STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 242, 9 October 1920, Page 18

STAGE JOTTINGS.

Tlio "Mother Hubbard" Company which has finished its season in Now Zealand is getting back to Melbourne for earh T rehearsal for the next Xmas extravaganza, '"Sinbad the Sailor."' The Corporation of Bournemouth has decided to retain the municipal orchestra at its preseent strength of 4") instrumentalists, at. an extra grant of at least £2,500 per annum. This will maintain Bournemouth as one of the leading musical centres outside of London. Miss Bessie Rnnkry, an American dramatic star of wide reputation, has arrived in Sydney under contract to Ben and John Fuller. Miss Rnnkey wns engaged in New York by Mr. Hen J. Fuller, who saw her in several productions of which he held the Australian copyright. He selected her, after interviewing no fewer than r>o women playing democratic leads, as the actress most suited to Australian audiences. Maggie Dickinson, Australia's brilliant young dancer, is to join the J. C. Williamson Revue Company to appear in New Zealand in "The Hinfj Boys on Broadway" and "The Passing Show of in-20." This will be her farewell to New Zealand aldiences. On returning to Melbourne, she will make her last appearance in Australia in the pantomime. "Humpty Dumpty," for on the completion of the Melbourne season she will sail for America. The Musical Association of New South •Wales has started a movement for the encouragement of 'British music. Activity in th's direction has been exhibited in London and other .parts of Britain, especially by the British Musical Association, the vice-presidents of which body include the well-known names of 8 r Hush Allen. IProfessor Bantook, Mr. Delius, Mr. Dan Godfrey, Dr. Ethel Smyth, and Professor Tovey. and the news from the centres Rnd hrnnc'ics of the society is encouraging. Ben Fuller followed his singing-parson engagement by Looking Beßsn. Rnnkey, : dramatic actress, and the Ventura brought her to Sydney the other day, says a "Bulletin" contributor. The little lady is a niece of Ira D., who boosted hymns in partnership with Brother Moody, and her slim young figure has already careered across most Australian screens as the heroine of various blood-curdling Essanay movies. MeKee Rankin put her on the" speaking-stage, Oliver Morosco provided her with opportunities, and the white-slave thriller, "The Traffic." Marie Lloyd. whose voyage on the. marital seas has been a tempestuous one, appeared at Hendon Petty Sessions recently in support of two summonses taken out by her against her husband, Bernard Dillon, the ex-jockey. One was for persistent cruelty, and the other for using threats, whereby she went in bodily fear of her life- Miss Lloyd said that she found it was impossible to live with Dillon, and was asking for a separation. The Bench grnnted a separation order, and bound Dillon over for 12 months to keep tl»e peace. "French Leave' , is the title of a comedy written by Mr. Richard Berkeley, formerly of New Zealand and Fiji, which >ha--made, a great success at the Globe Theatre. It is described as one of t!ie brightest and most amusing productions at that time running on the London stage. Mr. Berkeley, the author, became a barrister of the Ne«l Zealand Bar in 1012, after preliminary study in Anckland, where he came from Fiji. Having qualified <he returned to the Islands to practise his profession. On the outbreak of the war he went to England and enlisted in the Rifle Brigade, wherein he rose to the rank of brigade-major. His father, the late Mr. Humphrey Berkeley was associated with Mr. Seddon in the movement for the federation of Xew Zealand, and Fiji In 1900-1902. London critics have hailed Mr. Berkeley as a new dramatist of exceptional promise. Miss Jennie Hartley, a popular English comedienne, who will be seen for the first time here in "The Bing Boys on Broadway," is a Londoner, and began her career in vaudeville. During these experiences she appeared on the Eame programmes with Mr. Dan Agar, another new artist in the same company, and also with Mr. Phil Smith. Since early in 1915 she has confined herself entirely to revues, and lias played in six of them under Albert de Courville and Sir Oswald Stoll. It was the latter who engaged her for the role of Emma, and she played t'lie part for eight months. In London the character fell to Violet Lorraine, well remembered here as a principal boy, a fact which leads Miss Hartley to explain to the public that they must not expect her to be of the statuesque order. So little so, indeed, that at one seaside centre her admirers, observing her efforts as a fisher on the beach, pronounced her "the shrimpiest shrimp who ever shrimper." If on the small side, however, the newcomer is smartly vivacious. "On getting married I only partially changed my name," she remarked gaily, "as T hecame Mrs. Hart. My bridal compliment was to be told 'You were my sweet Hartley, but now you are my sweetheart.'" Miss Adelaide Van Staveren, who ma<le her professional debut in New Zealand before a large audience at the Wellington Town Hall on Wednesday evening, after a decade's absence in Europe (cays the "Dominion"), is a striking example of what concentrated study, hard work, and competent tuition can effect in the domain of vocal rlevp'nn ment. As a girl, Miss Van Staveren possessed a voice of uncommon quality, but training and experience, have developed and expanded the orsr.in into a mezzo-contralto of positively thrilling power, and given it colour enough to express the wlhole gamut of tie , motions. Aβ to the power of the voice, r-n- ,,- ---one other we have heard is comparable to it—that of Madame Clara Butt. At times it seemed that the big Town Hail was all too small for the great round resonant notes —a voice surely designed for the larger spaces ro wonderfully reflected in the scenario of the Wagnerian operas. And yet with all its power there was rich quality equally attuned to the demands of sighing love and fierce hatred. Temperament, so rare a virtue in every-day singers, Miss Van Staveren hae in such abundance that it occasionally obtrudes where placid simplicity and ■ reserve would serve. Her graphic ex- ' preesion of the emotion of the moment \ was usually admirable, but at times her intensity of feeling was apt to overcolour the mood—the intermediary nuances were often lacking. Tiie einger is at 'her best in dramatic declamation, and her manner of half-acting the scene is very moving and generally wholly effective.