London's first-nighters hardly knew what to expect. All week the musicians' union had nipped at the touring, all-Negro production of Porgy and Bess: either a Briton would conduct or the orchestra would strike.
Producer Blevins Davis and Director Robert Breen, with visions of Gershwin's jazz opera sounding like Pomp and Circumstance, threatened to close the show after only three performances. Only at the last minute did they tuck up their pride and name a local man as "joint" conductor. The curtain rang up as scheduled with the production's own Alexander Smallens on the...