An impression of the life and work of Lilian Baylis, who managed the Old Vic for a quarter of a century and paved the way for The English National Opera, The Royal Ballet and The National Theatre.
Edited and produced by val may

This charity Gala performance was given by members of the National Theatre Company on behalf of the Royal Victoria Hall (Old Vic) Foundation on Saturday 28 February, The National Theatre's last performance at the Old Vic before moving to its new home on the South Bank.
The Company: Polly Adams, Peggy Ashcroft, Anna Carteret, Robert Eddison, Frank Finlay, Albert Finney, Susan Fleetwood, John Gielgud, Gawn Grainger, Angela Lansbury, Denis Qullley, Ralph Richardson, Daniel Thorndike with the recorded voices of Laurence Olivier and Lilian Baylis

Of Peggy Ashcroft as Lilian Baylis the OBSERVER wrote:
"She has not knocked me so completely out since The Wars of the Roses, and never before has she made me laugh. Here she overflowed with comic energy. (Her) sense of liberation pervaded the occasion."

During the interval 8.5-8.35. a gramophone record of Joan Cross singing the Willow Song and Ave Maria from Verdi's opera Otello, with orchestra conducted by Lawrence Collingwood