West End

Louise Brown with the chorus singing ‘I’m in Love’ from Act 2, Scene 1. From Play Pictorial, no. 308, November 1927.

The Girl Friend

Musical comedy in two acts by R.P. Weston & Bert Lee, adapted from Kitty’s Kisses by Philip Bartholomae & Otto Harbach; lyrics and music by Con Conrad, Gus Kahn, Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart. Produced by Herbert Clayton and Jack Waller. Directed by William Mollison. Orchestra under the direction of Simms Waller. Dances and ensembles by Max Scheck. Scenery by F.L. Lyndhurst and Philip Harker. All gowns, coats, hats, pyjamas, &c. specially designed and executed by Reville Ltd. Gentlemen’s suits by Morris Angel. Haberdashery by Benne. Shoes by H. & M. Rayne. Wigs by Clarkson. Curtains and draperies by Maurice. Flowers by F. Windram. Boxes of chocolates used in Act II by Barbellion.

Following a ‘tryout’ at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool, 15–27 August 1927 and at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, 29 August–3 September 1927, The Girl Friend played at London’s Palace Theatre, 8 September 1927–8 September 1928. 421 performances.

British theatrical impresarios Herbert Clayton (1874–1931) and Jack Waller (1881–1957) were both all-round men of the theatre. As well as being producers, Clayton was an actor and author, and Waller was a comedian, musician and composer.

Clayton and Waller had collaborated on the composition and production of several original musical comedies during the early 1920s, and in 1924 they decided to go into partnership as theatrical producers, a venture that proved financially lucrative for both men. Their first show, the American comedy It Pays to Advertise was a great success, and when the management at the Aldwych Theatre agreed to stage it following the withdrawal of the hit comedy Tons of Money, it helped establish the Aldwych as the home of farce. The following year they produced two Broadway musicals: No, No, Nanette (libretto by Otto Harbach & Frank Mandel, with music by Vincent Youmans) and Mercenary Mary (revised libretto by Frederic Jackson, with music by William B. Friedlander & Con Conrad). No, No, Nanette, which starred Binnie Hale, George Grossmith and Joseph Coyne, had inaugurated their management at the Palace Theatre, but they also had shows at the Hippodrome, Lyric and other theatres, both in London and the provinces. No, No, Nanette set a record as one of London’s longest running musicals, notching up 665 performances, with the songs ‘Tea for Two’ and ‘I Want to be Happy’ becoming instant hits.

Hoping to find another Nanette, Clayton and Waller visited America, returning with The Girl Friend and Kitty’s Kisses. Back in London they started to have doubts about a musical set around a six-day bicycle race, so The Girl Friend was shelved and they called in R.P. Weston and Bert Lee to transform Kitty’s Kisses into a London success.

The partnership between Weston and Lee, which lasted from 1915 until Weston’s death in 1936, furnished some of Britain’s most iconic songs and stage musicals. Together, they composed over 3000 songs and monologues, and contributed songs and/or librettos to 75 musicals and stage shows.

Weston and Lee were well-acquainted with Clayton and Waller, the four men having collaborated on the shows Sunshine and Laugher (1922) and Tilly (a musical version of the 1919 play Tilly of Bloomsbury) (1924).

Weston and Lee’s first task was to ditch the show’s title and adopt that of The Girl Friend. Retaining the plot of Kitty’s Kisses, they took three songs from The Girl Friend and commissioned further songs from Vivian Ellis (who had previously contributed songs to Mercenary Mary) and from Kahn, Harbach & Conrad. They also added a classical ballet sequence using music from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker to highlight the versatility of the musical’s American leading lady, Louise Brown.

The ‘doctoring’ of Kitty’s Kisses was completed in record time, so that the new musical could open at the Palace in September 1927. The Palace had been dark a full month since the closure of Princess Charming (which had been sent on tour after playing 300 performances), and Clayton and Waller were also keen to get The Girl Friend underway ahead of two more American musicals they had planned: Hit the Deck (1927) and Good News (1928). In 1930 the partnership came to an end when the two men decided to operate independently. Clayton’s first solo venture was the musical Tommy Tucker, but sadly in February 1931 he died after contracting pneumonia, aged only 57. His estate was valued at £18,000 (A$15 million in today’s money!)

Evelyn Hope, Roy Royston, Louise Brown & Clifford Mollison. From Play Pictorial, no. 308, November 1927.

The Cast

The line-up was an interesting one. Curiously the majority of the cast were performers with little or no musical comedy experience. There were no really ‘big’ names. Binnie Hale, George Grossmith and Joseph Coyne who had won accolades with No, No, Nanette were conspicuously absent, as were the stars of Princess Charming, Winnie Melville, W.H. Berry and Alice Delysia.

Louise Brown(e) (1906–1996) arrived in London with a reputation as a clever Broadway musical comedy actress and dancer, having first attracted attention in 1925 when she took over the role of Sally in the musical Sally, Irene and Mary. Thereafter she played the female lead in the musical adaptation of Captain Jinks (of the Horse Marines) and appeared in the Ziegfeld revue No Foolin’. She returned to America after the closure of The Girl Friend, but was soon back in the UK. During the 1930s she performed in musicals and revues, including a leading role in Jill Darling (1934) and in 1935 she renewed her partnership with Roy Royston and together they played dancing leads in a series of musical comedies at the Gaiety Theatre: Seeing Stars (1935), Swing Along (1936), Going Greek (1937) and Running Riot (1938). 

The show’s two leading men, Clifford Mollison and Roy Royston, were both experienced stage performers, but neither of them reached the pinnacle of, say, a Jack Buchanan or Jack Hulbert.

Clifford Mollison (1897–1986) was from a theatrical family. His brother Henry Mollison was a noted actor, while his other brother, William Mollison, was house-director for Clayton and Waller. During the early 1920s, Clifford Mollison was a member of Basil Dean’s dramatic company at St Martin’s Theatre in London. He made his first appearance in musical comedy in February 1927 at Daly’s Theatre when he played Adolar Von Sprintz in The Blue Mazurka. The Girl Friend was his second musical. Thereafter, he was seen in Nippy (1930), White Horse Inn (1931), The Gay Deceivers (1935), No, No, Nanette (revival, 1936), and Balalaika (1936). Returning to the stage after WWII, he appeared in Can-Can (1946). During the late 1940s, he moved to farcical comedy, performing in The Girl Who Couldn’t Quite. In 1950, he took this play and Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary? to Australia. He returned in 1964 for JCW to play Hysterium in the Australian premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Comedian and dancer Roy Royston (1899–1976), had been on the stage since 1910, playing child roles and then juvenile leads in West Ends plays. In 1919 he achieved success as Hughie Cavanagh in The Boy (the musical adaptation of Pinero’s farce The Magistrate). During the early 1920s, he appeared in several musicals: The Shop Girl (revival, 1920), Now and Then (1921), The Lady of the Rose (1922), The Cousin from Nowhere (1923), and Little Nelly Kelly (1923). In May 1924 he went to America, playing the male leads in Peg o’ My Dreams, Marjorie and June Days on Broadway. Returning to London in December 1925, he was seen in The Blue Kitten and Happy-Go-Lucky, prior to joining The Girl Friend. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s he continued to appear in musicals on both sides of the Atlantic, including a series of hit musicals at the Gaiety in partnership with Louise Brown(e). With time out for war service, he returned to the London and provincial stage in 1943. In 1949–50 he visited Australia as a member of Arthur Askey’s company with The Love Racket.

Many of the people associated with The Girl Friend had an Australian connection. During 1909–10, Herbert Clayton had been in Australia for the J.C. Williamson Ltd. production of King of Cadonia. From 1913, Jack Waller—described as ‘a distinguished comedian and violinist of acknowledged ability‘—toured the Antipodes with a concert party called ‘The Butterflies’. While in Australia, he also produced the revues Look Who’s Here (1917) and Vanity Fair (1918).

Sara Allgood (1880–1950) toured Australia with the Abbey Players in the 1900s and returned in 1916 to play the lead in Peg o’ My Heart. Pollie Emery (1875–1958) was in Australia during the 1890s, as was Ethel Arden, and in the early 1920s (and again in the late 1930s), George Gee (1894–1959) was playing comic roles in musical comedies for J.C. Williamson Ltd.

Emma Haig as Jennie with the chorus singing ‘Step on the Blues’. From Play Pictorial, no. 308, November 1927.

The Scenes

Act 1

Scene 1—A Railway Siding on the Canadian Pacific Railway

Scene 2—The Road to Hagerstown

Scene 3—Lounge of the Hotel Wendell. Evening.

Act 2

Scene 1—The Blue Bridal Suite of the Hotel Wendell. Later the same evening.

Scene 2—A Corridor of the Hotel

Scene 3—The Garden of the Hotel Wendell

Roy Royston & Louise Brown as Robert and Kitty

From Play Pictorial, no. 308, November 1927

Sheet music cover for ‘The Blue Room’

Sheet Music Warehouse

The Songs

1. From The Girl Friend (1926), lyrics by Lorenz Hart, with music by Richard Rodgers

2. From The Garrick Gaieties (1926), lyrics by Lorenz Hart, with music by Richard Rodgers

3. From Kitty’s Kisses (1925), lyrics by Gus Kahn & Otto Harbach, with music by Con Conrad

4. From Kitty’s Kisses (1925), lyrics by Otto Harbach, with music by Con Conrad & Will Donaldson

5. Lyrics by R.P. Weston & Bert Lee, with music by Harris Weston

6. Lyrics and music by Vivian Ellis

7. Lyrics by Gus Kahn & Otto Harbach, with music by Con Conrad

As noted above, of the fourteen songs featured in the London version of The Girl Friend, five (by Gus Kahn, Otto Harbach, Con Conrad and/or Will Donaldson) were taken from the original 1925 production of Kitty’s Kisses; another two (by Rodgers & Hart) came from the 1926 production of The Girl Friend; two more (by Rodgers & Hart) were from the 1926 revue The Garrick Gaieties; two were original songs by Kahn, Harbach & Conrad; another two were original songs by R.P Weston, Bert Lee & Harris Weston; and one was by Vivian Ellis. The song ‘Step on the Blues’, in the original score of Kitty’s Kisses, was cut from the show during tryout.

Act 2, Scene 3 Finale: Mr. Burke, Mrs. Burke, Phillip, Miss Wendell, Jerry and Jennie, The Dancer, Johnny, Mary, Mason, Kitty Brown, Mrs. Dennison & Mr Dennison. From Play Pictorial, no. 308, November 1927.

The Reviews

“The Girl Friend” at the Palace

WHEN The Girl Friend started its career in the provinces it was, so competent judges assure me, only “fair to mod”. Where upon those two arch-showmen, Messrs. Clayton and Waller, whose venture it is, fell upon it with many a cut and alteration. The two arch-adaptors, Messrs. Weston and Lee, doubtless removed their coats likewise, with the result that the show presented at the Palace on September 8 was voted by the knowing ones as a vast improvement on the first edition.

Which just shows what a miracle it is when a musical comedy is framed up right from the word “go”. Sometimes this drastic re-shuffling doesn’t produce the necessary aces. But at the first night of The Girl Friend the treatment had obviously worked well. The piece still needed first aid here and there but the general impression was unmistakably that another Clayton and Waller victory had been fought and won.

By now—a month having elapsed—what odd bits of pruning called for the scissors has, of course, been attended to by all concerned. In fact I’m sure it has, because my friends who are musical comedy fans are unanimously of the opinion that The Girl Friend is one of the best, if not the very best, musical show in London. And I can well believe it, for I can find no ingredient lacking which one expects to find in the recipe for a modern American pep-and-plug show.

This recipe invariably begins with “Take too many cooks for an ordinary play, remembering that in musical comedy you can’t have enough.” So far so good, for The Girl Friend is an adaptation by Messrs. Weston and Lee from P. Bartholomae and Otto Harbach’s Kitty’s Kisses. The music and lyrics are the result of picking the best numbers from two American musical comedies, those responsible being Messrs. Con Conrad, Gus Kahn, Richard Rodgers, and Lorenz Hart—not forgetting one contribution from Mr. Vivian Ellis.

As for the other ingredients, nothing, is stinted. The staging and production are not only lavish but effective and pleasing to the eye. You can always count on a Clayton and Waller show being well put on, and blow the expense. The chorus, the dancing, the musical stunts in the interval—these etceteras denote vigorous showmanship. They count so much in these days of speed and slick production ...

Miss Louise Brown (American) is versatile and charming. She dances better than she sings, but what leading lady doesn’t, these days? Miss Emma Haig is a scream. Mr. Gee is a sort of mixture of Fred Karno, Charlie Chaplin, and George Gee; a buffoon of commendable silliness. Mr. Clifford Mollison can play the inane and inebriated young man on his head. Mr. Roy Royston, who is gifted ad lib. with natural charm and ability, provokes my disappointment by mannerisms, vocal and otherwise, which seem directed at the female population of the gallery. A mere male among the stalls might be tempted to mistake art for affectation ...

I take leave to conclude this commendation of a cheerful and tunesome evening by a message straight from the heart to Messrs. Clayton and Waller: “Consider The Girl Friend just what the doctor ordered. New ‘stars’ particularly bright. Reprise.” TRINCULO.

From The Tatler, 9 November 1927 (extract)

Cover of Play Pictorial magazine, November 1927. Click here to view publication.

Courtesy of Rex Bunnett

Cast list from 1927 program

Courtesy of Rex Bunnett

“The Girl Friend”—at the Palace

The personalities of some of the artists and Mr. William Mollison’s sparkling, ever-moving production make the success of “The Girl Friend”, the quite amusing farce with commonplace music that was presented by those successful purveyors of entertainment, Messrs. Herbert Clayton and Jack Waller, at the Palace Theatre on Thursday last. The songs. “The Blue Room”, “What’s the Use of Talking?” and “The Girl Friend” are plugged for all they are worth—and a trifle more—and at the end of the evening the audience leaves the theatre humming the tunes. That was one of the secrets of the success of “No, No. Nanette”, although the new piece lacks anything approaching the neat, lilting appeal of “Tea for Two”.

Three new-comers make immediate hits in “The Girl Friend.” Miss Louise Brown, a pretty American blonde, with a fresh, ingratiating personality who can sing a little (the singing of the principals is not the strong feature of the show!) and dance extremely well is a welcome addition to the grace and gaiety of London. Another Transatlantic artist, Miss Emma Haig, has also made decided conquest. She is comic little person who is as pert as she is clever and whose dancing as funny as her acting. The other is Mr. George Gee, who is strictly not a new-comer, for he was paid a large salary to appear for few seconds in “White Birds”. He is a really original comedian with rich sense of burlesque and a strongly marked, heavily accentuated humour of his own. Witness the extremely funny scene in the second act when he grotesques in the absurdist way all the characteristics of every American detective that has ever been seen on the screen! These three and Mr. Clifford Mollison. who is probably the best young light actor in England, carry “The Girl Friend” to success.

From The Era, 14 September 1927 (extract)