second marriage was a wretched one. It was the evening before the second anniversary of that marriage, the three of them were sitting at dinner and Mr. Carker with them. Mr. Carker, indeed, had become a very frequent visitor to the house both during his master's presence and during his absence. The desert had been placed on the table and all the servants had
withdrawn....
With Ralph Truman [Mr. Paul Dombey], Judith Stott [Florence Dombey, Paul's Daughter], Frederick Treves [Captain Ned Cuttle, a Friend of Solomon and Walter], Elizabeth London [Edith Dombey, Paul's 2nd Wife], Paul Hansard [James Carker, Mr. Dombey's Manager], Vivienne Chatterton [Mrs. Pipchin, Dombey's Housekeeper], Robert Grant [Mr. Toots, Friend of Florence Dombey], and Carleton Hobbs [The Narrator].
Size: 27,506 kb kbps: 128 kHz: 44 Time: 29 min. 20 sec. (Mono)
8) 'Conclusion' (Sunday 6th December 1959 @ 5:20 p.m.)
Never in all his life had Captain Cuttle's knobbly, weather-beaten countenance glowed and glistened with such deep content as that evening with Walter's return to 'The Wooden Midshipman' when he sat stationary at the tea board, looking from Florence to Walter and Walter to Florence. There they both were, brought together in this astonishing fashion, those two whom he had always regarded as made for each other. And so they sat until it grew late talking of Walter's adventures and his miraculous escape from drowning; talking of poor uncle Sol and sadly regretting his absence. But at length, when the clock struck eleven, Walter got up....
With Ralph Truman [Mr. Paul Dombey], Judith Stott [Florence Dombey, Paul's Daughter], Martin Starkie [Walter Gay, Solomon's Nephew], Frederick Treves [Captain Ned Cuttle, a Friend of Solomon and Walter], Robert Grant [Mr. Toots, Friend of Florence Dombey], Ivan Samson [Solomon Gills, Proprietor of The Wooden Midshipman], Norma Griffin [Susan Nipper, Companion to Florence], and Carleton Hobbs [The Narrator].
Size: 27,716 kb kbps: 128 kHz: 44 Time: 29 min. 33 sec. (Mono)
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Dickens' seventh novel, illustrated by Phiz, was the first with his new publishers, Bradbury and Evans. Dickens worried about his new publisher's abilities to sell his work but the new novel's monthly installments were soon selling at up to 40,000 copies a month. William Thackeray, whose monthly installments of "Vanity Fair" were being sold by Bradbury and Evans during this same time, was selling at best only 5000 copies a month.
In "Dombey and Son", considered Dickens first artistically mature work, he began using notes he called "mems" to outline how the novel would progress. It was after "Dombey and Son" was published that Dickens' reputation as a world class author was established.
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My favourite Dickens: Dombey and Son
By John Mullan
guardian.co.uk, Friday 23 September 2011 22.50 BST
Monthly serial, October 1846-April 1848
"What was a girl to Dombey and Son!" Despite its intransigently masculine title, "Dombey and Son" is the one Dickens novel apart from "Bleak House" with a heroine, Florence Dombey. And Florence, made courageous by the death of her mother and the neglect of her proud, rich father, is an altogether sprightlier protagonist than dutiful, grateful Esther Summerson.
Mr Dombey, her father, is one of Dickens's emotionally cauterised men of wealth and power, rich in worldly appurtenances and poor in any concession to humanity. He thinks that he sits on top of society, but in fact he understands little about the commercial forces that have made him and will destroy him. The great power in "Dombey and Son" is that of the railways. An early chapter gives an unforgettable description of the building of the railway – a kind of "earthquake" that has hit Camden Town. Later chapters reveal a nation transformed by and utterly enamoured of this new power. "There were railway hotels, office-houses, lodging-houses, boarding-houses; railway plans, maps, views … There was even railway time observed in clocks, as if the sun itself had given in." Trains are crucial to the elaborate plot.
Like all great Dickens novels it has really satisfying baddies. Major "Joe" Bagstock, one of those who predates on the loftily oblivious Mr Dombey, is a sinister, blue-faced old soldier with the disconcerting habit of talking of himself in the third person to an invisible confidante. "He's hard-hearted, Sir, is Joe – he's tough, Sir, tough, and de-vilish sly!" Devilishly, he arranges the marriage of Dombey to his rival in hard-grained pride, Edith Granger. It is a marriage made in hell, and the description of the wedding, like the decription of Paul Dombey's christening earlier, is one of those unforgettably terrible and comic Dickensian set-pieces.
The novel's big villain is Dombey's "manager" (and rarely has so much nastiness been coaxed from that word), the "dainty" Mr Carker. Carker, Dombey's "Grand Vizier", his wonderfully white teeth and a smile that never extends beyond his mouth. He is the loyal apparatchik who would love to destroy and replace his master. "His manner towards Mr Dombey was deeply conceived and perfectly expressed. He was familiar with him, in the very extremity of his sense of the distance between them." Those on the lookout for sentimentality will be able to find it, but in fact the novel is remarkable for its attention to failures of feeling. "What do we live for but sympathy!" exclaims the monstrous Mrs Skewton, who pimps her daughter to rich men looking for a trophy wife. Dombey is half-glimpsed in grief after his son's death in childhood, but must dignify his feelings by hating those of others. Anyone else displaying grief becomes "a bidder against him".
Dombey treads proudly towards his doom with the author's unheard warnings ringing in his ears. Dickens is in among his characters, cajoling and admonishing. As ever, he energetically escapes the confines of literary decorum. Dombey and Son has all the satirical indignation of his early fiction – but new shades of darkness and a new narrative complexity. Halfway through his career, it was his first great novel. "David Copperfield" came next.
Thanks for info. My favorite Dickens Novel
Thank you, Mike.
Thank you Mike, I am sure I will enjoy these.