NELLIE STEWART'S MEMOIRS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 61, 15 March 1924, Page 21

NELLIE STEWART'S MEMOIRS

BRILLIANT YEARS ON THE

STAGE

Nellie Stewart. The name recalls a remarkable record of stage success, based on high talent, versatility, and exceptional charm—and on sincerity and hard work (says the Melbourne "Argus"). With that name brilliant first nights, and brilliant seasons were associated tor a great many years. Long the lending name on the Australian musical stage, it then became equally well known in association with romantic comedy and drama. To the younger playgoers Nellie Stewart's early achievements are a tradition, and to the older a vivid memory. There are recollections of Griolet. the drummer-boy in "Tambour Major," pantomime boys and girls, Yvonne and Paul in "Paul Jones," Boccaccio, and a long series of other leading parts in comic opera and opera-bouffe, all finely given. A great deal of the success of Gilbert and Sullivan in Australia was due to Nellio Stewart. Leaving musical parts, Miss Stewart showed new skill and won -new popularity in such plays as "Sweet-Nell of Old Drury," "Mice and Men." "What Every Woman Knows," and "Zsza." Now there appears "My Life's Story," a pleasantly discursive chronicle, in which Miss Stewart lias a great deal to tell of her experiences and of the Australian plays and. players of her time (Sydney: John Sands, Ltd.) It is a delightful record of a delightful actress-— one of the best volumes of its kind— and the book is finely produced. Most of Miss Stewards appearances were made under the direction of the late Mr. George Musgrove, either when be was in partnership with Mr. J. C. Williamson and others or when he was in separate management. The booli has a great deal to tell of Mr. Musgrove's enterprises, of his artistic judgment, of his personal qualities, and of his business successes and failures. There were seyever reserves, from which he" recovered by new enterprises, but following his loss of health the end was tragic. EARLIEST APPEARANCES. ' Ellen Terry, as a. child, made her first appearance with Charles Kean. So,' at a later time, did Nellie SJtewart. The play, we are told, was the long-popular drama, "The Stranger," the theatre was the old Haymarket in Melbourne, and the actress was three years of age. Miss Stewart finds that there is a good deal of interest in her age, and it is recalled that Mr. Musgrove silenced an inquirer by replying that she was "just ninetyfour." To the reader she says:—"You must keep on guessing, and I shall keep on growing younger. But be sure of this. I am not nearly so old as you think me." Miss Stewart was born in Woolloomooloo street, Woolloomooloo, Sydney, Now the thoroughfare is known as Cathedral street, and the greater part-of the suburb bears other names. She is proud of being descended from the celebrated Mrs. Y&tes, of Garrick's day. Miss Stewart's mother was Theodosia Yates, who came to Australia in 1840 with Mrs. Clarke's Operatic Company, and appeared in Hobart Town as Miss Yates Stirling. Marrying James Guerin, the leader of the orchestra, she made many appearances in opera and drama in Sydney as Mrs. Guerin. Her daughters by this marriage were afterwards great favourites in musical plays as Maggie and Docje Stewart. After Guerin's death his widow married, in 1857, Richard Stewart. Their children were Richard, well known as a business manager of theatres, and Nellie. Mr. Stewart, originally Rich--ard Towsey, had come to Australia in 1853. He was of English, and Welsh parentage. Until ho met Sirs. Guerin he had not appeared on thb stage, but soon he had much success both as actor and a-s singer. When he was in joint' management with Harwood Hennings mid Coppin at the old Theatre Royal, Melbourne, his stepdaughters appeared there, and in childhood and youth his daughter Nellio made pantomime appearances, with school in the intervals. One of hey places of instruction was the Model School, now t!he Melbourne High School. Another was Grandtown House, a boarding school in Nicholson street. She was also taught dancing and fencing as part of a stage training, and she studied singing with the father of Lalla Miranda. In later years there was further study of singing and dancing in London. "RAINBOW REVELS" AND COMIC OPERA. The three Stewart girls and their father, with the younger Richard as business manager, did very well with "Rainbow Revels" and "If." These were light entertainments written for them by Garnet Walch, a leading Australian author of the time, in which many characters were impersonated. After tours of Australia and New Zealand there were seasons in India; at the Crystal Palace, London: and in the United States. Following other parts in Melbourne (one was Ralph Rackstraw in an early production of "Pinafore"), Miss Stewart appeared in Adelaide in April, 1881, as Griolet. Her skill and versatility were soon made evident in a variety of parts, and before long she was a prima donna of comic opera. "I. loved the life," says Miss Stewart, "and my father's training never lost its hold on me. 'You belong to your public from eight till eleven nightly. Give them your best. You •must work; work and rest, no play.' So that now when I see young, wouldbe artists flying round, toying with cocktails,' dashing about in motors, at times when rest should bo taken to freshen their energies for performances, I get a curious little feeling of instinctive surprise, and it comes to mo that I, who have been before the public so long, never in my life had a day's racket, or a day's dissipation. So what about Babylon now?" THE LATER PLAYS. Much is told of the Australian performances, of voyages abroad, and of Miss Stewart's appearances in comic opera and pantomime in England. She also gives her views on charm, on stage training, on acting, and on theatrical matters generally. After the Australian success of "Sweet Nell," Mr. Musgrovo took a complete company and mechanical stall to the United States, with a view to a long tour of the play from West to East; but there was trouble with American trade unions, which objected to the presence of mechanics from another country, and then there were other difficulties. An unsettled feeling among the people of the united States caused by the San Fran-, cisco earthquake is said to- have been the chief cause of the disaster in which the tour ended. But in this case, as in others, failure was bravely faced, and the people of the company were not allowed to suffer. The book' illustrates both the prizes and the handicaps of theatrical management. Mr. Mus»rove had his full share of each. He" was a man of great enterprise, and he provided finely artistic productions of grand opera. Shakespear. comic opera, and other forms ,of entertainment.' Alter the loss in America there were tresh enterprises in Australia, such as the successful production of "Kitty Uolluirs. and the remarkable tour of the "smalls", (the smaller towns of

Australia and New Zealand) with "Sweet Nell" and • other plays. The final blow was the loss ot' public interest in theatres caused by the coming of war, just as the elaborate production of "Dv Barry" was ready lor presentation. Mr. Musgrove. who had long been in ill-health, died on 21st January. 1916.

VALUE OF CHARACTERISATION.

"I played thirty-five comic operas \tj thirteen years," says Miss - titewurf, "and cannot remember making two roles alike; each was a characterisation in both acting and make-up. I think this is one ot the things that helped me to hold my public for so many, many years, with that elusive something which we call magnetism."