THE THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2787, 3 June 1916, Page 9

THE THEATRE

Hie, World's a theatre; tho Eartli a stage.—Hoy wood. IBr Smius.] Chicago on Bacon. Being the centre of the world's pork industry, Chicago should know more about Bacon than Shakespeare, but tho recent cable inessiigo that caused such a big laugh, stating that-a Chicago Judge had ruled that Shakespeare's plays were written by Sir Francis Bacon, was evidently mangled in transmission, as the facts now to hand go to prove. Tho truth of tlie matter is told by tho New York "Theatre" tiiiLS: —Tho Shakespearo Tercentenary is such a solemn affair That no one can blamo William Solig, the wellknown film manufacturer, for wanting to inject a little humour into it. i'he funniest thing, he could think of was to thrash out in Court the old ShakespeareBacon controversy. He has actually brought suit against Col. Georee Fabyan, the millionaire dry goods broker, et al, on the ground that "the defendants are contemplating the publication of a series of works which will attribute the authorship. of the Shakespeare plays to Lord Bacon," and Judge Tuthill, of tho Illinois Circuit Court, issued a- temporary injunction against this defendants, restricting them from "defaming" the name of William Shakespeare. Mr. Selig. having recently prepared certain Shakespeare films in connection with the tercentenary, his contention is that if Col. Fabyan is allowed to call Shakespeare an impostor, tho public will not attend tho exhibition of his pictures. My hat off to Mr. Selig as originator of the most delectable, if not tho cleverest, advertising . device of tho year! So the Judge was a wise Judge after all! "The Pinks." ' . We have seen .the "Beds," tho "Greens," the "Violets," and tho "Orange". Dandies, • but whither the "Pinks" have Hashed this way or not 1 am not finite, certain. However, tho names of those who are to sport the pink reveres and skirts sound familiar.-Joseph Brennan, for instance, specialises in, monologues and recitations, and had comic interludes; Mr. Ford Waltham is one of the good old "Reds," who is.equally good as a. baritone, and a tragi-coinediah. Local folk will remember tho rollick he gets into that salty, lilt, "A. Chip of the Old Block." The Fitzgerald Sisters are smart and capable, and John Campbell is said to be a good comedian. Tho "Pinks" are due at tho Concert Chamber on Wednesday next. "Mother Goose." Any morning now citizens are warned that their tl'csh may turn "goosey" by a mere glance, at the hoardings.. Williaiuson's gorgeous pantomime show, "Mother Goose," is due at the Grand Opera House oil June 'JO. Seenically it is said to "put it over" all other pantomimes-that ever were. Wonder If She's Married? "I wonder how it. is," writes Miss Thelma Kaye, ol' tho Tivoli Follies, that every woman' who'sees.an actress at work, begins straightway to wonder- .whether the player, has a husband or not. When I go to a manicurist or a dressmaker, I don't worry as to whether 'she' has qi\ has not- a husband. 1 ani just interested as to how well she does the work I am paying her to do. But somehow or other on the stage. it is different. A rather niceiwoiiian in Melbourne asked me thb other day if it was true that I had a husband in the Foreign Legion. I said it was not. 1- told her that all my husbands were at; present at Balmain and I'pres; told her that I considered marriage a great responsibility for anyone, particularly a Follies' star, and that I was really very anxious about some of my Balmain husbands. She told me I was a fritterer. I don't know what tho word means, ' but someone said it was something lo do with .cookery." | New Bernhardt Sketch. last week, of her engagement at tho London Coliseum recently Madame barah Bernhardt introduced a now'sketch entitled Uno d'Elles." ' In it sho. played (he part ot tho.-Conitesso do Merisando, mother of- two sons, ono- of, whom is at the front, , while the second is being examined by the military doctors, who are to declare as to his fitness for - duty. Madame de Merisande is herself a sufferer from heart disease, and her condition is rendered all the moro serious by tho fact that sho is also-without news of her husband,'a naval, officer. - Suddenly Michel, tho younger sou, bursts in with the tidings that tho verdict has been given in his favour, and that'lie is now a soldier. Tho shock causes his mother to -swoon, and as troubles accumulato she gradually sinks until death puts an end to. her tribulations. An Historic Cast. There is said to'have been a good deal of heart-burning and much bitter tonguewagging over tho arranging of the "star"cast for "Julius Caesar," played ' at Drury Lano Theatre on the occasion of the tercentenary of Shakespeare celebrations late in April. Never before has there been witnessed such a brilliant assemblage of aqtors (not actresses) on a London stage. Sir F. 1(. Benam (wlio was knighted on the. afternoon of tlie performance) was given the role of Caesar, not because he was considered the most gifted actor for the nart, but owin" to his devotion to the Bard's plays and a certain Roman cast of features, native to the ni an. The following was the historic cast Julius Caesar ......Mr. F. R. Benson Oetavius Caesar : Mr. Basil Gill Marie Antony .....Mr. Henry Ainley Lepidus Mr. Handle Ayrtoii £ lc , e ™ ...Mr, Holman Clark Jublnis Mr. Allan A ynesworth, Popihus Lena 'Mr. 0. B. Clarence Brutus Mr. Arthur Bouchier Cassms Mr. H. B. Irving Cnsea ._ Mr. Oscar Asche l.hebpmus. Mr. Leon Quartermaine Cams Ligarius My'. Fisher White Deems Brutus ..Mr. Arthur Woutner Metellus Cimber Mr. H. A. StintsburjArtemidorus Mr. Hubert Carter Cinna Mr. Malcolm Cherry Flavins Mr. Charles Genney Marullus Mr. Edward Sass Soothsayer Mr. Sydney Valentine Cinna the Poet .Mr. Ernest Thesiger Lucilius .'.Mr. Milton Rosiner Titinius Mr. Gerald Lawrence Messina ....Mr. Ben Webster Lucius Master Roy Royston Pindarus ..- '.Mr. H. V. Esmond Calphnrnia Miss Evelyn Millard Portia .....Miss Lilian Braithwaite Caesar's servant ...Mr. Harcourt Williams Antony's servant Mr. H. 11. Higliett Octavms's servant ....Mr. Owen Nares Young Ciito :..... Mr." Donald G'althrop Volumnius Mr. Owen Koughwood Vori'o Mr. Henry Vibart Clitus Mr. A. B. Imeson Claudius .....'Mr. Murray Carrington Strato v Mr. C. A. Doran First Commoner Mr. Roy Byford Second Commoner. ..........Mr. .Tames Welch First Citizen Mr. Gerald do," Maurier Second Citizen Mr. A. E. George First Citizen Mr. Gerald du Maurier Fourth Citizen Mr. Alfred Brydone "Tom Brown's Schooldays." The latest English "classic" to lend itself to tho art of kincmatography is that most famous of all schoolboy tales, "Torn Brown's Schooldays." The subject, with some material alterations, lias been adapted for the screen and produced by the Windsor Film Company, under the direction of Mr. Rex Wilson; and it is pleasing to know that the work has been executed in England. The story is told in five ftcts, divided into three periods, 'representing the childhood, boyhood, and young manhood of Tom's life; and the producers uto to be congratulated upon, the even balance which they havo drawn between the outstanding episodes. The Tercentenary in England, "The Shapespeare Tercentenary will be celebrated nowhere with greater earnestness than at Stratford-on-Avon. The celebrations will (says the 'Westminster Gazette' of mid-April) begin on Sunday, April 23, with a floral procession from tho birthplace to the tomb-in Stratford Church, and .Mr, F. R. Benson's series of Shakespeare plays will be inaugurated the following day with 'Henry V.' Tho list of plays to be performed during tho fortnight consists of 'Henry V,' ''The Merchant of Venice,' 'The Taming of the Shrew,' 'The Merry Wives of Windsor,' ''A Midsummer Night's Dream,' 'King

.Tolm,' 'All's Well that Ends Well,' 'Hamlet,' 'Twelfth Night/ and 'Henry IV' (Part II).

' On liny 5 om- lending actors and actresses will gather at .Stratford in order to 1 appear in various scenes from Shakespeare's plays. "It is to be hoped that many of those who take their playgoing—and tho torcentenary—seriously will see to it that the festhal performances at tho Old Vic. aro fittingly recognised. Under Mr. Ben. Oreet'rf direction the repertory compuny is performing no fewer than ten of Shakespeare's plays, including 'Hamlet' in its entirety, between April 22 and Hay 5. One of the special events is to be a matinee given by friends of tho 'Vic.,' in which both Miss Ellen Terry and Miss Mary Anderson will take part; another will be a lecture by Mr. William I'oel on 'Shakespeare's Theatre'; and yet another will be a lecture by Mr. Arnold Dolmctsch on 'The Original Music and Dances of Shakespeare's Plays.'" "Macbeth" Pictured. News from America deals with the adventures of Sir Herbert Tree at Los Angeles, tho great picture-play city ol' tho United States, where he and his company are preparing JMacbeth" on a stupendous (scale for the filui-houses. Doubtless these soencs will reach Australia. Sir Herbert declares that ho has had to spend 601110 1G hours a day in tho studios, raricd by excursions to the fields of action. "You will doubtless remember tho Blasted Heath, and thither I have repaired on horseback in due course/and hope to have the pictorial records ready by Shakespeare Day. Their title will be "Tales Prom Shakespeare." The famous actor-manager also described to a New York interviewer tho surging picture-life of Los Angeles. "Othello accepts a cigarette, from Sir Roger de Coverley at a soda-fountainn. Desdemona anil » blond chap in a dinner-jacket dance tho fox-trot in an idle moment in a very modern cafe. One may sit on the battlements of. a Norman castle reading the latest word from Verdun. Nero buys Tiny lim an iro, and then runs off to slaughter 10,000 infants. It all quite stupefied mo. I have never seen - anything so fantastic, so almost unreal, as life in California today. i A Big Illusionist. It is a big act that Horace Goldiu, a new illusionist—and in some of liis triumphs absolutely the best that. Australia has seen—brings to tho Melbourne Tivoli •theatre, where ho is bound to achieve a great success. Ho begins (says the • Australasian") v ith something of tho c-ommonplacc, thoso tricks awl ' knacks winch are tho stock-in-trade ol ! every illusionist—thu disappearance of rabbits,, handkerchiefs, flags, etc.—but his best louts are as mysterious as ihey are convinemg. That in which his assistant,' an attractive young lady, makes a passage through a plate-glass window ivhile-a 00111iuilteu_ot tut; audience are closely watching raised tho entertainment to a much higher plane. • It finishes with a set scone representing a short Oriental drama. A young girl has been abducted for.. the ■ harem, of the' Sultan, ami, tho magician undertakes to rescue her. He enters the httreiu disguised, brings all his resourcslulncss in magic to tho task of confusing and humbugging both.' the Sultan and his suite. One of tlieiu, condemned as a traitor, is to be thrown to a Bengal tiger which 'the monarch keeps as'one of the guardians of his palace, aud r.lio culminating point is reached when the victim is thrown into the cage of the tiger, which instantly disappears, lcaving'tho. magician in its place. Horace Goldin is said to carry a sjtaff of three people to assist tho hand ill deceiving the eye. Had a post-card from Will J. 1 Douglas, general manager of the Fuller Vaudeville Proprietary, .from Honolulu, reporting good health and glorious weather. Mr. Douglas was'on his way to "Won't How" Wilson's country to learn American busi. ' ness methods as applied to vaudeville management.