Now playing at Drury Lane, uh, 73 years ago...

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/12/08 at 8:23pm

I thought since I had been asked by several people about my current avatar that I'd post a few pictures from the show "Ball at The Savoy" which was playing in London at the Drury Lane in 1933-34.

Drury Lane was famous for doing huge "spectacle" musicals in the 20's and 30's - usually produced by Alfred Butt. They did the American shows: "Showboat" "Rose Marie" and "Three Musketeers" and many others. They also did non-Broadway stuff, like this giant confection.

This show was written by Paul Abraham, with a libretto by Alfred Grünwald and Fritz Löhner-Beda.

Here's the plot: A woman (Natalie Hall) suspects her husband (Maurice Evans - yes Samantha's father from Bewitched) is cheating on her with a "foreign woman" (Eastern European star Rosi Barsony - don't ask). So the wife goes to the grand masked ball with the help of the all-purpose utility Turk played by European comic Oscar Denes (can you just image how strangled his duet with Barsony must have been to English society ears?)

The wife ends up spending the evening with her own husband who doesn't recognize her because she is wearing a mask and...

Oh, just look at the pictures and enjoy....

Updated On: 1/13/08 at 08:23 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/12/08 at 8:24pm

The Euro comics Oscar Denes and Rosi Barsony

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/12/08 at 8:26pm

The big act three ball scene

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/12/08 at 8:28pm

The lovers - Natalie Hall and Yes-that's-Samantha's-daddy Maurice Evans.

And here's the kicker. The show was directed by a kid from the states brought over to adapt the book from the original Hungarian and handle the actors.

His name was Oscar Hammerstein II.

Updated On: 1/12/08 at 08:28 PM

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:53am

fabulous pix! thanx!

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 1:56pm

Let's let some more folks take a look

[JulianHookbucks]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:04pm

how deep was that ballroom set? is that a backdrop? Or is that the actual set with real actors at the far back of the stage?

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:08pm

Its a real set- Drury Lane is huge!

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 6:15pm

The photo is actually cropped. There were three levels of completely dressed balconies in the bg, complete with tables, chair, patrons and waiters. This was the typical "Big Drury Set" which usually occupied the third act of all Drury Lane shows. They also had an amazing set that season which featured a full skating rink. Other sets involved lagoons (a full pool) and locomotives. The Lane had three giant hydraulic stage lifts that rivaled those at Radio City.

And they were in operation thirty years before Rockefeller Center opened.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 6:26pm

...and the final parts of the stage lifts etc were only removed a year ago to put 'The Lord Of The Rings' in! Most of it was in working order and has been put in storage even tho it will never return. Londons theatres are full of old machinery such as lifts and revolves but over recent years with the more hi tech shows coming along they are slowly being ripped out.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 6:52pm

Here are two photos of the lifts from the turn of the last century

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 6:52pm

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 7:41pm

That's incredible.

[jonjamg]

Posted: 6/19/11 at 2:02pm

Thank you so much for the pictures of Barsony and Denes. I have recordings from 78s of their German performances. Denes in particular was a very funny man. The writers too are interesting - Paul Abraham, Jewish, got out of Germany and survived, but Fritz Lohner Beda also Jewish was beaten to death at IGFarben works at Monowitz, Auschwitz for not working hard enough. He wrote many songs but is generally forgotten.