Producer Who Discovered Shaw

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 962, 3 May 1930, Page 26

Producer Who Discovered Shaw

DEATH OF J. E. VEDRENNE FIRST NIGHT OF “CANDIDA” Great regret was expressed in London theatrical circles at the news of the death of Mr. J. E. Vedrenne, the manager and producer. On the previous day he had been to see the matinee performance of “Michael and Mary” at the St. James's Theatre, says a London exchange. Born G 3 years ago, Mr. Vedrenne first came into real theatrical prominence ill 1904, when he and Mr. Granville Barker went into partnership at the Court Theatre. , This management became famous; it gave Bernard Shaw his first chance of having his plays produced. "Candida,” "John Bull’s Other Island,” "You Never Can Tell,” "Man and Superman,” “Major Barbara,” and “The Doctor’s Dilemma” were put on by the partners—who also “discovered” John Galsworthy as a dramatist. A FIRST FIRST-NIGHT Speaking of the production of “Candida,” his first Shaw lilay, Mr. Vedrenne himself said: "The first night of ‘Candida’ at the Court Theatre was the only time I ever made a speech on such an occasion. “At the end the audience were cheering and shouting ‘Author!’ and, as Shaw would not take the call, 1 went o.i and said: ‘Mr. Shaw is not in the house, but you will find him on the platform of Sloan Square station, beneath this theatre.’ “I have never seen a theatre empty so quickly!” Mr. Vedrenne had two stories illustrating the difference between Shaw and Galsworthy. "John Bull’s Other Island” was a great success on its production, and he said to Shaw: “Have you any other plays?” “Oh, any amount of them,” was the answer. On the other hand, when John Galsworthy nervously brought Vedrenne “The Silver Box,” and he asked: “Is this your first play?” the then young writer replied: "Well, I have written another one, but I have burnt it.” “MILESTONES” John Vedrenne was a leisurely spoken, thoughtful man with a knack of discovering new writers and actors. At different times he was in partnership with the late Lewis Waller and the late Dennis Eadie, and among the plays he had a hand in finding were “My Lady’s Dress,” “The Man Who Stayed at Home,” and “Milestones.” He called his house at Weybridge "Milestones.” Numbers of young actors and actresses were given encouragement and engagements by him, among others Edmund Gwenn, Gladys Cooper, Fay Compton and Edna Best. He had a fatherly, patient way with him. Miss Best said of him: “Mr. Vedrenne loved the theatre—by which I mean that he seemed more interested in the stage side than in the money side. The first things with him were the play and the people in it. He seldom interfered with the actual production, leaving that to the people he had been able to get around him. But he would often come and have quiet, j helpful, little talks about things. Personally I owed everything to liim early in my career.”