The Co-Optimists

The Co-Optimists is the title of a stage variety revue which opened in London on 27 June 1921. The show was devised by Davy Burnaby. The piece was a co-operative venture by what The Times called "a group of well-known musical comedy and variety artists" presenting "an all-star 'pierrot' entertainment in the West-end." It opened at the small Royalty Theatre and soon transferred to the much larger Palace Theatre. The show ran initially for 500 performances; it was completely rewritten and revived at regular intervals to keep it fresh. The final edition, beginning in November 1926 and closing on 4 August 1927, was the 13th new version.The Co-Optimists provided an early platform for the comedy actor and singer Stanley Holloway and brought him wider notice throughout the UK.

In 1929, the revue was made into a feature film with the same name, again starring Holloway. In December 1926, Lee DeForest filmed Betty Chester singing "Pig-Tail Alley" in a short film, Betty Chester, the Well-Known Co-Optimist Star, made in his Phonofilm sound-on-film process.

Melville Gideon, Clifford Grey, Irving Berlin, Philip Braham, Vivian Ellis, William Helmore, Ivy St Helier, Laddie Cliff, Austin Melford, Greatrex Newman, Arthur Schwartz, Clifford Seyler.

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