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Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20764, 26 June 1937, Page 11 (Supplement)

There have been some notable exponents of the role of Bumerli in “The Chocolate Soldier,” which J C. Williamson, Limited is at present playing in Melbourne. The first to appear in the part in Australia was Leslie Gaze, who was brought from London to play the role for Clarke and Meynell’s company, with Winifred O’Connor as Nadi. Later, an auspicious revival was given additional importance by the appearance of the late C. H. Workman in the title role, which he created in the original London production. In the present revival of the Oscar Strauss comic-opera, Bumerli is being played by Gregory Stroud, the baritone, who has given many very fine Gilbert and Sullivan performances. Strella Wilson is Nadina.

St. George’s Hall, Langham Place, W., London’s erstwhile home of magic, and now variety headquarters of the British Broadcasting Corporation, is rapidly regaining its reputation as one of the leading vaudeville theatres in the West End. On Saturday nights every seat in the building is filled, and autograph hunters in their dozens wait hopefully outside the entrance to “but-ton-hole” stars of the radio world. Moreover, from the point of view of the public, the shows presented have one supreme advantage over those at the Palladium, Holburn Empire, Victoria Palace and elsewhere. They are free. You call at the box-office for your seats, you are ushered into the stalls by bowing commissionaires, and relieved of your coat by an usherette. All for nothing. And the entertainment each week is such as the finest variety house in the country would be proud to offer, says a writer in the London Observer.