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Gus Edwards’ RITZ-CARLTON NIGHTS
1926 to 1928
In August 1926 “star-maker” producer Gus Edwards put together an hour-long revue at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The show was performed in the Hotel’s dining room. Edwards was onstage as host, presenting young performers, mostly in the areas of song and dance. Edwards was the author of such popular songs as "By the Light of the Silvery Moon", "He's My Pal", and "In My Merry Oldsmobile", among many others.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Atlantic City was a well-known try-out location for stage productions headed to Broadway or, in this case, vaudeville. The city then had 21 legitimate theatres, all less than two hours from New York. Auditions were sometimes held on the beach!
The non-musical portions of the show were penned by Nat and Max Lief, Will D. Cobb, and Howard Johnson.
After Atlantic City, the show was booked on the vaudeville circuit and toured until October 1928, playing theatres nation-wide - even one in New York City.
The hour-long revue was often teamed with a film presentation or an orchestra performance.
The most significant member of the original cast was Ray Bolger, a dozen years before his now-iconic role of the Scarecrow in the MGM feature film The Wizard of Oz. Ironically, Edwards had also penned songs for a Broadway musical adaptation of “Wizard” in 1904. When Bolger wasn’t on stage in “Ritz-Carlton Nights” he was appearing in the Broadway revue “The Merry World” at the Imperial Theatre (then the Shubert Theatre). Doing triple duty, he also appeared in the Broadway revue “A Night In Paris” at the 44th Street Theatre (then Jolson’s 58th Street Theatre). To cap it off, that year he also made his film debut in the comedy short “The Berth Mark”. All of this from August to October 1926!
The show featured two sister acts, the most popular being Leota and Lola, the Lane Sisters. They had two other sisters, Priscilla and Rosemary, who did not appear in the show. Both were ‘discovered’ by Gus Edwards singing in an Iowa theatre.
Also ‘featured’ in the cast was Nitza (aka Nitze) Vernille (nee Roper). She was 18 years old at the time. When she left the show in 1928, she was replaced on the bill by Senorita Armida, a specialty dancer not unlike Vernille.
Also in the cast at various engagements:
Gus Edwards, Emcee
Rosita & Roman, dancers
Margaret & Lillian Reynolds, dancers
Helen Lynd
Peggy Hoover
Dorothy (aka Dorothea / Doretha) James, tap dancer
Rosebud Morse
Little Paul Haakon, Russian Ballet
Virginia Martin
Jerry Dryden, ballet dancer
McManus, George Flynn, Paul Cadieux, Joseph Herbert, quartet
Jean Holly, violinist
Dora Maughan, comedienne
Walter Fehl, magician
Dezro E. Retter, acrobat / comedian
Irene Shaw, blackface
George Douglas, comedian / dancer
Senorita Armida, dancer
Master Lucien La Rue, singer
Serge Flash, juggler
Maud Earl, classical singer
Hal Chamberlain, singer
Vivian Earle, singer
Ed & Tom Hickey
The Paige Sisters
Gertie & Archie Falls
SETTING
The show is set in a nightclub. Some reports say the first scene took place outside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
BILL OF FARE (subject to change)
"I'm a Knight of the Night Clubs Now" - Emcee Gus Edwards sings a medley of his own songs peppered with words of praise for stars he discovered.
"Youth Beauty and Harmony" - The Lane Sisters
"Youth Beauty and Grace" - Miss Jerry Dryden
"Love Is Love in Any Language" - Edwards with Leota Lane (France), Margaret Reynolds (Scotland), Lillian Reynolds (Ireland), Lola Lane (Germany), Miss Jerry Dryden, and Miss Virginia Martin (USA)
"Wee Duo Fiddle" (violin solo) - Jean Holly
"Pretty Little Dolly" - Lola Lane, Virginia Martin (dance)
Black Bottom (dance) - The Reynolds Sisters
Soprano solo - Leota Lane
"Leg-o-mania" acrobatic dance - Virginia Martin
"Daffy Dilly Canoe" - Ray (Rubber legs) Bolger
"Everything Is Spanish Now"
“My Casa Valentina* Girl” - Mr. Edwards with Miss Dryden, Miss Martin and The Reynolds Sisters "La Paloma" - The Lane Sisters "La Palina" "Barcelona" - Ray (Rubberlegs) Bolger "La Tamberina" - Miss Jerry Dryden
"I'm a Knight of the Night Clubs Now" (finale) - Edwards and entire Company
*Casa Valentina was briefly the name given to the Ritz-Carlton Atlantic City Grill Room where the show was originally performed.
THE SHOW HITS THE ROAD
Wilkes-Barre PA ~ October 1926 at the Capital Playhouse
Buffalo NY ~ November 1926 at the Loew’s State
St. Louis MO ~ November 1926 at the Lowe’s State
Pittsburgh PA ~ November-December 1926 at the Aldine Theatre
“...one of the most talented shows...with an abundance of snappy dancing, harmony and fun.”
Baltimore MD ~ December 1926 at the Century Theatre
“....In one hour...the Edwards entertainment offers more entertainment of real merit than three hours of certain Broadway shows.”
Boston MA ~ December 1926 at The Loew’s State
Scranton PA ~ December 23, 1926 at the Aldine Theatre
Washington DC ~ December 26, 1926 at the Palace
“...the finest entertainment unit [he has] ever assembled.”
Hartford CT ~ January 3, 1927
“...carefully directed, thoughtfully planned and expertly played.”
Brooklyn NY ~ January 9, 1927 at the Mark Strand Theatre
Philadelphia PA ~ January 1927 at the Stanley Theatre
Chicago IL ~ February 1927 at the Palace
Kansas City MO ~ February 1927 at the Orpheum
Minneapolis MN ~ March 1927 at the Hennepin Orpheum
Vancouver, Canada ~ March 1927 at the Orpheum
Seattle WA ~ March 1927 at the Orpheum
Los Angeles CA ~ April-May 1927 at the Orpheum
“...one of the best.”
San Francisco CA ~ May 1927 at the Orpheum
St. Louis MO ~ June 1927 at the St. Louis Theatre
“...the best cast Gus Edwards has ever presented”
Chicago IL ~ June-July 1927 at the New Orpheum Palace
Oklahoma City OK ~ July 1927 at the Orpheum Vaudeville
Fort Worth TX ~ August 1927 at the Majestic Theatre
Austin TX - September 1927 at the Hancock Theatre
Alexandria LA ~ October 1927 at the Rapides Theatre
Shreveport LA ~ October 1927 at the Vaudeville & Strand Theatres
Birmingham AL ~ October 1927 at the Ritz Theatre
“...speedy revue of juvenile talent.”
Atlanta GA ~ October 1927 at the Keith Albee Georgia
Richmond VA ~ November 7, 1927 at the National Theatre
Brooklyn NY ~ December 1927 at the E.F. Albee
New York NY ~December 1927 at B.F. Keith’s Palace
White Plains NY ~ December 1927 at the Keith-Albee
Brooklyn NY ~ January 1928 at the Prospect Theatre
New York NY ~ August 23, 1928 at the Loew’s State
IG:cbssports
1923 - Drug Trafficking in Tin Pan Alley
a list of the famous performers who got their start as child vaudevillians
Between 1926 and 1927, Alfred Cheney took photos for a series of ads for Deodo, hiring several of the Ziegfeld Girls as models. In this photo, we can see Adele Smith holding the deodorant container.
Adele Smith as Adele Mason in Ziegfeld's “Whoopie!” (1928-1929), Photo by Alfred Cheney Johnston. Adele Smith also performed as Adele Mason in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1925. Adele broke into show business as a dancer in vaudeville, working in mini-chorus lines such as the Holland Heines in Gus Edwards’s one-act comic opera, “The Goose Girl of Morken,” at Proctor’s in Newark in 1909. For the next fourteen years she worked in vaudeville and dinner clubs, occasionally filling out the ranks of revue choruses for Jake Schubert and Earl Carroll.
#AdeleSmith #AdeleMason #ACJ #Whoopee #ZiegfelsFollies1925 #FricPic #Colorized #CoffeeTableBook #Deodo Ad Girl #IDBD.com
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