WHEN J. B. PRIESTLEY FILLED A GAP

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 72, 17 December 1938, Page 13

WHEN J. B. PRIESTLEY FILLED A GAP

Glimpses Of The London Theatre World

POPULARITY OF LAMBETH WALK A discerning judge of the theatre and one who has missed few plays or ballets, presented in London during the last 19 years, Mr. Barrington Miller, formerly of Gisborne, arrived at Wellington by the Rangitane from London yesterday. Mr. Miller has been associated with the business si'de of the stage for the greater part of bis life, and his knowledge ol’ the New York theatrical world is nearly as intimate as his acquaintance with the London stage, for he is a frequent visitor to New York. More than a quarter of a century ago Mr. Miller held the lease of a theatre in Gisborne, and engaged visiting companies to play there. Sometimes, he recalls, he had to pay their salaries in advance, 'because half of them were “broke.”

Discussing plays, Mr. Miller expressed the keenest delight in describing the whimsicalities of “Amphytrion 38,” the enormously clever play which was one of the hits of the last season, when it was played with Lynn Fontane and Alfred Lunt in the leading parts. This was a comedy in which all the well-known characters of Greek mythology strode the stage, gorgeously dressed in the flowing robes of that somewhat hazy period, but speaking ultra-modern dialogue of the smartest and most "spicy” kind. True, it was often “near the* edge,” but the company was so clever in "putting it over” that no exception could -be taken to the play, which was a real gem of its kind.

Another great success was the comedy "French Without Tears,” whicn had been running for about two years an'd seemed to be going on like Tennyson’s brook. Priestley on the Stage. “A playwright whom Londoners havecome to admire is J. B. Priestley, the author of 'The Good Companions,”’ said Mr. Miller. “This prolific writer now writes two plays a year and invariably they ‘elick.’ There was ‘Laburnum Grove,’ ‘Eden End,’ more recently ‘I Have Been Here Before,’ and quite recently ‘When We are Married.’ I happened to be there on the occasion when one of the leading actors became ill and could not appear. .There was no one else available, so Priestley himself played the part and made a huge success in it. No other writer, except perhaps Noel Coward, could do a thing like that. "Then you have to book weeks ahead if you want to see ‘Me and My Girl,’ the latest Stanley Lupino musical comedy. This is being played twice a night to overflowing business. It ends up with the Lambeth Walk, a quaint, catchy cockney dance which has proved to be a positive sensation and is now being danced all over the world. There was not a night on the trip of the Rangitane that the Lambeth Walk was not danced by the passengers. I have never seen anything catch the British public like this thing. On the occasion of th e great benefit for old vaudeville artists this year, a show always attended by royalty, the second performance of the evening of “Me and My Girl” was omitted in order that the company could conclude that entertainment with the Lambeth Walk.”

New Play Wins Praise. London critics were saying when Mr. Miller left that the play “The Flashing Stream,” by Frank Morgan, was probably the best written play and the best acted play London had seen for years. The visitor had not seen it. so could not express an opinion, but when there was such unanimity of opinion there was usually something behind it. Mr. Miller has many friends in the profession. One ot’ his oldest is Mr. Julius Knight, who was in New Zealand as a J. C. Williamson star 30 odd years ago playing the leads in “A Royal Divorce,” “The Sign of the Cross,” “The Prisoner of Zenda,” “Under the Red Robe,” and other plays. Mr. Knight. how an immaculately dressed old gentleman, lives in a beautiful home called “Rassendyl” in Hull. The name of his house is that of Rudolf Rassendyl, probably the best juvenile part in romantic drama ever written, and one in which Mr. Knight played with grace and distinction. “He has a soft spot in his heart for New Zealand and Australia,” said Mr. Miller, “and I have seen his eyes moisten at certain recollections of long ago. Now he has his beautiful rose garden and his tapestry. He is skilled in tapestry and makes the most exquisite things, always in the best of good taste. And when he comes to London be is still a figure who commands attention on a sunny morning in Bond Street. “Also I met Alfred Woods in Piccadilly a few days before I left London. He used to act in melodrama with Maud Williamson in the old days. He still plays in pictures occasionally and wished to be remembered to his old friends ‘down under.’”