Theatricals

Thursday, March 3rd., George Street, London.

I reached home from Liverpool late on Tuesday night and was run off my brain-legs yesterday until 7 p.m. The play went most excellently in Liverpool, and the house was full, and I went before the curtain and so on. The mischief was that Tayler and I had to go out to supper afterwards to meet the whole company. This feast lasted until 2 a.m. I was most gratified by the attentions of some of the young lady cast members; I think it must have gotten about that I am restored to bachelorhood (or thereabouts).

On reaching Euston on Tuesday we found Herman Finck, the music hall composer, had come to meet us, so the least I could do was ask him to come with us to the flat. He stayed yarning, being a good yarner, until 12.20 a.m. By that time I was dead with fatigue, though diverted by the yarns. Finck has been a prolific composer for the last twenty years and must have pots of money I should think. Apparently he conducted the first phonograph record of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker". A few risque stories about the famous 'Palace Girls' when he was conducting at the Palace Theatre which we were in a mood to enjoy.

Yesterday I was determined to lunch quietly at home, which I did. But there was a Lyric Theatre meeting in the afternoon and in the evening I dined with Beaverbrook at Fulham. Couldn't get away from there because I had promised to deliver home in my brougham Helen Drury, B's sister, and Eleanor Smith, daughter of the Lord Chancellor. These young girls definitely refused to move until midnight, and I had to keep my end up. So bed at 1.15 for me. However I slept well which surprised me. 

Off to the theatre yet again tonight for a first night of a David Garrick opera. Not looking forward to it, but what can you do?

Theatricals

Wednesday, February 18th., Comarques, Thorpe-le-Soken.

Returned from London today.

"Rivals for Rosamund" received with amiable indifference at Palace Theatre on Monday night. Last night I went to see it myself with J. Atkins. The first half was quite well received; the second half coldly. This was right. It is no real good, and if I had realised this earlier I would not have let it be done. Production and acting goodish. Mildly amusing at times. I don't imagine that it will have much of a run.

Characteristic of theatrical methods. My name was misspelt on the painted notice in front of the Vaudeville Theatre, and the title of the short play was given wrongly in the illuminated sign in front of the Palace Theatre. 

Dress rehearsal of "Helen with the High Hand" on Monday night was good. The original end had been restored, with my chief emendation preserved. How will it go? I wish I knew. My time seems to be oriented increasingly towards the theatre these days, socially and professionally. Of course it is in the theatre that real money is to be made and I have established a life style which demands real money, and lots of it. A reputation is all very well, and is of great assistance in getting anything published, but it doesn't count for much when the public (and the critics) have taken their seats. Are treadmills still in use in prison? I feel sometimes as if I am on one.

A 'catchy' show

Tuesday, March 24th., Cadogan Square, London.

Binnie Hale in "No, No, Nanette"

"No, No, Nanette" at the Palace Theatre last night. This is supposed to be the most popular musical-comedy of modern time. Edgar Selwyn saw it in Chicago, and praised it very highly. It contains three or four extremely catchy jazz tunes. Also Binnie Hale - who is young, has style, charm, and is a very good dancer - for a star.

Binnie Hale (1899 – 1984) was an English actress and musician. Her father, Robert Hale, and younger brother,Sonnie Hale, were actors. She married West End actor Jack Raine, with whom she had one daughter. Among films and stage productions, she appeared in No, No, Nanette in 1925 at the Palace Theatre, London.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8dpsW3WlxQ

http://www.ovguide.com/binnie-hale-9202a8c04000641f8000000008b54619

It also contains Joseph Coyne, who is simply admirable, and George Grossmith, who is good. These two together on the stage do admirably funny scenes. It also contains some women who are competent or a bit more. The music is 'catchy'. It is perhaps the best musical comedy I ever saw.

No, No, Nanette is a musical comedy based on Mandel's 1919 Broadway play My Lady Friends. The farcical story involves three couples who find themselves together at a cottage in Atlantic City in the midst of a blackmail scheme, focusing on a young, fun-loving Manhattan heiress who naughtily runs off for a weekend, leaving her unhappy fiancé. During its pre-Broadway tour, No, No, Nanette became a hit in Chicago, and the production stayed there for over a year. In 1925, the show opened both on Broadway and in the West End. The London production opened on March 11, 1925 at the Palace Theatre, where it starred Binnie Hale, Joseph Coyne and George Grossmith, Jr. and became a hit, running for 665 performances. Film versions and revivals followed. No, No, Nanette was not successful in its first pre-Broadway tour in 1924. When the production arrived in Chicago, producer Harry Frazee re-cast the show with new stars, had the book rewritten and asked Youmans and Caesar to write additional songs. These additional songs, "Tea for Two" and "I Want to Be Happy", would become the hit songs of the show.

A beautiful Spring day today after a sharp frost overnight. What a difference the sun makes to one's mood. I was thinking yesterday about the effect of light (or absence of light), and particularly about the way the orientation of one's home largely determines the quantity and quality of exposure. The thing to do is to get out of doors as much as possible. I have always walked and advocate it as the best, and simplest, form of exercise.

Additionally for March 24th., see 'Absolute Five Towns'

On Wednesday night a Welsh vet. officer came here to sleep. Very provincial and polite and talkative. All about Lloyd George and N. Wales and Stanley Weyman. Just like middle-class provincials in Potteries, except for accent. Speaking of billeting in Manningtree, he said the billetees had to cook for soldiers, while not finding the food. "Now many of them didn't like it," he said with sympathy and conviction, as middle class speaking of and understanding middle class. It was absolute Five Towns. No member of upper middle class would have said it like that. A member of upper middle class might have laughed, or said it indulgently, or said it comprehendingly, but not with the same unconscious sympathy.