Chu Chin Chow

Chu Chin Chow
Oscar Asche in Chu Chin Chow
Music	Frederic Norton
Book	Oscar Asche
Based upon	Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves
Productions	1916 West End 1917 Broadway 1934 Film 1940/1941 West End revival

Chu Chin Chow is a musical comedy written, produced and directed by Oscar Asche, with music by Frederic Norton, based (with minor embelishments) on the story of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. The piece premiered at His Majesty's Theatre in London on 3 August 1916 and ran for five years and a total of 2,238 performances (more than twice as many as any previous musical), an astonishing record that stood for nearly forty years until Salad Days. The show's American production in New York played for a 208 performances in 1917-1918 and subsequently had successful seasons elsewhere in America and Australia, including in 1920, 1921 and 1922.

A film of Chu Chin Chow was made by the Gainsborough Studios in 1934, with George Robey playing the part of Ali Baba and Anna May Wong playing Zahrat Al-Kulub. The show toured the British provinces for many years. It returned to London in 1940 for 80 performances, when it was interrupted by the London bombing but then returned in 1941 for another 158 nights. In 1953, an ice version was produced at London’s Empire Pool, Wembley, which also toured the provinces.

Background

The success of the "Arabian Nights" production Kismet (a 1911 play by Edward Knoblock, upon which the 1953 musical is based) inspired Oscar Asche to write and produce Chu Chin Chow. Asche also played the lead role of Abu Hasan, leader of the forty thieves (the "Chu Chin Chow" of the title is actually the robber chief himself impersonating one of his victims). Besides Asche, the production starred his wife, Lily Brayton, and Courtice Pounds.

Chu Chin Chow was described as a combination of musical comedy and pantomime. It was a big budget spectacular costing £5,300, with over a dozen scene changes, fantastic sets, big dance routines, exotic costumes and Asche's well-known innovative lighting designs. The design for the show was influenced by the English taste for all things connected with Asia (known as "orientalism") which had originated with Diaghilev’s production of the ballet Scheherazade.

Theatre journal The Era said that Norton's music had "a touch of the East but for the most part it was on a level with the tender melody of musical comedy" and "hardly inspired". Nevertheless, many of the songs became hits, and "The Cobbler's Song" and "Any Time’s Kissing Time" in particular entered the repertoire of ballad singers for at least three or four decades.

Tickets to see Chu Chin Chow were particularly eagerly sought by troops on leave from the Western Front. One of the attractions for the on-leave soldiers was the chorus of pretty slave girls who, for the period, were very scantily dressed. Complaints, not by the soldiers, resulted in the Lord Chamberlain (the British theatre censor) viewing the show and requiring "this naughtiness" to be stopped -- at least for a while. The cast was large and included a camel, a donkey, poultry and snakes. A total of 2,800,000 people saw the show.

Chu Chin Chow was one of three hit musical shows that are most associated with the London musical stage during World War I (the others being The Bing Boys Are Here and The Maid of the Mountains), and music or scenes from these have been included as background in many films set in this period. Interestingly, the three shows were each very different from each other. The Bing Boys was a revue, The Maid was essentially an operetta, and Chu Chin Chow is often considered an adult pantomime. Other popular musicals of the period were Theodore & Co (1916), The Boy (1917), and Yes, Uncle! (1917). Audiences wanted light and uplifting entertainment during the war, and all these shows delivered it.

Synopsis

The wealthy merchant Kasim Baba (brother of Ali Baba) is preparing to give a lavish banquet for a wealthy Chinese merchant, Chu Chin Chow, who is on his way from China. The Robber Chieftain, Abu Hasan wishes to add to his riches the property of Kasim. Abu Hasan forces his captive, the beautiful Zahrat Al-Kulub, to spy for him in Kasim's house by holding her lover hostage. She is nearly found out several times. Zahrat sends a message to Abu Hasan, letting him know about the banquet. Hasan arrives at Kasim's palace in disguise as Chu Chin Chow, whom his gang has robbed and murdered. He tries to glean information that will enable him to rob his host.

Meanwhile, the slaves tell Ali Baba about Hasan's secret cave and the password "open sesame". Ali Baba helps himself to some of the thieves' treasure. Kasim persuades his brother to tell him where his sudden wealth came from and slips out to see what he can find at Hasan's cave. Kasim finds the treasure but is captured by Abu Hasan and put to death. Finally, on the eve of an attack on Ali Baba’s family planned by Abu Hasan, Zahrat gets her revenge on Hasan and by disposing of the forty thieves using the traditional boiling oil, stabs Abu Hasan, and generally saves the day. The lovers are united, and all ends happily.

Original cast

Costume designs shown in The Tatler, 1917

• Abu Hasan – Oscar Asche
• Kassim Baba – Frank Cochrane
• Ali Baba – Courtice Pounds
• Nur Al-Huda Ali – J V Bryant
• Abdullah – Norman Williams
• Marjanah – Violet Essex
• Zahrat Al-Kulub – Lily Brayton
• Alcolom – Aileen D'Orme
• Mahbubah – Sydney Fairbrother

Songs

• I am Chu Chin Chow
• Cleopatra's Nile
• The Robbers March
• Any time is kissing time
• I long for the Sun
• The Cobbler's Song
• Corraline
• I'll Sing & Dance
• I Love Thee So
• Behold
• When a Pullet is Plump

Chu Chin Chow in popular culture

• The character Mame Dennis mentions in the novel Auntie Mame that she adored her time as a chorus girl in Chu Chin Chow with her bosom buddy Vera Charles and tries to recreate the experience.

References

• Colin Larkin (ed) Guinness Who's Who of Stage Musicals - ISBN 0-85112-756-8
• CD notes "Chu Chin Chow" Angel Records
• record notes; "British Light Music" by Philip Sourcroft

External links

• Synopsis and other information
• Australian info
• Profile of Chu Chin Chow
• Background of show and film
• Review of the 1934 film
• Information about Chu Chin Chow and Asche
• Information about Brayton and Chu Chin Chow
• List of longest running plays in London and New York

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