MIMES AND MUSIC [By Orpheus.]

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 33, 8 February 1908, Page 11

MIMES AND MUSIC [By O rpheus.]

COlllXli EVENTS. OrKRA HOUSE. J. C. Williamson, m sexsoa to 13th February. Hemming Company, CBth March to 17th Apiil. J\ C. W.Uiameon. lSth April tv Stii Ma\ . K. Geach, 11th Maj to iOth Hay. J. C. Williamson, 23rd Jlav to 13th June. Mian Hamilton, 20th June to 4th Julj . K. liescii. 16th July to 25ih July. J. C. Williamson, Mtli August to 31st Auguit. Allan Hamilton, 2nd September to 22nd Septcmbrr. r.land Holt, 3rd October to 30(.h October. Weil's Pictures, 25th I^ovember to 19th December. J. 0. Williamson, 26th December to 14th January , THEATRE ROYAL. tJul'.Tr's VaxiJeville Company. HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. Rijal Picture Syndicate, in ecasou. Mr. F. L. Scagar, who ia well-known in 'Wellington, is due ia Wellington by the Kuapehu, from Hobart, next week. He comes ahead cf the West-Brescians. This company will tour tho "smalls" only of ths Dominion, commencing on the West Coast. Cinqucvalli arrives in Australia at the end of the year, and will make a starring tour of Australia under Harry Rickards's management, commencing ac Perth. Tasmania and Xew Zealand will also be visited. The tour will last Tor thirty-six weeks, and on its completion, the great juggler will retire from stage life. , In "Convict. 999," at the New Star Theatre, New York, a slcdge-hamincr is used to foil the villain. One night the h«ad ol the hanjiner i!e\v oft', and hit in the face a lady who &at in the stalls, two of nei teeth being knocked out. Tli3 victim is now suing tho proprietors for £2000 damages. There are 500 mo vine picture shows in Xew York, and 250 in Chicago. France leads in film making, and more ingenuity is exhibited there in arranging Mrened biographing than in "any other country. Una Paris firm keeps 12 men constantly employed in thinking out new subjects. As an illustration of the popularity of Paul Rubens, musical play, "Miss Hook of Holland" (\\eil on its way to a 400 nights' run), a special comoany has played the piece in Manchester for seven weeks instead of pantomime, a phenomenal run for a provincial town, while the fame piece is also being played by three travelling companies and a children's company. . It is stated that the' largest organ in the world wil' shortly be erected in a concert hall in Brooklyn,, New York. It will have five manuals, 140 sppakin^ stops — the Sydney organ lias 128 — and an expression pedal, which will allow the penformer to play pnsspges v.ri x ton for the fact with pried force. Tlw hnll in which, it is ip ba ' placed will seat 4500 persons. Fifteen of the leading oigamsts of Europe have been cngaced to give owning recitals. Hitherto the New York threatre goer has had to depend upon mere man'for directions as to the position of his sc;it in a theatre. Xow things are changed, if only in a small degreb. The Mrhattan Opera House has started the new fashion, and is employing a band of women "ushers," armed with electric

torches, anc? resplendent with nadgo of oflice. Tho electric torch in the hands of the theatre-attendants is not unknown ir> London. Drury Lane's programme- girls carry them. In spite of the hot weather Miss Florence Baines had a mos.t successful opening performance of the rollicking farce, "Miss Lancashire, Limited," at Adelaide a fortnight ago. The Register ,says she was recalled again and again for her laughing song, and when she returned, with perspiration dripping from her forehead, she told thte audience they wanted a lot for their three, two, and on?, but still it was. good for her fat. Miss Baines has a figure running somewhat to embonpoint. Sweet Xellie Stewart sends a plaintive scrawl to a chum, and announces her imminent return to Australia. Hef health (says Johanna, in the Bulktin} prohibits her continuing active work for the present, and her spirits are at low ebb. She says she hoped to crown her laborious career with an Antipodean success, and so add to Australia's pride in her. Daughter Nancy returns M-ith her mother. Poor pretty Nellie! She is one- of the few footlighters whose goodness and charity need no exaggeration. There are few people who have required kindness to whom she refused it when it was within her reach. Mr Alf Woods, writing from South Africa to his brother in Sydney, says :-— "Salaries aro about the same in this country as in Australia. I would far rathcr^have the capable Australian than j the capable English actor. The Australian" is a far superior artist in every j way ; nan phy a variety of lines of business, a thing you have to teach the English actor. I have now had three English companies in this country, and with very few exceptions have had to teach them how to speak and play their parts." Mr. J. C Williamson has engaged the complete American Company appearing in London to produce "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch" in Australia. This piece is an enormous success in London, and has been running for a long time. It has captured the English public. The company is entirely American. The play, indeed, could not be properly interpreted by actors of another nationality, for the simple reason that it is so racy of the soil that much of its pffect would be lost in the hands of ''aliens." Mrs. 'Madge Carr Cook has made a triumphant success in the title role, and others who share ths honours with her are Louise Closser as Miss Ha^.y, Fred. Burton as Mr. Stubbins, Grace Griswold as Mrs Eichorn, Lottie Alter as Love2> Mary. Tb» approaching visit to Wellington of Caiter, an illusionist with a great reputation in America, should prove %cry popular. Carter's season in Dunedirt was much appreciated, and tho merit of the performance may be gauged from the fact that the audiences grew as tho season progressed, tho final seances being attended by hvqe audiences. It is said that Carter's illusions, and magical effects aro ail rvv;, and that Carter, unlike other magicians, is a comedian as well, and keeps his auditors in roars cf laughter throughout his incomprehensible- entertainment. He carrisr. with him a full retinue of assistants and' many tons of stago, accessories. Notable among the assistants may be mentioned Miss • Abigail Price, a young woman whe appaiently possesses the powsr ti peer into tho future, and divulge the p.ist She reads sealed loi-

ters by .he hundreds without touching' them, describes anything under tho run while blindfolded, and divines t>ha j thoughts of her auuitor~> at .sill. "Carter" is s;;id to present an inimitable entertainment, and his illusions arc not only astounding but. brand new as well. Mr.^Lnrkin (Mr. Harry Rickards's private s"'."ietary) died in Sydney on tho 29th nit. Mr. L.-.rkin had hpeii ill only a we?lv, with gastritis .nnd meningitis. The deceased was a npphew of Mr. llickards, and had Daen connected with tho Tivoli Theatre for somrthing like seventeen years. He was married, and leaves a wife and a daughter about eisht years of age. During Mr. Rickards's last trip abroad in quest of vaudeville artists Mr. Liirkin acted as private secretary, as ho did on two former occasions. Dpceassd was much esteemed by all yritti whom he came into contact. Tho London newspapers ,are unanimous in proclaiming the great success of Miss Maiio Lohr in the. comedy "Her Father,' now being produced at the Haymarket Theatre. The young Sydney artist is a daughter of Mr. J. L. Lohr, the welllinown theatrical manager. Mdlle. Dolores has lately been appearing with great success in Edinburgh. She is to tour the United States about the middle of the year, and will subsequently visit Scandinavia. The following letter, which appeals in a recent number of the V.i'a, wil l probably appeal to Australasian theatregoers : — "Could you allow me to appeal through your paper to the many friends whom my late husband (Mel. Is. Spurr) knew in the profession ? He made money in Australia ; but through the many difficulties and distresses, tho length of time it has taken to get a little of it, leaves my daughter and me practically destitute ; it is prolonging the dreaded day when it will leave us nothing to do but seek the parish, as we arc blocked in eveiy corner from helping ourselves. If some of the members who knew my husband would come to our aid and assist us to a benefit it would rais-c us out of what otherwise must bo disastrous. I am very ill with the constant strain of it all. I beg you to believe that iv ere I not driven almost to extremities I would not dare to presume to write this letter. — Yours faithfully, Mario Sjmrr, 192, Amesbury-avcnue, Streatham-hill, S.W., 15th December, 1907." - Mr. E. TV. Hornung, whose name has recently been associated with the successful caieer of "Rallies," ha* completed a. four-act play entitled ''Stingaree," which Mr. Norman Roe, the youngest of London's managers, was announced to produce at the Royalty Theatre, London, on Tuesday, 21st January. The Tribune, in a. refei-?nce to the new play, says : — "Mr. Hornung, as many aro aware, has lived in Australia, and fiom Yir, experiences in that country of the silsnt bush ho has qaiued inspiration for this new play, which in character will not be nl together unlike that piece which is still pioving popular throughout the country. The central iijm-e of 'Stingarco' is a bußlrraiiEjer, the .scenes are laid in Australia, and the plot is characteristically strong. It may, perhaps, help to a cloaicr understanding of the title if it is explained that the stiugciree is a local corruption of sl.ng ray, a species of fish which, as its name implies, brings sharp regrets to all 'Tho unwririly come iuto contact with it. Apply the teim to a bushianger, add, as Mr. Hornung has done, the soft ingredient of love in-

teicst, a.r.d tlu? character cf tho piece may be gauged." A certain eminent playwright, being con urn tub ted on •i recent success ho had achieved, ma do some very true "remarks oil playwriting, pointing them with a story which is worth retflhug. "Writing plays is a perilous business," he said. "With every fiesh play an author risks his all. Past triumphs count for nothing. He who has written twenty suporb pieces, is just as likely to be booed on his twenty-first pieco as any tyro, "the public is critical and just before it is kind. I remember once,"' he I'esumod, "a playwright who pat 'n the front row of the stalls at tho first night of a new piece of his. This pieco failed. It failed dreadfully. In fact, in the middle of tho third act tho entire company was hissed off the stage. As tho playwright sat, pale and sad, mid the uproar, a lady behind him leaned forward and said: 'Excuse me, sir; but, knoving you to be the anchor of this piny, I look tho liberty at tho beginning of the performance of snipping off a lock of your hair. Allow me now to return it to you." Theatrical Clips. — Ernest Leicester, of the late Human Hearts Company, has gone into vaudeville, and made his debut at tho Sydney Tivoli in a dramatic recitation. . . . Miss Jennie Opio, after a lengthy slay in America, has been le-engaged for the Royal Comio Opera Company. .. . Mr. John Wren, of Melbourne, is said to be negotiatina with Caruso, the great Italian tenor, for a concert tour of Australasia. . . . Harry Gray, "The Australian Nugget," who is a native of this city, is at t.ha Palace, Blackpool. . . . Mr. Albeit. Whclan has gone to America to fulßl a vaudeville engagement. . . . Modoi7« writers are giving their plays extraordinary names. A new comedy is called "Tho AVort'i/' >md another "Two Pins." ... A leading Paiis theatre ha 3 decided to produce regularly representative foreign plays, translated into French. One of tho first will be "The Light that Failed." Kipling's works arc very popular in France. . . . Mr. Heibert Flemming has secured tho Australian rights ot a new play, "His Wife's Family," which will be produced in Londor early this year. . . . Twenty thousand pounds for 100 perfoiniances is tho figure at which Bernhardt is said to ha\e been engaged by J. C. Williamson. . . . William Anderson has purchased the drama ''Man to Man" from George lUgnold. . The Americans aro keen on souvenir.**, and managors cater accordingly. At the Savoy, Now York,, on 11th December, brass clocks were distributed as mementos of the GOOth performance of "The Man of tho Hour." . . . Daniel Frawley, who was out hero with "Secret Service," "Arizona," and othor pieces", is staging a sketch called "Tho Girl Behind the Gun" at the Wigwam Theatre. San Fiancisco. . . . Roxy ftaiton, W.T. Lovell, and Frank Denton are in the enst of Weedon Grosssmith's great moneymaker, "The Night of the Party," which had reached its 20715t performance when the mail left London. . . . Tho most remarkable production now running in London is "Peter Pan." It is now in its fourth year in London, and is just as popular as ever. . . . Charlds Sanfoid, whose American Dramatic Company was out hero pome time ago, is at the Globe Theatre, San Francisco, where his rorapan,» in a new drama every ■week. i