Marian Lines facts for kids

Marian Alice Lines (born November 27, 1933 – died November 10, 2012) was a talented British writer and actress. She mostly wrote libretti for musical shows. A libretto is like the script or story for an opera or musical. Many of her works were created especially for children to perform.

About Marian Lines

Marian's mother was a missionary's daughter and a great piano player who loved spiritual songs. Her father was an accountant. Her grandfather, David Berry Hart, was a famous surgeon in Edinburgh.

When Marian was just six weeks old, her family moved to Carthage in Tunisia. At age two, she returned to London. Her father then got a job with the telephone company in Trinidad. The family was planning to move back to England from Trinidad when World War II started. Marian spent her early childhood in Trinidad, enjoying swimming and climbing trees.

In 1944, after her father was injured, the family traveled back to England in a convoy of ships. They arrived in Liverpool. After staying with relatives, her father returned to his old job in Edinburgh. The family then lived in St Andrews in Scotland for two years. This is where Marian developed her love for Scottish folk tales.

Marian attended Birkenhead High School, where she was friends with the famous actress Patricia Routledge. After studying for three and a half years at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she won a big award. She then joined a summer acting group in Cornwall.

During a tour for the armed forces, Marian met her future husband, Graham Lines. She was touring with actress Eileen Atkins.

Later, Marian became an English teacher at Fox School in West London. She helped with music for young children, led the choir, and ran the drama club. In the early 1970s, she wrote a play about children who sneak into a professor's lab and shrink to the size of tiny insects. This play is now lost.

Marian also worked with Rosalind Rowland. Together, they wrote two musicals, a choral fantasy, and four songs. In 1976, Marian was introduced to John Bishop and Betty Roe. Marian and Betty Roe became great friends and working partners. They created many popular works together.

Marian was also a very active member of the Association of English Singers & Speakers.

Marian Lines on Television

Marian Lines acted in a BBC show called Mrs Patterson. She played a Southern Belle character alongside the famous singer and actress Eartha Kitt.

Marian also wrote Granny's Kitchen for Yorkshire Television with Joy Whitby. This was a cooking show made for young children. Marian even appeared as 'Granny' in the first test episode. Marian and Joy Whitby also wrote the scripts for The Giddy Game Show.

Marian was also featured in many radio broadcasts.

Works with Rosalind Rowland

Marian Lines and Rosalind Rowland created several interesting musical works.

The Three Enchanters

This musical from 1971 was based on an old Russian folk story. Marian helped design and make the costumes, which looked like traditional Russian clothes. The characters included three enchanters, the witch Baba Yaga, and her famous hut that stands on hen's legs. An illustrator named Michael Foreman was interested in making a book from this work, but it didn't happen.

The Brocklehursts

This story was about a Victorian family with four children. One daughter was often naughty. In her dreams, she would visit a magical land of sweets and a spooky land of witches.

Tam Lin

This was a choral folk fantasy based on a Scottish folk tale. It was an early version of some of her later "fables." It was similar to her works Blacksmith and the Changeling and Burd Ellen. A recording of Tam Lin exists, but the musical score is believed to be lost.

Tower Blocks Songs

The first four poems in her book Tower Blocks were originally written as four songs for a school choir.

Books by Marian Lines

Marian Lines wrote several books, especially for children.

Children's Books

After writing the first four poems for Tower Blocks to be set to music, Marian met a children's book publisher named Franklin Watts. He asked her to write 28 more poems. The book was published with drawings by Charles Keeping. It was meant for children aged 12 to 14. The poems show what life was like for children in West London in the 1960s. This included the new M4 flyover at Ladbroke Grove. Two poems in the book show different views of living in tall apartment buildings, called tower blocks. One child feels lonely, but another is happy to be out of a dirty, rat-filled slum.

With her husband, Graham Lines, Marian retold the classic stories of Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream for children. These books had drawings by Brian Froud. The drawings were originally made for retellings by Charles Lamb (writer). So, the Lines' versions had to fit around these existing pictures.

Spiders of the Morning is a novel for children with drawings by Diana de Vere Cole. Diana's husband, Tristan de Vere Cole, directed a 1967 BBC TV show called Kenilworth. In that show, Marian's husband, Graham Lines, played a character named Leicester.

Play and Learn is another book that contains five short stories for children.

Lyrics Collection

Lines by Lines was a book published in 2012. It was a collection of Marian's song lyrics and parts from her libretti.

Musical Revues

Marian Lines wrote two musical shows, Mrs Worthington’s Secret Heart and Let’s Kick Mrs Worthington. These were for a singing duo called Divas 2. They first performed these shows at the Edinburgh festivals in 2001 and 2002. The songs in both shows were famous tunes by Noël Coward and Cole Porter.

Works with Betty Roe

Marian Lines and Betty Roe had a very successful partnership. They started working together in 1976 with The Barnstormers. Their last known work together was Brunel: The Little Man in the Tall Hat in 2006. Together, they wrote six operas, twelve musicals for children, a pantomime called Dick Whittington (2005), and many pieces for choirs.

Operas

• The Legend of Gallant Bevis of Southampton (1977)
• Gaslight (1983)
• A Flight of Pilgrims (1992)
• Lunch at the Cooked Goose (2000)
• Welcome to Purgatory (2003)
• Brunel: The Little Man in the Tall Hat (2006)

Musicals

• The Barnstormers (1976)
• Kookajoo and the Magic Forest
• The Most Wanted Faces (1978)
• Pardon our Rubbish
• Christmas Boxes (1980) (This includes the songs Christmas Cards)
• The Trouble with spells is… (1982)
• The Mistress of Charlecote Park
• Destination London (She wrote two songs for this)
• The Miracle Masque (1983)
• The Pink Parakeet (1984)
• Crowds (1988)
• Astron (1994)
• The Storm Hound (1996) (Based on the legend of Black Shuck)
• Floating (2002)
• The Magic Fishbone (Based on a short story by Charles Dickens)

Choral and Other Vocal Works

• Burd Ellen (1976)
• A Crown of Briar Roses (1977) (Written for Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee)
• Circe Beguiled, a scena (1978) (This tells about a meeting between Odysseus and the witch Circe)
• A Quire of Elements (1978)
• The Blacksmith and the Changeling
• Songs for City Children
• The Family Tree (1982)
• A Cat’s Tale (1990)
• A Cycle of Elements (1995)
• St George and the Dragon (1995)
• Sing the Millennium (1999)
• Dick Whittington (2005)