STAGE AND STUDIO.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 148, 25 June 1887, Page 3 (Supplement)

STAGE AND STUDIO.

TflE following Mef sketch of the, career o ftbe late l«r Sheridan, tragedian, will not I^Blatofceresting ■: -He was born in Boston tf^chssetts, in Jun<J> iiSO' He entered lliearsmatic profession in 1858. I n 1861 tflien:the civil v»r broke out, he left the Bfoge and jpined the aruny. His career as a brilliant one • fle^rved with -the army of th« Cnmberland,>asappointed captaw ancl insfcwte the signal corps on General Eoseesm'estaff. Duiutiga severe engagement at Rq-iaeca, Georgia, he was shot in the rHit irfl, apdthe wound nearly proved fatal. °At tbß conclusion of the war he returned to the theatrical profession. He played at tlie principal theatres throughout the United j§£tes, ; and won for himself a great name in his performances of King Lear, Louis XL, andSfcylock. In ISSOhe went to London with the McKee-Rankin Company. In California he is reported to have met with a hriiiiant reception, and in San Francisco played one of the longest engagements ia the legitimate drama that had been known ttere. Mr Sheridan was said to be a great favourite with the American army, and often gave performances at various military posts. Just before sailing for Australia he appeared before the officers and goldiers of the Vancouver barracks as Cardinal Richelieu. General Morrow, the commandant, introduced him with the following complimentary remarks :—" I find great pleasure in introducing Mr Sheridan to tho garrison. He has claims on your sympathy and respect, not only for his distinguished utility as an actor—a role in which he has few superiors - but from the fact that he was a'brave man and served his country faithfully in the great war of the rebellion. Perhaps his great success on the mimic stage is largely due to the fact that he played on the field of actual Avar."

A novel advertisement from an American paper. ■" Pianoforte.—Marriage engagement having been suddenly broken off, young gentleman wants to dispose of his most superb walnut-wood and gold Exhibition model drawing-room art cottage, complete iron frame, check action, seven octaves, trichord, magnificent tone, charming touch." - .-■■;;"

Mayor Hewitt, of New York, recently forwarded the following reply to"-one of "the Uncoguid " who had propounded the cbnundrum -" Do you think Sunday oratorio would conduce to aid or weaken the cause of Sunday morality in New Yoi-kK - "As I am not an export in music I ought not tq Jiave been asked this question; but I should say on general principles that it depended upon the character of the audience. If the music were bad and the audience intelligent, I should think it would not conduce to morality on the part of the audience. If the music were good and the audience bad, I fancy they would be awfully bored by the performance." • ' ,

It was at a country concert. The leader of the band arrived and went to survey the place and the music. He -came with two or three musicians to the piano. They got tliejr instruments out, and were tuning tnein when the chief magnate of the place came along. Just as he arrived the leader was sounding the note on the piano. '' Too lo\v," he said to the cornet, "too low." "What's that ?" said the magnate. "The piano—too low—that's all." " Here Jake," he yelled to a carpenter across the place. "Here Jake; this piano wants raisin*. Just tell him how high you want it. That's what he's paid for. He'll raise it three feet if you need it.. I don't want no filouchin' of this music."

The result of the " Pall Mall Gazette's " competition for members of an imaginary English Academy of Letters, organised on fclie French' model, the votes being limited to forty living Englishmen, is just announced. The competition proved very popular, arid interested atl: classes of readers. The immortals who have thus bsen ,ch,Qsen.are the following :I,W* E. Gladstone ; 2, Lord Tennyson ; 3, Matthew Arnold ; 4,-Professor Huxley; 5, Herbert Spencer ; 6, John Ruskin ; 7, J. A. Froude ; B'Robert Biwning ; 9, John Morley ; 10, Professor Tyndall; 11, E. A. Freeman: 12J-'A: "C Swinburne; 13, Archdeacon Tarrar $ --14-, Prof.. Max Muller; 15, Sir Join Lubbock ; 16, W. Morris ; 17, Cardinal Npwman; 18, W. Bcsant; 19, Leslie Stephen ; 20, B. Jowitt; 21, John Bright; 22,'^Frederick Harrison ; 23, W. Black ; 24, Justin McCarthy ; 25, Lord Salisbury ; 26, Sh ;4Hi. Martin ; 27, H. Irving ; 2S, George Meredith; 29, Wilkie Collins; 30, Canon Lidflou; 31, D"ke of Argyle ; 32, KD. Bkckmore ; 33, W. E- H. Lecky ; 34, G. A. Sala ; 35, R. L.Stevenson; 36, -Sir F. Lto*hton; 37, A. Lang; 38, Bishop". Stubbs ; 39, fCardinal Manning; 40* Prof. J. B. fieeley. '" . ...

W. H. Harrison Jr. Publishing Company of Chicago' have in the press a valuable iwtise on " Orthoepy, .the Science of Prow»BciatiQn>" by Professor E. B. Warman, A. M., of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Chicago. The book contains an appendix of over 5,000. words that are apt to be mispronounced, giving th.c correct pronunciation of each word and the authority for the same.