Musical Productions 1933 - 1938.
MUSICAL PRODUCTIONS (1933-1938)
1933 saw the beginning of what might be called the Bevan-Leacy period.
In fact they produced only two Gilbert and Sullivan operas altogether,
but what an impact they had. J. G. Leacy, Second Physics master and
also Music Master was undoubtedly an accomplished musician and fine
conductor. Typically in a recent letter he describes his partner F.
W. Bevan as"the mainspring, power-house, prime-mover of all
these affairs. Producer, actor/singer, stage designer - both scenic
and electric, printer - and he would have done the musical job that
I did if he had had two bodies instead of that one mighty atom".
Leacy is referring of course to"The Pirates of Penzance" produced
in 1933 and"The Mikado" in 1934.
Whilst there is a good deal in what he says, never the less I think he grossly
underrates his own musical contribution, as I hope to make clear later. Some
of my readers may be puzzled by the word ‘printer' but at that
time we had our own printing chapel and as I write I have before me the two
programmes produced by Bevan and his assistants and a first class job they
made of them.
From the first of these I see that Mr. Ivon Adams (who left us for Oxford in
1931) appeared as Major-General Stanley, A. D. Davis as the Pirate-King, Douglas
Mayo as his lieutenant, D. Harrison as Frederic, the pirate apprentice was
largely composed of boys and girls. The show was given twice in the Town Hall
and once at the Bream Miners' Welfare Hall. Unfortunately - as if difficult- ‘Frederic' fell
ill and Captain Rimmer - Clarke ( a Chepstow Chemist and experienced amateur)
had to be called in on the morning of the performance. Bevan recalls that Rimmer-Clarke
sand an early duet with Gwynneth Jones as Mabel and this ended beautifully.
Then those off-stage heard him whisper hoarsely"Do I kiss you now?" Gwynneth,
ever imperturbable, whispered back"No, you go out now" pointing
to an apparently non-existent gap in the curtain. As he fumbled to find this
those off-stage meanwhile suppressed their desire to laugh. In spite of such
troubles it was an extraordinarily fine show and frankly you might have though
Rimmer-Clarke had been rehearsing with them for weeks.
If anything"The Mikado" was an even greater success. For this,
Frank Imm (himself an Old Boy) erected a steel scaffolding which ran right
across the top of the stage. From here the writer was supposed to control the
massive lighting from two enormous control boards with detailed instructions.
The fuses blew at the dress rehearsal, given before the school, so the West
Gloucestershire Power Co. (as the M.E.B. was then called) ran a special power-line
to us and an engineer sat by the fuse-box throughout each show, constantly
checking in case the fuses got too hot. Everything went perfectly until the
Headmaster received the Electricity Bill, which I believe exceeded £40
(approx. figure today around £200). Then he blew a fuse! However he was
presently restored to normal working condition, and in subsequent negotiations
the West Glos. P. Co. proved very reasonable. J. G. Leacy stayed on with us
until he moved to Devizes about 1937-8: F. W. Bevan remained until shortly
after the war (except, of course, for War
service). However these two productions proved so expensive that they had
to run whist drives, etc. to cover the deficit and this in spite of full
and appreciative audiences which packed both Halls each night.
Only Bevan himself and Mr. Ivon Adams amongst the leading actors were not
pupils.
Ivon's brother Wyndham (who later, helped by Leacy, was engaged by a famous
dance band), Chs. Davis and Norman W. Powell took the other male leads, whilst
Gwynneth Jones, Pearl Reeks, Frances James (later Mrs. F. W. Bevan) and Barbara
Yeatman were the leading ladies. The chorus was a mixture of pupils mainly and
some Old Boys, amongst whom I note Frank Imm, Leslie Bailey and Stanley Rees.
Apart from Mrs. Harrison, the chorus girls were all at school. The total cast
was 62 and helpers brought the number up to 84. Bevan recalls that very near
the Dress Rehearsal he almost lost his voice and so had to produce and direct
everything by silent signals.
Bevan with Ivon Adams and Gwynneth Jones gave remarkably good performances, eclipsed
only by the magnificence of Barbara Yeatman's ‘Katisha'. The
whole performance far exceeded anything the greatest optimists had hoped for
and it seemed quite incredible a school could have reached such a standard.
As Mr. Powell Davies found out later, it was however impossible to produce a
first-class operetta without considerable expense and nothing less than a full
week of packed houses could support the kind of show that L.G.S. put on stage.
The transport for the orchestra proved costly, especially during Mr. Powell Davies' period.
How valuable Tuck Shop profits proved for they made it possible to do something
really worth while. Even the straight plays, which also played to large audiences,
but depended on collections, found it hard to make ends meet. Leacy writes that"to
help make good the losses they hired out scenery and costumes" and they
also helped to fill them!.
Leacy played the title role at Newnham, whilst Bevan did an hilarious Ko-Ko,
blind as a bat without his un-Japanese-like spectacles. They also played the ‘Sergeant' and ‘Frederic' respectively
in that town's"Pirates of Penzance". Leacy reminds me too
that Chas. Davis gave a"top-notch serio-comic performance, by any standards,
in the school performance of the Sergeant". He goes on to describe Barbara
Yeatman as being as"loving a handler of the spoken and written word as
ever I have met outside the academic world". He adds"She was tall,
upstanding and handsome as a schoolgirl who could sing well and act very well
indeed. Poor Lass! She always got lumped with the elderly, ugly parts - Buttercup
in"The Pirates" and Katisha in"The Mikado". Ivon Adams
was a wholly charming young man; polished to a degree. He would nip through that
patter-song with perfect articulation at a speed that made one think he had a
ticking up taxi waiting. He also speaks of Gwynneth Jones as having a remarkable
soprano voice and casually adds that he used to take her up to Percy Underwood
in Gloucester to get some professional polish on the job. There were also trips
to London (The Savoy Theatre of course) and Liverpool so that the principals
could see the D'Oyly Carte production. Among the back-room boys and girls
he refers most warmly to Miss Jessie Hall (an Old Girl, but then Games Mistress)
for her work on the costumes and also to that"charming little fellow Purdey
(then Head of the Art School) who after years of quiet allowed himself to be
thrown into the deep end of the hurly-burly of theatrical performance and thoroughly
enjoyed himself, assisted of course by Miss M. Hadley".
Perhaps it should be added that at this time Leacy was also involved in leading
the Lydney Male Voice Choir; the Lydney Orpheus Choir; and for good measure orchestral
and madrigal practices at Bristol. In his spare time he also taught his normal
quota of Physics and Music.
J. H.
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