CHU CHIN CHOW' BACK

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 181, 3 July 1940, Page 7

CHU CHIN CHOW' BACK

Old campaigners from the Dominions will rub their eyes and wonder which war they are in when they get to London. For Ghu Chin Chow, the play which so belonged to the last war as to seem almost part of it., is hack in rehearsal. Thousands of overseas troops saw the show—no soldiers leave in London was considered complete without at least one visit to it. Its revival is the biggest link yet between the war of 25 years ago and, the war of to-day. Miss Sydney Fairbrother, the veteran comedy actress is playing her old part of Mahbubah, but she is the only member of Oscar Asche's original cast in the new show. Oscar Asche, an Australian himself, made a fortune out of the show which ran for 2338 performances. Sarah the donkey—26 years old now —is still working in the show business but she is booked up in The Silver Patrol. * "What a happy family we all were" said Miss Fairbrother. "There were 160 of us and it seemed almost like a little village with births, marriages and deaths. "I shall never forget one of the camels falling down a grating outside His Majesty's Theatre. Oscar Asclie poured two bottles of liqueur brandy down its throat while we were waiting for the humane killer to arrive from the Zoo"And the audiences. They returned again and again. One woman admitted to having seen it 77 times. Schoolboys who saw it in 1916, married and became daddies by 1921, and still camc to see it."