COMEDIAN'S SAD END.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20333, 14 August 1929, Page 14

COMEDIAN'S SAD END.

SUICIDE OF JACK CANNOT.

STRUGGLES IN ADVERSITY.

PATHETIC LAST LETTERS

[FTIOM OIK OWN cohresponpent.3 SYDNEY. AUK, 8. " Alas, poor Yorick. ... A fellow of most infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. Where be your gibes now ? Your gambols, your songs ? Your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table in

roar V In liis Inst note before lio committed iiiicide Jack Cannot, entertainer of liousaiuls throughout Australia and Now Jealand, quoted Shakespeare. Thousands mourn his lonely passing. Thousands uivc licen moved by tlie pathos of the itory—his struggles against adversity—and ,vhen he was placed in his lonely grave >ll Saturday last llio few who witnessed his final curtain wrro moved to tears, V>r this man had a nature that commanded ovo and rospert. lie had brightened the iws of the multitude. His services had ilways heon available for charitable objects, and few knew that it was ho who needed tho chanty. Broken in spirit, fenrul of tho debts that stood against his lame, he made a voluntary exit from the itago of life. It is 19 years since Jack Cannot came o Australia under engagement to Mayloll and Gunn for the "Gay Gordons," ind soon after that ho signed up for a ong contract with J. C Williamson, Limited, and his first appearance in Australia and in New Zealand was as Baron "it oney broke in tho pantomime "Jack and he Bcanstork." lie went from success ;o success and ono of his cleverest roles ivas Peachum in "The Beggar's Opera.' n which he achieved tho greatest fame of Iris career. In the last 13 months his engagement as an entertainer aggregated 28 veeks. his last continuous job being as stage manager and comedian in the Empire Theatre's production "Clowns in Clover." Long periods of idleness worried rim. until he became obsessed with the belief that as he was 46, with no capacity o fill any other sort of a job, lie was loomed to a life of poverty. Ho fro--juently said that his only future was the rid men's home. Earlier Suicida Averted. Jack Cannot was happily married to an Australian woman, and ho had a son aged 14 and a daughter aged 12. Up to last Tuesday his wife was convinced that her Influence made hiin forgot his financial worries. The fact that Mrs. Cannot secured a position as manageress of a millinery establishment in the city made him brighter, but on Tuesday night when ho returned to his flat he was in great mental stress. " I'm all right," he said to Iris wife. But' Mrs. Cannot knew better. She took him into her room and pleaded with him to tell her what was troubling him. Cannot went cn to his knees and gripping her hands told her that he had bought some poison and a bottle o r whisky ind had drunk somo of the latter in order to gain courago to take the poison. However, the liquor had sent him to sleep. Mrs. Cannot, though shocked by his story, laughed away his worry, and before he left her room he promised that he would not again think of committing suicide. Five letters which ho had written to his wife and his children and others wero handed by Cannot to his wife and sbo promised to put tliein away and not let thojr contents ever he known if ho would bo his old laughing self again. Bv the mail that night a member of the staff of ono of Sydney's daily papers received a letter from Cannot, which lan as follows: "Stella and the kids are destitute. Only "or tho great kindness of our landlady (God bless her} we would have been out )n the streets a week ago. . . 'lwentyivo weeks' work in eight months. ■ . I cannot go anywhere. 1 am leaving all I ove best.—Cannot." And ho added a postscript, "Don't forget I sold and auctioned £156 000 worth of goods during lie war, and my 'Fun Doctor.' —Jack. j By the White Post. 'The recipient of this letter went straight ,o tho Cannots' home. Cannot was in )ed, in great distress after his interview vith his wife, but before two hours had Kissed be was laughing again. "1 am not i snob," ho said. "I'll tako any work, iven a waiter's job so that I can pay off ionic of my debts." Next morning, Wednesday, Mrs. Cannot vent off to her business as usual, but when ;ho returned homo at night her husband vas gone, and tho two children were .raiting at the tram stop for their nother, frightened and wondering. A learch was made of all his favourite launts, but he could not be found. Then, in Thursday night, Mrs. Cannot received i letter which had been written by her nisband on tho sea-front at Mouroubra. He told her that her words when they Ktrted were still ringing in his cars as he ooked over the sea. He wanted her every irinute, every hour. Then ho said that icross in tho bush, over the surf club louse, ho could seo a white post. "It iviil bo there," ho added significantly. And crushed in tho pencilled letter wore some violets. The. letter made Mrs. Can:iot fear the worst, and sho informed the jolice. Ilis body was found, at tho spot 10 indicated, on Friday. Last Letter to Friend. Here is the letter he sent to Mr. Charles Dunn, secretary of the Actors' Federation, ri which ho himself was vice-president:— "Dear old Charlie, —When you get this It will bo a case of 'Alas, poor Yorick,' ind I want you to do the best for my family, who will be more or less destitute. I have fought against doing what 1 illLend to do, but it is the only way 1 can seo clear to enable my children to get a Draper education, and my darling wife to : eel that every postman's knock does not : ncari a summons. Charles, 1 have tho greatest wifo and children a man could .visli for, so yon can guess with what icart yearnings 1 am leaving all I lovo jest, but I cannot get decent work; I lave done 26 weeks' work in two years, ind then I got scaled for £7O in a pan,oniimo. "Now, old sport, you and Walter—God dess you both—will you do what you can 'or my loved ones, especially the boy. Oh, ,vhnt a grand littlo fellow, and how I ivorship the very ground he walks on. Ho las boon at college sinco he was nino years rid, and ho is 14 and two months now, ind I am behind with his schooling fees, j If you get this letter before they find mo ! [ would liko a decent burial. Wo owe at j east 15 weeks' rent, but here again wo | lavo a wonderful woman for a landlady. ] if it hadn't been for her wo would have. ' >cen destitute long ago. My daughter j [Jetty is just a sweet angel, and I owo her icliool fees, too. "I havo earned £66 sinco 'Clowns in clover' finished, and I am doing this •cally to get out of tho way, as I haven't my money to go abroad, or anything. I ,vas going to start a school for sitting ! ,vith tho aid of a friend, but I fool it's : 10 go before wo open. So that's that. So ong, old pal. If 1 havo helped to make lungs easier for tho profession, then I am glad, though 1 believe I havo suffered in •onscquonce. God bless you all.—Jack Cannot." Then came tho lonely funeral, with only i dozen mourners. Whore wero the tliousmds who had laughed at bis quips? Whoro woro tho hosts who had acclaimed Irim in recalls to sing "Gilbert tho Filbert" 15 years ago? Where, indeed? It was a lonely curtain. There, tottering and distressed, walked bis widow. Kind friends sought to comfort her. A plain grave on the slope of a hill, a plain coffin, tears from men, and all was over.