Colour newsreel item. No titles.
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London.
Great colour shots of neon lights of Piccadilly Circus in London at night. Several quick shots showing neon billboards outside west end theatres - Rosemary Harris and Paul Rogers in Neil Simon's 'Plaza Suite', John Gielgud in Alan Bennett's 'Forty Years On', 'Two Cities', Danny La Rue, Prince of Wales theatre, Talk of the Town, Warner cinema, several quick cinema billboards - this is great for illustrating late 1960s theatre, cinema and club scene.
Cut to M/S of film star Ginger Rogers in costume as 'Mame', wearing a fabulous tall hat and 1920s fur-trimmed coat. Photographers take pictures of her - could be on stage of Drury Lane theatre. Several more shots of Ginger in costumes from the show, in pre-opening night publicity work for the theatre show. One outfit has transparent, chiffon trousers - wow! Ginger poses astride a huge cut-out moon on the stage.
Exterior of Drury Lane theatre with billboards outside advertising 'Mame'. Shots of the chauffeurs outside the theatre, asleep and chatting to each other. Inside we see front of house staff snoozing in the foyer. Shot of audience applauding in the auditorium, during the first night performance. L/S of Ginger bowing on stage. M/S of actor Roger Moore in the audience with a glamorous woman - his wife, Luisa?
Several shots of people coming down the stairs and into the foyer after the show. Among the first-nighters are Sid James and wife Valerie, Billy Cotton (?) with wife (and daughter?), Liberace with Millicent Martin, Bernard Braden and wife, actress Eunice Gayson, plus a few people unrecognised by this cataloguer. Backstage we see Ginger in heavy stage make-up and a fur-trimmed gown kissing a little boy, probably her co-star in the show and shaking hands with people. Wardrobe girls hold out the train of her long, petticoated gown while Ginger poses with her mother Lela.
Note; apparently the people identified in the synopsis as Billy Cotton and his wife and daughter are in fact the old film stars (and married couple) Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels, with (probably) their daughter Barbara.
FILM ID:2093.23
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