STAGE JOTTINGS

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 183, 1 August 1908, Page 12

STAGE JOTTINGS

HIS MAJESTY'S THEATEE. July 27 to Aug. 17 — J. C. Williamson, Pantomime Aug. 17 to Aug. 2S — Frank Thornton Co. September 30 — Meynell and Gunn's Little Breadwinner Co. OPERA HOUSE. • Fuller's Advanced Vaudeville. The '• Humpty Dumpty " pantomime has during the week been the success at His Majesty's that might reasonaibly have been anticipated. The spectacular features oi tup show are wonderfully fine: you would see nothing better anywhere. Mr. Victor Loydell has the part of Martha, taken in Sydney and Melbourne by Harry Phydora, whoso Mother Goose was a feature of last year's pantomime. Among the Moldavia's pa-ssengens when she left Sydney the other day -were Mr and Mrs Alfred Artois and two of the Kios Sisters. Mr Jack Artois ajid his (vife (Miss Alma Grey), who stayed on •here a week so as to visit the hot lakes, were to take the Ortona a week later, and cross from Marseilles to London. Bland Holt is paying his first professional visit to Westralia, where he has been doing great business with the Drury Lane autumn drama success of '97, "The White Heather." Pansy Montague Milo was (says tho "Bulletin" last month touring Ireland, and the truthful Cruickshank announced "she has covered herself with fresh glory." There are people who consider there is room for covering of some description. It has been decided that Miss Margaret Anglin's tour shall include the Dominion. The Meynell and Gunn Melodrama Co. which opens in Christchurch on the 9tb inst., and returns there for Cup week, contemplates the production of "The Littlo Bread Winner," "The Stepmother," "Old Folks at Home," and brief revivals of the "Fatal Wedding." The first three plays are new to New Zealand. The company includes old favourites here in G. P. Carey, C. R. Stanford. Ernest Leicester, E. G. Coughlin, H. S. Lewis, F. Coope, and Misses Beatrice Holloway, Ida Graham and Mabel Russell, etc. Rose Stahl, who has just finished something over a thousand nights in some musical comedy success in the States, and after a holiday contemplates its further perpetration, believes that if Shakespeare were living to-day when giving "Hamlet" he would not introduce strolling players, but would have a moving picture machine and show the murder of his father in most approver! twentieth century fashion. And she fully expects to see some daring actor try "the innovation, Florence Baine.-. tlio buxom proprietress of "Miss Lancashire Limited. - ' has resolved to make Australia her homo and abiding place, and has possessed herself of 15,000 Westralian acres, with the intention of becoming a squatteress. 'Wiis lump of land and the cattle nna shoep on its surface represent only portion of the Australian profits ot '.Miss Lancashire," so there i.s .-videntlv mon~V in running a cheap wort of play with ii class of humour that is aggressivcl v obtrusive.

A few -weeks ogo an American artist who ■wajs appearing at the London Oxford made known to the world the thrilling fact that her theatrical wardrobe was sufficiently capacious to enable her to discard every one of her drosses after it had once beeD worn. Xow it is stated that Miss Margaret Cooper is to be numbered amongst those performers who believe in a nightly change of costume, even when fnlfUing a n engagement for a lengthy period as at the London P;iJuce. The pair should be asked to give their opinions on the perenn.ia.l '-silly season" topic, ••Ilww to dress well on £12 a year."

An interviewer, liaving obtained access to the presence of a famous u<-tor, asked the great man if he would be kind enough to describe some of his early fail-

tires. "Sir," snapped the tragedian, "1 never Had any! Joraes—the door!"

"David Oopperfield" is to be produced as a French play by M. Antoine at the Paris Odeou. The piece is divided into ten tableaux. M -Max Maurey, Liie actormanager of the Grand Guignol, being the ndantor.

Miss Connie Ediss, the former London Gaiety actress, who is now in America, intends to become an American citizen, and has taken out her first naturalisation papers. Miss Ediss recently purchased a residence in the Berkshire Hills, Massachusetts, for £7800. Gaiety actresses in some instances at least must be more careful of their money than the opposite sex. You don't hear of a Gaiety actor buying a place for thousands to settle dowi in.

I heir from Carter the Magician in tho East. He is more than optimistic. "We were one week in Hong Kong," he writes, "and played to capacity business every night. We opened here (Shanghai) Saturday, June 13, at the Lyceum Theatre to a house packed to the doors, ISOO dollars being the receipts. China' is unanimous in pronouncing the show the greatest that has visited" her shores for a decade. We nre sold out in advance for one week. Opera companies with 100 people, circuses, ana great aggregations fail to do half the business we are doing. One year more completes a trip of not only around the world, hut all over tho world. Our route ltps from here through Tientsin, Pekin, Tsingtau. Vladivostok. Manchuria, Kobe, Yokohama, and Tokio (Japan), Singapore." The entertaining Carter is evidently on what is known as a good wicket.

The 'Manawctu Standard" saw reason to complain of the final performance of the Beatty-MeLntosh Company at Palmerston North, when "A Beggar on Horseback" was staged. The sta'gin-* of the play was particularly fine, but the acting was very indifferent, says the paper, some of the members of the company, including one principal, indulging in merriment in parts where the play required sober treatment. The audience were by no means pleased with their conduct, and for their own sake the management should see that it is not repeated.

Since "Charley's Aunt," with its 1.466 performances at the old (Jlobe Theatre, "Sweet Lavender," with 670 at Terry's, and "The Chinese Honeymoon,' , with over 1,000 at the old Strand, the West End of London has had no success equal to that of "When Knights Werj Bold." The success is all the more interesting from the fact that the author of the piece is a lady, Miss Harriet Jay. a sister-in-law of tho late Robert Buchanan. No other woman playwright has approached a run of 500 nights in London, Miss Jay's achievement being all the more remarkable because of the real farcical strength of "When Knights Were Bold." Women may fairly point to Wyndham-'s as a proof of the possibilities of their sex. Frank 'j hornton. who presents this latosi, success to New Zealand audiences, is also remembered for his excellent performance in two of the other plays mentioned.

Pollard's Juveniles are playing in Queensland; at latest it was Brisbane, •with. "Bluebell in Fairyland." i

"The Merry Widow," after a run of about three months in Melbourne, moves on in a few days to Adelaide, where commences a lengthy Australasian tour. "Peter Pan" is to be given" a further trial in Melbourne, and will follow "The Widow" at Her Majesty's.

Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch" concludes a remarkably successful run in Melbourne on August 7. A comprehensive Australasian tour follows.

The well-behaved "Kiddies" of the Hunrpty Dumpty Company were great favourites with the passengers on their trip across from Sydney. Although they are accompanied by a trained nurse, who had considerable experience during the Boer war, nearly every one of them wanted her mother badly during the worst of the gale. Sympathetic passengers did their best to father and mother the youngsters, and when the trouble was over, one man with a very serious face said—"l shall give all you youngsters a treat when we get to Auckland; I'm going to take you all to the pantomime." "The pantomime!" they shouted in chorus. "Why, we're on in it." The man was amiable, but unobservant.

Mr. Robert Courtneige celebrated the 1,250 th performance of "The Dairymaids" at the Queen's Theatre in June. The piece has been a remarkable success in London. It was in this piece that Miss Carrie Moore had a part much more suited fco her than that of Leihar's Merry Widow.

"Peter Pan" was produced in English at the Vaudeville Theatre, Paris, in June, by a company taken from London by Mr. Charles Frohman. The French were charmed with the domesticity of the nursery scene. Nana, the clog, leaped at once-into favour, but they were somewhat puzzled by the subtleties of Peter Pan's shadow. A French critic also alleges that some of the audience imagined that '-Tinker Bell," the fairy, was an allusion to the German Emperor.

Two full-fledged comic-opera companies in Melbourne at the same time is enough to give rise to whole hosts of scandals, but although we have tottered on the verge of dozens none has fully ripened yet. There has been a lot of internal trouble in one company, writes "Clio" in Melbourne ''Punch." Two ladies, each of them a star in her own firmament, have come into collision. They did not tear each other's hair or scratch each other's faces, they attacked each other's characters, and those who listened heard more in live minutes than they had presumed to guess in five years. Eventually one lady declared that she would not play again with the other. A mediator had to be brought post haste from another State to heal the breach which threatened to disrupt the show. Mc smoothed things over by cajoles and promises, but for a few nights the stage manager had an anxious time.

The Comic Opera Company, that has produced " Miss Hook of Holland " and

'• The Belle of May fair" at the Melbourne Royal so successfully, was given an enthusiastk- farewell the other evening. There was one episode during the performance that was deeidedily amusing. All through the first act tho singers wore generously appla-uded. By the time the curtain rose on the second act excitement had intensified. Flowers were handed over the footlights, and popular frags introduced by the audience. Just toward the end of the performance Mr. Urctt came forward, a watch case in his hand, lie intimated to the audience that a member of their company had practically saved the life of a lady by stopping a runaway horse. His story quietly told, was received with intense enthusiasm. Mr. Cromwell was called forward as the hero of the hour. The husband of the lady wished him to accept a watch. The inscription was read by Mr. Brett and prcsentedi to til" tune of much applause. While Mr. Cromwell struggled to reply, a boy broke on the scene with the information that " the stage manager wanted his watch back! " From then till the curtuin fell proceeding were hilarious. Later there was some serious speech -making. This company will, 1 fear, not be seen in New Zealand, the original agreement with the English syndicate being for Australia only. Miss Mabelle Morgan, principal boy in "Humpty Dumpty." is now making what will probably be her last Australasian tour for many years. She is going to try her fortune in London, where managers of pantomime find great difficulty in getting the girl with the necessary attributes of figure and voice for the heroic role. It is a notable fact that both the principal boy in pantomime and the ragged urchin in melodrama is always a girl, and that the quality of legs is a leading factor in both cases. Those of the principal boy must be faultless in line, while those for the street nrab must have a decide*} tendency to knock at the knees. In one of New Tork's leading vaudeville theatres. Wednesday evening of each week is given up to* amateur performances. All people, male or female, old or young, ugl.r or pretty, are at liberty to proffer their services* and do a turn. If the turn goes well with the audience it usually means an engagement for the performer at one of New York's minor halls. Tf, however, the performer fails to win the approval of the crowd, his (or - her) career is quickly cut short. As a man the gallery rises and cries—"TJit tho 'ook! Git the "ook!" Immediately an enormous -hook on a 10ft. pole emerges from the wings, and hauls the unfortunate performer ignominiously by arm. leg. or neck, into oblivion. Miss Olga Nethersole has obtained a verdict for 2.500 dol. in her action for libel against the Cleveland (Ohio) '•Leader." In a dramatic criticism published over a year ago it was asserted that Miss Xethersole had been made hysterical by a "booing" from a London audience. This assertion was proved to be untrue, and the judge instructed the jury to find a verdict for the plaintiff if they considered that she had been injured by the false statement. Latitude in criticism has its limits even in the States evidently, but why it should be drawn at this particular line is difficult to understand. THE DEADHEAD.