THE ZIEGFELD FOLLIES • PART FIVE

— Being the fifth set of illustrated records of the Ziegfeld Follies (1923 thru 1926).

The Follies of 1923 opened at the New Amsterdam on October 20th, and ran for 233 performances. The music (by Victor Herbert, Rudolph Friml, David Stamper and others) was characterized by Variety as "null and void," with the most memorable numbers being "Shake Your Feet," "Little Old New York," and Eddie Cantor's "Oh Gee! Oh Gosh! Oh Golly! I'm in Love."

Yes, Eddie Cantor was back! Ziegfeld, recognizing that this edition was, well, uninspired, he ended his feud with Cantor, who agreed to make an uncredited appearance during the opening weeks.

Credited headliners included popular singer and multi-faced comedienne Fanny Brice...

...husband/wife vaudeville dance team Bert & Betty Wheeler, whose career received a big boost from this appearance...

...former heavyweight boxing champion James J. Corbett who, 20 years after his retirement from the ring, was now known popularly as "Jim Corbett, that handsome leading man" on stage, and poised for a successful film career...

...pert little dancer/actress/comedienne Ann Pennington, a Follies regular and consistent audience pleaser...

...and Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, which would have looked much like this 1921 photo from the sheet music of "Wang Wang Blues," one of their early hits...

...whereas, this is how Conductor Whiteman appears in my old memories.

The Follies of 1923 had some pretty good players, but not much to play with in terms of a cohesive production. But an Irish comic by the name of Lew Hearn brightened a few sketches...

...and no doubt Ziggy was grateful for the beauty and charms of his Ziegfeld Girls.

Here's just a handful of beauties who graced this edition:

I found the following picture of Edythe Baker, a Ziegfeld Follies pianist known for pianologues that ran the gamut from classical to syncopation.

I have heard and read descriptions of the many Follies girls who played musical instruments — not just drums and tambourines, mind you, but all the band and orchestra instruments. Mr. Ziegfeld had musical numbers choreographed specifically to show off the instrumental talents of his beauties, and I assume that somewhere there exists photographic evidence, but I have yet to find it.

Now on to the 1924 edition...or I should say, the 1924-25 edition because, what started out as the Ziegfeld Follies of 1924, actually ran for two seasons, with performers and music and sketches changed along the way.

This was the first edition in 10 years with sets designed by anyone other than Joseph Urban. Scenery for this edition was credited to Ludwig Kainer, John Wenger and others. Julian Mitchell staged the show. The score was written by Victor Herbert, Raymond Hubbell, David Stamper and Harry Tierney, with lyrics by Gene Buck, Joseph M. McCarthy and others. At first, this production suffered from the "too many cooks" syndrome, and early critics rated it as substandard. But as the show ran for two seasons, it was bound to get better. And if later reviews are any indication, it improved dramatically.

Topping the bill was Mr. Follies himself, Will Rogers (who, with William Anthony McGuire, co-wrote this production)...

...as well as the versatile and very popular Ann Pennington.

This edition marked the final Follies for series veterans Rogers and Pennington. Replacing them at the end of the first season were Follies faves, comics Ray Dooley and W. C. Fields. (Doesn't he look ready to strangle her?)

Featured was...oh-oh! Trouble ahead!...Frank Tinney.

Remember Mr. Funshine, that bouncy little bundle of infidelity? Well, he and the beautiful Imogene Wilson were having an affair when Imogene learned that the little two-timer was already married, and she poisoned herself.

Naturally, the press had a field day with the news, which embarrassed Ziggy. But hey! It sold tickets.

Other featured players in this edition included acrobatic dancer/actor Lupino Lane, a young British performer renowned for his character versatility...

...actress/singer Vivienne Segal, whose only Follies appearance was in this edition. She is best remembered for her work in the 1940s, beginning with her creation of the role of Vera Simpson in Rodgers & Hart's Pal Joey, opposite Gene Kelly in the title role.

The highlight of this edition was a British act, The John Tiller Girls. Precursor to the Radio City Rockettes, Tiller Girls were known as precision dancers, famed for the synchronized routines created for them by Dance Master John Tiller, who operated dance studios in London, Paris and New York, and had several different dance troupes performing around the world at any given time.

The big voice of actress/singer Ethel Shutta (pronounced "shoo-tay"), made a very big hit in this show. Like Ms. Segal, Ms. Shutta's only Follies appearance was in this edition, but she came to prominence in other musicals and on Jack Benney's radio show. One of her Follies solos was entitled "Eddie, Be Good." Most reviewers didn't think the song was particularly good but, like everyone else, they certainly liked the way Ethel Shutta sang it.

Some of us oldsters were privileged to see her when, at the age of 74, in the original production of Sondheim's Follies, she made her Broadway comeback in the role of Hattie, belting out "Broadway Baby," a song based on her life and written especially for her by Stephen Sondheim. Here are the memorable lyrics:

I'm just a

Broadway Baby.

Walking off my tired feet.

Pounding Forty-Second Street

To be in a show.

Oh...

Broadway Baby,

Learning how to sing and dance,

Waiting for that one big chance

To be in a show.

Oh...Gee.

I'd like to be

On some marquee,

All twinkling lights,

A spark

To pierce the dark

From Battery Park

To Washington Heights.

Someday, maybe,

All my dreams will be repaid.

Heck, I'd even play the maid

To be in a show.

Hey, Mr. Producer,

I'm talking to you, sir;

I don't need a lot,

Only what I got,

Plus a tube of greasepaint

And a follow-spot!

I'm a Broadway Baby,

Slaving at the five-and-ten,

Dreaming of the great day when

I'll be in a show.

Oh...

Broadway Baby,

Making rounds all afternoon,

Eating at a greasy spoon

To save on my dough.

Oh...

At My tiny flat

There's just my cat.

A bed and a chair

Still

I'll stick it till

I'm on a bill

All over Times Square.

Someday, maybe,

If I stick it long enough,

I may get to strut my stuff

Working for a nice man

Like a Ziegfeld or a Weismann

In a great big

Broadway show!

As the 1924-25 edition ran for two seasons, it was only natural that, because of upcoming commitments to other shows, some of the Ziegfeld Girls would require replacements at the end of the first season. But after a pickup rehearsal or two, cast changes worked seamlessly — a credit to their professionalism.

Here are a few of the beautiful and talented ladies of the Follies of 1924-25:

I can't identify the girls in the photo below, but I knew you'd want to see these spectacular headdresses.

The following scene depicts a musical number entitled "I'd Like to be a Gardener in a Garden of Girls."

Near its opening, the Follies of 1926 was was so uneven that even Ziggy couldn't pull it together. Instead, he renamed it NO FOOLIN' — Ziegfeld's American Revue, and brought it into the Globe Theatre where it ran for 108 performances.

I'll be back soon with the final two editions of the famed Follies: 1927 and 1931.

But right now, with the help of a couple of my favorite old vaudeville comics, I leave you with Halloween greetings — one for the ladies...

...and one for the gents.

Stage Whispers is published by carlacushman.blogspot.com/

THE ZIEGFELD FOLLIES • PART FOUR

— Being the fourth set of illustrated records of the Follies (editions 1920 thru 1922).

The Ziegfeld Follies in the 1920s, starting here with the 14th edition, began to tarnish a little. That is to say, not all reviews were raves. But the Follies didn't lack for audiences because the song lyrics became more provocative, the costumes more revealing, and because the talent levels of headliners and showgirls always remained high.

The Follies of 1920 opened at the New Amsterdam on June 22, and ran for 123 performances. Headliners were Fanny Brice, W. C. Fields, Mary Eaton, dancers (and the show's choreographers) Jack Donahue and Ray Dooley, Bernard Granville, Charles Winninger, Van and Schenck, Moran and Mack, and Art Hickman's Orchestra. The show was staged by British director Edward Royce.

Nearly every song performed by Fanny Brice became popular. "Rockaway Baby" wasn't exactly at the top of the hit parade, but "Rose of Washington Square" and "My Man" were so popular, Fanny repeatedly sang them as encores.

And in this edition of the Follies she introduced the comedy song, "I'm A Vamp From East Broadway." She also shared a funny automobile sketch with W. C. Fields.

Mary Eaton and Doris Eaton were two of several Eaton siblings who performed in the chorus of many editions of the Follies. From time to time, they were featured in support of the headliners, as was Mary in this edition. The Eaton girls were talented dancers, who could also sing, and their commendable work ethic helped set the standard for the Ziegfeld Girls.

Charlie Winninger is a name and a face that some of us old folks remember from motion pictures. But this great singer-actor started in vaudeville, and starred in many stage musicals. He performed in this edition of the follies, and Ziegfeld regarded his talents so highly that he cast him as Cap'n Andy when he produced the original production of Show Boat. And four years later, when Ziggy produced the first revival of Show Boat, he recast Winninger in the same role.

Audience pleasers Van and Schenck were a musical team that also performed comedy routines. Gus Van's hearty baritone and Joe Schenck's high tenor (and keyboard artistry) provided close harmony in their novelty routines.

Precursors to Amos 'n' Andy, the blackface comedy team of Moran and Mack was a popular vaudeville attraction. Their humor was filled with corny gags, about evenly divided between racial and non-racial stereotypes, but they were very popular with white audiences of the 1920s.

They were also known as the Two Black Crows, which is the name under which they recorded.

The 1920 Follies featured two big chorus numbers, in one of which "Hold Me" was introduced.

And now, dear reader, here are five of the many beautiful Ziegfeld Girls who appeared in this edition:

Because Ziegfeld's smash hit musical Sally (featuring our old friends Marilyn Miller and Leon Errol) was still running at the New Amsterdam after 7 months, the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 opened June 21 at the Globe Theater (now the Lunt-Fontanne Theater) on West 46th Street, where it ran for 119 performances.

The New York Times called this 15th edition of the Follies the "Best of Them All," hailing the show's "good comedy" and stressing its "remarkable dancing." And while a reviewer in the Summer issue of Theatre Magazine went on at length to make the point that the Ziegfeld Follies are merely "plain, unadulterated vaudeville" with a higher price tag, he also mentioned the show's many excellent dancers and the wide variety of dance genres featured. Both reviewers sang the praises of Mitti and Tillio, dancers imported from the Follies Bergeres, Paris.

Headlining this edition were Fanny Brice, W. C. Fields, Raymond Hitchcock, and Van and Schenck. There were also about 2 dozen principal performers, among whom were many dancers who could also sing, and a few singers who could also dance. Mr. Ziegfeld always took advantage of those opportunities, just as he had turned dramatic actors into comics, and vice versa. He never acknowledged the limitations that some performers placed on themselves. A case in point was Fanny Brice's rendition of "My Man" at the opening of Act 2.

During rehearsal, dressed in evening attire, Fanny was belting out the song when Ziggy leapt onto the stage, shredded her gown and smeared dirt on her face. Brice, shaken to the core, broken-heartedly sang the song, and Ziegfeld ordered her to never sing it any other way. Hardly breathing, the audience would sit quietly through that number every night. At the end of the song there was a beat of silence before thunderous applause.

Par for the course for Fanny who, back in the first act, had introduced "Second Hand Rose," also to thunderous applause.

An audience favorite was the very funny Ray Dooley, an eccentric dancer and comedienne who kept her audiences in stitches. Several excellent hoofers (all Dooleys) worked with the Follies from time to time, but Ray was given more featured spots than her siblings, and even choreographed occasionally. She and her pal, Fanny Brice, performed an hilarious fistfight in the finale of Act 1. Dooley played The Manassas Mauler, Jack Dempsey, and Brice played the popular French fighter, Georges Carpentier.

First-time Follies headliner Raymond Hitchcock had been a multi-talented writer-producer-director-performer on Broadway for more than 20 years. He offered the Follies audience some new material written for the show, as well as some of his old reliable routines that somehow always seemed new. His delivery was casual, but his wit was quick and sharp, and he was a great ad-libber. Theater Magazine reviewed him well, calling him the show's "chief fun maker."

Earlier in his career, Hitchcock earned audience and critical acclaim for his performance of Elijah Booze in the comedy Yankee Consul. He had reprised the role several times since then, and was loved for it. Tribute was paid to him and the play when this cigar box label showed up on boxes in the windows of tobacconists everywhere.

Back in the New Amsterdam Theatre, the Follies of 1922 opened June 5 and played 541 performances — the longest running Follies Ziegfeld ever produced, and the first to proclaim the motto "Glorifying the American Girl." Headliners were comedy team Gallagher & Shean, singer-dancer-actor Jack Whiting, the homespun humorist and rope twirler Will Rogers, and the zany Hellzapoppin' comics Olsen & Johnson, along with electrifying dancer Mary Eaton, and queen of the Shimmy Dance, Gilda Gray.

"Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean" was the hit song of this edition, just as the gentlemen themselves, Ed Gallagher and his uncle, Al Shean were the hit of the show. Over the years, their act was so often mimicked that even now, nearly a decade into the 21st century, some of the lyrics and their simple melody are easy to recall. The song has many verses, some official, some not, all funny. Musicals101.com has transcribed the lyrics from a 1922 recording. You can read them here:

http://www.musicals101.com/lygallagher.htm

Jack Whiting, a 21-year-old singer, dancer and actor, made his Broadway debut in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1922, and his career took off, spanning more than three decades playing leads and major supporting roles in two dozen musicals on stage and screen.

And here's the beautiful Anastasia Reilly, who performed in this and other editions of the Follies before transitioning to musical theatre book shows.

She would eventually marry a wealthy nephew of Florenz Ziegfeld, and enter upon a successful career as a newspaper publisher before her death from cancer at the age of 58.

Dancer Evelyn Law stopped the show when she crossed the stage on one leg, while she wagged a disapproving finger at her other leg, which was raised straight up above her head.

Zany comics Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson, famous for free-wheeling, anything-goes comedy, blasted the Follies audience with what was called "orchestrated mayhem." No joke was too old, no song too corny for this engaging vaudeville team. They were also a regular attraction on radio and in early "talkies."

Humorist Will Rogers could be counted on to produce laughs as he spoofed the news, twirled his lariat, and even lassoed a pretty girl or two. He relied on the changing news stories to keep his act fresh. What a wise man.

A principal performer in this edition of the Follies was Gilda Gray, whose dance, the Shimmy, was scandalizing New York audiences. Follies audiences weren't scandalized. They liked what they saw.

Gilda displayed her versatility in several different dance numbers.

Now here's a tidbit of information that might interest you: In the chorus of the Follies of 1922 was a 16-year-old girl named Ruby Stevens — not really chorus material, but she badly needed a job, so she took it. Ruby would later change her name to Barbara Stanwyck and become a star in motion pictures.

We've come to the end of Part 4, with just one more installment to complete the series. Most likely, I'll publish that in a week — maybe 10 days. So until then, enjoy the lovely autumn weather.

Stage Whispers is published by carlacushman.blogspot.com/

THE ZIEGFELD FOLLIES • PART THREE

— Being the third set of illustrated records of the Follies (editions 1917 - 1919).

Part 3 begins with the Ziegfeld Follies of 1917, which opened June 12 at 42nd Street's New Amsterdam Theatre, where it played 111 performances. Scores by Irving Berlin and Victor Herbert were added to the music mix, and the show was staged by Ned Wayburn. Headliners were Bert Williams, Fanny Brice, Eddie Cantor, Dolores, Will Rogers and the youngest members of the Ziegfeld girls, The Fairbanks Twins.

The twins, Madeline and Marion Fairbanks, had been child actresses in films, but outgrew those roles, and were being groomed for more glamorous scenarios. Each was a triple threat, quite able to sing, dance and act when called upon. They would remain with the Follies for several years before accepting leading roles in several Broadway musicals.

Eddie Cantor (in blackface) was a smash hit in his Follies debut, and he had to encore "That's the Kind of Baby for Me" at almost every performance.

Will Rogers, who performed in the coveted next-to-closing spot, did exactly what the program notes warned he might do: talk about anything or anybody.

In addition to some ballet music, Victor Herbert's major contribution to this edition of the Follies was a stirring wartime song sung by the newest Ziegfeld Girl, Peggy Hopkins Joyce, described by New York Times journalist Constance Rosenblum, as "wearing beaded chiffon and a gleaming helmet topped with a plume, performing Victor Herbert's red, white and blue sparkler called 'Can't You Hear Your Country Calling?'"

It was generally agreed that Miss Joyce's talents were not in the performing arts, but as a Jazz Age gold digger, she had no equal. (I recommend Ms. Rosenblum's book, Gold Digger. It's an eye-opening read.)

Other patriotic tableaux were staged around the stunningly underdressed chorus girls, paying tribute to an array of American patriots from Paul Revere to Woodrow Wilson.

That famous one-name beauty, Dolores, neither sang nor danced; she would merely glide across the stage with elegance and regal bearing. She appeared throughout this edition as The Empress of Fashion, wearing a succession of stunning costumes. The most striking of all was the butterfly gown.

Despite this show's critical acclaim, audience numbers fell off a bit toward the end of the run because of the deadly flu epidemic. It continued to affect audience turnout for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1918, but thankfully, less so.

The 1918 edition opened at the New Amsterdam on June 18, and ran for 151 performances. It featured some returning stars — Eddie Cantor, W. C. Fields, Will Rogers, Ann Pennington, Lillian Lorraine, The Fairbanks Twins — and added 20-year-old dynamo Marilyn Miller, popular vaudeville comedy team Savoy and Brennan, actor-dancer Frank Carter, and comedy jazz dancer Joe Frisco.

Oops! I almost forgot to mention the new, the handsome, the then-unknown rehearsal pianist for the Follies of 1918:

Imagine the stories cast members would tell their children and grandchildren about working with the great George Gershwin when he was just starting out in the music biz.

Young Marilyn Miller literally sang, danced and joked her way to becoming a bright star in Ziegfeld's constellation of beauties. (Note: It was here that she met her first husband and the love of her life, Frank Carter. A year after they were married, Frank died in an automobile accident. Eventually, she married twice more, but her heart wasn't truly invested in either relationship. She died following surgery, at the age of 37, and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, next to Frank Carter, in a mausoleum she had constructed to house his remains.)

Hilarious (and adorable!) Joe Frisco was famous for his jazz dance, and for being a witty and stuttering stand-up comedian. Performing to the tune of "Dark Town Strutters' Ball," wearing his trademark derby and puffing on a king-size cigar, he shuffled his feet, rolled his hips and contorted his body to create the eccentric dance that Variety called the "Jewish Charleston." He was backed up by a chorus of beauties in leotards, short jackets and derbies, all puffing on big prop cigars.

She's ba-a-ck! Remember Lillian Lorraine, the jealous and disruptive performer who kept getting fired after missing rehearsals and picking fights with her cast mates? As you may recall, she was discharged during the Follies of 1912. Well, six years later, she was back in the fold — no caustic barbs, no fights, no visible jealousy.

Having honed her talents and done fair box office for a few shows since her 1912 fiasco, it was generally assumed that the 1918 Follies would be her break-out vehicle. Alas, no matter how good Lillian Lorraine was, Marilyn Miller was better, completely overshadowing Lorraine's final appearance in the series. That is not to say she was washed up, merely that her Follies time had expired. She did a couple of book musicals, then made a couple of films, but tragically in 1921, she fell and hurt her spine, quickly ending her career.

Follies funny men W. C. Fields and Will Rogers did what they did best: kept their audiences laughing. Fields introduced a new routine involving a misshapen golf club; and Rogers kidded the headlines and lassoed a dancing Ann Pennington. Then out of the wings came two popular vaudevillians: Bert Savoy, an earthy, aging drag queen, and Jay Brennan, an understated, cool, quiet spoken gent. When they first teamed up, their act was built around songs and dances held together by jokes and snappy patter. It wasn't long before their audiences let them know that they should get rid of the music and stick with the humor. They did, and their career as the comedy team of Savoy and Brennan took off. Brennan wrote all their routines.

Savoy, known as Maude on stage (and familiarly back stage and to his friends), always wore voluminous, hard-to-handle gowns, and wide hats perched at precipitous angles. Throughout their routine, Maude would gab non-stop to the quiet, dignified Brennan. Savoy never stopped moving; he was known for his exaggerated hip-swaying saunter, as well as his sexual innuendo and big contagious laugh.

The Ziegfeld Follies of 1919, which opened at the New Amsterdam on June 23, and ran 171 performances, featured Marilyn Miller, Eddie Cantor, Bert Williams, Eddie Dowling, John Steel, The Dooleys (brother and sister Johnny & Ray), Gus Van, Joe Schenck, and The Fairbanks Twins.

This 13th edition deserves to be introduced with some fanfare, maybe an overture of show tunes. As I'm unable to provide that, let me stage it another way:

Among the hit melodies Irving Berlin wrote for the 1919 edition, one instantly became the signature song of the Ziegfeld Follies — sung as accompaniment to the parade of Ziegfeld Girls in their intricate costumes and headdresses, as they gracefully glide across the stage and maneuver stairways — during every performance of every edition through the end of the series.

The handsome tenor who sang that song was John Steel.

Now click on this link:

http://www.last.fm/music/John+Steel/_/A+Pretty+Girl+Is+Like+A+Melody

Then close your eyes and pretend you're in the audience, to hear John Steel sing "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody."

Another Irving Berlin hit, "Tulip Time" was also introduced this night by John Steel.

This edition of the Follies was, without question, the most expensive, most lavish production thus far, and it showed in every facet of staging — performances, costumes, sets, the top-quality musical score, and the many hit songs by Irving Berlin, including "You'd Be Surprised," a comic song about a seemingly shy man who is really a sexual dynamo in private. Sung by Eddie Cantor, it stopped the show.

The mild innuendo of the lyrics titillated 1919 audiences, but when sung by Eddie Cantor, who knew just when to punch a word or roll his eyes, it brought down the house. Here are the lyrics to YOU'D BE SURPRISED:

Johnny was bashful and shy.

Nobody understood why

Mary loved him.

All the other girls passed him by.

Every one wanted to know

How she could pick such a beau.

With a twinkle in her eye

She made this reply:

He's not so good in a crowd but when you get him alone

You'd be surprised,

He isn't much at a dance

But then when he takes you home

You'd be surprised.

He doesn't look like much of a lover,

but don't judge a book by it's cover.

He's got the face of an Angel but

There's a Devil in his eyes.

He's such a delicate thing but when he starts in to squeeze,

You'd be surprised.

He doesn't look very strong but when you sit on his knee,

You'd be surprised.

At a party or at a hall

I've got to admit he's nothing at all,

but in a morris chair,

You'd be surprised.

Mary continued to praise Johnny's remarkable ways,

To the ladies,

And you know advertising pays.

Now Johnny's never alone,

He has the busiest phone.

Almost every other day.

A new girl will say:

He's not so good in the house but on a bench in the park

You'd be surprised.

He isn't much in the light but when he gets in the dark

You'd be surprised.

I know he looks as slow as the Erie,

But you don't know the half of it dearie.

He looks as cold as an Eskimo,

But there's fire in his eyes.

He doesn't say very much but when he starts in to speak

You'd be surprised.

He's not so good at the start but at the end of a week

You'd be surprised.

On a streetcar or in a train

You'd think he was born without any brain,

but in a taxicab,

You'd be surprised.

The Volstead Act would soon take effect, and entertainer Bert Williams protested Prohibition via another Berlin comedy song entitled "You Cannot Make Your Shimmy Shake on Tea." The first act ended with a minstrel show in which Cantor was Tambo, Bert Williams was Bones, and Marilyn Miller was interlocutor George Primrose. Later in the show, she danced to Berlin's minstrel-style hit, "Mandy." There were a number of skits spoofing Prohibition, including one that depicted the Saloon of the Future with girls parading as Coca-Cola, Sarsparilla, Grape Juice, Lemonade, Bevo*, and Lady Alcohol.

*Bevo: A non-alcoholic malt beverage, or near beer, brewed in the U. S. by Annheuser-Busch. It enjoyed its greatest success during Prohibition, when beer was illegal.

Before signing off this post, I'd like to point out that the Follies of 1919 was hailed by reviewers as the outstanding Ziegfeld production thus far. The New York Herald blessed it with a 10-word headline: Thirteenth Ziegfeld Follies Eclipses Predecessors in Beauty, Color and Action. But the Evening Sun said it better and quicker in only three words: Ziegfeld Outziegfelds Ziegfeld.

Unfortunately, the run was interrupted in August by the Actor's Equity strike which caused a rift between Ziegfeld and several performers. Cantor stayed away for several years. Bert Williams also left, and was never to appear in a Follies again. Most likely he would have been tempted back at some point, but he died in 1922 at the age of 48, following a long history of cardiac problems. A light went out on 42nd Street.

The next post will begin with the Ziegfeld Follies of 1920. The Roaring '20s will feature many familiar faces, but a whole lot of new ones as well. Be sure to bookmark STAGE WHISPERS, and check back to see what's new. Better yet, sign up for our e-mail posts.

Stage Whispers is published by carlacushman.blogspot.com/

THE ZIEGFELD FOLLIES • PART TWO

— Being the second set of illustrated records of the Follies (editions 1912 - 1916).

Our first installment ended with the 1911 edition, which offered exquisite performances by...

and...

while temperamental...

foolishly picked a backstage fight with...

...who put an end to the conflict once and for all by dragging her opponent by the hair, across the stage, in front of a roaring audience. (Oh how I regret being unable to draw!)

Lorraine was fired soon after — yet, believe it or not, she would reappear for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1912, along with Bert Williams, Leon Errol and Harry Watson, and two newcomers: Singer/actress Elizabeth Brice (no relation to Fanny), and Rae Samuels, a peppy performer known as The Blue Streak of Ragtime, who packed a mixture of dialect songs, novelty numbers and comical anecdotes into a fast-paced act that kept her audience in stitches.

The Ziegfeld Follies of 1912 opened on October 21 — the first autumn Follies, and the first that did not play on the rooftop, but in the downstairs Music Hall. Critics and audiences agreed that the 1912 edition was the best one yet! The volatile Lillian Lorraine scored with a new song, "Daddy Has A Sweetheart," but once again, she was fired for missing rehearsals, and would not return to the Follies until 1918.

The finale of this best-ever Follies was a feast for the eyes entitled Society Circus Parade — a vision in pink, white and silver — ponies and show girls doing the now familiar Ziegfeld walk. (The photo above may be from a film version, but is probably not too far off the mark.)

For about 20 years, this is what the New Amsterdam Theatre's program cover looked like:

The New Amsterdam was Broadway's most elegant venue, and it was home to the Ziegfeld Follies from 1913 through 1927.

The Ziegfeld Follies of 1913 opened at the New Amsterdam on June 16, where it played 96 performances before going on tour. Headliners were comic actors Leon Errol and Frank Tinney; English actress and singer José Collins; and diminutive dancer Ann Pennington, whose high kicks and dimpled knees were the talk of the town.

Tinney, frequently billed as The Funbeam, was a small, baby-faced comedian, and a favorite in vaudeville with an act that consisted of deliberately corny jokes, asides to the audience, and joking with the conductor in the pit.

Ms. Collins' given name was Josephine, but she was best known as José (pronounced Josay), and went on to a career in musical comedy and motion pictures.

A highlight of the 1913 edition was Leon Errol dancing a "Turkish Trot" with his pants falling down in the midst of a massive dance ensemble staged by director Julian Mitchell. (That sound you hear is the audience that can't stop laughing!)

This brings us to the Ziegfeld Follies of 1914. It opened June 1 at the New Amsterdam where it ran for 112 performances, and the stage was packed with 78 Ziegfeld Girls.

During rehearsals, Ziegfeld and director Julian Mitchell had a major disagreement. Mitchell walked out and Leon Errol took over. Headliners, in addition to Errol, were:

...Vaudeville comic Ed Wynn, who scored well in his Follies debut as Joe King the Joke King...(and I'm not joking!)...

... Bert Williams, whose pantomime of a poker game called Darktown Poker Club became one of his signature routines...

...Annette Kellerman, a zaftig swimming champion and dancer who often wore daring form-fitting costumes...

...the beautiful Vera Maxwell and funny man Leon Errol performed The Seasick Dip, a comic ballroom dance that brought down the house...

...and the diminutive dancer, Ann Pennington, perfomed a spectacular shimmy, as well as her own version of the Black Bottom.

The following June 21st, the Ziegfeld Follies of 1915 opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre, and marked the beginning of a long association between the Follies and stage designer Joseph Urban.

It has been said that Urban designed and built not just "sets," but alternative worlds where resident performers lived for a few hours every night for months at a time. He did that for the opera stages of Boston and New York, and for nine consecutive visually stunning editions of the Ziegfeld Follies.

In 1915, headliners still included Leon Errol, who staged some of the show, (assisted by a returning Julian Mitchell), plus Bert Williams, Ed Wynn, and Ann Pennington.

Follies newcomers included that cantankerous misanthrope, W. C. Fields...

...dancer George White who hoofed his way into a featured spot and popularized a new dance called the "Turkey Trot" (but when he demanded a raise, Ziegfeld fired him, and the dancer vowed to beat Ziggy at his own game. And so he did: The George White Scandals eventually became The Follies' fiercest competitor)...

...superb actress and comedienne Ina Claire, who became a popular star on Broadway and in motion pictures...

...a beautiful but unhappy 21-year-old actress who would commit suicide at the age of 26, Olive Thomas...

...a talented performer and brainy lady who would eventually graduate from Columbia University and later be honored for her work in endocrinology and cancer research, Justine Johnstone...

...and the girl with the bee-stung lips, dancer-actress Mae Murray, who became a popular movie actress, then a sought-after film producer and screenwriter.

Although the Ziegfeld Follies of 1916 had a cast of 118, historians say that this 10th edition "belonged to the comics." And what else would you expect from a show with the likes of Bert Williams, Fanny Brice, W. C. Fields, Will Rogers, Ina Claire, Ann Pennington and Marion Davies?

Will Rogers' lariat and his witty commentary on Washington politicians, as well as notables at home and elsewhere was a sure-fire audience pleaser.

Fanny Brice did a send-up of a vamping Theda Bara; spoofed Swan Lake Ballet as a flatfooted dying swan in a tutu; then sang a tribute to ballet legend Vaslav Nijinski.

W. C. Fields did impersonations of political figures (a side of him not often seen); Bert Williams morphed Shakespeare's Othello into a comedy; and other skits had Henry VIII singing about his wives and Julius Caesar and his "Toga Girls" singing ragtime.

And the newest Ziegfeld Girl, Marion Davies, began her long romance with newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst when he bought out the same orchestra seat for every night of the eight-week run.

That's all for now, but I'll pick it up again in my next post, starting with the 1917 edition in which we meet some Follies newcomers, including the lovable Eddie Cantor, the one-name beauty, Dolores, and the 17-year-old Fairbanks Twins.