OSCAR ASCHE’S BAD COOKING

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21908, 8 October 1936, Page 7

OSCAR ASCHE’S BAD COOKING

MEMORIES OF ARTISTS ON TOUR

MR JOHN FARRELL LOOKS BACK

The extraordinary cooking of Oscar Asche (not on the stage), the temperamental behaviour of the camel in the “Chu Chin Chow” coihpany, and Tom Pollard’s original Lilliputian Opera Company, are among the many and various memories of Mr John Farrell, New Zealand manager of J C. Williamson, Ltd. Mr Farrell has had a long and interesting career in theatrical work in Australia and New Zealand, and an interview with him recalled many favourite pieces and performances of past years. Mr Farrell himself began his association with theatres in an inconspicuous but important capacity. As a stage hand in the old production “Harbour Lights” it was his duty to help to “wave” the painted canvas ocean. And here, he says, his career might also have ended, as clumsy manipulation of the “property” waves separated the hero and the heroine from the lifeboat at a critical moment. After a period of office work, Mr Farrell joined the Lilliputian Opera Company, appearing in the title role of “The Mikado.” Many Tours As a manager for J. C. Williamson. Ltd., Mr Farrell has been in charge of the tours of many favourite shows, including “Chu Chin Chow,” “Cairo,” “The Merry Widow,” “The Maid of the Mountains,” “Rose Marie,” “The Desert Song,” “The Whip” and “Ben "Hur.” Among distinguished overseas artists whose tours he has conducted in New Zealand, were the late H. B. Irving, the late Dion Boucicault, Irene Vanbrugh, Marie Tempest, Nellie Stewart, Oscar Asche, Lily Brayton. Galli Curci, Peter Dawson. Tom Walls. Ada Reeve, Wilkie Bard, Jascha Heifltz, Julius Knight, Madame Melba, Mischa Levitski, La Meri, Maurice Moscovitch, Yehudi Menuhin, and Richard Crooks.

“A was really a colossal undertaking to tour some of those big productions through New Zealand,” said Mr Farrell. “The ‘Chu Chin Chow’ Company, for instance, numbered more than 100 travelling members, including negroes. Chinese (men and women), Italians. Indians and Maoris." One of the Maoris with the company was Rangi, now the popular guide well known at Rotorua.

The Temperamental Camel

The “commissariat camuel” of Kipling’s ballad had its counterpart in the “Chu Chin Chow” company, according to Mr Farrell. While he said that stories of the “temperament” of stage performers were exaggerated, he admitted that he had known a most temperamental “artist” with this company. A special carriage had to be arranged for him, and a special diet and constant care and attention were demanded. If any of these items was omitted the “artist” would immediately have a fit of sulks or a bout oi indigestion, throwing the entire company into an uproar. Unfortunately there was no understudy for him, so he had to be humoured. He was the camel. Mr Farrell described Oscar Asche asan immensely powerful man. While he was touring New Zealand he was on a strict diet. He would go without breakfast, but would make up for it at lunch and dinner. Mr Asche was convinced that he was an expert cook He delighted in producing queersmelling dishes, in one of which a whole egg would be found beneath several oysters and other ingredients. The members of the company did their best to eat these dishes, to please the principal, and they did not share his illusion about his ability as a cook. Richard Crooks The tour of Richard Crooks on which Mr Farrell is at present engaged is said to be the most rapid concert tour ever undertaken in the Dominion. Mr Farrell said that he had enjoyed it as much as any he had managed. Mr Crooks, he said, was a “very homely person.” He had three hobbies—golf, riding, and his wife and family. Mr and Mrs Crooks were said in the United States to be the married couple of longest standing, among concert and theatrical celebrities. Giving'an example of popular exaggerations of the private actions of celebrities, Mr Farrell said that at one time the cities of Australia were being inundated with stories to the discredit of Madame Melba. It was said that extraordinary quantities of champagne were drunk by the singer; and Mr Farrell therefore took the trouble to make enquiries at the hotel where all the champagne was alleged to have been taken. He discovered that in the two weeks referred to in the story Madame Melba had drunk only a single small bottle of champagne. Recognition of Talent There is. not sufficient recognition by the New Zealand broadcasting authorities of Australian and New Zealand talent, in Mr Farrell’s opinion. He said that it was not until colonial artists had won recognition overseas that they were offered a reasonable fee. Fees of one guinea were not sufficient incentive to coming artists, he added. There were excellent artists all over the Dominion who had never been heard from the broadcasting stations. The weekly salary payment of his firm in the more prosperous days when there were about 20 companies on tour must have been about £25.000. The touring expenses of the "Rose Marie” company, with 100 members, included more than £2OOO for fares and freight from Australia and £I2OO for fares within New Zealand. Salaries amounted to £ 1500 a week. Mr Farrell considers that New Zealand is in a unique position in its selection of theatrical productions, because before a play is bought ‘for Australia it must be a success in London and New York, and if it is not a success in Australia it is not sent to New Zealand. Thus only those plays which have been proved successful abroad are brought to the Dominion.