'HANS THE BOATMAN.'

Evening Star, Issue 7641, 18 June 1888, Page 4

'HANS THE BOATMAN.'

Mr Charles Arnold, of ' Hans the Boatman' fame, who will make his how to a Dunedin audience next mouth, was born in Lucerne (Switzerland), his father being an odicer in the British Army, and his mother a Swiss lady. When quite young he was taken to New York, where his parents went at the close of the Crimean War. On growing up he was articled to the law, hut he deserted the brief for the buskin, and in 1872 joined the company at the Brooklyn Theatre, New York. Afterwards he went into management on his own account, and started out West. He tells some amusing stories of his adventures in these parts. The scene is Winnipeg, Manitoba, and at the time there were no public lights, pavements, or roads in the "city," which consisted of only one street. The "city" was inhabited by Indians, halfbreeds, and a few English settlers. The players opened in the market hall, immediately over the gaol, and the performance was enlivened by the shrieks of the Indiana and half-bred women, who had taken too much "fire water." But the season was a pecuniary success, and the enjoyment of their visit was heightened by the fact that, as all the hotels were full, the members of the company had to sleep in tents on the prairie. And he will tell you how, at a place called Emerson, " the temple of the drama was improvised out of a large bonded warehouse, with holes cut in the sides of the building for the pnrposes of exit." On the second night they performed ' The Shaughraun.' It went Bplendidly, and when the curtain fell in the second act the Committee interviewed Mr Arnold for the purpose of getting him to extend his visit for one more evening. That, however, wns impossible, as they were booked for other towns. A happy thought struck the manager : (Jive another performance that night! He saw that they could finish the first representation by a quarter to eleven. There could be an interval of a quarter of an hour, and they could start the second performance at eleven. " That's almost as good as the regal encoreof an opera, which necessitated the repetition of the whole work." After explaining matters before the curtain to the audience, ' and intimating that a second performance would be given that evening, there were cheers and cries of " Play all night." And the repetition of the performance was a3 successful as its predecessor. Some people paid a couple of shillings to have an uncomfortable peep in at the lower windows, and others borrowed—perhaps slyly stoleladders to have a look through the upper windows. And the play went with remarkable gusto; but it can ea.«ily_ be imagined that two performances in one night was a severe strain on the actors.

" The Baby Coquette " (May ilannen) is barely four years of ago, and has travelled 17,000 miles to play to us. It is unprecedented in the annals of the drama. Like herself, her story is short, but interesting. When Mr Arnold appeared in London, at tho Strand Theatre, some twenty children were sent by the theatrical agents from whom to select a child for "Papa's Baby Boy." Among them was May, and, when Mr Arnold entered the room where the children were waiting, May toddled forward to him, caught his logs in her arms, and looked smilingly up in his face. That was enough ; she had an intelligent, sweet face, and was juat the size that Mr Arnold could fondle andoarry, as the business of the piece necessitated. Accordingly, she was engaged, and has remained with Mr Arnold ever since. May is the daughter of a scene shifter at Drury Lane Theatre, and on the death of her mother she was taken charge of by I fans. There is a strango connection betu ucn her and Lion. Tho dog pulled the little one out of the river at York, into which she had fallen, and she has contributed something towards the authorship of Hans, for the expression obe uses in the courto of the piece: "I don't like the water; it's too wet," is taken from the lirat remark she made on being rescued,