OSCAR ASCHE’S AFFAIRS

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 June 1928, Page 2

OSCAR ASCHE’S AFFAIRS

HIS THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS. In the London Bankruptcy Court recently an application was made to Mr • Registrar Warming ton for the discharge of John Stanger Heiss Oscar Asche, the theatrical producer, who ’ was adjudged bankrupt on June 28, ’ 1926, when he was described as of ■ Sugley Farm, Nailsworth, Gloucester- ; shire. Mr Walter Boyle, Senior Official Receiver, attended; Mr Oscar Kean appeared for the debtor; and Mr Kingham for the trustee in bank- ’ ruptcy. , L The Official Receiver said that the proofs of debt and probable claims to- . gether amounted to £47,134. The debtor had estimated his ranking liabilities at only £27,018, but a claim • for £15,013 was made in respect of r income-tax, which he had only ex- • pected to rank for £1,098. The assets, i valued by the debtor at £13,915, had, j according to the trustee in bank--5 Tutpcy, realised £l7B, and the trustee i had received an additional £483. Noth--1 ing was realised from a claim, esti- ■ mated by the debtor at £lO,OOO, ' against an Australian company for a r share in costumes, scenery, etc., of } various productions. Litigation was, however,'■pending with regard to it. J; The debtor had been engaged in the theatrical profession for 32 years, and ! for a number of years past had been an actor-manager and producer. He produced “Kismet” in 1911 and “Chu ' Chin Chow” which was written by ' himself, at His Majesty’s Theatre, in ' August, 1916. The royalties during . the five years of the latter play - brought him over £lOO,OOO, in addition > to which he received salary amounting • to £20,000. The debtor alleged that - there was still owing to him £3OOO in - respect of American royalties. In ■ October, 1921, he produced “Cairo” ; In the following July he went on a - tour to Australia and New Zealand, ’ and it was in connection with that ’ that his claim to £lO,OOO arose. 1 From 1914 to 1922 the debtor was ! also engaged in the breeding, training ' and running of greyhounds, and for that purpose rented Sugley Farm and adjoining land in 1915. In 1919 he bought that and adjoining property, and, with additions and alterations, expended about £11,900. Before going to Australia, however, he sold all his dogs, having made a dead loss of £5,000 a, year on the enterprise. In October, 1925, the debtor produced at the Gaiety Theatre “The Good Old Days,” a. musical comedy, of which he was the author, and in the following April he produced for another person a modern comedy called “Big Business.” He attributed his failure and insolvency to inability to obtain payment of the whole of the profits to which he was entitled on his Australian tour; to his failure to obtain payment of royalties due to him from America; to lack of engagements after September, 1925; and to the failure of “The Good Old Days.” The debtor admitted that he had spent too much, but asserted that until 1926 he had always lived within his income. He had always entertained a lot. Mr Kean, in asking the Court to grant the discharge subject to his client’s consenting to judgment lor £.1,000, to be paid out of future earnings, said that of the liabilities upwards of £38,000 apparently represented tax claims, of which £21,000 related to supertax. Of the balance, £B,lOO represented the claims of three moneylenders. The report) of the Official Receiver constituted the history of a theatrical “star” of some magnitude. Although he had expended

money lavishly, it must be remembered that that was expected of him by his public, and he was then, in a flourishing position and earning an enormous sum.' Mr Kingham said that the trustee acceded to the debtor’s suggestion, and his Honor made an order granting the debtor his discharge on the terms mentioned.