CINDERS
April 3, 1923
Cinders ~ A comedy with music in two acts. Music by Rudolf Friml, Book and Lyrics by Edward Clark, Produced and Directed by Edward Royce, with Scenic Design by P. Dodd Ackerman, Costume Design by Paul Poiret, Evelyn McHorter, Earl Benham and Brooks-Mahieu Company. It opened on April 3, 1923 at the Dresden Theatre where it ran 31 performances.
The musical is set in New York City in the present day.
“A probable all-summer hit! The likelihood is that this latest adaptation of the old yarn should run prosperously. The price is high and so is the theatre.” ~ Variety
[Despite the clever pun, the show closed by the end of April.]
SYNOPSIS
CAST
Nancy Welford (1904-91) as Cinders. She was born in England and came to the United States when she was six years old. As early as 1921, she was active in vaudeville. Cinders was the second of her four Broadway musicals. In 1926, Welford starred in Nancy, a musical for which she was the inspiration. She acted in five films between years 1929 and 1933. She is probably today mostly known for starring in the 1929 Warner Brothers musical Gold Diggers of Broadway, which was the second all color-all talking feature ever made. On October 24, 1924, Welford married film director F. Heath Cobb in Cleveland, Ohio.
“Miss Welford, slightly miscast,was a thrill and a sensation. She sings with a sympathetic quality helped by youthful unsteadiness rather than hurt by hoydenish lack of technical polish; she dances like a wind-blown pussy-willow and she has an ingratiating look of diffidence and surprise that is one of the classic assets of Charlie Chaplin. She plays Cinders and she is ‘Cinders’.” ~ Variety
Queenie Smith (1898-1972) as Tillie Olsen. Also played a character named Tillie in her previous Broadway musical (also starring Nancy Welford) Orange Blossoms (1922) at the Fulton. She performed in a baker’s dozen of Broadway tuners, and also had a full career in Hollywood, including the 1934 version of Show Boat. At one point she was engaged to Cary Grant! She is perhaps best remembered as May Whipple on TV’s “Little House on the Prairie” (1974-77).
Shortly after opening Walter Regan took over for W. Douglas Stevenson in the role of John Winthrop.
VENUE
The show was originally announced for the Fulton Theatre, but opened at the Dresden, the rooftop venue over the New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street. The top ticket costs $3.00. When the show’s profits dipped, it was thought it might move to another venue, but instead it folded.
Dresden Theatre (214 West 42nd Street; 680-720 seats)
The venue was situated on the roof of the New Amsterdam Theatre. It opened as the Aerial Gardens in 1904, presenting legit shows during the summer months. By 1910, the New Amsterdam was air-conditioned and the Aerial Gardens closed. Florenz Ziegfeld reopened it in 1915 as the Ziegfeld Roof and in 1919 it became Danse de Follies, presenting late-night performances until 1921. Cinders was the first and only show to perform at the Dresden under that name. It re-opened in October 1923 as the Frolic Theatre, and remained under that name until 1929. It became a radio studio in 1930 and, later, a television studio. In November 1943, two plays were presented there before structural flaws prevented further theatrical use prompted the auditorium to be gutted. The New Amsterdam, however, was refurbished and remains in operation today.
ALSO THAT NIGHT...
Uptown West ~ a play in three acts by Lincoln Osborne, opened at the Bijou Theatre for a run of 73 performances, outlasting Cinders by more than a month.
