{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O126365"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O126365/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM0996/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM0996/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BM0996","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK7635","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O126365/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O126365","accessionNumber":"S.212-2006","objectType":"Set model","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Great Britain’s leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, Oliver Messel (1904-1978) won international acclaim for his lavish, painterly and poetic designs informed by period styles.  His work spans ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue. Messel’s traditional style of theatre design became unfashionable from the mid 1950s onwards, and he increasingly concentrated on painting, interior and textile design, including designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.\r\n\r\nMessel designed Edwardian costumes and settings for the musical play, <i>Tough at the Top</i>, C.B. Cochran’s 127th production.  A romantic tale of a Ruritanian princess and an American prizefighter, whose love, unsurprisingly, triumphs against the odds, it played for four months at the Adelphi Theatre in 1949.  The librettist, A. P. Herbert, said that Messel’s ornate sets were ‘quickened by costumes which constantly fling new and unexpected patterns across the stage’ (<i>The Times</i>, 16 July 1949), and complemented the fantasy of the musical.\r\n\r\nMessel's set model recreates the atmosphere of an Edwardian Derby racecourse day for Act I, scene iii.  The model includes a cut-out card figure of the princess, played by Maria D’Attili.","physicalDescription":"A set model for an Edwardian Derby day, Act I, scene iii in a C. B. Cochran production of Tough at the Top, 1949.  The set model is enclosed in a carved and painted wooden box and lined with velvet on the sides.  Trees frame the front of the set like a curtain.  A view of tents decorated with red flags, balloons on sticks.  Some have amusing signs.  A female figure in a white ca. 1900 dress and parasol and two young children.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne","id":"A4929"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"charcoal","id":"AAT12862"},{"text":"kaolinite","id":"AAT13815"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"paint","id":"AAT15029"},{"text":"gouache","id":"AAT70114"},{"text":"wood","id":"AAT11914"},{"text":"velvet","id":"AAT133711"},{"text":"glue","id":"AAT14815"},{"text":"masking tape","id":"AAT14836"},{"text":"card","id":"x30344"},{"text":"perspex","id":"AAT14435"},{"text":"acetate","id":"AAT255863"},{"text":"wire","id":"AAT11063"},{"text":"papier-mâché","id":"AAT14245"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"},{"text":"painting (image making)","id":"AAT54216"},{"text":"glueing","id":"AAT53012"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Wood, cardboard, fabric, and paint.","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2007BM0996","2006BK7635"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES396984"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"sets (architectural elements)","id":"AAT188014"}],[{"text":"models (representations)","id":"AAT47753"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1949","earliest":"1949-01-01","latest":"1949-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"58.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"74.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"55","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"<i>Tough at the Top</i>, a musical play by A. P. Herbert with music by Vivian Ellis about a Ruritanian Princess falling in love with an American boxer.  Oliver Messel’s production was first produced by C. B. Cochran at the Adelphi Theatre, London on 15 July, 1949.  It was directed by Wendy Toye and featured Maria D’Attili as Princess Philomel and Peter Lupino as Charles Lupin.  \r\nLord Snowdon, Oliver Messel's nephew, inherited Messel's theatre designs and other designs and artefacts.  The designs were briefly stored in a disused chapel in Kensington Palace before being housed at the V&A from 1981 on indefinite loan.  The V&A Theatre Museum purchased the Oliver Messel collection from Lord Snowdon in 2005.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Set model by Oliver Messel for  Edwardian Derby Day, Act I, scene iii of Vivian Ellis and A P Herbert's musical play <i>Tough at the Top</i>, Adelphi Theatre 1949.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Pinkham, Roger (ed.) <i>Oliver Messel</i>, London, V&A, 1983","id":"AUTH353280"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"<i>Oliver Messel: designs for a Cochran production: French and English original colour lithographs</i>, London, Redfern Gallery, 1951","id":"AUTH356100"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"Reason For Production: Commission","productionType":{"text":"Model","id":"THES48867"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.212-2006"],"accessionNumberNum":"212","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2006,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"TM Rotation Number","id":"THES50368"},"number":"ROT 8828"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-06-05","recordCreationDate":"2006-07-25","availableToBook":true}}