Dear Free Lance, —The death at 44 of poor Fred Dight was too premature, though he did finally fade away after a long, lingering illness. Writing as a 20-year-old pal of his, I only wish_ I could have spent more time in his witty society. It was a privilege to be with him. The dailies mention his connection with the old Operatic Society. I remember a big hit and an exit he made in "The Gondoliers" years ago. Fred' was rowing bow or chief shover-off with a boat-hook on the Dook and Dookess of Plaza Toro's barge. When the gondola had to leave the back of the stage to float down the Grand Canal or call on a Doge or something Fred made a lunge with his meat-hook weapon at the landing stage. The scenery wasn't properly propped up for the prod, and Fred fell with a bump on a hard stage. Stage realism he called it often. Of course, the audience roared at the thud (which
should have been a splash) as the gondola went astern, pulled, bv a rope, and left him stranded. Didn't see the show again, but have been told Fred had the fire brigade the following nights with buckets and hose, and when h© went pv-erboard such a water squirt went up that the scene shifters couldn't see the flies.—'Yours, etc., "Friendite."
Two well-known New Zealand ladies, m the persons of Misses Rosina Buckmann and Nora D'Argel, liave been appearing in "opera in English" at the , London Shaftesbury.
The latest lord who chose his w!re_ from the stage isn't . prospering, (xossip by the last mail says that there is a receiving order in bankruptcy out against Lord. Edward Fitzgerald, who, a couple of years ago, married May jtftheridge, a beauty actress in- musical comedy.
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Bibliographic details
Free Lance, Volume XV, Issue 789, 13 August 1915, Page 22
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299Untitled Free Lance, Volume XV, Issue 789, 13 August 1915, Page 22
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