MIMES AND MUSIC

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 121, 23 May 1914, Page 11

MIMES AND MUSIC

(By "Orpheus.") THE SHOWS. GKAND OPERA HOUSE. George VVilloughby, in season. Wellington Dramatic Club, Ist June. Wellington Operatic Society, "Paul Jones," Bth to 15th July. Harry Lauder, 3rd and 4th August. TOWN HALL. (Concert Chamber). The Dandies, in season. HIS MAJESTY'S. Brennan-Fuller Vaudeville. THE KING'S THEATRE Pictures nightly. STAR THEATRE, Pictures nightly. EMPRESS THEATRK. Continuous Pictures. SHORTT'S THEATRE. Continuous Pictures. PEOPLE'S PICTURE PALACB. Continuous Pictures. BRITANNIA THEATRE. Continuous Pictures. George Morgan, who is here with the new Dandies, is leaving for Britain shortly, and Miss Elsa Langley and H. L. Austin, of the Pierrots, aro also going. .The following are the New Zealand dates for the Harry Lauder tour : — Auckland, 18th to 25th July; Wellington, 3rd, and 4£h August ; Napier, sth and 6th 'August ; Christchurch, Bth to 15th August; Dunedin, 17th to 22nd August; Invercargill, 24th and 25fch August ; Timaru, 26th August ; thence to Sydney by the outgoing boat from Wellington. Miss Maggie Moore is appearing in the J C. Williamson production, " The Argyla Case," in Sydney. Of her appearance, the Sydney Daily Telegraph says; — "Tho reception to Miss Maggie Moore was so enthusiastic that the audience almost recalled her in the middle of an act. The honest old negro's angry resentment at the detective's - questions, as she gazed at him scornfully through big burnished spectacles, hugely • amused the house ; and at the end of the night Miss Moore was a principal figure in the scene of enthusiasm." The Brennan-Fuller circuit has been j extended to India, China, and Japan. Other extensions are to be made. Mr. John Fuller, jun., now on his way to America, will conclude arrangements with one of the big firms there for the Fuller-Brennan artists to work a circuit there, thus maldng a chain right round the world. This should be an extra inducement in the engagement of big star attractions. The firm is understood to have in mind new theatres in Sydney, Brisbane, Ballai-at, and Bendigb, and most likely in Christchurch. The Kennedys, an artistic musical combination, who have been touring the South Island, and are at present on the West Coast, will visit Wellington shortly, opening in the Grand Opera House on 20th June. The Kennedys have appeared in all the leading halls in London and the provinces, Australia, India, and South Africa. Australian prses notices state that they are one of the finest musical companies ever seen in the Commonwealth. News from a. private eource received in Dunedin is to the effect that Miss Florence Young is taking a "farewell." The New Comic Opera Company, of which Miss Young has been, a member for some time, is giving the last night of the "Dorothy" revival in Melbourne as a "farewell." Artists as a general thing do not take "farewells" ' unless they are about to depart for other climes. It will not therefore occasion great surprise if an announcement is made shortly that Miss Florence Young has been engaged to form one of the company at present being , organised to tour South Africa with "The Girl in the Taxi" and "The Girl in, the Film." This gives pause to say that after to-night (Friday, 15th May) the New Comic Opera Company will cease to exist in its present state. The company will disband, a. portion of the members being engaged to join the comedy company for South Africa, and the remainder going to Sydney to rehearse the new Daly Theatre success, "Gipsy Love," which is set down to receive its Australian premier on 6th June. It will be good to hear a little legitimate comic opera once more after the run of rather queer entertainments which have been witnessed in Wellington during the past month or two. There are always audiences in Wellington for good comic opera, and after the really admirable performance of "The Geisha," put up by the Wellington Amateur' Operatic Society last year, the public can fairly eat'ely assume that Planquette's "Paul Jones," a brightly melodious and ■ intensely humorous comic opera with a most picturesque setting, will be fairly well presented. A capital cast has been arranged, and the, re-heareals-r-two a week are now being held — indicate that those engaged are working up to the demands of the various parts. The cast is as follows :—: — Paul Jones, Mr V. B. Meredith; Rufino, Mr. Frank Charlton; Bicoquet, Dr. Isaacs ; Bouillabaise, Dr Norman Hales ; ■ Petit Pierre (the Insect), Master Fuller; Kit Kestrel, Mr. W. J. Meredith ; Don Trocadero, Mr A. W. Newton; Yvonne, Mise Helen Gardner; Chopinette, Miss Man© Fix ; Malaguena, Miss Cara Denhard. Mrs. James Hannah has kindly consented once more to arrange the various colour schemes, and a* the setting of the opera affords big scope in that direction, some charming stage picturea-ehoild result. A number of new artists under engagement to the Fuller-Brennan firm havo arrived in Sydney, and in due course will do the New Zealand circuit. They aro : Goyt's Novelty, a remarkable equilibrist turn, in which dogs play a prominent part; Lyons and Cullum, singing, whistling, and hard shoe dancers ; Fred Swift, musical act, in which motor horns provide tho comedy ; Hayes and Elves, sketch artists and female impersonators; Great Westin, in impersonations, including one of the late Queen Victoria ; Billy Lee, champion stockwhip manipulator; Bonita, crack rifle shot; Andrews and Dent (two young Australian ladies), highclass musical act; Gio Angelo; ragtime singer and dancer ; Four Lamys, acrobats, who are creating a furore in Melbourne just now. A notable addition to the architecture of Brisbane will be the new theatre for the Eickard's Tivoli Theatres, Ltd., in Albert-street, opposite the site of the new Town Hall. The style of architecture is Spanish Renaissance, and embodies features new to Australia, and suitable to a tropical climate. The entrance to the staircase for the dress circle is in marble, with marble dados, the foyer being very handsome. The general treatment ol the interior is in the style of Louis XV. and XVI., the design being "intimate," to bring the audience close up to tho stage. Special attention has been given to ventilation, which will be on the induced draught principle, vitiated air being withdrawn by electrictic exhausters. There is ample stage accommodation. A special feature, new to the Southern Hemisphere, is a roof garden theatre, allowing for entertainments ,in the very hot season, and for two simultaneous peri formances ia' the mild seagoufi. The

roof garden is appointed in Spanisli stylo, and may be closed by revolving shutters, the whole garden being covered by a permanent light steel roof. Seating accommodation for about 1600 people will be provided in the main theatre, and for 1050 on the roof-garden. By an ingenious system of staircases and doors, ready access from one part of the theatre to another will be permitted. Mr. Henry E. White, who erected Hi 3 Majesiy's in this city, is the architect. "Harrison 0." in the Bulletin : Actor Walter Dalgleish, who had a fatal seizure at Fremantle, when about to propose to the heroine in "The Soldier's Wedding," died as he would probably have wished to — in the limelight. He was originally dresser to Johnny Sheridan. He had an absolute genius for incurring stage mishapii. While trying, on behalf of a nervous mummeress, the wire by means of which the heroine of "The Worst Female in the Fog" escapes from a burning building, he had a nasty fall, which put him out of action for a time. When Ada Lawrence rode her horso into the orchestra, when playing in " The Squatter's Daughter," at Hobart, it was Walter who leaped after her and tore out the raging beast. He was a skilled horseman, and delighted in bringing any nag he was* associated with on the stage as near to the footlights as possible. Again, when "The Favourite" was being played at Perth, some years back, part of the stage collapsed during the big race scene. Four animals disappeared from view, but Dalgleish, on the favourite, got over the gap in fine style. Two of the nags were killed and their riders were badly hurt. Walter last came under public notice a year or two back while playing the vampire nobleman in " The Power of the • Cross," at Melbourne 'Ippo, when he succeeded in getting himself stabbed in the face by Ada Guildford, who was the customary armed adventuress. The English papers revive some interesting stories of the song-writer Tito Mattei, who died last month at his London residencp. Regarding " Mattel's Walt 2," still popular, the composer haa related that it was written when ho was quite a small child. When he came back from Italy to London in 1864 he took it to a firm of publishers, and played it to them. They liked it, but were horrified when he asked £50 for it. Mattei took the manuscript away, but some time after they agreed to publish it on a royalty of 6d a copy. A first edition of 500 was soon exhausted, and I then ty second. By this time the- waltz had leaped into such popularity that it had to be printed by thousands. Mattei received a large sum of money for this waltz, and the income from it continued almost to tHe day of his death. When, Mattei was a lad of five and a-half, his father took him to visit Lablache, the great singer, who was great physically as well as musically. His father mentioned the unusual power the boy had of distinguishing the notes without looking at the piano. " ' Sing a note,' said my father, 'and my boy will tell you what it is. ' Lablache sang. ' Well, my little man, what is that? 1 he said. ' That is out of tune,' I replied. Lablanche grew scarlet. ' You impertinent little rascal, what do you mean?' 'What you sang %vas not A flat, and it was not A natural,' I answered. Lablacho went to the piano, and struck A natural, then he struck A flat. The note he had sung was just between the two. In a, moment, with a true artist's enthusiasm, his anger died away. He patted me on the head and said : ' Ah, my boy, you know better than I do. You are my master. 1 " That, Mattei decided, was the first success he made in his life. All the time that Lauder was drawing crowded houses at Melbourne Princess's(and drawing moro than, £1000 a. week for his share of the "houses"), the word went round tho city that ho was it frost and the management was losing money. Rumour (writes "0.X." in the Bulletin) belittled the Louder business from the start and stuck to its misrepresentation of the case, hence the suggestion ■and insinuation, that rival managements were at the back of Rumour. But the man-in-the-street who talked about "empty seats" at the Princess's invariably closed his statement with the remark that he hadn't been to heaT Lauder and didn't mean to go. In fact, quite a lot of people were "up against" the rugged little comedian because tho Taita had fixed the price for reserved seats at 10s 6d. They objected to paying a_ fancy price for a "music-hall show."' Similar feeling was shoAvn the first time Melba returned from Europe. The people who wouldn't pay a- guinea for one of her concerts declared that »h« was a general disappointment. They didn't want to hear her. They would sooner hear Dolores. Melba went away and returned again and again, always "with the same old guinea stamp upon her, and the bitter cry of disparagement faded away into silence. The late Mr. W. H. C. Nation, who spent many thousands of pounds in the unsuccessful production of plays, seems to have died intestate, as an advertisement asking for information regarding the existence of a will has brought no response (writes the London correspondent of the Melbourne Age). He was a man of means, and he held the record as the most unsuccessful theatrical manager in London. During his theatrical career he produced upwards of sixty plays at various theatres in London, and not on^ of them was a financial success. He first entered into theatrical management in 1886, producing at Sadler's Wellb Theatre The Golden Dustman, which was the original adaptation of Charles Dickens's novel, " Our Mutual Friend." Sadler's Wells Theatre is the oldest theatre in London, but with the growth of London westward, it has become a suburban theatre in a very poor quarter. After eight years of unsuccessful theatrical management, which Mr. Nation began at Sadler's Wells, he turned his talents no journalism, and successively edited several magazines and weekly newspapers, none of which acquired a profitable circulation. In 1906 he returned to theatrical management, and leased at various times some of the West End theatres, but was never able to induce the public to patronise his productions. lie wrote comedies and farces ; he wrote and composed songs for them, but all were unsuccessful. His ill-luck was not confined to his business enterprises. At the age of twenty-seven, before he began his career as a theatrical manager, he was engaged to a beautiful girl, and furnished a house for her in what is now the fashionable quarter of Queen's Gate. On the day arranged for the wedding a sumptuous breakfast was laid for fifty guests at the house, but when the young man was about to set out for tho church he received a note from the young lady, stating that she had eloped with someone she liked better. The house was shut up, and for ten years the wedding breakfast remained on the table in a locked and shuttered room. Finally he disposed of tho lurniture and pictures, but he always refused to sell or let the house, and for forty-four years, up to the time of his death, it was untenanted, except by a caretaker, who lived in the basement.

At_ the wish of King Alfonso, the Spanish Government is organising the principal section of the exhibition to be held this summer at Earl's Court, London. Several hundreds of Spaniards, including a number of bull-fighters, are to be sent over, and many famous Spanish watering-places, cities, and buildings will be tUwstratod by aim pic> .turegi