The Lapel Badge

One interesting detail from the family photograph in the previous entry is the badge that can just be seen on Dennis's lapel. When suitably magnified (see photo above) it can be identified as the Silver War Badge which Dennis was awarded as a result of his service during World War I which was curtailed by discharge due to him being physically unfit.

Evidently the badge was awarded from September 1916 (hence the dating of the photograph) to military personnel who had served at home or overseas during the war, and who had been discharged from the army under King's Regulations.

Background: The Pratt Family

This family photograph was probably taken around 1917. Dennis is on the left at the back in the bow tie. His three brothers and his sister are with him, all assembled around their father and mother, John and Mary Elizabeth Pratt. It was his mother's maiden name of King that Dennis chose as a stage name.

My father, Reg, is seated in front of Dennis.

I think it is relevant to Dennis's account of his early career to note that his father, John, was a bricklayer who eventually became his own boss as a builder. My father and another of Dennis's brothers followed in their father's footsteps and became bricklayers. The other brother, according to the 1911 census, started out as a sheet metal worker. So Dennis's decision to choose to launch himself into a life in the theatre has to be seen as an intriguing departure.

Dennis's story, repeated in many press accounts, is that he "ran away" to become a call boy. I have often wondered how this should be taken. The Birmingham Repertory Theatre opened early in 1913 when Dennis was just over fifteen so he didn't leave school any earlier than most and he certainly did not have to run far. Perhaps the real reason he saw it as running away is that it was his choice and either not what his parents envisaged for him or maybe his teachers suggested more schooling.

Whatever the explanation, given Dennis's family background, he has to be credited with making a momentous decision. A decision that all his family would live to praise.

Vote Yes

In my last entry - On Stage - I mentioned a review for the stage version of The Vagabond King that must have been sent to the UK by Dennis. I think you will agree that my father is unlikely to have got it from a UK publication. It was written by McHarg Davenport:

Should you as a Long Island Playgoer be called upon this month to vote on the proposition, "Shall We Get Seats For The Vagabond King"?, take a tip from this reviewer and mark your ballot "Yes". Then phone your ticketlegger, Tyson, McBride or whoever it is that looks after you, and get the best he has regardless, for really good seats are hard to get even now and by the time the Holidays roll around, anything nearer than the tenth row will be worth its weight in coal.

In our poor but honest opinion, Russell Janney's production offers the best evening's entertainment to be found in New York at this writing, and we hope it will run at the Casino for at least six years, or until our son David turns ten and is ready for such grown-up distractions.

Justin Huntley McCarthy's "If I Were King" furnishes the plot, the action of which is laid in Paris in the time of Louis XI and deals with certain highly colorful and fantastic adventures in the life of the poet Francois Villon. Despite the fact that most of the characters are thieves, cut-throats and other nameless male and female scum of the underworld, it is a clean-spoken play and a mighty refreshing one.

A play "with music", The Vagabond King boasts a number of outstanding melodies by Rudolph Friml, any one of them worth trekking in by foot from Montauk Point to hear. Villon's "Song of the Vagabonds" is the best of the lot and when Dennis King and his fine male chorus really let themselves go, they all but carry the audience over the footlight and out to defend the gates of Paris with them.

Like all songs ending with "To Hell with somebody!" this one has the magic when properly sung to make the veriest handful as irresistible as any Army Corps, and Heaven help France and the unknown Spanish soldier, if the Riffs get hold of it!

On Stage

I have reproduced a postcard I bought off ebay above. Although it didn't come from my father's scrapbook, he has the same image as part of an article that must have come over from Dennis under the heading Vote "Yes" on The Vagabond King Proposition.

The postcard is interesting in its own right. It was obtained at the Shubert Great Northern Theatre in Chicago. Under the image is the following text:

The thrilling duel in the Fir Cone Tavern between Francois Villon (Dennis King) and Thibaut d'Aussigny (Ben Roberts) in Russell Janney's musical triumph "The Vagabond King"

On the back it has the following promotional printing:

I have just seen "The Vagabond King" -

Why not let one of your friends know how much you enjoyed
THE VAGABOND KING. If you will address this card and give it to one of the ushers, we will post it for you.

Someone called Marie has written "It certainly is wonderful. If you only would see it you surely wouldn't regret it" and added the address of Miss Rose Marie Elas of Aledo, Illinois. The postcard is postmarked 1927, Chicago.

Stop Press!

I've just come across an update for the showing of The Vagabond King at the Futurist and Scala Theatres in Birmingham (see The Greatest Success). A cutting says that it was "Acclaimed by 30,000 People Last Week as the FINEST PICTURE yet Seen in Birmingham"!

Dates & Sources!

I am slightly hampered by there being no dates in my father's scrapbook on most of the press cuttings. Also, there are few indications of their sources. It is clear in some cases that items must have been sent over to the UK by Dennis. The example above has Dennis's annotation of "My leading lady" with an arrow pointing to Carolyn Thompson (in the stage version of The Vagabond King). Other items are obviously from UK publications.

The scrapbook was started before my father got married (pre-1929) as the address in the back suggests that he was living with his mother and father at the time. Thereafter there are address changes that indicate he was married.

Cuttings are not stuck in the scrapbook in chronological order. The first image is from the film of The Vagabond King whereas information about the stage production follows although it was earlier, in the States.

The Three Musketeers and More

I know that my father went down to London in 1930 to see Dennis in The Three Musketeers. I believe he was with his brothers. I am not sure if his sister went. I know also that Dennis invited his parents to watch the performance and arranged for them to occupy the Royal Box at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. I am not sure if the whole family went down together.

My mother used to say that the brothers arranged to meet Dennis outside the theatre at some point. Whilst they were waiting for him and admiring photographs of him on display outside the theatre, Dennis crept up behind them and surprised them with "He is a handsome fellow, isn't he?!"

My father tucked two souvenirs from that visit into the scrapbook that ke kept. One is a programme for the performance (minus its cover) which is well worn and creased. The other is a magazine (again minus its cover) which looks as though it might have been given away free at the hotel they stayed at in London.

The free magazine is interesting. Without its cover it is difficult to date it but its contents suggest that it could be from March or April of 1930. It was called the "Courier" and it lists the hotels at which it was available. It is clear why it was kept. With accompanying photos, the centre pages advertise The Vagabond King which was showing at the Carlton Theatre (see photo above); there is a whole page devoted to advertising Dennis's recordings from The Vagabond King, along with his portrait, and as if that isn't enough there is a separate paragraph under the heading Successes From The Shows which says:

"Dennis King, the star of The Three Musketeers at Drury Lane and of the talking film version of The Vagabond King has made two fine records of the hits he sings with such ability. These are If I were King and Nichavo (H.M.V. B3363) and The Song of the Vagabonds (B2426). This latter will give some idea of how good he is in the film. A good selection of the music is found on Columbia 9195 by Percival Mackay's band."

The programme for the show is unmistakably my father's as one page contains pencil scriblings of the names of horses he was intending to place bets on, five in all!

These two souvenirs make it clear to me that there were two attractions in London when my father visited. Not only was there the stage performance of The Three Musketeers to attend but The Vagabond King was showing as well! It is only now, in looking at these items for this blog, that the full significance of that trip to London hits me.

The Geatest Success

The early 1930s were a momentous time for the Pratt family in the UK. Not only was the film The Vagabond King released, it was also when Dennis came to Drury Lane in London to star in The Three Musketeers.

Considering the film first, its impact on Dennis's family when it arrived in Birmingham (at the Futurist and Scala cinemas with 5 daily showings) cannot be underestimated. Dennis would have kept everyone at home informed of his progress since arriving in the States in the early 1920s but the film would have been the first real public evidence, in his home town, of his rise to fame.

This cutting of the ad for the screening of The Vagabond King in Birmingham shows how well the film was received in the UK: "CONTINUED FOR A SECOND WEEK AS THE GREATEST SUCCESS IN THE HOMES OF SUCCESSES", "Direct from a Sensational Six Months' Success at the CARLTON THEATRE, LONDON". The wait while it made it to the provinces from London must have been unbearable!

It was not only Dennis's family who became aware of him as a star. A cousin of mine tells me that his mother was treated like royalty in the local shops after his name became known in Birmingham.

Apart from it being of personal interest to the Pratt family, The Vagabond King was also in the vanguard of film-making as an early Technicolor talkie. The first all-colour talking feature film (according to Wikipedia) came out in 1929 with The Vagabond King following in 1930.

[Evidently the film has been restored to its full colour at the UCLA Film and Television Archive (see Supporting Reference Material) but it is only available for limited screening. UCLA's own website notes that the restored film has had public airings at the 4th Festival of Preservation, 1991, and the 10th Festival of Preservation, August 5, 2000.]

Talking of Edinburgh

In a cutting from the Daily Mail, actress Miss Evelyn Laye explains that she met Dennis King when they were very young in Edinburgh and over a cup of coffee they vowed to each other that they would become stars. It is highly likely that this was in 1920 when Dennis, who was appearing in Monsieur Beaucaire, was 22 years old*.

They went as far as making a bet on who would reach the top first and when meeting up years later Evelyn had to concede defeat because Dennis had already made his first talking picture.

Although the scrapbook cutting is undated it was probably published around 1930 when Dennis was in London appearing as d'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers.

* It turns out that Evelyn Laye and Dennis were in a musical together in Edinburgh, at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, three years before this! The production was "Oh Caesar!" and it ran from 23rd December 1916 to 20th January 1917. Evelyn was right, they were young, Dennis had just turned 19. I might have missed this because Dennis's name appears as "Denis King" in Glasgow University's online catalogue. As we will see in a later post this follows on neatly from his last appearance on stage at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

The Beginning and the End

Dennis King was born Dennis Pratt. His brother, my late father, kept a scrapbook of his rise to fame in the States. He started it with a photo of Dennis in the film version of The Vagabond King. More about that and the other contents later.

I will begin with the obituary pictured here. It must have been slipped into the scrapbook by my mother as my father predeceased Dennis. What can be gleaned from it? Before rereading it I had forgotten Dennis's wife's maiden name. In the family she was known as "Billie" as far as I can remember so "Edith Wright" came as a surprise.

What is the first thing we do now with such facts? We feed them in to Google and check the results. I was surprised to find that the combination of "Edith Wright" and "Dennis King" produced less than 20 matches and one of them showed that they had appeared together in Monsieur Beaucaire at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh from 22 March 1920 until 27 March 1920.

1920 in Edinburgh was not the first performance of Monsieur Beaucaire, 1919 in London preceded it. I do not yet know if Edith toured with Dennis but I like to think that this was the production that brought them together.