Revusical.
Stiffy and Mo are two comic waiters; the revusical's other characters include Marie and Harry (newlyweds), Mrs Lovecast (who is looking for a second husband), Mrs Cash (who runs the hotel), and the two villains Humphrey and Snorky. A Brisbane Courier review records that the plot centres around the efforts of the villains to kidnap the bride (11 July 1921, p.4). Their plans are foiled, however, by the two waiters. The same paper's 1926 review of Phillips' Whirligigs' company production similarly notes:
[Stiffy and Mo are] called upon to host two kidnappers with their own petard. Aubrey (Dan Dunbar) and Dick Marsden (Dan Weldon), as the two schemers, sought to enlist the aid of the two ragtime waiters at the Grand Hotel in their scheme to kidnap an heiress. The revue had a surprising climax' (20 December 1926, p.9).
A Sydney Morning Herald report on the 1919 Fullers Theatre (Syd) season also records:
'The principal attraction was the tabloid musical comedy revue by Nat Phillips entitled The waiters, the scrap-like story of which had something to do with the abduction of the heroine for the Shah's harem by Horace Mann and Dan M. Dunbar, melodramatic villains of the frock-coated variety. Stiffy (Mr Phillips) and his humorous Hebrew confederate Mo (Roy Rene) supplied the fun of the place in checkmating these well-dressed ruffians, and their somewhat incoherent dialogue, comic business and glorious incompetency [sic] as waiters at Mrs Stibbs' summer hotel, kept the audience in roars of laughter. Daisy Merritt bustled about despairingly as the bewildered landlady, and Amy Rochelle's fine and full-toned voice won deserved applause for songs which she was tactfully accompanied by an orchestra under Mr Hamilton Webber's direction. Choral numbers and changes of costume were duly appreciated' (19 May 1919, p.7).
In the 1922 production the villains were Mike Connors (Humphrey Ward) and Dan M. Dunbar (Snorky). One scene from that production involves the chorus, dressed in black-and-white suits ornamented with staves of music, dancing to Mike Connors's vocal number 'Minstrel Band'. The 'musical dishes' from this production were the opening chorus, 'Dancing Merrily'; 'Smiling' (performed by Connelly and Davis); 'I Should Worry' (Paul and company); 'Just Because it's You' (Davis and girls, with a solo by Bowie); 'Wondering' (Connors and Paul); 'Baby Smiles' (Paul and girls); 'On the Promenade' (Shaw and girls); 'Parisian' (Connelly and girls); and the finale, 'Supper is Served' (company).
The 1926 Stiffy and Erb version comprised such songs as 'Dancing Merrily' (chorus of waitresses and boarders), 'Mulligan's Picture Show' (Phillips, J. Kellaway and Merritt), 'I Should Worry' (Manning), 'What Do You Say?' (Power and Radio Six), 'Haunting Waltz' (Laurence and Radio Six), 'Sarah' (J. Kellaway and Radio Six), and 'Rosie's Sister' (Weldon and Radio Six).
Another of Nat Phillips's revusicals, The Wedding Party, also sees Stiffy appear as a waiter, alongside his mate 'Erb (Jack Kellaway). The two productions appear to be based on different plots, however, and are therefore unlikely to be related.
1917: Bijou Theatre, Melbourne, 3-9 November.
1918: Empire Theatre, Brisbane, 2-8 February (return season: 25-31 May).
1919: Fullers' Theatre, Sydney, 17-23 May (return season: 30 August-5 September).
1920: Bijou Theatre, Melbourne, 10-16 April (return season: 7-13 August).
1921: Empire Theatre, Brisbane, 9-15 July.
.
1922: Fullers' Theatre, Sydney, 13-19 May.
1924: Fullers' Theatre, Sydney, 23 October - 1 November.
1925: Bijou Theatre, Melbourne, 2-8 May.
1925: Majestic Theatre, Adelaide; 19-24 September.
.
1926: Empire Theatre, Brisbane, 18-24 December.
1927: Fullers' Theatre, Sydney, 3-9 September.
