Santa Barbara recently celebrated the 150 anniversary of our Lobero Theatre, while across the pond was the first royal coronation in 70 years for Great Britain. Momentous occasions!

But, of course, we will find an interesting Santa Barbara link between two seemingly disparate events.

In 1923, the Lobero was marking its 50th anniversary by rebuilding the theater, which would be finished and reopened by August 1924. The quest was to find the right show to open the theater.

At this time on the East Coast, George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly’s new play, Beggar on Horseback, opened in February 1924, and  it was the biggest runaway  hit on Broadway.

So, somebody local must have had an inside pull in order for the production rights to be released to the Lobero as the opening play for the newly reconstructed theater.

Well, it turned out that the connection was the play’s owner and Broadway producer, Winthrop Ames. He just happened to be a part-time local resident (taking his winter residence in Mission Canyon at the Glendessary estate).

Ames was likely wooed by the Lobero assistant director, Hamilton MacFadden, as he had played a small part in the show on Broadway when it first opened!

Impressively, the Lobero production — with an all-amateur cast — was the only showing of the play outside of the New York company. Quite a coup for a small town of 24,000 in a new theater with just 655 seats.

The Play’s the Thing

The plot in Beggar on Horseback concerns Neil McRae, a classical composer reduced to cranking out jazz tunes to pay the rent.

At the urging of his friends, he is reluctantly engaged to Gladys Cady, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist whose company manufactures “widgets.”

(Our first Fun Fact: The word “widget” was invented by Connelly and Kauffman for this play!)

Mr. Cady offers McRae an executive position in his widget factory … providing he gives up all this nonsense about composing classical music. (But McRae is really in love with his next-door neighbor and friend, Cynthia Mason.)

Spoiler alert: McRae and Cady end up amicably breaking their engagement and McRae wins the  heart of gal-next-door Mason. The End.

So let us look at the Santa Barbara who’s who in the cast.

Our leading lady ingenue, Cynthia Mason, was portrayed by Trudy Hoffman, who had a great Santa Barbara pedigree.

Her father was Ralph Hoffman, head of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. He had moved the family to Santa Barbara from Massachusetts a few years earlier.

Trudy’s mother, Gertrude, was in the cast, and years later would be seen in movies and on TV as the neighbor, Mrs. Odetts, in My Little Margie.

The “Lady in Waiting“ was played by Geraldine Graham, the daughter of Eleanor and William Graham (they were the original owners of the Bellosguardo estate before copper magnate William Andrews Clark bought it).

Socialite Angelica “Girlie” Bryce, Mrs. Peter Bryce and prominent among Carolyn Astor’s legendary “Four Hundred” in New York City, played the glamorous role of the Princess of Xanadu (— and wouldn’t you know it — had her costumes designed by Fischbach Gowns of New York.)

Dr. Edward J. Lamb, founder of Santa Barbara Children’s Medical Clinic, was in the cast along with Harold Edmondson, an architect in George Washington Smith’s office. 

(Fun Fact No. 2: Smith was the architect for the new Lobero Theatre.)

Portraying the police officer was Samuel E. Kramer, founding member of the Rancheros Visitadores (for whom the arena at Earl Warren Showgrounds is named).

Ian Wolfe was early in his career when he appeared in a small role here; he later became a beloved character actor in film (Mutiny on the Bounty, Witness for the Prosecution) and TV (Gunsmoke, Bonanza and WKRP in Cincinnati).

The really ironic/fun fact for the cast was that the leading man, Arthur Bliss, actually was a classical musician — composer and conductor! He was director of the Community Arts Association Chorus, had launched their Pop Concerts at the new El Paseo.

Bliss conducted the new Los Angeles Philharmonic when it came to The Granada Theatre, and was a frequent lecturer on musical subjects. A number of his compositions had actually been performed in venues around the country.

His father, Francis Edward Bliss, was a successful businessman who, like the Hoffmans, also hailed from Massachusetts and had moved the family to Santa Barbara the previous year. The family settled in Paradero, an estate on Schoolhouse Road in Montecito.

The Plot Thickens?

Alrighty, so one night onstage in performance at the Lobero, “Neil” is avowing his love for “Cynthia” — but the cast and crew backstage think it sounds a little too passionate, too earnest … too, too … REAL!

Turns out Bliss was actually proposing to his leading lady. They were already an item and by the end of the season, he and Hoffman were engaged.

They were married the following June 1 at the Santa Barbara Mission, with a large reception held at the new home of the bride’s uncle, Bernard Hoffman (yes, that Bernard Hoffman).

The Hoffman House, Casa Santa Cruz, was around the corner on Garden Street (next door to St. Anthony’s Seminary).

But wait! — there’s more Santa Barbara trivia!

Bliss’ best man was celebrated violinist Roderick White. His famous brothers included author Stewart Edward White and painter Thomas Gilbert White.

Their family home was a block back on Los Olivos Street between Garden and Santa Barbara streets.

Their large two-story house is where the nuns of the Poor Clares live now. (And the great-nephew of those brothers was former City Councilman Harwood “Bendy” White).

So, enough name dropping and on with Arthur Bliss’ story!

First off, his wife, Trudy, was an extraordinary intelligent woman, and would prove to be the perfect soulmate and supporter for Arthur as he pursued his musical career.

He did compositions for Hollywood — most notably he created the score for H.G. Wells’ sci-fi film, Things to Come (1935), which set a benchmark for future composers for its musical invention, dazzling dramatic rhythms and brilliant orchestration. It was considered to be the first film score to achieve popularity outside the cinema.

Then Bliss was tapped to teach at UC Berkeley: musical literature and arranging. And he continued with his composing and conducting.

When the couple moved to London (Bliss’ mother was British and he was born and educated there), he was hired as the BBC’s director of music from 1942 to 1944.

Bliss was an innovator, and became an indefatigable and prolific composer, excelling in an extraordinary number of different genres: ballets (Checkmate), symphonies (A Colour Symphony), orchestral (Metamorphic Variations) and chamber music, operas (The Olympians), concertos, oratorios (Morning Heroes), and songs, choral music, fanfares, and even hymns (“He is the Way” tune – Santa Barbara).

For all his good (musical) works, Bliss was knighted in 1950.

Then, in 1953, he was appointed Master of the Queen’s Music. His first official duty?

He was to compose the “Processional” for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.  

Yes, that coronation.

So this young musician who had starred in the opening play of the new Lobero Theatre, and married a local gal in our Santa Barbara Mission was now Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss — arguably the most important British composer of the 20th century.