Errol on parade

Leon Errol (Leonce Errol Sims, 1881-1951) filming Elsie Janis’s production of PARAMOUNT ON PARADE (1930). Photo by Don English 

Ah, Leon Errol! A native of Sydney, he dropped out of medical school — early enough that he was only 17 when he reached San Francisco in 1898 — and spent the next decade rising through the vaudeville ranks. In 1911, he reached the ZIEGFELD FOLLIES (with his wife Stella Chatelaine). His next show was Ziegfeld’s A WINSOME WIDOW (1912). He was in the 1912 FOLLIES, and again in 1913 (with his wife); he performed with Stella in the 1914 edition, which he also directed (with Flo Ziegfeld). 

Errol co-directed “The Blue Follies” in 1915, and for the next few years he directed or staged a run of hits: the 1915 ZIEGFELD MIDNIGHT FROLIC, THE CENTURY GIRL (1916-17), DANCE AND GROW THIN (1917), HITCHY-KOO (1917), and WORDS AND MUSIC (1917-18 and again in 1918). He took a break to appear as Connie, a waiter, and the Duke of Czechogovinia in SALLY (1920-22), which established Marilyn Miller as a star. 

Marilyn Miller by Ferenc of Vienna

After an early start in vaudeville, working in a family act, Marilyn Miller (Mary Ellen Reynolds, 1898-1936) became a star in the 1918 ZIEGFELD FOLLIES portraying the producer’s wife, Billie Burke, and singing “Mine Was a Marriage of Convenience.” In the 1919 FOLLIES, she sang Irving Berlin’s “Mandy”; and with SALLY (1920), where she performed Jerome Kern’s “Look for the Silver Lining,” she was further memorialized in Dorothy Parker’s verse:

From the alley's gloom and chill

Up to fame danced Sally.

Which was nice for her, but still

Rough upon the alley.

How it must regret her wiles.

All her ways and glances. 

Now the theatre owns her smiles, 

Sallies, songs, and dances.

Adele Astaire

Adele Astaire (Adele Marie Austerlitz, 1896-1981) by White Studios.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.’s production of SMILES (1930-31) was a disappointment, with just 63 performances — Marilyn Miller’s last show, ROSALIE, had run for 335 and for most of 1928. With a top-notch production team and a starry cast, it sounds sure-fire.

SMILES was Adele Astaire’s penultimate Broadway show, the last before THE BAND WAGON (1931-32). Her Broadway career, dancing with her brother Fred, gradually grew to encompass speaking parts, beginning with Alex A. Aarons’s FOR GOODNESS SAKE (1922), which opened as STOP FLIRTING in London in May 1923. London loved Americans, and the Astaires: the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII and then Duke of Windsor) saw STOP FLIRTING ten times.

LADY, BE GOOD! (1924-25) followed in New York and London, then FUNNY FACE (1927-28), during the London run of which Adele met Lord Charles Cavendish, the younger son of an English duke.

After a two-year Broadway break, the Astaires returned with SMILES in 1930. Even with Marilyn Miller and Eddie Foy Jr., as well as Fred and Adele, SMILES was a bit of a flop. The Astaires’ last show together, in contrast, was a most satisfactory hit: THE BAND WAGON (1931-32) offered audiences Helen Broderick, Tillie Losch, and Frank Morgan. (Adele and Fred sang “I Love Louisa,” and Fred performed “New Sun in the Sky,” both of which can be seen in the 1953 film version.)

The show went on tour, and after a performance in Chicago in March 1932, Adele retired from the stage to marry Lord Charles; they wed in May.