Ann Stephens
Ann Stephens (21 May 1931 – 15 July 1966) was a British child actress and singer, popular in the 1940s. She was born in London. In July 1941 she recorded several songs, including a popular version of "The Teddy Bears' Picnic",[1][2] "Dicky Bird Hop" (with Franklin Engelmann) and a setting by Harold Fraser-Simson of one of A. A. Milne's verses about Christopher Robin, "Changing Guard at Buckingham Palace,"[3] which was often featured on the BBC Light Programme's Children's Favourites. In the same year she played Alice in musical recordings based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
Later in the 1940s, Stephens appeared in several films, including In Which We Serve (1942), Fanny By Gaslight (1944) and The Upturned Glass (1947). In the 1950s she turned her attention to television drama. A surviving Pathe newsreel of 1945 records her visit to the Hospital for Sick Children in Great Ormond Street, London, for which her gramophone recordings had raised £8,000.[4]
Selected discography
- "Ann's Nursery Rhymes" (based on Mother Goose rhymes)[5]
- "Buckingham Palace" (lyrics by A. A. Milne, music by Harold Fraser-Simson)[6]
- "Christopher Robin (Vespers)" (from A. A. Milne's When We Were Very Young; conducted by Clifford Greenwood)[7]
- "Dicky Bird Hop" (written by Ron Gourley, conducted by Henry Geehl)[8]
- Songs set to poems from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland[9]
- "The Teddy Bears' Picnic" (music by John Walter Bratton, lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy, conducted by Henry Geehl[10]
- "Wedding of the Gingerbreads" (conducted by Clifford Greenwood)[11]
- "King Wenceslas - A Christmas Play" (with Arthur Askey and Florence Desmond, narrated by Frank Phillips, music by Charles Williams) HMV C3640/1 Nov. 1947
Selected filmography
- In Which We Serve (1942)
- Dear Octopus (1943)
- Fanny by Gaslight (1944)
- They Were Sisters (1945)
- The Upturned Glass (1947)
- No Room at the Inn (1948)
- The Franchise Affair (1951)
- The Good Beginning (1953)
- Son of a Stranger (1957)
References
- ^ Ann Stephens at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Ann Stephens - Teddy Bear's Picnic - YouTube
- ^ "Buckingham Palace" (Ann Stephens, 1941), YouTube
- ^ [1]
- ^ Ann Stephens - Ann's Nursery Rhymes - YouTube
- ^ "Buckingham Palace" (Ann Stephens, 1941), YouTube
- ^ Ann Stephens - Christopher Robin (Vespers) - YouTube
- ^ Ann Stephens - Dicky Bird Hop - YouTube
- ^ Ann Stephens - Alice in Wonderland - YouTube
- ^ Ann Stephens - Teddy Bears Picnic - YouTube
- ^ Ann Stephens - Wedding of the Gingerbreads - YouTube
External links
- Ann Stephens at IMDb
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