Chuse Ow
1938 Article
Original article
Young Ernie
“Chuse ‘Ow” is a good title for the feast of fun that the O.A.M.D.S. promise at the Pavilion all next week. One of the features that is likely to prove as popular as anything the society have given the Morley public is a “Discoveries” turn in which four candidates for entertainment honours, selected from a large number of applicants, will be chosen to appear as a “finalist” on Saturday night.
And the audience will do the choosing.
Intending patrons are asked to take pencils with them, voting papers will be issued to each one, and they will be asked to vote for their choice. The slips will be collected and the audience will thus determine who shall entertain the house on Saturday night.
The same procedure on Saturday will find the most popular entertainer among five finalists and a prize of three guineas will go to the winner. The four runners-up will receive half-a-guinea each.
The “Discoveries” include song and dance experts, comedians, ventriloquists, acrobats, impersonators and monologue artists, their age range from six years to 29, and they represent the excellent and varied “local talent” that is to be found in the district.
That is only one act however, out of 22 on the programme. The other 21 contain a merry mixture of singing, dancing and comedy on the Old Morleans’ approved style.
Leo Leathley leads the comedy again, with Tommy Marshall, Arthur Wilson, Harold Brown, Basil Nicholson, Bob Stead, George Wilson, Charles Buxton, Arthur Leathley and Bert Brooke as his crazy collaborators.
“This, That and the Other” Joyce and Dorothy, and “The Girls” will set the audiences’ toes tingling again with their dancing and music, again arranged by John R. Wilson, who has composed the theme song “Chuse ‘Ow” will provide a tuneful background for what promises to be one of the brightest shows of the series.
Bookings are already heavy for the end of the week, but here are plenty of seats available for the earlier performances.
Youngsters Are Favourites On Morley Stage
Finalists in “Chuse ‘Ow” competition All Under 14 So Far
Morley likes its entertainers young, it appears.
In the “local talent” competition organised by the Old Morleans Amateur Dramatic Society as part of their revue “Chuse ‘Ow” this week, the four chosen so far to appear in the final show tomorrow (Saturday) are all under fourteen years of age.
The youngest is 10 year old Phyllis Lessons, comedienne, of Ardlesy. Ernest Wiseman, another comedian from Ardsley is 12. And both Hetty Harris, song and dance artiste, and Stella Hodgson, vocalist and impersonator, are 13.
On Monday little Miss Lessons was competing against Mr W. Mountain (25), ventriloquist; Carine Abbey (11), tap dancer; and Janet Holmes (16), vocalist.
Tuesday’s entertainers, as well as Ernest Wiseman, were Beatrice Matthews (13) and Elsie Riva (12), song and dance artistes; Ronnie Mitchell (6), monologist; and Edith Gaunt (16), accordionist. Young Ronnie Mitchell gave a remarkable performance considering his tender years and was a close candidate for the final honours.
On Wednesday Hetty Harris was accompanied in the “discoveries” turn by Mr James Brooke (22), song impressionist; Brian Killerby (12), monologist; and Leonard Dickinson (24), bone soloist.
Last night’s artistes in addition to Stella Hidgson were Lawrence Haigh (8), chorus singer; E and D Ward (12 and 8), accordionist and dancer; and Mt H Drummer (28), crooner.
Tomorrow (Saturday) , the audience will again vote for its favourite, and the winner will receive a prize of three guineas. Runners up will receive half-a-guinea each.
Final report missing!
The final report was actually missing from the archives and so we cannot publish the results or final comments of the newspaper. However, we can quote from the book “Morley Entertainers” by Ronnie Barraclough with his kind permission;
The Saturday night finalist were;
Phyliss Lessons (10), comedian, Hetty Harris (13), song and dance, “Whirlem & Twirlem” (A Sykes and J Ackroyd), acrobats, Stella Hodgson (13), song and impersonations and Ernest Wiseman (12) comedian.
The voting by the audience on ballot papers was close. Each of the runners up received an award of half-a-guinea whilst an additional prize of a special course in tap-dancing, given by the society’s ballet mistress went to Hetty Harris. The first prize of three guineas was awarded to Ernest Wiseman whose comedy song and clever tap-dance routine “brought the house down”.
© morecambeandwise.com 1938