| The Bing Boys Are Here | |
| Music: | Nat D. Ayer |
| Lyrics: | Clifford Grey |
| Productions: | 1916 West End |
The Bing Boys Are Here, styled "A Picture of London Life, in a Prologue and Six Panels," is the first of a series of revues which played at the Alhambra Theatre, London during the last two years of World War I. The series included The Bing Boys on Broadway and The Bing Girls Are There. The music for them was written by Nat D. Ayer with lyrics by Clifford Grey, who also contributed to Yes, Uncle!, and the text was by George Grossmith, Jr. and Fred Thompson based on Rip and Bousquet's Le Fils Touffe. Other material was contributed by Eustace Ponsonby, Philip Braham and Ivor Novello.
The Bing Boys Are Here opened in 1916 in the West End and ran for 378 performances. It was one of the three most important musical hits of the London stage during World War I (the other two being The Maid of the Mountains and Chu Chin Chow); music or scenes from all of these have been included as background in many films set in this period, and they remain intensely evocative of the "Great War" years. Other hit shows of the period were Theodore & Co (1916), The Happy Day (1916), The Boy (1917), and Yes, Uncle! (1917). Audiences, which included soldiers on leave, wanted light and uplifting entertainment during the war, and these shows delivered it.[1]
The revue first opened on 19 April 1916, at the Alhambra Theatre, starring George Robey and Violet Lorraine, famous for their introduction of the song "If You Were the Only Girl (in the World)," and Alfred Lester. It was replaced at the Alhambra on 24 February 1917, after 378 performances, by The Bing Girls Are There, with a different cast. It changed once again on 16 February 1918 to The Bing Boys on Broadway, with Robey returning to the cast. The total number of performances for all three revues was well over 1,000, lasting beyond the Armistice in November 1918. Recordings were made for the Columbia label in London by members of the original cast (Columbia L-1035). Odette Myrtil, playing her violin, also recorded "The Languid Melody" (Columbia L-1051).
The Bing Boys Are Here was revived at the Alhambra Theatre in December 1934 starring George Robey and Violet Lorraine. The revival featured substantial alterations to the original song list incorporating much entirely new repertoire by Grey and Ayer. The production then went on tour through 1935.
Songs from the revues included:
B.W. Findon wrote in The Play Pictorial, no. 169, vol. XXVIII, "The Bing Boys Are Here edition", London, 1916, p. 50: