London Musicals 1945-1949.pub - Over The Footlights
London Musicals 1945-1949.pub - Over The Footlights
London Musicals 1945-1949.pub - Over The Footlights
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UNDER THE COUNTER<br />
<strong>London</strong> run: Phoenix, November 22 nd (665 performances)<br />
Music: Manning Sherwin<br />
Lyrics: Harold Purcell<br />
Book: Arthur Macrae<br />
Director: Jack Hulbert<br />
Choreographer: Jack Hulbert & John Gregory<br />
Musical Director: Robert Probst<br />
Producer: Lee Ephraim, Tom Arnold & Emile Littler<br />
Cast: Cicely Courtneidge (Jo Fox), Cyril Raymond (Mike Kenderdine),<br />
Hartley Power (Sir Alec Dunn), Thorley Walters (Tim Garret), John Gregory,<br />
Irene Handl, Audrey Godfrey<br />
<strong>1945</strong><br />
Songs: Everywhere, No-one’s Tried to Kiss Me, <strong>The</strong> Moment I Saw You, Let’s Get Back to Glamour, Ai-Yi-<br />
Yi..<br />
Story: Jo Fox is an actress attempting to produce a show in the absence of her lover, Mike Kenderdine, who is<br />
abroad holding a civil appointment. Despite clothes rationing, Jo is adept at searching out black market goods<br />
(under the counter) for herself and for her show. Meantime she is using her charms on Sir Alec from the<br />
Ministry, hoping he can get Mike posted back to England. Her go-between is Sir Alec’s private secretary, Tim<br />
Garrett, who in his spare time is a song-writer. On Tim’s regular official visits he tries hard to get Jo to include<br />
his songs in her forthcoming show. Naturally the line-up of chorus girls from Jo’s rehearsals, Mike, Tim,<br />
Mike’s lady friend from Paris and Sir Alec himself all get mixed up in a series of comic mishaps and<br />
misunderstanding.<br />
Notes: This was virtually a one-woman triumphant tour-de-force for Cicely Courtneidge, and was a great<br />
success, running nearly two years. In its second year an exhausted Cicely Courtneidge took a month off and<br />
was temporarily replaced by Florence Desmond. Following its <strong>London</strong> run, the show transferred to Broadway,<br />
opening on October 3 rd 1947. It survived just 27 performances and came in for mostly damning reviews,<br />
though most critics agreed Cicely Courtneidge was a very funny performer. As far as the Americans were<br />
concerned, it was not really a musical: there were only five songs in the show and they were performed as part<br />
of the show Jo was rehearsing; and it was far too old-fashioned in style and too “British” in humour.<br />
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