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Jack Buchanan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the actor. For the Australian rugby league footballer, seeJack Buchanan (rugby league).For the biochemist known as Jack, seeJohn Buchanan (biologist).

Jack Buchanan
Born
Walter John Buchanan

(1891-04-02)2 April 1891
Helensburgh,Dunbartonshire, Scotland
Died20 October 1957(1957-10-20)(aged 66)
London, England
Occupations
  • Actor
  • director
  • producer
  • singer
Years active1912–1957
Spouse(s)Saffo Arnau
1915–1920
(annulled)
Susan Bassett
1947–1957
(one stepdaughter Theo)

Walter John Buchanan(2 April 1891 – 20 October 1957) was a Scottish theatre and film actor, singer, dancer, producer and director.[1]He was known for three decades as the embodiment of the debonair man-about-town in the tradition ofGeorge Grossmith Jr.,and was described byThe Timesas "the last of theknuts."He is best known in America for his role in the classic Hollywood musicalThe Band Wagonin 1953.

Biography

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Buchanan was born inHelensburgh,Dunbartonshire, Scotland, the son of Walter John Buchanan Sr (1865–1902), auctioneer, and his wife, Patricia,néeMcWatt (1860–1936).[2]He was educated at theGlasgow Academy.[3]

Early career

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After a brief attempt to follow his late father's profession and a failure at acting inGlasgow,he became amusic hallcomedian under the name ofChump Buchananand appeared on the variety stage in Scotland.[4]Moving to London and adopting the name "Jack Buchanan", he first appeared on theWest Endin September 1912 in thecomic operaThe Grass Widowat theApollo Theatre.[2]Hardship dogged him for a while before he became famous whilst on tour in 1915 inTonight's the Night.[1]He produced and acted in his own plays both in London and New York City.[citation needed]

Buchanan's health was not robust, and, to his regret, was declared unfit when he attempted to enlist for military service in theFirst World War.He appeared with some success in West End shows during the war, attracting favourable notices as a "knut"[5]in the mould of George Grossmith Jr, and achieved front rank stardom inAndré Charlot's 1921 revueA to Z,[1]appearing withGertrude Lawrence.[2]Among his numbers in the show wasIvor Novello's "And Her Mother Came Too", which became Buchanan's signature song.[1]The show transferred successfully toBroadwayin 1924.[2]For the rest of the 1920s and 1930s he was famous for "the seemingly lazy but most accomplished grace with which he sang, danced, flirted and joked his way through musical shows.... The tall figure, the elegant gestures, the friendly drawling voice, the general air of having a good time."[6]During the Second World War he starred in his own musical productionIt's Time to Dance,[1]whose cast includedFred Emney.The musical show was based on a book by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose, and was staged at theLyric Theatre,Shaftesbury Avenue,London.[citation needed]

Film career and later years

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He made his film debut in the silent cinema, in 1917 and appeared in about three dozen films in his career. In 1938, Buchanan achieved the unusual feat of starring in the London stage musicalThis'll Make You Whistlewhile concurrently filminga film version.[citation needed]The film was released while the stage version was still running; thus the two productions competed with each other. Other starring roles includedMonte Carlo(1930),Smash and Grab(1937) andThe Gang's All Here(1939). He also produced several films includingHappidrome(1943) andThe Sky's the Limit(1938), which he also directed. He continued to work on Broadway and the West End and took roles in severalHollywood musicals,includingThe Band Wagon(1953), his best-known film, in which he plays camp theatre director Jeffrey Cordova oppositeFred AstaireandCyd Charisse.He suffered from spinalarthritis,though this did not stop him from performing several dance numbers with Astaire inThe Band Wagon.[citation needed]

British stage career

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Buchanan's British stage appearances includedA to Z,Battling Butler,Toni,Sunny,That's a Good Girl,Stand up and Sing,Mr. Whittington,This'll Make You Whistle,Top Hat and Tails,The Last of Mrs Cheyney,Fine Feathers,Canaries Sometimes Sing,Don't Listen, Ladies!,Castle in the Air,King's RhapsodyandAs Long as They're Happy.[1]His firstpantomimeappearance (Christmas, 1940) was as "Buttons"inCinderella.

His productions includedThe Women,The Body was Well Nourished,Waltz Without End,It's Time to Dance,A Murder for a Valentine,Treble TroubleandThe Lady Asks for Help.

American stage career

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Buchanan's American stage appearances included:André Charlot's Revues,Charles B. Cochran'sWake Up and Dream,Pardon My English,Between the DevilandHarvey(1948).[1]

Film career

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Buchanan's Hollywood films includedParis,The Show of Shows(1929),Monte Carlo(1930) andThe Band Wagon(1953).[1]

His British films includedYes, Mr Brown(1933),Goodnight, Vienna(1932),That's a Good Girl(1933),Brewster's Millions(1935),Come Out of the Pantry(1935),When Knights Were Bold(1936),This'll Make You Whistle(1936),Smash and Grab(1937),The Sky's the Limit(1938),Break the News(1938),The Gang's All Here(1939),The Middle Watch(1940),Bulldog Sees It Through(1940),As Long as They're Happy(1955) andJosephine and Men(1955).[1]He made one French film (bilingual),The Diary of Major Thompson(1955).

Radio and television

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Buchanan was a frequent broadcaster on British radio, especially during the Second World War. Programmes includedThe Jack Buchanan Showand, in 1955, the hugely popular eight-part seriesMan About Town.

On 12 June 1928, Buchanan participated in the first-ever transatlantic television broadcast. It was conducted by Scottish engineerJohn Logie Baird,an important figure in the technological development of television, and a lifelong friend of Buchanan's. At the time, the few television sets that existed had been custom-built by engineers and were not available for purchase by the general public in the United Kingdom or the United States.

American television shows on which Buchanan appeared during the era of stores selling television sets includedMax Liebman's Spotlightin 1954 andThe Ed Sullivan Show.

Business interests

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In a British tradition of actor-management, Buchanan frequently produced his own shows, many of which were premiered in theAlhambra Theatre, Glasgow.[7]He was also heavily involved in the more commercial side of British show business. He was responsible, with partners, for the building and ownership of theLeicester Square Theatre,London, and the Imperial inBrighton.He also controlled theGarrick Theatrein the West End of London and the King's Theatre inHammersmith.Jack Buchanan Productions (in which his partners wereJ. Arthur Rankand Charles Woolf) ownedRiverside Studiosin Hammersmith.

He had been at school with the pioneer of televisionJohn Logie Bairdand with him co-owned Television Limited, which manufactured and rented televisions.

Not all his business ventures were profitable, and at his death his estate was valued forprobate(in 1958) at £24,489 (equivalent to £723,000 today).

Marriage

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Buchanan's image was that of the raffish eternal bachelor, but he was, unknown to most, married to Russian opera singer Saffo Buchanan, née Drageva (known professionally as Saffo Arnav) from 1915 to 1920, when the marriage was annulled.[8]

Later in life, he married Susan Bassett, an American, in 1947; he was her second husband. Through her he had a stepdaughter, Theo, who lived with them. He had no children of his own.[9]

He once had a relationship with Australian actressCoral Browne,and during her meeting in Moscow with Soviet spyGuy Burgessin the late 1950s she informed Burgess, on mentioning Buchanan, that "we almost got married'." And...? "" He jilted me. "Burgess, previously at the BritishForeign Office,had defected to Moscow a few years earlier, and one of the few mementoes of his earlier life that he had been able to keep was one 78rpm Jack Buchanan record— "Who?"—which, when Browne visited his Moscow flat, he played repeatedly. This event is portrayed inAlan Bennett's playAn Englishman Abroad.[citation needed]

Character

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Buchanan was noted for his portrayals of the quintessential English gentleman, despite being aScot.He was known for his financial generosity to less prosperous actors and chorus performers.[citation needed]Sandy Wilsonrecalled that each year during the running of the annualGrand Nationalhorse race, Buchanan would cancel that day's performance of his current musical and charter an excursion train to the racecourse and back, supplying meals for the entire cast and crew of his show, in addition to giving them £5 each for a "flutter" on the horse of their choice.[citation needed]

Buchanan died in London on October 20, 1957 fromspinal cancerat age 66.[10]

Partial filmography

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Box office ranking

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For a number of years, British film exhibitors voted him among the top ten British stars at the box office via an annual poll in theMotion Picture Herald.

  • 1936 – 6th[11]
  • 1937 – 5th
  • 1938 – 6th[12]

References

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  1. ^abcdefghiColin Larkin,ed. (1997).The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music(Concise ed.).Virgin Books.p. 196.ISBN1-85227-745-9.
  2. ^abcdSpicer, Andrew H:"Buchanan, Walter John (1890–1957)",Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, January 2008. Retrieved 3 November 2008
  3. ^article "The top hat and tails man who left the boos and catcalls behind" in The Stage page 32, Col.1. Thursday 16 May 1985 by Chris Young
  4. ^"Music Hall and Theatre Review".Music Hall and Theatre Review:14. 30 November 1911.
  5. ^defined by theOxford English Dictionaryas "a fashionable or showy young man"
  6. ^The Times:"Last of the knuts", 21 October 1957, p. 12
  7. ^"Alhambra Glasgow" by Graeme SmithISBN978-0-9559420-1-3
  8. ^Article "Charmed Snobbery" by Allen Saddler Page 12 Col.2, para.4; The Stage Thursday 11 April 2002
  9. ^Article "Charmed Snobbery" by Allen Saddler Page 12 Col.3, para.2; The Stage Thursday 11 April 2002
  10. ^article "The top hat and tails man who left the boos and catcalls behind" in The Stage page 32, Col.6., para.2, Thursday 16 May 1985 by Chris Young
  11. ^"PICTURES and PERSONALITIES".The Mercury.Hobart, Tasmania. 10 April 1937. p. 5.Retrieved27 April2012– via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^"FORMBY IS POPULAR ACTOR".The Mercury.Hobart, Tasmania. 25 February 1939. p. 5.Retrieved27 April2012– via National Library of Australia.
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