My Father and Me

I was a year old when this photograph was taken in our front room which was only used on special occasions.

My mother told me that I was named after Dennis’s son, John Michael, but with the names switched round I became Michael John.

My first memory of Uncle Dennis is from when I was about 7 or 8. He visited the UK and there was a get-together at his mother and father’s house in Birmingham. I only have a hazy memory but it revolves around a piano with Uncle Dennis by the side of it, singing. I am told that he would have been accompanied on the piano by his sister, my Aunty Marie. That is all I can remember but it obviously made an impression on me.

At some stage I became aware of the scrapbook that my father kept about his brother. I was aware that Dennis was a star but I didn’t see any evidence of that until the fifties when Fra Diavolo was shown at a local cinema – The Alhambra on the Moseley Road in Birmingham.

The main reminder of Dennis when my father was alive was the hamper that arrived at Christmas from him. I pictured it coming from the States but it probably came from a supplier in the UK. It was full of things that we wouldn’t normally have (like tinned tongue!) and it was great fun to unpack and to consume.

I have an idea that Dennis visited my family home twice but I only really remember the last time. It was after my father died. Dennis came in a chauffeur-driven car. He was well dressed, wearing a hat, possibly a bowler. My mother invited him into our front room and he sat by the window almost where I am in the photo above. He commiserated over the loss of his brother, my father, and said how close he was to him when he was growing up, even walking him to infant school in Dennis Road, Moseley, Birmingham. I remember his imposing voice and his bearing and he left a lasting impression on me.

Daisy Farm Road

A story that my mother told many times was that Uncle Dennis turned up once unannounced in Birmingham when my family was living in Daisy Farm Road. This was before I was born and will have been during one of Dennis’s performances in London during the 1930s.

He arrived when my father was at work and surprised my mother not least because he was in a white Rolls Royce that belonged to Ivor Novello! I have always assumed that he was chauffeured from London although I suppose it is possible he drove. It must have impressed the neighbours no end!

I have been able to verify that Ivor Novello had a Rolls Royce but not that it was white but I have no reason to doubt my mother’s story.

One of my Favourites …

This photograph, again showing signs of having been carried round in a wallet, is one of my favourites because it was sent by Dennis to his parents in Kings Heath, Birmingham. Dated July 24th, 1937, and postmarked Central City, Colorado, it carries the message: “ Not really grey! As ‘Dr Rank’ in ‘A Doll’s House’ by Ibsen.”

Thomas Foden Flint

Thomas Foden Flint, a former Pilgrim Player, became the Rep’s first Stage Manager, a role he voluntarily relinquished after 5 months to make way for someone with more experience. He continued in the role of Assistant Stage Manager until he joined the Army in 1914.

When Dennis appeared in “The Three Musketeers” at Drury Lane in London in 1930 he acknowledged his debt to Thomas Foden Flint:

Yes, I must thank Birmingham for most of my knowledge about fencing. It was Mr. Foden Flint, the stage manager of the Repertory Theatre who taught me, and it was he who used to give me sixpence every time I got past his guard. I, of course, was then a call boy, but we found time in the mornings to do some serious fencing.

It is noted in Bache Matthews book that Thomas “was the only member of the company who persevered with his foils, to become later … runner up in the amateur championship”.

The image above, from my father’s scrapbook, shows Dennis as D’Artagnan (in the centre of the sketch) over the legend “In a Clash By Himself”.  Also, the panel in the bottom right has the following exchange:

Bill - “Mr King don’t ‘alf know how to make love to Miss Brune on the stage!”

Our Call-Boy - “Well, who wouldn’t? If a thing’s worth wooing it’s worth wooing well!”

Call Boy and ASM

As Dennis liked to point out in later life he was the Birmingham Rep’s first call boy. He started there in 1913 when the Rep opened and left in December 1916. When he left he had risen to the post of Assistant Stage Manager.

Although he was not identified as an actor during his time at the Rep, he got plenty of chances to perform. It was in the nature of the organisation of the Rep that those in “back-stage” roles made up the cast along with the regular actors.

His full list of appearances starts in January 1914 at age 16 and ends in November 1916 at age 19.

Dennis always said that his first stage performance was in As You Like It (in February 1914 as Dennis, one of the two servants to Oliver). Perhaps he meant his first real appearance, as the records for the Rep* show that he was in The Christmas Party (from January 10th, 1914, for two weeks) as Dick Whittington’s Cat!

The Christmas Party was written by Barry Jackson, the founder and patron of the Rep and its first Director. It was a children’s play that is described by Bache Matthews in his history as “unequal” and “no good” in its first outing but was later rewritten and revived in 1916 with Dennis as a Footman.

It is by looking at Dennis’s list of stage performances at the Rep (see Supporting Reference Material) that we can see the period he was absent due to him joining up, although underage. There is a gap between May 1914 when he was 16 and October 1915 (aged 17 ). It is during this period that his Medal Index Card (MIC) shows that he joined the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry as a Private on 9th September 1914. For reasons that are so far not clear he was discharged according to King’s Regulations on 10th May 1915 with the only reason being given as “Sickness”. As a result of this he received his Silver War Medal which I have written about in a previous entry.

It is my understanding that the official age for joining up was 18 and that an overseas posting only followed at 19. Joining up whilst underage was not uncommon at the time but it seems unlikely, though not impossible, that Dennis saw any service in the front line during the 8 months he served.

What is clear is that he valued the medal that showed that he had served. He resumed where he left off at the Birmingham Rep presumably as Assistant Stage Manager. His stage performances recommenced in October 1915.

It is surprising to see that his last performance at the Rep was in November 1916 in The Cassilis Engagement and that by December he was in Edinburgh at the Royal Lyceum Theatre appearing in a musical called Oh Caesar (with Evelyn Laye – see a previous entry about this). Having left the Rep as an Assistant Stage Manager he was now an actor in his own right.

Quite how he found the opportunity to leave the Rep is not recorded anywhere but I am hopeful that I may find the missing piece of the jigsaw.

I have left until last the question of why he chose to join the Rep when it opened in 1913. It is a coincidence, I think, that The Pilgrim Players out of which the Rep grew started their performances in Moseley, the area of Birmingham that Dennis lived on the edge of. Barry Jackson lived within walking distance of Dennis’s family home.

It is possible that Dennis saw an advertisement or other press coverage of the need for staff at the newly-built Rep and simply applied. Someone might have guided him to it. What is clear from the documented history of the Rep is that its inception did receive publicity in the local Birmingham papers but whether he found out about it on his own or whether he was told about it perhaps I will never know. As pure speculation - it is possible that his father or even his brother worked on the speedy building of the new Theatre.

* Records for the early days of the Rep, including details of the plays that Dennis appeared in, are held at the Birmingham Central Reference Library in the Barry Jackson Archive. The list that is available here has been assembled from those records and their total accuracy is not to be taken for granted without looking at the original sources.

Once again, Bache Matthews’ book has helped with this account.

The Home of Fine Plays

In order to put together the preceding summary of the history of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre I bought a second-hand copy of Bache Matthew’s book A History of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. I chose the cheapest edition I could find online and eagerly awaited its arrival. To my amazement, when I received and opened the book I saw 4 original photographs stuck onto the blank pages before the title. These show the rear of the Repertory Theatre and must have been taken by a previous owner of the book. From the name of the production in progress at the time (on a visible hoarding) I can date the photos to 1927.

I don’t know how much that rear view has changed, but to be able to see the Stage Door that Uncle Dennis must have used, very little changed from when he would have been using it, was a real boost and a good omen.

You can see the 4 photos in a Picasa Web Album.

One surprising thing I discovered in reading Bache Matthew’s book is the speed with which the theatre was built. The contract was signed in October, 1912, and the opening was in February 1913. The builder worked round the clock during the winter months, using flares to work by at night.

Background: The Birmingham Rep

“… this little playhouse is the most considerable thing that the twentieth century has seen in the English theatre.”

T. C. Kemp*

In many ways it is painful to gloss over the interesting and well-documented history of the origins and early years of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre but I have to keep in mind that I am just setting the scene for the entrance of Dennis Pratt …

The Birmingham Rep opened it doors, in a purpose-built theatre in the centre of the city, on 15th February, 1913, with Twelfth Night. This was the first Repertory Theatre to be built in England (according to T. C. Kemp*). It had its origins in the work of a group of amateurs who first performed publicly in 1907, led by Barry Jackson who lived in the Moseley area of the city. In the early years this was a peripatetic group calling itself the Pilgrim Players and performing at venues around Birmingham.

Barry Jackson recognised the need for a change from amateur to professional status, and he became the Founder of the permanent theatre and its first Director. But he was more than that - he was also an actor, producer, playwright and stage designer. He was later to be knighted.

One more name to take note of from these early days is that of Thomas Foden Flint. One of the original Pilgrim Players, Thomas became the Stage Manager when the Rep opened but recognising his limitations, he relinquished that post to become the Assistant Stage Manager after 5 months. More about him later.

Once it had been decided that a permanent theatre was to be built there was a 10 month gap between the last production of the Pilgrim Players and the opening on 15th February, 1913.

* The Birmingham Repertory Theatre by T. C. Kemp, Cornish Brothers Ltd, 1943

Another book used to assemble this summary was:

A History of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre by Bache Matthews, Chatto & Windus, 1924

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.

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 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.]