DECLINING FORTUNES

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 154, 27 December 1924, Page 16

DECLINING FORTUNES

LONDON'S LAST .HOME ~QF . ' 'TRANSPONTINE.'' ;

London's last home of the old "trans-pontin^'';:;blopd-and-thunder 'drama, the famous.; Surrey-Theatre, in- Blackfriars road, has.just closed its doors; and, it is fearedj^.may never be, reopened; states a correspondent" :;of" "the" "Manchester: 6uardian-''-:.',r,The:.theatre. began as "The Royal;Circus;and Philharmonic "Academy" in 1782, under the proprietbrship'.of .Charles JDibdin, the songwriter,'and; a famous equestrian performer, Charles Hughes, but was dogged by misfortune from the outset, and, after passing to various lessees, including the grandfather of Grimaldi, the clown, was burnt down in 1805. Rebuilt in 1809, it came under the management of Elljston, who sought to raise its tone, and even attempted Shakespearean productions. He failed, and the house reverted to a circus uutil-1816, when Ellistoh again took it in hand, and made it a home of sensational melodrama. The huge success scored by "Black-eyed Susan," with T. P. Cooke as William, which drew vast c,vowds"for hundreds of nights in succession, thoroughly established the Surreyluid helped Elliston to die a rich man,- tliougil the author. Douglas Jerrold, is said to have received, only £70 as lifs sbarejif the proceeds. " Ellislon was succeeded by Davidge, Osbaldiston, '"Cresswcll, ' and a number of other energetic^ managers, who maintained the theatre's prosperity by giving the'■ audiences alltho sensationalism they- could--hope for, with perhaps 10 per cent.'. over,..and it was not-until the close,.of."li£str-century that its fortune began-seriously to: decline. Some years ago drama _was. abandoned for kinema performances with variety turns, "but no great, ■guccegs'.'.attended the enterprise, and the has now decided to close- down'andeniiitely.-- '■... VJ .. " ::(