Song, Stage, and Story.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 214, 7 September 1895, Page 11

Song, Stage, and Story.

The Frances Ross Dramatic Company com. mencad a five nights' season ab Pnlmersfcon North on Monday, August 2ofch. This week they are announced fco appear a ,, Pahiatua and Masterton.

At latest advices, fche Fitzgerald Brother 3 had taken passage ab Naples for AustraliaIn America they engaged a rider who is said to be a long way ahead of any circua rider ever seen in the colonies. In London they purchased the famous ' talking horse,' and engaged the well'known Hanlon family of acrobats, while in Paris they secured Madame Antonia, a most sensational performer, who accomplishes the feat of falling backwards from a pedestal 100 feeb high. Several other attractions have also been secured. The Company will commence their New Zealand tour ab Auckland some time next month.

A correspondent writing to the ' Bulletin ' says bhab if ever Henry Irving comes to Australia, it will bo under tbe auspices of the Brough and Boucicault Company. Irving has been on terms of fast friendship iwith Dion G. for many years, and has often corresponded with him about the prospects of an Australian tour. Also, Irving thinks highly of ' Boucy ' as a manager, and an actor, and it was Brenda Gibson's all-round training in the B. and B. school that induced the great man to give her a prompt engagement at the London Lyceum.

From the • Bulletin ': — Marshall Hall would not commence the programme afc John Krase'e(firßt) concert untifeverybody had stopped breathing ; and alternated tapping; his baton with gazing severely at tbe audience. The infidels stood it for five minutes, and then laughed loudly and rudely. After that no further delay attended the production of ' Siegfried.'

When in Brisbane, during the Opera Company's season there recently, Mr J. C. Williamson was interviewed by bhe • Brisbane Courier 'about theatrical mabtere in general. Amongst a number of other interesting opinions extracted from the wellknown impresario, was one touching the supply of drama and opera to the Australian public. He said : ' The fact of the matter is thab the population here have been fed on sucoesses. They have ' not had experiments ' made on them ; they have had nothing but the very pick of bhe baskeb. Things that have been decided successes at Home have been brought out here in thorough working other, and then have not had a long run. The Australian public have become hypercritical. They get as much in one season as lasts about three years in all the theatres in London. Look at Brough and Boucicaulb. They have been playing for two weeks ab a time and sometimes only a week, pieces which ran in London for whole leaeone. " John-a'-Dreams," which was a great success in London, waa pub on magnificently ab the Princess's Theatre, and only ran for one week. Thab, you know, is very disheartening. People have no idea of the amount of money that it costs bo go over and secure material and bring it oub. My last trip cost my firm over £7,000 actual expenses and outlay for material.' Asked whether he had any prima donna coming out to take the place of Miss Nellie Stewart, Mr Williamson eaid :—' I had engaged one in Italy—a Miss Farini, an English girl, who was singing there. She was to have taken Miss Stewart's place, bub through the illness of iier mother or some other cause she did nob come a£ the time specified. So I proposed to Mr Musgrove that we should divide bhe business up amongst the Australian girls, adding Miss Juliet Wray to the company. I am very well satisfied with the result, and I am not afraid of the future if they keep doing as good work as they have done.'

Bland Holt's latenb production ab the Molbourno Theatre Royal, ' Saved from the Sea, , was attracting crowded houses when the mail left. ' Miss Elizabeth Watson, who has made her debftb in Australia in this piece, infuses, ,, says ' The Australasian,' ' a pinch or two more of human nature into her acting than do many of the heroines of molodratna. She is comely in face and fighre, graceful in carriage, but obviously lacks force. Sho needs bo acquire an altogether broader and more demonstrative style—to pitch her whole performance in a higher key for the class of work eha has come oub to do on the Australian stage.' Bland Holb commences his New Zealand bour nexb month, probably ab Dunedin. Bis Christchurch date is October 28th.

Mr Harry Monkhouse appeared for the last time before an Australian audience at the Lyceum, Sydney on Friday, August 23rd. He is now returning to England by the Alameda, which was expected to arrive here last night or tkis morning.

The Standford-Barnes Company commenced a three-nights season at Singleton, N.S.W., recently. On Friday lasb, the company returned to Sydney. Mies Alice Leslie, a young N.Z. actress, is now their loading lady.

Mark Twain (Mr S. L. Clemens) lefb Vancouver in tbe Warrimoo for Sydney on Saburday, Augusb 24th.

Our London correspondent wribes:— 1 Olympia, Limited, , is in liquidation and ' the greatest show on earbh' [vide advertisements), closed its doors on Saturday laeb, throwing over 2,300 persons out of work. 'Venice' was a greab success because of its novelty, and • Constantinople' differed sufficiently from Ha predecessor to attracb fairly well. Bub 'The Orienb' seemed simply a jumble on a larger scale of the two, and was worked very expensively. Ib never really paid from the opening of the doors ab Christmas, and the'losses throughout the greab frost of February were cruel. The money made over ' Constantinople' has been all dropped over 'The Orienb, and the shareholders Who fought bo be in the good thing at the inception of the company are looking; exceedingly blue. Miss Lottie Tobtie • Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay ' Collins is amon»sfc us once more, after long American and Continental tours. She has a riaw song describing how she * wenb bo Paris with papa, , and what she learnt in the gay city, which goes extremely well, and as a graceful high-kicker Lottie is still unrivalled.

The great wheel ab Earlscourb Indian Exhibition was opened lasb Saturday to the public, and will undoubtedly be ' the thing to do ' for the balance of the season. Such a view of London as ib affords has never before been possible. On a clear day the entire metropolis lies at your feeb, and even on a cloudy one bhe wheel commands a marvellous panorama.

The general election is, of course, playing havoc with the London season, the opera and theatres, and many of the latter are preparing bo close their doors a month earlier than usual. Of established successes ' The Shop Girl' and ' An Artist's Model' eeera likely to draw crowds till Christmas, though the music of" neither will compare with • Dandy Dick Whittington,' in which May Yoh6 and John R. Sheridan are genuinely amusing. Literary Notes. There is nothing specially novel aboub ' Elizabeth's Pretenders' which retells the good old story of the orphan heiress with a plain face, and 'strangely fascinating manner,' who longs to be loved tor herself alone. The damsel first of all conceives a penchant for an elderJy Adonis—a Colonel Wybrowe, who makes love to the moniod maid whilst conducting a disreputable intrigue with her frivolous aunb. Elizabeth discovering this, flies from her relation's house and studies art in Paris, posing as a poor student. Ab the peneion where she lodges, two interested suitors find her and endeavour to win her—dollars. They have however, do chance beside a rough and rude American artisb whom the reader will ab once recognise as the ultimate victor. He

is painfully frank not) to say ill-bre% as such heroes invariably aFe, and maslsw an all-devouring paesion with impertinent speeches. Bub we feel, comfortably confidenb the worbhy fellow will break out some day, and that, after straining Elizabeth to his disinterested bosom, he will express an invincible repugnance tor her money bags. You can judge from this description ' Elizabeth's Pretenders' contains little that is new, bub'tis quite readable and refined, as indeed Hamilton Aide'e books usually are. Tho author of The Green Carnation ' ia much better aa what Mr Gladstone would call a sarcast than as a serious novelist. Hie second effort, • An Imaginative Man, , errs principally on the side of dullnese. Its main motive, that of a man with a. mania for probing feminine mysteries, who falls in love with the Sphinx, would have been' funny treated in Ansbey's vein. Mr Hichens has much too heavy a hand. Hβ tries to be impressive, merely succeeding in being grievously heavy. Professor Huxley's complete works in nine volumes are now obtainable in Macmillan'a Eversley Series ab five shilling* apiece. Tbe first, 'Method and P^esults, , has the largest sale. It contains, interesting essays on • The Progress of Science, , «Oα the Physical Basis of Life,' •Qn the Hypothesis that Animals are Automata,' < On the Natural Inequality of Men,' and 'On Rights and Political Rights.' Volume II deals with * Darwiniaiia,' volume HI contains science and education essaye, and volumes IV and V analyse Hebrew and Christian tradition. The average man need nob shun Huxley for fear of getting his religious beliefs unsettled. Thoee, however, who dread the application of severe logic bo Scripture, and merely wieh to sample the Professor's style, may be advised to conbenb themselves vrUa his monograph on ' Hume' in the • English Men of Letters Series,' or on the arguments time is proving so true in ' Social Diseases and Worse Remedies.' Both of these can can be gob for a shilling apiece.

An edifying quarrel is in progress between the ' Evening News' and the ' Star, , writes our London correspondent, as to. bheir respective circulations. Both are bragging and blustering magnificently re. bheir issues for this period or that, bub neither means to meet the other'a challenge or to disclose aught bub useless and barren facts. The • Echo, , which has been referred to with great contempt by both combatants daring the discussion, mildly suggested that to close the debate each of the three managers ('Star, 5 'News' and 'Echo') should produce as a crucial test of commercial success bheir income tax returns. This abruptly ended the game, neither 'Star , nor 'News' ever having made much money, whereas, the ' Echo' has always been a sound financial success. The sale of these half-penny papers ia prodigious nowadays. The ' Star's' accountants, a firm of the highest standing, guarantee that thab journal has an actual sale (not ieaue) of over 350,000 daily, though how much over they decline to state. The fc 'Newa' (a great hand ab 'blow'), poohpoohs this total. Jb boasts a circulation of 'many, many tbouaands more than this,' bub the exact number it) omits to mention. The 'Echo' cannob pretend to sell more than about 60,000 per diem, but its advertismenba are probably worth more than those o£ 'Star , and 'News' clubbed together. The 'Sun' only just pays, if ib does pay, and * Tay Pay 'on dit would like to sell ib. Of the half-penny morning papers the 'Leader' is now the most successful and the 'idorning' has turned the comer. Pots of money have, however, been ldfeb over the latter. Amongeb the penny dailies, far the most influential next to the 'Times ' is the ' Chronicle' which practically has all the Nonconformists of Great Britain and Ireland for a clientele.