document_title: Little Shop of Horrors (film)

question_text: who plays audrey in little shop of horrors

text: Little Shop of Horrors (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: In the early 1960s, a three-girl "Greek chorus"—Crystal, Ronnette, and Chiffon—introduce the movie, warning the audience that some horror is coming their way ("Prologue: Little Shop of Horrors"). Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis) and his colleague, Audrey (Ellen Greene), work at Mushnik's Flower Shop in a run-down, rough neighborhood in New York City referred to as "Skid Row". They lament that they cannot escape the neighborhood ("Skid Row (Downtown)"). Struggling from a lack of customers, Mr. Mushnik (Vincent Gardenia) decides to close the store, but Audrey suggests he may have more success by displaying an unusual plant that Seymour owns. Immediately attracting a customer, Seymour explains he bought the plant, which he dubbed "Audrey II", from a Chinese flower shop during a solar eclipse ("Da-Doo"). Attracting business to Mushnik's shop, the plant soon starts dying, worrying Seymour. Accidentally pricking his finger, he then discovers Audrey II needs human blood to thrive ("Grow for Me").

text: Seymour takes Audrey II and is interviewed on the radio, and Audrey misses the broadcast due to being "hand-cuffed a little" by her sadistic, mean-spirited boyfriend Orin Scrivello (Steve Martin). The three girls suggest Audrey dump Orin and get another man to protect her, like Seymour, but Audrey states she doesn't deserve a nice guy. Despite this, Audrey has feelings for Seymour and secretly dreams of running off with him to the suburbs ("Somewhere That's Green"). Audrey II continues to grow rapidly and Seymour becomes a local celebrity ("Some Fun Now"). Seymour soon attempts to ask Audrey out, but she turns him down because she has a date with her boyfriend, revealed to be a dentist ("Dentist!"). After Seymour closes up shop, Audrey II begins to talk to Seymour, demanding more blood than Seymour can give. The plant proposes that Seymour murder someone in exchange for fame and fortune: Seymour initially refuses, but agrees after witnessing Orin beating Audrey ("Feed Me (Get It)").

text: After Orin finishes with his masochistic patient, Arthur Denton (Bill Murray), who requested "a long, slow, root canal", Seymour books an appointment with Orin and arms himself with a revolver; however, he cannot bring himself to use it. Orin, who abuses nitrous oxide, puts on a type of venturi mask to receive a constant flow of the gas. Accidentally breaking an intake valve and unable to remove the mask, Orin begs Seymour for help removing it, but Seymour does nothing. When Orin asks Seymour what he ever did to him, Seymour coldly replies "Nothing, it's what you did to her." Orin dies from asphyxiation and Seymour drags his body back to Audrey II. While dismembering the body to feed to the plant, Seymour is unknowingly witnessed by Mushnik, who flees in fear.

text: After feeding Orin's parts to Audrey II, which has grown to enormous size, Seymour discovers the police investigating Orin's disappearance. Audrey, feeling guilty about wishing Orin would disappear, is comforted by Seymour and the two admit their feelings for each other ("Suddenly, Seymour"). That night, Mushnik confronts Seymour about what he saw and holds Seymour at gunpoint, threatening to report him to the police. Mushnik then changes his mind, saying that since Seymour was "like a son" to him, he'll allow Seymour to leave town, blackmailing him into giving the plant to Mushnik. With no choice, Seymour steadily backs him towards the plant, which swallows Mushnik whole ("Suppertime").

text: Despite widespread success, Seymour worries about Audrey II's growth and unbridled appetite ("The Meek Shall Inherit"). Offered money and a contract for a botany TV show, Seymour plans to escape Skid Row with Audrey using the money, leaving the plant to starve. After Audrey accepts Seymour's marriage proposal, Audrey II catches Seymour leaving and demands another meal: Seymour agrees, but insists on meat from a butcher. While Seymour is gone, the plant telephones Audrey, coaxes her into the shop, and then tries to eat her, in the process revealing to her that he also ate Orin and Mr. Mushnik. Seymour, returning in time to save Audrey, escapes the store with her. Explaining that he fed the plant to become successful and win Audrey's heart, Seymour discovers she has always loved him. Approached by an executive named Patrick Martin (Jim Belushi) from a botanical company, Seymour is offered a contract to breed Audrey II and sell the saplings worldwide. Horrified by the idea, Seymour drives Martin away and realizes he must destroy Audrey II for the sake of humanity.

text: Returning to the shop, Seymour learns that Audrey II is actually an alien from outer space ("Mean Green Mother from Outer Space"). Audrey II traps Seymour and destroys the shop, but Seymour grabs an exposed electrical cable and electrocutes Audrey II. Leaving the destroyed shop, Seymour safely reunites with Audrey. The two wed and move to the suburbs: as they arrive at their new home, which is the one seen in Audrey's daydreams, a smiling Audrey II bud can be seen among the flowers in their front yard.

text: Original ending[edit]

text: During production, director Oz shot a 23-minute ending based on the off-Broadway musical's ending. However, after audiences at the preview screenings did not react positively to it, the ending had to be rewritten and re-shot for the theatrical release with a "happier ending."[3]

text: In the original ending, when Audrey is attacked by the plant, Seymour pulls her from its jaws but is too late to save her, as she is mortally wounded. As she is dying she tells him what the plant said about Orin and Mushnik, and then Seymour confesses that he fed them to the plant. Audrey requests that Seymour feed her to the plant too so that it will live and Seymour can earn the success he deserves ("Somewhere That's Green (Reprise)"). After fulfilling her dying wish, he attempts suicide by jumping off the roof of a building, only to be stopped by Patrick Martin. Martin offers to reproduce and sell Audrey IIs and has already grown a smaller Audrey II from one of the cuttings that he harvested earlier. He also warns Seymour that his consent is not necessary as plants are considered to be in the public domain. Realizing Audrey II is planning global domination, Seymour climbs down from the roof with the resolution to destroy the plant. Returning to the shop, he confronts and tries to kill Audrey II, who tears down the shop, fishes him from the rubble and eats him alive. The plant then spits out Seymour's glasses and laughs victoriously ("Mean Green Mother from Outer Space)".

text: The three chorus girls appear in front of a large American flag and tell how although Audrey II buds became a worldwide consumer craze, the buds grew into an army of monstrous plants who begin to take over the Earth.[4] Giant Audrey II plants are shown destroying cities, toppling buildings, as well as eating people. The United States Army attempts to fight the buds as they ascend the Statue of Liberty and Audrey II eventually bursts through the movie screen and presumably eats the viewers ("Finale (Don't Feed The Plants)").

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Rick Moranis as Seymour Krelborn, a nerdy florist who loves "strange and interesting" plants. He is nice and well-intentioned, but is easily influenced: the plant, Audrey II, tricks him into feeding it humans.
Ellen Greene as Audrey, a kind, shy, friendly, and awkward coworker who is the object of Seymour's affections, but who is dating the sadistic Orin Scrivello.
Vincent Gardenia as Mr. Mushnik, the grumpy, stingy owner of Mushnik's Flower Shop.
Steve Martin as Orin Scrivello, DDS, a sadistic, nitrous oxide-addicted dentist and Audrey's violent, abusive boyfriend.
Levi Stubbs as the voice of Audrey II, an evil and boisterous flytrap-like extraterrestrial plant with plans to take over the planet.
Tichina Arnold, Michelle Weeks, and Tisha Campbell as Crystal, Ronette, and Chiffon, the three mysterious girls who act as a Greek chorus and often provide back-up to the songs throughout the film.
Jim Belushi as Patrick Martin, a Licensing and Marketing executive from World Botanical Enterprises who offers Seymour a proposal to sell Audrey IIs worldwide. Belushi appears in the theatrical release after re-shoots, as actor Paul Dooley (who played Martin in the original ending) was unavailable to reprise his scenes for the re-shoots.
John Candy as Wink Wilkinson, the DJ for WSKID who puts on a radio show about "weird stuff" called "Wink Wilkinson's Weird World".
Christopher Guest as The First Customer, the first customer to enter the flower shop and notice Audrey II.
Bill Murray as Arthur Denton, a hyperactive masochist who visits Orin the dentist for "a long, slow root canal."
Miriam Margolyes as a Dental Nurse, Orin's cynical nurse/secretary who Orin frequently appears to enjoy hurting.
Stanley Jones as the Narrator, whose voice is heard reading the opening words.
Mak Wilson, Danny John-Jules, Danny Cunningham, Gary Palmer, and Paul Swaby as the doo-wop backup singers.
Jim Henson's daughter Heather Henson cameos as one of Orin's patients.
Vincent Wong as the Chinese Florist
Kerry Shale as Life magazine assistant
Audrey II was operated by John Alexander, Anthony Asbury, Don Austen, David Barclay, Michael Barclay, James Barton, Michael Bayliss, Marcus Clarke, Sue Dacre, Graham Fletcher, Brian Henson, Terry Lee, Christopher Leith, Toby Philpott, Mike Quinn, Paul Springer, William Todd-Jones, Ian Tregonnian, Robert Tygner, and Mak Wilson.

text: Musical numbers[edit]

text:
"Prologue: Little Shop of Horrors"– Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
"Skid Row (Downtown)"– Seymour, Audrey, Mushnik, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal, Company
"Da-Doo"– Seymour, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
"Grow for Me"– Seymour, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal (off-screen)
"Somewhere That's Green"– Audrey
"Some Fun Now"– Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
"Dentist!"– Orin, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
"Feed Me (Git It)"– Audrey II, Seymour
"Suddenly, Seymour"– Seymour, Audrey, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
"Suppertime"– Audrey II, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
"The Meek Shall Inherit"– Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal, Company
"Suppertime (Reprise)"– Audrey II, Audrey, Chiffon, Ronette and Crystal (off screen)
"Suddenly, Seymour (Reprise)"– Audrey, Seymour
"Mean Green Mother from Outer Space"– Audrey II, the Pods
"Little Shop of Horrors medley" (end credits)– Company

text:
"Somewhere That's Green (Reprise)"– Audrey, Seymour
"Mean Green Mother from Outer Space"– Audrey II, the Pods
"Finale (Don't Feed the Plants)"– Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal, Company

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: David Geffen was one of the original producers of the off-Broadway show and he began planning to produce a feature film adaptation. Originally Steven Spielberg was to executive produce the film and Martin Scorsese was to direct, Scorsese wanting to shoot the film in 3D even, but production was stalled when a lawsuit was filed by the original film's screenwriter and actor, Charles B. Griffith.[5][citation needed] John Landis was also attached to the project for a time.[6]

text: Geffen then offered the film to Frank Oz, who was finishing work on The Muppets Take Manhattan around the same time. Oz initially rejected it, but he later had an idea that got him into the cinematic aspect of the project, which he did not figure out before. Oz spent a month and a half to restructure the script which he felt was stage-bound. Geffen and Ashman liked what he had written and decided to go with what he did. Oz was also studying the Off-Broadway show and how it was thematically constructed, all in order to reconstruct it for a feature film.[3]

text: The film differs only slightly from the stage play. The title song is expanded to include an additional verse to allow for more opening credits.[citation needed] The song "Ya Never Know" was re-written into a calypso-style song called "Some Fun Now", although some of the lyrics were retained.[citation needed]  Four other songs ("Closed for Renovation", "Mushnik and Son", "Now (It's Just the Gas)", as well as "Call Back in the Morning") were cut from the original production score. An original song written by Ashman and Menken, "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space", was created for the film.

text: Casting[edit]

text: Greene was not the first choice for the role of Audrey. The studio wanted Cyndi Lauper, who turned it down. Barbra Streisand was also rumored to have been offered the part. Since Greene was the original off-Broadway Audrey, the role was given to her. "She's amazing," Oz said. "I couldn't imagine any other Audrey, really. She nailed that part for years off-Broadway."[3] The character of the masochistic dental patient, Arthur Denton, played in the original film by Jack Nicholson under the name "Wilbur Force", and cut from the stage version, was added back to the story and played by Bill Murray, who improvised all of his dialogue. It supposedly took Steve Martin six weeks to film all his scenes as Orin. He contributed ideas such as socking the nurse in the face (originally he was to knock her out using his gas mask) and ripping off the doll head.

text: Filming[edit]

text: All the scenes were filmed at Pinewood Studios in England, making use of every sound stage there, including the 007 Stage. Oz and his crew did not want to shoot on location as it would tamper with the fantastical mood of the film. Part of the giant 007 stage was used to film the 'Suddenly Seymour' number. But because of its size, the stage was impractical to heat properly and thus caused breath condensation to appear from the actor's lips. This was countered by having Ellen Greene and Rick Moranis put ice cubes in their mouths. This would be the first time Moranis and Martin starred in a film together, and they would later appear together in three more films: Parenthood, My Blue Heaven and L.A. Story.

text: As mentioned, additional sequences and songs from the original off-Broadway show were dropped or re-written in order for the feature version to be paced well. The notable change was for the "Meek Shall Inherit" sequence. As originally filmed, it detailed through a dream sequence Seymour's rising success and the need to keep the plant fed and impress Audrey. In the final cut, the dream sequence and much of the song is cut out. Oz said, "I cut that because I felt it just didn't work and that was before the first preview in San Jose. It was the right choice, it didn't really add value to the entire cut."[3] The full version of the song was included on the film's soundtrack album, as were the songs from the original ending. The sequence was deemed to be lost until in 2012 when it was rediscovered on a VHS workprint that contained alternate and extended takes and sequences.[7]

text: Operating the plant[edit]

text: The film's version of Audrey II was an extremely elaborate creation, using puppets designed by Lyle Conway.

text: While developing the mouth of the plant for the dialogue scenes and musical numbers, Oz, Conway and his crew were struggling to figure out how to make the plant move convincingly. "We kept trying and trying and it didn't work."[8] The solution presented itself while reviewing test footage of the puppet. When the film was run backwards or forward at a faster than normal speed, the footage looked much more convincing and lifelike.  They realized they could film the puppet at a slower speed, making it appear to move faster when played back at normal speed. "By slowing it down it looked it was talking real fast. We then went 'holy cow, look at that. We can do it.'"[8] The frame rate for filming the plant was slowed to 12 or 16 frames per second, depending on the scene, and frequent screen cuts were used to minimize the amount of screen time the puppet spent with human actors, and when interaction was totally necessary, the actors (usually Moranis) would pantomime and lip sync in slow motion.[8] The film was then sped up to the normal 24 frames per second and voices were reinserted in post-production. Levi Stubbs' recordings were run through a harmonizer when slowed down so that they were coherent for Moranis or Ellen Greene.

text: There are no blue screens or opticals involved in any of Audrey II's scenes, with the exception of the reshot ending where the plant is electrocuted, designed by Visual Effects supervisor Bran Ferren, and in some shots during the rampage in the original ending. The plant was made in six different stages of growth and there were three different versions of Mushnik's shop, making it possible for two units to work with different sized plants at the same time. Each of the talking plants had to be cleaned, re-painted and patched up at the end of each shooting day, which would take up to three hours depending on the size.  The "Suppertime" number uses two different sizes of Audrey II. When the plant is singing all alone in the shop, it is actually a smaller size: the same size as when it sang "Feed Me", but now standing on a scaled down set to make it look larger. The full size one that is seen to interact with Seymour and Mushnik was not provided with lip movement, but was built to swallow Mushnik's (mechanical) legs. During Audrey II's final stage of growth, 60 technicians were necessary to operate the one-ton puppet.[9]

text: The finale[edit]

text: Oz and Ashman wanted to retain the ending of the musical where Seymour and Audrey die and the plant succeeds and takes over the city of New York, but Geffen was actually against it. "He said you can't do that," Oz recounts. "But again he knew what Howard and I wanted to do, so he supported us."[3] A special effects team skilled in working with miniatures, and Special Visual Effects team, went to great lengths to create the finale. The model department was supervised by Richard Conway, known for his model work on Flash Gordon and Brazil. "It was all model stuff, that was the brilliant thing. He created the bridge, the buildings, several Audrey IIs and created all of it, all on tabletop. It's all old-fashioned, tabletop animation"[3] [although no stop motion animation was used in the film or in the ending]. The Visual Effects work was supervised by Bran Ferren (Altered States).

text: Reportedly the entire planned climax cost about $5 million to produce, and included elaborate special and visual effects.[citation needed] Oz said in an interview, "this was, I think, the most expensive film Warner Bros. had done at the time."[3] As the film was nearing completion, the excited studio set up a test screening in San Jose. Oz said, "For every musical number, there was applause, they loved it, it was just fantastic...  until Rick and Ellen died, and then the theatre became a refrigerator, an ice box. It was awful and the cards were just awful. You have to have a 55 percent "recommend" to really be released and we got a 13. It was a complete disaster." Oz insisted on setting another test screening in L.A. to see if they would get a different reaction. Geffen agreed to this, but they received the same negative reaction as before.[3] Oz later recounted, "I learned a lesson: in a stage play, you kill the leads and they come out for a bow—in a movie, they don't come out for a bow, they're dead. They're gone and so the audience lost the people they loved, as opposed to the theater audience where they knew the two people who played Audrey and Seymour were still alive. They loved those people, and they hated us for it."[10]

text: Oz and Ashman scrapped Audrey and Seymour's grim deaths and the finale rampage, and Ashman rewrote a happier ending, with Jim Belushi replacing Paul Dooley (who was unavailable for the re-shoot) as Patrick Martin. The musical number "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" was left mostly intact from the original cut, with new shots of Audrey observing from a window added in. A brief sequence from the "Mean Green Mother" number was also removed in which Seymour fires his revolver at Audrey II, only to discover that the bullets ricochet harmlessly off of the plant. In the happy ending, Audrey II is destroyed and Seymour, Audrey, and humanity survive. This happy ending is made somewhat ambiguous, however, with a final shot of a smiling Audrey II bud in Seymour and Audrey's front yard. Tisha Campbell was unavailable for the final appearance of the chorus girls in the yard and was replaced with a lookalike seen only from the waist down.[8]

text: "We had to do it," Oz recounted. "[and do it] in such a manner that the audience would enjoy the movie. It was very dissatisfying for both of us that we couldn't do what we wanted. So creatively, no, it didn't satisfy us and being true to the story. But we also understood the realities that they couldn't release the movie if we had that ending."[3] "We had to take [the workprint] apart, and we never made a dupe of [the original ending]." At the time, the only copies of it that were made to be viewed were VHS workprint tapes given to few crew members.[11] The scene in which Seymour proposes to Audrey originally contained the reprise of "Suddenly, Seymour". This scene was re-shot and the reprise was placed later in the new ending.[8] In the final theatrical cut, the only miniatures that are retained are the New York City streets passing behind Steve Martin's motorcycle ride at the beginning of "Dentist!"[8] "When we did re-shoot the ending, the crowd reaction went over 50 percent in our favor. Before it was a point where they hated it so much, Warner probably wouldn't even release the movie," Oz said.[11]

text: Release[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Little Shop of Horrors, after a delay needed to complete the revised ending, was released on December 19, 1986 and was anticipated to do strong business over the 1986 holiday season.[12] The film grossed $39 million at the box office,[13] which, from the viewpoint of the studio, was considered an underperformer. However, it became a smash hit upon its home video release in 1987 on VHS and Beta.

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively collected reviews to give it a score of 90% based on reviews from 48 critics, the general consensus states: "Remixing Roger Corman's B-movie by way of the Off-Broadway musical, Little Shop of Horrors offers camp, horror and catchy tunes in equal measure—plus some inspired cameos by the likes of Steve Martin and Bill Murray."[14] On Metacritic, which uses an average of critics' reviews, the film has an 81% rating based on 15 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim" (14 positive reviews, 1 mixed, and no negative).[15] Richard Corliss of Time magazine said, "You can try not liking this adaptation of the Off-Broadway musical hit -- it has no polish and a pushy way with a gag -- but the movie sneaks up on you, about as subtly as Audrey II."[16]

text: In The New York Times, Janet Maslin called it "a full-blown movie musical, and quite a winning one".[17] Roger Ebert said in his review: "All of the wonders of Little Shop of Horrors are accomplished with an offhand, casual charm. This is the kind of movie that cults are made of, and after Little Shop finishes its first run, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it develop as one of those movies that fans want to include in their lives".[18] Oz's friend and Muppet colleague Jim Henson praised the film and said "the lip sync on the plant in that film is just absolutely amazing".[11]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: The film was also nominated for two Academy Awards, one for Best Visual Effects (Lyle Conway, Bran Ferren, Martin Gutteridge), the other for Best Original Song (Alan Menken, Howard Ashman) for Audrey II's new number, "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space". "Mean Green" was the first Oscar-nominated song to contain profanity in the lyrics and thus had to be slightly censored for the show. It's also the first of only two songs sung by a villain to be nominated, the other being "Blame Canada" from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (which also featured profanity). "Mean Green" lost to "Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun. It was also nominated for Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical (losing to Hannah and Her Sisters) and Best Original Score (Miles Goodman) during the 44th Golden Globe Awards. The Score went to Ennio Morricone for The Mission.

text: Home media[edit]

text: Little Shop of Horrors was the first DVD to be recalled for content.[4] In 1998, Warner Bros. released a special edition DVD that contained approximately 23 minutes of unfinished footage from Oz's original ending, although it was in black and white and was missing some sound, visual and special effects.[citation needed] Producer and rights owner David Geffen was not aware of this release until it made it to the stores. Geffen said, "They put out a black-and-white, un-scored, un-dubbed video copy of the original ending that looked like shit." As a result, the studio removed it from shelves in a matter of days and replaced it with a second edition that did not contain the extra material. Geffen wanted to theatrically re-release the film with the original ending intact.[19] Geffen also claimed to have a color copy of the original ending, while the studio had lower quality, black and white duplicates as their own color print was destroyed in a studio fire years earlier. But Geffen had not known, until after the DVD was pulled, that the studio did not know there was a colored copy of the original ending in existence.[3]

text: In November 2011, Oz held a Q&A session at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens during a Henson-themed exhibit. During the talk, he announced that the film would be released as a new special edition with the original ending restored.[20] Warner Bros. reconstructed and restored the ending in an alternate edit, with re-discovered color negatives of the sequence and the help of production notes from Oz and others on the film's creative team. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 9, 2012 with features returning from the original DVD.[21] It was initially subtitled as "The Intended Cut",[22] but changed to "The Director's Cut" once Oz began to support the release. The new edit was screened at the 50th New York Film Festival in the "Masterwork" line-up on September 29, 2012, alongside titles such as Laurence Olivier's Richard III and Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate.[23] Oz worried that the audience would react negatively at the 2012 screening; however, "the audience accepted Audrey and Seymour's deaths with applause and roared in glee during the plant rampage," says Oz.


document_title: Lok Sabha

question_text: which are the two states next to u.p. having maximum representation in lok sabha

question_tokens: which are the two states next to u.p . having maximum representation in lok sabha

root

text: Lok Sabha

text: History[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: A major portion of the Indian subcontinent was under British rule from 1858 to 1947.[8] During this period, the office of the Secretary of State for India (along with the Council of India) was the authority through whom British Parliament exercised its rule in the Indian sub-continent, and the office of Viceroy of India was created, along with an Executive Council in India, consisting of high officials of the British government. The Indian Councils Act 1861 provided for a Legislative Council consisting of the members of the Executive Council and non-official members. The Indian Councils Act 1892 established legislatures in each of the provinces of British India and increased the powers of the Legislative Council. Although these Acts increased the representation of Indians in the government, their power still remained limited, and the electorate very small. The Indian Councils Act 1909 and the Government of India Act 1919 further expanded the participation of Indians in the administration. The Government of India Act 1935 introduced provincial autonomy and proposed a federal structure in India. [9] The Indian Independence Act 1947, passed by the British parliament on 18 July 1947, divided British India (which did not include the Princely States) into two new independent countries, India and Pakistan, which were to be dominions under the Crown until they had each enacted a new constitution. The Constituent Assembly was divided into two for the separate nations, with each new Assembly having sovereign powers transferred to it for the respective dominion.

tag: p

text: The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into effect on 26 January 1950, proclaiming India to be a sovereign, democratic republic. This contained the founding principles of the law of the land which would govern India in its new form, which now included all the princely states which had not acceded to Pakistan.

text: According to Article 79 (Part V-The Union.)[10] of the Constitution of India, the Parliament of India consists of the President of India and the two Houses of Parliament known as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (Lok Sabha).

text: The Lok Sabha (House of the Leaders) was duly constituted for the first time on 17 April 1952 after the first General Elections held from 25 October 1951 to 21 February 1952.

text:
Session of Lok Sabha commenced on Date

Session No.
Date

First
13 May 1952

Second
April 1957

Third
April 1962

Fourth
March 1967

Fifth
March 1971

Sixth
March 1977

Seventh
January 1980

Eighth
December 1984

Ninth
December 1989

Tenth
June 1991

Eleventh
May 1996

Twelfth
March 1998

Thirteenth
October 1999

Fourteenth
May 2004

Fifteenth
May 2009

Sixteenth (Current)
May 2014

text: Qualifications[edit]

text: Article 84 (Part V.—The Union)[11] of Indian Constitution sets qualifications for being a member of Lok Sabha, which are as follows:

text:
He / She should be a citizen of India, and must subscribe before the Election Commission of India an oath or affirmation according to the form set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule of Indian Constitution.
He / She should not be less than 25 years of age.
He / She possesses such other qualifications as may be prescribed in that behalf by or under any law made by Parliament.
He / She should not be proclaimed criminal i.e. they should not be a convict, a confirmed debtor or otherwise disqualified by law; and
He / She should have his/her name in the electoral rolls in any part of the country.

tag: ol

text: However, a member can be disqualified of being a member of Parliament:

text:
If he / she holds office of profit;
If he / she is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court
If he / she is an undischarged insolvent;
If he / she is not a citizen of India, or has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a foreign State, or is under any acknowledgment of allegiance or adherence to a foreign State;
If he / she is violating party discipline (as per Tenth schedule of the constitution); disqualified under Representation of People Act.

text: A seat in the Lok Sabha will become vacant in the following circumstances (during normal functioning of the House):

text:
When the holder of the seat, by writing to the speaker, resigns.
When the holder of the seat is absent from 60 consecutive days of proceedings of the House, without prior permission of the Speaker.
When the holder of the seat is subject to any disqualifications mentioned in the Constitution or any law enacted by Parliament.
A seat may also be vacated when the holder stands disqualified under the 'Anti-Defection Law'.

text: Furthermore, as per article 101 (Part V.—The Union)[12] of the Indian Constitution, a person cannot be:

text:
A member of both Houses of Parliament and provision shall be made by Parliament by law for the vacation by a person who is chosen a member of both Houses of his seat in one House or the other.
A member both of Parliament and of a House of the Legislature of a State.

text: System of elections in Lok Sabha[edit]

text: Members of the Lok Sabha are directly elected by the people of India, on the basis of Universal Suffrage. For the purpose of holding direct elections to Lok Sabha; each state is divided into territorial constituencies. In this respect, the constitution of India makes the following two provisions:

text:
Each state is allotted a number of seats in the Lok Sabha in such a manner that the ratio between that number and its population is same for all the states of India. This provision does not apply for states having a population of less than 6 million (60 lakhs).
Each state is divided into territorial constituencies in such a manner that the ratio between the population of each constituency and the number of seats allotted to it remain the same throughout the state.

text: Note:

text:
The expression population while distributing seats among states refers to the population ascertained at the census of 1971.[13]
The expression population while distributing constituencies within a state refers to the population ascertained at the census of 2001.[14]

tag: ul

text: Powers[edit]

text: The Lok Sabha has certain powers that make it more powerful than the Rajya Sabha.

text:
Motions of no confidence against the government can be introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha. If passed by a majority vote, the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers resign collectively. The Rajya Sabha has no power over such a motion, and hence has no real power over the executive. This is because the Constitution of India has only made the Union Council of ministers responsible to the Lok Sabha, not to the Rajya Sabha.
Money bills can only be introduced in the Lok Sabha, and upon being passed, are sent to the Rajya Sabha, where it can be deliberated on for up to 14 days. If not rejected by the Rajya Sabha, or 14 days lapse from the introduction of the bill in the Rajya Sabha without any action by the House, or recommendations made by the Rajya Sabha are not accepted by the Lok Sabha, the bill is considered passed. The budget is presented in the Lok Sabha by the Finance Minister in the name of the President of India.
In matters pertaining to non-financial (ordinary) bills, after the bill has been passed by the House where it was originally tabled (Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha), it is sent to the other house, where it may be kept for a maximum period of 6 months. If the other House rejects the bill or a period of 6 months elapses without any action by that House, or the House that originally tabled the bill does not accept the recommendations made by the members of the other house, it results in a deadlock. This is resolved by a joint session of both Houses, presided over by the speaker of the Lok Sabha and decided by a simple majority. Though the Constitution has placed both houses on the same footing in this regard, in reality it is the Lok Sabha's opinions that mostly prevails—due to its bigger numerical strength.
Equal Powers with the Rajya Sabha in initiating and passing any Bill for Constitutional Amendment (by a majority of the total membership of the House and at least two-thirds majority of the members present and voting).
Equal Powers with the Rajya Sabha in initiating and passing a motion for the impeachment of the President (by two-thirds of the membership of the House).
Equal Powers with the Rajya Sabha in impeachment process (initiating and passing a motion for the removal) of the judges of the Supreme Court and the state High Courts (by a majority of the membership of the House and at least two-thirds majority of the members present and voting), who then can be removed by the President of India.
Equal Powers with the Rajya Sabha in initiating and passing a resolution declaring war or national emergency (by two-thirds majority) or constitutional emergency (by simple majority) in a state.
If the Lok Sabha is dissolved before or after the declaration of a National Emergency, the Rajya Sabha becomes the sole Parliament. It cannot be dissolved. This is a limitation on the Lok Sabha. But there is a possibility that president can exceed the term to not more than 1 year under the proclamation of emergency and the same would be lowered down to six-month if the said proclamation ceases to operate.

text: In conclusion, it is clear that the Lok Sabha is more powerful than the Rajya Sabha in almost all matters. Even in those matters in which the Constitution has placed both Houses on an equal footing, the Lok Sabha has more influence due to its greater numerical strength. This is typical of any Parliamentary democracy, with the lower House always being more powerful than the upper.

text: Procedure[edit]

text: Procedure in the House[edit]

text: The Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha and Directions issued by the Speaker from time to time there under regulate the procedure in Lok Sabha. The items of business, notice of which is received from the Ministers/ Private Members and admitted by the Speaker, are included in the daily List of Business which is printed and circulated to members in advance. For various items of business to be taken up in the House the time is allotted by the House on the recommendations of the Business Advisory Committee. The Speaker presides over the sessions of the House and regulates procedure.

text: Sessions and Time of Sittings[edit]

text: Three sessions of Lok Sabha take place in a year:

text:
Budget session: February to May.
Monsoon session: July to September.
Winter session: November to mid December.

text: When in session, Lok Sabha holds its sittings usually from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. and from 2 P.M. to 6 P.M. On some days the sittings are continuously held without observing lunch break and are also extended beyond 6 P.M. depending upon the business before the House. Lok Sabha does not ordinarily sit on Saturdays and Sundays and other closed holidays.

text: Question Hour[edit]

text: The first hour of every sitting is called Question Hour. Asking questions in Parliament is the free and unfettered right of members, and during Question Hour they may ask questions of ministers on different aspects of administration and government policy in the national and international spheres. Every minister whose turn it is to answer to questions has to stand up and answer for his department's acts of omission or commission.

text: Questions are of three types—Starred, Unstarred and Short Notice. A Starred Question is one to which a member desires an oral answer in the House and which is distinguished by an asterisk mark. An unstarred Question is one which is not called for oral answer in the house and on which no supplementary questions can consequently be asked. An answer to such a question is given in writing. Minimum period of notice for starred/ unstarred question is 10 clear days. If the questions given notice of are admitted by the Speaker, they are listed and printed for answer on the dates allotted to the Ministries to which the subject matter of the question pertains.

text: The normal period of notice does not apply to short notice questions which relate to matters of urgent public importance. However, a Short Notice Question may be answered only on short notice if so permitted by the Speaker and the Minister concerned is prepared to answer it at shorter notice. A short notice question is taken up for answer immediately after the Question Hour, popularly known as Zero Hour.

text: Zero Hour[edit]

text: The time immediately following the Question Hour has come to be known as "Zero Hour". It starts at around 12 noon (hence the name) and members can, with prior notice to the Speaker, raise issues of importance during this time. Typically, discussions on important Bills, the Budget, and other issues of national importance take place from 2 pm onwards.

text: Business after Question Hour[edit]

text: After the Question Hour, the House takes up miscellaneous items of work before proceeding to the main business of the day. These may consist of one or more of the following: Adjournment Motions, Questions involving breaches of Privileges, Papers to be laid on the Table, Communication of any messages from Rajya Sabha, Intimations regarding President's assent to Bills, Calling Attention Notices, Matters under Rule 377, Presentation of Reports of Parliamentary Committee, Presentation of Petitions, miscellaneous statements by Ministers, Motions regarding elections to Committees, Bills to be withdrawn or introduced.

text: Main Business[edit]

text: The main business of the day may be consideration of a Bill or financial business or consideration of a resolution or a motion.

text: Legislative Business[edit]

text: Legislative proposals in the form of a Bill can be brought forward either by a Minister or by a private member. In the former case it is known as Government Bill and in the latter case it is known as a Private Members' Bill. Every Bill passes through three stages—called three readings—before it is passed. To become law it must be passed by both the Houses of Parliament, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and then assented to by the president.

text: Financial Business[edit]

text: The presentation, discussion of, and voting on the annual General and Railways budgets—followed by the passing of the Appropriations Bill and the Finance Bill—is a long, drawn-out process that takes up a major part of the time of the House during its Budget Session every year.

text: Motions and Resolutions[edit]

text: Among other kinds of business that come up before the House are resolutions and motions. Resolutions and motions may be brought forward by Government or by private members. Government may move a resolution or a motion for obtaining the sanction to a scheme or opinion of the House on an important matter of policy or on a grave situation. Similarly, a private member may move a resolution or motion in order to draw the attention of the House and of the Government to a particular problem. The last two and half hours of sitting on every Friday are generally allotted for transaction of private members' business. While private members' bills are taken up on one Friday, private members' resolutions are taken up on the succeeding Friday, and so on.

text: Parliamentary Committees[edit]

text: Most of the business of drafting a bill or amendments are initially discussed and debated in the parliamentary committees. Since the time for legislation is limited, work of all departments of the government and any special focus tasks is delegated to the committees, wherein the committees shall prepare the initial draft of the bill/amendment for the consideration by both the houses. They consist of members from both the houses

text: There are primarily two kinds of parliamentary committees based on their nature –

text:
Parliament Standing Committees (PSC) – Permanent in nature, reconstituted time to time with every new election.

Department based
Others

Ad hoc Committees – Created for specific purpose and ceases to exist when that purpose is achieved.

text: Half-an-Hour Discussion[edit]

text: A Half-an-Hour Discussion can be raised on a matter of sufficient public importance which has been the subject of a recent question in Lok Sabha irrespective of the fact whether the question was answered orally or the answer was laid on the Table of the House and the answer which needs elucidation on a matter of fact. Normally not more than half an hour is allowed for such a discussion. Usually, half-an-hour discussion is listed on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only. In one session, a member is allowed to raise not more than two half-an-hour discussions. During the discussion, the member, who has given notice, makes a short statement and not more than four members, who have intimated earlier and have secured one of the four places in the ballot, are permitted to ask a question each for further elucidating any matter of fact. Thereafter, the Minister concerned replies. There is no formal motion before the House nor voting.

text: Discussion on Matters of Urgent Public Importance[edit]

text: Members may raise discussions on matters of urgent public importance with the permission of the Speaker. Such discussions may take place on two days in a week. No formal motion is moved in the House nor is there any voting on such a discussion.

text: Debate in the House[edit]

text: After the member who initiates discussion on an item of business has spoken, other members can speak on that item of business in such order as the Speaker may call upon them. Only one member can speak at a time and all speeches are directed to the Chair. A matter requiring the decision of the House is decided by means of a question put by the Speaker on a motion made by a member.

text: Division[edit]

text: A division is one of the forms in which the decision of the House is ascertained. Normally, when a motion is put to the House members for and against it indicate their opinion by saying "Aye" or "No" from their seats. The Chair goes by the voices and declares that the motion is either accepted or rejected by the House. If a member challenges the decision, the Chair orders that the lobbies be cleared. Then the division bell is rung and an entire network of bells installed in the various parts and rooms in Parliament House and Parliament House Annexe rings continuously for three and a half minutes. Members and Ministers rush to the Chamber from all sides. After the bell stops, all the doors to the Chamber are closed and nobody can enter or leave the Chamber till the division is over. Then the Chair puts the question for second time and declares whether in its opinion the "Ayes" or the "Noes", have it. If the opinion so declared is again challenged, the Chair asks the votes to be recorded by operating the Automatic Vote Recording Equipment.

text: Automatic Vote Recording System[edit]

text: With the announcement of the Speaker for recording the votes, the Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha presses the button of a key board. Then a gong sounds, serving as a signal to members for casting their votes. To vote, each member present in the Chamber has to flip a switch and then operate one of the three push buttons fixed in their seat. The push switch must be kept pressed simultaneously until the gong sounds for the second time after 10 seconds. There are two indicator boards installed in the wall on either side of the Speaker's chair in the Chamber. Each vote cast by a member is flashed here. Immediately after the votes are cast, they are totalled mechanically and the details of the results are flashed on the Result Indicator Boards installed in the railings of the Speaker's and Diplomatic Galleries.

text: Divisions are normally held with the aid of the Automatic Vote Recording Equipment. Where so directed by the Speaker in terms of relevant provision in the Rules of Procedure etc. in Lok Sabha, divisions may be held either by distribution of 'Aye'/'No' and 'Abstention' slips to members in the House or by the members recording their votes by going into the lobbies. There is an Indicator Board in the machine room showing the name of each member. The result of Division and vote cast by each member with the aid of Automatic Vote Recording Equipment appear also on this Board and immediately a photograph of the Indicator Board is taken. Later the Photograph is enlarged and the names of members who voted 'Ayes' and for 'Noes' are determined with the help of the photograph and incorporated in Lok Sabha Debates.

text: Publication of Debates[edit]

text: Three versions of Lok Sabha Debates are prepared: the Hindi version, the English version and the Original version. Only the Hindi and English versions are printed. The Original version, in cyclostyled form, is kept in the Parliament Library for record and reference. The Hindi version contains proceedings (all Questions asked and Answers given thereto and speeches made) in Hindi, and verbatim Hindi translation of proceedings in English or in regional languages. The English version contains proceedings in English and the English translation of the proceedings which take place in Hindi or in any regional language. The Original version, however, contains proceedings in Hindi or in English as they actually took place in the House and also the English/Hindi translation of speeches made in regional languages.

text: If conflicting legislation is enacted by the two Houses, a joint sitting is held to resolve the differences. In such a session, the members of the Lok Sabha would generally prevail, since the Lok Sabha includes more than twice as many members as the Rajya Sabha.

text: Officers of Lok Sabha[edit]

text: Speaker and Deputy Speaker

text: As per Article 93 of Indian Constitution, the Lok Sabha has a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker. In the Lok Sabha, both presiding officers—the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker- are elected from among its members by a simple majority of members present and voting in the House. No specific qualifications are prescribed for being elected Speaker; the Constitution only requires that Speaker should be a member of the House. But an understanding of the Constitution and the laws of the country and the rules of procedure and conventions of Parliament is considered a major asset for the holder of the office of the Speaker. Vacation and resignation of, and removal from, the offices of Speaker and Deputy Speaker are mentioned under Article 94 of the Constitution of India. As per Article 94 of Indian Constitution, a Speaker or a Deputy Speaker should vacate his/her office, a) if he/she ceases to be a member of the House of the People, b) he/she resigns, or c) is removed from office by a resolution of the House passed by a majority.

text: The Speaker of Lok Sabha is both a member of the House and its Presiding Officer. The Speaker conducts the business in the House. He/she decides whether a bill is a money bill or not. He/she maintains discipline and decorum in the house and can punish a member for their unruly behaviour by suspending them. He/she permits the moving of various kinds of motions and resolutions like the motion of no confidence, motion of adjournment, motion of censure and calling attention notice as per the rules. The Speaker decides on the agenda to be taken up for discussion during the meeting. It is the Speaker of the Lok Sabha who presides over joint sittings called in the event of disagreement between the two Houses on a legislative measure. Following the 52nd Constitution amendment, the Speaker is vested with the power relating to the disqualification of a member of the Lok Sabha on grounds of defection. The Speaker makes obituary references in the House, formal references to important national and international events and the valedictory address at the conclusion of every Session of the Lok Sabha and also when the term of the House expires. Though a member of the House, the Speaker does not vote in the House except on those rare occasions when there is a tie at the end of a decision. Till date, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha has not been called upon to exercise this unique casting vote. While the office of Speaker is vacant due to absence/resignation/removal, the duties of the office are performed by the Deputy Speaker or, if the office of Deputy Speaker is also vacant, by such member of the House of the People as the President may appoint for the purpose. The Lok Sabha has also a separate non-elected Secretariat staff.[15]

text: Shri G. V. Mavalankar was the first Speaker of Lok Sabha (15 May 1952– 27 February 1956) and Shri M. Ananthasayanam Ayyangar was the first Deputy Speaker (30 May 1952 – 7 March 1956). In the 16th Lok Sabha, Sumitra Mahajan was elected as the speaker on 3 June 2014, and is its second woman speaker and Shri M. Thambidurai as the deputy speaker.

text: Composition by states and territories[edit]

text:
State/Union Territory
Type
No. of constituencies[16]

Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Union Territory
1

Andhra Pradesh
State
25

Arunachal Pradesh
State
2

Assam
State
14

Bihar
State
40

Chandigarh
Union Territory
1

Chhattisgarh
State
11

Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Union Territory
1

Daman and Diu
Union Territory
1

National Capital Territory of Delhi
Union Territory
7

Goa
State
2

Gujarat
State
26

Haryana
State
10

Himachal Pradesh
State
4

Jammu and Kashmir
State
6

Jharkhand
State
14

Karnataka
State
28

Kerala
State
20

Lakshadweep
Union Territory
1

Madhya Pradesh
State
29

Maharashtra
State
48

Manipur
State
2

Meghalaya
State
2

Mizoram
State
1

Nagaland
State
1

Odisha
State
21

Puducherry
Union Territory
1

Punjab
State
13

Rajasthan
State
25

Sikkim
State
1

Tamil Nadu
State
39

Telangana
State
17

Tripura
State
2

Uttarakhand
State
5

Uttar Pradesh
State
80

West Bengal
State
42

text: Lok Sabha general elections[edit]

text: Lok Sabha is constituted after the general election as follows:

text:
Lok Sabha
General Election

1st Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 1951–52

2nd Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 1957

3rd Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 1962

4th Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 1967

5th Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 1971

6th Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 1977

7th Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 1980

8th Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 1984

9th Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 1989

10th Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 1991

11th Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 1996

12th Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 1998

13th Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 1999

14th Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 2004

15th Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 2009

16th Lok Sabha
Indian general election, 2014

text: Number of members by party in Lok Sabha[edit]

text: Currently elected members of 16th Lok Sabha by their political party (As of 10 May 2018):[17]

text:
Alliance
Party
Seats

National Democratic Alliance
Seats: 315
Bharatiya Janata Party
272

Shiv Sena
18

Lok Janshakti Party
6

Shiromani Akali Dal
4

Rashtriya Lok Samta Party
3

Apna Dal
2

Janata Dal (United)
2

Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party
1

All India N.R. Congress
1

National Peoples Party
1

Pattali Makkal Katchi
1

Sikkim Democratic Front
1

Speaker of the House, BJP
1

Nominated Anglo-Indians, BJP
2

United Progressive Alliance
Seats: 52
Indian National Congress
48

Indian Union Muslim League
2

Kerala Congress (M)
1

Revolutionary Socialist Party
1

Janata Parivar
Seats: 7
Rashtriya Janata Dal
3

Indian National Lok Dal
2

Janata Dal (Secular)
2

Other Parties
Seats: 163
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
37

All India Trinamool Congress
34

Biju Janata Dal
20

Telugu Desam Party
16

Telangana Rashtra Samithi
11

Communist Party of India (Marxist)
9

YSR Congress Party
9

Samajwadi Party
7

Nationalist Congress Party
6

Aam Aadmi Party
4

All India United Democratic Front
3

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha
2

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
1

Communist Party of India
1

Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
1

Swabhimani Paksha
1

Jan Adhikar Party (L) (Expelled RJD Member)
1

Independents

3

Vacant Seats
Anantnag, Bhandara–Gondiya, Palghar, Kairana and Nagaland constituencies.
5

Total

545


document_title: An Inspector Calls

question_text: who made eva smith pregnant in inspector calls

text: An Inspector Calls

text: Synopsis[edit]

text: At the Birlings' home in April 1912, Arthur Birling - a wealthy factory owner and local politician - and his family are celebrating the engagement of daughter Sheila to Gerald Croft, the son of one of Birling's competitors, Crofts Limited. Also in attendance are Arthur's wife Sybil and their children Sheila and Eric, both in their early twenties. Eric, the younger, has a terrible drinking problem that is not discreetly ignored and is a major part of the play. After dinner, Arthur speaks about the importance of self-reliance. He talks about his impending knighthood and about how "a man has to look after himself and his own."

text: A man calling himself Inspector Goole arrives, interrupting the evening and explaining that a woman called Eva Smith has killed herself by drinking strong disinfectant. He implies that she has left a diary naming names, including members of the Birling family. Goole produces a photograph of Eva and shows it to Arthur, who acknowledges that she worked in one of his mills. He admits that he dismissed her from Birling & Co. 18 months ago for her involvement in an abortive workers' strike. He denies responsibility for her death.

text: Sheila enters the room and is drawn into the discussion. After prompting from Goole, she admits to recognising Eva as well. She confesses that Eva served her in a department store, Milwards,  and Sheila contrived to have her fired for an imagined slight. She admits that Eva's behaviour had been blameless and that the firing was motivated solely by Sheila's jealousy and spite towards a pretty working-class woman.

text: Sybil enters the room and Goole continues his interrogation, revealing that Eva was also known as Daisy Renton. Gerald starts at the mention of the name and Sheila becomes suspicious. Gerald admits that he met a woman by that name in the Palace Bar. He gave her money and arranged to see her again. Goole reveals that Gerald had installed Eva as his mistress, and gave her money and promises of continued support before ending the relationship. Arthur and Sybil are horrified. An ashamed Gerald exits the room. Sheila acknowledges his nature and credits him for speaking truthfully but also signals that their engagement is over. After Gerald returns, Sheila hands the ring, which Gerald had given her earlier in the evening, back to him.

text: Goole identifies Sybil as the head of a women's charity to which Eva had turned for help. Despite Sybil's haughty responses, she eventually admits that Eva, pregnant and destitute, had asked the committee for financial aid. Sybil had convinced the committee that the girl was a liar and that her application should be denied. Despite vigorous cross-examination from Goole, Sybil denies any wrongdoing. Sheila begs her mother not to continue, but Goole plays his final card, making Sybil declare that the "drunken young man" who had made Eva pregnant should give a "public confession, accepting all the blame". Eric enters the room, and after brief questioning from Goole, he breaks down, admitting that he drunkenly raped Eva before meeting with her several times later and then stole £50 (equivalent to several thousand of today's pounds) from his father's business to help her when she became pregnant. When Eva realized that the money had been stolen, she refused it. Arthur and Sybil are outraged by Eric's actions, and the evening dissolves into angry recriminations.

text: Goole's questioning revealed that each member of the family had contributed to Eva's despondency and suicide. He reminds the Birlings that actions have consequences, and that all people are intertwined in one society, saying, "If men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish", alluding to the impending World War. Goole then leaves.

text: Gerald returns, telling the family that there may be no "Inspector Goole" on the police force. Arthur makes a call to the Chief Constable, who confirms this. Gerald points out that as Goole was lying about being a policeman, there may be no dead girl. Placing a second call to the local infirmary, Gerald determines that no recent cases of suicide have been reported. The elder Birlings and Gerald celebrate, with Arthur dismissing the evening's events as "moonshine" and "bluffing". The younger Birlings, however, still realise the error of their ways and promise to change. Gerald is keen to resume his engagement to Sheila, but she is reluctant, since he still admitted to having had an affair.

text: The play ends with a telephone call, taken by Arthur, who reports that a young woman has died, a suspected case of suicide by disinfectant, and that the local police are on their way to question the Birlings. The true identity of Goole is never explained, but it is clear that the family's confessions over the course of the evening are true, and that they will be disgraced publicly when news of their involvement in Eva's demise is revealed.

text: Characters[edit]

text: Inspector Goole[edit]

text: A mysterious interrogator who introduces himself as "Inspector Goole", claiming that he has seen the dead body of Eva Smith/Daisy Renton earlier that day after her slow and painful suicide by swallowing disinfectant, and that he has been given "a duty" to investigate the Birlings’ responsibility for her death. He makes a brief reference to a diary left by Eva/Daisy although this is never seen or explicitly referred to. Throughout the play, it is suggested that Goole knows everything about Eva/Daisy’s life and the Birlings’ involvement in her death, and is interrogating the family solely to reveal their guilt rather than to discover unknown information. Both during and after his interrogation of the family, the Birlings query whether he is actually a real inspector, and a phone call made by Mr. Birling to the local police station reveals that there is no Inspector Goole in the local police force. Many critics and audiences have interpreted Goole’s role as an "avenging angel" or a supernatural being because of his unexplained omniscience, his prophetic final speech in which he says that humanity will learn its lesson in "fire and blood and anguish" (referring to the First World War, two years after the setting of the play 1912)[4] and even because of his name, which is a homophone for the word "ghoul" (meaning "ghost") and is also the  name of a seaside town (which could possibly be a reference to the time period in the play when Eva Smith stays in a seaside town with money that Gerald Croft had given her).[6] It is suggested in the final scene that Goole's interrogation of the family will foreshadow a further interrogation to follow by the "real" police force, and that Goole's purpose has been to warn the family in advance and encourage them to accept responsibility and repent for their bad behaviour, like The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Goole also forces the characters to question their very own lives, and if the ones they were living were true. In addition, he also feels a responsibility to make the Birling family feel guilty for their actions. His identity remains ambiguous throughout the play.

text: Eva Smith/Daisy Renton[edit]

text: She is the unseen working-class woman whom Goole claims has taken her own life whilst pregnant with Eric Birling's baby, and who has been mistreated by each member of the Birling family and by Gerald Croft. Through reports from other characters, she is described as "pretty" with soft brown hair and big dark eyes, and it is explained that she has no family and must work for her living. Her beauty is commented on by all the characters. Her beauty attracts both Gerald and Eric to her, with Eric sexually exploiting her. Sheila comments disparagingly that Eva looked prettier when she wore a certain dress than Sheila did herself, and seems threatened by Eva's beauty, confessing that if Eva had been plain she would have been unlikely to have had her fired. It is also suggested that Eva/Daisy is somewhat morally principled, as she refuses to accept stolen money from Eric, despite her dire financial situation, although about to become Gerald Croft's mistress before he abandoned her. Eva/Daisy appears to be a victim who is judged by the (female) characters for not acting in a manner appropriate for someone of her class. Sheila imagines that Eva laughed at her disparagingly and so "punishes" her by having her fired. Sybil also criticises Eva for appearing proud and putting on airs and graces, and for being "impertinent" rather than being meek and grateful to her social superiors. The audience is invited to dwell on Eva/Daisy's vulnerability and her suffering at the hands of an exploitative employer, her sexual abuse at the hands of Eric, her powerlessness caused by her sex, class, and poverty and her victimisation on the basis of a sexual double standard.

text: At the end of the play, Gerald suggests that Eva Smith may not have been the same person but rather a collective personification of all the different working-class women that the family had exploited, invented by Goole to make the family feel guilty. Yet the final phone call, announcing that a police inspector is shortly to arrive at the Birlings' house to investigate the suicide of a young girl, leaves open the possibility that Eva Smith really did exist after all.

text: Arthur Birling[edit]

text: Arthur Birling is described as "a heavy-looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties", husband of Sybil, and father of Sheila and Eric Birling. He represents the capitalist ruling class, repeatedly describing himself with pride as a "hard-headed businessman", and the head of a patriarchal family structure, and is arguably the main subject of Priestley's social critique. He describes himself and his family as an upper class family. Dominant, arrogant, self-centred, and morally blind, he is insistent throughout about his lack of responsibility for Eva's death and quotes his economic justification for firing her as being the importance of keeping his labour costs low and quelling dissent, which he says is standard business practice. Although he is authoritative and has risen to a position of economic and social prominence, he inadvertently reveals his social rank to be lower than that of his wife's when he compliments the cook right at the start of the play, and by his continual need to assert his social importance. His status as an alderman and former Lord Mayor of Brumley is repeated several times in the play, with increasing comic effect. Early in the play, he also makes a series of thoroughly-explained and justified predictions about the future world, all of which the audience knows will not come true, such as describing the Titanic as "unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable" and saying that "the Germans don't want war". He appears pleased at the economic and social cachet brought by his daughter's engagement to Gerald Croft, and resents Goole's intrusion on the family. He remains unaffected by the details of Eva's death, and his own concerns appear to be retaining his social standing, avoiding public embarrassment by the leaking of such a scandal, insisting that Eric accounts for and repays the stolen company money and that Sheila should 're-consider' her relationship with Gerald in-order for him to maintain a promised Croft-Birling merger.

text: Sybil Birling[edit]

text: Sybil Birling is the wife of Arthur and mother of Sheila and Eric Birling. She is her husband's "social superior" and is keen to show him the correct etiquette that is expected from an upper-middle-class family. As the leader of a women's charitable organisation, she assumes a social and moral superiority over Inspector Goole, whose questioning style she frequently refers to as "impertinent" and "offensive". Like her husband, she refuses to accept responsibility for the death of Eva Smith, and seems more concerned with maintaining the family's reputation, even going so far as to lie and deny recognition of the photograph of Eva. She fearlessly expresses her prejudices against working-class women, like Eva, whom she accuses of being immoral, dishonest, and greedy. It is Eva's use of the assumed name "Birling" that makes Sybil turn her away from her charity and she doesn't see why she did this until it is too late. Also, she seems detached from the rest of the family as she does not realise Eric's alcohol problem (either she's blind to it or fails to accept it and still insists on unsuccessfully covering it up around the Inspector). She is around 50 years old, as mentioned in the pre-play stage directions, highlighting she belongs to the older generation.

text: Sheila Birling[edit]

text: Sheila is the Birlings' elder child. She is described as a "pretty girl in her early twenties", delighted about her engagement to Gerald Croft. She starts out as a playful, self-centred girl who loves attention. She also knows of Eric Birling's heavy drinking. Throughout the play, she becomes the most sympathetic family member, showing remorse upon hearing the news of her part in the girl's downfall, and attempting to encourage the family to accept responsibility for their part in Eva's death. She is shown to be not as naive as originally thought, revealing her suspicions about her fiancé's infidelity. Despite continual criticism from her father, she becomes more rebellious toward her parents, supporting her brother against them and assisting Goole in his interrogations.  At the end of the play, Sheila is much wiser. She can now judge her parents and Gerald from a new perspective, but the greatest change has been in herself: her social conscience has been awakened and she is aware of her responsibilities. The Sheila who had a girl dismissed from her job for a trivial reason has given way to one who acknowledges the wrongdoing of herself and her family. She represents the younger generation's break from the exploitative behaviour of her class.

text: Eric Birling[edit]

text: He is the Birlings' younger child, often presented as awkward and embarrassed. Eric is revealed to have made Eva Smith pregnant as well as to have stolen some money from his father's business to support Eva (although she refuses the money once she knows it is stolen). An alcoholic, his drinking habits are known by everyone except his mother who wants to think of him as a child, and not accept that he is no longer her innocent child but a grown man. After the Inspector leaves, he and Sheila are the only two who feel guilty over Eva's death. At the beginning of the play, Eric is shown as a rebellious young man who is very full of himself; however, towards the end of the play, his true personality is revealed. By the end of the story, Eric has learned his lesson and feels as guilty as Sheila does for his part in Eva Smith's death. He feels as if he cannot talk to his family, especially his father, about his problems - "You are not the kind of father that a chap could go to when he's in trouble" -  so he bottles them up inside himself. He is willing to take responsibility for Eva's death.

text: Gerald Croft[edit]

text: The son of Sir George Croft of Crofts Limited, a competitor of Birling and Company, he is at the Birling residence to celebrate his recent engagement to Sheila Birling. Gerald is revealed to have known Eva and installed her as his mistress, becoming "the most important person in her life", before ending the relationship. After the revelation of his affair, he is not blamed as heavily as the other characters (Sheila commends him for his honesty and for initially showing Eva compassion, even though he is shown as cowardly and thoughtless for taking advantage of a vulnerable woman). He is caused to confess as soon as he shouts out in shock at hearing the name he had known Eva by (Daisy Renton), allowing the Inspector to investigate Gerald's involvement in Eva's life. Gerald thinks that Goole is not a police inspector, that the family may not all be referring to the same woman and that there may not be a body. Initially he appears to be correct, and does not think the Birlings have anything to feel ashamed of or worry about. He seems excited at the prospect of discovering the 'fake' Inspector and seems almost desperate for others to believe him.

text: Edna[edit]

text: Edna is the maid at the Birling household. The character has limited contribution in the play; however, she is the only person in the play that can provide an insight into the life of Eva Smith, a character to whom Edna has a similar working-class background. It is she who opens the door to allow the Inspector into the Birling's lives, although she is often taken for granted and treated somewhat poorly at times, as if she were not actually there.

text: Criticism and interpretation[edit]

text: Highly successful after its first and subsequent London productions, the play is now considered one of Priestley's greatest works, and has been subject to a variety of critical interpretations.

text:
After the new wave of social realist theatre in the 1950s and 1960s, the play fell out of fashion, and was dismissed as an example of outdated bourgeois "drawing room" dramas, and became a staple of regional repertory theatre. Following several successful revivals (including Stephen Daldry's 1992 production for the National Theatre), the play was "rediscovered" and hailed as a damning social criticism of capitalism and middle-class hypocrisy in the manner of the social realist dramas of Shaw and Ibsen. It has been read as a parable about the destruction of Victorian social values and the disintegration of
pre-World War I English society, and Goole's final speech has been interpreted variously as a quasi-Christian vision of hell and judgement, and as a socialist manifesto.

text: The struggle between the embattled patriarch Arthur Birling and Inspector Goole has been interpreted by many critics as a symbolic confrontation between capitalism and socialism, and arguably demonstrates Priestley's socialist political criticism of the perceived-selfishness and moral hypocrisy of middle-class capitalist society. While no single member of the Birling family is solely responsible for Eva's death, together they function as a hermetic class system that exploits neglected, vulnerable women, with each example of exploitation leading collectively to Eva's social exclusion, despair and suicide. The play also arguably acts as a critique of Victorian-era notions of middle-class philanthropy towards the poor, which is based on presumptions of the charity-givers' social superiority and severe moral judgement towards the "deserving poor". The romantic idea of gentlemanly chivalry towards "fallen women" is also debunked as being based on male lust and sexual exploitation of the weak by the powerful. In Goole's final speech, Eva Smith is referred to as a representative for millions of other vulnerable working-class people, and can be read as a call to action for English society to take more responsibility for working-class people, pre-figuring the development of the post-World War II welfare state.

text: Productions[edit]

text: An Inspector Calls was first performed in 1945 in the USSR in two theatres (Kamerny Theatre in Moscow and Comedy Theatre in Leningrad), as a suitable venue in the United Kingdom could not be found,[7][8] due to the fact that Priestley wrote the play in one week and all the theatres in the UK had already been booked for that season.[9] The play had its first British production in 1946 at the New Theatre in London with Ralph Richardson as Inspector Goole, Harry Andrews as Gerald Croft, Margaret Leighton as Sheila Birling, Julien Mitchell as Arthur Birling, Marian Spencer as Sybil Birling and Alec Guinness as Eric Birling.

text: The first Broadway production opened at the Booth Theatre on 21 October 1947 and ran until 10 January 1948. The production was staged by Cedric Hardwicke.

text: The play was produced and performed at the Ferdowsi Theatre in Iran in late 1940s based on the translation by Bozorg Alavi.

text: In 1986 Richard Wilson directed a production at the Royal Exchange, Manchester with Geraldine Alexander as Sheila Birling, Hugh Grant as Eric Birling and Graeme Garden as Inspector Goole.

text: Tom Baker played Inspector Goole in a 1987 production directed by Peter Dews and designed by Daphne Dare that opened at the Theatr Clwyd on 14 April then transferred to London's Westminster Theatre on 13 May 1987. The cast included Pauline Jameson as Sybil Birling, Peter Baldwin as Arthur Birling, Charlotte Attenborough as Sheila Birling, Simon Shepherd as Gerald Croft and Adam Godley as Eric Birling.

text: A revival of the play by British director Stephen Daldry opened at the National Theatre's Lyttelton Theatre in September 1992. Daldry's concept was to reference two eras: the 1945 post-war era, when the play was written, and the ostensible historical setting for the work in pre-war 1912; this emphasised the way the character Goole was observing, and deploring, the Birling family's behaviour from Priestley's own cultural viewpoint.[10][11] It won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play, and was widely praised for making the work involving and politically relevant for a modern audience. The production is often credited with single-handedly rediscovering Priestley's works and "rescuing" him from the reputation of being obsolete and class-bound, although the production had some detractors, including Sheridan Morley[12] who regarded it as a gimmicky travesty of the author's patent intentions. The success of the production since 1992 has led to a critical reappraisal of Priestley as a politically engaged playwright who offered a sustained critique of the hypocrisy of English society. A Broadway transfer of the production starring Philip Bosco opened at the Royale Theatre (now the Bernard Jacobs Theatre) on 27 April 1994 and played 454 performances.[13]

text: The Stephen Daldry production went on a tour of the UK in 2011 and 2012,[14] with Tom Mannion as Inspector Goole. The production returned to the Playhouse in London's West End in November 2016, with Liam Brennan in the name part.[11]

text: Adaptations[edit]

text: Film[edit]

text: The first film version of An Inspector Calls was produced in the United Kingdom by Watergate Productions Ltd; the 1954 screenplay was adapted by Desmond Davis and directed by Guy Hamilton. Alastair Sim starred as Inspector Goole, renamed "Poole" for the film, with Jane Wenham as Eva Smith (the character not seen in the play), Eileen Moore as Sheila Birling, Arthur Young as Arthur Birling, Brian Worth as Gerald Croft, Olga Lindo as Sybil Birling and Bryan Forbes as Eric Birling.

text: In 1965, the play was adapted into a Bengali (Indian) movie by the name of Thana Theke Aschi from a Bengali adaptation of the original play of the same name. The character of Inspector Goole was played by the Bengali Matinee idol Uttam Kumar, the character being renamed as Sub-Inspector Tinkari Halder, the character of Eva Smith/ Daisy Renton was portrayed by Madhabi Mukherjee, the character being renamed as Sandhya Chakraborty/ Jharna Roy/ Reba Sen. The rest of the cast included Dilip Mukherjee, Kamal Mitra, Chhaya Devi, Anjana Bhowmik, and Jahar Roy to name a few. The film had gone on to be a huge commercial hit at the point of time, and is generally regarded as one of the best stories to have churned out of the Bengali film scenario of the 60s, a decade widely regarded as the golden age of Bengali films.

text: There was a remake of the same movie in 2010, starring newer actors like Paoli Dam, Parambrata Chatterjee, Rudranil Ghosh and Sabyasachi Chakraborty in the role of Tinkori Halder or Inspector Goole. This was widely panned by critics.[citation needed]

text: It was also adapted into a comedy film in Hong Kong, released on 19 February 2015.

text: There was an adaptation made in 2017 starring and directed by Jason Farries.[15]

text: Television[edit]

text: The first television version was shown on live BBC Television on 4 May 1948, with a second live performance three days later. Running to 105 minutes, it was produced and directed by Harold Clayton, and starred Julien Mitchell as Arthur Birling (reprising his role from the first British stage production), Mary Merrall as Sybil Birling, Joy Shelton as Sheila Birling, Derek Blomfield as Eric Birling, Alastair Bannerman as Gerald Croft, Madeleine Burgess as Edna, and George Hayes as Inspector Goole.

text: A second BBC Television version was screened on 19 February 1961 as part of the Sunday Night Play series. Produced and directed by Naomi Capon, it starred John Gregson as Inspector Goole, Heather Sears as Sheila Birling, Nora Swinburne as Sybil Birling, William Russell as Gerald Croft, Edward Chapman as Arthur Birling, Hilda Campbell-Russell as Edna, and Alan Dobie as Eric Birling.[16]

text: A selection of scenes from the play were broadcast in the ITV series Conflict on 15 May 1967. Produced by Associated Television, the 25 minute programme was directed by George More O'Ferrall, and starred Reginald Marsh as Arthur Birling, Julian Curry as Eric, Margo Andrew as Sheila, Pauline Winter as Mrs Birling, Stuart Saunders as Inspector Goole, Michael Graham as Gerald Croft, and Ann Dimitri as Edna.

text: In 1973, a Soviet made-for-television film Он пришел (On prishel) was produced, starring Vladimir Etush as Gull (Goole), Irina Kupchenko as Sheila Birling and Oleg Shklovsky as Eric Birling.[17]

text: Also, in the Soviet Union in 1979, a made-for-television two-part film Инспектор Гулл (Inspector Gooll), was produced starring Juozas Budraitis as Gull (Goole), Vladimir Zeldin as Arthur Birling and Ivars Kalniņš as Gerald Croft.

text: A BBC Schools version of An Inspector Calls was produced in three 30 minute episodes, shown between 22 September and 6 October 1981 on BBC One. Directed by Michael Simpson, it starred Bernard Hepton as Inspector Goole, Sarah Berger as Sheila Birling, Nigel Davenport as Arthur Birling, Simon Ward as Gerald Croft, Margaret Tyzack as Sybil Birling and David Sibley as Eric Birling. It was repeated on primetime BBC One in three episodes between 17 and 31 August 1982, and as a single 85 minute version on 2 September 1984.

text: An 86-minute An Inspector Calls film was produced for BBC Television, and first screened on 13 September 2015 on BBC One. Adapted by Helen Edmundson and directed by Aisling Walsh for Drama Republic,[18][19][20] it stars David Thewlis as Inspector Goole,[21] Chloe Pirrie as Sheila Birling, Ken Stott as Arthur Birling, Kyle Soller as Gerald Croft, Miranda Richardson as Sybil Birling and Finn Cole as Eric Birling.

text: It was also adapted as a Hong Kong-made black comedy(Chinese title: 浮華宴)in 2015, with slapstick elements added.

text: Radio and audio[edit]

text: The first radio production was broadcast on the BBC Home Service on 27 March 1950 in the Contemporary European Theatre series.[22] This was followed by a BBC Light Programme production on 10 June 1953. Adapted by Cynthia Pughe and produced by  McWhinnie, it starred Frank Pettingell as Arthur Birling, Gladys Young as Sybil Birling, Angela Baddeley as Sheila Birling, David Enders as Eric Birling, Alastair Duncan as Gerald Croft, Dorothy Smith as Edna, and Richard Williams as Inspector Goole.[23][24]

text: A second version of Pughe's adaptation was broadcast on the BBC Home Service on 12 November 1960. Produced by Alfred Bradley and directed by Geoffrey Ost, it starred the Sheffield Repertory Company: George Waring as Arthur Birling, Ann Woodward as Sybil Birling, Jeanne Davies as Sheila Birling, Keith Barron as Eric Birling, Patrick Stewart as Gerald Croft, Geraldine Gwyther as Edna, and John Pickles as Inspector Goole.[25]

text: BBC Radio 4 broadcast a BBC Manchester production on 14 December 1979. Directed by Alfred Bradley, it starred Ronald Baddilet as Arthur Birling, Derrick Gilbert as Gerald Croft, Ann Rye as Sybil Birling, Barbara Flynn as Sheila Birling, Christian Rodska as Eric Birling, Teresa Moore as Edna, Geoffrey Banks as Inspector Goole.[26]

text: A full-cast unabridged audio adaptation and analysis was released on audio CD and MP3-CD in the United Kingdom by SmartPass in 2004 as part of their Audio Education Study Guides series.

text: On 14 July 2007 BBC Radio 7 broadcast an adaptation by John Foley originally aired on the BBC World Service, starring Bob Peck as Inspector Goole, John Woodvine as Arthur Birling and Maggie Steed as Sybil Birling. The production was directed by Rosalyn Ward.

text: A second 90-minute BBC Radio adaptation was transmitted on BBC Radio 4 on 29 May 2010 in the Saturday Play slot.[27] It starred Toby Jones as Inspector Goole, David Calder as Arthur Birling, Frances Barber as Sybil Birling and Morven Christie as Sheila Birling. The production was directed by Jeremy Mortimer.

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text:
1993 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival
1994 Drama Desk Award for Best Revival of a Play
1994 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play