On his 21st birthday, 27 March 1929, Binkie Beaumont was invited to lunch with Harry M Tennent, Assistant Managing Director of the large chain of variety theatres, Moss Empires.
Joining 'the Firm'
Tennent had been aware of Binkie since he was in Cardiff (Binkie had sounded him out for work). Now, Harry deemed him sufficiently experienced to offer him a job. Harry Tennent (born 1879) was in his maturity, Binkie just 21, but both men were similarly ambitious for themseves and for British theatre. Tennent took Binkie under his wing and put him through a virtual 'finishing school' for the next four years.
By 1933, Harry Tennent had persuaded the Boards of Moss Empires and its more 'legitimate' counterpart Howard & Wyndham to amalgamate and work for the betterment of legitimate theatre, with himself and Binkie as their executive chiefs. The Tennent-Beaumont partnership was established, and would soon (January 1936) be formalised into the firm of 'HM Tennent Ltd' - a name almost synonymous with 'West End theatre' for many years to come.
Tasteful, dapper, clever and committed to theatre, Binkie excelled in diplomacy, and made a point of never becoming a celebrity in his own right. As Robert Morley explained: "It is the secret of [Binkie's] success that he speaks every man's language but his own. Alone among the impresarios, he understands actors. In his office it is always they who play their scene; he is the friendly critic, the attentive audience, the committed fan. Beaumont never engages the actor, he makes sure that the actor engages him...What actors admire most about him is his integrity." Moreover, Binkie was a shrewd judge of character who preferred a deal to be confirmed by a shake from his elegantly-gloved hand rather than a written contract.
Losing his mentor
The offices of HM Tennents were at the top of the Globe (now the Gielgud) Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue, and were reached by a tiny, painfully-slow lift, which at different times conveyed, cramped, all the brightest stars and wealthiest impresarios of the era.
Harry Tennent himself was not only chief executive of HM Tennents but also, in the 1930s, General Manager at the massive Drury Lane. His life is even less well documented or photographed than Binkie's, though it is on public record that he died in 1941, a few days before the opening of the Binkie Beaumont-Noel Coward controlled Blithe Spirit. Ten days before its Manchester premiere, Henry Moncrieff Tennent had prepared and signed his last will and testament.
He named as his executor one Captain George Astley of Norfolk, and bequeathed to Astley 'all the property of whatsoever nature of which I die possessed'. Five days later he was dead, having collapsed from a heart attack near the London Universities Club after an unexceptional lunch. Binkie Beaumont must have suffered a triple shock. First, the sudden death of his partner in HM Tennent Ltd. Second, his total absence from any mention in Harry's will, and lastly, the news that Harry had in fact nothing to leave but debts. Harry had been a successful songwriter and a senior salaried employee of Moss Empires, Howard & Wyndham and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Yet he died with nothing to show for it but death duties to pay and an overdraft. According to Richard Huggett's research, Binkie never did discover what Harry had done with his money.
On with the show
Binkie faced an interview with the Board of HM Tennents before being confirmed as its new managing director. He was never tempted to change the name of the firm to reflect his supremacy. Now without Tennent, Binkie was firmly established as the main man of London theatre, even though, being the time of the Blitz, London theatre was partly closed for business.
Sources:
Richard Huggett: Binkie Beaumont: Eminence Grise of the West End Theatre, Hodder and Stoughton, 1989
Robert Morley and Sewell Stokes: Robert Morley "Responsible Gentleman",William Heinemann Ltd,1966
Beverley Davies - Beverley Davies lives in London, England and has written professionally for many years. Her special interests are theatre history and ...
