I’m surprised Beau Brummell (June 7, 1778 – March 30, 1840) doesn’t show up in more frock flicks. He was such a well-known character in his time, and his name is still used to refer to the peak of men’s fashion. Brummell was born middle-class but his father had ambitions for the lad, sending him to Eton and Oxford. He wasn’t much of a student but, even at a young age, was precociously concerned with matters of style and elegance. After a year at university, Brummell joined the Tenth Royal Hussars, the personal regiment of the Prince of Wales, and this is where he’d make his most important connection. From the 1790s until 1813, Beau Brummell held great sway with the Prince in matters of fashion and leisure, not to mention spending. But it all fell down for Brummell shortly after the Prince became regent, and in 1816, Brummell left England to escape his debts.
That glorious decade or so with Brummell and Prinny has shown up in books and on the stage, but less so on film, which is a pity. Wouldn’t it be fabulous to have Brummell pop in at a Bridgerton ball, for example?
John Barrymore in Beau Brummell (1924)
Barry Morse in Mrs. Fitzherbert (1947)
Stewart Granger in Beau Brummell (1954)
Peter Cushing in “Beau Brummell,” BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1954)
James Purefoy in Beau Brummell: This Charming Man (2006)
Who’s your favorite on-screen Beau Brummell?
James Purefoy is best Beau.
I do want to see Mrs. Fitzherbert but can’t find it anywhere…did you find it?
Purfoy hands down! Purrrrr!!
Today Brummell would be a top stylist and influencer.
There is a rather famous statue of him appropriately enough on Jermyn Street across from the Piccadilly Arcade.
https://kingandallen.co.uk/media/1627/george-brummel-statue.jpg
Not particularly old but it has inscribed on its base this quotation:
“To be truly elegant one should not be noticed.”
Barbra Streisand’s version of this was, “A dress should fade out of sight, but greatly,” which I prefer. We are also talking about an era in which getting dressed, if you had money, took FOREVER, and could result in truly awful results. I daresay Brummell spent a while in front of the mirror, but he had his own aesthetic, instead of relying on the taste of others. (I can just imagine the poor man twirling in his grave at the mere thought of a Kardashian sister.)
There’s a statue of Beau Brummell at the Burlington Arcade in London
The problem with ‘Beau’ Brummel popping up in an episode of BRIDGERTON is that you have to somehow convince the audience that there’s at least a vague chance of the main characters falling in love with anyone else afterwards …
… having said that, I respectfully submit Mr Ferdinand Kingsley for the role, should an episode require the character (Watch that episode of THE SANDMAN with Hob Gadling to see why his name occurs to me: the man somehow manages to look handsome in now fewer than SIX centuries of costume).
Is that Peter Ustinov as Prinny in bare-chested glory with Stewart Granger? I would love to see that!
Yes, it is.
Yes! Both are memorable in their roles. Stewart Granger’s legs are given full Hollywood treatment.
Didn’t Slater and Cushing pair up as Elizabeth and Darcy as well some point around that time? Interesting.
Was Beau Brummel the one who popularized tight, light colored pants with cutaway, crotch framing coats?
yes!
TIL that there are others who adore Peter Cushing as much as I do. :)
What I liked about the Purefoy film (aside from the obvious eye candy) is that in seeing him put on his clothes, the clothing appeared to be the correct material for the time, which isn’t always the case in historical films. That gave it an extra edge for me.