Add MS 79089

Sketches and Monologues

79089. NICHOLS PAPERS. Vol. CXLVI (ff. 152). Sketches and Monologues; 30 July 1948-2 Aug. 1948, Nov. 1981-9 April 1998, n.d. Typewritten, word-processed and autograph drafts, script changes, related correspondence and miscellaneous papers, some with autograph revisions and photocopied. Several written with Bernie Cooper. Arranged in alphabetical order of title, followed by general notes for monologues and untitled monologues (ff. 138-152). Includes ‘Neither Up nor Down’ (ff. 49-63), a sketch originally written for Kenneth Tynan’s review, ‘Oh Calcutta’, and performed at the Almost Free Theatre in 1972. ‘Neither Up nor Down’ is published in Plays: One (1987). Also includes ‘Organised Games’ or ‘Knocked ‘em in the Old Kent Road’, from which the opening scene of ‘A Day in the Death of Joe Egg’ originates (ff. 68-78). For ‘A Day in the Death of Joe Egg’, see Add. 78954-78956. The situation in ‘The Gunmen’ (ff. 27-30) was developed in early drafts of the first scene of ‘Privates on Parade’, see Add. 78985, ff. 91-92. For background to the sketches, see Feeling You’re Behind: An Autobiography, pp. 171, 172, 188.