STAGE AND SCREEN
MUSIC HALL
" Black Velvet." At the Hippodrome BLACK VELVET (which the. King and Queen attended on Mon- day evening) is a triumph of personality. The sketches are nothing much, one about the Ministry of Information being
well on the easy side, and the singing is ordinary : but at every other point this light-hearted and polished show rings the bell and returns the penny. The dances are exceptionally
well arranged, and the lighting is excellent. The decor is pleasant, one scene, " The Family Circle," provoking a spon-
taneous burst of applause. The ladies of the chorus are unusually good-looking, the humour is continuous, the colla- boration of the audience is frequently invited, and the whole show is held together by a commanding personality.
Vic Oliver is an original. I am no veteran, but my music hall recollections go back to 5908, and I cannot recall any figure on the same lines. The old brigade would have called him a " light comedian." There were plenty of them, wearing evening clothes with an air and appearing in their own person, but none of them was like this. Does anyone remember Walter Dowling? He was, perhaps, graver in demeanour, but he had something of the same ease, and his singing of " Touch Wood " showed at least a cousinship in its dexterous handling of impropriety. Dowling was uncannily clever, and had charm, but could not approach this intimacy, this blend of suave assurance and disarming friendliness. I only saw him twice, and shall never forgot his lanky grace, his large soulful eyes, and his air of sauntering through his part. But, as I saw him, he had none of Vic Oliver's technique of scoring off himself. The famous turn where he plays his violin is here subjected to new interruptions, by a conscientious acrobat, and by the spotlight man, who switches it off the player, and, urged at last to do what the manager told him, turns it off altogether. When about to sing, Vic Oliver interrupts himself with a fancied telephone injunction from his employer, in the course of which, starting from bewilderment, he descends to sorrowful understanding and at last to tears.
Vic Oliver runs this show, but does not dominate it. He captures the audience instantly, and has them in perfect and tactful control. At the end of the Café Royal scene, the chorus troop into the stalls and polka with fortunate members of the audience. These gambols, which might easily get out of hand, owing to the audience's natural desire to prolong them, are brought to an end in a manner which illustrates admirably this comedian's audacity and poise. The role of compere has been extended until it becomes the central part, and all is done so engagingly, with such apparent willingness to achieve the impossible and step into the background, that the audience is his, not only to a woman, but to a man.
Another quality of Vic Oliver is that his personality en- courages his colleagues to show theirs. Seldom have I seen a show in which so many vivid personalities made their mark. Alice Lloyd revives a song of her immortal sister, "Good Old Iron," with more than a hint of Marie's quality. (On the night I was there this turn stopped the show.) A tank rumbles on the stage, and is opened to reveal Teddy Brown and his xylo- phone. This virtuoso has already taken more than his share of attention in the Café Royal scene—and it is not only his size that takes the eye. He now proceeds, after a demonstration of his art, to make the audience play a tune on numbered handbells. The brothers Nesbitt are in violent spirits, and one of them gives a brilliant rendering of Donald Duck. Jack and John Bredwin give a happy touch of character to a finished acrobatic turn, and Pat Kirkwood, a lively singer, is very much happier with the second of her songs by Cole Porter. Of the " starlets," Roma Beaumont moves and speaks nicely, but my money is on Carole Lynne. She is as lovely as they make them, and there is personality in everything she does.
The final impression is of a show in which professional efficiency reaches so high a level as to leave full scope for personality, and for an extra warmth and quality of charm and friendliness radiating from the chief comedian to the whole performance. I shall file in my memory Vic Oliver (all the time), the dance arrangements by Wendy Toye, and, minor but delightful, the performance of Carole Lynne.
L. A. G. STRONG.
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