Off to Philadelphia in the Morning (TV series)

Last updated

The opening titles for Off to Philadelphia in the Morning ( BBC, 1978) Titles Off to Philadelphia 1978.jpg
The opening titles for Off to Philadelphia in the Morning ( BBC, 1978)

Off to Philadelphia in the Morning is a 1978 BBC three-part television drama series based on the book of the same name by Jack Jones to a screenplay by Elaine Morgan. It is a fictionalised account of the life of the Welsh composer and academic Joseph Parry.

Contents

The series of three 50 minute episodes was made by BBC Cymru Wales and produced and directed by John Hefin. [1] The cast primarily featured Welsh actors while Gareth Ridgewell Whiley (born 1967), who played Joseph Parry as a boy, was living in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales where he was attending school.

Synopsis

Part 1

Life in the fearsome industrial coal and iron town of Merthyr Tydfil is harsh and dangerous and in the iron works Dick Llewellyn is blinded and disfigured in a splash of molten metal. Young Joseph is inspired when he hears a brass band playing at Cyfarthfa Castle. Daniel Parry dreams of escaping the rigours of his life to a new life in the United States, but his wife does not want to go. [2]

Part 2

Having persuaded his wife, Daniel Parry and his family have settled in America, but young Joseph Parrys's ambitious wife Jane urges him to seek musical fame in London where during a performance of Rigoletto he encounters his old boyhood friend Myfanwy Llewellyn, who now calls herself Lina Van Elyn. [3]

Part 3

Joseph Parry collapses near the end of a long and strenuous tour of conducting his works in the United States. As his wife becomes more difficult and demanding Parry's thoughts increasingly turn to his childhood sweetheart, Myfanwy Llewellyn. In London he ignores the advice of Sir William Sterndale Bennett and returns to Wales as Professor of Music at Aberystwyth. Parry clashes with the Principal, and the newly-founded University College Wales, Aberystwyth wonders what it has let itself in for. [4]

Cast

Locations

Among the filming locations were: the Thames Embankment; Cyfarthfa Castle in Merthyr Tydfil; Constitution Hill, Aberystwyth; the Old College, Aberystwyth and the seafront at Aberystwyth.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Jones (novelist)</span> Welsh miner, Trade Union official, politician and playwright

Jack Jones was a Welsh miner, Trade Union official, politician, novelist and playwright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merthyr Tydfil</span> Town in Wales

Merthyr Tydfil is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about 23 miles (37 km) north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, who according to legend was slain at Merthyr by pagans about 480 CE. Merthyr generally means "martyr" in modern Welsh, but here closer to the Latin martyrium: a place of worship built over a martyr's relics. Similar place names in south Wales are Merthyr Cynog, Merthyr Dyfan and Merthyr Mawr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dafydd Wigley</span> Welsh politician (born 1943)

Dafydd Wynne Wigley, Baron Wigley, is a Welsh politician who served as the leader of Plaid Cymru from 1981 to 1984 and again from 1991 to 2000. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Caernarfon from 1974 to 2001 and as the Member of the Welsh Assembly for Caernarfon from 1999 to 2003. In 2010, Wigley was granted life peerage, taking his seat in the House of Lords in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Parry</span> Welsh composer

Joseph Parry was a Welsh composer and musician. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, he is best known as the composer of "Myfanwy" and the hymn tune "Aberystwyth", on which the African song "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" is said to be based. Parry was also the first Welshman to compose an opera; his composition, Blodwen, was the first opera in the Welsh language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glanmor Williams</span> Welsh historian

Sir Glanmor Williams was one of Wales's most eminent historians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1983 onwards

Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Gerald Jones of the Welsh Labour Party. It was established for the 1983 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hirwaun</span> Human settlement in Wales

Hirwaun is a village and community at the north end of the Cynon Valley in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. It is 4 miles (6 km) NW of the town of Aberdare, and comes under the Aberdare post town. At the 2001 census, Hirwaun had a population of 4,851. increasing at the 2011 census to 4,990. The village is on the Heads of the Valleys Road and at the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Winstone</span> Welsh boxer

Howard Winstone, MBE was a Welsh world champion boxer, born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. As an amateur, Winstone won the Amateur Boxing Association bantamweight title in 1958, and a Commonwealth Games Gold Medal at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyfarthfa Castle</span> Historic house museum, art museum in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales

Cyfarthfa Castle is a castellated mansion that was the home of the Crawshay family, ironmasters of Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Park, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. The house commanded a view of the valley and the works, which ‘at night, offer a truly magnificent scene, resembling the fabled Pandemonium, but on which the eye may gaze with pleasure’. Cyfarthfa loosely translates from the Welsh for place of barking. The reason is hunting dogs were regularly heard in this area of the town, hunting polecats and weasels among others.

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1978 to Wales and its people.

Myfanwy is a popular Welsh song, composed by Joseph Parry and first published in 1875.

Donna Edwards is a Welsh actress. Edwards is a Bafta Cymru award-winning for Best Actress.

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1862 to Wales and its people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Edwards (sculptor)</span> Welsh sculptor (1814–1882)

Joseph Edwards was a Welsh sculptor. His work appears in many churches and cemeteries in England and Wales, in Westminster Abbey, and in the old town hall of Merthyr Tydfil. Seventy of his works were exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts between 1838 and 1878.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwyn A. Williams</span> Welsh historian

Gwyn Alfred "Alf" Williams was a Welsh historian particularly known for his work on Antonio Gramsci and Francisco Goya as well as on Welsh history.

Park is a community and electoral ward of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merthyr Tydfil County Borough</span> County borough in Wales

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. In mid 2018, it had an estimated population of 60,183 making it the smallest local authority in Wales by both population and land area. It is located in the historic county of Glamorgan and takes its name from the town with the same name. The county borough consists of the northern part of the Taff Valley and the smaller neighbouring Taff Bargoed Valley. It borders the counties of Rhondda Cynon Taf to the west, Caerphilly County Borough to the east, and Powys to the north.

Geoffrey Olsen was a Welsh artist from Merthyr Tydfil, who spent time living in the Cotswolds, Rome, Florence and Miami.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Parry's Cottage</span> Grade II listed building in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales

Joseph Parry's Cottage, also known as 4 Chapel Row, is a cottage located in Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales. Built in the early 19th century for ironworkers, the cottage is best known as the birthplace of the famous Welsh composer Joseph Parry (1841–1903). It is now open to the public as a museum.

Bethesda, Merthyr Tydfil was one of the earliest chapels in the Welsh industrial town of Merthyr Tydfil. Services were held in the Welsh language.

References

  1. ↑ Off to Philadelphia in the Morning Part 1 (1978), British Film Institute Database
  2. ↑ Off to Philadelphia in the Morning Part 1, Radio Times 1923 - 2009, Issue 2861, 7 September 1978, Page 46, BBC website
  3. ↑ Off to Philadelphia in the Morning Part 2, Radio Times 1923 - 2009, Issue 2862. 14 September 1978, Page 48, BBC website
  4. ↑ Off to Philadelphia in the Morning Part 3, Radio Times 1923 - 2009, Issue 2863, 21 September 1978, Page 49, BBC website
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.