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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Revusical.
Although information concerning this revusical's storyline is scarce, Harry Little's portrayal of a Wooloomooloo tough came in for special mention in a review published in the February 1917 issue of the Theatre. Describing his impersonation as having been done 'to a tick', the magazine's variety critic, X-ray, cites the following lines from Loo-ite Blister as he complains about his wife: 'She wouldn't give me a deener... and she had a day's washing yesterday.' One of Jack Kearns's amusing lines, according to the same review, was 'Don't you call me a loafer or I'll have you up on definition of character' (p.46).
In the same production, Elsie Bates and Phyllis Faye played the companion characters Mrs Boko and Mrs Blister, described by X-ray as 'two lairy, shriekingly-funny creations.'
Notes
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There is an element of confusion over the authorship of this revusical. Arthur Morley's name has not been identified with the first-known production (1917). But the 1917 cast included two men who were in the process of becoming senior writer/producers for Harry Clay: Art Slavin and George Pagden. A review of the Harry Sadler/Princess theatre season (in which Morley did take a role) in the February 1918 issue of the Theatre Magazine indicates, however, that Dockum Street, Woolloomooloo was an Arthur Morley revusical (p.46). Therefore, Morley possibly wrote and even directed the revusical for Clay without acting in the first season.
Production Details
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1917: Bridge Theatre, Newtown (Sydney), 20-26 January.
- Producer Clay's Bridge Theatre Ltd; Scenic Art Alec Stagpoole; Stage Manager Ted Gabriel.
- Cast incl. Ida Merton, Bert Desmond, Lily Thompson, Art Slavin, Mattie Thompson, George Pagden, the Unity Four.
1917: Harry Clay's Sydney suburban and south-west NSW circuit, ca. January-February.
- Cast and production mostly as for previous Bridge Theatre season.
1917: Harry Clay's NSW/Qld regional tour, April - July.
- Producer Clay's Bridge Theatre Ltd; Business Manager Wally Edwards; Tour Manager Art Slavin.
- Troupe Harry Clay's No 1 Musical Revue and Vaudeville Company.
- Cast incl. James Caldwell, Amy Rochelle, Ivy Darrell, Bert Desmond, Matti Jansen, Max Martin, Ida Merton, Eileen and Bessie Phillips, Art Slavin, Lily Thompson, Alf 'Redhead' Wilson.
1918: Princess Theatre, Sydney, 12-18 January.
- Director Arthur Morley; Producer/Lessee Harry Sadler; Proprietors Fullers Theatres Ltd.
- Cast incl. Jack Kearns (Boko, the 'king' of Dockem St), Arthur Morley, Elsie Bates (Mrs Boko), Phyllis Faye (Mrs Blister), Harry Little (Loo-ite Blister), Harry Cash, Grace Rooney, Cel Delwyn, Annie Tye.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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The Month in Vaudeville
1918
single work
review
— Appears in: The Theatre Magazine , February 1918; (p. 46)
— Review of Dockum Street, Wooloomooloo 1917 single work musical theatre
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The Month in Vaudeville
1918
single work
review
— Appears in: The Theatre Magazine , February 1918; (p. 46)
— Review of Dockum Street, Wooloomooloo 1917 single work musical theatre
PeriodicalNewspaper Details
- South Sydney area, Sydney Southern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,
