Julian Wylie’s last revue at the London Hippodrome was Better Days in 1925. Comprising 19 scenes, Better Days had a try-out at the Liverpool Empire from 9th March 1925 before its debut at the London Hippodrome on 19th March 1925.
The stars of the first edition of Better Days were Maisie Gay, Stanley Lupino, Madge Elliott, Connie Emerald with Ruth French and Anatole Wiltzak. The production had the usual Wylie flourish and touch with the dances and ensembles arranged by Edward Dolly and all the gowns and costumes designed by Dolly Tree. The modern gowns were created by Peron and Florence Henry and the costumes by Alias, Clarkson and Betty S. Roberts.
The book was by Laurie Wylie, Lyrics by R.P Weston and Bert Lee and music composed by Hermann Finck. There was a flimsy sort of plot that revolved around the search of an author for a new heroine, but this thought not too matter too much and only concerned the opening scenes. Of the nineteen scenes, three received considerable attention: the ‘G. and S. Cocktail’, the ‘Frolicking Gods’ ballet and ‘Beads’.
The first ‘G. and S. Cocktail’ was a ‘clever burlesque’ on Gilbert and Sullivan in which all the opera’s get muddled up and presented as a mixture of well-known skits from various operas. The idea was taken from the last night plan of not telling the audience which opera is to be given: at the Hippodrome the singers were not told what opera they were to give ! Everything was seen as just right in this witty skit, from the scenery which was a mixture of Venice, the Tower, the Hɔuse of Commons, and Japan, and the chorus who came on as gondoliers, peers, blue jackets. fairies, lifeguards and love-sick maidens. There were a range of costumes reflecting the different operas. There were neat lyrics and music in the Sullivan manner with parɔdies upon the various operas although not a single phrase from any one of them was used. This scene was regarded as ‘one of the wittiest, cleverest and most charming scene that have ever been introduced into a Hippodrome revue.’
Michael Fokine’s ‘Frolicking Gods’ ballet had originally been staged in the 1922 Ziegfeld Follies with costumes by James Reynolds. At the Hippodrome this ‘spirited and amusing’ scene featured Ruth French as the principal dancer with Anatole Wiltzak set to the music of Tschaikowsky’s Casse Noisette.
The ballet was thought to bear the authentic stamp of its inventor’s genius in every movement. Two lovers were inadvertently locked in a sculpture exhibition and they witness the revels held by the statues of gods and goddesses who come to life after hours in a series of brilliant dances. The lovers dance with them and in the whirl of the frenzied dances they lose sɔme of the Victorian primness and most of their clothes, before they are finally rescued and led away to prison. The scene was thought to be a sheer inspiration. The whole scene was praised as being ‘undoubtedly among the finest ever seen in revue.’
But, by far the most applauded scene, was the grand spectacle of ‘The Beads’ that was thought to ‘opulent’. Here, in a bead shop, there was a little pretence of a girl buying a necklace then the stage setting was nothing but great strings of beads as a background, with a parade of mannequins representing the jewels, from which beads are made, including coral, jade, amber, jet and cornelian. In the ‘Coral Beads’ number, Ruth French gave an under-the-sea dance as white coral, while in ‘Jade Beads’ the Hippodrome Eight were dressed to represent Chinese porcelain dogs and ‘Amber Beads’ was set in a desert oasis.
Finally, in ‘The Showcase’ number, a casket of three connected living gems was revealed and the spectacle culminated in the slow descent of a huge curtain on which were suspended a number of exquisite living cameos. This number included a costume collectif, a concept pioneered by Erte in Paris. In front of the showcase or jewellery box itself was a central figure who was connected to two figures on either side in the same costume with a further four figures on either side to the front in different costumes, but also connected to the central figure – a total of thirteen figures.
Regarding the rest of Better Days it was noted that the two chief figures Maisie Gay and Stanley Lupino offered clever and often brilliant work. They were seen together in the absurdly funny creation ‘For the Flag’ with Maisie Gay as the wife of a general (Stanley Lupino) commanding a besieged fort. They also gave a delicious skit on the popular piano act of Nora Blaney and Gwen Farrar and Maisie Gay’s impersonation of Gwen Farrar was thought to be a complete joy: voice, manner and walk were all as comically perfect as could be.
In another hilarious scene Maisie Gay appeared in ‘Sleeping Out’ which was supposed tɔ take place in her own flat. Half-dressed in trailing bath towels, Maisie Gay was drolly grotesque as she tried to cope with a morning-after head and the persistent calls of telephones and tradesmen.
There was a pretty scene called A Land For Heroines with a cunning combination of pastel blue, green and rose and characters representing well-known heroines.
In the Scene Love Will Find a Way (Wisteria scene), Madge Elliott, Claude Anthony and George Baker represent gracefully and musically a phase of the eternal triangle and then an open lattice work forms the background and the chorus ladies climb the lattice work dressed as sprays of wisteria.
The living or decorative curtain with panels made up of pretty girls was lowered at the conclusion of the first part of Better Days. The living curtain concept, had also been used by Erte in Paris and was a clever idea of incorporating the female form into a stage set or curtain as a decoration. In this instance there were two attendants on each side in another connected costume. On a similar note, Ben Ali Haggin became famous for his living tableaux, with reproductions of famous paintings brought to life was incorporated into numerous Ziegfeld shows in New York during the First World War.
The show closed with the Wylie Vocal Band conducted by May Clapham giving a remarkable choral selection that proved to be a novel finale.
Praise of Better Days was pretty uniform. The Era thought it was ‘superbly staged’ and possessed ‘much originality and freshness. There is an abundance of fun, entrancing music and a splendid all round company.’ The Stage observed ‘the Hippodrome has had a wonderful run of great success but Better Days should beat the record. There is a brilliant cast, plenty of bright music, a witty and original book and a fair share of delightful spectacular scenes’.
Sporting Times like the Stage thought that Better Days was ‘a worthy successor to the long line of brilliant shows at the London Hippodome’ and was ‘one of the prettiest and most tasteful of revues’ with ‘many original and beautiful scenes.’ Theatre World was equally effusive saying it was ‘certainly the prettiest and most tasteful in the long line of similar productions at this theatre. There is abundance of beautiful spectacular scenes, two ballets, as well as lots of other dancing and, by now, plenty of humour and fun.’
And yet there were also a lot of criticism from other publications that was at odds with the positive comments and praise from the mainstream theatrical press. One of the gripes was that although there was plenty of fun there was not enough and that the essential ingredient of good revue humour was lacking.
Perhaps in response to the criticism Julian Wylie made substantial changes to Better Days and by the beginning of April, a few weeks after the launch, there was a new edition. Stanley Lupino was replaced by Norman Griffith, the Fokine Ballet and the Vocal band finale had been removed. There were new and revised scenes. This included the addition of the American performers Moran and Mack (George Moran and Charles Mack) blackface comedians (sometimes called the Two Black Crows. From the view of our present time their act was racist and inappropriate) and the Savoy Orpheans with Delroy Somers as conductor. Theatre World was incredulous that the Fokine ballet was deleted saying it was ‘the most enchanting scene’ in the revue. Theatre World also objected to the addition of the Savoy Orpheans saying they were good at the Savoy and good on the radio but not really suitable for the theatre. (Of course Theatre World forgot that Wylie did something similar with Paul Whiteman’s orchestra in Brighter London in 1923).
Better Days, only ran for 135 performances and closed in early June, proving to be the last of Wylie’s run of productions at the London Hippodrome. The theatre historian MacQueen Pope claimed that Better Days was Wylie’s best revue, but it was too good for the theatre and way ahead of its time. The actor, Stanley Lupino, thought the cast never fully recovered from the strains of rehearsals in Liverpool that added to its demise in London. Its failure to run for over a year, unlike all of Wylie’s previous revues is quite puzzling and perhaps there was some form of major disagreement between the Hippodrome management and Julian Wylie. Despite its closure, the show went on to successfully tour the regions and the bead scene resurfaced in Wylie’s pantomime Queen of Hearts in Manchester in 1925 and the Brighter Blackpool revue of 1928.
All images (unless specified in the caption) and text © copyright Gary Chapman / Jazz Age Club and must not be re-used without prior consent
Sources
Theatre World June 1925
The Stage 12/3/25
Shirtfronts and Sables by MacQueen Pope From the Stocks to the Stars by Stanley Lupino
The Tatler 8/4/25
The Sphere 4/4/25
The Era 21/3/25
The Stage 26/3/25
The Era 14/3/25
Bystander 8/8/25
Theatre World June 1925
Theatre World May 1925
Theatre World April 1925
The Stage 9/4/25
The Sporting Times 28/3/25
The Scotsman 20/3/25
Liverpool Echo 10/3/25
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