#helen atteridge

[thebeautifulbook]

BUTTERFLY BALLADS AND STORIES IN RHYME by Helen Aldridge (London: Milne, 1898). Illustrations by Louis Wain, Gordon Browne, and others.

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[outoftowninac]

MARGERY DAW / MARJORIE

1924

Marjorie (originally titled Margery Daw) is a musical comedy with music by Sigmund Romberg, Herbert P. Stothart, Philip Culkin and Stephen Jones, book by Fred Thompson, Clifford Grey and Harold Atteridge, and lyrics by Clifford Grey and Harold Atteridge.  It was originally produced by Embassy Productions, Inc., Rufus LeMaire and Richard W. Krakeur.  It was directed by W. H. Gilmore,  and choreographed by David Bennett.

"I come from a very respectable family. Why, my great-great-grandmother swam home from the Mayflower!" ~ MOLLY DALY (ETHEL SHUTTA)

It starred Elizabeth Hines, Andrew Tombes, Richard Gallagher, Roy Royston, and Ethel Shutta. Shutta’s final role on Broadway would be as Hattie Walker (”Broadway Baby”) in Stephen Sondheim’s Follies (1971). Marjorie was her second Broadway show. 

‘Marjorie’ is the story of a college graduate who has her heart set on being the world’s greatest playwright. She get her magnum opus “Love and Reality�� produced against all odds, but still finds she is unfulfilled. 

After brief try-outs in Long Branch and Asbury Park, NJ, Margery Daw headed south to The Great Wooden Way. 

As Margery Daw, it premiered at Nixon’s Apollo Theatre on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City on July 7, 1924. 

After a week in Atlantic City, the musical (now retitled Marjorie) headed north to Boston’s Shubert.  But it wasn’t smooth sailing. It’s above-the-title performer suddenly left the show in a salary dispute. She returned to the show before it arrived in New York. 

The title may have been changed to avoid confusion with a popular actress named Margery Daw, as well a 1916 play by George Parker Margery Daw that ran a week at the Princess Theatre. It also had nothing to do with the nursery rhyme. 

Marjorie opened at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre on August 11, 1924. On September 15 it moved to the 44th Street Theatre to finish its modest run of 144 performances. It met with a mixed to negative reception. 

“’Marjorie’, compared with some of the more ambitious musical offerings of the current season, is a tasteless dish of warmed over clog steps and foolishment. They should have begun serving It as far away from Broadway as the exchequer of the troupe might have permitted. And when it got to Newark it should have been stricken from the menu.” ~ BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE

After closing on Broadway, the show went on the road, starting with the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. On tour, the title role was assumed by Helen La Vonne. 

[outoftowninac]

CINDERELLA ON BROADWAY

1920

Cinderella on Broadway is a musical revue in two acts by Bert Grant (music) and Harold Atteridge (book and lyrics). Incidental music by Al Goodman and featuring songs by Cliff Friend and Harry Richman.

The evening followed Cinderella’s pursuit of her Prince, only to find he only exists in a book. She loses the book and the Prince with it. She must pursue him from the Moon and back to Broadway. 

The show was originally supposed to be The Passing Show of 1920, but the Shuberts felt that audience’s appetite for their annual revues was waning. The show’s original title and premise was Rip Van Winkle Junior. 

The show’s premiere performance was on June 6, 1920 at the Shubert, New Haven. 

While camped in Connecticut, some rambunctious Romeos raised a ruckus!  After braving the Ivy, Cinderella was originally headed right from New Haven to the Winter Garden, but was ruled not quite ready for the Main Stem. Instead headed to the Jersey Shore for one final round of fraught fixes.

The musical opened at the Globe Theatre in Atlantic City NJ on June 14, 1920. Next stop -- The Winter Garden.  This was the summer before the very first Miss America Beauty Contest (the ultimate Cinderella story) and the building of the newest Ritz-Carlton Hotel on the Boardwalk.  While Cinderella on Broadway has been largely forgotten, one of the next Globe presentations, Mary Roberts Rinehart’s, The Bat (then titled A Thief in the Night), would go on to break Broadway records. 

The original production was produced by the Shuberts and opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on June 24, 1920 and ran 126 performances, closing September 25, 1920. It was staged by J.C. Huffman, with musical staging by Allan K. Foster.  

The large cast was headed by Eileen Von Biene as Cinderella. Her elusive but charming Prince was Stewart Baird. Other fanciful characters include Peter Pan, Old King Cole, Jack Horner, Santa Claus and an appearance by Broadway himself. 

The bill included the on-again / off-again vaudeville pairing of Gallagher and Shean, who were “on-again” for Cinderella on Broadway.  Shean was the Uncle of the Marx Brothers. After Gallagher’s death, the film musical Atlantic City (1944) featured a recreation of their act with Al Shean as himself and Jack Kenny portraying Gallagher. Gallagher's wife, Helen, became a partner in Gallagher's Steak House in New York City, a restaurant that was named after her.

In anticipation of the extravaganza, The New York Tribune profiled 15 of the show’s chorines. 

“Haver Dickenson and Walter Brower were engaged as comedians but were found not guilty of the charge.” ~  Kelcey Allen, WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY

“We expect better things from you, Mr. Shubert, and we know you can do them, so why not?” ~ THEATRE MAGAZINE

Cinderella on Broadway included several male characters played by women. above are the costumes designed for those characters. (Courtesy of Shubert Archive)

Cinderella returned to Atlantic City, albeit in different forms like the Cinderella Ballet and Cinderella the rock band.