Cirrus@Austlit

Revusical.

Revusical.

Revusical.

Revusical.

Set in and around Sydney Harbour, On the River is described in the Theatre as:

A one act frivolous frivolity... [which consists of] nothing more than one member of the company after the other coming on in a song, a dance or some patter, varied now and again by the performer getting the support of the chorus or the appearance of Harry Sadler as the comedian with a toy bucket and shovel pretending to shovel sand into the bucket from the bare stage. It is this, together with the view of Pinchgut in the harbour that inspired the title On the River (April 1916, p.35).

One song known to have been incorporated into the narrative, 'At the Movies', was performed by Vera Kearns and a chorus of four Charlie Chaplin girls.

Revusical.

In this production, set in a Sydney boarding house, the cast of characters includes a young army recruit, the boarding house keeper (Mrs O'Flanagan), and various lodgers and local residents.

'The curtain rises on a festive boarding house scene,' records the Theatre magazine in its review of the 1916 Princess Theatre production. 'The guest [is] a young fellow in khaki [who] is going to the front... Then the front-cloth descends. After it comes down Mr Kearns appears in the guise of an Irish M. P. from Goondiwindi (Qld), looking for "an ould friend of mine phwat keeps a Sydney boarding-house - Mrs O'Flanagan."' (March 1916, pp.46-7).

In his search, he meets a number of other characters representing different types of Sydney residents, and, says the Theatre critic:

In that way the audience are provided with a lot of humorously skittish stuff. In turn songs are given by Peter Brooks, Harry Sadler, Cliff O'Keefe, Billy Maloney, Beattie McDonald, Vera Kearns, Violet Elliot and Mr Kearns himself... Finally the front-cloth is raised once more disclosing the boarding house - this time with the lodgers at the table more or less busy on a meal, and the landlady flying about here and there. Then Mr Kearns enters. The keeper of the place, Mrs Flanagan, is the ould friend he is looking for! Then the fun - in which all the boarders participate - follows fast and furious (March 1916, pp.46-7).

Revusical.

A review of the 1916 Princess Theatre (Sydney) production records that 'In the background sat comedian Billy Maloney high up on a bank, with a rod and line in his hand; and as the other members of the company cavorted in the foreground Mr Maloney varied the proceedings by 'landing' such articles as boots and corsets and vegetables' (Theatre March 1916, p.46). Although the magazine's variety editor, X-Ray, gave Maloney and Kearns a positive review, he considered the production to be 'dead' in most other areas.