WELL-KNOWN THEATRE MANAGER’S DEATH

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 204, 26 May 1938, Page 3

WELL-KNOWN THEATRE MANAGER’S DEATH

London Host To Many New Zealand Teams

One of the best-known men in London, and host to almost every _ New Zealand representative team of cricketers or footballers to visit the Old Country, Mr. Frank Boor, manager of the London Hippodrome, died recently at the age of 73.

Air. Boor Was manager of the Hippodrome, one of the principal London theatres for approximately a quarter of a century. AVith monocle stuck in his right eye, shiny top hat and immaculate dress-shirt, and a scarlet carnation always in his buttonhole, he was a familiar figure to thousands of theatre-goers, and a favourite mark for the newspaper caricaturists. His first wife was Constance Drever, star of “The Chocolate .Soldier.” The marriage was. dissolved, and in 1926 he married Mrs. Gertrude Hepworth, of Newcastle-on-Tyne. Air. Boor took a special interest in New Zealanders visiting London, and made a point of entertaining all sports teams from the Dominion on tour in England. He had connections with AVellington, for Dr. L. Poor, who was well-known in early Wellington and was living in The Terrace in the ’sixties, was a close relative; and Dr. Alan Tehnent, AVellington, is a cousin. Mr. Frank Boor first became ill in December. After an operation he returned to work, fell ill again and within a fortnight was back in a nursing home. He never saw his theatre again. He died the day after the Hippodrome’s last show, “Hide and Seek,” with withdrawn, early this year.