STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 52, 1 March 1919, Page 18

STAGE JOTTINGS.

The engagement is announced of Lizctte Parkes to Dr. W. A. Andrews (Melbourne).

-Mr. W. . . Percy, who for some years has been in England, has been engaged as a leading comedian in "Oh. Don't Dolly'" a new musical comedy, founder! upon the late Sir Francis Burnand's once popular play "Be. y," which is to be staged shortly in London.

Mr. Oscar Asche is writing a new play with an Eastern setting- which will be produced by him iv Ijondon in conjunction with Messrs. (irossmith and Laurillard, when Chu Chin I'bow concludes its run. Although over 1100 performances of Chu Chin Chow have already been given, Mr. Asche anticipate, that it will run for another year.

Some months age Bert Kennedy went from Australia to New Zealand with tlie Tivoli compai y that was playing

"Samples." "The Million Dollar Girt - and "Bits and Pieces." He landed back in Sydney early on January as the cook on a tramp steamer—the Rakanoa—that being the only way he could get from Auckland to Sydney.—'"Theatre."

During her enforced vacation owing to the Melbourne theatres being closed on account of the influenza outbreak. Miss Starr has taken up the study of Shakespeare, and it is whispered that as the result she may be seen in the near future in such roles as Portia in "The Merchant of Venice." Rosalind in "As You Like It." or Katharina in "The Taming of tbe Shr< w." Frank Harvey might possibly make a more than effective Petruchio.

With the J. C. Williamson Co., "Nothing But the Truth," in the capacity of treasurer, is Mr. John Allen Maedonald. an entrepreneuur whose association with the business side of the theatrical profession dates back to year 3 ago, when he arranged and piloted the popular Black family of musicians on their first lour, which proved successful. Mr. Maedonald has "been through the mill" since, and is well known in Auckland, where he also managed the Opera House for some time.

At the annual competitions promoted by the Band Association of New South Wales, held at Sydney Sports Ground, the C grade contest (one selection) was won by the Parkes Town Band with 121 points; B grade (one selection) produced a tie between the Eastern Suburbs United and St. George District with 118 each; and the A grade (two selections I went to the Ipswich Vice-Regal with 2'JO. A remarkable performance was put up by the Ipswiohite6 in getting with their first selection ("'Valkyrie) 149 points out of a possible 150.

Miss Jennie Brenan, the well-known dancing mistress, who has gone abroad to see all the latest in dances, and to take in the theatres in America and London, is having a busy time in New York, where she has been doing the big shows with a view to securing for J. C. Williamson, Ltd., new 'lance effects and features. Writing by the last mail, Miss Brenan said that she had witnessed a number of performances, and realised more than ever that the standard of production in Australia could compare more than favourably with that of the American theatres, particularly with regard to musical shows. "So far," added Miss Brenan, "I have seen nothing that can come up to the staging of the Williamson 'Goody Two Shoes' pantomime at Melbourne Her Majesty's. And as for our chorus and ballet, the American girls can't compare with ours for looks, style and dancing."

Tn the eyes of many singers and in the minds of much of the public the words used in singing are of no particular value. This may be true of a goodly number of popular songs that live for a day. But in the strict sense of the word, and speaking of good music, the mission of the music is to give the sentiment a proper setting. When words are set to music they should be good enough to merit a hearing. And the singer who slights his words and leaves you in doubt as to the language he happened to be using, is just that far from being a finished singer. Vocal teachers are coming to realise that the highest vocal art requires one to sing their own language perfectly, and that years of practice in mongrel Italian do not give ability to sing good English. The reason for this is that there are many difficult consonant and vowel combinations appearing frequently in the English that arc unknown to the Italian.

Minnie Love, in an interview published by "The Theatre," quotes: "Let mc sing the songs of the suburbs, and I don't care who's Lord Mayor." "I am," she says, "concerned with the meaning of the song. Actually it is the word rather than the note. Give mc a song with a story or a picture in it, and I shall be happy in trying to get that story or picture across the footlights to my hearers. What, you ask, of 'The Broken Doll'? Well, didn't it go? Didn't it have a story? That is the .-sort of tiling which catches the public —an episode, pathetic or humorous, set to music, and given out to them more or less in dramatic form. I like a song to be set in some sort of a situation. There .should be something to lend up to it. Oive mc just one song like that in an evening, and you can have the half-dozen or so ordinary numbers that an artist is sometimes saddled with, ranging in their appeal, if they have any at all, from the thinnest comedy to the deepest melodrama. The public wants just one good song to remember."

An action bearing on the question whether the late Mr. Frederick Shaw (popularly known as Mark Sheridan), the well known music hall artist, committed suicide, was heard recently in the King's Bench Division, before Mr. Justice Darling and a special jury. The Equitable Assurance Society of the United States were sued by Mark Sheridan's executors (including his widow) for £5000 under two policies of insurance, dated October 11, 1917. The point on which the society relied was a clause in the policies which stated that if the insured committed suicide within a year from the date of the policy their liability would be limited to the amount of the premium paid. The society's contention was that Mark Sheridan committed suicide on January 15, 1918, because of the failure of his play, "Tn Gay Paree." On behalf of the executors it was stated that the death was the result of an accident. Mr. George Robev said that Mark Sheridan was not the man to commit suicide because his play was not a success. The jury returned a verdict for the Assurance Society, and judgment was entered accordingly, with costs.