FOOTLIGHT PLASHES.

Evening Star, Issue 12768, 22 March 1906, Page 3

FOOTLIGHT PLASHES.

.. Cali, Boi.l A private cable from Mr Geach informs me that West’s Pictures and the Brescians had a successful opening at Sydney on Satlast. Mr Geach.adds “Lake prospects,” which may be interpreted as meaning that be looks forward to a profitable season. " • The members of the “ All Black” Family, ns the Black Family of Musicians now term themselves, in compliment to our redoubtable footballers, are now playing a farewell tour of the colony prior to leaving for the Squth Sea Islands, Tasmania, and Australia on July 24. Miss Doris, Mr Black’ s young-' est member of the circle, haa rejoined the family. It has only now been nude public that Miss Viola Allen, the popular American actress, was married on August 16 in Louisville to Mr Peter Duryea, a wealthy young man, whom Miss Sarah Madden, also an actress, has sued for £IO,OOO damages for breach of promise. The case is expected to bo tried in New York. M. Albert Carre, director of the Opera Comique, has just won a curious case in connection with the abuse of free tickets for theatres. He received a request recently for two seats from M. Marignac, secretary of the Montmartre Theatre. He forwarded tickets, which were sold by M. Marignac to a tobacco merchant, who retailed tliem to her customers at much below their value. M. Carre, on learning this, brought an action for £2OO damages against M. Mari"nac and the retailer. Tire Court found that both defendants were guilty of an illegal act, and ordered them to pay £2 damages each. * & Mr Barrie’s ‘ Admirable Crichton ’ was (in America) only floated into a dubious vogue bj Mx Gillette's personal popularity, for, with all our pride in our American sense of humor, we axe far behind London in appreciating the finer and more intellectual shadings of nonsense.—‘ Post,’ Philadelphia. ‘ The Shop Girl ’ continues to attract large and enthusiastic audiences at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney, and the Royal Comic Opera Company's high-class performance of the brisk and bright musical comedy baa evidently caught the popular lanqy to a most gratifying degree. Hir Henry Irving's estate has been proved at £14,653. Many who knew the extravagance of his generosity to needy actors, the heavy (ami often unnecessary) cxj>enmture that he incurred in mounting ins plays, and his fondness for giving ex- , pensive dinners to hie friends, are (says a London paper) sarnrised that he had even that sum at his death. It has been estimated that in the course of his career his earnings as an actor and manager amounted to about a quarter of a million sterling. Perhaps that may lie little bet- I ter than a guess; but it is certain that in his prune—say, for about twenty years— I he received very largo sums, especially j trom London and New York audiences, i He is said to have had a bank balance to I his credit of nearly £IOO,OOO on several I occasions. Whenever he found himself i flourishing to anything like that extent, ho I launched into some new—and, as a rule, I extremely expensive—play, and if its success proved to be artistic rather than pecuniary. ho reverted for a time to some of his old _ money-drawing favorite pieces, or went off on an American tour. The first of Mr J. C. Wilfiamson’s “ oversea” companies for 1906 will be that headed by Mr Willie Collier, who leave ►San Francisco for Australia on the 19tb April next, and open at Her Majesty’s r l lieu.tie, Melbourne, a month later to the day. Air Collier isi an American comedian, who, in addition to a most enviable reputation in his own country, has added to it a Fxmdon popularity such as few actors of Ids type have enjoyed in. recent years. His two pieces, ‘The Dictator’ and ‘On the Quiet,’ were most highly spoken of, and the new method he and his supporting company employed in the interpretation of the 'irresistible humor was welcomed as a novel change from the conventional lines of farcical playing. The former, in which he will make his debut before an Australian audi- I once, deals With the laughable experiences I of a young New Yorker, who, in the belief that be has killed a man, escapes to a Mouth American Republic in company with Ids valet. There the two of them become embroiled in. the usual revolution, omd too liero finds hinas.-li exalted to the dizzy, if insecure, eminence of President, an unfamiliar honor, which gives rise to a number of absurdly funny incidents. Without exception, London dramatic critics speak in the highest terms of A. IV. Pinero’s latest play, ‘ His House in Order, which was produced at St. James’s I heat re, London, at the beginning of last month. Several of them go so far as to hail it as his greatest piece of work, and dl of them congratulate bun on bis selection of a theme far removed from the unwholesome surroundings of which he has been somewhat tco fond, in such dramas is ‘ The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith,’ ‘ Iris,’ and ‘ Letty.’ He has left the problems he enunciated in those efforts, and has adopted a new, more human, and infinitely more interesting subject, preaching, indeed, the attainment of real happiness by virtue of self-renunciation. The Smart Met, that favorite object of attack in later-day stage pieces, is deserted in favor of another class equally deserving of censure—the large section of conventionalists who refuse to recognise good and evil outside their own narrow and bigoted ideas on such things. Australasian playgoers v.lro remember the palmy days of Pinero will look forward anxiously to the production of the drama out here. As the option on all the dramatist’s plays, past, present, and future, is in the hands of Mr J. C. Williamson, that event should not be fax distant. ‘The .Sign of the Cross’ never seems to stale in the estimation of Australasian theatregoers, and it must share with ‘ A Royal Divorce’ the distinction of being the play witnessed by the largest number of playgoers throughout tire Commonwealth and New Zealand. This is due nwst probably to the fact that Wilson flarrett’s melodrama has a religions significance, which has attracted the attention and the attendance of a large section of tire community who ordinarily never visit a theatre. Be that as it may, it remains on© of the most popular plavs which Mr Williamson has ever had in his possession. Reiterated evidence of that fact was afforded recently during the farewell season of the Knight-Jeffries Company at the Palace Theatre, Sydney. Originally announced for a two-nights’ revival, the crash of people anxious to see the last of the two stars as Marcus and Mercia was so great that it was decided to keep it on for yet two more performances. cancelling the revival of ‘ Pygmalion and Galatea ’ for that purpose. The .last week of the Sydney season was filled in with revivals of ‘ The Silver King ’ and ‘ The Lady of Lyons.’ On Saturday last the company opened a week’s season in Newcastle. The British Consul-General and his wife (Mrs Courtenay) gave an informal reception at San Francisco on Monday, February 12, in honor of Miss Nellie Stewart and her successful Australian company and the New Zealand football team. ” The “at home ” took plaoe in the reception room of the California Hotel, and was largely attended by the New Zealanders and Australians. On the evening of the 14th the entire football team attended the Majestic Theatre, at the invitation of Miss Nellie Stewart, who was playing in ‘ Sweet Nell of Old Drury.’ After the second act the New Zealanders gave their war-cry, which was applauded by the audience and welcomed by the Australians on the stage. When the curtain fell Miss Stewart shook hands with every member of the team, and wished them a pleasant journey home. The cablegram that Mr Prank T. Bui len, author of ‘The Cruise of the Caoha-

lot,’ will shortly sail for Australia reminds us (remarks a contemporary) that no. celebrated men and "women, with the exception of a few musical artists, have visited this part of the world for several years past. This is a great change from twenty-five yeans ago, when ,Mr R. S. Smythe began his procession of celebrities with R. A. Proctor, the astronomer, who was followed in quick succession by Archibald Forbes, G. A. Sala, Max (TRcll, H. M. Stanley, Miss Von Finkelstein, Dr Talmage, Mark Twain, and other notabilities. The reason for the falling oS is no doubt to be found in the fact that no fewer than 3,000 lecture courses, the promoters of which are always on the look-out for exceptional talent, are now run in the Old Country by various speculators, literary societies, and other public bodies. If men eminent in literature, science, or art can fill in their evenings and their pockets almost without leaving their firesides, they naturally prefer that way of supplementing their income to compassing sea and land to make even a good deal more money. But the sea must bo like his native element to the South Sea whaler, Frank T. Bullen, who, besides, has strong special reasons for revisiting the Antipodes, , for it was' on coasts washed by the long roll of Australasian seas he spent some of the most important years of his life, and it was on the shores of Now Zealand that he met with that crucial experience which he has happily described as “ the change in the starboard watch.”

■ Very satisfactory business has attended the production of ‘ Leah Kleschna’ at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne, ever since the opening performance three weeks ago, and the audiences have been most cordial, their am nr oval being extended not only to Miss Tittell Bnuie’s extremely clever characterisation of the girl thief, but also tc Mr Roy Redgrave’s capital study of the criminal father, and to Mr Mervale’s quietly effective Paul Sylvaine. ‘ Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall’ is in course of preparation. Mr Ben Fnller has ordered by cable a kinematograph film ‘ The Hooligans of Paris,’ deserjbed as an exciting picture of the doings of garotters in Paris. The picture will be shown at Wellington during Easter Week, when the new projecting machine will be used for the first time.

While watching the rantomime at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, recently, a young woman named Laura Emily Bushnill, aged twenty-four, fell back dead in her seat in the gallery. Her death was due to aooplexy, caused by excitement and lunching. Mr J. C. Williamson has, of course, made a claim against the Tasmanian Government for the loss sustained by him when the whole of the wardrobe and scenery of ‘ Princess Ida. ’ was destroyed by fire on the railway journey from Launceston- to Hobart a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, th© Gilbert and Sullivan Company have recovered from the excitement consequent upon that event, and have left the island State after an extraordinarily successful season in Hobart. On Monday, the 12th inst., they opened for a week in Bendigo, and are now playing a season, of th© same length in Ballarat. The playgoers of both towns took extensive advantage of the plebiscite instituted by Mr J. C. Williamson to afford them a choice of their favorite operas. After Ballarat th© company will play on© night each at Geelong, AI bury, Wagga Wagga, and Goulbum. At Newcastle they will make their final appearances in Australia before departing for New Zealand, where the company will be seen in ‘ Veroniqne,’ for which dainty opera Mr Gerald Coventry has been preparing them for several weeks past. Mr Horace Lingard, while fulfilling an engagement with Bain’s Entertainers at Hobart, took suddenly ill, and had to be removed to the hospital. He is a nephew of Lingard, the “ Buttennan,” who is at present (together with the Majeronis and Arthur Greenaway) a member of Miss Nance O’Neil’s Company, touring the United States.

As showing that some visitors to the Mataura district at least are loth to appreciate the merits of No-license., the following extract from aa interview with Miss Florence Lloyd, of the ‘ J.IV Company, which visited Gore last year, appearing in the ‘ Brisbane Courier,’ is of interest:—“ Do you know,” said Miss Lloyd, “ I think one of the funniest places we ever struck was a Prohibition town in New Zealand. No; you had better not mention the name. We all arrived there dead tired, and the men were dying for a nip, but nothing was to be had. .However, it did not take them long to find out how people manage it in a Prohibition town. A wire was sent to the next village, and supplies arrived by the next train. I think there is more liquor drank there than in any town where it is sold openly. This town' of all places, was the only one where I had to deal with a drunken man.”

'The versatility of Baron Henri De Rothschild is becoming proverbial in Paris. The baron’s latest achievement is the production of a play of his own composition, which was performed for the first time the other evening at the Capncinas Theatre before an audience entirely composed of notabilities. The only untitled persons present were several members of the French Academy and of the Cabinet. Baron Henri De Rothschild is best known to Parisians for hia practical philanthropy. He has built a children’s hospital in the slums, which he personally directs, and to which he and the baroness devote the greater part of their time. Though a young man, he is considered by the medical faculty one of the most talented physicians in France. Mr G. H. Barnes, touring manager for Messrs Gunn and Meynell, sends me an illustrated souvenir programme of ‘ The Fatal Card,’ which received its Australasian premiere at the Melbourne Roval on Saturday last. * J

t Gm of the features of the performance of The Girl from J£ay*ij 1 is au introduced dance entitled ‘La Alaxixe/ th© music of which is identical with the music of th© latest Parisian craze, ‘ La Mattchiehe,’ concerning which a Melbourne girl writes thus to the ‘ Australasian ’ : “ Everyone is whistling it,, and whereever there is a gathering or fete of any kind, either in or out of doors, you may depend upon ‘La Mattchiche ’ being danced. No English or Australian could perform it with the same gaiety and abandon, yet modestly, as these gnsettes and their partners, for the temperament is so different. The air itself is a Spanish march, and does not at once strike the ear as anything particular, but after hearing it for the second or third time it remains in the memory most persistently. The method of the dance at first is not unlike the old ‘Washington Post’ that we danced so vigorously some years back. The attitude is th© same, and there are eight steps to right and left. Then, as the music changes, the kick is rather higher than ’s seen iu ordinary ball rooms, and lines are formed, as in Sir Roger, and after a few steps the gentlemen seem to try and snatch a kiss from their partners, who simulate great indignation. The dance as it continues through several figures shows great originality and daring. At one stage the dancers are standing with the ladies m front and their partners at the back, holdthem by the -waist, and they begin, in time with the music, by bending tlk knees and gradually increasing the movement until they seem almost siting on the floor, after winch by decreasing the bend they coma back to the upright position. In another figure the arms and shoulders are brought into play. A wild gallop round the room brings this dance, which young and old find most fascinating, to a finish.” A large crowd of spectators were attracted to a menagerie at Aubray, Franco, the other night by the announcement that a girl of ten years would dance in the lion’s den., Th© child had hardly entered the ca"e and begun to dance when a cry of horror broke from the spectators. A lion had leapt on the .girl, and after knocking her down with a stroke of its paw, carried her in its mouth to a comer of the cage, and attempted to tear her limb from. limb. The trainer, armed with red-hot irons, sprang into the cage and rescued the girl, who was terribly mauled. The proprietor of the show has been arrested.

Clergymen have written plays, but it has remained for the Rev. J. Greathead, rector of Coringham, Essex, to become an actor and yet not. forsake the Church. He has appeared in a play written by his wife, entitled ‘The Master Carver,’ taking'the part of the hero. The performance was given in the parish room, and there was a large and

appreciative audience. The time of the play is placed in 1809, during the invasion of Italy: by Napoleon, and the scene is laid in a little village of Oberammergau. The plot turns on the betrayal by Peter, a villager, of the secret pass of Ettal, which led directly from Oberammergau down into Italy. The Rev. Mr Greathead, speaking to a, reporter after the performance, said: We have had an amateur dramatic company in connection, with .our church for twelve years..* I have always taken a great interest in the .stage, and I have never church people. This is not the only play my wife has written. She is the authoress of Esther,’ a drama of a more ambitious type than The Master Carver. ’ ” Puccini is composing a new opera. The Roman Empire,’ dealing with the revival of civilisation in the early Etruscan period, which will be produced simultaneously at London and New York. Messrs Meynell and Gunn were to open at the Melbourne Theatre Royal on Saturday last with ‘The Fatal Wedding.’ Mr Charles Vane and Miss Congdon have come out from London to take the leading parts. A complimentary cqncert to Mr Artier Mason, the Sydney city organist, has been arranged to mark that gentleman’s departure on a visit to the Old Country. ' Some particulars have reached Mr Edwin Geach concerning the now company which has teen formed by Messrs Georee Willoughby and Hugh Ward. Miss Grace Palotta, who is included, writes from Vienna to say that she has secured the right to use the music of a captivating ballet in which she is to_ appear with Mr Ward. Amongst the artists to visit Australia for the first time is Mr Arthur Cornell, who has been with Mr Edward Terry’s company in London, the provinces, and America during a period of five years, and with other combinations. He has played both Clement Hale and Horace Bream in ‘ Sweet Lavender,’ Ferdinand Sinclair in ‘The Passport,’ and Archibald Kestevem in ‘ Cheer Boys; Cheer.’ Mr Warburton Gamble, a similar type of artist, who will be seen in juvenile and light comedy parts, has filled three engagements with Mr Beerbohm Tree in London, and was with Mr Forbes Robertson last year at the new La Scala Theatre. His list includes Raoul Berton (‘Leah Kleschna’), Correze in ‘Moths,’ and Lord St. Aubyn in ‘Dr Wake’s Patient’ produced last year at the Adelphi Theatre. Miss Olive Wilton, the juvenile lead inrr ac . tress, wag in Mr Edward Terry’s last' London season, and accompanied him to America last year. Besides such characters as Mrs D’Arcy in ‘The Passport,’ Minnie 611fdlan in ‘Sweet Lavender,’ and Marion Burnside in ‘The House of Burnside,’ this artist has appeared ns Princess Flavia in ‘The Prisoner of Zenda.’ The WilloughbyWard Ccoropany will also'tiring out an experienced ingenue, Miss Gillian Scaife. who played in ‘ Tire Duke of Killiecranlde ’ under Charles Frohmann’s management and has appeared at the Court, the Coronet, the Royalty, and the Lyric Theatres. Borides supporting Mr Forbes Robertson in Shakespearian drama, and in ‘ Mice and Men,’ Miss Scaife has played Polly Eccles, Nan (the ‘ Good for Nothing ’), and dosia in ‘Resurrection.’ Tlie Anderson Dramatic Company . are now hi possession of the Theatre Royal, Sydney. During the season ‘ When London Sleeps,’ ‘ Camille,’ and ‘ Lady Audley’s Secret ’ will he staged. Miss Eugenie Duggan (Miss W. Anderson) is at the head of the combination. The late Dan Fitzgerald, of hoi'se-train-ing and circus fame, was a native of Auckland (N.Z.). His father was a schoolmaster. After youthful trials at pupil-teaching and saddlery, Dan found his yocation in 1878 in circus work, for he dearly loved horseflesh. Soon h© became a circus proprietor, and in 1887 he and his brother Tom started the firm that has ever since been foremost in its line in Australasia and the East. In the beginning their show consisted of a couple of waggons and a few horses, including the beautiful pony Commodore, till its death a few montlis ago, one of their besit assets. At Longford (Tan.) Mr T. AHwright, manager of ■ the American Wonderscope Company, was summoned to answer a charge of holding a Sunday concert there -on Feb many 11. The magistrates dismissed the case on the ground that the act allowed musical entertainments to be given, provided no charge was made for admission. There appeared to have been only a collection taken at the door on this occasion. In a provincial touring company, the ‘Hamburger Nachrichten’ relates, a quarrel had arisen between one of the actors and the leading lady. The former swore to be revenged, and his opportunity came when a performance of ‘ Faust ’ was to take place. The play had proceeded as far aa the exciting scene where Gretcben finds the jewel box, and deliberates whether she will open it. Gn lifting the lid a strange whirring noise was heard, and from the box there issued the sounds of the popular ditty ‘ Ach du lieber Augustin, Augustin, Augustin.’ Trembling with vexation, Gretcben slammed the lid, but the box relentlessly kept grinding out the time, which was promptly taken up by the gallery. The liouse was convulsed with laughter, and the curtain descended on a very discomfited Gretcben weeping tears of mortification. Rubinstein’s opera ‘The Demon’ is to be given in Berlin. This work, originally produced in 1575, was played at Covent Garden in 1881 under the composer’s direction, with Mesdames Albani, Trebelli, and M. Lassalle in the principal parts. The subject is taken from a weird poem by Lcxinontoff, the Devil joeing supposed to come upon earth and fall in love with a beautiful woman. The opera, was not a success in London, The ballet music is very effective. The competition instituted by Signor Sonzogno for opera libretti has brought forward no fewer than 552 books. The titles of these have been published, and some of them are certainly unconventional, such as the following—‘ House of Correction,’ ‘ Madness,’ ’The Strike,’ ‘Man,’ ‘Catalepsy,’ ‘Free Love,’ ‘Socialism,’ ‘Humanity.’ Stranger still, perhaps, are those entitled ‘Lucifer,’ ‘Satan or God,’ “TheAnti-Christ,’ and ‘Guisepp© MazzinL’ There are natui--ally several founded upon historical subjects, and others bearing the names of women. Altogether the choice appears to be sufficiently varied to suit all tastes. The American papers state that Mdme Calve has discovered at Seattle a young contralto, Lois Feurt by name, for whom the celebrated opera singer predicts great tilings. The girl Ls only and Mdme Calve has decided to give her a thorough training in Paris. When Mr Frank Curzon reads a play, he does not care to which class it belongs. “ If it hits me bard enough,” he says, “ I produce it.” Not laying down any conditions, Mr Cnrzon never analyses a pLay, and once he has made up his mind to produce a given work all the arguments in the world will not turn him aside from his determinaton. Mr Fred Terry says he naturally looks for a play which interests him, and which has a good part for his wife, Miss Julia Neilsan, and for himself. “The first thing,” he adds, “is that a play should interest* the audience from beginning to end, and to do that it must first interest the actor.” Mr Cyril Maude reads every single manuscript sent to him, whether big or little, and whether by an author whose name he knows or not. “ My own taste (he goes on to. say) inclines me towards comedy, and I believe that the public also prefer to laugh rather than to be made gloomy, miserable, or depressed'. For this reason, I should not choose a gloomy play, though I do not object to a strong vein of pathos, for pathos need not mean either gloom or misery. I think a play ought to have plenty of plot, and I believe there is a strong public reaction in favor of what may be called the story play.” Mr Frederick Harrison confesses to trusting chiefly to “feeling” whether a play is right or wrong, and he “ cultivates a complete detachment of mjmd with regard to everything outside the play itself ” —that is to gay, when he is reading it. Mr .Harrison mentions that theatrical managers are overwhelmed with an “avalanche of manuscripts.” Fraulein Tberese Walban, who lives at Dresden, and is said to be the oldest dancer •m the world, haa just entered upon lier one hundredth year. She started her career at nine. She - has recollections of Napoleon’s entry into Dresden in 1813. • Mdme Duse, who has a great admiration . r and his works, has gene to Christiania in the hope of being received by. him. But the famous dramatist, the ‘Hancbcster

Guardian ’ says, is too ill to receive any guests, even though his visitor he as celebrated as Mdme Duse. Mr George Grosamith made a spirited defence of musical comedy at a recent meeting of the O.P. dub. He said he would like to give the names of the scores of people whom he saw night after night at the Gaiety Theatre—some of the greatest names in Europe. He was among those who, thought Mr Barrie’s work ■ The Admirable Crichton’ would have met. with more success if it had been a musical play. Mir Giwnmith proceeded to describe the process which would have compelled Mi Barrie to rewrite portions of the play from time to time in order to provide an exons* • for the introduction of popular hut irrelevant songs and duets—a process by whici the plot would have disappeared, the numbers would have come in, and the box offici receipts would have gone up. Mr Lawrence Irving, on behalf of him self and his brother, Mr H. B. Irving, re cently visited Mr J. L. Toole at his housi in Brighton and presented him with th-. watchchain, seal, and combined sovereign purse and matchbox which Sir Henry Irving was wearing at the time of his death. The sovereign purse and matchbox were given by Mr Toole to his old friend as a birthday present on February 6, 1894, and the contents remain as they were on the night Sh Henry died. A blaze in the cellar of the Colonial Theatre, Boston, where Miss Edna May was appearing, caused the audience to become frightened, and make for the exits. Miss May advanced to the footlights, and said; “Please don’t move. It is only sour waste burning in the yard outside,” Tb audience became calm and stage hands sue ceeded in extinguishing the blaze, whici < was among some of the theatre’s properties Cinquevalli, the great juggler, who ha twice visited this City, was interviewed ii: America. “ What are the qualifications foi a juggler?” this foremost representative o. its art and craft was asked. “Well,” he replied, “ patience, perseverance, and pro gress. Good nerves, good eyes, strength ambition, and grace.” In reply to the question “How long does it take you to perfect a trick?” Cinquevalli said: “Oh, that answer must be a very elastic one. The longest it ever took me to perfect a trick was eight years, in balancing one billiard ball upon another. Many of the tricks which are most attractive to an audience are the .result of a few hours’ work upon a happy idea.” “How have you developed your strength and kept the symmetry of your figure?” “I think that is due in part to the fact that I practise the two extremes as no other juggler does. We have light-weight jugglers and heavy-weight jugglers. It has always been my ambition to demonstrate the lightest* touch and the heaviest together. This is particularly well shown in the juggling of a piece of paper and an iron balk My training is different from any other juggler in that I take longer in lifting heavy weights and so escape stiff muscles. When they do get stiff I nurse them along slowly, and I constantly adopt the Japanese treatment of lying in hot water for a long time, vJhich softens and soothes the muscles.”

Oddments.—Miss Ethel Sinclair and Herr Borschke will tour the colonies with Mi Andrew Black, the English baritone.—Reported that Thomas Kingston is again coming to the colonies, and will fill the void in Tittell Bnme’s Company earned by the home-going -of Douglas Gerfard.—The Sheridan Company have a new musical comedy, ‘The Money-makers,’ in rehearsal. On a would have thought ‘ Fun on the Bristol ’ load justly earned that title, —In the harlequinade incidental to the pantomime ‘ Sinbad the Sailor,’ to be staged in Dunedin on Easter Saturday, Miss fiinrichs departs from the orthodox idea of Harlequin’s costume by wearing black satin knee breeches and white ballet skirt, with red sash —a very attractive costume.—Tom Fitzgerald, who has been in India with his big circus, profiting by the boom incidental to the visit of the Prince and lias returned to Melbourne to settle up matters in connection with his brother-Dan’s estate. —Miss Ada Reeve gets £5,000 from Manager Hyman for a seven weeks’ season at the Empire Palace, Johannesburg.—Percy Denton has joined Mr Frank Clark’s combination at the Melbourne Gaiety.—The Modem Milo and Cruickshank, the caricaturist, hay© sailed for London.—The Great Thurston is about to pay an extended visit to China, Japan, and the Straits Settlement. He revisits the colonies next year, and will then include New Zealand in his itinerary. —Miss Marie Lloyd, who always exhibits a nice discriminating taste in the matter of tie titles of her songs, has, says the ‘ Pelican,’ just secured a new one of which .she hopes much, called ‘lt isn’t what you see — iffs what you think.’—England has a comedian named Herbert Cyril, who is 7ft high. He is now, resting, under the doctor’s orders. A long rest.—Miss May Moore Duprez made a great hit as Zobeida in ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’ at Plymouth Royal.— Mrs Keamey, an Australian lady, has had her drama, entitled ‘Tantalus Talascus,’ accepted by Mr J. C. Williamson.—An audience of 3,000 assembled at the Town Hall, Wellington, on Thursday for the song recital arranged by TeßangiPai Miss Amy Murphy shared with Te Rangi the honors of the evening. A second recital was given last evening.—-‘living London’ will be shown in Auckland in conjunction with Mr Fuller’s company, Mr Tait Laving joined forces for that purpose 'with the permanent vaudeville company.—The Holloway Company are having a most successful season at Wellington. They axe due boro on Easter Saturday.

—Extraordinary Bioting at a Theatre.— The Palace of Varieties, at Belfast, was the scene of a wild riot cm the evening of January 26. The principal attraction was Ahrensraayer, described in th© bills as “ The Cowboy Hypnotist.” This evening the house, which had recently changed hands, was packed to the doors, and everything went well till Ahrensmeyer came on the st.iye proceeded to hypnotise a young lady, ;ii oar.wards placing on her chest a large stone, which be called on anyone among the audience to come forward and smash. A gentleman immediately responded, but he was objected to by the gallery and pit, who raised loud shouts of ‘•He’s one of your confederates.” One of the doubters present, apparently determined to find out all he could about the matter, thereupon made bis way on to th© stage and interfered with the 'exhibition by challenging Ahrensmayer to put his powers to what he considered to be a proper test. He soon found himself, however, among the members of the orchestra immediately below tire footlights. The occupants of the gallery, who had been rather disorderly from the commencement of th© “ turn,” thereupon expressed their resentment, and a scene of the wildest excitement ensued, many of those in the pit rushing forward as if to mount the stage. The curtain had to be rung down, but this failed to abate the clamor. Amid a continual uproar chairs and articles of various kinds were hurled from the gallery towards the stage. At the beginning of the row the hypnotist hurled three of the attacking crowd from the stage to the orchestra. His assistants, too, fought valiantly, but were no match for their infuriated antagonists. They then tried to appease the mob, but an appeal on the part of the manager for order was received with deafening yells. The occupants of the dress circle now took part, in the uproar ; the fireproof screen in front of the stage was lowered; and then the rowdies in the galery, pit, and other parts of the house proceeded in a systematic manner to smash the theatre furniture. The electric light fit-tings were next attacked and broken to .pieces, while the decorative parts' of the house were smashed. While this work of destruction was going on others rushed to the box office demanding a- refund of their money, which, however,' was refused, and the office promptly locked by the attendants. The cinematograph machine was next smashed, and altogether an immense amount of damage to the theatre property was done by the infuriated audience. The row had been going on for something like half an hour before fifty police arrived on the scene, and they had considerable difficulty in clearing the house. During the height of the tumult a man was precipitated from the upper gallery into the dress circle, but notwithstanding the fall he escaped serious injuxy. While the police were dispersing the crowd a man named Henry managed to get under a passing tramcar, receiving injuries that necessitated his removal to Hie hos&it&L An ye wit-

less of the proceedings expressed the opinion that the disturbance was the work of an organised gang of roughs. <• ;y