RETURN

 

 

The Crooked Mile - Part 5
 
The Cast
Fingers (Anton Rodgers)
Nick (Mark Anthony)
Battersea Bob (Thomas Kyffin)
Slim (Lewis Henry)
Windy Sid (Bobby Scott)
Knack (Rex Robinson)
Jacko (Alan Jones)
Lightning (George Webb)
Smudge (Bill Gidley)
Paddywhack (Norman Warwick)
The Bishop (Edgar K. Bruce)
Squeezy (John Barrard)
Jug Ears (Jack MacGowran)
Sweet Ginger (Elisabeth Welch)
Glendower (Roger Avon)
Cora (Millicent Martin)
Mortiss Garrity (John Larsen)
Delicious Daisy (Christine Child)
Aida (Isabelle Lucas)
Pat Ashton (Creeping Jenny)
Busy Lizzie (Jacqueline Murray)
Black Eye'd Susan (Renee Fellows)
Rambling Rose (Lita Tovey)
Welsh Poppy (Patricia Hall)
Indoor Ivy (Jean Rayner)
Fishmonger (Alan Jones)
Butcher (Lewis Henry)
Blind Man (Rex Robinson)
Chinese Waiter (Bill Gidley)
Sandwich Man (Michael Ashlin)
Policewoman (Sonia Peters)		 Lotus Blossom (Sheila Chester)
Espresso Girl (Anne Briley)
Belgian Annie (Peggy Rowan) 
Passers-by (George Lucas, Ron Lucas)
Old Woman (Marie Fidock)
The Carver (Elwyn Brook-Jones)
Razor (Bob Cole)
Splosh (Norman Warwick)Bonker (Rudi Szigeti)
Weed (John Heawood)
Weed's Girl (Frances Pidgeon)
Barrow Boys (Norman Warwick, Lewis Henry, Bill Gidley)
Policeman (Thomas Kyffin)
Father (Bobby Scott)
Mother (Patricia Hall)
Child (Sheila Chester)
Workmen (Norman Warwick, Rudi Szigeti, Michael Ashlin)
Passers-by (Lita Tovey, Alan Jones)
Sailors (Bob Cole, Ron Lucas)
Flip (Michael Ashlin)
Dumdum (Ron Lucas)
Deedee (George Lucas)
Police Sergeant (Alan Jones)
Policeman (Lewis Henry)
Debutante (Jacqueline Murray)
Detective (Michael Ashlin)
Barrow Boys (Bob Cole, Alan Jones)
Luigi (Alan Thomas)
 
About the Cast
 
The Crooked Mile was Elisabeth Welch's only starring role in a post-war musical. Her first appearances were in her native New York in the 1920s, but in 1933 Welch moved to London, impressing with such roles as Haidee Robinson in Cole Porter's Nymph Errant (when she sang 'Solomon') and in supporting roles for Ivor Novello in Glamorous Night (1935) and Arc de Triomphe (1943). From 1944 to 1954 she established herself as a notable revue performer. Her co-star in The Crooked Mile, Jack MacGowran, was a very fine Irish actor from the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, much praised for his roles in the plays of his homeland. A few months before starring in The Crooked Mile, he was third-billed in a Broadway musical, Juno, based on Sean O'Casey's play Juno and the Paycock. It ran 16 performances. He died in 1973. Millicent Martin had already made a reputation in Expresso Bongo, but her playing of Cora in The Crooked Mile was in many ways her greatest achievement. Her subsequent musicals in Britain were less wonderful, beginning with a disastrous American import, The Dancing Heiress, briefly seen the following year. She went into a Peter Myers' revue The Lord Chamberlain Regrets in 1961, and was seen in another revue, Round Leicester Square, in 1963. She returned to musicals in 1964 playing Tweeny in Our Man Crichton. Elwyn Brook-Jones was a dab hand at villains, fondly remembered as 'The Voice' in a BBC TV children's adventure series Gary Halliday. The Crooked Mile was his first and only musical. Considering that John Larsen had two big solos and a duet with Miss Welch, it's surprising that he didn't get any billing. His other credits included co-starring with June Bronhill in a tour of Bitter-Sweet and as Danilo in The Merry Widow at Sadlers' Wells. He also played in Harold Fielding's revival of Showboat at the Adelphi Theatre. In 1975 he toured in a supporting role in The Dancing Years, understudying the star John Hanson. The late black actress Isabelle Lucas presumably understudied Miss Welch, although no programme credit is given. A talented and underused performer, she had supporting parts in Funny Girl (1966) and Gone With The Wind (1972) and was a good reason for seeing Look To The Rainbow, a show based on the songs of the lyricist E. Y. (Yip) Harburg, at the Apollo Theatre in 1985. Anton Rodgers was 26 years old, had begun his musical career in Carmen at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and got into musicals with The Boy Friend at Wyndhams Theatre in 1957. After The Crooked Mile, he went on to several interesting revues and musicals, playing Jingle in the original production of Pickwick in London and in New York. Other musicals included leads in Songbook and Windy City. From the Players Theatre stable came the dependable Norman Warwick and Pat Ashton. The show's choreographer, John Heawood, who had provided the choreography for The Boy Friend, appeared as the sinister Weed.

RETURN TO IN DEPTH