I recently found a detailed interview with Dolly Tree in the Daily Express from January 1922 in the British Newspaper Archive. This feature was not available during the research for my biography Dolly Tree: A Dream of Beauty and so the information it provides was not included. So here is the text and commentary as it does show some invaluable and interesting points.
Continue reading Dolly Tree Interview in the Daily Express 26th January 1922
Julian Wylie’s 1923 London Hippodrome show Brighter London was in fact the second longest running revue in London during the 1920s, being overtaken by The Whirl of the World (1924) at the Palladium. The show had no real story but comprised a series of episodes with Cupid setting out to brighten London culminating in the appearance of the celebrated American band leader Paul Whiteman and his orchestra.
Continue reading Brighter London at the London Hippodrome, 1923
Leap Year at the London Hippodrome, 1924
George Robey was the star of Julian Wylie’s third Hippodrome revue Leap Year described as ‘one of the best revues that London has ever seen’. Launched at the London Hippodrome on 20th March 1924 it ran for 471 performances. The show had no cohesive plot but was designed to showcase the talent of Robey as a comedian and he appeared in at least 11 of the scenes, which means that in fact Leap Year was constructed around him.
One of the most influential and major stars of the British variety stage in the Jazz Age was Bert Errol. Hugely under-rated and now long forgotten, he was one of the few, seriously, successful female impersonators on the British stage and had the advantage of an incredible vocal range that was the key to his success.
