Lowell Thomas Manipulates Spotlight On The Stage

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 30, 6 January 1939, Page 12

Lowell Thomas Manipulates Spotlight On The Stage

For some years Lowell Thomas, author, journalist, radio broadcaster and newsreel commentator, has been singularly fortunate in his. association with interesting people who, having good stories to tell, preferred, for reasons best known to themselves, fo tell them through a second person. Like too many journalists, the same Thomas has shown in the past that he was not averse to sacrificing facts rather than spoil a "good story’; his exposed embellishments of his Count von Luckner and Lawrence of Arabia narratives gave us good cause for doubting Thomas... . ,

literary entrepreneur, Lowell Thomas has struck some exceedingly interesting material and must be congratulated on retailing it in a most readable and attractive form. Paradoxically enough, in this instance he introduces a man who has spent a lifetime presenting other people to the public; and who, perhaps, finds it both novel and profitable to have. someone ‘‘present’’ him for a change. | N his latest role as a He is Percy Burton, a. celebrated English theatrical manager who, in his time, was connected with some of the greatest personalities in the history of the stage. Thomas tells the im- . presario's stories of his "intimate associations" and exper- — lences (in. England. and Ame‘tica), under the somewhat florid title, "Adventures Among Ixmortals." . All those interested in theatrical history and anecdote-and they are legion-will enjoy this book and find it a valuable source of reference. : It is, of course, slightly disconeerting when one, in reading one man’s story "as told to" another, finds oneself constantly speculating as to which is the principal "speaking" and which the "middle-man." The frequency of certain cliches, for instance, provokes my suspicious mind. And. when, at the end. of a long and- exceedingly interesting section devoted to the great Sir Henry Irving, whom Burton man-

aged and admired. devotedly, both as master and friend, for some years, and who was with him when he died, I find Burton capable of expressing his emotions in nothing better than this journalese: "But more particularly will Sir Henry Irving’s name be always enshrined in the hearts of those who were ussociated with him. To see and hear him was an education-nay, more, an inspiration! His apprectation was an inestimable reward." ... Then, I say, my guess goes to the journalist! [TT isa broad stage bright with many ‘arresting characters that Percy Burton presents, and upon. which Lewell Thomas manipulates the spotlight with style and efficiency. _As a youth, Burton started with James A. Bailey, then sole proprietor of the Greatest Show on Harth. Later, he was to manage artists like Wilson Barrett (author and star of that old favourite, "The Sign of the Cross"), Sir Henry Irving, about whom he relates a shoal of reminiscences and anecdotes, some old, some new, Sir John Hare, Sir Johnston Forbes-Robert-son, Hleanora Duse, Sarah Bernhardt, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Sir John. Martin-Harvey, and, in more recent years, the popular film and stage star, Leslie Howard-("I have been personally criticised for including him ‘Among the Immortals’; still, time will show!"’). BURTON was also closely associated with (among others) Lawrence of Arabia and George Bernard Shaw. He tells several delightful stories about Shavian wit, Shavian spleen, Shavian genius, and the proverbial Shavian postcards.

I relish the story which, while not directly involving Shaw, follows @ vogue set by him. A manager was interviewing an actor who applied for a part in a play. "You appear to be the type," said the manager. "But--have you a step-mother?" "Oh, yes," replied the actor cheerfully, "My step-mother is livirig in Streatham." "Sorry," retorted the manager, "but the actor for this part must have had a_ stepmother who was drowned at sea." I must not keep to myself, however, the yarn concerning one of innumerable weird letters Tree received during his heyday. A man wrote saying that "circumstances over which he had no control had recently rendered him subject to epileptic fits," so he would be glad. to accept a part in Tree’s next production. He added: "To prove to you that I am not lacking in dramatic instinct, I enclose a newspaper cutting, which please return." Underlined in red ink on the cutting. were the words: "The prisoner, who denied the assault, conducted his own case and defended himself in a somewhat dramatic manner."

A.R.

M.

["Adventures Among tmmortals." Percy Burton, as told to Lowell Thomas. 16 illustrations. Hutchinson, Our copy from the publishers.]