Most of the plays presented at Elitch had experienced a lengthy run on Broadway, as for example, Jules Eckert Goodman’s The Man Who Came Back (457 performances), Winchell Smith and Victor Mapes’ The Boomerang (522), Austin Strong’s Three Wise Fools (316) and Gilda Varesi and Dolly Byrne’s Enter Madame (350).
Rollo Lloyd returned to Elitch for his third season as its director. Ernest Glendenning and Helen Menkin played the lead roles. The cast included Edward G. Robinson.
Ernest Glendenning was born and educated in England. He appeared on stage in 1903 with John Drew. His father, John Glendenning, was a successful stage actor. Helen Menken was born in 1901, and attended school at the convent of Manhattanville and later went to the Sacred Heart convent in Brighton, England. She made her theatrical debut at the age of five as a fairy in a 1906 production of Shakespeare’s comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Prior to appearing at Elitch in the 1922 summer season, she had attained major recognition on Broadway for her role as Miss Fairchild in Three Wise Fools (1918), then won further acclaim as the poor waif Diane in Seventh Heaven (1922).
[Borrillo, T. A. (2012). Denver’s historic Elitch Theatre: A nostalgic journey (a history of its times). Colorado. p. 128]
Theatre Staff:
- J. M. Mulvihill, President
- George L. Roberts, Treasurer
- Rollo Lloyd, Stage Director
- Edward A. Mchugh, Technical Director
- George B. Ashworth, Art Director
Resident Company:
- Helen Menken
- Mary Mead
- Irene Shirley
- Adelaide Hibbard
- Ernest Glendinning
- Louis Albion
- Edward G. Robinson
- Charles Kennedy
- Ralph Stuart
- Hal Crane.
Productions:
- Week of June 25: Three Wise Fools, by Austin Strong
- Week of July 2: The Man Who Came Back, by Jules Eckert Goodman
- Week of July 9: The Boomerang, by Winchell Smith and Victor Mapes
- Week of July 16: Enter, Madame, by Gilda Varesi and Dolly Byrne.
- Week of July 23: The Two Orphans, by Adolphe D’ Ennery and Eugene Corman, arranged by N. Hart Jackson.
- Week of July 30: Three Live Ghosts, by Frederic S. Isham.
- Week of Aug. 6: Miss Lulu Bett, by Zona Gale.
- Week of Aug. 13: Happy Go Lucky, by Ian Hay
- Week of Aug. 20: Adam and Eva, by Guy Bolton and George Middleton.
- Week of Aug. 27: Everyday, by Rachel Crothers.
