Work, Lads, Work

 

The Metal Monarch, Ruggedo, played by Eugene Cowles, on right (stage left), commands his Metal Imps in song. Flash, played by Ethel Pierce, stands center. The chorus of Metal Imps hammers at musical anvils all around the stage. The Metal Imp at left front (downstage right) looks like Fay Hartley to me.

This photograph of the Act II opening musical number, "Work, Lads, Work," of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz is unique in showing the original cast in a full stage setting from March 1913 in Los Angeles. I know of no other full stage photographs from this show before July 1913, when the White Studio took photos of the Chicago production. Other full stage photos must have been taken before opening night, but none survives to my knowledge.

Compared with later July 1913 photographs of this scene, (for instance, the upper right photo on page 148 of All Wound Up) the set of the Metal Monarch's underground throne room seems to be the same, though costuming and make-up show some differences.

I was delighted to find this photo recently in the Los Angeles Daily Tribune for April 1, 1913, the day after the show opened.

Copyright © 2025 Eric Shanower. All rights reserved.

A Melody Played in a Penny Arcade

I recently re-watched the motion picture Paper Moon. Such an excellent movie. Director Peter Bogdanovich tells the story with admirable confidence and restraint. The acting of both Tatum O'Neal and Ryan O'Neal in the leading roles is superb.

What's Paper Moon got to do with The Tik-Tok Man of Oz?

Toward the end of the movie, when Tatum O'Neal's character, Addie, has at long last reached her aunt's house, clearly visible on the piano in the aunt's parlor is a copy of the sheet music of "Forgotten," a song which basso Eugene Cowles as Ruggedo the Metal Monarch interpolated into The Tik-Tok Man of Oz on opening night.

I've noticed the appearance of "Forgotten," by Flora Wulschner and Eugene Cowles, in Paper Moon before, and I associate it strongly with the end of the movie. Seeing the movie again prompted me to post about it.

The "Forgotten" sheet music visible in two Paper Moon camera shots is the standard cover seen here. Notice it first in the background when the camera enters Addie's aunt's house. And it's prominent enough during the moment Addie faces her final big decision, that the title and Eugene Cowles's name are perfectly legible.

A lot of period music can be heard in Paper Moon. But not "Forgotten." It's inappropriate, since it dates from about three decades before the time of the story. However, as an old piece of sheet music, it's appropriate for the setting of the aunt's home. And most importantly, as foreshadowing of a possible future for Addie's relationship with Ryan O'Neal's character Moze, it's spot on.

Copyright © 2024 Eric Shanower. All rights reserved.

Eugene Cowles as the Metal Monarch

Throughout All Wound Up: The Making of the Tik-Tok Man of Oz and its two companion volumes (script and score), I included all the photos I could find of the actors costumed as their characters in the original 1913-14 production of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz.

But I didn't find all the available photos before publication. I missed this lovely image of Eugene Cowles as Ruggedo, the Metal Monarch. Here it is for you now. Notice the detail of the costume, particularly the Magic Belt.

I suspect this photograph was shot during the same session as the photos of the Metal Monarch on pages 92 and 103 in All Wound Up. Those photos were originally published in newspapers. It looks to me as if the designer who prepared those newspaper-published photos misinterpreted the Metal Monarch's crown and left in protuberances that weren't actually part of the crown.

Copyright © 2024 Eric Shanower. All rights reserved.