A Southern Maid
Encyclopedia
A Southern Maid is an operetta
in three acts composed by Harold Fraser-Simson
, with a book by Dion Clayton Calthrop and Harry Graham and lyrics by Harry Graham
and Harry Miller. Additional music was provided by Ivor Novello
and George H. Clutsam, with additional lyrics by Adrian Ross
and Douglas Furber
. It starred José Collins
and Bertram Wallis
.
The show originally opened at the Prince's Theatre
in Manchester on 24 December 1917. It also had three short engagements in Edinburgh between 1918 and 1920. The planned West End opening was delayed by the continuing success of The Maid of the Mountains
, but A Southern Maid eventually reopened on 15 May 1920, when The Maid of the Mountains finally closed and Daly's Theatre
became available. The piece was produced under the management of Robert Evett
and ran for 306 performances, a good run for the period, although dwarfed by that of its predecessor.
The J. C. Williamson
company toured the operetta in Australia in 1923 (starring Gladys Moncrieff
) and 1936.
A 1933 film
was made based on the operetta, starring Amy Veness
, Lupino Lane
, and Bebe Daniels
.
. Todo, the proprietor of a café, and Mr. Walter Wex, who is the manager of a plantation owned by Sir Willoughby Rawdon are conversing. The truculent Francesco del Fuego enters. He boasts of his successful robberies and talks of his plans to marry the captivating Dolores. Had it not been for the arrival of Sir Willoughby Rawdon, Franceso's amatory aspirations might have been fulfilled, but Sir Willoughby and Dolores have met, and fallen in love.
Rawdon is unpopular with the inhabitants of Santiago, not for anything he has done but because of the unscrupulous way in which his father acquired the plantation, depriving local people of their orange groves. Trading on this, Francesco raises the cry of the vendetta, and cards are drawn to decide who is to be the instrument of vengeance. Francesco stacks the deck, to ensure that the fatal card is drawn by Dolores. She makes a passionate appeal to Willoughby to ensure safety by leaving the island. He, however, is too much in love with her to relinquish her or yield to his formidable rival.
Francesco, however, is pushed off a cliff into the sea, and escapes from drowning by the timely arrival of a boat's crew from Willoughby's yacht. This cools his ardour, and he calls the vendetta off, leaving Willoughby and Dolores free to marry in safety.
found echoes of an earlier show in A Southern Maid, the show with which it compared the newcomer was not The Maid of the Mountains, but Chu Chin Chow
: "True, the scene of A Southern Maid is laid in Santiago and not in Baghdad, but there was something very familiar about the market place with its picturesque splashes of colour, with the people taking their siesta … even the white mule was there." The paper found the music "strangely familiar", and was disappointed at the tameness of the dénouement, but was full of praise for the staging and performances. In The Manchester Guardian, Neville Cardus
praised the music as "both popular in its lilt and musicianly in its orchestral detail", and found one passage "good enough to remind us of Elgar
." The Daily Mirror
was enthusiastic: "…yet another wonderful success, sumptuous in colour and rich in musical rhythms … palpitates with fire and life."
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
in three acts composed by Harold Fraser-Simson
Harold Fraser-Simson
Harold Fraser-Simson , was an English composer of light music, including songs and the scores to musical comedies. His most famous musical was the World War I hit, The Maid of the Mountains, and he later set numerous children's poems to music, especially those of A. A...
, with a book by Dion Clayton Calthrop and Harry Graham and lyrics by Harry Graham
Harry Graham (poet)
Jocelyn Henry Clive 'Harry' Graham was an English writer. He was a successful journalist and later, after distinguished military service, a leading lyricist for operettas and musical comedies, but he is now best remembered as a writer of humorous verse in the tradition of grotesquerie and black...
and Harry Miller. Additional music was provided by Ivor Novello
Ivor Novello
David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...
and George H. Clutsam, with additional lyrics by Adrian Ross
Adrian Ross
For the NFL player see Adrian Ross Arthur Reed Ropes , better known under the pseudonym Adrian Ross, was a prolific writer of lyrics, contributing songs to more than sixty British musical comedies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
and Douglas Furber
Douglas Furber
Douglas Furber was a British lyricist and playwright.Furber is best known for the lyrics to the 1937 song The Lambeth Walk and the libretto to the musical Me and My Girl, composed by Noel Gay, from which it came. This show made broadcasting history when in 1939 it became the first full length...
. It starred José Collins
Jose Collins
Jose Collins was an English actress and singer celebrated for her performances in musical comedies and early motion pictures.-Life and career:...
and Bertram Wallis
Bertram Wallis
Bertram Wallis was an English actor and singer known for his performances in plays, musical comedies and operettas in the early 20th century, first as leading men and then in character roles. He also later appeared in several film roles.-Early years:Wallis was born in London...
.
The show originally opened at the Prince's Theatre
Prince's Theatre, Manchester
The Prince's Theatre in Oxford Street, Manchester, England, was built at a cost of £20,000 in 1864. Under the artistic and managerial leadership of Charles Calvert, "Manchester's most celebrated actor-manager", it soon became a great popular success...
in Manchester on 24 December 1917. It also had three short engagements in Edinburgh between 1918 and 1920. The planned West End opening was delayed by the continuing success of The Maid of the Mountains
The Maid of the Mountains
The Maid of the Mountains, called in its original score a musical play, is an operetta or musical comedy in three acts. The music was by Harold Fraser-Simson, with additional music by James W...
, but A Southern Maid eventually reopened on 15 May 1920, when The Maid of the Mountains finally closed and Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937.-Early years:...
became available. The piece was produced under the management of Robert Evett
Robert Evett
Robert Evett was an English singer, actor, theatre manager and producer.-Acting career:In 1892 Evett joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company on tour in The Vicar of Bray, playing the Reverend Henry Sandford, the tenor lead. In 1893, Evett added the role of Oswald in Haddon Hall...
and ran for 306 performances, a good run for the period, although dwarfed by that of its predecessor.
The J. C. Williamson
J. C. Williamson
James Cassius Williamson was an American actor and later Australia's foremost theatrical manager, founding J. C. Williamson Ltd....
company toured the operetta in Australia in 1923 (starring Gladys Moncrieff
Gladys Moncrieff
Gladys Moncrieff OBE was an Australian singer who was so successful in musical theatre and recordings that she became known as 'Australia's Queen of Song' and 'Our Glad'.-Early years:...
) and 1936.
A 1933 film
A Southern Maid (film)
A Southern Maid is a 1933 British musical film directed by Harry Hughes and starring Bebe Daniels, Clifford Mollison and Hal Gordon. It is based on the operetta A Southern Maid by Harold Fraser-Simson...
was made based on the operetta, starring Amy Veness
Amy Veness
Amy Veness was a British film actress. She played the role of Grandma Huggett in The Huggetts Trilogy.-Selected filmography:* Please Help Emily * Let Me Explain, Dear * A Southern Maid...
, Lupino Lane
Lupino Lane
Lupino Lane was an English actor and theatre manager, and a member of the famous Lupino family. Lane started out as a child performer, known as 'Little Nipper', and went on to appear in a wide range of theatrical, music hall and film performances...
, and Bebe Daniels
Bebe Daniels
Bebe Daniels was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer and producer. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent movie era as a child actress, became a star in musicals like 42nd Street, and later gained further fame on radio and television in Britain...
.
Cast
- Walter Wex – Mark Lester
- Sir Willoughby Rawdon – Claude Flemming
- Todo – Lionel Victor
- Lord Toshington – William Spray
- Francesco del Fuego – Bertram Wallis
- Juanita – Dorothy Monkman
- Chiquita – Gwendoline Brooden
- Dolores – José Collins
Synopsis
The action is set in SantiagoSantiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
. Todo, the proprietor of a café, and Mr. Walter Wex, who is the manager of a plantation owned by Sir Willoughby Rawdon are conversing. The truculent Francesco del Fuego enters. He boasts of his successful robberies and talks of his plans to marry the captivating Dolores. Had it not been for the arrival of Sir Willoughby Rawdon, Franceso's amatory aspirations might have been fulfilled, but Sir Willoughby and Dolores have met, and fallen in love.
Rawdon is unpopular with the inhabitants of Santiago, not for anything he has done but because of the unscrupulous way in which his father acquired the plantation, depriving local people of their orange groves. Trading on this, Francesco raises the cry of the vendetta, and cards are drawn to decide who is to be the instrument of vengeance. Francesco stacks the deck, to ensure that the fatal card is drawn by Dolores. She makes a passionate appeal to Willoughby to ensure safety by leaving the island. He, however, is too much in love with her to relinquish her or yield to his formidable rival.
Francesco, however, is pushed off a cliff into the sea, and escapes from drowning by the timely arrival of a boat's crew from Willoughby's yacht. This cools his ardour, and he calls the vendetta off, leaving Willoughby and Dolores free to marry in safety.
Critical reception
Although The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
found echoes of an earlier show in A Southern Maid, the show with which it compared the newcomer was not The Maid of the Mountains, but Chu Chin Chow
Chu Chin Chow
Chu Chin Chow is a musical comedy written, produced and directed by Oscar Asche, with music by Frederic Norton, based on the story of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves...
: "True, the scene of A Southern Maid is laid in Santiago and not in Baghdad, but there was something very familiar about the market place with its picturesque splashes of colour, with the people taking their siesta … even the white mule was there." The paper found the music "strangely familiar", and was disappointed at the tameness of the dénouement, but was full of praise for the staging and performances. In The Manchester Guardian, Neville Cardus
Neville Cardus
Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus CBE was an English writer and critic, best known for his writing on music and cricket. For many years, he wrote for The Manchester Guardian. He was untrained in music, and his style of criticism was subjective, romantic and personal, in contrast with his critical...
praised the music as "both popular in its lilt and musicianly in its orchestral detail", and found one passage "good enough to remind us of Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
." The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror is a British national daily tabloid newspaper which was founded in 1903. Twice in its history, from 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was changed to read simply The Mirror, which is how the paper is often referred to in popular parlance. It had an...
was enthusiastic: "…yet another wonderful success, sumptuous in colour and rich in musical rhythms … palpitates with fire and life."
External links