The Golden Gander
The Golden Gander is a 1935 Australia play by Henry C. James and Keith Bean about gold seekers in central Australia. It was presented on the West End at a time when that was rare for Australian plays.[1][2][3][4]
It was originally known as The Golden Goose and debuted in 1935 at the Croydon Theatre with Pat Hanna and Coral Brown.[5][6]
The play received mixed reviews and was not a success. However star Coral Brown was well received.[7]
Reviewing the London production, Leslie Rees said "Any Australian watching the stage must have felt that Mr. James... had squandered one of the most forceful and imaginative of potential Australian themes in inadmissible anticlimax...Mr. James's piece, with its character-types borrowed from the theatrical wardrobe, instead of being observed from life itself, rang cheaply, like a mouth organ played against a symphony orchestra."[2]
Background
[edit]Brisbane journalist Keith Bean bought the news rights of Charles Chapman's expedition to The Granites in 1932. Bean fell ill then sent Henry C James to the desert. Both went to London, met accidentally, and collaborated on the play.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ "Table Talk of the week". Table Talk. No. 3532. Victoria, Australia. 16 January 1936. p. 5. Retrieved 28 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ a b "AUSTRALIAN PLAY IN LONDON". The West Australian. Vol. 52, no. 15, 490. Western Australia. 15 February 1936. p. 5. Retrieved 28 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "MUSIC AND DRAMA". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 30, 626. New South Wales, Australia. 29 February 1936. p. 12. Retrieved 28 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "The Australian as Play Character", The Bulletin, Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 25 March 1936, nla.obj-568724217, retrieved 28 March 2024 – via Trove
- ^ "Australian Play in London". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 27, 890. Victoria, Australia. 9 January 1936. p. 9. Retrieved 28 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "CAPTURING LONDON STAGE'S LIMELIGHT". Smith's Weekly. Vol. XVII, no. 49. New South Wales, Australia. 1 February 1936. p. 19. Retrieved 28 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "MIXED RECEPTION". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 30, 582. New South Wales, Australia. 9 January 1936. p. 10. Retrieved 28 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ ""THE GOLDEN GANDER"". The Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 8 January 1936. p. 1 (CITY FINAL LAST MINUTE NEWS). Retrieved 28 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
External links
[edit]- The Golden Gander at Ausstage