COLOURFUL SCENES

"A Polish Romance"

FINE BALLINA PRODUCTION

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Monday 17 December 1934, page 4

BALLINA, Sunday.

Embodying all the essentials for an entertaining musical production, "A Polish Romance," or "The Ripple of the Vistula" played to a packed house at Ballina on Thursday, was one of the finest achievements of Rev. C. J. Cullen, of St. Francis Xavier's Roman Catholic Church, Ballina. Rev. Cullen composed the play and wrote the wording of the vocal numbers.

Colourful scenes, lilting melodies, delightful orchestral numbers, and excellent acting combined to make a magnificent production, which will be repeated on Thursday night.

GOOD CHARACTERISATION

The play maintained a delightful sequence of numbers and the exceptionally large number of players did not detract from the theme. Every characterisation was played with effect. The orchestration by Mr. E. H. Ormerod was commendable, while the scenery and scenic effects, painted by Mr. J. McSweeney, were most artistic. Other praiseworthy features were: Frocks, by Mrs. M. C. Gray; ballets, Miss M. Best; junior ballets, Presentation Sisters; Russian ballet, Miss P. McMahon; lighting effects, M. E. Henderson. The production was handled by Rev. Cullen and Mrs. M. Dent, of Lismore.

The story is of the beginning of the 19th century. Polish nobles, assembled to plan to overthrow their Russian conquerors, are surprised by Cossacks. The scene is laid in a mountain glade outside Warsaw. The leaders of the Cossacks reveal themselves in sympathy and they are later arrested by the Governor. Captain Romanoff, the Cossacks' captain, and Olga Cherenko, a Polish noblewoman, have a romance, and Olga, pleading to the Governor for Romanoff, agrees to marry the governor. The traitors are expatriated to Turkey. In the last act Romanoff and his lieutenant, Popoff, return to Warsaw escorting a princess from Constantinople in return for their freedom. The princess, Larrissa, is betrothed to the governor and the finale wishes happines to Romanoff and Olga.

THE CAST

The cast was :

• Prince Boris Ponstoff, Governor of Russian Poland, Mr. J. O'Grady;
• Ivan Ivanoff, his chief of staff, Mr. J. Fitzpatrick;
• Ivan Romanoff, captain in Russian Army, Mr. W. McCall;
• Vladimir Popoff, lieutenant in Russian Army, Mr. H. Collier;
• Polish noblemen, Pavel Soanoyitch, Mr. N. Donnison;
• Luk Valisiara, Mr. J. Griffin;
• Petro Pavlova, Mr. J. Amos, Messrs. N. Donnelly, D. Gray, J. Ratcliffe, J. Hammond, P. O'Keefe, F. Hodges;
• Adolf Spinsky, a Polish peasant, Mr. J. Reilly;
• Alexay Tolstoy : a Cossack officer, Mr. Elliott;
• Handel Moscevitch, Cossack officer, Mr. J. Brown;
• cossacks, Messrs. J. Whitney, M. Jackson, S. Philp, Bennett, R. Hopkinson. A. Garrett;
• Larissa Sobrinova, a Russian princess, Miss M. Best;
• Maritza Cherenko, a widowed Polish noblewoman, Miss R. Fitzpatrick;
• Olga Cherenko. her daughter, Miss M. Gray;
• Irina Soanovitch, sister to Pavel, Miss I. Reardon:
• Satrana Valesiara, sister to Luke, Miss M. Ratcliffe;
• Paula Ivanoff Polish noblewoman, Miss Rene Ellis;
• Polish noblewomen. Misses R. O'Keefe. A. England, N. O'Keefe. M. Myles. I. Donnelly, J. Ratcliffe, M. O Connor, M. Jackson;
• Nina Surtena, a Russian dancer. Miss P. McMahon.

Ballet dancers: Doreen Kuhn. Lol& Kelly, Eileen Corrigan. Maureen Jordan, Joan FriDP Audrey Smith. Ayesha Richardson, Eileen Godsell. Heather Simons. Mavis Langley. Joan Reardon. Olga Aboody. Marie Farrell, Nancy Fletcher, Mary Tighe. Mary Webb. Connie Webb. Myra Buchanan, Joan Hankinson, Mollie MGrath

Dawn fairies: Marie DaVls. Pamela Best, Joan Braid. Rae Rummery, Joy Brooker. Josie Saunders. j

Boys' ballet: Frank Davis. Dick Saunders Kevin O'Connor, Neville Saunders, Norman Davis. Keith Davis. Harold Rummery. Teddy Reardon. Arthur Fletcher, Desmond Fripp. Peter O'Neill.

The orchestra, conducted by Rev. Cullen and Mr. Ormerod, comprised; Piano, Miss G. Loughman: violins, Misses R. Dent. T. Clarke. Messrs. Ormerod. Paff. M. Chilcott. Gray; flute. Mr. F.. Evles; cello, Mr. R. Gibson: cornets. Messrs. H. Philp. D. Hosking: trombone. Mr. V. Paul; double bass. Mr. G. Thomas.

In 1934:

• Joe Ratcliffe was aged 45.
• Mary Ratcliffe was aged 19.
• Josie Ratcliffe was aged 16.

Leading Player - J. O'Grady

I think it would be a reasonably good guess that the lead actor playing Prince Boris Ponstoff in this play, was John Patrick O'Grady (1907-1981) of Nino Culotta's They're a Weird Mob fame.

A family story was that my mother babysat his children. One of his three sons to his first marriage, John O'Grady, Jnr, was born in 1931. (My mother would have been 13 at this time.)

According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography: On 9 October 1930 at the Mary Immaculate Catholic Church, Waverley, he married Lorna Maria Schreiber. The next year (1931) he bought into a pharmacy at Ballina but the heavy debt and cost of raising three young sons took their toll. (They're a Weird Mob was published in 1957.) ADB

So he was very likely in Ballina at the time of the play.