FILLIS'S CIRCUS AND MENAGERIE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1107, 19 May 1893, Page 29

FILLIS'S CIRCUS AND MENAGERIE.

A-SUCCESSFUL PERFORMANCE.

Mr Fillis has every reason to feel gratified at the measure of patronage acoorded him'for the inaugural exhibition of his drone and menagerie. On their part the audience were generous enough with their applause to leave ro room for doubt that they wero thoroughly satisfied with the quality of the entertainment provided them. The vast expanse of oanvas whioh forms the circus proper affords room for Beating an enor« mous audience, and this accommodation was fully occupied last Tuesday. As the people passed by the ticket offices they entered the tent containing the menagerie, whioh consists of four lions, a Royal Bengal tiger, a leopard and a panther, a collection of monkeys, five small elephants, and a number of diminutive and beautifullygroomed ponieß. Just before the circus performance began Lord and Lady Glasgow arrived, aooompanied by their children, and attended by Miss Kallowea and Captain Hunter-Blair, A.D.C. The orchestra played the National Anthem, and the audience stood up until the last strains had died away. A word ot praise is duo the orchestra. Excepting a piano, cornet and kettle'drum, it consists entirely of stringed instruments, and under the leadership of Signor Caprara, it discoursed a cipital programme of muslo in the course of the evening. The performance bagan with a display of vaulting by a party of eight acrobats who turned somersaults in their bounds from tbe spring-board over the baoks of two, then of four, next of six and finally of eight horses. The act culminated in the chief vaulter (Mr Rogers) turning a somersault as he cleared in his aerial night the backs of 10 horses. In the end the acrobats vaulted over the shou'ders uf a man standing on a horso. After this the performing elephant, Little Be»s, displayed its docility and cleverness by going through a variety of tricks, standing firei on a large upturned tub, then walking over a bridge of ekittlop, then trnndling a barrel upon which it maintained its equilibrium, and next Bee-sawing on a plank with the Javanese pony R» sident seated at the opposite end. The funniest item of all followed. Tbe eleph.-nt

and pony seated themselves In ohairs at a table, and a monkey, attired as a waiter, brought in plates, and then fruit, to which both- of the seated animals helped themselves with evident gusto, the elephant soon despatching his own share and assisting also to put away the pony's moiety. Meanwhile the monkey had gone for liquor, but, being a thirsty soul.he halted midway, and proceeded to quaff the contents of a bottle of lemonade that he was entrusted with. The elephant retired with the pony's forelegs resting on his back. Miss Minnie, a handsome and graceful equestrienne, performed next on a galloping steed, jumping through hoops, &o. Clowns diversified all theee performances and those that followed by the usual buffoonery, but they strictly eschewed punning or singing. Their funnyisms lay in aotion rather than in speech. One of them, bearing the sobriquet of Comical Joey, gave a speoimen of his skill in turning somersaults and in sk'pping while extended full length upon the turf. There was also a comic encounter between Walter Holt (got up as a very obese personage) and Agoust, the ' dummy.' Agoust likewise assisted Benham, (an old favourite) in his chair-bala.nclng feats which have been seen and appreciated here before. Mr Fillis exercised the trained Shetland pony Dolly in a variety of olever and skilful tricks. The little animal chased the clown, and raced him, and then pushed his trainer out nf the ring. Fred Stalling went through a 'gate and hurdle act' on the back of a oantering horse, and Master Taylor, a tiny funambulist of about seven years of age, performed very skilfully upon the high tight wire. He came out in full evening dress, and then upon the wire stripped himself of gloves, coat, vest and pants, emerging therefrom in trunks and tunic. He also performed with a small hoop, and sat down upon the wire and stood ereot again. Madame Fillis proved herself to be an accomplished rider by her display of 'high school riding 'on her thoroughbred Cape horse Viotor. The evolutions she performed were : the passage to right and left, the high trot salute, the galop, the figure of eight circle first on right shoulder and then on left, the change of feet by the horse every four paces, the trot backwards, the locking of the legs, in which the horse, using its forelegs as a pivot, twists one around the other as he turns round, and the grand Spanish trot. This aot was very warmly applauded. It and Mr Fillis' great jockey act, which immediately followed, were tlio best of the equestrian performances. Mr Fillis exeouted quite a variety of daring and skilful acts upon a gallop ng steed, bounding from the ring to a standing position on the horse's back,and sitting baok almost on ita tail. On the triple horizontal bars the Brothers Martini exeouted very deftly a number of backward and for. ward double somersaults, and the clowns Walter Holt and Little Georgy also took a very good hand at the" 1 gymnastic exercises. Then there was another display of elephantine sagaoityand skill The entire company of elephants (five in number) balanced themselves on tabs, reared up on their hind legs, one of them waltzed, another walked on the knees of his forelegs, and three of them performed a pyramidal aot, the central one standing on his hind legs upon a narrow cask placed upon one of the tubs. One of them lifted a man on to his baok, and allowed him to ride on his trunk, and then allowed another man to place bis head right inside his capacious elephantine mouth, a pieoe of business which' My Lord Elephant' evidently did not quite appreciate, aa his roaring betokened. Eight ladies and gentlemen, mounted on grey horses and clad in the uniform of lancers, executed in capital stylo a set of lancers-quadrilles, and a ' field ' of five srcnll ponies, ridden by monkey jocks, competed jo a hurdle race, Benham, the clown, urnished some mors amusement, with the assistance of four lads taken from the audience. After this more graceful tricks by beautifully trained horses—first by three thoroughbred Hungarian entires, and then by four beautiful white Arab horses, purchased in Persia, whose closely • trimmed coats glistened like silk. The most apt of this quartet—Houssein by name—in response to Mr Fillis's commands, indicated 'No' and 'Yes' with humanlike intelligence, threw up his head and opened hia mouth in equine laughter, snorted, and finally, taking hold of his trainer by the coat sleeve, led him out of tbe ring. The clowns, Funny Freddy and Agoust, showed their dexterity in spinning, and then the long and diversified programme closed with the most exciting aot of all—the performance of the lions. The elephants dragged in the iron cage to the centre of the ring, the elephants roaring and the lions quiescent. Mr John Cox," the lions' trainer, entered the cage armed with a whip, and started operations by making them promenade. One of the lions, named Pasha, appeared to be in an ill humour and snarled and struck out with his paws, and it was noticeable that Mr Cox never ceased to look* intently at this particular animal. He made it step on a chair, and with ita mouth pull a cloth to fire off a pistol, and the whole four of them he foroed to bound through a flaming hoop quite a number of times. Then by the reports of pistols they were all made to rear up against the further side of the cage, while tbe intrepid trainer (quite a young man, by the way) made a speedy exit.

On the special occasion of Mr W. B. Cadzow's benefit at the Bijou Theatre many lovers of good music and a good programme wended their way to that liliputian place of entertainment. They were not disappointed, as the programme presented thoroughly deserved the bumper house that patronised it. Many of Mr Cadzow's friends contributed to a most successful and lengthy programme, the talented artist himself being inexcellent voice. After singing the sones and ballads on tbe programme he was called on for more, the audience in their enthusiasm forgetting that it is no easy work to interpret six or seven classical songs with the success that Mr Cad/.)W undoubtedly did on Monday. Madame Cadzow likewise scored a distinct success for her brilliantly executed overtures and charming accompaniments to all the songs and dances. The lengthy programme was most'auccessfully executed from start to finish, the miny items t'<o many to enumerate in detail, were evi« e'e 'tly much appreciated by the aud ! ence,