Biography
Born Benjamin George Ashwell on 23 March 1906 in Folkestone, Kent, Posford died on 24 April 1976 in Worplesdon, Surrey. After completing studies at Cambridge University he intended to enter the legal profession, yet the insertion of one of his early songs, written with Rodney Hobson, into a touring production of Lavender during the 1930s altered his path. He subsequently trained at the Royal College of Music and began writing numerous pieces, frequently in tandem with librettist and lyricist Eric Maschwitz. Their radio work Goodnight, Vienna was adapted into a 1932 film starring Anna Neagle and Jack Buchanan, released in the United States as Magic Night, and also reached the stage. The pair next created The Gay Hussar in 1933; after revisions and additional music supplied by Bernard Grun the piece opened at the Adelphi Theatre in 1936 as Balalaika and completed 570 performances, its standout number “At The Balalaika” having been composed quickly by Posford and Maschwitz. A 1939 screen version featured Nelson Eddy and Ilona Massey. Maschwitz, Posford and Grun further produced Paprika in 1938, a venture that failed commercially, though a reworked edition titled Magyar Melody enjoyed 105 performances at His Majesty’s Theatre once Manning Sherwin’s “Mine Alone” had been incorporated.
Full Swing, composed by Posford with Harry Parr-Davies and headlined by Cicely Courtneidge and Jack Hulbert, accumulated 468 performances amid the London blitz beginning in 1940. Following the war, Posford joined Harry Jacobson on Evangeline in 1946; Maschwitz adapted James Laver’s Nymph Errant for Frances Day in the leading role. In 1951 Posford again teamed with Maschwitz on Zip Goes A Million, which starred George Formby and ran for 544 performances at the Palace Theatre, presenting the title song together with “Ridin’ Into Town,” “The Thing About You,” “It Takes No Time To Fall In Love,” “Nothing Breaks But The Heart,” “I Owe You,” “Big Business,” “Trouble With My Heart,” “Thou Art For Me,” “Ordinary People” and “I’m Saving Up For Sally.” Their final joint stage effort, Happy Holiday, appeared in 1954 as a musical treatment of Arnold Ridley’s The Ghost Train and included “Sew A Silver Button On the Moon,” yet closed after a brief Christmas run. Several of Posford’s melodies surfaced in the 1933 films The Good Companions and Britannia Of Billingsgate as well as Invitation To The Waltz in 1935. Concert-hall compositions by Posford encompassed “Transatlantic Rhapsody” and “Broadcasting House.”
Full Swing, composed by Posford with Harry Parr-Davies and headlined by Cicely Courtneidge and Jack Hulbert, accumulated 468 performances amid the London blitz beginning in 1940. Following the war, Posford joined Harry Jacobson on Evangeline in 1946; Maschwitz adapted James Laver’s Nymph Errant for Frances Day in the leading role. In 1951 Posford again teamed with Maschwitz on Zip Goes A Million, which starred George Formby and ran for 544 performances at the Palace Theatre, presenting the title song together with “Ridin’ Into Town,” “The Thing About You,” “It Takes No Time To Fall In Love,” “Nothing Breaks But The Heart,” “I Owe You,” “Big Business,” “Trouble With My Heart,” “Thou Art For Me,” “Ordinary People” and “I’m Saving Up For Sally.” Their final joint stage effort, Happy Holiday, appeared in 1954 as a musical treatment of Arnold Ridley’s The Ghost Train and included “Sew A Silver Button On the Moon,” yet closed after a brief Christmas run. Several of Posford’s melodies surfaced in the 1933 films The Good Companions and Britannia Of Billingsgate as well as Invitation To The Waltz in 1935. Concert-hall compositions by Posford encompassed “Transatlantic Rhapsody” and “Broadcasting House.”