STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 224, 20 September 1924, Page 18

STAGE JOTTINGS.

Phyllis Fuller, daughter of John Fuller, of vaudeville' fame, and at one time a figure in Dunedui and Wellington, has been playing with success the roles of Betty Hicks, the daughter of Seymour Hacks, and Elalaine Teriss. Mrs. Edward Elliott, widow of the late Mr. Edward Elliott, of the Humphrey Bishop Company, left by the Ruahine for England with her two little daughters. Mre. Elliott spoke most appreciatively of the great kindness and sympathy which she met with from all quarters since her bereavement, and eaid she hoped to return to New Zealand. John McConnack finished in April a concert tour of at least five months, singing in every great town of United States from New York to San* Francisco. It was, it is said, the most successful tour of his life; the receipts were £60,000! Pretty good for a boy born in poverty in the old town of Athlone. , Miss K. King, the talented little Hastings lady who is touring Australia with Allan Wilkie's Shakespearean Co., has received some most flattering notices from the Australian Press. In a recent production of "King Lear," it was said that the acting of Misa King as the fierae-eyed Goneril, Lear's eldest child, was undoubtedly the most outstanding success of the evening. Her rage and her cupidity were extremely well portrayed, and her dark beauty accentuated the part. For years Winnie Collins, who is to make her first Australian appearance as, Marcelle in "A Night Out" at Melbourne His Majesty's next Saturday night, was known on the London stage as the "Champagne Girl." The description clung to her because, when she was given her stage name of Winnie Collins by the well-known actor-manager, Arthur Collins, she was duly christened by having a bottle of champagne spilt—not broken —over her. Mr. E. J. Carroll, the Australian improeeario, who was here with Sir Harry' Lander last year, proposes, the first half of next year, to have the Scots singing baronet under his wing in the East, Australia and New Zealand—this time for a real firm farewell visit. Mr. Leo dv Chateau, who is spending a holiday visit in Wellington at the present time, is to manage the Indo-China tour, and in order to be able to exchange civilities with the compradors and maharajahs of the East, is at present immured from the world on hie estate in Brooklyn studying the languages of the countries he is about to subdue with the aid of a titled comic singer. Madge Elliott had a remarkable sendoff at His Majesty's Theatre, Sydney. A vast audience wished her good-bye prior to her departure for England. Hundreds were turned away, in epite of the fact that every seat in the theatre had been sold at a special price, and enthusiasm ran high throughout the night. At the conclusion of the performance the company hoisted Madge Elliott on their shoulders and the entire assembly, including the audience, sang "Auld Lang Syne." The Williamson firm presented the popular artist with a magnificent dressing-table set of gold and tortoiseshell, and the company gave her a set of cut crystal ware. Miss Elliott sailed for England, via America, on the Niagara. Beatrice Day (Mrs. E. W. Wall), who has been keeping house for her son, and helping him in the management of an orchard in Western Australia since 1021, may return to the stage, says Melbourne "Table Talk." She now feels that her eon is happily settled and she is free, so she is going to New Zealand to stay with friends for a real holiday. After that her plans are rather in the lap of the gods. She may go back to stage work, for she says she has not the slightest objection to playing dowager parts and nice old ladies. There are plenty of plays in which she might appear, such as those which are specially written for Ellis Jeffries, the London actress, who is her contemporary. Or she may go in for some other work, for ehe has proved her capacity of organisation and management in her war work. For tlie coming performance of Sir Arthur Sullivan's "Golden Legend," the committee of the Royal Wellington Choral Union has engaged the following soloists: Miss Teresa McEnroe, Mrs. Wilfred Andrews, Messrs. Ernest Drake (Dunedin), and Barry Coney (Auckland). On November 7 and 8 the Royal Choral Union is to assist the Hastings and Napier societies in those towns in performance** of "Elijah," when the soloists will be Miss Teresa McEnroe, Miss Mina Caldow, Mr. Sidney Butler, and Mr. W. Walters. On December 0 and 8 the same works will be sung in Wellington by the Royal Choral Union (assisted by the Napier Society). "Elijah" will be sung at the Town Hall on December 6, wlien the principals will be Mrs. J. F. Woodward, Miss Mina Caldow, Mr. Sidney Butler, and Mr. John Prouse. On December 8 "The Messiah" will be eung, with Miss McEnroe, Miss Mina Caldow, Mr. Sidney Butler, and Mr. W. Walters as the principals. Mrs. J. F. Woodward is to sing the soprano solos in "The Creation" at New Plymouth on Tuesday next. "A number of Berlin professional music critics were invited the other day to Breslau to inspect a piano, built by a leading firm of manufacturers, which represents the first attempt to construct an instrument capable of producing tones hitherto impossible to produce on the pianoforte. Eight shades of tone have been added to the octave, which Is made to give twenty quarter-tones insteady of twelve semi-tones. A great impetus to experiments such as this has been given by several young Continental composers, prominent among them being the Czech, Alois Haba. The experts report that the piano-makers are successful, but that the extremely com-' plicated problem before them has been solved in just as complicated a fashion. Two grand pianos are used, one of which is strung up one quarter of a pitch higher than the other. An apparatus connecting the two ha 3 been constructed, and the performer sits at a keyboard covering the length of both instruments by means of levers such as are used in pianolas. Upon this keyboard the ordinary chromatic scale has the usual black and white keys, and the other hae the new quarter tones marked by brown keys. A most extraordinary new compass of sound has been obtained this way, which, it is believed, is oulv the somewhat clumsy forerunner of a great new development in the realms of music"— "The Observer."