Jack Buchanan

Jack Buchanan was a Scottish actor, producer and director born in Helensburgh in 1890 and died in London in 1957. He occupies a prominent place in British musical theatre of the first half of the twentieth century, as well as in the musical film of both sides of the Atlantic.

His career began with an unsuccessful debut as a music hall comedian in Glasgow. He then danced in musicals in London's West End until, as understudy to Jack Hulbert in Tonight's the Night (1915-1917), he took over the role and sang 'They didn't believe me', by Kern. Established as a leading man, he shone above all in the revues of André Charlot and shared the stage with Gertrude Lawrence in A to Z (1921), the show in which Ivor Novello's song 'And her mother came too' was premiered. He also triumphed in New York with two editions of Charlot's London Revue, in 1924 and 1925.

Buchanan was also an ambitious and skilful impresario. He produced Battling Butler (1922) as a vehicle for his own display and, in 1926, brought Kern's Sunny to the London Hippodrome, a theatre that became the home of a series of productions of his. In the United States he was the original star of George and Ira Gershwin's Pardon My English (1933), and in Hollywood he worked with Irene Bordoni and Jeanette MacDonald. His numerous British films included adaptations of his stage successes and Good-Night Vienna (1932).

His legacy lies in having incorporated songs by American composers into his musicals, which gave his shows a distinctly modern air, far removed from many of the sentimental clichés of the genre, despite his reputation as a romantic leading man. His last appearance in a stage musical was in 1951, when he replaced the late Ivor Novello in King's Rhapsody. His songs and stage designs remain a reference point in the history of the British musical.