#shuberts

1925

Hello Lola is a three act musical by William B. Kernell (music) and Dorothy Donnelly (book and lyrics), based on the novel Seventeen by Booth Tarkington and the 1918 stage adaptation Seventeen by Hugh Stanislaus Stange and Stannard Mears. 

The musical takes place at the Baxter and Parcher homes in Indianapolis in 1900.In the story, Willie Baxter becomes infatuated with a Lola, a shallow, baby-talking minx visiting for the summer. The local girls see through her. When her visit is over, Willie is devastated, but his handyman Genesis convinces him that life goes on. 

The original production was produced by Lee and J.J. Shubert. It opened on Broadway at the Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre on January 12, 1926. On February 8th it moved to Maxine Elliott’s Theatre on 39th Street.  The musical closed on February 20, 1926 after just 47 performances.

To say that Lola’s road to Broadway was a bumpy ride would be an understatement. Even once at its destination, the musical didn’t settle down. 

The first performance was held at the Broad Street Theatre in Newark, New Jersey, on November 16, 1925. It stayed there for a week before moving south to Nixon’s Apollo Theatre in Atlantic City. It made one more stop in Washington DC before the Shuberts decided that the show would take a break for the holidays. 

Although initial out-of-town notices were kind, problems were apparent from the beginning. Although Lawrence Marston was credited as director on the road, his name was curiously absent once the show arrived in New York. Even the Shuberts left their name off the title page, a stunning ‘no confidence’ vote by Lola’s godfathers. This was painfully apparent by their choice of venue. A Shubert musical was unlikely to be plugged into the more intimate Eltinge. They quickly were shuffled off to 39th Street’s to die. With its out-of-the-way location and low patron cap, the Maxine Elliott was Lola’s hospice.  

The title role was initially played by Madeline Fairbanks, but she was fired on the road and replaced with Edythe Baker (above). Baker’s specialty was playing the piano, so the the score integrated a piano solo for her. This required the production to justify why there’s a piano on the lawn!  

“She can play the piano, but she can’t play Lola.” ~ BURNS MANTLE

The New York critics were not kind to Baker (one calling her “a total loss”) and she left the show a few days in. She was replaced by her understudy, who was playing May Parcher. When Baker went, so did her grass-side piano solos. 

Baker wasn’t the only one maligned by the punters. Marjorie White, who played Willie’s sweet younger sister Jane, was called ““a miniature Texas Guinan” and compared to Sophie Tucker. The best the crix could say about her was that she was “vociferous”. 

The New York Times called the casting “a weirdly assembled collection of principals”. The score, while not offensive, was not memorable. Except for “My Baby-Talk Lady” which was sung no less than four times in the evening. That’s one more time than standard advertising messages. 

The other complaint was that the teenagers of the story (remembering the title of the source material) were mostly played by adults. White Way wags dubbed the show Booth Tarkington’s “Thirty-Seven”. The press urged Tarkington’s friends to keep him away. [Note: The above blind item about a raid by the Gerry Society (aka New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children founded by Elbridge T. Gerry), may have been facetiously apocryphal.] 

Apocryphal or not, at the beginning of February the production reacted by doing a chorus swap. 

After saying goodbye Broadway, Hello Lola said hello Brooklyn, decompressing at the Majestic, but not venturing any further. 

Possibly the only cast member to be the right age was seventeen year-old Margaret Brooke Sullavan, who made her Broadway debut as Miss Boke. To get her “big break” she lied about her age, telling producers she was a few years older than she actually was. During her career, she preferred stage to screen, but in 1939 she was nominated for an Oscar for Three Comrades. Her husbands included Henry Fonda, William Wyler, and Leland Hayward. 

Ensemble member Sylvia Carol was depicted in several provocative photos subtitled “Relaxing on the set of ‘Hello Lola’”.  

In an attempt to right the sinking SS Lola, two popular songs were interpolated into the score: “Has Anybody Seen My Gal?” and “That Certain Party,” both sung by Jay C. Flippen as Genesis, the Baxter’s caretaker. In 1925, this was a ‘burnt cork part’ (aka blackface). Flippen had been discovered by famed African-American comedian Bert Williams, and also served as his replacement in a previous show. Flippen went on to a prolific career in films and television. 

Despite the failure of Hello Lola, the source material still had life in it. In 1940 there was a feature film starring Jackie Cooper and Betty Field. 

In 1951, the Shuberts tried again with a new musical version of Seventeen starring Kenneth Nelson and Ann Crowley. It was adapted by Sally Benson (Junior Miss) with music by Walter Kent and lyrics by Kim Gannon. It bested its predecessor’s run by 135 performances. 

It's easy to forgot in today's real estate-driven Manhattan, that the Shuberts were originally producers and managers, not just landlords. They not only produced shows for their theatres nationwide, they even built theatres for specific performers, whom they also managed. The last of these was Ethel Barrymore. In 1928, Lee and J.J. Shubert built a theatre that they offered to name after Barrymore and that would showcase her considerable talents. In addition to being a member of Broadway's most famous family of actors, Barrymore was the 'it' girl of her generation. Women idolized her for her hairstyle, her walk, her voice, her fashion sense, and (of course) her acting talents. When naming the theatre for their newest 'client', the Shuberts also allowed her to select the play that would open the building. Barrymore chose a drama by Spanish playwright Gregorio Martinez Sierra called “The Kingdom of God.” The topical religious play was translated into English by Helen and Harley Granville-Barker. Barrymore likely selected the play because the leading role allowed her to play the same character (a nun, naturally) at age 19, 29 and 70. The opening night audience consisted of some of the greatest celebrities of the time: George Gershwin, Florenz Ziegfeld, his wife Billie Burke and Adolph Zukor. Barrymore also starred in her namesake stage's second production, “The Love Duel.” After the stock market crash of 1929, the Shuberts nearly went bankrupt and by 1932 Barrymore and the Shuberts had disolved their partnership. Her last appearance at the venue was in 1940's “An International Incident.” “The Kingdom of God” also opened another historic venue, the nearby Paper Mill Playhouse in suburban Millburn, New Jersey, in 1938. Although the Paper Mill is now known primarily for musicals, its rich history started with Sierra's religious drama. Doubltless the Millburn theatre's founders Antoinette Scudder and Frank Carrington had seen the play a decade earlier on Broadway and were impressed, despite the fact that they could not afford to employ the legendary star. In this case, the play would be the thing. If it was good enough for Barrymore, it was good enough for Millburn. Both the Broadway and Millburn theatres are still in existence, both under the same names that they were christened with. Perhaps it was their opening production that somehow has spiritually guided them through their most difficult years.  

Shubert Theatre