STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 15, 17 January 1914, Page 14

STAGE JOTTINGS.

HIS MAJESTTS THBATRK. January 26 to February 2 —Geo. Stephenson's Pantomime Co. February 3 to 14—Williamson's "Within : the I_rw Company." I PICTURI-S. Kind's Theatre. Koyal Albert Hall, tijric Theatre. King George—Darbam Street •""ewton I'lcttire Palace (ContlnnotMl). Queen's (Continuous) Globe—Queen Street (Contlnuons) West End Theatre Princess —Queen Street (Continuous) VAUDEVILLE. Opera Home—Nightly.

The' Theatre League of New South i Wales was formed recently, at a meeting in the School of Arts. Its objects are-: "The encouragement and support of Australian plays and playwrights; the Theatre League to act as .a play bureau, affiliated with overseas dramatic agents and kindred leagues, in order to place members' plays, if local managers are disinclined to handle them; the formation of a playgoing committee, to visit each first performance of each new production, professional or amateur, in any Sydney theatre; and the support of local players as well as authors by the formation of the Theatre League Company of players."

Following the English and European custom, Hugh D. Mcintosh has started a series of Tango Teas at the Tivoli Theatre, Sydney. The far-famed tango dance, as the name implies, is the main feature of the entertainment, and forms the subject matter of several numbers. This is reinforced by a few specially selected vaudeville turns. In addition, there is a fashion parade, in which the audience are given the opportunity to see the gorgeous dresses worn by the show girls, and another parade, in which the performers appear in the latest model corsets and the far-famed peg-top pcttieoat. I During the performance tea is served to ) those in the stalls and dress circle. A grand finale dance by the Great Goden I 'troupe of Russian dancers brings tbe entertainment to a close.

Mr. Lauder, who has left England for America and the colonies, made a characteristic farewell. He says in his message:—"'Dinna forget'—these are the words that come to mc now when I am on the point of setting out upon the longest journey of my life, a journey tihat means absence from home and old friends for more than a year. With all the alluring novelty of fresh scenes and experiences there is a deeper feeling of regret at my leaving my own land and people; for "here it Was as a stranger from the North I cajne, and again found home and kinship, in going to Australia I feel I shall be among members of the same race, in fact 'oor am folk,' with ties of blood and origin that give mc hope of a warm welcome. But wherever ■my wanderings take .mc, I shall alwayß look forward t 0 the time when I am to ' set mv face once more towards England.

You know the Scottish proverb, ' East,

we=t, hame's best.' Po until the moment comes for eating my 1914 Christmas dinner among my own people I will say to tb-ose who have been so good to mc in London —' Dinna forget.' " Complaint;, has been,.made by,,the Australian Vaudeville',Artist... Association . that the management of the variety circuits in Australia do not encourage Australian artists, but import talent which j could be supplied in the Commonwealth. Mr Hugh D. Mcintosh, governing director of Rickards' Tivoli Theatres, Ltd., who was asked for his view of the matter, declared that the Tivoli Theatres always have employed as many Australian turns as possible, and always shall. Of course, star turns were all imported, for some inexplicable reason Australia had not so far produced many star vaudeville acts. Those that had been produced, however, received their first chance in Australia, and after making good there went abroad in search of fresh worlds to conquer. "It would be mighty bad busi- j ness for us to discourage Australian ! artists, ho said. We want as many of I them as we can get. When you consider that every imported artist —mind, artist, not act—costs us £12 a week for fares alone, it is <-lear that the Australian act is preferable whenever it is possible to ! 1 engage it. And that £li a week is in I addition to the artists' English salary, j which is always inordinately high. Mr. Ben J. Fuller, governing director of the Fuller-Brennan vaudeville circuit of Australia and New Zealand, was very emphatic on the subject:—"To show you how much we 'boycott' Australian talent, just let mc cite to you the fact that out of 9!) acts working on our circuit exactly 56 are Australian turns—not so bad for a 'boycott,' is it? But why pick on vaudeville? There are. for instance, American and British books. The Australian bookstalls are crowded with foreign literature, and still you hear no complaint from the Australian Journalists' Association or any other body equally competent to enter the field. I presume that no sane man will credit the statement made so thoughtlessly that Australian managers are able to secure plenty of imported artists, mostly Americans, for less salary than local artists."

Julius Knight and Irene Browne opened at Melbourne Theatre Royal on Saturday night, January 10th. in the famous English version of Victorian Sardou's drama, "Dora," entitled "Diplomacy." First staged as "Dora" in 1877 in Paris, Sardou's play lias stood the test of time. Its revival last year at Wyndbam's TTbeatre, London, proved wonderfully successful, and the piece is still running there to enormous business. The first -act takes place at Monte Carlo, the second, third and fourth in Paris.

The marriage took place in Melbourne last week of Mr. Charles A. Wenman, the J. C. Williamson. Ltd., producer, with Miss Flossie Dickinson, the bright young Australian who has appeared with success in Clarke and Meynell and J. C. Williamson productions. Mr. Wenman and his wife were the recipients of good wishes and congratulations from members of the profession in all parts of Australia, with whom they are exceedingly popular. Mr. Wenman's last big production was the "Forty Thieves" pantomime. When Barry Lupino, the famous comedian in "The Forty Thieves" at Melbourne Her Majesty's, coolly steps on to the stage with one foot from a •height of nine feet, the audience gasps. Lupino, however, has accomplished much more startling feats of a similar nature. In the Drury Lane, London, pantomime last year he stepped from a height of 28 feet, and achieved a record that few acrobats would care to emulate. "I have only had one fall," said Mr. Lupino, "and that was. when appearing at the London Empire. I slipped over the footlights and fell clean into the drum, lacerating one of my shoulders. The audience thought it was part of my performance, and shrieked -with j laughter, but I was taken to the _osl£itaL"

Miss Ethel Warwick, who has had — arying fortune as a manageress, without being lucky enough to discover any strong attraction, is on her way to An»- i tralia as leading lady for "Joseph of Canaan." As announced by Mr Clyde Meynell recently, Sir Herbert Tree's stage manager, Mr Cecil King, is coming out to superintend the Biblical production. Miss Warwick, who is the wife of Edmund Waller, now in Melbourne with the Lewis Waller Company, visited Australia in 1909, and remained for a year under the J. C. Williamson management

Beaumont Smith, in conjunction with Louis Meyer of the London Strand Theatre, will introduce another drama sensation to Australia next June. This is "Mr. Wu" now doing sensational business in.the Big Smoke. Mr. Wu is a Enropeanised Chinaman of the craftiest description and something quite new in dramatic ideas. The Meyer r Smith dramatic organisation will present "Wu" after Rex Beach's romance "The Barrier" has been produced.

It is the intention of George Wfl- ■ loughby, Ltd., to send no less than five distinct companies to the Dominion during the current year. The first of these will be a dramatic company, headed by George Cross. The season will be for 10 nights and will be immediately followed by the "Aladdin" pantomime, now being staged with signal success in Sydney. The cast includes Grace Palotta, Mabel Batchelor, and Percy Clifton, with Mr. Wynne-Jones as musical conductor. Mr. Stanley Grant will be the manager, and the pantomime will run seven nights in the main cities. Over 100 people will travel with this show. Another attraction later in the year will be "The Rosary," performed by a company specially imported by Mr. Willoughby from the United States.

"The Jew in Drama" was the title of a lecture delivered by Mr Arthur Bourcbicr at tbe Jewish Institute in connec-1 tion with the United Synagogue, Mul-J berry Street, E., London. Mr Bourchier said that drama had never been so unreal that the characters had not borne some resemblance to the people of the time. A depraved age produced depraved I plays; an ambitious age, ambitious plays. In his opinion the "Merchant of Venice" was produced by Shakespeare as a plea | for toleration. The very name of Shy- | lock had crept into our dictionaries as a I term of reproach, but in Shylock seemed to be centred all the dignity.of his race. 'We saw in the character of Shylock a i person maddened by persecution.' In the 1 nineteenth century drama the Jew became a negligible quantity—a virtuous pawnbroker's rascally assistant. (Laughter.) In the present century we saw the Jew financier represented as a Samson, | sometimes as a Croesus with a distinctly j domestic side, and as a Napoleon of I finance. It was a far cry from the Jew- | baiting days of Edward the First to the I days of Edward the Seventh and King George; and if Shylock and Antonio were here to-day they would agree in hailing the.Lord Chief justice as a wise and upright judge. (Cheers.) London critics have been stirred by the production of "Who's the Lady?" at the Garrick. This farce-comedy fjrom...tho French will be played in Australia 'by the Louis Meyer-Beaumont Smith Comedy Company commencing I next August at Melbourne Princess. The "Daily Mail" described the piece as "risky.*' "sultry" "naughty,""impudent," "unblushing," and on top of this criticism the Bishop of Kensington sent two trusty henchmen to see and report on the farce to him. One reported "It's very funny, really clever, and humorous. T wouldn't "mind my wife seeing it. In fact, I propose to take her." "The Telegraph" described the piece as "a jolly, rollicking, winking, nudging farce," but" the "Express" said it was probably the most salacious comedy ever seen in London. Whilst this controversy raged

the Garrick booked up rapidly, and when the mail left the very earliest date possible to secure a seat to see "Who's the Lady"' was the middle of May next. Visitors to tbe Wihite City at Rushcutters Bay, Sydney, are now provided with a hair-raisiing sensation. They

bavc the spectacle of a young girl leaping from the window of a burning building, with her clothes all ablaze, and plunging headlong into a tank of water. Tbe top room of a six-storied house * bursts into flame. Miss Thelin appears ' at tbe topmost .window. Fire is above and behind her; the water far .beneath. To escape the raging furnace at 'her back but one course is open. There is no alternative.. She must dive—or die. A piercing shriek -rends the air. She dives for her life, 'her clothes all ablaze, flying through the -'-. covering a distance of sixty feet in half a second, leaving a trail of flame bebind her, and plunges headlong into a sea of living fire. Burning gasoline covers the surface of the water into which she dives, and fiery tongues of angTy flame lick heavenward to devour iher. This remarkable free attraction is given nightly and at matinees. Mr Harry Lauder, the famous Scotch comedian, attracted a crowded congregation at Anerley Congregational Church on a Sunday afternoon, when he' addressed a men's meeting on pit ponies, and sang two songs from the pulpit. There was an attendance of 2,000 people, nearly half of whom were ladies, who occupied the galleries. Mr Lauder, who at first' appeared nervous, soon regained his composure. "It is always a serious matter when one comes into a church," he began, "and when you go into the pulpit, well " —an expressive gesture finished the sentence. He proceeded to describe some of the hardships pit ponies had to endure, and told how a pit pony saved his life when in his early days he worked in a mine.,' "I used to drive a pony named Little Captain, a little blackpony, with a long shaggy mane and a long tail, and he was a 'wee boy to work.' I used to sit in a little tub which came nearly to the roof, and if I raised my head four inches I got a knock which sent mc back again; so you see I was brought up not to be too forward. One day while we were at work he came to a sudden stop. We had reached a great space like a quarry, as high as this church roof, with great stones on either side. As he refused to go on I took up a handful of stuff and threw at him, but instead of going forward, he turned round and went back. Immediately one of the sides collapsed, and thousands of tons of stuff came down. I had not heard anything, but the pony heard the creaking and cracking up above. That, is why I am here to-day. That is why the pit pony has my sympathy, and I shall always do what I can for its betterment, its good treatment, and. its welfare as long as I live." In the course of the pro- • ceedings the famous comedian sang "Annie Laurie" and "Rocked in the , Cradle of the Deep." The meeting decided to send a "requisition" to the ' House of Commons, asking for the appointment of more inspectors of pit- . ponies. THK THi*ATYHTi;AT>