FOOTLIGHT FLASHES

Evening Star, Issue 17928, 25 March 1922, Page 12

FOOTLIGHT FLASHES

Sir Benjamin Fuller’s candidature lor iho New South Wales State Parliament reminds the ‘Daily Telegraph’ that Iho first theatrical manager to stand tor 1 arliament'in Australia was Mark Last Knur, silk mercer, actor, auctioneer, and M.l. Mr King, who had been a draper in London, arrived in Melbourne about 1b44, and took to the stage. He was accounted a good representative or the tragic roles af Shakespeare, and for two -years managed the old Queen’s Theatre in Melbourne. Ho was elected a member for West Boarke in the Victorian Parliament ,-,{ 1859, and sat in the Legislative _As«emblv for some years. Mr George Coppin was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council in 1858, and later was a member for East Melbourne in the Leg is- ; httive Assembly. Ho was subsequently ' returned to the Council as a representative of the Melbourne Province. Ho lelt his mark on the Statute Book as the founder of the Post Office Savings Bank. In signing his nomination paper ho always ; wrote “George Coppin, comedian.” Ho | was proud ofhis profession, and Jus profession had every reason to bo, proud of . him. . , , „ “ What wo call the sense of humor, says Miss Marie Tempest, “ is really little , more than the sense of proportion—the knack of appreciating things at their due relative values. It is rare among all ‘ people, that sense, and I cheerfully admit that do is as ra«f among players as among , any other class.” J Mr Malcolm Laughton, favorably known in New Zealand as personal represent;!- ' tire of Mr Allan Wilkie during the latter's recent Australasian tour, having resigned his position, has decided to settle in, the Dominion, where ho has entered into partnership in business. Mr Laughton, who has had considerable theatrical experience on the stage end in managerial capacity in England and Australia, intends to establish In Auckland an amateur society for Iho production of Lnghsn musical plays and dramas, Miss Violet Barth has not been be tore the public for quite a considerable time. At present she is rehearsing with tho Philharmonic Society tho ‘Judgment Scene ’ from ‘Aida/ which is to bo rendered in its entirety at tho society’s concert in Easter Week. Tho soprano part is a very exacting one, ancl_ requires a voice of big range and quality to sing against a full orchestral part. _ The Corn- ' mercial Travellers' Club Choir, of snmo i thirty odd male voices, is giving tho part - allotted to the priests in the opera, which , includes some good bass solo work by tne | chief of tho priests. Altogether it is a . very ambitious undertaking, but wo are < assured rehearsals are going well. J The stage in Australasia has of late years < -(aimed the daughters of people prominent < in public life, A few years ago Miss Tina ' Rogue, daughter of a member of the Nev.South Wales Cabinet, joined the J. C. Wll- 1 iiamson Musical Comedy Company; and , 10 w ‘‘Bobby’’ M‘Mi!lan, a. daughter of - Sir William M'Millan, formerly a member 1 „f the Federal Ministry, and Miss Isobel 1 Wilford, daughter of the Leader of the Opposition in New Zealand, are in the cast of ‘Paddy, tho Next Best Thing,’ which is being staged at present in Melbourne. And now “ Call Boy ” is advised that the daughter of a well-known South, Island magnate may, in the near future, bo seen before the footlights as a member of a vaudeville company appearing in another part of tho Dominion. Mr E. J. Gravestock will arrive from Australia next week in order to organise iho forthcoming tour of Miss Rosina Buckman, New Zealand’s world-famous queen of song. Mr Gravestock directed tho recent toms of Damn Clara Butt and the New South Wales Stale Orchestra through New Zealand. Ho recently resigned hm position ns concert manager for Messrs J. and N. Ta-it, and will in future direct his own enterprises. Miss Buckman is tho first of a series of international celebrities promised by Mr Gravestock. During hie twenty years’ experience in the entertainment profession tho new entrepreneur has been associated -with tho world’s greatest artists both in England and Australia, and is well liked and esteemed by all ho comes in contact with, and his wellwishers aro numerous. It is understood that Ben Fuller, jun., who has been representing his father’s (Sir Benjamin Fuller) interests in Now York, will Join Mr Hugh J. Ward when ho visits that city next month, and) accompany him to London in the capacity of private secretary. Apropos of the gorgeous dressing of tho modem pantomime, an English writer states; “When watching Clarice Mayne in ‘Jack and tho Beanstalk’ at tho Hippodrome, I couldn’t help wondering why the cow had to ho Bold to pay tho rent, white Jack’s wardroho would have fetched a fortune. For never had principal bojr so many sets of dazzling raiment. Even when ‘he’ climbed tho beanstalk he took up with him at least four coetum.es, which ha changed on the giant’s premises whenever Jio could get off tho stage long enough to get into somcthing_ still more swish than its predecessor, Clarkson in all his glory never arrayed anyone more gorgeously than Clarice Mayne.” Clarice Li &10 lady *who liaa been, drawing £3CO weekly during tho pantomime season in England. ® , ' Tho reorganised ‘ Lilao Domino Company return to Melbourne at Easter, and give the first production in Australia pf a rather unique musical play entitled ‘ The Little Dutch GirL’ Thomas Quinlan, a director of the Quinlan Opera Company, ia coming out with the Sistine Choir. ‘ Funiculi, Funicula/was tho best known of over 600 songs composed by Signor Luigi Dcnzs, who died m England a fe\V weeks ago. It was composed m 1880, on the opening of the railway up Mount Vesuvius. Originally a Neapolitan dialect song, It has been arranged in almost ©very conceivable form, and has been translated, it is claimed, into the language of every civilised nation, Richard Strauss, under the Impression that it was a genuine folk-song, paM it tho compliment of putting L into his orchestral suite A Aus

Italien.’ Signor Denza was born in Italy in 1846, his father being a friend of Rossini. Since 1898 Signor Denza had been professor of singing at the Royal .Academy of Music, and ho was also a director of the London Academy of Music.

How one of Ella Shields’s .favorite numbers enmo to ho written is thus explained by the lady herself; Friends used to poohpooh my idea of appearing before tho public in male attire, bub it was always my ambition to make a success with a good character study of a man of the brokendown swell typo. I was walking along the Thames Embankment onoafternoon when I saw a real Burlington Bertie, I told my companion that I thought a character study such as this would “go ” well. But sho only laughed. A week later I happened to bo discussing business with my manager, when wo noticed a broken-down swell lining up in a queue. It was tho day before Christmas, and he was trying to obtain a ticket for a free Christmas dinner. I had long beforo formed an idea for a Burlington Bertie song; I had seen a real Burlington Bertio on tho Embankment ; and now I had met another on Christmas Eve. Writing tho music and perfecting the song was a long job, but by Christmas, 1914, Bortio was established. Ho has been going strong ever since. It is to bo deplored that in tho city of Wellington much apathy towards orchestral music is displayed (states the annual report of tho Wellington Professional Orchestra). On looking back over twenty years in Wellington, it would appear that little or no progress has been made. It w high timo that more of our influential citizens co-operated with those struggling to further the cause of music.

Although it is customary for concert stars from Europe or America to commence their tours in Australia, Miss Rosina Buckman has decided to commence her tour in her homeland, and Mr E. J. Gravestock, who is directing it, has arranged for tho famous prima donna to give her first concerts in Auckland towards tho end of May. Almost as important a star as the talented soprano is her husband, Ur Maurice D’Oisly, tho well-known English tenor. Mr D’Oisly has been to Australia as first tenor with the Quinlan Opera Company. Ho is a big attraction at all the important concerts in England, and a great feature of tho New Zealand concerts to be given by these popular artists will be operatic duets, winch never fail to arouse extraordinary enthusiasm. In his presidential address to the Canterbury College Drama Society, Professor A. Wall dealt with tho possibility of producing drama illustrative of New Zealand life. Professor Wall stated that tho only really distinctive part of the life of Christchurch, for example, was the excellent organisation of tho tea rooms of the city. This marked olf Christchurch from the cities of other countries, but it was hardly sufficient on which to base a distinctive school of drama.

Willard Mack, tho American playwrightactor, is setting out after tho late Nat Goodwin’s marriage record. On January 20 ho married Beatrice B. Stone, twentythree years of ago. She is his fourth wife, Paulino Frederick having been Airs Mack tho third.

NEW THEATRICAL FIRM,

MANY THEATRES AVAILABLE.

Tho sensation of the week has, of course, been the secession of Air Hugh J. Ward from the directorate of J. C. Williamson, Ltd., and his joining up with Sir Benjamin and Mr John Fuller. Air Ward was a passenger by tho Maknra for America and England in search of attractions. To an Auckland interviewer ho paid! “ The new firm is to bo known as tho Hugh Ward Theatres, Ltd., and it has been formed for the purpose of producing high-class .attractions, ranging from farce to grand opera. There aro three members of the firm—Sir Benjamin Fuller, Mr John Fuller, andi myself. The two former will continue to devote their chief attention to their largo vaudeville interests, while I, as managing director, will give all my time to the enterprise, my partners from time to time giving mo assistance in the direction of business advice.” Mr Ward made it clear that the Fuller firm and the new one would l bo completely separate entities, with himself as chairman of directors of the latter. “We have taken over the Princess and Palace Theatres in Melbourne,” he continued, “and intend l _to spend at least £30,000 in redecorating and beautifying them, a little architectural reconstruction being necessary. In Sydney we take over the Grand Operahouse, where wo will play spectacular pieces, such as pantomimes, etc. Wo also intend to build in that city two of tho finest theatres in Australia, and a site for one of them has already been secured. Fullers have also placed at the disposal of the new firm two theatres (His Majesty’s and th® Royal) in Perth, one (the Empire) in Brisbane, one (the Victoria) in Newcastle, and one (the Prince of Wales) in Adelaide. So far as New Zealand was concerned the now firm had 1 been given a call for the presentation of attractions on the Opera-house, Auckland (in which city also a site bad been suggested for a new theatre); on Her Majesty’s Wellington; on the Opera-house and another theatre to be built in Christchurch; and on Hi-s Majesty’s and) tho Princess, Dunedin, It is rumored in Sydney musical circles that ono of the torly attractions of the new venture will ho tho Melba Opera Company.