Profits from “Journey’s End”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 910, 1 March 1930, Page 25

Profits from “Journey’s End”

Two Theatres Bought ROMANTIC RISE TO FAME Two London West End theatres, the Globe and the Queen’s, which stan<} side by side in Shaftesbury Avenue, have been sold for about £250,000. The deal is a part of the fortunemaking romance of “Journey’s End.” The leaseholds of both theatres have been bought by interests closely connected with Maurice Browne, Ltd., the producers of “Journey’s End,” from the G.Q. Syndicate and Sir Alfred Butt. There will be ho change in the management until the end of the run of “The Apple Cart” at the Queen’s, and “Canaries Sometimes Sing” at the Globe. Then Maurice Browne, Ltd., will take active control,, both theatres will be redecorated and modernised, and “Othello” will be produced at the Globe, with Paul Robeson, the American negro actor, as the Moor. From School to Stage The purchase of the theatres is an outcome of the romantic rise to fame of Mr. Browne, who two years ago was an almost unknown actor and producer. After being school teacher, publisher, poet, and playwright, Mr. Browne turned actor, and in 1926 went to America and founded the Chicago Little Theatre. Returning to England two years ago, he made a big hit with his acting in “The Unknown Warrior.” Securing “Journey’s End” Then the wheel of fortune turned. Just after midnight one Sunday the telephone bell mug in his fiat, and a friend told him that he had just seen a wonderful new play produced by the Stage Society, called “Journey’s End,” by a man named Slierriff. Mr. Browne secured a copy of the play and read it in the train going to Devonshire the following day. He was so that he dashed back to London, and was just in time to secure the production rights ahead of another producer. It is largely due to the profits made by “Journey’s End” that now, with the purchase of the Globe and the Queen’s Theatre, he has become a power to be reckoned with among London producers. Mr. Browne has many new ideas on theatre management. He holds that the theatre should be run on business lines, like a great store; that the actor should have security of tenure, instead of being a “casual labourer”; and that profit-sharing should be introduced.