The Midnight Sons

The Midnight Sons is a 1909 American musical comedy that was popular upon its release.

The Midnight Sons
Interior theatre scene from Act 2
Written byMusic by Raymond Hubbell; Book by Glen MacDonough
Date premiered22 May 1909
Place premieredBroadway Theatre (41st Street)
Original languageEnglish
GenreMusical comedy

The music was by Raymond Hubbell with a book by Glen MacDonough.[1] Opening on May 22, 1909, it ran for 257 performances at the old Broadway Theatre in New York City.[2][3]

Plot

Senator Constant Noyes has four sons who are compelled to find jobs, and the loose plot follows these attempts.[4][5][6][7]

Act 2 opened with the audience facing a false theater set filled with actors and wax dummies, before which the cast would give little performances with their back to the real audience. The set audience included likenesses of famous New Yorkers including theatre critics. Arthur Voegtlin was the set designer.[5][8]

Blanche Ring's performance of I've Got Rings On My Fingers (And Bells On My Toes) became the hit of the show.[9]

Reception

Staged by Lew Fields as a "summer" offering, it had preview performances outside New York and [10] play opened on May 22, 1909 at the old Broadway Theatre.

The play was quite popular with audiences and critics. After running for 257 performances on Broadway, it went on tour starting on January 1, 1910.[5] After cast member Lotta Faust died in early 1910 of pneumonia,[11] a benefit performance of the play was performed at the Broadway in May 1910 for her mother.[12]

Broadway cast
  • Senator Constant Noyes ... George A. Schiller
  • Jack ... Joseph M. Ratliff
  • Dick .... Harry Fisher
  • Harry ... Denman Maley
  • Tom ... Fritz Williams
  • Merri Murray ... Lotta Faust
  • Rose Raglan ... Norma Brown
  • Claire Voyant ... Linden Beckwith
  • Pansy Burns ... George Monroe
  • Lily Burns ... Lillian Lee
  • A. Case Daly ... Taylor Holmes
  • Souseberry Lushmore ... Vernon Castle
  • Miss Beatrice Ballast ... Blanche Sherwood
  • Lady Fire Fly ... Gladys Moore
  • Mlle De Leon ... Maybelle Meeker
  • The Cynical Owl ... Berchard Dickerson
  • The Baby Owl ... Johnnie Hines
  • Mercedes Panhard ... Nan J. Brennan
  • Katherine Knockwell ... Florence Cable
  • Mrs. Carrie Margin ... Blanche Ring[13]

Other

F. Scott Fitzgerald references the musical in his 1928 short story The Captured Shadow, describing a sheet music cover from the play with "three men in evening clothes and opera hats sauntering jovially along Broadway." One of these men would have been dancer Vernon Castle.[14]

gollark: ŋŋææŋŋŋ
gollark: Antipoints cause bees to be attracted to you.
gollark: You get them by breaking the rules.
gollark: Can we have antipoints?
gollark: Why are buildings untradeable?

References
  1. (16 May 1909). The Midnight Sons by Glen MacDonough and Raymond Hubbell, Opens at the Broadway Saturday, The New York Times
  2. (5 June 1909). "The Midnight Sons" is the Aurora Borealis of the New York Summer Stage, Ogden Standard
  3. (23 May 1909). Midnight Sons on View, The Sun
  4. (26 April 1911). "The Midnight Sons", Rock Island Argus (brief summary of plot)
  5. Golden, Eve. Vernon and Irene Castle's Ragtime Revolution, pp. 14-15 (2007)
  6. (July 1909). Some Old and New Plays, The Theatre, Vol. 10, No. 101, pp. 2-3
  7. (August 1909). "The Midnight Sons" (review), The Green Book Album, pp. 441-42.
  8. (May 1910) Plays and Players, The Cost of Musical Comedy, The American Magazine, Vol. 70, No. 1, pp. 105, 111.
  9. Borman, Gerald & Richard Norton. American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle, p. 294 (4th ed. 2011)
  10. (13 May 1909). "The Midnight Sons" Staged, The New York Times (performances at New Haven, Connecticut started May 12, 1909)
  11. (26 January 1910). Lotta Faust Dead: Talented Musical Comedy Actress Last Appeared in "The Midnight Sons", The New York Times
  12. (2 May 1910). $3,500 for Mrs. Faust, The New York Times
  13. (23 May 1909). "The Midnight Sons" has two good parts; Its Bright Features are Blanche Ring's Songs and Vernon Castle's Comedy, The New York Times (review and cast listing)
  14. Adams, Jane. 'The Melody Lingers On': Dance, Music, and Film in F. Scott Fitzgerald's Short Fiction, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Leicester (2015)
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