1. The Making of Kipps
HG Wells
Kipps
Episode 1 of 5
Arthur ‘Artie’ Kipps leaves school – and his first love Ann – when he’s apprenticed to a draper in Folkestone.
Starring Paul Daneman, Mark Straker, Nickolas Grace, Kathryn Hurlbutt and Rosalind Ayres.
1905 novel by HG Wells telling the story of a young man’s battle to improve his lot in life.
Dramatised in five-parts by Michelene Wandor.
HG Wells … Paul Daneman
Kipps … Mark Straker
Chitterlow … Nickolas Grace
Miss Walshingham … Kathryn Hurlbutt
Emily … Rosalind Ayres
Uncle …. John Hollis
Aunt … Jane Wenham
Sid Pornick … Michael Jenner
Ann … Moir Leslie
Driver … Jon Strickland
Mr Shalford .. Michael Bilton
Carshot … Christopher Biggins
Buggins … John Webb
Flo … Helen Atkinson-Wood
Chester Coote …. Christopher Good
Henry Walshingham … Spencer Banks
Miss Lomax … Margot Boyd
Music by Ilona Sekacz.
Director: Martin Jenkins.
Kips by HG Wells dramatized by Michelin wander music by Alona seat with Mark ster as Kips Nicholas Grace as Cho Katherine hbert as Helen and Paul Damon as HG Wells the Storyteller episode one The Making of Kips until he was nearly arrived at manhood it did not become clear to Arthur Kips how it was that he had come into the care of an aunt and uncle instead of having a father and mother like other little boys he had a vague
Feeling that a certain wistful face that looked out at him from a plush and guilt picture frame was the face of his mother he knew that she had provided for him to be sent to a certain rather smart school in Hastings and he vaguely thought that
Perhaps she was dead and that was why his uncle and Aunt never spoke of her but like many boys concerned only with the moment he did not worry about what he did not know meanwhile his aunt and uncle were the immediate gods of his world with arbitrary injunctions and
High if sometimes inscrutable standards can more P when you fin fin what’s on your plate what drat and rabbit what on Earth is that noise for oh don’t gobbley it’s not nice and don’t talk to your mouth full you heard your uncle now hold your knife
Proper or I’ll W your knuckles you don’t want that do you I won mind your manners then and yet his uncle always finished up his gravy with his knife very strange there were however small compensations his uncle kept a shop which held a mine of treasure China and stationer needles and Cottons
Bathing suits tents and even trumpets which he was allowed to hold but not to blow I’ll finish my te can I go to play please long as you ain’t going to play with that little Sid pornic from next door no that old pornic a blaring
Jackass I swear he makes to beat his M until the wind’s in the right direction to blow the dust right in my shop can I go then oh all right go out the back way and you’ll avoid the pornic you’ll have to say your catechism later man oh that
Boy always thought of his aunt as lean rather worried looking and prone to a certain obliquity of cap he thought of his uncle as massive many chinned and careless about his buttons they neither visited nor received visitors being suspicious of everyone according to the English ideal they kept themselves to
Themselves Kips being of a sociable disposition could only make friends through the sin of Disobedience Lo P it oh L KS I brought my sister an and she’s brought her doll hello s sister hello AE what are you doing sth watching them goats look at them they gone off
Scrp yeah that goat looks like you’re dead he don’t you do you just watch it you know what a bluring jackass is no it’s what my uncle called your dead did he that’s nasty is it sounds right to me you better swallow that or all fight you
You couldn’t fight me I could we we want to be on me back couldn’t could could good well then get your fist out now would you want to fight for you keep out it Come yeah you got a black ey why you got one and all my nose is bleeding so’s mine whose’s one then I don’t know perhaps we both won a yeah that’s it we both won I won and you won friends friends Shake on it right there R what you think of that I
Think fighting is really stupid oh yeah does your doll think fighting stupid of course she does we’ll give her a chance to be there oh leave her leave my doll alone you get a black eye like we got leave off Sid I’ll tell Dad
A new work here what you D work here oh yeah but put newspaper damn Tres really don’t at all yeah I hope you ain’t T my jacket let’s have a look no it’s not tall it’s just a bit dirty yeah I’ll brush it off you all look mess so do you do you
Want to fight about it n enough fighting for that if we was real soldiers you know we’d look a mess all the time me m wouldn’t like that nor I aren’t we best not be soldiers then eh what are we going to do now then eh let’s go down on the beach play
Smugglers and wanted men we can go on that old wreck on the sand Right all this was possible of course only during the holidays during term time Kips attended the Cavendish Academy for Young gentleman a middleclass establishment in Hastings whose principle was a creature of indifferent digestion and temper and who succeeded in teaching the boys very little indeed Beyond reading aloud from the Bible and
Learning long passages of obscure poetry Kips had to endure dreary walks when the boys marched Two by Two in dismal wet weather the holidays were very different from school they were free they were spacious and though he never knew it in these words they had an element of
Beauty won give me dinner cold R pudding and plums oh yeah me can I have some of course in the memories of his Boyhood these days Shawn like strips of stained glass window in a dreary waste of Scholastic walls hey what’s that K it’s the original uron
War cry how’d you know it’s a deadly secret or tell it night up our state TR in the lane behind the church up state it is in the lane beyond the church TR the tra was considered to render this sentence incomprehensible to the uninitiated small boys are so dambly
Loud here don’t swear sorry GS how’d you know my name who are you Mr HG Wells At Your Service Master giips oh I’ve seen you before you’ve been following me around haven’t you I’m interested in you get off I know all about you oh yeah indeed possibly more than you know yourself go
Off at that moment there appeared Along by the churchyard wall a girl in a short frock brown haired with dark blue eyes an pornic she whose doll Sid had broken don’t you know that never you mind but you sh she’s going to say something to
You AE I come to tell you said it’ll be late father’s made him dust all the boxes in the shop what Earth for I don’t know oh Sid left school now you know I know you left school just about to this is going to be a sea
Captain what you going to V what uh see Captain look I can hop nice I can run as well can you run I can run fast oh I can run I’ll run you any day right then run you now far is that tree over there right you ready I’ll give you a
Start from here right then you ready ready right off I won t we got here together I got you first I’ll touch the tree first you never you run it again then I don’t mind you don’t run bad you know well I suppose you do give me a head start
Hello she oh you better look out young man mother wants you to go home out with the dishes no I better go then yeah what about that race I got to go home Tar you ain’t be racing her oh it wasn’t a problem a race I’ll give her a start
She can’t run anyway she’s a girl as the summer passed Kips found himself thinking more and more of Anne you left school what you going to be he couldn’t explain why but every detail about her face her hair every word remained with him even when he was engaged in far more
Important activities such as joining Sid on the old wreck washed up on the beach now hold on AE this ship has been taking PR Visions to war and it’s got shot at and it’s sinking fast we are Sailors Brave to the end your sister ain’t a bad
Sort I clout a lot oh yeah don’t it stink rotten must have been the weat the ship was carrying yeah watch out yeah Pirates there on the horizon grab this masket have at you you lousy Pirates take that H now we’re Shipwrecked floating along without food or water hagged upon
Stagnant ocean Isn’t it nice having sisters no ain’t why not and they know too much I get out of doing things sisters is rot that’s what sisters is girls if you like but sisters nah but ain’t sisters girls no well of course I didn’t mean well I wasn’t exactly
Thinking you got a girl well sort of well not I got a girl no I have but you don’t know who she is who is it then tell us secret secret dying solemn D solemn swe by neptun I swe by Neptune it begins with a name yeah M Jaris get out
She ain’t no girl SI py she’s the vicker’s daughter she is true TR but she’s got a bicycle cross my heart and hope to die well does she know she’s your girl I die for that girl AR Kips if she was to ask me to check myself in this sea for her I
Would well I read this book see it’s a love story now there’s a chap in it just like me a baronet is a person of volcanic passions concealed beneath a demeanor of icy cynicism have you noticed how I have habit of gritting me teeth course I have well I have and as
So does he I’d like to have a girl just to talk to her there well I’m getting angry got any rast pudding left no we finished it all oh off for me te what about us being Shipwrecked we’ve been rescued can as he and Sid walked home Kips
Thought how he would like to live happily in a wrecked ship with Anne and run races and eat chocolates and fried sprats see you later aie bye as giips passed the church there was Anne herself her hair dark against the vast masses of flaming Crimson flowers Kip stopped with
A Resolute shyness hello an hello art Kips I’ve been thinking I like you a I like you ay I wish you was my girl then I say will you be my girl would you like to be my girl well yeah all right if you like Arty all
Right then then you are all right then what you going to do now you left school I’m going to be prentic to a draper in folon when next week oh I’ve got new trousers and a black coat and four new shirts and I got this idea I read in the
Magazine tibit actually that LVS give each other tokens what a token well you take something and divide it in two like you might take six and break it in two why should you do that it’s no good if it’s broke you divide it in two and then
You keep one bit each that’s what a token is look I’ve got a six P here I’ll show you I’ll use my not oh careful I’ll jamy finger oh it’s not oh good see the idea is I have off and you have off and when we’re
Separated you look at yours and I look at mine and we think of each other tell you what I know when your father keeps a file well I can have a go I’ll easily do it all right there you are a I do love you really I’ll do
Anything for you and I what Anna wish you let me can I kiss you that be silly aren you kid come on no it’s silly but what good it you be my girl if I can’t kiss you it’s silly I don’t want to well we might as well go home then
Suits me right then goodbye an see you aune I do love you a PO it Then came a time during which Anne was all together inaccessible Kip saw her on Sunday but she pretended not to see him because her mother was with her as the days went by he began to believe she had given him up forever he became feverishly anxious to see her but still
She was hidden then came the day he was to leave for Folkston in his new suit and Bowa with his uncle and Aunt he went to board the horse bus he was desperate at the thought he might not see Anne again there your sandwiches Aunt oh look after to yourself goad see you
Do your toone right then all aboard we’re on off goodbye uncle aunt hey wait a minute auntie I got know I’ve done it Hey Driver hold on for a gif just a gif you got your edl yes no just a tick here I done it this morning the six take your off
Wayne I’ll keep the other off hurry up lad we haven’t got all day look after it ay I will don’t forget me an right then off we go get up [Applause] there when Kips left new Romney he was 14 thin with smallish features and eyes that were sometimes dark and sometimes
Very light he was by Nature confused in his mind and retreating in his manners in exorable fate had appointed him to serve his country in Commerce dear what you going on about you being Apprentice to a draper why don’t did you say so why’d you use all them long words it’s
My style you still going to be following me around I expect sir I Shan get in your way two yards of white cry four 45 Hooks and eyes no trouble I show you 5 yards of butter musling what can I have the pleasure your change [Applause]
M no trouble I sure you the indentures that bound Kips to Mr shalford of Folkston were antique and complex they forbad Kips to Dyson game they made him over body and soul for seven long years to his new employer Mr shelford in return for which Mr Kips I shall teach
You the old heart and mystery of the drapery trade thank you Mr shord sir we expect you to work you know and we expect you to study our interests our system here is the best system you could have I made it and I ought to know I
Began at the very bottom of the ladder when I was 14 and there isn’t a step in it I don’t know now this is Mr carot he will give you the cards of rules and PS sir you to do whatever Mr kard tells you here’s a blotting pad and ink pot for
You to carry oh don’t fumble Come Along come along now gloves and ribbons baby Linens here ah this is bins sir you’re to do whatever Mr bins tells you see don’t fumble bugs now here is the overhead change carrier I can tell you exactly how many minutes per year are saved by this
Change carrier pounds you take my word for it system system and efficiency efficiency and system Yes now this here is the door to the yard locked after 10:30 by H Edwin shalford see say so on that sign there Mr shalford always wrote by order though it conveyed no earthly meaning to he was one of those people who collect technicalities upon them as a bug
Collects dirt he was an erasable energetic little man with hairy hands for the most part under his coattails a long shiny bald head and a neatly trimed beard he walked lightly and with a confident jerk and he was given to humming his establishment was now one of the most considerable in folston and
This despite perhaps because of a very strange and peculiar use of the English language which he believed was a potential to business efficiency can you write out harder skips oh don’t know Mr shord well look here for example I’ve written one piece Lin hot black Hass
What do I mean by that eh I don’t know sir and then two each silk net as per Pats here with doosa oh de there but you couldn’t get some more commercial education at your school stead of all this literary stuff oh well my boy if you’re not a bit sharper you’ll never
Learn to write hoers proper for now you best sck stamp and all them letters and mind just take them the right way up yes sir and try and profit a little more by the opportunities your haunt and Uncle have provided can’t see what will happen
To you if you don’t yes sir now lick the envelope lick the envelope like this see it’s the little things that mount up that’s how you learn Mr shelford set himself insidiously to get as much out of Kips and to put as little into him as he
Could what he put into kips was chiefly bread and margerine infusions of tea and chickory dust Colonial Meat by contract at TH a pound potatoes by the sack and watered beer repeat after me what can I have the pleasure what can I have the pleasure no trouble I show you no
Trouble I show you mhm you should learn to block and fold and measure material of all sorts and to lift your hat from your head when you pass me in the street in return for these benefits he worked so that he commonly went to bed
Exhausted and foota and at half 6 in the morning he would descend unwashed in old clothes and a scarf dust boxes take down wrappers and clean windows till 8 Kip Shi these boxes for me roll that CR up Kip it seems to have a mind of its own
Mr bugging oh my a liver I never seen such a boy now they KS look Lively hold up them curtains they’re very heavy Mr car of course they’re heavy oh my AR liver rarely much later than 9 at night a supper of bread and cheese awaited him
And that consumed the rest rest of the day was entirely at his disposal for reading Recreation and the Improvement of his mind tired good night buggins good night good Night my art in liver come along Kips and your stock take you Hur up Kips bring the tickets in the ink pot you make my toothache Kips you got no more system in you than a bad potato what that damn ink by your foot sir by my
There no I’ve kicked it over why can’t you hold it till I need it because I’m holding the tickets sir I don’t know no more system than a bad potato oh dear here Arty take it I done it this morning the six when you get too old to work they
Chuck you away can’t a draper get a shop of his own how’s a dra a shopman to save up the capital of £500 it can’t be done we’re in a blessed drain Park and we’ve got to crawl along it till we die I’d like to hit that bigger sh at slap in
The face and see how his blessed system met that oh oh oh my feet are that sore I’ve I got to stay here till my day’s end no Adventures no glory no change no Freedom what are you going to do about it Kips I’ll run away to see Mr
Wells oh yes I’ll set far to the Emporium I’ll drown myself no you won’t not you well here what time is it oh Lord I’ll be late putting the shutters up it’s all your fault keeping me here chatting and Kips consoled himself with the thought that it would soon be
Christmas and he would be home and see Anne an by hook or by crook he would kiss her then everything would be perfect and he would be perfectly happy but an too had happened on evil things more tea ay T and another bit of Stak and kidney please help yourself
Dear T then I think I’ll go for a walk visit an old friend old Sid maybe oh they’ve cleared out the pornic good riddens to bad rubbish I say cleared out yes Sid’s gone off as AR boy somewhere to one of these ear blasted new cycle shops has he
And what about your sister an she’s gone as help to somewhere in Ashford help slavy more like one of they didn’t say ladies help while I was about it but I see a’t you go to finish yourie aie no I ain’t as hungry as I thought you happy at shalford’s then oh
It’s all right I don’t see much prospects there’s times aren’t when I think I’ve giving it up you can’t do that ay do you want the pornic to say you ain’t good enough to be a draper no uncle suppose Not four years passed and Kips cleaned Windows no longer he was serving customers and taking Goods out on approval presently he was third apprentice and his mustache began to be visible Mr Kips I do believe you need some sorial help what’s that when it’s
At home Mr car shop I suggest you go to a tailor and replace your short jacket with a morning coat and Tails should I what and get some standup collars like yours you’ll see Mr Kips other young ladies will notice you oh go away I mean
It look flow baits the cash girl is looking at you very hard morning Mr Kips my you do look smart see what a nice boy you are I never know notice till now do you think so miss pites giips what it is painful to me to see how your Fidelity
To an’s memory fails at the first onset of admiration from another young lady go away you did you say something Mr Kips uh I was just thinking out loud looking forward to Sunday yes well now would you like to go for a walk with me on Sunday
Then would I well I don’t mind if I do oh I can see you’re a gentleman I hope you’ve got some gloves gentleman should wear or at least carry gloves and you know that a gentleman always walks outside a lady on the pavement oh yes
Yes I know all that Gibs took to these new interests with a quite natural Zeal before two years were out he had been engaged six times a series of events which were taken very lightly by all concerned he learned also to conduct conversations in a light and modern
Style at least that was how Flo Bates described them as a style which gave both parties a strong sensation of being deeply meaningful you see flow baites you mean exactly what I mean well what do you mean d now that would be telling well tell me then D that’s another
Story I don’t know Mr Arty Kips you are a one for being roundabout well you’re not so plain yourself you know not so plain no are you saying that I’m roundabout I wouldn’t dare you’re quite slim oh and you ain’t plain at all you’re pretty there I’ll get out no
Really I say what where you get that ring on your finger wouldn’t you like to know I dare say I could guess I seen you checking to the under manager I’m not telling I could guess it in three you couldn’t not the name a a but despite this rather enjoyable flirtation with
Flo a vague dissatisfaction with life drifted round Kips and every now and then enveloped him like a sea fog he felt great bogs of ignorance about him there must be more to after walking outside a lady on the pavement Mr Wells isn’t there something else like what like knowledge real ladies and gentlemen
They got knowledge they know things there’s a girl in milary what can speak French and German she taught me a bit P vau frony well done you know I’ve forgotten all me rivers of England what I learned at school but I’ve got to do something I suppose some such phasee of discontent
Is a normal thing in every young man the ripening mind seeks something upon which its Will May crystallize upon which its discursive emotions growing more abundant with each year of life may concentrate I don’t know what you’re on about in that case I think a little visit to the Folkston young men’s
Association is in order you see my friends before you a very sound example of that which I’ve been propounding to you a man who has benefited enormously from self-help a man of semi-independent means who has the Good Fortune to inherit a part share in a housing agency
But who has not rested upon such Laurels oh no I have read Mrs Humphrey Ward I take an interest in social work I sit at the last count upon 13 committees I’m happiest when I can be useful upon social occasions and such I trust has been my function here
Today thank you very much indeed my friends may I thank you all for listening so carefully to my little paper on self-help self-help is is by far the noblest of all our distinctive English characteristics and since talking about it is as thirsty work as listening I suggest we all adjourn and help
Ourselves to some tea and sandwiches in the other room please thank you very ah good evening haven’t seen you here before no it’s my first visit delighted Chester coot At Your Service tips are Kips pleased to meet you I hope you’ve enjoyed the evening oh yes what do you
Think of my little paper now that’s just it I must find out how to get a little self-help on my own account have you considered the local science and art classes not school no no I say you could come with me to wood carving wood carving you’re fancy the Sounder that
It’s taught by a lady called Miss Walsingham wood carving taught by a girl that’s a bit R she’s all right my dear fellow she matriculated at London University and she can do marvelous things with bits of wood in no time Mr Chester coot who took a great interest in social work and lived
With his sister had taken Kips under his wing and had begun to introduce him to higher Things welcome Mr Kips to our little class Mr coot will show you Around Miss Walsingham had a pale intellectual face dark gray eyes and black hair which she wore over her forehead in an original striking way that she had adapted from a picture by Rosetti in the South Kensington Museum she dressed in those loose and pleasant forms and those soft tempered Shades
That arose in England in the socialistic aesthetic Epoch and which remain with us today in those who scorn science fiction and think on higher Plains she was as beautiful as most beautiful people and this is Emily how do you do Mr K and Miss LX made me IDE of riper yours how
Do young man uh yes come on I’ll show you where you can work these people came and went with a sense of Absolut Assurance against an overwhelming background of plaster casts diagrams and tables benches and a Blackboard saturated with recondite knowledge I’ll bet they know etiquette these people and
Eat complicated meals as the weeks passed he was convinced that they held the secrets to Art and the higher life Mr C do you remember the Scandal at last year’s Royal Academy opening oh yes M indeed I do what are they talking about you feel like an intruder in an
Altitudinous world no just left out Kips felt even more uncertain after one class when confidences were shared over coffee on this occasion Mr Henry Walsingham Helen’s brother was present Mr Walsingham when will you be moving to London when I have taken my final examinations in law miss Emily Henry is
Going to become a solicitor Mr Gibs we are very proud of you no nonsense Helen it’s nothing terribly clever It Sounds Clever but I never took any examination where’d you take it to it’s more like where it takes you Mr Gibs it’s taking me to London than
Goodness and I should be able to visit you and go to concerts oh Helen perhaps you could give a concert yourself one day I’ve always wanted to play the banjo I could never be a professional pianist Emily this extraordinary self-confidence shown by the others spurred Kips to seek
An opportunity for some kind of action which would make the others notice him one day in the summer such an opportunity arose and Kips put his fledgling manhood to the test how are you getting on with your carving Mr Kips let me see oh now don’t jab so hard your intersecting circles
Will be all angular and cooked now let me show you hold the board in your left hand like so that’s right I see me we see him no you do it that’s very good isn’t it warm today Mr Kips I’ll just open a window and come back and
Watch you oh let me do it missingham oh thank you that is most kind no trouble EAS as I think it’s a bit stack don’t be careful no trouble perhaps the sash is broken odies no trouble one more you to do it there oh dear I’m tremendously sorry I
Didn’t think the glass would break like that Mr Kips I don’t believe you’ve cut your hand Emily don’t come and help oh well you’ve cut your hand Mr Kips it looks bad Miss LX got you young man you’ve cut your wrist it’s bleeding he’s cut his wrist and it’s bleeding Dreadful
Oh the slightest idea the glass was going to break like that you must tie it up we must tie it up it ought to be tied up don’t me blood dripping all over the floor Miss wum look I look it off he all right uh meany Now where’s meany I
Should think it’s very bad cut to bleed like that have you got a handkerchief Mr Gibs I don’t know I managed not to have one not having a cold I suppose I didn’t think oh dear more blood I am sorry here use my handkerchief oh no you must be
Careful how you tie it I’ve done ambulance classes twice and I know you bleed one way if it’s a vein and another way if it’s an artery but which way it is I here I’ll bandage it just pull up your cuff lucky I’ll put on my shirt
With good cuffs did you see how Frid my other are I’ll hold your hand oh not hurting you am I not a bit oh we’re not experts I’m afraid oh you’re taking a lot of trouble I’m sorry about theer can’t think what I was doing of course
It isn’t so much the cut at the time it’s the poisoning after afterwards I’ll pay for the window the bleeding should stop soon it’s nothing really could you put your finger on the knot please Helen oh of course how do you feel now Mr Gibs uh
Fine I knew someone once whose arm was mortified and had to be swn off S off S right off there that should do it’s not too tight not a bit you should have washed the wound first oh well if there’s nothing more what I can do I’ll return to my carving come along
Emily I’m afraid you won’t be able to do much more tonight Mr Kips I’ll try I don’t want to waste any time the fellow like me has much time to spare well call on me if you need any help I will miss ringham he’s got ever such an
Interesting face Helen he’s so sweet when he blushes I think it comes from a natural delicacy I reckon he’s a little in love with you Helen don’t be silly Emily well look at him he keeps sneaking little looks at you he simply adores you he would abandon himself absolutely upon
Your altar but my dear what have I done to deserve it that’s just it you haven’t done anything I think you’d make a good match I’m going over to have a word with him oh Emily how’s the bandage Mr Kips oh fine you did a good job how will you manage
At work tomorrow oh I’ll I’ll be all right do you like your job not very much I don’t seem to get one with the customers a well that’s because you’re far too sensitive for a job like that do you think so I feel so ignorant I get this feeling that education is just
Passing me by I think you owe it to yourself to develop your possibilities Mr Gibs there are all sorts of interesting people you could know very nice Mr cou there’s uh Miss Walsingham now isn’t Helen the most lovely person in the world but look at her oh yes
Yes I think she’s lovely too really you what are you going to do in the summer oh well I thought I could improve Myself by reading the trouble is I ain’t got no books you could get books from the public library cuz I really oh Henry
How nice of you to come and collect me well Mr giips that’s it end of class well everyone thank you all very much I shall hope to see you all again in the autum you certainly will uh Mr KS shall you stay in feston through the summer oh
Yes yes and I do hope you will come back to the class your work is very promising oh I will I certainly will you may count on that Miss walting I’ll do anything Helen goodbye then Mr kips goodbye good class Helen very stimulating yes we had the most
Extraordinary drama Mr was Singham oh yes one of the students cut himself I have always thought wood carving to be a dangerous sort of occupation perhaps you should give it up Helen no it wasn’t in the course of the carving he was being helpful opening a window for me Juiced
Careless then just an accident it could have happened to anyone wouldn’t have happened to me when I open a window I open a window there was lots of blood wasn’t there Helen yes Pips oh do stop I’m not fond of blood it took us minutes to stop the
Bleeding like a fleet of Florence Nightingales we were who is this fellow who has merited so much undeserved attention he’s a dra rather young and rather sweet on Helen what Don’t Be Cruel Emily I’m not cruel merely factual he likes you and you like him is this
True is this true Oh Henry don’t sound like a heavy-handed elder brother the sooner I pass my examinations and start practicing as a proper solicitor the better you should be in London hel not stuck away in some silly provincial nowhere with Drapers winking at you only
One Draper so far Henry oh Helen you should move to London we couldn’t manage without you I don’t plan to stay here forever you know but it may be years before our fortunes change till then mother and I will continue with our little lives while Henry makes our fortune in
London without the Prospect of his weekly wood carving class the summer seemed very Bleak indeed to Kips the visits home to his aunt and uncle on his half holidays also held little Delight since Anne was not there perhaps it was something about the bright sunny weather but discontent given voice at meal times
Seemed Rife at shalford’s moram Mr Kips T wouldn’t mind walking around in the sand today take the day off car shot a dare who’s my place no fear but I tell you I ain’t going to stay here all my life oh no what are you going to do then go into
Politics how about you kid I want to be a norer see what I think is these writers can Bridge the classes I mean they’re low but they can climb to where they’ll tip Battlers almost like gentle these ear writers are all failed something else was a label of blacking
Zachary was an artist who couldn’t sell a drawing Samuel Johnson walked to Landon without any boots why Earth did he do that his fate must have killed him Pride he threw away his only pair of shoes out of Pride it’s lck with these writers because they just happen to hit
On something that catches on nice easy life they have of it though right for an hour or so and done for the day more working it than you think I bet I think they copy from each other a good deal yeah they get the pictures everywhere
Just like royalty Mr K oh Lord Mr Kips yes Mr shafford Mr Kips some of your tickets have been placed upside down in the window oh go and change him sir make sure you do oh god look yes Mr shord if I had a penny I’m blessed if I
Wouldn’t go and Tra myself off the end of the pier a penny it’s t to go on the peer I’ll best go and do them ticket I shall go for a walk tonight after work at least it don’t get dark till Late who’s that where me are you at all hurt M was that you just hit me well not me exactly it’s these handles you know they’re too low and when I go to turn if I don’t remember why Biff and I’m into something a bicycle well you give me a
Right one oh leg oh these little Hills and folston are a fair treat I was back pedling for all I was worth honest I you believe I’m bleeding and me trouser legs all torn down you really ought to be more careful holy smoke you really are a
Bit to up I say come to my diggings and I’ll sew it up of course I’m entirely to blame oh L there’s a copper don’t get on I ran you down will you might be a bit awkward for me he’s all right he’s going the other
Way oh good come on I’m just around the corner Kip’s new friend was a figure with slightly anterior plumpness progressing buoyantly on nickered legs with quite enormous carves legs that contrasting with Kip’s own practice were even exuberantly turned out at the knees and toes on his head he wore a cycling
Cap from beneath which protruded straight wisps of dark red hair accidents will happen you know especially when you get me on a bicycle you aren’t the first I run down not by any manner of means most men after a bump like that would have been spiteful
But you were a fair bit of all right about that policeman the least I can do is stand you a needle and thread there isn’t many men would have acted as you did cool as a cucumber a real gentleman here we are come in come in make yourself at
Home I’ll get us a drink Kips took in the shabby Ensemble of the little room a round table covered with a torn red cloth an extinct fire a number of Dusty postcards and memoranda stuck around the mirror a table littered with papers and cigarette Ash here we are then whiskey
Good old mausa Canadian Ry there we are Cheers Cheers nice have a good look around what do you take me to be I don’t know these photos that lady in touch that’s a bit OT is this you in that funny costume you an actor getting warm here read this
Letter Dear Mr Cho if we’ll send the player you spoke I can’t read the rest I don’t know what’s on them papers writing lots of writing those are manuscripts my dear fellow have some more whiskey oh um oh t t very much the truth is I’m a
Playright well I never of course I’ve Been Everywhere undone everything practically I’m an actor too of course I’ve acted abroad you know had my name in reviews why I can remember the time I was getting 30 or $40 a week really in America that was I’ve been around the
Entire civilized world come to that your right place well of course I’m not quite up to the standard of Shakespeare or Ipson I have to be truthful about my talent a real writer chappie you know it’s curious how one runs up against people out bicycling I was just wanting
Someone to talk to a bit half an hour ago I didn’t know you existed and here we are talking like old friends have a cigarette oh don’t mind if I do this old methusa is going into my stomach like a burning torch Lovely isn’t it some people like soda with
Their whiskey I don’t no more do I that’s my man yeah you know you are a fellow of great promise you’re the sort of chap a chap like myself can sit and discourse with let me tell you most of the Coes I come across in the course of my
Theatrical wanderings no that’s not 10:00 is it must be don’t worry it’s early yet I’ll best be going now the fact is Mr shafford that’s my boss at the Emporium he shuts the ass door our past 10 hold on old chap hold on you can’t go back with your trouser in that
State here I’ll swap up the tear won’t take a minute you fill up your glass while I get a needle and thread go on take me half a minute I’m an expert with a needle ah found it now you just put your foot on that chair so I can see what I’m
Doing oh my Heavens wouldn’t this just make a bit of business in a FAL comedy actually it reminds me of the first scene I’ve written in a little play of mine this will make you laugh it’s a man wait for it wait for it a man with a
Live beetle down the back of his neck trying to seem at ease in a room full of people it sounds good oh sorry old chap oh it makes me shake just thinking of it it’s a killer that scene I tell you SS damn fine chlo damn fine may I say in
All frankness that I have never met a finer intelligence than yours stronger there might be that I couldn’t say with certainty yet seeing how little after all we have seen of each other but a finer why never it really is a shame that such a fine not to say discriminating intelligence should be
Nightly locked up at 10 10:30 and they won’t lock you out you know I’ve half a mind to recommend a friend of mine editor of a London Daily paper to put you forth with as dramatic critic in place of the current fool you do right I
Take it well I don’t think I’ve ever made up anything for print I’d have a funding good try though mind you I’ve written wind tickets often enough made them up and everything you’d be all the fresher for not having done it before I don’t suppose You’ be very literary but
I don’t believe in the literary critics anym than in literary playwrights plays Ain’t literature I don’t suppose they are really exactly play is place no you’re all wasted down here I say and I am hanged if I wouldn’t like your opinion of these first two acts of
This tragedy I’m on to it wouldn’t take more than an hour to read well there’s the time so there is let’s go then you all right oh something stabbed me in the leg please bless me if I didn’t leave the needle sticking in your trouser leg here I’ll just bite the cotton
Off there how does it feel I’ll try walking yeah I don’t seem to able to walk as straight as I used to oh dear what up it’s too late I’ve been locked out what am I going to do now you can’t go and knock him up now can you you
Better try and sneak in in the morning with the cat no point worrying here have a night cap come to that I don’t care if I am locked out that’s the Spirit drink up Cheers Cheers here I don’t feel very well here come and stick your head out of the window
Then oh look the moon’s spinning round and round very inspiring is Moonlight ah Love In The Moonlight have you much experience of Love In The Moonlight a little I remember once a Moonlight lovers quarrel with the daughter of a clergyman in York they say you can’t
Love women at once but I tell you it’s rot oh yes I know all about that you can love two women at once I know all about that one you feeling better now yes thanks I’ll close the window then people say that loving more than one woman interferes with work not a bit
Of it artists must do it the work couldn’t go on without it artists haven’t the temperament for the work if they’re not in love with at least two women that’s just it however it is sometimes true that the morals of the theater do leave a little something to be desired
Adventure and the flesh that’s the thing you know I’ve sown my Wild Oats one has to but now I’m happily married to a born Lady her father’s a prominent solicitor in kinsh town mother second cousin to the wife of Abel Jones fashionable Portrait Painter almost Society people
In a way is that so oh that doesn’t count with me anyhow I’m no snob Mrs Chito possesses and I say this without fear of contradiction the very finest completely untrained contralto voice in all the world to hear it properly you want a big Hall what is her family no think of my
Playwriting oh they see it as unmun no money in it but you and I both know that success and wealth are there only patience and uh perseverance are needed I have a little methusa certainly help yourself ah see character has you you can’t get away from character it’s that
What makes tragedy psychology it’s the Greek irony ibson and all that I I’ve mentioned ibson haven’t I you do know ibson oh yes not exactly he’s a personal friend but well there’s one or two points where he is how shall I say a little defective who’s a little
Detective and by chance they happen to be points I am strong in of course I have no desire to place myself on an equal footing with him but honestly now do you think Ipson has ever seen a decent fight in a bar of course not my
New tragedy in my opinion it is as well constructed as anything Ipson ever did shall I read it to you well no you’re quite right I’ll tell you about it that’s simpler because most of it is still Unwritten it’s a complicated plot all about a nobleman who seen everything and
Done everything and knows all about women damn fine oh man damn fine I knew you’d see it oh boy that’s just the sort of thing the literary critic can’t see my hero you see is strong and ready for anything you got a talent chillo you and
Old Ma and just before he gets the girl my hero Kips my name what I said my hero look no what’s that you said this chap Kips I’m telling you about what cap chips you’re telling who about I just told you tell me what the chap in my
Play the man who kisses the girl I never kissed a girl these words I can’t remember if I ever kissed an py or not she used to live next door I meant to kiss but no no it ain’t me what ain’t me my name’s Kips but ain’t kissed a girl
Never but he has in my play he does I tell you I haven’t my name is Kips that’s me look here chill you got no business putting my name into your play you mustn’t do things like that you lose my job straight away I haven’t got your
Name old chap I get my names from all sources like William Shakespeare did mostly I get my names out of the newspapers I got your name out of a newspaper my name ain’t in no newspaper it’s on me no no no no you’re missing the point look look look I’ll find it
It’s here somewhere must be somewhere I look chlo I’m already in enough trouble for stopping out all night without my name put in place Mr s will make the devil of a fuss and hand’s gone off to be a help I shall see Miss W oh
Dear uh look here my good fellow you’ve probably drunk a little too much I’m not drunk you can sleep on the sofa got no springs but you won’t notice that I dare say have a little shut eye and stop talking rot I’m not talking rot can’t listen to no more help
Yourself to the sofa good night old chap oh B good night I spose and so the two friends parted Chito to retreat to his Slumber in bed punctuated by delicate if somewhat noisy exhalations Kips to sample that rare treat a sofa without Springs oh and to ponder in a rather hazy fashion whether
His conduct of the night would lead him into unimagined troubles Po danman played HG Wells Mark strer Kips and Nicholas Grace Cho in the first episode of kips by HG Wells which has been dramatized in five episodes by Micheline wander Helen Katherine hbert Emily rosin a Kip’s Uncle John Hollis his Aunt Jane Wenham Sid Michael Jenner and MOA Leslie Mr shalford Michael
Bilton buggins John Webb carshot Christopher Biggins Flo Helen Atkinson wood driver John Strickland Chester Coots Christopher good Henry wallingham Spencer Banks and Miss LX Margo Boyd the music was composed by Alona saat Kips was directed by Martin Jenkins