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Source: Australian Variety Theatre Archive
Arrivals of 1922 Arrivals of 1922 i(A105936 works by) (Organisation) assertion
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BiographyHistory

Variety and revusical troupe.

The Arrivals of 1922 was a one-off variety company put together by producer Reg Wykeham for a season of revusicals (one-act musical comedies) at the Sydney Hippodrome. The company opened on 9 September 1922 with a production of Arthur Morley's All Ashore. Another Morley revusical, Ship Ahoy, was staged the following week, with four further productions being staged before the season ended on 28 October. The other revusicals were Cheerio, Odds On, Step This Way, and Say When.

Wykeman, whose career as an actor stretched back more than two decades, managed to attract a number of high-profile Australian performers for the season, with the most prominent being Morley, Sadie Gale, Bert Desmond and Mattie Jansen, and Will Gilbert and Dora Gilbert, Syd Garti, and George Whitehead. He also engaged Spencer Barry, a director whose previous credentials had been established in London and Europe. According to a season preview published in the Green Room, Barry intended producing his shows in a similar vein to the current fashion in London (October 1922, p.8). The offered programme was in two halves: the first half a traditional vaudeville bill of specialty acts and the second half musical comedy.

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • PERSONNEL:

    Performers: Lily Alroy, The Blanchards, Nada Conrade, Phyllis Craig, Essie Davis, Bert Desmond, Alf Driscoll, Bob Driscoll, The Éclair Bros, Sadie Gale, Sydney Garti, Dora Gilbert, Will Gilbert, Gladys Gordon, Harry Hart, Mattie Jansen, Bilee Lockwood, Arthur Morley, Marjorie Morton, Sybil Stevenson, Sadie Tilburn, May Topping, George Whitehead, Eve Williams, Harry Wilson.

    Additional performers: Arrivals Quartet, and The Eight 'Hip' Hooray Girls.

    Production team: Spencer Barry (director), Bert Rache (music director), Reginald Wykeham (producer).

    Musicians: Bert Rache and the Arrivals Orchestra.

  • HISTORICAL NOTES AND CORRECTIONS:

    Arthur Morley's involvement in the Arrivals of 1922 was possibly his first after suffering a nervous breakdown in the aftermath of the scandalous 1918 lawsuit between Harry Sadler and Phyllis Faye, in which Morley was named as the person who was allegedly having an affair with Faye while her husband, variety entertainer Bruce Drysdale, was overseas with the Australian Imperial Forces.

    It is unclear at this stage whether the two Morley productions were new works or re-worked versions of earlier revusicals (produced during his association with Harry Clay).

  • FURTHER REFERENCE:

    The following list comprises articles, paragraphs, and reports relating to the Arrivals of 1922 Hippodrome season that are not given individual entries in this database.

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  • This entry has been sourced from research undertaken by Dr Clay Djubal into Australian-written popular music theatre (ca. 1850-1930). See also the Australian Variety Theatre Archive

Last amended 12 May 2014 08:45:44
See Also
Arthur Morley
Reg Wykeham
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