April 9, 1905 - Florodora in San Francisco

Correction: I had previously written that Florodora found its way to the San Francisco area in 1907. Previously, I had only found early references to a production of Florodora at Idora Park in Oakland, staged there because of the damage to S.F. theaters due to the 1906 quake.

Now I've come across a reference and an advert for Florodora production at the Tivoli Opera House in San Francisco - the major performing arts house at the time - in April 1905. First I found a short reference in Week's Offerings at the Theaters in the San Francisco Call newspaper dated April 23, 1905 in the With the Players and Music Folk section on page 19. The paragraph reads:

The Tivoli is enjoying success with its good production of "Florodora" that, it should be remembered, may now be seen for the first time at popular prices.

You can see the whole newspaper page here, though you have to zoom in the the second column from the right, three paragraphs above the lower right photo to find the text quoted above.Later in the newspaper on page 35, there is the ad, shown above. From this I was able to determine that the show opened in San Francisco on April 9, 1905. But, it also says "Better Than The Original", and I don't know whether that means the original N.Y. or London productions or if it is a reference to an even earlier San Francisco opening of Florodora. The paucity of the review suggests there is an even earlier S.F. production to find.

Top ticket price of 75 cents and the California Beauty Sextet! The review from April 10, 1905 is below.

The Mountain View California-Florodora Connection

There had to be a Mountain View-Florodora connection, and there is: Delphin Michael Delmas (right).

Who you may ask was Delphin Michael Delmas? He was a farmer, dam builder, district attorney, defense attorney, Regent of the University of California, presidential nominator, who was born in France in 1844 but moved to Santa Clara in 1854. A graduate of Santa Clara, and Yale, he came to own 600 acres in Mountain View near El Camino and Bernardo (before it was Sunnyvale).

The Florodora connection? One of the most prominent attorney's of his day, he was the defense attorney in the "crime of the century" defending Harry K Thaw in the murder of Stanford White in New York. The case was the notorious Florodora Girl Evelyn Nesbit love triangle made famous in the movie and musical Ragtime. (Delphin got Harry acquitted by reason of insanity!)

You can read all about Delphin M, Delmas at the Rengstoff House website.

Oh, well there is another Mountain View connection, though more tenuous: San Francisco native Edna May Wallace who played Lady Holyrood in the original New York production of Florodora is one of the notables buried in the Mountain View Cemetery - in Oakland.

Florodora Casting Is Complete...

I am proud to announce the cast of the Lyric Theatre Discovery Series 2009 revival production of Leslie Stuart's musical theater legend Florodora

Cyrus W. Gilfain.... Michael Crozier
Frank Abercoed..... Nicholas Patton
Capt. Arthur Donegal...... David Powell
Anthony Tweedlepunch.. Mark Blattel
Leandro..... Daniel Zulevic
Dolores..... Diane Squires
Lady Holyrood..... Cara Arellano
Angela Gilfain..... Elinor Gates
Valleda.....

Islanders and English ("Florodora") Girls....

Pat Grennan, Connie Kleinjans, Kathy Kriese, Carol Ann Parker, Rebecca Sacks, Dana Tomasino

Clerks, Islanders and Florodora Boys.....

Mark Baushke, Francis Campana, Mike Ewaska, Gavan Kwan, Bob March, Ed Wei

And the Lyric Theatre Salon Orchestra.....

Violin... Barbara Rumsby
Viola... Goetz Leonhardt
Cello... Madeleine Graham
Bass... Linda Jansen
Flute... Lisa Lawrence
Clarinet... Linda Wilson
Trumpet... Chris Wilhite
Trombone... Jeff Yaeger
Percussion... Justin Horn
Piano... Bruce Herman

Florodora in Summer MVCPA Preview Magazine

There is an advert for our Discovery production of Florodora in the Summer issue of Preview, the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts magazine:

One Tenor Shy of a Full Perfume Factory

We are almost fully cast. We are currently one ensemble tenor shy of a full perfume factory. That is to say that we almost have the six clerks, the six English Girls and the 9 named lead characters fully cast. I'll be publishing a cast list shortly.

Sunday in the Park With George Florodora Sighting

by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. In act two:

George: He denied conventional perspective and conventional space.

Marie: He was unconventional in his liferstyle as well
(ad-libbing again)

So was I! You know I was a Florodora Girl for a short time -- when I left Charleston and before I was married to my first husband --

George (Interrupting her): Marie. Marie!!

Important Dates

Aside from our usual rehearsal schedule commencing on June 29th, here are dates to keep open:

• Saturday May 30 - time TBD Tentative date for our Florodora read through, familiarization session and potluck BBQ at my house. More information very soon.
• Saturday July 25 1-4pm (time tentative) Sitzprobe at the Lyric Warehouse.
• Friday July 31 - In-venue dress rehearsal at the MVCPA. Call at 6pm. Note that Thursday July 30 is currently scheduled as no rehearsals dark night for the produciton.

Owen Hall, librettist (or, OK, One More Florodora Background Tidbit)

The standard references in the literature about the Florodora librettist Owen Hall (real name: James Davis, 10 April 1853 - 9 April 1907) are sparse, and on the whole, rather offhand. The pseudonym "Owen Hall" was an ironic nod ('owing all') towards his extensive debts. Another of his pseudonyms was "Payne Nunn." In fact, the was astoundingly prolific during the late Victorian and Edwardian era, and going from the text of our show, quite a good humorist and obviously a well-read literate fellow (as one might expect from a University of London graduate).

As evidence, Neil Midkiff writes of the lyrics in the clerk's sextet in act 1: "In reading a biography of Dr. Samuel Johnson, the English lexicographer, I was surprised to find a reference to "Tweedledum and Tweedledee" in a quotation from a 1782 letter from Boswell to another friend of Johnson. I had thought those names were invented by Lewis Carroll for _Through the Looking-Glass_, but it turns out that they date back at least to 1725, when an English poet and diarist compared Handel and Bononcini (then in rivalry for superiority in London's musical scene) to these indistinguishable pair of puny rivals from a traditional nursery rhyme."