The Beauty Prize
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''The Beauty Prize'' is 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 ...
in three acts, with music by
Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...
, book and lyrics by
George Grossmith George Grossmith (9 December 1847 – 1 March 1912) was an English comedian, writer, composer, actor, and singer. His performing career spanned more than four decades. As a writer and composer, he created 18 comic operas, nearly 100 musical ...
and
P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...
. It was first produced by Grossmith and J A E Malone on 5 September 1923 at the
Winter Garden Theatre The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It opened in 1911 under designs by architect William Albert Swasey. The Winter Garden's current design dates to 1922, when ...
, Drury Lane, London. It was designed to replace ''
The Cabaret Girl ''The Cabaret Girl'' is a musical comedy in three acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by George Grossmith, Jr. and P. G. Wodehouse. It was produced by Grossmith and J. A. E. Malone at the Winter Garden Theatre in London's West ...
'', which the same team had produced with great success the previous year, at the same theatre and with predominantly the same cast, but failed to achieve the same success. The review of the first night performance in ''The Times'' described it as: The show ran for a total of 214 performances, closing on 8 March 1924. ''The Beauty Prize'' received its first American production when it was presented in a concert-style staging by Musicals Tonight! at the 45th Street Theatre, New York, from 26 April to 8 May 2005. Musicals Tonight!


Synopsis

The plot of ''The Beauty Prize'' involves two pairs of lovers who are kept apart by a succession of complications, before everything is satisfactorily resolved in the final act. John Brooke is a wealthy young Englishman. Carol Stuart is the daughter of James K Stuart, a rich American. Meeting at a charity ball, each is attracted to the other, but pretends to be poor, a deception that continues even after they have become engaged. ;Act 1: Scene 1: The Supper Room at Carl's Private Club The girls discuss a newspaper beauty competition in which the winner will receive a substantial cash prize, plus a husband. John arrives and tells his secretary, Flutey, that he and Carol have set a date for their wedding, but is startled to see Carol's photograph in the newspaper as an entrant in the beauty competition. He does not know that Carol's portrait has been entered, without her knowledge, by Lovey Toots, a milliner's assistant who is an admirer of Carol's. Scene 2: Carol Stuart's Home, Kensington – A few days later Carol's servants and friends are preparing for her wedding when Odo Philpotts arrives at her Kensington apartment. she has won the newspaper competition and he is the prize. Meanwhile, Mrs Hexal, Carol's chaperone—who had hoped to win John for herself and who sees it as her duty to separate Carol from her seemingly impecunious fiancé—has learnt from the morning newspaper that Carol has won the beauty competition; she reveals to John that Carol is a wealthy heiress and manages to insinuate that it was Carol herself who entered the competition, seeking a husband. John is incensed and, believing that Carol has tricked him and that he was nothing more than her latest "purchase", he upbraids her. She, in turn, is angered by his attitude and, in a fit of pique, announces that she will marry Odo. John retaliates by threatening to marry Lovey, unaware that she and Odo are mutually attracted to each other. ;Act 2: On board the SS Majestania – A few days later All the principal characters are on board the ''Majestania'', apparently bound for Carol's home in Florida. Odo has established himself as the life and soul of the party, organising events, winning all the sports contests, and finding ample time to pursue his interest in Lovey. Carol cannot abide him, and John feels the same about Lovey; they argue whenever they meet, but are clearly still in love and regretting their hasty action on the morning of their intended wedding. Flutey sees a way of resolving the situation: he suggests that each, without telling the other, should bribe the wireless operator to deliver to them a phony telegram announcing that their fortune has been lost in a financial crisis; this will restore the situation to what they understood it to be when they first met, thus removing the obstacle to their reconciliation. But Flutey has reckoned without Odo, who nobly announces that he and Lovey are engaged to Carol and John respectively and will not abandon them just because they are now impoverished. ;Act 3: Gardens of James Stuart's Home, Long Island – A few days later In a brisk denouement, Carol and John confess that they are not really ruined, and are reconciled; Odo and Lovey, released from their engagements, can look forward to life together in a little cottage in
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
; and Flutey finds a new position as personal secretary to Carol's father.


Roles and original cast

The original principal cast, in order of appearance, was: *Hon. Dud Wellington –
Peter Haddon Peter Haddon (31 March 1898 – 7 September 1962) was an English actor. Personal life Haddon was born Peter Haddon Tildsley in Rawtenstall, Lancashire. He was the son of Alfred and Mary Tildsley and he had a brother, Vincent Harvey (1894), a ...
*Meadow Grahame – Dorothy Field *Mrs Hexal – Sheila Courtnay *Shinny Fane – Marjorie Spiers *Gypsy Lorrimole – Dorothy Hurst *Flutey Warboy, ''Private secretary to John Brooke'' – George Grossmith, Jr. *John Brooke – Jack Hobbs *Doreen – Eileen Seymour *Hector, ''Butler'' – Ernest Graham *Kitty Wren – Vera Lennox *Carol Stuart –
Dorothy Dickson Dorothy Dickson (July 25, 1893 – September 25, 1995) was an American-born, London-based theater actress and singer, and a centenarian. Biography and Career Dickson is known mostly for her rendition of the Jerome Kern song "Look for the S ...
*Lovey Toots, ''of the Maison Loie'' –
Heather Thatcher Heather Thatcher (3 September 1896 – 15 January 1987) was an English actress in theatre and films. Dancer By 1922, Thatcher was a dancer. She was especially noted for her interpretation of an Egyptian harem dance. Her exotic clothes were desi ...
*Jones, ''a foundling'' – Claude Horton *Mr Odo Philpotts –
Leslie Henson Leslie Lincoln Henson (3 August 1891 – 2 December 1957) was an English comedian, actor, producer for films and theatre, and film director. He initially worked in silent films and Edwardian musical comedy and became a popular music hall come ...
*Quartermaster – Leigh Ellis *James K Stuart, ''Carol's father'' – Arthur Finn *Pedro – William Parnis *Marconi Boy –
Winifred Shotter Winifred Florence Shotter (5 November 1904 – 4 April 1996) was an English actress best known for her appearances in the Aldwych farces of the 1920s and early 1930s. Initially a singer and dancer in the ensembles of musical comedies, Shotte ...


Musical numbers

;Act 1 * When you take the road with me – Gypsy and Ensemble * Now that we are nearly through – Kitty, Hector and Ensemble * What lovelier things a bride could adorn – Kitty and Girls * Honeymoon Isle – Carol and Kitty * I'm a prize – Odo and Carol * It's a long, long day – Flutey * Joy bells – Dud, Kitty, Men and girls * Finale, Act I – Odo and Ensemble ;Act 2 * You'll find me playing mah-jong – Ensemble * You can't make love by wireless – Flutey and Carol * Non-stop dancing – Odo * That's what I'd do for the girl/man I love – John and Carol * A cottage in Kent – Lovey and Odo * Finale, Act 2 – Carol, John, Flutey, Boys and Girls ;Act 3 * Opening chorus – Ensemble * Meet me down on Main Street – Odo and Flutey * Moon love – Carol and Men * Finale – Company The lyrics of ''The Beauty Prize'' included a number of allusions to popular fads of the day: beauty competitions,
mah-jong Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-pla ...
, and endurance dancing; while "Meet me down on Main Street", with its refrain "Oh, won't you meet me down on Main Street / Where the George F Babbits grow", explicitly referenced
Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...
's 1922 novel, ''
Babbitt Babbitt may refer to: Fiction * ''Babbitt'' (novel), a 1922 novel by Sinclair Lewis ** ''Babbitt'' (1924 film), a 1924 silent film based on the novel ** ''Babbitt'' (1934 film), a 1934 film based on the novel *Babbit, the family name of the titl ...
''. "Non-stop dancing", with its references to "Grandma" dancing, also echoes an earlier Wodehouse work: 'George' in this exchange is the novel's composer hero, George Bevan, who is thought to have been modelled on Jerome Kern. As with the previous year's ''The Cabaret Girl'', some of the songs from ''The Beauty Prize'' reappeared in later Kern works: "Moon love" became one version of "Sunshine" in '' Sunny'' (1925) and "You can't make love by wireless" was rewritten as "Bow belles" for ''Blue Eyes'' (1929), while "You'll find me playing mah-jong" was reworked as "De land o' good times" in Kern's unpublished (and, hence, little-known) work '' Gentlemen Unafraid'' (1938). Banfield 2006, pp 234


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beauty Prize 1923 musicals Musicals by P. G. Wodehouse Musicals set in the Roaring Twenties Musicals set on ships Musicals set in England Musicals set in New York Musicals set in Long Island