Bright And Breezy Vaudeville

Harry Wren's "Yellzapoppin of 1961"....2½ hours of fast-moving, joke-studded, gun-shootin' vaudeville....has been and gone, but it will be a long time before Gisborne audiences forget the experience. Lavishly decorated with 16 "Fabulous Glamor Birds from Hollywood", gowned and wigged in ensembles worth a fortune, and produced by famous Hollywood film director David Gould, the show had so much speed and spectacle that it almost exhausted the audience past the point of enjoyable appreciation.

Top-line comedians Terry Scanlon and Keith Petersen, assisted by as many other members of the cast and audience as could be involved, carried the show along at breakneck pace with heroic loads of laughs, linking items from star artists Diana Marquez, the Nicoli Brothers, Beryl Meekin, Amor Solar (her dance was a bit of a shocker), David Sterle, Rita Moreno, Barney Grant, Paula Coutts, the Flat Tops, and Francis van Dyk.

For many people, van Dyk's violin solos were the hit of the evening.

The show ran four nights and a matinee, with near to full houses at all performances.

The girls were a lovely lot

Francis van Dyk and his violin.

In typical pose: Keith Petersen and Terry Scanlon

The Glamor Birds In Some Of Their Fabulous Finery

Audience participation was a strong feature of "Yellzapoppin". Patrons of the show found themselves involved by the antics of members of the cast almost as soon as they entered the theatre. Later the femme fatale of the show, Amor Solar, came into the audience and took one of the locals on stage for a dance lesson, and later still the glamour birds helped themselves to partners from the stalls. A quiz session was another attraction, and in between times patrons had to survive showers of feathers and the attentions of a monster spider which came down from the ceiling.

"Hollywood-Gisborne" chorus on stage

Luscious lovelies in the aisle

"Come with me", she said.....And he went.

Off to play...onstage

Babe and bonnet

Careful, brother.....

Like lambs to the slaughter

Amor Solar's dance was something new for Gisborne audiences......an explosive mixture of sinuous grace, rattle and shake......which ended with her descent to the stalls to select a local partner for a try-out on stage. One night it was Mr Basil Adair, another Mr Bill Thornton, the caretaker at Waikanae Beach. We are not sure who the gentleman was the night our photographers were present, but he put on a good act with his glamorous partner.