STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 239, 6 October 1923, Page 18

STAGE JOTTINGS.

Ellen Terry has just inherited from a Glasgow lady £50 and the interest on £1200 for life. The new J.C.W. Royal Comic Opera Company will appear in Wellington from October 30th to November 13th. "Sybil," the latest success, will open in Wellington this month. Miss Gladys Moncrieff takes the title role. Kjoll's Theatre, one of the most popular and famous of the Berlin homes of opera in pre-war days, wijl be reopened •in the early fall. Thirtyifive hundred violinists from the school orchestras of : London and vicinity, and under the direction of Mr. O. Roberts, gave a concert in the Crystal Palace on June 9. New York theatrical managers intend to stop the late-comer nuisance. At i the first performance of "The Breaking Point" late .comers were not admitted after the curtain went up. The tickets read: "Void if not presented before 8.30 p.m." May Beatty will pay New Zealand a return visit, the first for many years, when she conies with "The O'Brien" Girl" ' about Christmas time. She will be remembered by the older theatre-goers with the Pollard Juvenile Co., and later as leading lady with the George Stephenson Musical Comedy Company. To a New York newspaper Mr. Cyril Maude contributes a list of the, best j performances he ever saw. They' are: , 1 Joseph Jefferson in "Rip Van, Winkle," ; | Robertson in ' Tlamlet," Ellen Terry • in "Much Ado About Nothing," Winifred Emery in "The School for Scandal," Laurette Taylor in "Humouresque," George Honey in "Caste," Beerbohm Tree in "The Red Lamp," Charles Wyndham in "David Garrick," and Mrs. i Kendal in "The Elder Miss Blossom." "Little Nelly Kelly," the George M. Cohan musical comedy, has repeated its i wonderful New York success in London, where it was recently one of the few . shows theatregoers were displaying any real interest in. o ne writer describes it as a unique production in which every | artist is a dancer and the most successful musical piece since "The Merry I Widow." "Little Nelly Kelly" is to be - produced in Melbourne later by Mr. Hugh J. Ward, ' Mr. Len Barnes, the Weßington baritone, who left for America and England some time ago, has met with much success in each of those countries. Mr. Barnes, who is at present in England, will shortly return to New Zealand, and , wiU sing the bass solos in this year's . performance of "The Messiah" by the Wellington Royal Choral Union, and will also sing in a similar capacity for the Auckland and Hamilton Choral Societies. The Carl Rosa Opera Company, believed to have been the oldest indepen- . dent organisation of its nature in the 1 world, and which began its activities tin 1869, has voluntarily dissolved > because of lack of support due to postwar economies of the public The lead--1 ing company producing grand opera in 1 English only, it had furnished an oppor--1 tunity for many British singers,' not only "to try their wings," but also to ' make lasting names in musical annals. It is hoped that, as finances become 1 less stringent, this very excellent 1 organisation may take a new lease of 1 life. > News has been received in Dunedin - from New York of tho sudden death of Mr. Auck ("Jerome") Patrick, youngest ' son of tho late Mr. William Patrick, at | the age of 41. Mr. Patrick was born in Dunedin, and, after leaving school he went in for dentistry. He became associated with an amateur theatrical com- ; pany, and finally decided to go on the stage. He went to Sydney, and, after playing there and in New Zealand for a time with moderate success, he decided to try his fortune in America. He quickly achieved fame in New York as a juvenile lead, supporting the big star Frances Starr in "Marie Odile" and other plays. Mr. Patrick then went into the pictures, and here again he was entrusted with many leading parts. A few years ago ihe came out to his home town on a visit" to his relatives, and on hig return to America went to Los Angeles to fulfil an engagement with a picture company. Modern singers, said Mr. Roland Foster recently, had a source of revenue unknown to those of the past. He referred to the receipts for the sale of i gramophone records, which represented j a fortune in themselves. During the first six months in which Galli-Curci's records were put on sale nearly £100,000 | worth were sold, according to actual | verified figures, and the royalties on I those would probably represent £15 000 jto £20,000. Altogether, from one source and another, it was estimated j that her income in the last five years , was at least £50,000 per annum. Patti was stated to have averaged from I £30,000 to £35,000 a year for a period |of at least twenty years, and to have 1 exceeded this sum in later years, when i she made professional tours in North ■and South America, her share of the j profits resulting in her visit to Argentina in 1888 being nearly £50,000. No wonder they spoke of a great singer as i possessing a "golden voice," although , gold was hardly valuable enough nowadays to justify the comparison. j Mr. Woolcott tells some delightful j stories of amusing contretemps on the , sfiage. Here is one about the production lot" "Bulldog Drummond'':— "And then I one night there was the gleam of silver lining in the cloud that overhung that , : mad English melodrama 'Bulldog Drummond.' The exceptionally heavy villian j was supposed to gain gratified possession |of the shiny revolver and fire point-blank jat the dauntless bosom of A. E. Mat- | thews as Drummond. There was to he jno report. Matthews was to •smile and ; say contemptuously, 'My good man, I j would scarcely have let you amuse your- . self with that toy had I not known it was unloaded.' (Business of looking | thwarted on the part of the heavy.) I Only, on this one night, the aforesaid i heavy picked up the wrong revolver. He fired twice. Both shots sprayed the heroic waistcoat with powder. Of course, that did not hurt Matthews himself any, but it did considerably impair the force of the lines just ahead. So Matthews looked contemptuously at the fellow, murmuring, 'You're a damned bad shot, my good man,' and sauntered off amid tho audible appreciation of a much amused audience. Afterwards the heavy actor challenged him in the wings. 'If that unfortunate contretemps should occur a"am,' he said, 'I trußt you will not indulge yourself in that wretched jest. It seems, ,if I may say so, in questionable taste.' J It made mc look such a fooL"