FOOTLIGHT FLASHES

Evening Star, Issue 15892, 26 August 1915, Page 8

FOOTLIGHT FLASHES

[By LoitzbbkJ ck ” his wife and ■ Si, °u u l3 wa 7 to South Africa, Tffafrs haTft Cil3rge of tha Firm’s the Little Theatre has dosed, and the aT6 been according \f T w <? J* rf r, rn,ets known to Australians--Mr Victor Gouriet, who was Baron Popoff here in The Merry Widow,’ and Mr Vernon Davidson, who was in the ‘Puss ia tfoots pantomime—have parts in , the the Night* ety success j * To-night's Mr Chas. B. Westmacott, who was last ■herd with Beaumont Smith’s ‘Glad Eve’ n °w Press representative “for J. C. Williamson, Ltd. j-'fufier applied last month -to inT€st £IO,OOO in the War Loan. The name Brennan’s Amphitheatres, Ltd. will disappear from the list of registered companies in Sydney. At a genial meeting of the shareholders recently it was decided, to change the name to Fullers’ TandevilF and Theatres, Ltd. For a loan- . time eo-p fae circuit which the company manage has been controlled by the Fuller family, with Mr Ben Puller as governing director, and the word amphitheatre him been dropped. At a souvenir sale at the London Savoy Hotel, almost every article was bought by members of the theatrical profession. Miss FMm Terry’s Portia cap was sold for £10; bar Henry Irymg’a gold pencil case brought Li; and Mdllo Adeline Genee’s contribution-* pair of little red hallet shoes she had worn _ when playing the Princess in Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy play—nas sold for £ll. Mdlle Qenee made the gut because the shoes had been worn in cpnnection with the first wordless play in' lcix J he 113,1 been associated with Miss Ellen Terry. It w slated that Miss Maggie Dickenson will be principal girl in the Williamson , revival of that fine panto, ‘Mother Goose.’ This young artist has had a meteoric career. Only a few years ago she was playing a leading part in the children’s scene m The Fatal Wedding,' with which ■ Messrs Meynell and Gunn first toured the Dominion. Several times, with her sister (Miss Flossie Dickenson), the visited New Zealand m this piece, and later she appeared in the melodrama ‘The Little Breadwinner,’ achieving -a success for hei impersonation of an orphan bov. Next she was transferred to the ranks of the Williamson musical comedy companies, . where she played' minor parts, in which she acquitted herself so creditably that last year she was engaged as danseuse for the ‘ Forty Thieves ’ pantomime. Since then she has been appearing in the musical comedies ‘The Marriage Market,’ ‘The ■ Arcadians/ and ‘Our Miss Gibbs.’ Miss Dickenson, who has just passed her teens. , is a native of Melbourne, ) A certain artist some time ago was sing- : inf? to miners in one of the northern towns . of England ‘I Want to See the Dear Old Home Again.’_ Ere the song was finished . one of the miners, in a tone of disgust, shouted: “How much is vour fare, . guv’nor?” Passed out in a London nursing homo, to cancer, J. T. Tanner, librettist of nearly all the Gaiety musical comedies —'The Circus Girl,’ ‘My Girl,’ ‘The Country Girl,’;/ Tho Quaker Girl,’ and various other ‘Girls,’ ‘The Messenger Bov,’ ‘The •New Aladdin/ ‘ Our Mies Gibbs/ ‘ The Dancing Mistress/ and many besides. A Cock- • ney by birth, Tanner started as a clerk in ■the office of an Anglo Australian shipping company. Taking to the'stage, he had ■*: some very rough experiences,’ hut finallv i got a comfortable berth in the touring j company of the Lingards, who brought , Our Boys’ to Australia. He made a - ! splendid score in That best of Byron’s i pieces. Horace Lingard was associated ‘■with Van Biene in some musical speculations, and this partnership gave Tanner bis first chance as a writer for the stage. Van Biene wanted a play written round himself ■■■■' and his ’cello. He approached Pinero and other well-known dramatists, but without success., Tanner tried his hand, and turned out ‘ The Broken Melody.’ It was just the thing required, and Van Biene kept it •' going for 20 years. In the early ’9o’s - - George Edwaides engaged him as “pro- . ducer” for the Gaiety, and he settled down ' . there as the stock librettist of the estab- . lishment-—’Bulletin.’ -