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Jack Buchanan

May 13, 2023

This article is about the actor. For the Australian rugby league footballer, see Jack Buchanan (rugby league). For the biochemist known as Jack, see John Buchanan (biologist).

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 of George Grossmith Jr., and was described by The Times as "the last of the knuts." He is best known in America for his role in the classic Hollywood musical The Band Wagon in 1953.

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)

Biography

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

Early career

After a brief attempt to follow his late father's profession and a failure at acting in Glasgow, he became a music hall comedian under the name of Chump Buchanan and appeared on the variety stage in Scotland.[4] Moving to London and adopting the name "Jack Buchanan", he first appeared on the West End in September 1912 in the comic opera The Grass Widow  at the Apollo Theatre.[2] Hardship dogged him for a while before he became famous whilst on tour in 1915 in Tonight'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 the First 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 in André Charlot's 1921 revue A to Z,[1] appearing with Gertrude Lawrence.[2] Among his numbers in the show was Ivor Novello's "And Her Mother Came Too", which became Buchanan's signature song.[1] The show transferred successfully to Broadway in 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 production It's Time to Dance,[1] whose cast included Fred Emney. The musical show was based on a book by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose, and was staged at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London.[citation needed]

Film career and later years

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 musical This'll Make You Whistle while concurrently filming a 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 included Monte Carlo (1930), Smash and Grab (1937) and The Gang's All Here (1939). He also produced several films including Happidrome (1943) and The Sky's the Limit (1938), which he also directed. He continued to work on Broadway and the West End and took roles in several Hollywood musicals, including The Band Wagon (1953), his best-known film, in which he plays camp theatre director Jeffrey Cordova opposite Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. He suffered from spinal arthritis, though this did not stop him from performing several dance numbers with Astaire in The Band Wagon.[citation needed]

British stage career

Buchanan's British stage appearances included A 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 Rhapsody and As Long as They're Happy.[1] His first pantomime appearance (Christmas, 1940) was as "Buttons" in Cinderella.

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

American stage career

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

Film career

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

His British films included Yes, 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) and Josephine and Men (1955).[1] He made one French film (bilingual), The Diary of Major Thompson (1955).

Radio and television

Buchanan was a frequent broadcaster on British radio, especially during the Second World War. Programmes included The Jack Buchanan Show and, in 1955, the hugely popular eight-part series Man About Town.

On 12 June 1928, Buchanan participated in the first-ever transatlantic television broadcast. It was conducted by Scottish engineer John Logie Baird, an important figure in the technological development of television. 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 included Max Liebman's Spotlight in 1954 and The Ed Sullivan Show.

Business interests

In a British tradition of actor-management, Buchanan frequently produced his own shows, many of which were premiered in the Alhambra 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 the Leicester Square Theatre, London, and the Imperial in Brighton. He also controlled the Garrick Theatre in the West End of London and the King's Theatre in Hammersmith. Jack Buchanan Productions (in which his partners were J. Arthur Rank and Charles Woolf) owned Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.

He had been at school with the pioneer of television John Logie Baird and 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 for probate (in 1958) at £24,489 (equivalent to £609,000 today).

Marriage

Buchanan's image was that of the raffish eternal bachelor, but he was, unknown to most, married to Saffo Arnau in 1915. She was a singer. This marriage was annulled in 1920.[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 him and his wife. He had no children of his own.[9]

He had previously had a relationship with Australian actress Coral Browne, and during her meeting in Moscow with Soviet spy Guy Burgess in the late 1950s she informed Burgess, on mentioning Buchanan, that "we almost got married'. "And...?" "He jilted me." Burgess, previously at the British Foreign 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 in Alan Bennett's play An Englishman Abroad.[citation needed]

Character

Buchanan was noted for his portrayals of the quintessential English gentleman, despite being a Scot. He was known for his financial generosity to less prosperous actors and chorus performers.[citation needed] Sandy Wilson recalled that each year during the running of the annual Grand National horse 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 in 1957 from spinal cancer at age 66.[10]

Partial filmography

Box office ranking

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 the Motion Picture Herald.

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

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 196. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  2. ^ a b c d Spicer, 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 the Oxford English Dictionary as "a fashionable or showy young man"
  6. ^ The Times: "Last of the knuts", 21 October 1957, p. 12
  7. ^ "Alhambra Glasgow" by Graeme Smith ISBN 978-0-9559420-1-3
  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. Retrieved 27 April 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "FORMBY IS POPULAR ACTOR". The Mercury. Hobart, Tasmania. 25 February 1939. p. 5. Retrieved 27 April 2012 – via National Library of Australia.

External links

  • Works by or about Jack Buchanan at Internet Archive
  • Jack Buchanan (I) at IMDb
  • Jack Buchanan's biography at Helensburgh Heroes
  • Photographs and literature
  • . Theatre & Performance. Victoria and Albert Museum. Archived from the original on 13 April 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2011.

May 13, 2023
jack, buchanan, this, article, about, actor, australian, rugby, league, footballer, rugby, league, biochemist, known, jack, john, buchanan, biologist, walter, john, buchanan, april, 1891, october, 1957, scottish, theatre, film, actor, singer, dancer, producer,. This article is about the actor For the Australian rugby league footballer see Jack Buchanan rugby league For the biochemist known as Jack see John Buchanan biologist 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 of George Grossmith Jr and was described by The Times as the last of the knuts He is best known in America for his role in the classic Hollywood musical The Band Wagon in 1953 Jack BuchananBornWalter John Buchanan 1891 04 02 2 April 1891Helensburgh Dunbartonshire ScotlandDied20 October 1957 1957 10 20 aged 66 London EnglandOccupationsActordirectorproducersingerYears active1912 1957Spouse s Saffo Arnau1915 1920 annulled Susan Bassett1947 1957 one stepdaughter Theo Contents 1 Biography 1 1 Early career 1 2 Film career and later years 2 British stage career 3 American stage career 4 Film career 5 Radio and television 6 Business interests 7 Marriage 8 Character 9 Partial filmography 10 Box office ranking 11 References 12 External linksBiography EditBuchanan was born in Helensburgh Dunbartonshire Scotland the son of Walter John Buchanan Sr 1865 1902 auctioneer and his wife Patricia nee McWatt 1860 1936 2 He was educated at the Glasgow Academy 3 Early career Edit After a brief attempt to follow his late father s profession and a failure at acting in Glasgow he became a music hall comedian under the name of Chump Buchanan and appeared on the variety stage in Scotland 4 Moving to London and adopting the name Jack Buchanan he first appeared on the West End in September 1912 in the comic opera The Grass Widow at the Apollo Theatre 2 Hardship dogged him for a while before he became famous whilst on tour in 1915 in Tonight 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 the First 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 in Andre Charlot s 1921 revue A to Z 1 appearing with Gertrude Lawrence 2 Among his numbers in the show was Ivor Novello s And Her Mother Came Too which became Buchanan s signature song 1 The show transferred successfully to Broadway in 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 production It s Time to Dance 1 whose cast included Fred Emney The musical show was based on a book by Douglas Furber and L Arthur Rose and was staged at the Lyric Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue London citation needed Film career and later years Edit 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 musical This ll Make You Whistle while concurrently filming a 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 included Monte Carlo 1930 Smash and Grab 1937 and The Gang s All Here 1939 He also produced several films including Happidrome 1943 and The Sky s the Limit 1938 which he also directed He continued to work on Broadway and the West End and took roles in several Hollywood musicals including The Band Wagon 1953 his best known film in which he plays camp theatre director Jeffrey Cordova opposite Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse He suffered from spinal arthritis though this did not stop him from performing several dance numbers with Astaire in The Band Wagon citation needed British stage career EditBuchanan s British stage appearances included A 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 Rhapsody and As Long as They re Happy 1 His first pantomime appearance Christmas 1940 was as Buttons in Cinderella His productions included The Women The Body was Well Nourished Waltz Without End It s Time to Dance A Murder for a Valentine Treble Trouble and The Lady Asks for Help American stage career EditBuchanan s American stage appearances included Andre Charlot s Revues Charles B Cochran s Wake Up and Dream Pardon My English Between the Devil and Harvey 1948 1 Film career EditBuchanan s Hollywood films included Paris The Show of Shows 1929 Monte Carlo 1930 and The Band Wagon 1953 1 His British films included Yes 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 and Josephine and Men 1955 1 He made one French film bilingual The Diary of Major Thompson 1955 Radio and television EditBuchanan was a frequent broadcaster on British radio especially during the Second World War Programmes included The Jack Buchanan Show and in 1955 the hugely popular eight part series Man About Town On 12 June 1928 Buchanan participated in the first ever transatlantic television broadcast It was conducted by Scottish engineer John Logie Baird an important figure in the technological development of television 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 included Max Liebman s Spotlight in 1954 and The Ed Sullivan Show Business interests EditIn a British tradition of actor management Buchanan frequently produced his own shows many of which were premiered in the Alhambra 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 the Leicester Square Theatre London and the Imperial in Brighton He also controlled the Garrick Theatre in the West End of London and the King s Theatre in Hammersmith Jack Buchanan Productions in which his partners were J Arthur Rank and Charles Woolf owned Riverside Studios in Hammersmith He had been at school with the pioneer of television John Logie Baird and 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 for probate in 1958 at 24 489 equivalent to 609 000 today Marriage EditBuchanan s image was that of the raffish eternal bachelor but he was unknown to most married to Saffo Arnau in 1915 She was a singer This marriage was annulled in 1920 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 him and his wife He had no children of his own 9 He had previously had a relationship with Australian actress Coral Browne and during her meeting in Moscow with Soviet spy Guy Burgess in the late 1950s she informed Burgess on mentioning Buchanan that we almost got married And He jilted me Burgess previously at the British Foreign 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 in Alan Bennett s play An Englishman Abroad citation needed Character EditBuchanan was noted for his portrayals of the quintessential English gentleman despite being a Scot He was known for his financial generosity to less prosperous actors and chorus performers citation needed Sandy Wilson recalled that each year during the running of the annual Grand National horse 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 in 1957 from spinal cancer at age 66 10 Partial filmography EditAuld Lang Syne 1917 Vane Her Heritage 1919 Bob Hales The Audacious Mr Squire 1923 Tom Squire The Happy Ending 1925 Captain Dale Conway Settled Out of Court 1925 The Husband Bulldog Drummond s Third Round 1925 Captain Hugh Drummond A Typical Budget 1925 Short Confetti 1928 Count Andrea Zorro Toni 1928 Toni Marr Marini Paris 1929 Guy Pennell The Show of Shows 1929 Monte Carlo 1930 Count Rudolph Farriere A Man of Mayfair 1931 Lord William Goodnight Vienna 1932 Captain Maximilian Schletoff Yes Mr Brown 1933 Nicholas Baumann That s a Good Girl 1933 Jack Barrow Brewster s Millions 1935 Jack Brewster Come Out of the Pantry 1935 Lord Robert Brent When Knights Were Bold 1936 Sir Guy De Vere This ll Make You Whistle 1936 Bill Hoppings Smash and Grab 1937 John Forrest Limelight 1937 Himself uncredited Break the News 1938 Teddy Enton The Sky s the Limit 1938 Dave Harber The Gang s All Here 1939 John Forrest The Middle Watch 1940 Captain Maitland Bulldog Sees It Through 1940 Bulldog Bill Watson The Band Wagon 1953 Jeffrey Cordova As Long as They re Happy 1955 John Bentley Josephine and Men 1955 Uncle Charles Luton The French They Are a Funny Race 1955 Le Major Marmaduke ThompsonBox office ranking EditFor a number of years British film exhibitors voted him among the top ten British stars at the box office via an annual poll in the Motion Picture Herald 1936 6th 11 1937 5th 1938 6th 12 References Edit a b c d e f g h i Colin Larkin ed 1997 The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music Concise ed Virgin Books p 196 ISBN 1 85227 745 9 a b c d Spicer 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 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 Music Hall and Theatre Review Music Hall and Theatre Review 14 30 November 1911 defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a fashionable or showy young man The Times Last of the knuts 21 October 1957 p 12 Alhambra Glasgow by Graeme Smith ISBN 978 0 9559420 1 3 Article Charmed Snobbery by Allen Saddler Page 12 Col 2 para 4 The Stage Thursday 11 April 2002 Article Charmed Snobbery by Allen Saddler Page 12 Col 3 para 2 The Stage Thursday 11 April 2002 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 PICTURES and PERSONALITIES The Mercury Hobart Tasmania 10 April 1937 p 5 Retrieved 27 April 2012 via National Library of Australia FORMBY IS POPULAR ACTOR The Mercury Hobart Tasmania 25 February 1939 p 5 Retrieved 27 April 2012 via National Library of Australia External links EditWorks by or about Jack Buchanan at Internet Archive Jack Buchanan I at IMDb Jack Buchanan s biography at Helensburgh Heroes Photographs and literature Jack Buchanan Theatre amp Performance Victoria and Albert Museum Archived from the original on 13 April 2011 Retrieved 24 March 2011 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Jack Buchanan amp oldid 1140210552, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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