Dennis King on YouTube

It pays to keep an eye on newly posted items on YouTube. In October 2009 these two songs by Adrienne Brune & Dennis King  from Rudolf Friml's "The Three Musketeers" in 1930 appeared:

1. “Your Eyes”

2. “One Kiss”

For a remix, how about this! …

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"!

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.]