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THEATRE IS DESTROYED IN BLAZE
 | 17 November 2003:
Dozens of firefighters spent six hours tackling a huge blaze which ripped through a Long Eaton theatre. The recently refurbished Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton went up in flames on Saturday night.
The blaze, which is not believed to be suspicious, started just hours after the Three Counties Musical Society had finished their final performance of HMS Pinafore. Much of the building, including the stage and seating, were destroyed. All that remain are the exterior walls and the coffee shop at the side of the theatre. But parts of the walls have already been pulled down by construction workers in an attempt to make the shell stable. Four houses are just yards from one of the more badly damaged sides and one family are worried the building could fall on to their property. Julia Wilde, who lives in Claye Street, said: "Even now we are a bit worried and I would not mind if they knocked it down."It looks very shaky and I am worried it could fall into our house," she said.
It was only when her husband, Dave, woke up shortly after midnight on Saturday that they realised the building, known as Chatsworth House, was on fire. They immediately woke up their two sons, Kyle, 12 and Lee, two. "It was just horrible. There were bright orange flames everywhere and we could feel the heat through our windows," Julia added. At that point firefighters arrived and the family was told to leave the house. The other houses in the street were also evacuated, as there was concern the fire could spread to the nearby buildings. But recently-installed fire walls ensured the fire was confined to the main theatre building.
It took 50 firefighters up to six hours to tackle the blaze. The fire has shocked the theatre's committee. Committee member Sheila Poyzer, from the town, has been involved in the theatre for the past 15 years. She described it as her "second home" and said she was devastated by the fire. "I have been in tears all morning. I fill up every time I think about it. "We are all devastated by this. It was such a beautiful, beautiful building." "The theatre was always full and always had something on because it was a proper theatre." She feared the building would have to be pulled down and rebuilt, but construction site manager, Bryan Waplington, said he thought the buildings could be saved. "From what I've seen I don"t think it will have to be pulled down. "I've seen a lot worse than this and they've stayed up."
The theatre had only recently undergone the latest phase of its refurbishment. A new roof was installed costing £50,000. In the past two years the building has had a complete transformation, costing around £100,000 with the new fire walls, seating and curtains. The theatre, which the committee bought around 20 years ago after it had lain derelict for a number if years, is funded by donations and fund raising. Musical society chairman Eric Brooks was the last man out of the building before the fire. "We're all devastated," he said. "So many people were in tears this morning. It's shaken us all up. "I was the last person out of the theatre and you keep asking yourself if there had been something amiss, but everything was fine when we left." A joint fire and police investigation was continuing today. Sub-officer Ian Oliver of Long Eaton fire station, who was in charge of the first crew to arrive at the blaze, said: "At least it was insured and we know the building has already been looked at by the insurance assessors.
"There's currently no indication that it was caused deliberately, although the investigation proper is still going on, "It's such a shame, being one of the oldest buildings in Long Eaton."
NOTTINGHAM EVENING POST
UP - DATE:
Just two weeks to the day later, I visited the theatre, and was surprised to see that willing and helping hands had opened the coffee shop, and were welcoming visitors. What a wonerful show of team spirit, I wish them EVERY success in there new venture in the coming year - they certainly deserve it!
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Feature:
 | ‘A History of the Musical’
Presented by
Film Guy Ernie
Throughout history there’s never been anything as entertaining than a well produced stage or screen musical. To see the spectacle of the dancers, the voices in harmony, and the excitement of the audience watching the performance. We begin the story around the 18th. Century, with the Ancient Greeks, who’s performers chanted the story, which was a basis for opera. A century later, ballad operas such as ‘THE BEGGARS OPERA’, and comic operas played in New York. In the early 1880s, they saw the genesis of what is now the modern musical, with the minstrel shows that became an important part of the American music scene at that time.
Late in the 19th century, theatregoers thrilled to the colourful costumes of the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan, with their show of ‘H.M.S.PINAFORE’, where story, lyrics, and music, all helped to establish the theatre. New Yorkers took them to heart, with successful performances of ‘IOLANTHE’, ‘THE MIKADO’, ‘THE GONDOLIERS’, and ‘YEOMAN OF THE GUARD’.
In 1903 the popular story by Frank L. Baum called ‘THE WIZARD OF OZ’ was turned into a stage show; and Fred Stone and Jim Montgomery, wore make up that made the audiences come back again and again. True the story was not like the one we know today, neither were the songs. The script wasn’t very memorable, but the two actors received praise for their characters of ‘Scarecrow’ and ‘Tin Man’. It was during the early 1900s that a little known showman named Florenz Ziegfeld presented his famous ‘FOLLIES’ shows to American audiences, wowing them with a stage full of beautiful leggy showgirls in exotic costumes. ‘THE MERRY WIDOW’ was first staged in Vienna in 1905, and later premiered in America in 1907. The Ziegfeld ‘FOLLIES’ was a hugh success, when the talented Fanny Brice joined; they reached their peak in 1915, continuing until 1922, described now as the last great version. This was what the world craved for, the spectacle of the live performance.
In New York and London the houses were filled to capacity with a show called ‘ROSE MARIE’, with it’s memorable ‘Indian Love Call’; while in 1924, the great Sigmund Romberg presented ‘THE STUDENT PRINCE’. Not every show was successful on opening, take for example ‘NO! NO! NANETTE! It lacked sparkle, and so some catchy songs were later added, among them ‘Tea For Two’ and ‘I Want to be Happy’. The Ziegfeld Theatre staged ’RIO RITA’ in 1927 which ran for 500 performances, later to be replaced by ‘SHOW BOAT’, perhaps the first on a line of great American musicals, with lovely melodies which have become standards, such as ‘Ol’ Man River’, ‘Make Believe’, and ‘Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man’, however the crash of the 1929 Stock Market, and success of the film musical was about to change everything in the music business, and things could only get better! The Ziegfeld Theatre also premiered Noel Coward’s ‘BITTER SWEET’, but not even the wonderful ‘I’ll See You Again’ gave it the lustre it need for theatregoers. Around this time George and Ira Gershwin produced their show ‘GIRL CRAZY’, which starred the multi – talented Ethel Merman, so good was her performance that she was to become a real favourite.
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Continued:
A year later, in 1933, the names of Bertolt, Brecht and Weill, presented ‘THE THREEPENNY OPERA’, a show which had little success, while ‘THE GREAT WALTZ’ brought the fictitious biographies of the Strauss family to the stage.
It was at this point the cream of the songwriters all contributed to the music the public just couldn’t get enough of. Cole Porter’s show ‘ANYTHING GOES’ gave life to his songs ‘I Get a Kick Out of You’, and the evergreen ‘You’re the Top’. Audiences had accepted the Minstrel Shows, and although racialism had begun to build, the Gershwin show ‘PORGY AND BESS’, though successful, was a little slow and boring, even if it did have some marvellous music. So was a musical which had a ‘hero’ who was a mercenary, and two timing character named Joey, yes, you’ve guessed the title, it was ‘PAL JOEY’. Some praised it, while others warmed to the song ‘Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered’, with music written by Rodgers and Hart, in conjunction with John O’Hara.
Now we reach our favourite era, the 1940s; and 1950s; what magical, musical times they were too! Crowds flocked to see ‘OKLAHOMA!’, and from here American musicals changed for all time. It ran for over 200 performances, ‘Oh, What a Beautiful Morning’ and ‘People Will Say we’re in Love’ immediately establishing themselves as great standards, throughout the world. After ‘PORGY AND BESS’, an all black cast presented ‘CARMEN JONES’; produced by Oscar Hammerstein, and lasting for 503 performances. In 1945, teamed with Richard Rodgers, the pair gave us ‘CAROUSEL’, with the haunting melody ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. Irving Berlin saw his chance to bring ‘ANNIE GET YOUR GUN’ to the stage, and later to the screen, and even today it’s still liked by all who see it’
As we approached the fifties, ‘KISS ME KATE’ based around Shakespeare’s play ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, saw Cole Porter writing ‘It’s Too Darned Hot’ and ‘Brush Up Your Shakespeare’ for the production. The Purlitzer Prize was awarded in 1949 to ‘SOUTH PACIFIC’, with a whole string of hits including ‘Bali Ha’I’, ‘Younger than Springtime’, and ‘I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta My Hair’ (Get the picture?).
We know that there will be shows that you liked that we will be unable to mention, there were so many! Stunning bombshell Carol Channing stressed that ‘Diamond Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ in the 1949 show of ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’; while the stories of Damon Runyon were the basis of ‘GUYS and DOLLS’, by Frank Lesser and George Kaufman with the hit song ‘Luck Be a Lady Tonight’; the show ran for just under three years! The death of Gertrude Lawrence during the run of ‘THE KING AND I’ was most unfortunate, but the year, (1951), gave us ‘PAINT YOUR WAGON’, while 1954 found Bob Fosse , a new name to musicals, choreographing ‘THE PYJAMA GAME’ with the hit songs ‘Hey There, and ‘Hernando’s Hideaway’, both favourites of ours. This same year saw Britain’s Julie Andrews surprising Broadway in Sandy Wilson’s ‘THE BOY FRIEND’ which took audiences back to the 1920s; and Mary Martin flew like never before in ‘PETER PAN’. From 1954 to 1960 the list of successful shows became seemingly endless. Julie Andrews established herself both on the New York stage and Hollywood.
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Finally:
The great songwriters of the time gave us ‘MY FAIR LADY’, (Julie Andrews again), ‘BELLS ARE RINGING’ (Judy Holliday), ‘WEST SIDE STORY’, ‘GYPSY’ (the story of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee), and ‘THE SOUND OF MUSIC’, premiered by Mary Martin, with its many lovely songs. However the critics were most unkind to Lerner and Loewe’s ‘CAMELOT’. The stage production of ‘OLIVER’ hit the New York stage in 1963, with songs penned by Lionel Bart, who incidentally started out by playing with Tommy Steele. In a group called ‘The Cavemen’, and is featured on an early recording of Tommy’s ‘Rock With the Caveman’. With songs like ‘Consider Yourself’, and ‘As Long As He Needs Me’, the show soon became a hit.
More musicals followed, ‘HELLO DOLLY’ with music by Jerry Herman, which made 3,000 performances; the Fanny Brice story with ‘FUNNY GIRL’ with Barbra Steisand, (and a later film sequel ‘FUNNY LADY’), ‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’, and ‘MAN OF LA MANCHA’, with it’s hit song ‘The Impossible Dream’.
The longest run for a show in the 1966-67 seasons was ‘CABARET’, but London audiences failed to give it the success it needed. In the period between 1968 to 1970 there followed a reduction in people going to the theatre; there was also the demise in the cinema.
‘HAIR’ opened in 1968, and ran for 2,000 performances, but the Broadway scene wasn’t willing to take to rock music, despite two good songs ‘Good Morning Starshine’ and ‘Aquarius’. With over 900 performances to her credit, film star Lauren Bacall starred in ‘APPLAUSE’, based on the film ‘ALL ABOUT EVE’; ‘FOLLIES’, by Stephen Sondheim, and ‘JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR’, both opened in 1971.
Things began to look much better the following year when ‘GREASE’ hit the stage, still as popular today, it had catchy songs like ‘Summer Nights’ and ‘Hopelessly Devoted To You’. The days of the silent movies were revived in ‘MACK AND MABEL’, closing after just eight weeks; and 1975 saw the black stage version of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ called simply ‘THE WIZ’. Even though it was a flop in America, ‘THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW’ turned the tables in London; while the simply mirror staged production of ‘A CHORUS LINE’, and ‘CHICAGO’, proved to be popular. Due to the high cost of staging productions ‘BUBBLING BROWN SUGAR’ and others suffered cut backs, however we still saw shows like ‘SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM’, ‘ANNIE’, and the music of Fats Waller in ‘AIN’T MISBEHAVING’. In the early 80s there was ‘BARNUM’, ‘42nd Street, ‘EVITA’, ‘CATS’, and ’STARLIGHT EXPRESS’.
In our review of the musicals we have tried to list most of the popular ones; if we missed a favourite of yours, then our apologies. Most of these shows went on to be successful feature films in the cinema. Will there ever again be another time in history when so much talent combined together give the world so much entertainment? To end we draw your attention to a remark made in a film starring comedian Phil Silvers who searched for the answer to his question ‘WHY must the show go on?’ Well we can’t answer that – but we’re certainly glad it did!
© Film Guy Ernie December 2003.
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Stranger Than Fiction:
 Early movies had no stories, no stars and no sound. A popular movie in the 1890's was two girls getting undressed by a lake. Right before their last garments came off, a train came by to block your view. In the next scene the two girls were swimming in the lake. The film was a hit throughout the country.
One old farmer went and saw this same movie for weeks and weeks. One day the theater manager came down and said," Say old timer. Every day we show the same film with the girls, the train and the lake and every day you keep coming back." "Well sonny, one of these days I'm hoping the train will be late!"
Many of the early film actors were quite content to stay anonymous, reasoning that the new flickers were a novelty and would damage their reputation on the legitimate stage. They were often expected to work all day long. Their duties included hammering nails, painting the set, picking up trash, and lifting heavy equipment. There were no trailers or perks or glamour or big houses. Ladies of the evening were often given jobs simply because they provided their own wardrobes. Not knowing their real names, the movie going public would give their favorite actor's appropriate nicknames such as "the waif" or "the cowboy". The growing curiosity surrounding the identities leads to the birth of movie fan magazines such as Photoplay in 1909. But fearing that their players would demand huge salaries the producers still refused to release their names.
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Hurry up:
 In the early days of Hollywood, for studios like Universal westerns were the easiest films to make. They required very few props and made use of the wide-open spaces available in Hollywood. Even the smallest studio, sometimes an empty space between two buildings, known as a lot could easily film outside. It was a cheap and effective way to involve audiences in wild chase scenes involving pure heroes like the white clad Tom Mix going after dastardly villains. One time a theater was showing a western, when the film suddenly broke right at the climatic scene. An emotional audience member yelled out," Hurry up and fix it before they get away!"
The master of the Western was John Ford, who felt that the genre was the purest form of movie making. In 1956, he and John Wayne went to their regular spot the Monument Valley in Utah to make the powerful chase movie for ‘The Searchers’. Location shooting allowed the two old friends to relax by camping out, playing cards and avoiding contact with the studio executives that Ford despised. The only problem was unpredictable weather could delay filming. Ford turned to a local Navajo Medicine Man. "Sir I will pay one hundred dollars if you can accurately predict the weather." The Shaman shut his eyes went into a trance and said,” Rain!" Sure enough it did rain. The grateful director asked him to repeat his efforts the next day. "Mmm, cloudy!" Again success. But on the third day when asked the Medicine Man shook his head sadly and said, "Can not tell weather today" Ford's pipe fell out of his mouth." Really. Why is that?" The Medicine Man replied," Transistor radio broke!"
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Easy Money:
 The silent days were a struggle for Warner Bros. Rin Tin Tin, a German shepherd that according to his publicity was born in a foxhole in World War I, was their biggest star. Heroic as he might have been on the screen, he proved to be, like many stars, cantankerous in person. Jack Warner took the dog on a publicity tour. As he introduced him to the crowd, his ungrateful employee bit him on the behind, leading to the dog's dismissal. It proved to be a prelude to Warner's many future battles with stars.
Trying to make a name for themselves, without their Dog Star, the four brothers got great publicity by announcing that the renowned opera tenor Caruso would be arriving from Italy to make a film for them. They paid him 25,000 dollars and then put him in a silent movie.
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Jack Who?
 With the talking films, came a new search for talent from the Broadway stage. Cohn hired an actor named Ralph Bellamy, who immediately infuriated his new boss by complaining about the shabby work conditions at Columbia.
"Harry, I need my own dressing room."
"What! Why you New York actors!"
A furious argument ensued. Finally, Cohn said,"All right, you can have your dressing room. But don't tell Jack Holt. All I need is for him to want one too!" A few weeks later, Bellamy again angered Cohn by insisting he work no later than 5 pm. "You New York actors!" Again, a furious argument followed. Just like before, Cohn gave in, "All right, you can leave at five. But don't tell Jack Holt."
In all the years he worked at Columbia, Bellamy never met actor Jack Holt.
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