Eunice Crowther (21 July 1916 – 13 October 1986) was a British singer, dancer, and
choreographer
Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who c ...
, who in the early part of her career worked on stage, before moving on to television work for the
BBC in the late 1940s. In the 1950s she became a dance director.
Life
Born in the
Shanghai International Settlement
The Shanghai International Settlement () originated from the merger in the year 1863 of the British and American enclaves in Shanghai, in which British subjects and American citizens would enjoy extraterritoriality and consular jurisdictio ...
, China, as Eunice Beryl Cock, she came to England as a child after the Great War of 1914–1918 and was educated at
Bournemouth High School.
["Boscombe" in ''Bournemouth Graphic'' dated 16 October 1936, p. 6] From the age of eighteen, between 1935 and 1936, Crowther originated the part of Dora in the first stage production of ''
This'll Make You Whistle'', a
musical comedy
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...
by
Guy Bolton
Guy Reginald Bolton (23 November 1884 – 4 September 1979) was an Anglo-American playwright and writer of musical comedies. Born in England and educated in France and the US, he trained as an architect but turned to writing. Bolton preferred ...
,
Al Goodhart Al Goodhart (January 26, 1905 – November 30, 1955) a member of ASCAP, was born in New York City and attended DeWitt Clinton High School. During his lifetime he was a radio announcer, vaudeville pianist and special materials writer. He also owned a ...
, and
Maurice Sigler
Maurice Sigler (November 30, 1901 – February 6, 1961) was an American banjoist and songwriter.
Sigler was born in New York City but moved to Birmingham, Alabama at an early age, and received his musical tuition there. In the 1920s, Sigler wa ...
. This was staged at Southsea in December 1935,
J. P. Wearing
John Peter Wearing (born c. 1945) is an Anglo-American theatre historian and professor, who has written numerous books and articles about nineteenth and twentieth-century drama and theatre, including ''The Shakespeare Diaries: A Fictional Autobi ...
, ''The London Stage 1930–1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel'' (The Scarecrow Press, 1990), p. 545 before a long run in London, arriving at the
Streatham Hill Theatre
Streatham Hill Theatre is a historic theatre in Lambeth, England. It was built in 1928–29 and was the last theatre designed by W. G. R. Sprague.
Opening in 1929, it staged theatre, opera, ballet and variety until 1962, apart from a period betwe ...
in January 1936, then moving on to the
Palace Theatre Palace Theatre, or Palace Theater, is the name of many theatres in different countries, including:
Australia
*Palace Theatre, Melbourne, Victoria
*Palace Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales
Canada
*Palace Theatre, housed in the Robillard Block, Mo ...
and finally to
Daly's in London's West End.
[ In June 1936 she sailed from London to ]Las Palmas
Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spain, Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean.
It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in th ...
in the Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
. In October 1936, she was back in England and joined a show called ''Folks d'Apache'',[ and in
May 1939 was working at ]Finchley
Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross.
Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...
in a production of ''Under Your Hat
''Under Your Hat'' is a 1940 British musical comedy spy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge and Austin Trevor.
Production
The film was an independent production made at Isleworth Studios. It was based on a ...
''.
During the Second World War, Crowther was in the chorus line
A chorus line is a large group of dancers who together perform synchronized routines, usually in musical theatre. Sometimes, singing is also performed.
Chorus line dancers in Broadway musicals and revues have been referred to by slang terms su ...
of Jack Hulbert
John Norman Hulbert (24 April 189225 March 1978) was a British actor, director, screenwriter and singer, specializing primarily in comedy productions, and often working alongside his wife (Dame) Cicely Courtneidge.
Biography
Born in Ely, Ca ...
's revue ''Hulbert Follies'', with Mary Barton, Vivien Tandy, Betty Martin, and Beryl Mason, and in July 1940 they were pictured in ''The Bystander
''The Bystander'' was a British weekly tabloid magazine that featured reviews, topical drawings, cartoons and short stories. Published from Fleet Street, it was established in 1903 by George Holt Thomas. Its first editor, William Comyns Beaumon ...
'' "gallivanting in a film studio garden". In January 1941 a newspaper reported that Crowther was both singer and dancer and led the chorus.
In November 1943, Eunice Crowther was pictured in ''The Sketch
''The Sketch'' was a British illustrated weekly journal. It ran for 2,989 issues between 1 February 1893 and 17 June 1959. It was published by the Illustrated London News Company and was primarily a society magazine with regular features on roy ...
'' with Sabrina Gordon and Peggy Watson as one of three chorus girls at the Palace Theatre who also played the xylophone
The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in the ...
. In December 1945, she was in the cast of a show called ''Here Come the Boys'' by Manning Sherwin
Manning Sherwin (January 4, 1902 – July 26, 1974) was an American composer. Born in Philadelphia, Sherwin attended Columbia University before embarking upon a long career in musical theatre and films.
His most enduring composition is the music ...
and Harold Purcell
Harold Purcell (1907–1977) was a British writer and musical lyricist who frequently collaborated with Harry Parr-Davies. They co-wrote the book for the 1952 Anna Neagle musical '' The Glorious Days''.Wearing p.216
Selected works
* ''Magyar M ...
at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. This arrived at the Saville Theatre
ODEON Covent Garden is a four-screen cinema in the heart of London's West End. Formerly known as The Saville Theatre, a former West End theatre at 135 Shaftesbury Avenue in the London Borough of Camden. The theatre opened in 1931, and became a ...
, Shaftesbury Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue is a major road in the West End of London, named after The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. It runs north-easterly from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus. From Piccadilly Cir ...
, in May 1946, with the ''Tatler
''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...
'' noting that "Miss Eunice Crowther and Miss Natasha Sokolova have some graceful dancing numbers", and ''The Stage
''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'' commenting approvingly on Crowther's opening number in the show, "The Backless Rabbit", with the Rhythm Brothers.
Crowther first came to national attention in Britain as a singer and dancer in Jack Hulbert's ''Hulbert Follies'' of 1948, a BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...
show in six episodes. In a two-hour BBC Christmas production of ''Cinderella
"Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...
'' in 1950, she played Dandini and was also the show's choreographer. She went on to appear in films and other television work, including '' The Golden Year'' (1951), in which she was also choreographer, jointly with Irving Davies
Irving Davies (26 April 1926 – 14 October 2002) was a Welsh dancer and choreography (dance), choreographer.
Born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales,Brian McFarlane, ed., ''The Encyclopedia of British Film'' (4th edition, 2016), p. 1905 Davies's ...
, and launched a new career as a dance director. She worked with Hulbert again in 1953 to arrange the dances for ''Over the Moon'', a revue starring Cicely Courtneidge
Dame Esmerelda Cicely Courtneidge, (1 April 1893 – 26 April 1980) was an Australian-born British actress, comedian and singer. The daughter of the producer and playwright Robert Courtneidge, she was appearing in his productions in the West E ...
at the Casino.
In 1966, under her real name of Eunice B. Cock, Crowther married John A. Norman at Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
. She died in France in 1986.Eunice Crowther
at osobnosti.cz, accessed 16 March 2019
Notes and references
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowther, Eunice
1916 births
1986 deaths
British musical theatre actresses
British choreographers
People educated at Talbot Heath School
Actors from Bournemouth
Mass media people from Bournemouth