Nell Gwynne

Summary

In the sooty glow of Restoration London, Drury Lane’s cobbles echo with the clack of Nell Gwynne’s pattens as she juggles oranges like miniature suns, each toss a defiant spark against the frost of poverty. A fugitive aristocrat, Lady Olivia Vernon, bursts through the crowd, her satin hem drinking the Thames fog, and begs the orange-girl for invisibility; Nell, with a wink sharp enough to shave a Puritan, stuffs the trembling ward beneath a mountain of citrus silk and bamboozles the pursuing redcoats by becoming a one-woman masquerade—now simpering courtier, now barking sergeant—until the lovers breathe again. When the theatre’s leading lady succumbs to a fever of scandal, Nell vaults from stall to spotlight, her untrained voice cracking into a skylark’s crescendo that pins the audience to their velvet seats; overnight the gutter nymph becomes the nation’s comic muse. Lord Jeffreys, a jurist whose conscience ossified beneath powdered wigs, schemes to weld Lady Olivia’s fortune to a dissolute earl, but Nell pirouettes through his traps—smuggling letters in hollowed-out oranges, forging signatures in candle-grease ink, finally donning the judge’s own robes like a vengeful cherub to sign Fairfax’s liberation. At Whitehall she kneels on rose-quartz flagstones, bartering bawdy jests for a human life; the King, weary of flattery, laughs himself into clemency and banishes Jeffreies into obscurity. The film ends with Nell, now royal mistress but forever cockney rebel, unveiling a charity hospital whose corridors smell of orange-blossom and fresh whitewash, while she tips a final cartload of fruit to the barefoot children swarming her carriage wheels.

Synopsis

At the opening of the story, Nell Gwynne, a popular English actress, is seen as an orange girl selling her goods in and around the old Drury Theater. While she is bantering, Lady Olivia Vernon, the ward of Lord Jeffreys, Chief Justice of England, appeals to Nell for a hiding place. Lady Olivia is being pursued by her guardian and his soldiers and Lord Jeffreys is trying to force Lady Olivia to marry a wealthy lord. By quickness of wit, Nell secures a hiding place for Lady Olivia and later directs Lord Fairfax, Lady Olivia's lover, to the hiding place. While the soldiers are searching for the young couple, Nell distracts their attention by her powers of mimicry. Nell has been endeavoring to secure a part in one of the productions at the Drury Lane Theater, but has been unable to secure an opportunity to show her ability. In desperation she had assumed the role of the orange girl, hoping in this way to find occasion to demonstrate her histrionic ability to the manager of that theater. On the occasion of the illness of one of the principal characters in a production, Nell secures an opportunity to appear in the part. She makes an instantaneous hit, and from then on her success is assured. Lord Jeffreys tries to force Lady Olivia to marry the wealthy Lord Rochester, but Nell Gywnn repeatedly outwits the chief justice. Fairfax, Lady Olivia's lover, is finally captured by Lord Jeffreys and thrown into prison. Lord Jeffreys has trumped up charges against Fairfax, and by trickery has made King Charles believe them. Nell seizes an opportunity to disguise herself as Lord Jeffreys, and to issue orders which help release Fairfax. Nell's final appeal to the King saves her young lover, and he is set free to join his sweetheart. Lord Jeffreys, for his trickery, is dismissed by the King. Nell continues on her rollicking way, and is the idol of the country. Her final good deed is the presentation of a wonderful hospital to the nation. Although she is now the favorite of the King, Nell does not forget her old friend.