Romance in Rio at heart of show
IN this week’s Memory Lane, we take a look back at a show put on by an amateur operatic and dramatic society from Bacup in years gone by.
In 1948, Rio Rita was performed at the Co-operative Hall in Bacup.
Our regular nostalgia contributor Peter Fisher has sent us a selection of pictures from the show.
The romantic musical from a book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson originally premiered on Broadway on February 2, 1927, closing on April 7, 1928.
In 1948, Bacup Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society resurrected the show, performing the songs, with music by Harry Tierney and lyrics by Joseph McCarthy, at the Co-operative Hall for the week commencing April 12.
There were shows on six nights at 7.15pm and a matinee show on the Saturday at 2.15pm.
Rio Rita is set in the town of San Lucar in the Rio Grande, which separates Texas from Mexico, and tells the story of Rita Ferguson and her brother Roberto.
The siblings lose their ranch, as under Mexican law it is forbidden for foreigners to own land, and their father was American.
Rita has to earn a living and becomes a cabaret singer, while Roberto, in desperation, joins the gang of a notorious bandit known as Kinkajon, or Mexican Wild Cat.
Kinkajon is believed to be responsible for a recent robbery at the South Fremont State Bank in Texas. Captain Jim Stewart of the Texas Rangers comes to Mexico to investigate the robbery, and Rita falls in love with him, to the displeasure of Estaban, a powerful Mexican general who has taken a fancy to her.
Meanwhile, lawyer Ed Lovett discovers that the marriage of his friend Chick Bean to cabaret singer Dolly Smith, carried out on the sly, is illegal, as Chick’s divorce to his former wife Katie is not yet final.
After many complications and misunderstandings, Ed eventually marries the first Mrs Bean, and all is resolved.
At an event at General Estaban’s house, Rita is then informed by Estaban himself that Jim is in fact in Mexico to arrest her brother, as he believes he is connected to the bandit Kinkajon. Rita turns against Jim, but she loves him so much that she saves him from being shot as he leaves Estaban’s house.
Jim’s efforts to capture Kinkajon bring him to an old pirate barge owned by Estaban, which is used as a floating cabaret.
Jim believes the bandit is hiding there, but when he boards he meets Rita again, who is there as Estaban’s guest.
She warns him of the danger of pursuing Kinkajon and tries to persuade him to leave, but Jim is certain that his quarry is on board and cuts the barge from its moorings, so that it drifts into Texas waters, enabling the Rangers to board and search the boat.
Eventually an arrest is made and Kinkajon’s identity is discovered. I’ll leave it to you to guess who he turned out to be...
Our first picture of the week (Picture 1) shows the cast of Rio Rita.
Pictures 2 and 3 show Rio Rita herself, played by Doris Collinge, while Pictures 4 and 5 show her beau Jim, played by Charles Baxter.
In Pictures 6 and 7 is Fred Simpson, who played love rival Estaban, and then Pictures 8 and 9 show John Spencer as Chick Bean, whose love life becomes so very complicated in the show.
Our final image of the week (Picture 10) shows the front of the souvenir programme for the 1948 show.
Do these images bring back memories of Bacup Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society’s performances in years gone by? Did you see Rio Rita in 1948? If so, please get in touch and share your photographs. Thanks to all our nostalgia contributors.