- Streamline Revue
Written by A P Herbert and Ronald Jeans
Music by Vivian Ellis
Original London cast: Florence Desmond, Naunton Wayne, Norah
Howard, Meg Lemmonier, Esmond Knight, Sepha Treble, Charles Heslop.
Musical director: Charles Prentice
SONGS: Kiss Me Dear/ Other People's Babies/ You Turned
Your Head [piano solos by Vivian Ellis]; I Will; The First Waltz;
Other People's Babies; You Turned Your Head; Kiss Me Dear; Speech
Day; Perseverance
-
- The impresario Charles B. Cochran personally introduces some
of the items found in the revue he produced for the Palace Theatre
in September 1934. This is a fascinating collection, distinguished
by A. P. Herbert's always literate lyrics - and how this man
could without condescension convey his sympathy for the common
man - and the remarkable quality of music (this, after all, is
revue) of Vivian Ellis. One of the most enduring treasures of
their collaboration is 'Other People's Babies', sung by Norah
Howard as an ageing nanny, and it's a perfect portrait, soft
but unyieldingly unsentimental. Herbert's verses must have appealed
directly to Ellis's fascination with the nursery: Ellis's subsequent
musical Listen to the Wind is full of songs that recall the peculiar
soft Englishness of 'Other People's Babies'. The problems of
working class lovers with nowhere to go to make love can never
have been more splendidly emphasised than in 'Kiss Me Dear' as
sung here by the show's star, Florence Desmond, in another brilliant
lyric, endearingly set by Ellis. Elsewhere, Desmond is very funny
in a pastiche of Amy Johnson, and her impersonating skills are
cleverly worked by Ellis into 'Be Yourself' - a terrific example
of Ellis's ability to model songs for his stars. Desmond, alas,
seems as forgotten today as another of Ellis's 'FD's (Frances
Day) but it's good to have this reminder of her talent. The icing
of the cake is the writers' 'Turbot and Gullivan'. It's typically
witty that Herbert's title of this Gilbert and Sullivan pastiche,
'Perseverance' (read Patience) should sound so fishy. This is
a marvellously lithe, scurrilous attempt at doing a new opera
by D'Oyly Carte's magic boys. Apparently, audiences at the Palace
Theatre sat stony-faced throughout, but don't let this turn you
away from this gem. There was satire even in 1934, and never
again did it come so kindly and so welcome as it is here. Highly
recommended.
RETURN TO RECORD CABINET
|
