FOOTLIGHT FLASHES.

Evening Star, Issue 9681, 26 April 1895, Page 4

FOOTLIGHT FLASHES.

[By Oau Boy.J fhe concert promoted by Christchurch residents to Mr Tom Pollard, who lost most of his company’s wardrobe by u recent fire at Palmerston North, resulted in a profit of £SO. - Mr Bland Holt made quite a “pot of money ” out of his recently • concluded Sydney season. ' , The Inveroargijl Orchestral Union have secured the services of Miss Mary Cooper for their concert on the 30th inst.

The Rev. H. R. Haweis, the popular London clergyman, who is now louring Australia under the auspices of -the muchtravelled, gave his opening lecture on ‘ Music and Morals ’ in Sydney on the 11th inst., and on Good Friday chose as his subject ‘ The Church in the Catacombs," or Christ in Art.’ Mr Haweis has published several works, one of his latest contributions being ‘My Musical Life.’ He is an ardent lover of music, and a frequent attendant at high-class musical gatherings. In the summer of 1873 Mr Haweis was chosen by the Dean of Westminster as special preacher at the evening service, in Westminster Abbey. Twelve years later he visited America as select preacher at Cornell University, Harvard University, and Lowell Lecturer. He preached and lectured at Boston, New York, and Montreal to large crowds; and he has since revisited America three times, once as representative of the Anglican Church at the Parliament of Religion in Chicago. A sensational incident occurred at Day’s Menagerie, Blackburn (England), on the Ist March. A full grown lioness, sixteen years of age, escaped from her cage into the marquee, and attacked an elephant which was chained up for the night. The elephant wound its trunk round the Hones?, and swinging her high in the air, then dashed her to the other end of the tent. The terrible uproar caused by the other animals awoke Martini Barlett, the lion tamer, who rushed in and shot the lioness, which was valued at £2OO.

Mdlle. Luella, with her specialty the ‘ Alabama Coon,’ is now one of the attractions of the Sydney Tivoli. Maggie Moore is coining money at the Sydney Royal with ‘ Little Jack Sheppard.’ ‘ The New Boy ’ and the tableaux vluanl have caught on at Adelaide.

The ‘Gaiety Girl’ Company (writes our Melbourne correspondent) have descended upon the Melbourne theatre-going public with meteoric brilliancy. Their entertainment at the Princess’s is drawing crowded houses at increased prices, and though the plot of ‘A Gaiety Girl’ is not remarkable for coherency of plot it gives the members of this latest variety organisation an opportune y of indulging in novel “business,” which is peculiarly grateful to the modern theatre-goer. The Dacre Company are presenting ‘ Man and Woman ’ at the Bijou, and Mr Bland Holt has inaugurated what promises to be a successful season at the Royal with the sensational drama ‘A Span of Life.’ A new circus troupe, organised by Mr Allan Hamilton, is also doing well. Who is there among my male readers who lias not suffered from the nuisance of tall hats worn by women in the theatres ? A Bill for suppressing the evil has just been rejee'ed by the Legislature of the Slate of New York by the narrow majority of 50 to 58, a result due to the action of the theatrical managers in sending a strong delegation to Albany, the State capital, to work against the Bill, as they feared a large diminution in their profits if the measure became law.

The Official Assignee at Sydney failed in his action to recover from Dr Piercy the sum of £3,366 won by Mrs Piercy (Miss Augusta Dargon, the tragedienne) on an investment in Tattersall’s sweep. Our London correspondent, writing on March, 8 says:—Miss Ethel Haydon, who received a capital “ puff preliminary ” in the ‘ Pali Mall Gazette,’ macleher debut in ‘Dandy Dick Whittington’ at the A venue Theatre last Saturday evening. Unfortunately, she was so out of voice from cold that no just impress oa could be foimel of her capacity as a vocalist. I don’t think, however, there is any immediate prospect of her setting Father Thames alight. Miss Haydon is not the first Australian artist who has risked her professional reputation by “debuting”in London when umvel’. If I remember rightly excuses had to be made for Myra Kemble wl en that much - advertised lady came lo show our benighted metropolis what true comedy acting was. Melba, too, failed to show at her best when her first appearance fell comparatively flat, whilst Charles Harding has never got over his initial collapse at the Olympic. Of course, the greater the advance puffing the bigger theyia-sco if the visitor fails to fulfil expectations. Indiscreet friends had bracketed poor Harding with De Reske and Edward Lloyd. Consequently when he appeared with a second-rate voice in third-rate" order there was much scoffing. It is indiscreet, too, in. the case of young ladies like Miss Haydon to advertise their personal attractions pronouncedly beforehand. The public like to find oat “new beauties” themselves. When ordered to consider Miss So-and-So one they are apt lo lie captious, hypercritical, and hard to please.