MIMES AND MUSIC.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 142, 16 June 1906, Page 13

MIMES AND MUSIC.

" i • ■■■ i • [Bi Okphbus.] COMING EVENTS. OPEHA HOUSE. William Anderson's Dramatic Company, in season to 25th June. Meynell and Gunn, 26th June to 3rd July. J. O. Williamson, 2f(rt July to 27th July. W. Anderson, 11th August to 7th September. J. C. , Williamson, Bth September to 21st September. Yeamans - Titus - Leslie Harris, Entertainer*, 22nd September to. 29th September. J. C. Williamson, Ist October to 18th October, Hnrry Riokards, -20th October to 31st -October. Willoughby-Wnrd' Comedy Company, Ist No. vembcr to 12th November. J. C; Williamson, 26th December , to 17th January, 19Q7. THBATBB BOTAL. Fuller's Entertainer!. " TOWS EiLt. , Wide World Pictures, 16th June. Choral Society, J.4th 15th, and 19th June. Andrew Black Concerts, 18th «nd 20th June. Public Schools Concerts, 21st and 22nd June. "America «t Work." 23rd June. Miss Mabelle > Morgan, who was originally connected with Mr. George Stebhenson's Musical Comedy Company, ana played the part of the Princess in "The Moorish Maid,"" has joined the Royal Comic Opera Company, to which she is still attached. The Fitzmaurice Gill Company, which is touring Queensland, includes Misses Hilda Meade, Alice MacCarthy, May Boberts, Messrs. Leo dv Chateau, <S. A. Fitzgerald, E. B. Russell, F. B. Francis, M. Lynch, and Stanley Lucas. They; play "The French Spy," "The Bank of England," and "Camille." • ■ One of the most delightful .numbers in "The Girl Behind the Counter" at Wyndham's Theatre, London, is "Laughter and Tears," a vocal waltz. ( The pretjty words of this are by, Miss Eleanor Farjeon, and they are wedded to an ear-haunting melody by Mr. Harry Farjeon, son and daughter of the famous novelist, Mr. B. L. Farjeon, and grandchildren of Joseph Jefferson, *,he immortal Rip Van Winkle. Mr. Charles Wilson, stage manager at the London Alhambra, has accepted an engagement to become stago manager of Mr. Hammerstein's enterprises in New York, at, so it is said, a salaryof £5000 a year. Miss Marie "Narelle brings with her to Australia the English tenor Chester Fentr'ess. Miss Narello claims that in Mr. Fentress she is bringing a tenor who" will be equal to, if not better than, any that Australians have had the privilege of listening to for many years. The Narelle season opens at the Sydney Town Hall to-night. ' ' Paul Cinquevalli, who was one of the costliest artists Air. Harry Rickards ever brought to Australia, and (he has stated) the most successful, is showing some new and more-than-ever-amazing feats of balancing at the Hippodrome, London. His latest marvel is to jugglo with five decanters in his hands behind his back. Owing to the success of the late revival of "Charley's Aunt," and the almost unprecedented welcome that has greeted its reproduction in New York, Mr. Frank Thornton is contemplating another tour southwards with his farcical trump-card, and a fifth visit to Australasia. When Mr. Cyril Maude produces the famous American success "Shore Acres" at tho Waldorf, the heroine will bo played by Miss Alice Crawford, who has beon specially "leased" from Mr. Frederick Harrison. It will be the most important part so far entrusted to the Australian actress. , Prior to the production ,of ,"fTlyssep'\ at His Majesty's, London, Mr. Tree' was asked if he thought the public would care for it. "That one can' never tell," was the reply, "but even if they do not, it is a most excellent play to go through the Bankruptcy Court on." According to" the Bulletin, lecturer Frank Bullen gave his audience some sound fresh-air advice the other night, and next day got this note : "Dear Sir, — Being one of your audience last night, I took your advice, and threw my window wide open to get plenty of fresh air, as you advised. When I awoke this morning I found a strange cat had crawled into the room and had kittens at the foot of my bed. I was wondering whether this was the usual result. — Yours admiringly, ." The prevalence of Charles as a theatrical pre-name is somewhat remarkable. Charles Warner, Charles Wyndham, Charles Haddon Chambers', Charles Courtice Pounds, Charles Glenny, Charles Hawtrey, Charles Charrington, Charles Santley, and there are many more. Sarah Bernhardt, wno has been defying the American Theatrical Trust by playing under canvas throughout her present tour, experienced a gale in Texas recently which demolished her tent. The local paper, referring to the incident, remarked that it was only to be expected, as "wherever Madame Bernhardt goes she brings down the house." t No time was lost in refitting thu Collier Company when it arrived in Melbourne. Mr. J. C. Williamson had tailors and dressmakers waiting for them on the Spencer-street station, and Mr. Collier and the rest were not allowed to wash and brush up before entering upon the important question of clotheß. , They were hurried off in cabs to the outfitters, accompanied by experts, who commenced measurement operations even before they reached the shop. Mr. Alfred Sutro's latest play, "The Fascinating "Mr. Vanderveldt," was produced last month in London, at the Garrick Theatre. It is said to be "gossamer comedy"— very different from the same author's "Walls of Jericho." Vanderveldt is an interesting as well as repulsive character, and Mr. Arthur Boutchier and Miss Violet Vanbrugh are said to have made the most of the play. Mr. Ben Wheeler, of the firm of B. and F. Wheeler, theatrical proprietors and managers, South Africa, in a letter to Mr. R. A. Marshall, of this city, recalls the time when ho, his wife (Miss Elsie de Courcey), and son Frank (Little Bonnie), played as the Wheeler Troupe in the old Oddfellows' Hall, Lambtonquay, during March, 1876. Small comedies such as "Barney's Courtship," "Handy Andy," "Divorce," and others were played. Tnat little troupe of three now controls six theatres and four travelling companies in South Africa, and employ many hundreds of people. Mr. Ben Wheeler is seventy-one, and, as ho puts it himself, "feels like a two-year-old." Old playgoers will no doubt remember Mr. Wheeler and his Troupe. The Rio de Janeiro correspondent of tne Daily Express writes thaOa theatre is shortly to be constructed at Rio do Janeiro solely for the entertainment of children. Many of the plays produced will bo cdapted from the stories of Grimm and Anderse l. The municipality will erect he lu.'du-i; and snbs.H : 'jj will erect the building and subsidise tho enterprise. The Garrison Band will give its next subscribers' concert at His 'Majesty's Theatre, Courtenay-place, on Wednesday evening, 20th inst. Miss Chegwin, a popular soprano vocalist from Christchurch, and Miss -Mina Caldow, tho wellknown and pleasing contralto of this city, have been specially engaged for this concert. Mr. H. Moachinf, clarionottisfc. will also assist the band, and Mr. Cyril TowSey will accompany the vocal items. Mr. J. C. Williamson has had a letter from Mr. Wallaco Brownlow, who yearns to rejoin his old friends of tho Royal Comic Opera Company. Mr. Brownlojw, who. is still in Neiy. York,

has made his chief success in "The Duchess of\Dantzic," and has been pretty constantly before the public until early this year, when he was attacked by pneumonia whilst rehearsing f or a new piece. He complains bitterly of the long vacation in America, which lasts nearly four months, during which all the great theatres are closed. Mr. Nevin Tait describes the little sceno at which Madame Clara Butt signed the contract for her tour of Australia with Mr. Kennerly Rumford next year: — "We used, I might tell you, a beautiful inkstand in solid silver, which had been presented to Kennerly Ruinford by tho Queen on the occasion of ! his marriago in 1900. The Queen's I monogram is engraved on it ; so you see when the thing was done, it was done properly. We drank success to the tour in a special bottle of Australian champagne." Travel has become quite an unnecessary expense in these days of biographic perfection (gays a Melbourne paper). In "Marvellous Maoriland," at the Athenseum, Mr. West presents a series of illustrations of the thermal districts of New Zealand, which convey an idea of the place impossible to those who havo never visited it. ... The ! scenes of Maori life are in themselves | of ethnological science. "Marvellous Maorilia-nd" is one of the finest series j of moving pictures it would be possible to take anywhere. Fun is the spice of life, and there will be a most liberal supply of this, I the much-desired, in the entertainment provided by Edison's Popular Pictures, which entertainment is to open its l^ew Zealand season in the Wellington Town Hall next Saturday. What is said to be the latest triumph of i&iimated photography will be shown in the series representing America at Work and Play, which series will occupy about one hour in its display, and an outstanding group of pictures will bo those representing the city of San Francisco both before and after the recent great earthquake. Other features will be representations of football and baseball as those games are played in the United States. There are promised thrilling pictorial records of a daring escape from prison, of Coney Island by night, with a display of fireworks, and a display of the most humorous series of pictures chat have yet been seen in the colonies, including popular "chase" episodes. There has been a special arrangement of musical programmes by Mr. Avalon Collard, an English operatic tenor, and Miss Olive Merton will have a capable orchestra under her direction. With the death of Mr. James A. Bailey, of the famous firm of Barnum and Bailey, there disappears a showman second only to his illustrious partner. When a member of the firm of Cooper and Bailey in 1877 Mr. Bailey despatched a circus N organisation to Australia and New Zealand, which has not since been surpassed. He owed his association with Barnum to having defeated "tho father of advertising" at his own game. Barnum having telegraphed to Bailey an offer of £2000 for one of his elephants, Bailey refused, and used magnified facsimiles of tho telegram to boom his own show. On the death of Barnum in 1891 his part-, ncr bought out his interests, and eventually floated the show into a company. The Melbourne Argus critic describes " The . Dictator," in which Mr. William Collier and his American Company made their Australian debut at Melbourne Her Majesty's as "a farcical-burlesque-come-dy-extravaganza, of ingenious fits, starts, and surprises, quaint phrases, and queer doings, all well coated with a brand of the new humour that relies for much of its success on making every-day sayings walk on their hands. The central figure :is<tb,at of an exceedingly ctever comedian,' backed up by a company welltrained in his support." The author is the well-known American romance writer and war correspondent, Mr. Richard Harding Davis, and his work kept a big Melbourne audienoe In roars of laughter. The plot deals with the flight from New York to a Oentral American republic of an American and his valet, because they imagine that they have killed a cabman, and their pursuit by a secret service office. The cabman hadn't been killed after all, but the proceedings of the fugitives, and the manner in which thsy '' bounce " the local President, causa much hilarity. The members of tho company are <rell spoken of. Theatrical Clips. — Miss Lilian Russell, the famous American comic opera artiste, has been offered one of the biggest salaries yet known — £600 per week, to wit. . . . • The little Australian Dartos (M'Leans) were at the Theatre Royal, Dublin, last month, and the Evening Herald of that metropolis characterised their performance as "the most original turn" of the programme. . . . Concerning "The Dairymaid," frankly announced as a "farcical musical play," a London critic describes it as a tuneful, tasteful, and well staged specimen of the amusing, though incoherent and unconsequential, musical play which has been so thoroughly popular in recent years 'Tia said George Edwardes intends at an early date to revive "The Geisha" at Daly's Theatre, London It has been stated that Mr. Tyrone Power returns to Australia shortly. So far, there is no official confirmation of the rumour, for Melbourne Punch is afraid it is but that. Mr. Power is booked a long way ahead in New York, , . . . G. H. Snazelle returns to Australasia late this or early next year. Mies Elsie Moore, of Sydney, for some years iv member of Mr. J C. Williamson's opera chorus, has been engaged by the Messrs. Schubert to play Veronique in the opera, of that name during a forthcoming American tour. .... Mias Ina Royle, an Australian, is a member of the company which has produced Maxim Gorky's play, "The Bezsemenovs," at Terry's Theatre. .... Mr. Sydney Carden and his w^fe, Miss Lulu Zesch, under the title of "Australian Society Entertainers," are presenting characters from Antipodean mining and station life, with extracts from the bush poeto, in England. . . Miss Nellie Stewart, according to present arrangements, is due in London this montli, returning to America for a prolonged tour of "return dates" later in. the year. .... A society column, exclusively devoted to the chorus girl, is now a feature of the New York Daily Telegraph Many London managers invite dress editors and dress critics to dress rehearsals. Gowns are of just as much importance to success as acting, evidently Mr. Ambrose Manning as an Irish doctor baa a part in the new "musical play," "Tho Dairymaids," at the London Apollo Theatre. If all goes well Mr. Musgrove will give the opening season of his grand opera company in Melbourne at Easter, 1907 Mr. nnd Mrs. Phjl Wirth, of the circus, will remember their recent visit to the Tweed Heads (New South Wales), say» the Bulletin. The party went oui walking on the training wall one night, and Mrs. Wirth walked into the shark-infested water. Husband Phil leaped after her and effected 0i rescue Mr. P ft. Dix, the wellknown New Zealand manager, opened at ■Newcastle last Monday with a strong combination, headed by the Rose Quartette (kindly lent by Mr. Ben Fuller) and the Fraser Comedy Company. Ib j ie Mr. Dixs intention to run 'a. show permanently in tho Coolly City Miss Billio Burke, of the London Colieeum, came into a legucy of £7000 through the death of an old friend in 'Frisco at the time of the earthquake Miss Lilian M'Carthy, who was in Wellington as leading lady with Wilson Barrett, was married in April to Mr. Granville j Barker, manager of tho Court Theatre ! in London, J