"Miss Hook" Again After 24 Years

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 4, 4 August 1933, Page 12

"Miss Hook"

Again After 24 Years

"COME on, now-make eyes at the boys as if you meant it! Throw those arms a little highermove your feet. Ah, that’s better. Keep it up-tra la la, tra la la la." And the girls swing into the chorus with vim, the conductor wields his baton with an eager hand and the producer pauses for breath. The scene is the top floor of the old Commercia! Travellers’ Building in Victoria Street, Wellington, and a rehearsal is in progress for "Miss Hook of Holland," the first amateur musical comedy to be produced: in Wellington since "Tutankhamen," about two years ago. And the producer is one of the most thorough in New Zealand-Mr. W. S. Wauchop, well known in repertory theatre and art circles in the capital city. "Tut" was not a huge success, although the acting was ‘splendid and the scenery and frocking were truly gorgeous. The committee met after the show, looked dolefully at the debit: side of the ledger and decided that the society would take a rest from its labours for a year or two. But now the public is clamouring for musical shows-Hollywood is putting music back into its talkies and producing more shows of the "Gold Digger" type . -London,and New York are flocking to musical comedies at their legitimate theatres-Sydney and Melbourne are giving warm welcomes to such tuneful efforts as ‘Waltzes from Vienna," "Music in the Air," "Hold:My Hand," and the ever-popular "Our Miss Gibbs." . The-talkies gave the Dominion’s amateurs a chance. ‘The: public tired of the shadow screen and wanted to see a real’ leg kicking its way across the footlights,: a real honest-to-goodness comedian flipping his quips. from a New Zealand stage and not from an American talkie studio. . The Dunedin. amateurs rode back to popularity and a healthy balance-sheet on the wave of returning interest, Christchurch, which had very little cash left behind the clock after "Going Up," made a great comeback with "The Country Girl," which packed St. James Theatre for more than a week. This show was followed by "Our Miss Gibbs" and "A Runaway Girl," and now the Christchurch: Operatic Society’s finances are in a flourishing state.

Auckland had a good season with "Les Cloches de Corneville" a few weeks ago, and, on August 12, Wellington is to stage its reentry into the amateur operatic world with "Miss Hook of Holland." ‘The comedy is delightfully tuneful and the scenery and frocking promises to be as gay as the tulip fields beside the Zuyder Zee. A "Radio Record" representative who dropped in on a rehearsal the other evening had his eyes opened at the really hard work that a company has to put into a show of this kind. [T was "chorus night." That is, the principals were allowed a night off, while the "ladies and gentlemen of the ensemble" were on deck-and working jolly hard! Mr. Wauchop is nothing if not thorough. Time after time he put the young people through their paces

and, by the end of the evening, 1t appeared as if the chorus work in "Miss Hook" was going to be one of the big features of the show. These young Wellingtonians started work about five weeks ago, and the progress that they have made is more than creditable. Toward 10 o’clock the main portion of the chorus came off the floor, and Miss Kathleen O’Brien’s pupils did their little bit. But "little bit" is perhaps not the right expression: the girls worked with a snap-right foot, left foot, swing and over! On and on it went until they were moving like clockwork and panting like cross-country runners. One of the girls evidently knew that it was going to be warm work-she had a backless bathing suit underneath her ballet frock and was soon clad in nothing but this garment-and thoroughly enjoying the freedom of it. The correct Dutch atmosphere is to be preserved right through the show-the only break will be the divertissment, "Liqueur Ballet," which is actually a portion of the script. The principals are no strangers to Wellington audiences-Miss Hook is to be played by Rita Kemp, who has a delightful voice and a considerable stage personality. The juvenile lead is in the hands of Tom Hislop, a popular Wellington College master, while Mr. Hook is Ray Kemp. Dorothy Newman, Gretta Stark, Ida Gustofsen, Doug. Stark, F. G. Hayestowns and L. M. Cachemaille all play important roles in the big cast. QN the first night of the season there will probably be many in the:audience who will recall that first night of 24 years ago-Miss Hook of Holland" in the old Opera House-anid the first’ really elaborate musical comedy that Wellington had seen. And what a page of history has been written in the interval between the two presentations-nations have warred and_ fallen, kings have been slain, commerce has risen to the heights and tumbled to the depths, new forms of entertainment have come and conquered. And Wellington itself -grown from a straggling, colonial town of wooden shops and twisting streets (the town that Katherine Mansfield wrote about) into a modern city with its little

skycrapers, smooth thoroughfares and efficient services -a metropolis of the Southern Seas. The first presentation of "Miss Hook" in Wellington (on June 26, 1909) was the first Dominion venture of a new theatrical concern, the Meynell-Gunn Musical Comedy Company. Both Meynell and Gunn later became directors of J. C. Williamson’s. The first night was a great affair-the city turned up in its carriages and cabs-satin evening dresses were brought out for the occasion-diamonds sparkled in the hair, at the wrist and throat-‘tails’ and white "weskits" were there in abundance. And the pit had its jokes about the celebrities, and the celebrities had their jokes about the pit-but in very refined tones, of course. The play was described by a critic of the day as a "genuine Rubens," as the music, lyrics and (in collaboration) the book are all from the industrious fancy of Paul A. Rubens, a noted playwright of the day. The critic was not wholly kind to the show; in fact, he would probably have been rather surprised could he have foreseen that "Miss Hook" would be carrying on like a famous brand of whisky a quarter century after it was first produced. "Intrinsically," said ‘the reviewer, " ‘Miss Hook of Holland’ cannot be said to be any better or any worse than Mr. Rubens’s other plays, for his music, though catchy, bright. and often melodious, never pretends to soar above simply-written, easily-learned musical comedy music. "POSSIBLY he realises that it would be folly to _ throw good stuff into plays that are ostensibly written for a particular class, and similarly it might be indiscreet to indulge in melodic subtleties with the knowledge that much of the success of such plays depends on the capacity of

the players to be entrusted with them. — So Paul Rubens writes musical comedy for the million at the rate of about one a yeat, and knows no failure. "These remarks are applied only to the musical side of his work. From another aspect he is entitled to much credit, as in ‘Miss Hook of Holland’ the consummation of his bright imagination is altogether a happy one. He has peeped into a quiet little Dutch town by a sleepy canal, and has obtained clear-cut characters and a wealth of colour. No prettier ‘settirig ‘to a musical comedy could well be conceived. There are pretty Dutch maids clattering round in clogs, and looking most sweet in their neat, square-cut ‘bodices, full skirts and starched caps ‘a la Hollandaise’; there-are smartly-uniformed Dutch bandsmen, and Dutch loafers, busy Dutch cheese merchants, merry Dutch vintners and voluble Dutch market women; and behind them all are the sutmy flats of Deutschland, with the meandering canal receding into the distance." a Here, obviously enough, is a musical comedy that cannot age. Holland, to the average New Zealander, is still a country of clogs and canals, tulips and cheeses, and, for stage purposes, we would like it to remain so for ever. 7 The story is slender, but not nearly so slender as some of the shows that have passed for musical comedies in the last decade. Mr. Hook, a successful distiller, has lost the recipe for his famous liqueur, "Cream of the Sky," which had been evolved by his brainy daughter. The loss occurred in the market-place at Arndyk, and the recipe had been found by one, Simon Slinks, whose chief occupation appeared to be the holding up of the canal wall. Slinks knows the value of the recipe, but, fearing that he would be branded as a thief if he gave it (Continued on p. 39.)

"Viiss Hook" (Continued from Page 13.) back to its owner, sells it to Captain Paap, who, by returning it to its owner. hopes to further his suit with the delightful Miss Hook. This young lady, in the manner of musical comedy heroines the world over, is in love with another-the bandmaster. and spurns the ecaptain’s advances. The story progresses along its colourful way-the old distiller throws a party at his distillery and the infatuated Paan. who is to be "among those present" orders the bandmaster to stay behind in Arndyk. But van Vuyt is a bandmaster of spirit. and he changes places with the wil; Slinks, who has been given a job by Mr. Hook. At the distillery complications come thick and fast. but everything is straightened out in the end, and we find the lucky and the luckless joining with vigour iv the final chorus. HE company which presented the | professional show was entirely. new to Wellington, and included stars who were well-known on the English — stage ut that time. Ruth Lincoln, as | Miss Hook, was a light soprano, and — her handling of "Little Miss Wooden — Shoes," "Vly Away Kite." and "Cream of the Sky’ was commended by the eritics. The juvenile lead-the part of Bandmaster van Vuyt-was played by Harold Thorley, who made: a "sprightly, attractive figure in his brilliant blue and silver uniform" His solo, "Tra-la-la." sung to the accompaniment of a brass band, is one of those twaddlesome trifles without which no musical comedy is complete. Other well-known names in the cast were Edwin Brett, Phil Carlton, Lionel Walshe, Helene Rose, and Reg. Markham, But yesterday is dead. Let us think of this new production of an old musical comedy and cheer for these Wellington amateurs who are helping to keep the flesh and blood alive in the Capital. There’s no reason in the world why the show shouldn’t be a big suc-cess-the principals are talented, the chorus ig sprightly, the scenery and costumes are the last word in brightness, and the producer knows his job.