Broadway Babylon by Boze Hadleigh Read Free Book Online Page A

Rhett Butler. A ten-city tour was planned, with a Broadway opening in 1974. However, the British producer was reportedly horrified by the dreadful west coast reviews, and
GWTW
didn’t leave California (although in 1976 it opened in Dallas and toured three cities before sinking).
    The US and UK musical ran two and a half hours, versus the 222-minute movie and the four-hour Japanese
Scarlett
. Many people agreed that June Ritchie in London gave a magnificent performance as Scarlett, Broadway historian Ken Mandelbaum even claiming that it rivaled Vivien Leigh’s—repeated eight times weekly. The fact remains that huge numbers of people in Tokyo, London, and elsewhere enjoyed the musical (also, in Japan, the nonmusical), but New Yorkers, excepting a handful of professional hard-boiled eggs, didn’t get a chance to see or enjoy for themselves.
    Q : What was the longest consecutive performance in one role?
    A : One tends to think of Yul Brynner, post-Hollywood, returning to the stage in
The King and I
over and over again. But this record is held by James O’Neill (1848–1920), father of playwright Eugene. He enacted the Count of Monte Cristo over six thousand times between 1883 and ’91, then returned to the role in later life.
    Q : Why was Eugene O’Neill sometimes called the only major playwright on Broadway?
    A : Because he was born in Times Square on October 16, 1888, at 43rd Street and Broadway, at the Barrett House (later the Cadillac Hotel). Much of his childhood was spent in hotels while his father toured.
    Q : Do nonprofessional playwrights ever have big successes with a play or plays?
    A : Everyone from Picasso to Pope John Paul II has tried their hand at writing a play—and getting it produced. Though there are occasional fluke successes—e.g., comic actor Steve Martin—generally the successful playwright is a full-time professional. In his
Desire Caught by the Tail
, Picasso made all of his characters die at the end from inhaling the fumes of fried potatoes. Friends who attended the Spaniards play agreed that Pablo should stick to his day job.
    Q : Who was the first female manager of an important American theatre and what’s her relationship to a current movie star?
    A : Louisa Lane Drew (1820-1897) began as a child actress and married her third husband—fellow thespian John Drew—in 1850. She mothered two actors—another John Drew and Georgiana Drew. “Georgie” married pugilist-turned-actor/playwright Maurice Barrymore, and gave birth to three stars: Lionel, Ethel, and John Barrymore—the latter grandfather to Drew Barrymore, who began as a child actor. For thirty years beginning in 1861, Louisa ran her own theatre, the Arch Street, in Philadelphia, and appeared opposite leading actors like Edwin Booth and Irish comedian Tyrone Power. She was a much-admired actress-manager, capable in all aspects of her business, such as carpentry, in which she sometimes instructed apprentices.
    Q : Who founded the first American acting “dynasty”?
    A : It wasn’t long-lived, and it wasn’t the first, but the Booth family had a significant impact. Junius Brutus Booth (1796–1852) was English, like most of 19th-century America’s celebrated actors. He was father to Junius Brutus Jr. (1821–1883), Edwin (1833–1893), and John Wilkes (1839–1865). Fortunately for Junius Sr., he didn’t live to see his youngest son become a presidential assassin. Booth
père
was an alcoholic and sometime rowdy. His aquiline profile was renowned, but in his 40s his nose was broken during a fight. Post-Profile, a fan told Booth she couldn’t “get over” his nose. He snapped back, “No wonder, madame, for the bridge is gone.”
    John Wilkes Booth was killed soon after murdering Abraham Lincoln. His act drove his much-more successful brother from the stage for four years. Edwin Booth was one of the first American actors to earn an international reputation and become a star in England, where Stateside actors were considered