FOOTLIGHT FLASHES.

Evening Star, Issue 15076, 7 January 1913, Page 8

FOOTLIGHT FLASHES.

[By Call Bot.]

‘ Milestones,' the play of three generaions, has scored a hit at the Criterion Theatre,. Sydney. Mr Julius Knight ■achieved a decided success in his triple role, for he portrays three phases of char acter in the periods 1860, 1885, and 1912. The play is one of delicate sentiment that makes a strong appeal, and the charm of the whole play is said to be irresistible. Grand opera and skill in languages usually go together, and in Signor Alberto Marini, the operatic tenor ,of the vaudeville company which Mr Hugh D. MTntosh is sending to New Zealand in February, there is a singer who speaks fluently in practically all European languages. ” By birth Mark'd is a Pole, but he received his musical education in France, Germany, and Italy, and he is now a clever linguist, not only in the most commonly spoken European languages, but also in Polish, Hungarian, Russian, and modern Greek. A good story is told by Oscar Asche of a rehearsal incident in connection with ‘Julius Caesar.’ The forum scone was not going at all well. The supers who formed the stage crowd appeared to be steeped in slumber, and nothing could rouse them. Autoliv’s oration even failed to stir them. “ Here is the will,” Marcus Antonins was saying, “and under Ctesti’s seal to every Roman cit ; zen he gives, to every man, 75 drachmas.” Still the crowd gave forth no animation at the news. The stage manager grew frantic. “ Good lord.” lie cried to the populace; “ you might be so many wooden images. Can’t you see what it means? Yon are Roman citizens, and Caesar has left each of yon 75 drachmas. Think of it,” he said, advancing to one of the supers, and shaking him by the shoulders. " You are to have 75 drachmas.” The super gazed at the stage manager with a vacant expression, and. as he swayed slightly, murmured obstinately; “I don’t know anything about that. The arrangement you made with us was 18 pence a night.’’ A popular actress, introduced to Lord Roberts at a recent function, was telling how, on first nights, she suffered terribly from stage fright. “But. there,” she went on, “you will hardly understand wha.t I am talking about. ‘I must get a dictionary to help me explain to you what ‘fright’ means.” Some folk_ have novel means of helping the memorising of a new part. One wellknown actor mentioned iccentlv that he found his memory never worked better than when he lay on his back on the grass, looked at the sky. and studied his part that way. I'iolet Loraine, principal hoy of the ‘Puss in Boots’ pantomime, however, confesses to a much more remarkable method of getting, hold of her part. She studies it in her bath 1 The water is lukewarm, she says, and gradually she adds cold water until it is fairly cool. Then she makes herself comfortable, and starts to learn the words and think out “business.” “It may sound funny,” said Miss Loiaine, but it is a fact that I can learn a part much quicker when I am in my hath. Is it because it can soak in better? M ell, perhaps so. but once I mastered a new part in two hours this wav. Lottie Yennc had suddenly been taken" ill. and I was wanted to take her place in the big revue at the Palace Theatre. I was rung up on the telephone, and had to be ready to go on in two hours. Well, I went into my ’ tub,’ and settled to work, and I must >a\ that I don't think I made many mistakes when I went on in Miss Venne’s part. _ I once composed a piece of music while in my bath,,and it was veiv successful. everybody makes a lot of fun of me when I tell them about this bath business, out I don t mind.”

\ feature of the J. C. Williamson proauction of Faust' in Sydney is the music, v.Jnch includes old German charts, end Mich composers as Gounod. Meverheer and S™»rt' A *■* d "»™ In Athens the woman who wears a lame hat m a theatre is fined £lO, therefore Greek "° m ° re ilb ° ut th ° dec "- d ™ce of the Madame Judith, the famous French actress, in her just-issued 1 Autobiogvaphr.’ tells _stories about the great Rachel, whom .'he end not lute, and whom she depicts -is ensplavmg all the cabotinage of her callhw and a I the avarice of her race. “Ah. you are like Rachel,” a manager once said to ner. itis easy to see that vou are both Sed fiS6 “ T1 '' l - bC? y,,m ' P ai ‘ dOT --” s he replied. There is a great difference hetveen us Rachel is a Jew, and lam oniv a tiwesQ,

J? en i he -n nte Sir Ed ' n ' Kl Moss stored ]? nde ]‘ Ue management some 35 years ago, the salary for a "star” was onlv £3O a week By way of example it need only be. mentioned that Dan Lena, who at the height of hie career earned a fabulous no 7 ’,°, nce , appeared with Mr Moss for i-8 ; wmle Lottie Collins, who jumped at one bound into popularity with the wild fmnn a^’+° a *u Cle ‘ a - r ’ refrain ‘ advanced from £6 to three figures. All the early gains made by tho young proprietor -wentto the acquisition of more music-hall property. He acquired the site of the Edinburgh Empire, and formed a company to erect the present building. The Edinburgh Empire was the first of that series of well-conducted, handsome music halls now scattered all over the country in which wholesome popular amusement 'is provided thr Edward .Moss devised a scheme, which showed his real business powers, and which he carried to brilliant fruition. His design was to have a network of music balls undergone control, extending over the entire United Kingdom, and his method was to organise m each large city a joint-stock company to build and conduct one or more of these places of entertainment. Towards the dose of the last century, after be had finished building the London Hippodrome, be was chairman of 10 companies, controlling 23 places of amusement, besides other property. Then came the crown of his endeavors—the amalgamation under one management of the 10 companies. The enterprise, which represented a capital of £1.450,000, was successfully launched, and the association became the famous Moss Umpires, Limited. It was in December. 1905, that his name was found on the Koval honors list as one of the new Knights then created. The distinction conferred upon him gave great pleasure in theatrical and music-hall circles, and it was generally regarded as well bestowed. In April, 1912. it was announced that the French Government had conferred on Sir Edward Moss the distinction of " Officer of Public Instruction. 1 He also held the Persian ‘‘Order of the Lion and the Hun.”

When Gaby Desire was a little girl of 14 a ciystal-gazer predicted she would go on the stage and make tons of money. *Well, it has all come true, for the charming actress has just gone to New A'ork at a salary of £1,200 a, week. Rather different from the few francs she received at the second-rate Paris theatre where she made her start, and out of which she had to purchase many small articles for her costume. However, she didn't mind, for was not the engagement to last a whole year? At the end of a few weeks the manager wished her to play a part in lights. She, refused, only to be told if she persisted a fine of £4OO would be imposed according to her contract. Next day AHIe Dslys was not at rehearsal. She had taken French leave. Since then her career has been a meteoric success. The two Gaudemidts—excluding the lady and the dogs—are twins, and under 25 years of age. They commenced their career in a circus, in which business their father 'is still prominent, and in which their ancestors have figured in big letters on the bills for over a century. Their mother is one of the finest circus riders in Europe. The remarkable act which is a feature of the ‘ Puss in Boots ’ pantomime in Ale!bourne was created by the twins, Alaximilian and Heinrich, and it has been a head-liner at the music halls in England, Europe, and America for some years. The training of the dogs was accomplished after great difficulty and many discouragements, but once the poodles mastered thenbusiness they never gave any more trouble. Yet another instance (but this time it comes from the Emerald Isle) of a young girl’s meteoric rise in the profession. Miss Driifie Irvin", though bom in County Louth, was educated ir, Wales. When she was only 16 the Aloody-Alannevs Opera Conipany went to the town where she was living, end every night found the young school girl ensconced in the gallery drinking in the airs of the various ojjeras. Be-

coming “stags struck,” she managed to secure an interview with Mr Charles Manners before he left the town, with the result that she was engaged' there and then for the chorus. She was with him for little more than a year, and in that time learned the entire score of 14 operas —a remarkable achievement—so she .fairly earned her weekly salary of 30s. After that- she went in for musical comedy, in which sho is now one of the popular idols of the day. Herr Franz Lehar, composer of ‘The Moray Widow,’ speaking of musical plays to an ‘ Express ’ correspondent, said ; The era of “operetta kings” and “ operetta shepherds ” is passed. What we want is to put as much realism, as much truth, as much real life ns possible in our work. I contend that the coming operetta will be solely based on observation of life, but, of course, in a light and cheerful way. Oporettes may even one day place before the public some of the social questions of the hour. -Why not? Just as other plays have done. But we will not employ the usual dramatic means to solve these questions; we will try “the other way around ” by substituting charm for violence. Though ‘ Get- Rich Quick Wallingford ’ scored at Wellington, it was absurd to expect one play to run 16 nights. Recognising t-hia, the management curtailed, the season and decided to visit. Nelson and Blenheim. In Fred Niblo and Harry Corson Clarke (the original Jones in ‘What Happened to Jones’), the company possess two fine American comedians. The cast also includes E. Pcrie Bush, a. Wellington boy, who has made a decided hit as Eddie Lamb. The Dunedin season of seven nights begins on Wednesday the 29th inst 29 th inst.

The best form of physical culture for the development of a. well-proportioned figure is a subject which is much disputed, and every athletic profession makes the claim fon itself. It is novel to hear juggling advocated as a means of physical" "deevlopment, especially for women, but Mozzel.to, who will probably be one of the vaudeville company coming to New Zealand next month from the Rickards circuit in Australia, claims that his form of exercises will develop a good figure in almost any woman. Mozzetto Is making big money as a stage artist, but he contemplates, after returning to England, the establishment of a school of physical culture, in which juggling of a simple character will be the most important practice. The amis, shoulders. and th-e bust are, in his opinion, well developed by a few easy juggling tricks. Apparently there seems to he scarce!v any limit to the sums that enterprising managers are prepared to pay for the leading favorites of the public. The latest announcement in the French newspapers is that the two music hall pels, Miles. Gaby Deslys and Bordoni, have just signed contracts for America at the late of £I,OOO a week, which is an improvement of £4OO a month on the salary the first-named deigned to accept last year. But Harry Lauder i.s to receive considerably more than the French artists, for bis Australian contract works out at £1.200 per week. The Sydney Tivoli management announce that MrHarry Corson Clarke, of the ‘Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford ’ Company, will appear in vaudeville on his return to Sydney from New Zealand.

Artists leaving Sydney for the BrennanFuller New Zealand circuit include Fred Rivenhall, the popular comedian, who has just returned from a tour of the world; Victor the Great and Madame Glothilde ; and Miss Eva Mudge, the “ Military Maid.”

Paris has upwards of 50 theatres, exclusive of the hundreds of small guignols, the little playhouses in the Latin quartw, seating from 300 to 500 people, and the moving picture establishments, of which it is said that there is on© for every dozen squares. The largest theatre, so far as building is concerned, is, perhaps, the Odeon ; the one with the greatest seating capacity, the Porte St. Martin, which can easily accommodate 3.500 spectators. The handsomest theatre edifice is, of course, the Grand Opera, whose exterior is one of the grandest monuments to modem French architecture in Paris, and whose foyer and interior are doubtless the most magnificent in the world. Tire Theatre Sarah Bernhardt has prohablv the handsomcstsceuery, and is perhaps the most up-to-date playhouse in Paris. The seating capacity of the average Parisian theatre is very small compared to the playhouses in either Xew Fork or London. It can be roughly estimated at 1.100. few theatres rauclr exceeding this figure, and quite a number falling several hundred below it. So it can be seen that while Paris boasts of the number of her theatres, her houses are not on the whole very large affairs.

In the course of an interview in the ‘ Daily Mail.’ Mr George Edwardes remarks that the competition between the theatres and the music halls for the public patronage will not, in the long run, do the theatres any harm. The public taste in amusements, he thinks, is always changing, just as fashions change, a.nd the theatre as an institution will not be less enterprising than the music halls in attempting to move with the times. The theatre, he adds, that is in a stats of revolution to-day is the theatre in which music lias no active part. He thinks that the new drama, though it has not converted the public to the advantage of representing actually on the stage, has to a very considerable extentmade the public dissatisfied with the old class of play One section of adviser cries out for Mock companies—a return to the old system. “I think they are right,” save Air Edwaides. "Young people can learn how to act far better in a theatre than in a school. I discovered a good many fine artists in my time, and most of them began in the chorus of my stock companies. You have only to know the history of some of the leading players in London to know that that is so.”

—Shakespeare’s “Rad Plays.”— When ‘ King [-ear ’ was presented some years ago with excellent art at the J1 aymarket, London (says ‘ Blackwood's Magazine’), the critics objected that it was; a bad piny. The fable did not satisfy their sense of dramatic- reality. It was contrary to their experience that an old gentleman should make division of his goods before death laid a compelling hand upon him. The conduct of Cordelia wholly baffled them. It is not thus, that young ladies behave themselves in the neighborhood of Lancaster Gate, and Cordelia received, instead of sympathy, the reproach which is always due to rash unworklliness. ‘The Winter’s IV.?.’ when produced by Air Granville Barker at the Savoy Theatre, was assailed in a like spirit of irrelevance. It -also is a bad play, we arc told on every hand, arid when we seek the reason of its badness it is ever the same : a complete failure to conform with the standard of life as it is lived in the suburbs of London. Such jealousy as Leontes manifests without the slightest excuse is unknown in the respectable tennis dubs which girdle the metropolis, and whose members are the most zealous supporters of dramatic art. A bad play, shout our intelligent suburbans, the episodes of which transcend the common tot of man. Let us have realism, they insist, something that is “natural,” and we will be content to forgo beauty of diction and all the pleasures of the imagination. —£62o for an Actress’s Hat*.— A well-known Parisian actress la being sued by her milliner for £620, due on her millinery bill for the past year. The bill for one visit to the establishment, the ‘ Mail ’ says, read as follows ; £ s. One black hat with feathers ... 15 12 One hat with aigrette. 16 0 One- mauve Pcmp .dour hat with ostrich feather 17 0 One riding hat ... 10 0 Four bird of paradise feathers ... 24 0 Two green straw hats 18 18 £lOl 10 —A Great German Dramatist.— The announcement of the bestowal of the 1912 Nobel Prize for literature on Herr Gerhart Hauptmann coincided singularly enough with the anniversary of his birthday. The son of a hotel proprietor at Salzbrunn, in Silesia, he made one or two false starts in life before he discovered his bent for imaginative literature. After leaving school he-learned fanning, then he studied science under Haeckel at Jena, and presently he turned to sculpture, and for some time had a studio in Home. When he returned to Germany he spent his time in the great German cities of

I! nnidurg. Dresden, and tlcriin, but presently withdrew to a sdi'css built in the mediasval fashion at Aguetendorf, in the Kicse.ngebirge. to write at leisure. His earliest play was produced in 1885, but tne first of his greater successes was gained with ‘ Einsame Mcnschen ’ in 1891. ' Einsame Mcnschen,' like the greater part of his earlier works, rested immediately on the Jbscn tradition. Next year came ‘Die. Weber.’ The “Weavers” were the miserable Silesian peasants in the days of the Hungry forties, the squalor and misery of whose lives were reproduced with ruthless fidelity. This play put Hauptmann in the front rank of modern European dramatists. Other of Hauptmann’s works are ‘Und Pippa Tanzt.’ ‘ Die Jnngfer von Bisrhofsberg.’ ‘Kaiser Karl’s Geissel,’ ' Griselda.,’ "and ‘Die Fatten.’ In 1896 and 1899 Dr .Hauptmann was awarded the Grillparzer prize, and he was made an honorary LL.D. bv Oxford University in 1905. ’Many of his works have been adapted for the, English stage. —A Peep Behind the Scenes. ALiss Kate Carl yon, a well-known actress, has been explaining to the ‘ New York Tribune’ her views on acting, and criticisAmerican and English methods of preparing plays (and players) for the stage. ‘‘The art of acting.” she. said, “ really does consist in adapting yourself to the part, and not hi having the part adapted to you. Being chosen for a part because nature has mode you the typo in manner and appearance that the part calls- for is to reduce acting from art to mechanics, and ifi practically to make a marionette of the actor. In the long run this method of casting plays is going to have a serious effect on the stage. Some people think that the

choosing of ready-made typos is done on.lv in America. They are 'mistaken. It is also done in England. But there still is a cnfterencobetween American and English acting. In America the plays are given by a group of individuals. English actors njay ns a company. Hero, it seems to me, there is not, much team work, though I have seen some very brilliant individual acting. The secret of team work is sometimes self-sacrifice. For tire good of the picture as a whole you must often give up the centre of the stage yourself, even if you are the chief figure, and if you are a minor character there arc individual points you could make, hut must refrain from making, in order not to distract from the main point, and so unbalance the plav. Sometimes you must be content to be r’n attentive listener lost in the background, and not listen restlessly moving all about the stage. You see I feel I could He a stage director 1 and produce team work in no time by simply insisting on having the actors-play into each other’s hands in these small ways. In American productions there is too much producer and not enough actor. It would be quite maddening. I ■am sure, to be rehearsed by one of these, autocrats. _ Every little move must be dictated by him. 80 far, fortunately for me, I have never been subjected to one of them. Air Forbes-Eobevtson, in conducting rehearsals, often advises and suggests. But. his company always respect hii experience as an actor, admire his genius, and regard him as a master. They are glad to sit at his feet and bear what he has to say. Take Mr Shaw as another director of rehearsals. He leaves the interpretation entirely to the actor. If it suits him he says nothing. If it does not he gives a hint of what different idea he, would like to see brought out. He, in fact, is not a manager, but a critic at rehearsal. After the scene is all finished he makes comments on the effects produced. He has excellent judgment, and is so kind in manner that his companies are only too anxious to take his suggestions. There are not many like him in this way. The day of the independent actor seems to lie passing. He is becoming subservient to the producer, and I think it ir, a pity. No wonder people go an the stage with cuthaving the slightest talent for acting. Intelligent acting is no longer called for. Yet it often astonishes me to see people on the stage who have not learned, even to stand or walk correctly. A young ■woman these days who must earn her own living says to herself: ‘Let mo see. shall I he a. milliner, shall I go into a shop, or shall I go on the stage? If she is pretty she will no doubt- choose the stage. It is no longer the hard life it used to be. when players had to study and work endlessly. So it suits the average young woman very well. It is bright, and it pays well. It is a pity. As for myself. I never intended to go on the stage. I was married, and. I thought, settled down. when. I finally left it all for the stage. I really had to do it. The longing and the need for it had always been in me. and at last I. could hold it no longer. Of course, 1 never regretted T. I was supremely happy over my inevitable decision to go on the stage, and I have, been happy ever since.” —Cut Off, but not Decapitated.— During the Royal Philharmonic Society’s impressive performance of ‘The Messiah’ in- Sydney on Christmas afternoon tire tenor soloist afforded a curious example of absence, of mind, states the ‘ Morning Herald.’ After singing nearly all his part with musicianly aplomb, he encountered the recitative which begins “He that dwellelh in Heaven.” The artist had been silent for some time, and on rousing himself to the occasion unconsciously went back to “He was cut off.” With greatconfidence the tenor declaimed “He was cut off,” and was imperatively checked by the conductor. The orchestra struck the chord again, and once more the unfortunate singer declaimed “ He was cut off.” Mr Bradley's baton swished through the air like the lash of a whip ! The singer was, indeed, “ait off,” but he survived the experience, took up his cue correctly, and closed one of the most puzzling lapses ever recorded in philharmonic annals.