STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 28, 1 February 1913, Page 14

STAGE JOTTINGS.

HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. To-night—"ParsifaL " February 17 —Kaekards' Vaudeville Co. February 24 to March S—J. C. Williamson's Comedy Co., "Get ltich Quick Wallingford." PICTURES. King's Theatre. Itoyal Albert Hall. I Lyric Theatre. King George—Durham StreetNewton Picture Palace (Continuous). Queen's Theatre (Continuous). Globe Theatre—Queen Street (Continuous). VAUDEVILLE. Opera House —Nightly. The new Hamilton and Plimmer Company has been finally selected, and from the list of names it will be conceded that the management has secured a strong dramatic organisation. The company includes Messrs George S. Titheradge, H. R. Roberts, Arthur Styan, Sydney Stirling, 1. Stuart Clyde, Paul Latham, Cyril Bell, and Harry Plinimer, Mre Robert Brough, Misses Lizette Parkes, Muriel Dale, Kate Towers, and Beatrice Day. The coming tour will start at the Palace Theatre, Sydney, on Saturday, March 15. The Sydney season will last for four weeks- and four nights, and after a six weeks' season in Melbourne the company will make a flying trip through Tasmania and New Zealand, returning to the Palace Theatre about August 1, with a number of re-cently-acquired London pieces. For the brief Easter season in Sydney "Dr. Wake's Patient" will be revived, and in the return season in August "The Turning Point," the play in which Miss Ethel Irving re-appeared in London at St. James' Theatre after her Australian tour, will be one of the attractions. The management states that "The Blindness of Virtue" and "Hindle Wakes" will also be produced. Messrs Hamilton and Plimmer, it is further announced, have secured a site in Melbourne for a new theatre, and building operations will be started shortly after Easter. Mr Henry Hayward, managing director of Hayward s Picture Enterprises, has left for Sydney in order to confer with Mr J. Williams with regard to the proposed amalgamation of Australasian interest in the importation of kinematograpli films.

Oscar Strauss' new ballet, "The Princess of Tragant." which has been produced at the Vienna Opera House, a local theatrical chronicler announces, will be one of the principal features of the next summer season in London.

• Tbe Palace Theatre in Sydney is to be pulled down before long. "On Our Selection" will probably be the last play to go- on its boards. The Palace is a prettily-decorated playhouse, but is rather old-fashioned in design, with posts obstructing the lines of sight. The Palace was constructed out of unclaimed moneys in Tattersall's sweeps. ..

With the close of the season of "Harbour Lights" in Sydney. Miss Dorothy Dix terminated her engagement with the Williamson management. She made a farewell speech in Sydney, and announced her sorrow at leaving Australia. Miss Dix is going to New York.

Miss Eugenic Duggan has created many kinds of Australian heroines in her time, for she has originated each one in the Australian plays Mr. William Anderson has produced, and, as he has produced the lion's share of all the Australian dramas written, it can be realised that she has had some-consider-able experience. Among them all she has not had one which appeals to her more than the gentle yet essentially womanly Pearl Grey in "The Girl of the Never Never," which is being produced at the King's Theatre, Melbourne, in which she is scoring a real success.

The New Zealand tour or the George Marlow Company with "The Monk and the Woman" begins at C'hristchurch on March 22nd and concludes at Auckland, the local dates being June 9th to June 25th inclusive. The company's repertory also includes "The Qneeu of the Redskins." Mr. Stanley Grant in managing the tour. The business manager of the Adelphi Theatre, Sydney, is responsible for the statement that 60.000 persons have witnessed "The Monk and the Woman" during its run at that theatre. The play is now in its sixth week.

iMaggie Moore ( Mrs H. R. Roberts), was to have left Sydney on a tour about the end of this week. When Mr. Roberts makes his next appearance in Sydney it will be with the Hamilton-Plimmer Company.

Aucklanders whose recollection carries back a few years, will be interested to learn that the Greenwoods are now in Victoria. Mdme. Greenwood, it is stated, is purchasing a large property near Brighton where the family will enjoy an occasional month's rest.

Mr. George Marlow, during his recent visit to England, secured the following plays for Australia and New Zealand: ••Tlie Monk and the Woman'" "Her Road to Ruin," "No Mother to Guide Her,"

"The Beggar Girl's Wedding." "The Soldier's Wedding," 'A Daughter of Israel," "The Pride of the Ranch,"

"Allah's Orchard," "As White as a Lily," "Tho Cowboy's and the Squaw," "Princess of Patches," "From Convent to Throne," "The White Caps," "The Cattle King's Daughter," "Nobody's Darling," "The Race for Life," "Queen of the White Sl_ves."

A man "behind the scenes" tells us (says the "Sydney Referee") that in the work of "preparing for a new production, Miss Lily Brayton spares no effort in attending to the details in connection with the dressing of the play. Miss Brayton has been spending a lot of time* visiting Melbourne shops in search of suitable materials for "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which is to follow "Antony and Cleopatra." She not only selects the materials, but her suggestions in the making up of the costumes are of value on account of her knowledge of the dresses of the various periods. "The Nude on the European Stage" was the subject of a lecture by Dr. A. S. Rappoport at a meeting of the OJP. Club at the Hotel Cecil in London recently. The lecturer stated that the age was one of spectacular display, and asked why they should not be true to nature on the stage. People saw nothing shocking, nothing degrading, in nudity in pictorial art. The ancients looked upon the nude with different eyes from the people of to-day, and their feelings were never shocked. They had no question of either prurience or prudence, mock modesty or suggestiveness. A shiver of horror would go through the playgoer if it were suggested that the nude should appear on the stage, and yet the public allowed the semi-nude. He was not advocating the nude on the stage. The time had not yet come for its resuscitation. But he maintained that if the rrude on the stage was wicked, the semi-nude was worse; it was vulgar, and vulgarity was a crime of which art should never be accused.

Protesting against the unwarrantable use of the "actor" and "actress" in describing unfortunates who do not belong •to the theatrical profession, H. Dobell Lyle wrote from the Empire Theatre, Southend, to a London paper, on December 5: "It is not possible for the Actors' Association or the profession in general to protest against or perhaps prevent, a very prevalent evil? It is the custom, and apparently the delight, of certain sections of the sensational Press to fly to the word "actress." People who have no right to be thus designated are continually honoured with the mis-

placed appellation in a manner which becomes damaging to the general prestige of our profession. One sees the word 'actress' vividly displayed on boldly-typed contents bills in lurid headlines. Unfortunately it is usually the 'catch-penny' heading a narrative of mis-spent life of profligacy, a murder, a suicide, a petty theft or a divorce. On perusal one finds 'she had once been in the chorus of a travelling pantomime,' or 'she had been on and off the stage for some months.' 'Actresses,' mark you! Does one, then,. classify the girl who leaves the pickle factory or the loom for six weeks' pantomime with the lady who sustains the role of principal boy? Why should a newspaper be apparently unable to find but one word with which to designate the pickle factory damsel and the acknowledged and genuine article?" Sydney theatrical managers will need to be careful in future as to the title and character of plays produced (remarks the "Australasian"). Quite recently there was bitterness of feeling over the production of "The Monk and the Woman." On Saturday evening MrAllen Doone played "The Parish Priest," and tbe conduct of some members of the audience evidently annoyed him. Mr. Doone, coming before the curtain, said that the play had been staged all over the United States for years, and had been everywhere enjoyed and approved by Roman Catholic prelates and Protestant pastors. Many had been moved to tears, and yet, after all the kindness he had received from Australian audiences, he had brought it to Sydney to be laughed at. (Here the listeners, who had been as quiet as mice, gasped with astonishment.) Mr. Doone went on to say that, whether they liked the play or not, he would keep it on for a fortnight. (Cheers.) He failed to see anything ridiculous in the comedy, but some ladies near at hand had stung him beyond endurance with irrelevant laughter and satirical comment. He must request them either to leave the house and recover their money at the box office, or behave properly. He was Irish, and must speak out. (Cheers.) To make funny remarks in the auditorium when sentiment ruled the stage was not a sign of wit, but of ill-breeding." (Cheers.) As far as the mass of the audience was concerned, the cause of the trouble never reached their ears, and a little of it, at least, must be put down to "nerves." When Collins and Hart went on the stage in "Puss iv Boots" at Her Majesty's, Melbourne, a section of the audience were somewhat puzzled and inclined to become impatient. For Collins and Hart, like a Gilbertian character well remembered, "did nothing in particular and did it very well," Then it became evident that the turn was in the 'hafcdre of a burlesque on the conjuror, juggler, and strong man act, which generaUy begins by the performer doing tricks with his hat. cane, and gloves, and dropping them more tnan once. However, when the American pair commenced the strong man part of their turn, the house was presently in an uproar. And no wonder. It was indeed amazing to see one of the partners being thrown into the air caught and balanced on the other's upraised hands, or being held out at arm's length. The climax was reached when, after some amazing feats, Collinrested the whole weight of his body on his finger, and swung round and round on this on the other's face. Of course, it was all a burlesque and Collins and Hart really didn't perform these wonderful things, but how they were done must have puzzled many of the audience for

a long time. "The Sunshine Girl," at Her Majesty's (says the Sydney "Sun"), is not a musical comedy with a coherent plot, but rather a sketchy succession of comedy numbers. It includes in its cast such favourite artists as Miss Grace Palotta, Miss Jessie Lonnen, Miss Billie Barlow, Miss Ivy Bickford, and Miss Blanche Browne, with Messrs Jack Cannot, Leelie Holland, Frank Greene, and C. R. Bantock. It had a crowded house as a start-off on Saturday night, and promises to see a popular season. ' On his return to Australia after having spent eight months abroad, Mr J. C. Williamson, in an interview, said that 60on after he arrived in London with Mr Tallis last June, he fixed up for the visit of Mr Lewis Waller and Miss Madge Titheradge, who will arrive in Australia next July. Miss Titheradge made a great hit in Europe and America, and he had no doubt but that she would be a great surprise to Australian audiences. A New York paper gave prominence to the following recently:—"lt is announced by cable that New York will soon have an opportunity of seeing the son and heir of a British peer in musical comedy. Viscount Dangan, eldest son of Lord Cowley, who worked for. a short time as a scene painter and is now in the chorus at the Gaiety Theatre, in 'The Sunshine Girt,' has extracted a promise from Mr George Edwardes of a small part in the new English company to visit America. Lord Dangan is known as the 'Waltzing Viscount,' just as the I Earl of Yarmouth is nicknamed the Trancing Earl.' Lord Dangan is, however, by far the better dancer of the two. He is in great demand among the Gaiety girls as a partner at the theatri- i cal charity balls, which the chorus always attends in large numbers. The young man takes his profession very seriously, and has talent enough for a musical comedy part, although his singing powers are not great. On the programme he is Arthur Wellesley." Mr Harry Corson Clarke who will make his first appearance in Auckland in "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford," has a m-ascot that he would not give for all the wealth of the Indies, Klondyke, and Nome combined. It is a ring, a curious ring, and it never leaves his hand, waking or sleeping. It has a story, has this curious ring, but its origin nobody knows nor probably ever will know. It i& a broad band of antique platinum, ornamented with sinuous snake design and strange hieroglyphics. Sunk into the band is a Ceylon catte eye, flanked on either side -with a diamond. The jewellers, it is said, have tried to get the ring for copying purposes, but Mr Clarke has so far succeeded in evading their "desecrating touch." He says that three successful seasons and 60,000 dollars, net is what happened to ClaTke, via "WTiat Happened to Jones" plus the winning properties of that rinsr, and he wants to see what it will do for "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford" before-he runs the chances of changing his luck by letting some other fellow have even a duplicate of his mascot. THE DEADHEAD.