STOCK COMPANY DAYS

Evening Star, Issue 17544, 27 December 1920, Page 3

STOCK COMPANY DAYS

SQHE INTERESTING IIEMOBIES. VETERAN ACTOR IN WELLINGTON. To have trod ’the old AVellington stage of the late seventies at the old Theatre Royal and the original Opera-house, to have appeared then in Shakespeare and Sheridan and Goldsmith and the stock repertoire oi‘ the old stock company; and —after forty years’ interval—to come once more before a Wellington audience in its latest playhouse and its latest play is a 'triumph over time hardly creditable in mortal flesh. Yet (says Wellington ’Post’) it is no miracle of psychic research. Here is Air Joseph E. Graham playing like a master tho lawyer, Mr Priestley, in ‘The Man from Toronto,’ at the Grand Opera-house—'the identical Mr J. F, Graham, who made the- part of Talbot Champneys in ‘Our Boys’ with the Lingards in the same city of Wellington over fortyyears ago. _ Here are some of the names he drew as if by magic out of the past in reminiscence during an interview by the newspaper's representative :—William Hoskins,, whom he described as the greatest actor ever in Australasia, Irvings first tutor in the dramatic art he was; Lytton Southern, eldest, son of E. A. Southern, the great American actor who created the character of Lord Dundreary; Signor and Siguorina Majeroni, nieces of Adelaide Eislori, the great Italian actress; J. K. Emmett, the American, who was one of the greatest exponeuts in. Dutch comedy, as exemplified in 'Fritz’ or ‘Cousin German’; Mrs Scott Sicldons, in Shakespearean repertoire: G. U. Chaplin, another American ‘‘star” of his day, formely leading man to Madame Modjeska; Charley Wheatleigh, the originaf Danny in Dion Boucioault’s ’The Shaughraun,’ which came here before its triumphant progress in the Old Country; J. L. Hall, and many- others. It was tho golden age of tho stock company, the late seventies—’76 to ’79, to lie precise—when Mr Graham was last in New Zealand. He came to Australia first from Somerset House, of all places, where he kept records and worked out statistics with logarithms and the calculating machines of those days. Thence to the stage—what a change! From Australia to New Zealand, where he stayed and played for two or three years all manner of parts from Shakespeare to melodrama, as was tho fashion in stock companies. The stock company was a great school of acting. The young actor, living m an atmosphere of the stage, instinctively almost and unconsciously acquired the principles of bis profession—deportment, elocution, and impersonation. He had the art of the experienced actor before him, and often great exemplars in the “ stars ” who periodically toured Australasia and load the slock companies during their “seasons” in the various cities. The company would stay three or four months in a centre, and then pass on to another, adding to its extensive repertoire as place and opportunity allowed. A list of the parts played by Mr Graham during his few- years in New Zealand would astonish an actor of to-day. To Shakespeare and the comedies of Sheridan and Goldsmith, ‘The School for Scandal,’ for instance, and ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ he added a variety of roles in plays of the time long since forgotten. Ho was never idle. In the off season, so to speak, be joined a “ commonwealth ” of actors similarly placed, and went “ busking ” through the provinces— the “smalls.'’ tic records it as an arch-type for the modern school of simplicity—tho actor and the bare stage—that lie played a burlesque of ‘ Aiaddin ’ with a background of blue bush blankets, and he slyly suggested that behind all the cry of “Art for Art’s Sake” and oesthetic simplicity there might be an ulterior secret motive of economy. “It costs a fortune to stage a. play nowadays, you know,” he said. From New Zealand Mr Graham- returned’ to England, and for twenty years was associated with most of the great actors and actresses of the day in various roles. “ 1 have played everything,” he said, “except srand opera. I played Lodes in Tom Robertson's * Caste ’ for two years, belli Surfaces in ‘The School for Scandal,’ .the Duke of Gloucester in ‘Jane Shore,’ the title part (the Rev. Spalding) in ‘The Private Secretary,’ lago in ‘ Othello,’ and a host oT others I toured every part of the British Isles and America. I was with those great players Mr and Mrs Kendal in America in 1894 and 1895. I have known nearly all the great actors and actresses of the times.” In 1898 Mr Graham forsook tho role of actor for that of manager. He took over fho lease of the Prince of Wales Theatre, Birmingham, and carried it, on until its expiry in 1912. Then after a spell he returned to the practice of his beloved art, and thus the whirligig of time and the pursuit of health has brought him out here again.