SMALL TOWN SHOWMAN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 150, 14 March 1918, Page 9

SMALL TOWN SHOWMAN

Mr. W. Barrington Miller, in the course of a chatty article in the Sydney "Theatre," discusses in a bright, readable Imaiuier his experiences as' a speculator in the show business when he was a resident of Gisborne where tho. picture magnato founded his now considerable fortune. ' With • a nice touch for narrative he relates how ho took tho first gramophone' to Gisborne, secured for £40 in Sydney, and made £600 with it at threepence a listen. When the Royal Comics were first induced to go to Gisborne by the offer of £100 for one performance it was found that- the stage was too small for the scenery, so they had to play "The Gondoliers" without scenery on what was practically a bare stage, and yet the performance was hugely enjoyed, and- Barrington made money. Ho once engaged Mark Twain to' lecture, but the weather was too bad to make tho' landing, and there was W.B, with' over £100 booking, and tho promise of another £70 at tho doors,, with only a liability of £35 and "locaje" to meet, left standing on the beach muttering curses loud and deep at tho vagaries of Jupiter Pluvius. The following nar-. ration of Bland Holt's first appearanco in Gisbomo- is worth tho telling:— The Gisborne playgoer in those happy, bygone days had one overwhelming desire. It was to seo a Bland Holt production. "When are you going to bring Bland Holt along, Bill?" was a perennial local question. I wrote to Mr. Holt, and ho replied. I remember he wanted to know-all about the "stage—its dimensions and' equipment. I told him we could seat 900; but he wasn't to be put off with any such evasion. Finally I did catch ; him with a little time to fill in between Auckland'and Wellington,. and! roped him-in for three.nights. When hp landed from tho boat. and had a look at.-the stage iUhought my last moment had conic. He had- brought elaborate productions, and these were dumped in the theatre yard. Tpniake matters worse it oame on to rain. But Iniust say that Bland Holt was. equal to the'occasion. How lie did it T cannot say j, but we had lliroe • niglits pfmelodrama that was' a' revelation in complete production: Bland Holt was a wizard in sconic matters, and if ever ho proved it beyond. doubt he did so at Gisborne.