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An adaptation of the musical play Chu Chin Chow. Chu Chin Chow ... on Ice ran for three months, and was aired on the BBC as part of its Sunday-night theatre programming.
Contemporary newspapers reported that the costumes for the performance alone cost some £65,000, with the total budget double that:
No wonder the Robbers' cave is not very richly lined with gold. [...] Tagora warms up the proceedings with an astonishing feast of fire and 7,000 gallons of lavender-perfumed foam are pumped into the harem bath at the rate of 1,000 gallons per minute.
Source: 'Empire Pool, Wembley', The Times, 1 July 1953, p.5.
Staged at the Empire Pool, Wembley, Chu Chin Chow ... on Ice ran for three months from June 1953. The staging of a musical in summer was an experiment, since the Empire Pool had previously limited itself to a winter pantomime.
During its run, it was aired (likely in a truncated form) on the BBC, as part of the Sunday-night theatre programming.
Cast members included Eddie Delbridge (Nur Al-Huda Ali, Ali Baba's son), Pat Devries (A harem dancer / Bosten, Mahibubah's servant), Sheila Hamilton (Alcolom, Kasim Baba's favourite wife), Leslie Lugg (Mukbill a slave dealer / Otbah, a stallkeeper), George Miller (Kasim Baba, a wealthy merchant), Valerie Moon (Zahrat Al-Kulub, a slave), Gloria Nord (Marjanah, Kasim Baba's slave), Ron Priestley (Abu Hasan, the Shayk of the Robbers), Jeanette Raphael (Mahibubah, Ali Baba's wife), Berkeley Smith (Commentator), Tony Somers (Ali Baiba, Kasim Baba's poor brother), George Stevens (Khuzaymah, a robber chieftain / Mustafa, a cobbler), Denise Vane (The veil dancer), Michael Walker (Abdullah, Kasim Baba's steward), andRon Wells (Musab, a robber).
Including the voices of J. Grant Anderson, Rafe Caldicott, Patricia Chaplin, Majorie Chase, Leslie de Havilland, Arthur Gomez, Jan Haley, Jane Hillary, Raymond James, Victor Macdonald, Patrick O'Donnell, Frederick Sommer, and Tagora.
