1906 Was a Vintage Year–Next Came Victor Herbert’s The Red Mill

The featured image provides us with a glimpse of two marvelous vaudevillians who managed to make a larger mark on Broadway than they did on the vaudeville circuits. Their names were Fred Stone and David C. Montgomery. The picture is from their 1903 hit, The Wizard of Oz, with Fred playing the loose-limbed scarecrow and David playing the tin-man with “creaky” movements. This had been their second show on Broadway, the first being The Girl from Up There in 1901 (marking only the fifth year of the partnership they formed in 1896). The Girl from Up There had had a very respectable run of 96 performances, but The Wizard of Oz gained a much larger audience, logging in 306 performances.

According to Wikipedia, “Their physical antics and comic duets made them both stars.” As we noted in a previous post, Victor Herbert’s Babes in Toyland was commissioned in direct response to the success being enjoyed by the producers of The Wizard of Oz. Three years later, Herbert opened The Red Mill on Broadway (September 24, 1906) with Stone and Montgomery in the cast. They played two vaudevillians stranded in Holland. They appeared in Herbert’s The Lady of the Slipper in 1912 (photo shown at right: Montgomery on the left as Punks, Elsie Janis as Cinderella and Stone on the right as Spooks) . Their last show was Chin Chin in 1914.  David died unexpectedly in April 1917 in Chicago, ending the partnership.

Herbert penned sixteen songs for The Red Mill, of which nine can be said to be genuine candidates for inclusion in Herbert’s songbook of memorable tunes. Three women vied for the spotlight in the show, Gretchen, the Burgomaster’s daughter; Bertha, the Buromaster’s sister; and Tina, daughter of the owner of The Red Mill Inn. Gretchen is in love with Captain Van Damm but is being forced by her father to marry the womanizing Governor of Zeeland.

Stone and Montgomery play the two vaudevillians, Con Kidder and Kid Conner, respectively. They try slipping out of their window at the Inn to avoid paying their bill; however, they are caught and are forced to pay off their debt through serving in various capacities at the Inn.

The plot is fairly routine: Gretchen tries to run away with Van Damm but is caught and locked in the Mill; Con and Kid help her escape; the Governor is fooled into marrying Bertha; Van Damm turns out to be heir to a sizable amount and is permitted to marry Gretchen.

We need to take note of one thing before we get into the music; normally, the order of the musical numbers is determined by the order found in the program for opening night. In the case of The Red Mill, no program could be found and so the order was prepared from the published vocal score.

We have found a wonderful recording of the show by Reader’s Digest; Gretchen is sung by Mary Ellen Pracht; Tina by Jean Saunders; and Bertha by Evelyn Sachs. Richard Fredericks sings the role of Van Damm, William Chapman sings the part of the Governor and Stanley Grover portrays Con Kidder. The first clip has the overture, the opening chorus,”By the Side of the Mill” and two duets between Van Damm and Gretchen: “(In) The Isle of Our Dreams” and “Moonbeams.”

A song that is not included in the Digest recording is Tina’s delightful “Mignonette.” We have recording made by the Gregg Smith Singers.

There is a fun number provided to Con and Kid, titled “(Always) Go While the Goin’ Is Good;” however, we have been unable to find a youtube version of it to include here.

At the end of Act 1, a car accident causes a family to stay at the Inn; in the vocal score, it is described as “An Accident” to be sung by the ensemble. To the modern world, it is called “When You’re Pretty and the World Is Fair.” Here is the number from the Decca recording, made in 1945.

This brings us to the end of Act 1.