Nom-de-Plume


Nom-de-Plume is a British television drama series made and first broadcast by BBC Television in 1956.
Each episode tells a stand-alone story of a notable man or woman and has a length of thirty minutes. The common theme running through them all is that the name the main character is well known by, usually a pen name or stage name, is not revealed until near the end.
The series was created by Hector and Dorothy Crawford.

Episodes

"The Man from the Sea"

Friday 18 May 1956
Written by Antony Brown
;Cast
A Polish seaman called Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski turns himself into a writer in English, his fourth language.

"Portrait in a Mirror"

Friday 25 May 1956
Charles L. Dodgson is an Oxford mathematician and clergyman who has other ambitions.

"The Devil's Tattoo"

Friday 1 June 1956

"Child of Her Time"

Friday 8 June 1956
Written by Ian Dallas
;Cast
Aurore Dupin de Francueil is a French girl with ambitions.

"The Innocent Gunman"

Friday 15 June 1956
Something happens in the life of Samuel L. Clemens.

"The Courtesan"

Friday 22 June 1956
Ludwig I of Bavaria takes a dancer called Eliza as a mistress, who soon has real power in the land.

"The Eye of the Morning"

Friday 29 June 1956

"The Nightmare Man"

Friday 6 July 1956
Edgar Allan Poe has dreams and nightmares.

"The Ten Strangers"

Friday 20 July 1956

"Legacy of Death"

Friday 27 July 1956

"Friend of the People"

Friday 3 August 1956

"The Man Who Made People"

Friday 10 August 1956
Written by Robert Furnival
;Cast
  • David Markham as Alexandre
  • Tutte Lemkow as Felix
  • John Moffatt as Sergei Pavlovitch
  • Lee Montague as Leon
  • Tom McCall as Pianist
  • Susan Pearson as Ballet Mistress
  • Anna Wing as Old woman
  • Andreas Malandrinos as Sweeper
  • Raymond Witch as Stage hand
  • John Barrard as Journalist
  • Roger Delgado as Regisseur
  • Lucy Young, Eileen Elton, Sylvia Herklots as Dancers
  • W. Lyon Brown, J. McArthur Gordon, Douglas Jones as Aristocrats

"A Rough Diamond"

Friday 17 August 1956
Written by Richard Wade
Produced by Peter Lambert
Designed by Gordon Roland
;Cast
  • John Saunders as Cecil Rhodes
  • Donald Morley as Barnet Isaacs
  • David Lander as Afrikaaner Barman
  • Edward Higgins as First Digger
  • Patrick Maynard as Second Digger
  • Arthur Lawrence as Third Digger
  • Lewis Wilson as Harry Isaacs
  • Gina Bon as Fanny
  • Gerald Blake as Solly Joel
  • Jan Conrad as Alfred Beit
  • Robert Raglan as Englishman
  • Frank Forsythe as Doctor

"The Man with a Hundred Hands"

Friday 24 August 1956

"Elephants Don't Disappear"

Friday 31 August 1956
Written by Ian Dallas
Directed by Frank Dermody
Magical adviser Geoffrey Robinson
Designed by Norman James
  • Erich Weiss claims he can make an elephant disappear on stage.
;Cast
  • Peter Wyngarde as Erich Weiss
  • Margaret Clifford as Showgirl
  • Ellen Pollock as Mrs. Rahner
  • Mary Watson as Beatrice
  • Gaylord Cavallaro as Sideshow Barker
  • John Paul as Police Officer
  • Alastair Hunter as Police Sergeant
  • James Dyrenforth as George Sadleir
  • Nigel Sharpe as Stage Manager
  • John Stuart as Smith
  • Judy Monitz as Dancer
  • Daphne Johnson as Dancer
  • Eithne Milne as Dancer
  • Mavis Ascott as Dancer

"The Counting-House Clerk"

Friday 7 September 1956
Written by Michael Voysey
Produced by Lyon Todd
Designed by Gordon Roland
;Cast
  • Robert Stephens as John
  • Eric Messiter as Father
  • Jane Henderson as Mother
  • Robert Rietti as Hazlitt
  • Ann Sears as Ann Simmons
  • Una Venning as Mrs Field
  • Valerie White as Bridget
  • John Dunbar as Mr Simmons
  • Barbara Ogilvie as Mrs Simmons
  • Michael Collins as Coleridge
  • Avril Wheatley as Kitty
  • Douglas Storm as Coroner
  • Shirley Thieman as Sarah
  • Carol Marsh as Fanny
  • Alexander Field as Theatre manager
  • Edgar Wreford as Young man

"The Free Air"

Friday 14 September 1956
Written by Elwyn Jones
Produced by Peter Lambert
Designed by Douglas Smith
;Cast
  • Barrie Hesketh as Blandford
  • Frank Forsythe as Monsieur Vincent:
  • Lewis Wilson as Lawyer
  • Duncan Lewis as Monsieur Arouet
  • John Clarke-Smith as Priest
  • Arthur Lawrence as Secretary
  • Robert S. Young as Adam
  • Tessa Clarke as Reine
  • John Nettleton as Paul
  • Bryan Kendrick as Gaston
  • Arnold Yarrow as Sentry
  • Reginald Jessup as Officer
  • Tarn Bassett as Actress
A young Frenchman called François-Marie Arouet has an adventure.

"Well, He Was a Success"

Friday 21 September 1956
This story begins in London in 1929 and ends in Hollywood three years later.