For forty years, West End theatre was dominated by a remarkable character who shied away from self-publicity: Binkie Beaumont of 'HM Tennents'.
He was a businessman with the baby-name. But there was nothing babyish about Binkie.
He was a Welshman called at birth Hughes Griffiths Morgan, but everybody came to know him as Hugh 'Binkie' Beaumont. He was born in 1908, and acquired his life-long nickname as an infant. Beaumont was the surname of his stepfather, a well-to-do timber merchant who had seduced Binkie's mother, causing Mr. Morgan to divorce her.
With difficulty, actor-turned-writer Richard Huggett succeeded in piecing together the story of the secretive Binkie's life. This is a summary of his early days.
First steps
As a child in Cardiff, Binkie lived opposite singer-songwriter Ivor Novello's mother, the singer Madame Clara Novello Davies, and even had some singing lessons from her. The growing reputation of the glamorous local boy Ivor was undoubtedly a ray of sunlight in Binkie's otherwise grey childhood. Neither Binkie's biological father (a barrister) nor Mr. Beaumont had much of a positive influence on Binkie's career. That honour fell to a gentleman lodger taken in by his mother after Mr. Beaumont's death. An elegant man of military bearing, Major Harry Woodcock, a former World War One Army Entertainments Officer had then become General Manager of Cardiff's Playhouse theatre.
In 1922 the Major introduced Binkie to the delights of the theatre, including a personal backstage meeting with the great actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his company. From that moment, Binkie became a devoted theatre fan, keenly collecting the pictures and autographs of the grandes dames of the day such as Sybil Thorndike, Marie Tempest and Marie Lohr. On his fifteenth birthday, Binkie left school, a completely undistingished pupil, to become a Box Office Assistant at the Cardiff Playhouse.
Armed with boyish good looks, a great deal of charm, and total confidence at mixing with the biggest Names in the business, Binkie progressed rapidly. Within three months he was installed in Harry Woodcock's office as his assistant, and for the next year he showed an amazing diligence, enthusiasm and energy which impressed everyone and led to a significant increase in business through many inexpensive initiatives. He also used this time to court the visiting actors assiduously, storing up goodwill for the future.
Tallulah Bankhead
When Binkie had served a 15-month apprenticeship at the Playhouse, the notorious, supercharged actress Tallulah Bankhead swept into Cardiff on tour, and at the end of the week, swept out again carrying Binkie away with her as her new Company Manager.
With Harry Woodcock's blessing, Binkie moved out of the provinces and into London. Tallulah's play was a stinker called The Creaking Chair. It moved into London's Comedy Theatre and opened there on 22 July 1924. Despite scathing reviews, Tallulah's army of fans were as enthusiastic as they always were, keeping it running for 235 performances. The girls in the gallery were as mad about Tallulah as later generations would be about Sinatra, the Beatles or Madonna, and Tallulah had a 'rock star' lifestyle to match her fame, complete with sex and drugs and jazz.
Legitimate theatre
That December, The Creaking Chair creaked its last and Binkie, aged 17, found himself out of work. On responding to an ad in the Stage newspaper, he was taken on as Business Manager by Philip Ridgeway, whose small theatre at Barnes was the leading production house for Chekhov and the other Russian classics, often directed by Theodore Komisarjevsky. As five of the Barnes productions transferred to the West End with Binkie in tow to take care of all off-stage aspects of the productions, he gained invaluable experience in five more London theatres, in a position of great variety and responsibility.
Main Source:
Binkie Beaumont - Eminence Grise of the West End Theatre, Hodder and Stoughton,1989
