Written and produced by Dorothea Brooking
with Derek Francis, Dorothy Holmes-Gore

Film sequences at Audley End, Essex, by permission of the Ministry of Works and the Hon. Robin Neville

A play for Boxing Day should contain certain ingredients. Fantasy, Fun, Love, perhaps a slight feeling of Danger, and above all a Happy Ending. So when I started searching through the volumes of collected legends and fairy tales, I had these things very much in mind. The story I finally chose certainly contained love, danger and a happy ending, but there wasn't much magic in it, and all the characters were either very good or very bad. Then when I actually began to write the play I found that the people in it wouldn't conform to the black and white pattern that is somehow expected of characters in traditional stories.
The Baron refused to be totally bad and kept making excuses for the deplorable things he was doing. Betsy Curdlecream who wasn't even part of the original story, bustled in with her ring, her wings and her balloons, causing us to do far more filming than we'd ever intended, weather being what it is in December. One of her balloons was allowed to interfere with the plot right from the beginning and even the title had to be changed to accommodate it, and its arch enemy the Baron.
Lots of people have made suggestions for the play. There isn't room to thank them all but I hope they'll know which bits they're responsible for and that The Balloon and the Baron which is neither very traditional nor very spectacular, will give pleasure to families on Boxing Day. and that they will have had a very Happy Christmas before watching it!
(Dorothea Brooking)

[Photo caption] At 5.0 The Baron (played) by Derek Francis) with the troublesome balloon

[NB The Balloon is also included in the cast list, as the first entry]