MIMES AND MUSIC.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 30, 5 February 1908, Page 4

MIMES AND MUSIC.

liondon has 59 theaties, 6l musichalls, and 630 othor halls of amusement, «md no "gnod piose drama' in -any of tliem. But how drama which i.s not drama pays in shown by the statement that Captain Eobeit Marshall made £30,000 in a short time with "The Second in Command" ; Mr. George It. Sims was recently drawing £20,000 a year in author's fres ; Mr. Barrie with two plays running simultaneously m London and New York was receiving £480 a week. "Moderate actors," we |, learn, "sometimes gel as much as £100 a week ; an actor manager may make £300 to £500 a week." On the other hand, wo arc told that expenses and lisks of management are nowadays enormously increased. Treo did not hesitate to spend £6CO on flowers for a singlo uct of "Bogged Robin," and 5240 for every night of Juliuc Caesar ; whilst Irving spent £20,000 on mounting Sardoa's "llaiito." Mark Hambourg has been in America again. There his reputation is eatab< ! lishod as an artist who eschews sonyn tionalism and .follows a dignified and serious artistic bent. ', He insists (sayu tho New York Musical Courier) on confining his advertising solely to a statement of hia programme, and iho linic and placo of 4ts playing ; his" hair if of usual length and shade, his attire quiet, and his general demeanor and mode of living are those of a normal man of the world who is equally at homo in London, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Monaco, New York, or San Francisco 5 and could keep his incognito in any spot on earth, for ho wears absolutely none of those badges which ordinarily distinguish tho freak musician, "Hnmbourgh on hiß earlier visits hero was recognised as being in what the Germans would call his 'storm and stress' period, .which signifios .that an artist h£s not yet attained full' mental mastery nl him material, and is in the period of formation where the various elements and forces of his aitislic nature scok to adjust thom?clves to- a proper balanco and to' amalgamate into that distinctive whole known as an artint's personality. In Hambourg tho trannition has been gi-adual, in keeping with his years, and the result- is- that now, while still in f,ho twenties, he has reachod an imposing degiea of intellectual control without losing more than a modicum of the irnpeluosity and exuberance which should naturally bo associated with youth." Hambourg will visit New Zealand this year. It is many years since tho occurrence of an event fo important, in A'n^L'raljan drnma as the engagement of • Madame Sara Bcrnhardt by Mr. J. C. 'Wjtliamfion (saya tho Sydney Morning Heraltlj. Seventcn years have passed fiihee^ A«3fciaHa crowded into the tucatre td-'learn why her countrymen called her- '"tltie divine." H loft content that iir thic caso, at q.ny rate, ihe Old 'World wss right. ' Had Sara Bernhardt arrived her? 1 unknown and unheralded by t I workj-wida reputation, her triumph j would have, bfton little tbe Itssi ThrotigU Che language she 'Bpoko she was Freucl» ( tho acting ehe presented wasMmiversal. | H wes ii'n possible, to mistake tho mean ing of her dclicatfi nuanceß of tone. Sara v/iu the tntoipi-cter of human passions whuh spoalc in every tongut. Tho greatest \of her natural gifts is J/tr brain. Sara Bernhardt would havo been v great woman, v.'hat.';\ er art fihe had cured tc> • follow. Supcr&ciallVi hur graatcr.t gift is h?r voice. No other acj ticas known lv living man ever possessed a voice of tuch Boft, uubtle, insistent beauty. It ia in speaking whai the voice of MMba is in. ."inging, nnd is equally as well rnanEged. ; , (^Bfl syllable tello « story. Not a' beautit'uj woman, Sara. Bcrnhardt possesses somsthing thai is more .valuable than bcaniy, and it ! t5 easy to understand how an a girl ,*he had half JSprope at her feet. Hor fignrß, tho subject of in'uch witticism on tho score of its angularity, Australia found i to be litlio,, not angular at ell, nnd tho embodiment of tinuous grace. But Bernhardt — tlvs Bernharjit that Australia iirst met in 1031— -was the . wholo production, lipr company, it must be admitted, could not bo regarded as any* tiling bnt second r.ito. DarraonL, the loading man, wr.s a ppsfcabli? actor. The comedian wab Mfellent. But t)ie rest wcro merely people on the stage for elocutionary and pedcslriah exercise. The scenery— of papor — provided a poor sotting for tho groat woman, and ihe j waits between the acts were , co proI longed as to carry *he pKiy )vell towards noxt morning. During her Australian yeason Sara Bernhardt. produced many plays, the 1 most artistic being, perhaps, Sardou's ma?t<>rpieec. '"Fedora"' and' "Adrionno T.ecoi^vraur. ' Wijif thai tjn^ Rostand hr!R arisen , and it is ftopf-iblo thut during the forthcommi fpason thp repertoire may include "L'Airrlon," wr.ich Rhe. played with immense oucce?i ii> I'arie. In Dec ember in Pan the Japnnsss StudsnLs' Club produced "ilr.cbcth." A youth named llAshiba played Lady Marbeth, JCntazib.ira pinyed her husband, but ths p-arfc of Duncan was regardsd «3 ao unimportant that it was dropped from the cast. Prior to the opening of each act, an "unnouiwor ' or chorus cam© out nnd demonstrated tho argument in Japanese, upon which tho cm-tain went up, and the play proceeded in English. Hashiba was made up with a blonde wig, a pair of tight corsets, and a spotted kimono ; while Macbeth'fl castlo was adorned v.'ith hand-painted pcicens and kip-monor.. "II William Shnkespoaro could have fc-cfc the J;ipane?o idea uf his masterpiece,", wiote tho Call dramatic critic, "lio mic;ht have been hciirthioken, bnt he would certainly havo smiled, for tho master playwright was a hiunorons bard if he was nothing else." And yot 'thrro are still somo people who wonder why America wishes to exclude the Japanese! A novelty in the way of musical performaneo has just been introduced in London by Mr. Herbeit Trench. n> , rails it "an illuminated symphony," and it seems to bo merely a glorification of the well-known fjong-illustrated-by-lan-torn-pictuip<; stylo of entertainment. Mi. Trench's poem, "Apollo and tho Seaman," was projected in succoa3i\o Bcelicjns upon a scrocn, whilst appropriate music, by Mr. Joseph Holbrookb; was performed by an invisible orchestra and chorus.