STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 7, 8 January 1916, Page 14

STAGE JOTTINGS.

Mr. and Mrs. Carlyle Smythe have left London for Melbourne. The entrepreneur 'has arranged for the visit of several celebrities, including the wellknown war' 'correspondent, Frederick Villiers; Miss Muriel Stair, of "Within the haw," opened her return visit to New Zealand at Wellington on Boxing Night, in "Bought and Paid For." Also in the repertoire are "Under Cover" and "Nobody's Widow." Mr Ashracad Bartlott. the war correspondent, is coming out to Australia and New Zealand next month, under the management of ,1. and N. Tait, to give a series of lectures on the war and particularly the Gallipoli campaign. There is no improvement in the honlth o ( Mr. Geo. S. Titheradge, and it is feared that he Will not be seen unoa his feet again; ■•"Tith>' ) fte he was affectionately known to hie intimites," celebratesj his .jubilee as an actor this year. Aft officer lias been instructed by the Victorian Minister for Customs (Mr. Tudor) to visit moving picture shows and report upon tho class of films exhibited. This action has-been taken in Consequence of complaints that objectionable films have been shown. New Zealand might very Well follow suit. Mr P. R. Dix, of the font of Messrs Dix ahd Baker, of tlie Victaria Theatre, ha* returned to Newcastle from a »t)eeessful and lengthy treatment in Sydney for nervous breakdown, nays the Newcastle "Morning Herald." Mr Dix :e well known in Auckland, where he started tho "Popular Concerts" that ueed to be held in the old City Hall. ; Why don't people ge to the theatre ofi they did? Sir Arthur Pinero enewersi "What with weak and wobbly managements, lectures, essays, and diecuwione, moat men li&vo been dfiveft into eueh a state of fatigue fcbout the drama ttmt when they left toueineee they •Went ue into tho corners and muttered to thenv selves; 'Now, wftftt shall 1 do to eg not to go to the play to-night J ,, ' When in America Mm. Arthur Me»d, the Chmtchureh soprano, saw Mkdame Pavlova, and Miss Felice Lyne in Aiiber'e old opera, "The Dumb Girl of Portici." She states as her persona! Opinion th*t Pavlova is a wonderful dancer and ft very beautiful woman, but Mre. Mead wae nevertheless "bored" to death. "Did she talk too much ac the Dumb Qirlt" asked an interviewer. "That's exactly it—she talked too much with her arms and legs. At times they screamed at .you! She was co poey the whole time," eaid Mre. Mead. Tho returned New Zealander wae extremely disappointed with Felice Lyne the night she heard her, and does not consider her one of the elect. Mrs. Mead sa-w Paul Dufault in New York, and was assured by him that he intended to visit Australia and New Zealand nest year.

Though Zeppelins rage and the town ■be dark o' nights, Drury Lane will not break a long tradition, and the Christmas annual will be presented as usual, , remarks "London Observer." "Puss . in Boots " has been chosen as the suof ject. Messrs. George R. Sims, Frank . Dix, and Arthur Collins will put their . heads together over the book, and we are promised one of the strongest caste ever seen at the Lane. i Rosina Buckman, the New Zealand , soprano, has won plaudits in the role of > Mimi in "La Boheme," recently produced i at the London Shaftesbury. "A very gracious figure she made," saye London "Era," "realising much of the poetic • glamour that clings about the little «m----i broidreae, with her love of flowers and i sunshine., her prayers, and her pathetic . pfide in the little white hands that more • than all the test helped to enslave tho inflammable Rudolph." j> "Theyvo a thousand and one things t in theatrical London that *c in New 1 Zealand hnve not got, but tlicro is one ;- pest the London theatre-goer has to put " Up Wlt/h, and that is the pa.vemefit BpecU' • lator in theatre tickets. Theatre managers give them no encouragement', but B by mentis Of messengers they buy tflany '• lots of two and four of the cheapertt price tickete for what they know will '■' be crowded perforniawjee of assured iild- % ceases. They dispose of them easily, • ,teo, te people who arrive too late to r be able to liUy seats at bne boX'dfnee, end can get a profit of from one to two shillings on each ticket Small shops in ' tho neighbourhood of certain theatres <do a large business in cheaper-price ' ieaU, slid Apparently with impunity. One of these shops had one day last J month about sixty tickets for ettle for the .London Coliseum, and evidently 1 could dtepoee of them in spite of the 1 warning posted up outside vhe theatre rtgalnst buying tickete (rent unauthorised ptrsone in the etreet or elsewhere. ' Stravinsky, who a juofc now in AmeMca, ho* been teillag the Americans • that the reason why music makes slow I pMgfWs thefe is that they ito dot lake • It seriously enbilgh. "The way to love ' music, to Increase its produet'oil," hd i saye, "Iβ to krtow it when you are young. It is much more dilfieult to )>re' pare people to enjoy «U3ie after thty are gwwn up and their mlmfe lia»o • become crowded with various lntereste ' in life." There to no reason, he conJ tinued, »hy America should noi have , many great composers, " many creators ;of wonderful sound, new kinds of } muAid fresh out of the "heart of a new 1 : kind of civilisation." But this v-ill J never come until children aTe taught musio in the schools and in the ''■ homes. Children, all children, lovp •; music if it is presented to them Wltl ; enthusiasm and simplicity, and tlu i schools should give them this oppor ' I tunity, "tn fact, if the schools began 1 this movement it would be forced into > the families, because tho children vould ! take it there; the children would deJ mand musical environment once the I schools opened up their hearts to it." THE DEADHEAD.