Cochran, Sir Charles Blake

Cochran, Sir Charles Blake (1872–1951), English impresario, known in the theatre as ‘Cocky’. After gaining experience in practically every branch of popular entertainment, he went into management on his own account with a production of Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman in New York in 1897. In London in 1911 he was responsible for Reinhardt's production at Olympia of Vollmöller's The Miracle, which he revived at the Lyceum in 1932, and in 1917 he presented in London Brieux's controversial play Damaged Goods. In 1918 he began a series of remarkable productions at the London Pavilion, including Coward's On with the Dance (1925), the first show to feature Cochran's famous ‘Young Ladies’. He brought many plays and players to London from abroad, arranging Sacha Guitry's first visit (1920) and the first production in London of an O'Neill play, Anna Christie (1923). He also presented Robert Sherwood's The Road to Rome (1928), the Heywards' Negro tragedy Porgy (1929), Moissi in Hamlet, and the Pitoëffs in Shaw's Saint Joan (both 1930). Closely associated with Coward, he was responsible for the production of his Bitter Sweet (1929), Cavalcade (1931), Words and Music (1932), and Conversation Piece (1934). He was manager of the Royal Albert Hall, 1926–38, and promoted rodeo shows and boxing matches. His longest-running production was A. P. Herbert and Vivian Ellis's musical Bless the Bride (1947).