London Musicals 1945-1949.pub - Over The Footlights

GOODNIGHT VIENNA
London run: Wimbledon Theatre, November 11 th
(One week touring visit)
Music: George Posford
Book & Lyrics: Eric Maschwitz
Additional lyrics: Harold Purcell
Director: Leslie Julian Jones & Sydney J. Pearse
Choreographer: Beatrice Appleyard
Musical Director: George Windeatt
Cast: James Etherington (Count Max Schmettoff),
Leo Sheffield (Prince Schmettoff), Sylvia Handel (Countess Helga),
Wendy Horner (Vicki), Teddie St Denis, Nichola March, David Reid,
Conway Dixon
1946
12
Story: Set in 1914 Vienna, where Max is an Austrian army officer and the
son of a highly placed general, Prince Schmettoff. His father wants him to marry Countess Helga von Eberhart
but Max has fallen in love with Vicki. Attending a party given in his honour, they are informed that war has
broken out. Max writes a note to Vicki and goes off to war. Unfortunately the note is lost. Some time after the
war, and after the fall of the Habsburg Empire, Max is just a shoe shop assistant while Vicki is now a famous
singer. They meet and at first she snubs him but then falls in love with him again.
Notes: This show began life as a radio operetta, written when Eric Maschwitz was employed in the Variety
Department of the BBC. However, the musical was not broadcast until 1934 – two years after a successful film
version was made, starring Anna Neagle, Jack Buchanan and Gina Malo and directed by Herbert Wilcox. In
1946 it was re-written for a stage production, and after an amateur company try-out, it began a tour in July.
The tour ended at Wimbledon in November, and failed to get a West End engagement. It would tour again in
1947 and 1951, and still not attract a West End booking. It is subject to the showbiz story: when the producer
asked the Box office how well the show was selling in Lewisham, and got the reply “About as well as
‘Goodnight Lewisham’ would sell in Vienna”.
PACIFIC 1860
London run: Drury Lane, December 19 th (129 performances)