Dennis King – This & That

There are two other interesting items amongst the material sent to me by the New York Public Library (see previous entry).

One of them shows a copy of a portrait of Dennis by an English artist called Miss F. Enid Stoddard. Evidently she also painted the Prince of Wales and Mussolini! The item mentions that “Mr King has been in Chicago since Labor day of 1926 in the part of Villon in ‘The Vagabond King’.” so that dates it. Where is that portrait now, I wonder?

The other, an undated fragment entitled “Notes from luncheon with Dennis King” says:

“King played four weeks of ‘Benjamin Franklin’ through Pennsylvania, down as far as West Virginia. The one and a half hour dramatic lecture is called ‘Go Fly A Kite’ and is based on an enormous amount of research personally done on Franklin by King, who believes him to have been one of the most brilliant men in the history of the U.S.A.”

Jeanette MacDonald’s View

In his biography of Jeanette MacDonald called Hollywood Diva, Edward Baron Turk says that she despised her work on the film of The Vagabond King and that she had two great annoyances of which the second was:

… her leading man, British-born stage baritone Dennis King. Because he originated the role of Friml’s Villon to great acclaim on Broadway, King had Berger [the film’s director] and the front office eating out of his hand from the day shooting began. … While MacDonald had little choice but to accept his backstairs influence, she refused to put up with King’s shameless scene snatching. Ray Rennahan recounted: “After I’d set the lights on them they were supposed to keep their positions on the set and not move unless we were prepared for it. But King would be constantly moving this way and that to get a camera advantage over Jeanette. He’d block her key light by putting a shadow over her face, and just as soon as that would happen, Jeanette would say, ‘Oh, no! Wait a minute!’”

MacDonald’s guard failed her during the shooting of “Only a Rose”. Set in a luxuriant garden, this pivotal moment has Katherine respond in song to the vagabond’s ardent pledge to win her love by saving France. Berger had planned the scene so that except for one brief reaction shot of the actor, MacDonald would appear on-screen alone and in close shot until the song’s final strains, sung in duet. To make sure King would stay on his mark, Berger placed a hobbyhorse between the singers. Yet the baritone, true to form, spoiled MacDonald’s solo shots by prematurely inserting his fingers, nose, and slick pompadour into her frame. Somehow, the resulting glitch went uncorrected. MacDonald was as much enraged by Berger’s negligence as King’s hogging, and pleaded with B. P. Schulberg to order retakes or else drop her name from the opening credits. Schulberg refused to do either. From then on, MacDonald sarcastically referred to the song as “Only a Nose”.

Decide for yourselves. Here is the YouTube clip from The Vagabond King that resulted in Dennis being accused of “shameless scene snatching”:

Jeanette MacDonald and Dennis King - from The Vagabond King

Reference: “Hollywood Diva: A Biography of Jeanette MacDonald” by Edward Baron Turk (1998, University of California Press).

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.]