MIMES AND MUSIC.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 27, 1 February 1908, Page 11

MIMES AND MUSIC.

cominu"events.. opera house. . J. C. Williamson, 6th Febiuaiy to 25th Februar). Fleiumuig Company, 2£th Maich to 17th April. -T. O. Williamson, lSth April to Gill May. E. Geach, 11th May to HOt.li May. J. C. Williamson, 23rd May to Uth June. Allan Hamilton, 20th June to 4th July. E. Geacli, 16th July to 25th July. J. C. Williamson, 14ih August to 31st August. Al'asi Hamilton, 2nd September fo 22ml September. Blamt Holt. 3i;d October to 30th October, West's Pictures, 25th November to 19th Deoember. l .1. C. Williamson, 26th December to 14th Janu•ly A THEATRE ROYAL. Vullei's Vaudeville Company. , ' " HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. R\\al Pictute Syndicate, in ceason. Mr. Gporgß Malheson is in. town making arrangements for the opening in the Opera. House next week of Air. J. C Williamson's Comedy Company in,"BrewBter's millibns." The company^ is headed by Mr. Thomas Kingston and ilrs. Robert Brmigh, and it has already played successful seasons in Dunedin, Christot,urch, and Auckland. A great attraction of the comedy is a yacht scene, which is said to bo a triumph of the stage mechanist's art. ' The AVeilington season will conclude the New Zealand tour. A souvenir programme i§ to be issued at tho Opera House to-night in connecvion with the farewell performance in tbls city of Pollard's Juveniles. It will contain a. photograph of the members 6f the present company, with all their autogr?phs and a, history of past Pollard companies. Allan Shaw, the o'ever manipulator of coins, now appearing at the Theatre Royal, goes to the London Pavilion after concluding his engagement on the Puller circuit. lie is duo in London in April. In future, theatrical managers desiring to engage His Majesty's Theatre in Dunedin wir have to do so through the Wellington office ot John Fuller and Sons. JMessra. Fuller now control three theatres in Dunedin. Miss Nellie Stewart, who was in Lon--don a week ago {says tfye British Australasian of sth Dccsaiber), has had gxeattrouble with her shoulder, which was operated on some months ago. It is' feared that 6lie -will have to relinquish _her American engagement and return to , Australia. ' Arrangements are now in progress for floating tha well-established^ firm of John Fuller and 'Sons into a private limited liability compauy. The shares will ba held in the Puller family for ths present. The matin&e swindle wants attending to; it is getting worse instead of better. During holiday time one theatre gave three matinees a week, und did not pajthe performers a bean for any of them. As a set-off agpinst such an iniquity, Messrs. Geach and Thornton, at Sydney Ciitenon, are paying a full night's salary ior their one weeklj' matinee. This is the first time, within my which extends over 30 years/ that such a thing has been done in Australia. Bnt Messra. Geach and Thornton should have prepared tbe way for the inno\-ation. They v-ete too violent and sudden ; on

first treasury day the shock, coupled with the heat, nearly proved fatal to some of the chorus. — J.A.C., in the Bulletin. "S," in the Bulletin : One of the prettiest items in "The Scarlet Pimpernel" is the management by Ola Jane Humphrey of her extremely pretty hands. They speak all the time, not loudly or vulgarly at | nil, but in a gent>, modulated voice, albeit with much eloquence. This art of using tho hands iso higMy considered a century ago) is alnioht a lost one on the English-speaking stage. The average British mimo s&ems. to regard his (or her) hands as 'excrescences, valuable m Moments of violent agitation, or for clutching purposes during periods of supreme 1 emotion, but othei^ise tilings that are obtiusive nnd superfluous. Note the Hctrr in modern diess. How ill at ease he 13 with his paws showing; how debonarre when n/ice they have found safe haven in his trousers pockets. With what tenacity the actiosa T\ho -has no pockets clings to her parasol or other bheet-anchor of tho Sort. It is on the Gallic stage itlone nowadays that one day see a whole company of players devoid of self-consciousness as to their extremities. Ola Jane is said to be half French, so her artistic hand-carriage may bo hereditary, or something. Pollard's Juvenile- Opera Company leav;s Wellington on Tuesday for Gisborne, after which town it will tour the emails across to New Plymouth-. At Wdnganui the races dates v.ili be played. A tour of the "Vyect Coast of tho- 'South Island follows, then Christchurch at Easter, concluding tho New Zealand tour at Invereargill on 31st May. The company then k«ves for Tasmania, the Australian Staitsf to follow. Melbourne Theatre Royal Proprietaiy Co. declared a threepenny dividend last week on ths strength of the present Meynell and Gunn lease, which has five years to run. Not much satisfaction to the owners of the most attractively situated show place in Melbourne, thinks a Poverty Pointer in tb.3 Bulletin. Thero ought to be a new local adage concerning the folly of building theatres and th& -wisdom' of running them, an fedage drawn from the history of Her Ma-jesty's, ,the Princess's, and the Bijou, tv well as the Royal. J. C. Williamson and his partners, at a big house which one time could bs rented for n, me-a nothing a v.-sek, have made tens ot thousands out of musical comedies, light opsras, pantos, ami Tittell Brunbs. Lland Holt, in his lent- prosperous t mes, drew additional wealth froai the Royal He's as rich as tho gilded hero of sensational melodrama. Bilandcrson pleads guilty to having made £12,000 profit on "The Squatter's Daughter" up to date, and the Moynell and Gunn partnership has been such a fortunately fatal wedding of interests that the partners, it is understood, are about to speculate in horseflesh on the- turf. Going to rpn '"The Fatal Gee-Gee," and mount it ragardless of expense. To the average Australian the American quick lunch is a thing to be shunned as, the plague — that is, unless one is dyspeptic proof and is absolutely wrapped up in one's business to the exclusion of health an\J strength — a thing very few in this country are foolish enough to be. But there are quick lunches and quick lunches, and when he was in New York a few weeks ago (writes a correspondent) v Mr. J. C. Williamson discovered a species which might be called the aristocracy of 'the genus. He rang up ths Witmark Bros, (the big music publishers of America) one morning, at about a

quartsr-pist twelve, to make an appointment for the purpose of discussing business matters, aniong others the subject of ''The Red Mill," of which the firm holds the musical copyright. Ho was promptly invited to lunch, and, having accepted, Mr. Isidor Witmark set to work to make the function a memorable one for the Australian manager. A private dinii)groom \ras migaged at the Navarre, one of the leading hotnls of New York, a piano w<as niovod in, several leading musicians nnd managers of America were rung up and asked to join the party, and to make tho luncheon a "souvenir" one, ,1 small ornament, with the kangaroo prominently displayed, was provided for each guest. Whoa Mr. Williamson arrived — scarcely three- quarters of an hour from the time he received the invitation — ho entered a room which looked as if the decorators had been at work on it for several hours, ;f ollowing out a plan of ornamentation wMch might have taken days to elaborato. Everywhere the American and Australian flags were displayed, the table was gay with flowers ahd vines, and the lunch was such a one As should have occupied the chef for many hours in evolving. It was a regular Bohemian affair, and one that was' nvoit heartily appreciated, by tbe guest o£ honour, and indeed by all who took part in it. Under the heading "A Season of Sorj row," a review of the autumn dramatic ' season ih London is given by the Tribune, and tho story is not cheerful for the managers. "'To put it plainly," says' the Tribune, "the past six months have proved disastrous to those who have baen finding t)ie money for the London shows, and if some of the wise managers do not succeed in finding acceptable fare during the next half-year, some of them will, one is inclined to think, be glad to go out of the "business. ' It, would serve no useful purpose to set out in detail the plays that ' have failed since August ; it, would, on i the contrary, but serve to remind managers of mistakes that cannot be rectified, and must always be paid for heavily. But it is not, perhaps, too much to hope that those who are regarded as the judges of what is suitable fare for the .public have learned something from. ■"the calamities which have followed each other in rapid succession during the ' closing quarter of the present year.* \The lesson for some of them ha 3 been a"n unpleasant one, but if it has not been' without usefulness the story of failure is not one of unmixed sorrow. Not so very long ago certain judges of the theatrical situation declared that musical comedy Jiad, by its fatuity, dug its grave and buried itself for over. A curieus commsatary upon this pronouncement is lo be found in the fact that, with very few exceptions, the musical plays are the only survivors of the Beason's wrecks." The lesson which the managers are invited to read from this experience apparently is' that musical comedy is the most suitable faro for the public. , Rain, hail, or sunshine (the latter of the hottest brand) have had alike no effect on "Humpty Dumpty," which goes its Merry way at Her Majesty's ■ Theatre, Melbourne, for the benefit of .audiences which test the capacity limit of the house at every performance, and laugh and applaud- throughout the entertainment' without the slightest diminution of enthusiasm, no matter what may be the weather 'conditions outside. It has been increasing Us lead over "Mother Goose," and, that famous production is now left a long way behind in the race

for records- For tho first three weeks of the new pantomime, which ended on Saturday, 11th January, it is reckoned that on a conservative estimate no fewer than 50,000 people — children and grown-ups — have nassod through the doors of Her Majesty's Theatre (says tho Leader), and the average shows at present every sign of increasing rather than diminishing. Mr. George Bernard Shaw, according to the London Express, is to -figure as a librettist in musical comedy, for "Arms and the Man" is to be set to music by Mr. Oscar Strauss ,and produced in this form at a Wont End theatre. Mr. Bernard Shaw was also asked to write the libretto for au opera of Saint-Saens, but he refused in a characteristic letter, in. which he said : — "Unfortunately 1 have a prior engagement with Strauss, which is at present rather hung, up, by the fact that I want to write the music, and he wants to writo 'the libretto, and wo both gej- along very slowly for want of practice." It is said that it was at the premiere of "Arms and the Man" that, whilst most of the friendly audience cheered and called for the author, one man booed when Mr. Shaw appeared.' "I quite agree with you," said Mr. Shaw to the one man, "but what are we two against so many?" Mr. Gil P. Hoskins, secretary and treasurer of the Fuller firm, returned to Wellington on Wednesday, after an absence of thirteen months. Mr. Hoskins was managing the Fuller theatres in Dunedin during Mr. John Fuller, jun.'s, absence in EngHnd', and since then has had 1 holiday in Australia. He left again yesterday for Christchurch, where he will manage the Opera House for two months during tbe absence of Mr. Walter Fuller in 'Auckland, the latter taking charge in the Northern city until the arrival of Mr. Sheienhamer from Hongkong, who is to manage the Auckland theatre whilst Mr. John Fuller, sen., is on his tour of the world. Thc-atrical Clips: — Miss Elbsrt Orton, of the Julius Knight Company, has left Sydney for Vancouver. . . Mrs. Bland Holt, who contracted typhoid fever at Fremantle on 'her return from her Home tour, is' now recovering. . . An American journal states that Harry Lauder, tho English character actor, could only be engaged for five weeks for the States, as his European contracts carry him along into 1916. . . Mdlle Adeline Genee, thr popular Danish danseuse, on 20th November completed her tenth year of brilliant nnd unbroken servico at the Empire Theatre, London. . . The evolution of tho "pro" : R. G. Knowlesonce owned a book store ; Georgs Fuller Golden was once an acrobat ; Barney Barnard, a clothing packer; Tom Nawn, a life-saver in a Yiddish swimming school ; Willie Collier, a call boy. . . Fred Graham and Nellie Dent have arrived in Auckland to rejoin Fuller's. They have not a, single clay vacant v untiJ* March 1910. . . iHelba leaves Adelaide, for London by the Orontes on 27th February. . . Paderewski will pay us another visit next j'ear. . . Hugh Ward stncl Grace Palotta take outmn English Musical Comedy Company to India next November. A visit to Australia, may follow, but that has not yet been definitely decided Upon. . . Susanue Adams, of grand opera fame, has signed a contract for a twelve weeks' music-hall engagement in Anurica. Klaw and Erlanger hay© contacted to pay ber 500 guineas a week for two appearances nightly.