FOOTLIGHT FLASHES.

Evening Star, Issue 11068, 21 October 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

FOOTLIGHT FLASHES.

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Since coming to Dnnedin Mr Holt has made arrangements for the Australian rights of the Druiy Lane play ' Hearts Trumps' and the latest Adelphi success ' With Flying Colors.' Both pieces will probably be produced in Sydney in a few months. The Bland Holt company will pay a return visit to Dunedin in February, and will then stage 'War of Wealth,' and will revive ' The New Babylon.'

Grand English opera, sung to the normal pitch, was tried on September 4, by the Moody-Manners Opera Company, at the Opera House, Leicester, for the first time in the English provinces. Great interest was centred in the undertaking amongst musicians, to see how local players would succeed on strange instruments handed to them only eight hours previously. The brass instrument players scored a big success, likewise most of the reeds ; but Mr Manners, foreseeing a little natural difficulty with clarionets, took a double number of clarionet players with him, so that the whole orchestra worked without a hitch —a much greater volume of tone and quality being obtained from both principals and chorus. The management have decided that they will use this pitch in all the different towns visited by the company. [ During the past twelve months Mr J. C. Williamson has, says the ' Sydney Morning Herald,' been devoting an immense amount of time and money to the establishment on a remunerative basis of a regular theatrical circuit, which will cover the vast distances between Perth in the south-west, to Charters Towers in the north-east. The subject is one which concerns the metropolitan playgoer more closely than might be imagined at che first glance. Primarily, success in the direction indicated would enable Mr Williamson to secure more easily the services of English and American stars by offering them an engagement of nine months or a year, instead of for four months in the half-year only. In the second place, it would enable him to maintain permanently a number of subsidiary companies, and in this way the personnel of the metropolitan combinations could he more frequently changed. This year, for the first time, Mr Williamson extended the tour of one dramatic company in Tasmania so as to embrace Zeehan, as well as Hobart and Launceston. Another forward step in joining the scattered links of the intercolonhl circuit will be made after ' The Sign of the Cross' Company leaves Brisbane. For : r.e first time in the history of Mr Williamson's long management, he will play the repertoire at the chief towns along the line between ths Queensland capital and Sydney. these experimental schemes flower into permanency, fresh ground will be opened where talented young Australians may acquire provincial experience without losing touch with headquarters. An important theatrical decision was given bv the English Court of Appeal in August respecting the question.of "tied" theatres. Originally, an action was brought by Miss Kate Santlev, the well-known actress, against Mr S. J. Wilde, seeking relief in respect of certain mortgage transactions in connection with the Royalty Theatre. Mr Justice Byrne held that the stipulations under the mortgage by which the mortgagee was to receive a third of the net profits until the expiry of the mortgage in 1900 were an illegal clog on the equity of redemption, and that plaintiff was entitled to redeem at the amount tendered (£2.000 and interest). The Appeal Court held that the true meaning of the bargain was that the lease was assigned by the mortgagor to the mortgagee as security for the payment not only of the £2,000 and interest, but of one-third of the net profits. There was nothing in that which clogged the equity of redemption, nor was there any legal ground for relieving the mortgagor from her bargain. The appeal was allowed. The Earl of Yarmouth s differences with i his creditors are not depressing him. He and Miss Hunter carried off the honors of a drama tic performance at Newport, Rhode Island, recently. He played the hero, and his dancing was oiiite as much appreciated by American society as on a former historical occasion by the Australians.

The Henrv Dramatic Company were passengers from Hobart to Lyttelton. They appear in Duhedin on Boxing Night. Theatrical interest in London just now centres in Mrs Hugo De Bathe's coming venture at the Havmarket Theatre. The marriage of Mrs Langtry (the Jersey Lily) to Mr De Bathe has increased curiosity as to the production. In regard to dresses, furniture, etc., it promises to be one of the most elaborate and expensive ever seen in London, while the company, which includes Charlps Hawtrey and Lily Hanbury, are engaged regardless of expense. Mrs De Bathe told a reporter of the Associated Press that the play will be the boldest produced on the English stage for years. She added : "The scenic artists have reproduced the drawing room at Newmarket House, which I have just sold. All the furniture, etc., is from my London residence. The note of the play lies in the remark of mine in the third act: 'I ought to have been a man. I have men's thoughts, feelings, and desires.'" It is no secret that Sydney Grundy has depicted some of the most interesting episodes in the former Mrs Langtry's life, especially touching on the influence of her daughter on the latter part of it. Lily Grundy, the I author's daughter, will take part in the play. ! Granier has composed a special entr'acte dedicated to " the Honorable Mrs De Bathe." The Paris vaudeville stage has lost La Oavalieri, of the Folies Bergeres, whose beauty has long been the toast of the boulei vards, through her marriage recently to Prince Bariatinoki, a Russian millionaire. I The two eloped in the regulation romantic ' fashion, and the news caused a great sensation at the clubs and cafes. La Cavalieri is the daughter of a washerwoman and a newspaper hawker of Rome, but she is the most beautiful woman that the Paris stage has had for years. The Prince comes of an old Russian family of the highest nobility, and he has long been among the most extravagant members of the jeunesse doree of ; Paris, spending his millions lavishly. The rival of the Prince has been Prince Henri of Orleans, and La Cavalieri, it is said, divided : her attention between the two. It was because of his fear that the Bourbon Prince would finally win her entire affection that Prince Bariatinoki finally concluded to marry the beauty. She has retired from the stage at the request of the Prince, and the two have set up a sumptuous home in the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne. Theatre cabs have been introduced in New York, and a London manager is to follow this enterprising lead. At the Shakespeare Theatre, Clapham, Mr Dudley Bennett has arranged fur a special ecivlue Of fifty CUDS, and he intends to introduce the same system at his new house, to be opened in the autumn, the Royal Duchess Theatre, Balham. The ' Daily Telegraph' calls upon the managers of the large central theatres to introduce this reform in order to meet the competition of the suburban theatres; but the suburban theatres have taken the wind out of their sails by being themselves first in the field. It is evident that the newcomers intend to make things hum, and that if the large theatres do not wish to be left behind in the race they will have to bestir themselves. Our London correspondent, writing on September 1, supplies the following items: The company who will support Wilson Barrett at the Lyceum to-morrow in 'The Silver King' are almost identical with the one that produced the piece in Melbourne and Sydney. What was good enough for Australian audiences Mr Barrett evidently considers should be good enough for even the exigeant patrons of Irving's famous theatre. 'The Silver King' was produced at the Princess's Theatre on November 16, 1882. I had the luck to get a seat, and wrote out a long account of it next day for the colonial papers. I said then I thesght the play the best written and construt ?d modern melodrama I had ever seen. Twat was seventeen years ago, and I'm not sure I don't think so still. Certainly I find it difficult at the moment to put my finger on a superior piece of its kind. Of the original cast Wilson Barrett (now, alas! a sadly mouthing' and stilted Wilfred Denver) alone remains. The slim and golden-haired Miss Eastlake, first and most sympathetic of Nellie Drivers, hj» quitted the stage, or at least the London

stage. She grew rather stout after being leading* lady in the Barrett" Company for several years. Then Maude Jefferies came along, and I fancy that there were the inevitable petty jealousies. Anyhow, Mjsb Eastlake disappeared, and Miss Jefferies took her place. Now Miss Jefferies is beginning to suffern little from embonpoint herself, which reminds me of an absolutely true story T heard the other day. Canon B , the well-known East End philanthropist, took .his favorite pupil, a reformed newsboy, to seo 'The Sign of tne Cross.' The youth admired Miss Jefferies enormously, and when she and the infatuated Marcus Superbus finally marched into the amphitheatre to be gobbled up the rev. gentleman quite expected his young friend would shed tears. But he was disappointed. lhe boy said nothing till they got outside the theatre. Then he remarked: "lapose they couldn't escape?" " No, my boy, they certainly couldn t escape the hungry lions." "Neither 'm nor 'er?' J , "Neither. But (impressively) remember they willingly gave their lives for Christ." "'Well," observed the boy, Meditatively, after a time, " you sez it's a good job for them, but I think it were a real soft thing for the lions."

George Barrett, the original Jaikes of ' The Silver King,' is dead, and so is Coote, the original Corkett. E. S. Willard, the first Spider, has proved himself a greater artist than Wilson Barrett himself. You are, I hear, shortly to see him in Australia. The veteran Clarence Holt, who plays a small part in the new melodrama 'With Flying Colors' at the Adelphi, will, ere this reaches you, have taken good care Bland Holt has the Australian and New Zealand rights. It is, in my opinion, a good working piece, like ' One of the Best.' The authors have made no attempt to be either new or true, yet the plot is not uningenious. Lotan Hackett, manager of the business of Andover and Derrick, shipbuilders and bankers, has fallen into evil courses through his infatuation for his wife, Florence. He has begun with embezzlement, and has been led on to forgery by a rascal named James Strangeways, who is carrying on an intrigue with Hackett's wife. Mary Derrick, the daughter of one of the principals of the firm, is in love with Lieutenant Richard Dare, R.N., but her father has obstinately destined her to be the bride of a certain Lieutenant Charles Andover, who has not been heard of for a long time, and may be dead. When Andover suddenly turns up, not'only does his revival disarrange the plans of Mary and Richard; it makes Strangeways, on whose track a detective is hot and eager, desperate. He goes to meet Andover at a hotel at Southampton, murders him in cold blood, and assumes his identity, returning to Chatham to be received as the lieutenant. It is necessary to Strangeways's interests that he shall marry Mary; therefore Dare must be got out of the way. Strangeways suggests to him that he shall cure young Wilfred Derrick, Mary's brother, of his unfortunate gambling propensities by cheating him at cards and then disclosing the motive of the trick. Dare does this and is detected; Strangeways refusing, when called upon, to explain or exculpate. Dare sends in his papers, and enlists as a common sailor; and in this position he is so galled by Strangeways that flesh and blood can stand it no longer, and the sailor strikes his superior officer, and is condemned to a term of imprisonment at Dartmoor. Strangeways falls in love, in satyr fashion, with Mary, and resolves that he " must and will possess her." Mrs Hackett's jealousy makes her expose the treachery of Strangeways to her husband, who is "doing £ime" at Dartmoor for forgery and attempted robbery. He swears to have the life of his false friend, and, escaping from a gang in the quarries, gets to Mary Derrick's cottage on Dartmoor, where he finds her struggling with the semiintoxicated ruffian, and after a desperate—and destructive —struggle overcomes and strangles him. Hackett's confession'exonerates Dare; and, as one villain is dead and the other doomed to the gallows, all may be said to end happily for the hero and heroine. The company at the Adelphi are scarcely as strong as usual. Mr Julius Knight succeeds Warner, Alexander, Terris, and Fred Terry as breezy hero and idol of the gods, and 'fills the role of Lieutenant Dare passably. Despite his inevitable persecuting he is, however, rather overshadowed by Robert Pateman, whose Lotan Hackett again shows him an actor of trae tragic power. Mrs Raleigh's Mrs Hackett has been universally praised, and Harry Nicholls gives us another funny—Harry Nicholls. Ada Reeve has signed a three-years' engagement with George Edwardes at, 'tis said, £SO a week, and plays lead in the new piece at Daly's next month. Meanwhile she is warbling of ' Trixie from Tooting' and of a coon called ' Susi-ooh' at the Palace Theatre. This clever little lady has deservedly become a great favorite, and will, I fear, be a formidable rival to Letty Lind at Daly's. The autumn melodrama at old Drury is to be called 'WTieel of Fortune,' and will depend for its attractions largely on illustrations of everyday life in London. Thus, the second act will introduce us to the Botanical Gardens, Regent's Park, on the occasion of a fete, from which we shall pSSs to the courtyard and interior of Burlington House on the day of the " private view" of the Royal Academy. Later on we are to be; shown a private hotel in Jermyn street, a fashionable milliner's in Bond street, and one of the dressing rooms of the Frivolity Theatre as well as its stage. The main motive of the plot is supplied by the scheme of a rascally money-lender for the murder of a young lady whose life he has insured heavily; and its atmosphere will be that of the fast society of to-day. Mr Cecil Raleigh's drama will be played by a strong cast—Lionel Brough, Dolores Drummond, and Louise Moodie, Violet Vanbrugh, and Beatrice Ferrar. Jennie Lee's provincial tour with the inevitable 'Jo' is not turning out too well. Mr H. B. Monkhouse is her acting manager. The latter I surmise to be the son of jovial Harry Monkhouse of the Gaiety Theatre. Miss Cissie Loftus, whose romantic elopement with Justin Huntly M'Carthy a few years ago was followed recently by a mysterious divorce, in which the grounds of the young lady's complaints against her husband were not stated publicly, is to be married to Mr Herbert Stone, the Chicago publisher. Mr Stone's father, Mr Melville Stone, is a friend of Mr M'Carthy, who introduced him to London in 1897. The extraordinary spectacle is to be witnessed at the Haymarket Theatre just now of a noted, not to say notorious, lady enacting herself on the stage. It was a bold exEeriment, and I do not wonder that Mrs angtry quailed on the first night of "The Degenerates,' and displayed some nervousness. But the audience enjoyed themselves enormously. Mrs Trevelyan, there could be no question, was the "Lily." Was there a denizen of the pit who hadn't heard .-ill ; hj. ;' the hospitalities of a certain drawing re r.i in Chelsea before Miss Langtry came home from school? If Viscount Stornoway was not the late Mr Abington Baird, who was ■ he? And other degenerates—why, Mr Pit- | ite could " name 'em all easy as houses." And how affected everyone was when Mrs J Trevelyan's little girl by her artless innocence wins frisky mummy back to paths of , strictest social convention, and marries her |to the Duke of Orme. The Duke, by the way, was the one character in the piece whom nobody could place. Mrs Langtry got married the other day, but, as you know, it was to a young officer of no special distinction, who is twenty years her junior. Mr Caleb Porter, who joined Wilson Barrett's Company in Australia, has scored a success in the Lyceum revival of 'The Silver King.' The latest addition to the list of theatrical " reminiscers" is Jennie Lee, who has resolved to try and make a little money that way. J