The Passing Show

Passing Show, The (1894), a revue presented by George Lederer. [ Casino Theatre.] A few prototypical, tentative revues had been presented earlier by John Brougham and others, but this was really the first American revue to employ the generic term (although it spelled it “review”) and is generally acknowledged to have started the fashion for such shows. The original production, in keeping with most subsequent turn‐of‐the‐century revues, used a thin story line to tie together its songs and sketches. In 1912 the Shuberts revived the name The Passing Show and offered it as the title of a series of elaborate revues designed to buck the popularity of the Ziegfeld Follies. Editions were presented yearly, excepting 1920, until 1924. The mountings were popular and not without merit, yet it was widely perceived that they fell short of the Follies in virtually every aspect. Willie and Eugene Howard were the most regularly featured performers in the series. Charlotte Greenwood, Marilyn Miller, Ed Wynn, De Wolf Hopper, Jefferson De Angelis (who had appeared in the 1894 production), Fred and Adele Astaire, Marie Dressler, and Fred Allen all appeared in one or more years. Among the enduring songs first sung in the series were “Pretty Baby” (1916), “Good‐bye Broadway, Hello, France!” (1917), “Smiles” (1918), and “I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles” (1918). An attempt was made to revive the series in the 1940s, but the production closed on tryout. Most of the librettos for the series were written by Harold R. ATTERIDGE (1886–1938), a native of Lake Forest, Illinois, who graduated from the University of Chicago. After his work was seen in the musicals A Winning Miss (1905) and The Girl in the Kimono (1907), he quickly became the Shuberts' in‐house librettist, creating over forty musicals to order for the producers, beginning with Vera Violetta (1911). Atteridge's other works included The Honeymoon Express (1913), Sinbad (1918), Bombo (1921), Make It Snappy (1922), The Dream Girl (1924), Big Boy (1925), Ziegfeld Follies of 1927, and Everybody's Welcome (1931). Many of his librettos were constructed as vehicles for particular stars, especially Al Jolson. For the most part unimaginative and trite, they nevertheless were professionally competent and satisfied audiences if not critics.