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Singing - South Shields Amateur Operatic Society
Chapter 5.2 - Snippets of Chorus Lines
From Issue No 2 (March 1996)
There has been 3 productions of "THE DESERT SONG" by the SSAOS and in "........Tales of a Donkey" Harry Halliday and Alan Hogarth recount two events that occured in post war productions. The first described an event in the1952 production in the Regent (a theatre cum cinema in South Shields used in those days by the AMATEURS). They had to coax a donkey from the car park to back stage ready for its entrance on stage. The donkey was evidently not in a very good mood and as it was passing through a very confined space it decided to go no further and began to back off. With its hooves slipping it ended up in an adjacent toilet sitting on the lavatory bowl! There is no record as to whether the animal made use of the facility! The story continues in their own words........
"Time moves on and 32 years later we find ourselves in the Sunderland Empire........The show is "Desert Song" and for authenticity - it was decided - you've guessed it! - to use a donkey. We understand it was left in the capable hands of a young Alan Davison to encourage and coax the beast which he did with the use of a carrot secreted, we believe, in his trousers! Even to the layman, not familiar with 'donkey coaxing', it would seem a hazardous business once the donkey learnt where its next meal was coming from. But perhaps there is a correllation between 'donkey coaxing' and the tenor voice? The image of Alan and his carrot will, I'm sure, remind many of the comment attributed to Mae West, the gist of which is "Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?" ...........Roll on the next production of "THE DESERT SONG".
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