Denis Martin Explained

Denis Martin
Birth Name:	Lorenzo Denis Martin
Alias:	Denis Martin
Birth Date:	1920
Birth Place:	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Death Place:	London, England
Years Active:	1940s-1980s
Label:	Parlophone

Denis Martin (1920 – October 1988) was a Northern Irish singer,^[1] actor and theatre producer^[2] active in the 1940s to 1980s.

Martin won the All-Ireland tenor competition at Feis Ceoil in 1944, He then moved to England where he performed as a singer^[3] in musical shows and in radio and TV broadcasts. Soon after arriving in England Denis joined the Players' Theatre,^{[4] [5] [6]} a permanent music-hall company in London. In 1949 he played the juvenile lead in King's Rhapsody^[7] with Ivor Novello. He went on to become the Director of Production at the Players' Theatre,^{[8] [9] [10]} developing and adapting plays for musical theatre.^[11]

Denis's brother Brendan joined him in London as a professional singer at the Windmill Theatre.

Discography

Albums

• Songs of the Emerald Isle (1969)

Singles

• Galway Bay / Terence's Farewell (1948)
• Eileen Oge / Sing Sweet Nightingale (1948)
• Come Back Paddy Reilly / The Last Mile Home (1949)

Stage and screen

Film and television roles

• These Wonderful Shows
• Music for You
• Tonight's the Night (1954)
• Here and Now (TV) (1955)
• The Bamboo Prison (film) (1954)
• Happy Ever After (1954)^[12]
• The Good Old Days (TV) (1969 - 1971)

Radio

• Yuletide in the Music-Hall A Christmas Box at the Players' Theatre; BBC Radio 4, 25 December 1969^[13]

Theatre roles

• The Duenna^[14]
• Pacific 1860 (1946)^[15]
• Tuppence Coloured (1947)
• Oranges and Lemons (1947)
• King's Rhapsody (1949)^{[16] [17]}
• The Punch Revue (1955)^[18]

As producer

• A Little of What you Fancy (1968)

External links

• • • Denis Martin at Theatricalia.com

Notes and References

1. Book: Kitty Black. Upper circle: a theatr. chronicle. 1984. Methuen. 978-0-413-51040-2. 132.
2. Book: Plays and Players. 12. 1965. Hansom Books. 19.
3. Book: Theatre World. 1959. Iliffe Specialist Publications, Limited. 19.
4. Book: Theatre Review. 1973. W.H. Allen.. 174.
5. Book: Plays and Players. 1958. Hansom Books.
6. Book: Charles Graves. Leather armchairs: the book of London clubs. registration. 1963. Coward-McCann. 171.
7. Book: Adrian Wright. A Tanner's Worth of Tune: Rediscovering the Post-war British Musical. 2010. Boydell & Brewer. 978-1-84383-542-4. 8–.
8. Book: The Illustrated London News. January 1971. Illustrated London News & Sketch Limited. 33.
9. Book: Raymond Mander. Joe Mitchenson. British music hall: a story in pictures. 1965. Studio Vista.
10. Book: The Spectator. 257, Issues 8252-8268. 1986. F.C. Westley. 155. (also available online here)
11. Book: Alvin H. Marill. More Theatre: M-Z. 1993. Scarecrow Press. 1048.
12. Book: Denis Gifford. Entertainers in British Films: A Century of Showbiz in the Cinema. 1998. Flicks Books. 978-0-948911-76-7. 168.
13. News: Yuletide in the Music-Hall A Christmas Box at the Players' Theatre - BBC Radio 4 FM - 25 December 1969. 18 December 1969. Radio Times. 47. 6 January 2016.
14. Book: Audrey Williamson. Contemporary Theatre, 1953-1956. 1956. Rockliff. 164, 175.
15. Web site: Pacific 1860. Guide to Musical Theatre. 16 February 2013.
16. Book: Stanley Green. Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre. 30 April 2009. Da Capo Press. 0-7867-4684-X. 234–.
17. News: King's Rhapsody. 16 February 2013.
18. Web site: The Punch Revue. Guide to Musical Theatre. 16 February 2013.