At long last we were on our way to London, to open at the Alhambra Theatre in the fall of 1936. This was to be a most exciting opening. New bellhop uniforms for all the boys. Beautiful new gowns and costumes for all the girls. Pop hired the Kantrovitch twins, Sonya and Darya. The excitement was intense and of course the show was an outstanding success. It had never looked better and Dante was in top form.
The theatre was sold out and after many curtain calls and many bouquets of flowers, swarms of people came backstage. Amongst them were Harold’s mother and sisters and a friend who had recently returned from New Zealand. When he introduced himself and said he had a message from Mrs. Haines [Dolly], Pop said, “Who is Mrs. Haines?”
We had just missed seeing Harold, who was in London on a business trip shortly before we arrived. The company he worked for, Peter Jackson Ltd. (a cigarette company) flew him to London for a business conference. It took him fifty-three days, with nine days in London. He flew by Imperial Airways and KLM with many stops on the way. It was such an interesting trip, that he wrote a series of articles for “Wings Over Continents” in November 1936.
We were booked for one month and stayed three. Then had to go on tour. We were the last show to play the Alhambra, in Leicester Square. It was torn down after our closing.
All our years in England, we made our homebase at Mayfair Court, in London on Stratton Street.
I so enjoyed the shops in London. Particularly the shoe stores that carried American shoes! I had long narrow feet and most of my life the shoes I got did not come in different widths. In other words, the longer the wider.
In Buenos Aires, when Mom found me walking back to our hotel, after the show, in stocking feet, she took me to “Dr. Scholls.” They had shops everywhere. Unhappily the shoes I was fitted with looked like something Grandma would wear. But they were comfortable!
Our first New Year’s Eve, dressed formally, we went to the Savoy after the show. As unbelievable as this sounds, Pop had his wallet stolen! It made headlines in the morning paper, “Pickpocket Steals Dante’s Wallet!,” and of course it was believed to be a publicity stunt.
During our recent European tour and now in London, Pop seemed to enjoy taking Mom, Miki and I to night spots after the show. Miki and I would have enjoyed it more on some occasions, if we could have danced. But very few men would venture near our table and then only once because of that “LOOK” my Father would give them!
Since some of the Stroll Theatres we played were within a two-hour drive of London, we continued to live at Mayfair Court and Pop hired a limousine with chauffeur to drive us back and forth. Some of those drives home were scary due to the London fogs. Pop would get out and walk in front of the car because visibility was so poor.
We visited about thirty-seven cities in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and worked one hundred and fifty consecutive weeks. In Wales we located some relatives of my Grandfather Farne.
We were in Liverpool when I became very ill one afternoon but tried to get through the show that night. The house doctor said it was my appendix and I was sent back to the hotel with a friend who happened to be visiting from Sheffield. The doctor sent instructions for the maid to apply a mustard plaster on my side. She put it on so hot that my skin was blistered but I didn’t feel it!
It was closing night. The show was to leave for Ireland in the morning. So my parents, not knowing the danger of the situation, arranged for an ambulance to meet us in Ireland and have an operation there.
During the night I began to feel better. What we didn’t know was that meant the appendix had ruptured. Before dawn I was losing consciousness and in great pain. Another doctor was called and I was rushed off to a “nursing home.”
Not having miracle drugs in those days, I was in critical condition, with peritonitis and three tubes draining from my abdomen. I vaguely recall Pop standing in the doorway, waving goodbye, the next morning and looking a little green! He could never stand being around anyone who was ill, he would become ill himself.
Mom stayed with me and for three weeks it was touch and go. Altogether it was six weeks before we rejoined the show. And another three months before I could work. I missed going to Ireland.
The people in Liverpool were so kind. Dr. Heaney (only he was called Mr, Heaney) was a miracle worker and he brought his whole family to visit me. Nurse Edwards and Sister Pollock took such wonderful care of me and I kept in touch with them for several years.
The British people made us feel very welcome. We made many friends and when we would make a return engagement it always meant that we would see familiar faces. Frequently people would see the show two or three times, judging by the fan mail, if necessary driving from one city to another to do so.
We did a lot of train traveling and the trains were always very efficient and usually crowded.
Our days became fairly routine when working. We usually slept until eleven or twelve o’clock. Then went shopping or saw a movie, if we didn’t have a matinee, early dinner and to work. After the show Mom, Pop, Miki and I would go to a restaurant or have supper served in our hotel suite. Then we played poker! Very small amounts of money exchanged hands. To bed around three a.m. Sometimes we would have friends of my parents join us and when Pop wasn’t drinking too much we all really enjoyed ourselves.
We read a lot, Mom was always buying books. When Mom finally unpacked all the books she had been traveling around the world, she filled one whole end of the “Rumpus Room” at the ranch, about twenty feet wide and from floor to ceiling.
Mom kept up a heavy correspondence, always answering the fan mail and the requests for autographed pictures. Pop did some dictation but most of the letters were left to Mom’s discretion and whenever the writers asked for passes they were told that they would be waiting for them at the box office.
Even if we were only booked for a week, the first thing Mom did when arriving in a hotel suite, was unpack her electric cords, rearrange the lamps, get out her sewing machine and family pictures and nicknacks. In half an hour it was “home”!
She carried a portable “Victrola,” a record player, the old crank kind. She had a variety of records. She liked the big bands but also classical. Pop also enjoyed violin and well known tenors.
Dante always wanted the curtain to rise on time and was usually annoyed by latecomers in the audience. Sometimes he would step down into the auditorium and (with a smile) escort the people to their seats, much to their embarrassment. Some people did not think it was funny. The audience usually laughed but Dante thought it was rude and certainly distracting to have people straggling in once the show had begun.
Dante began, I think in Australia, a unique way of saying “thank you.” Instead of a bow, he would lift his arms over his head in a circle and slowly bring them down to his sides. His way of saying, “Thanks a million.”