THEATRICAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4407, 13 July 1901, Page 1 (Supplement)

THEATRICAL GOSSIP.

(BY " LORGNETTE.") The Gaiety Company, which has been appearing at the Theatre Royal during the weekj must rank as one of the best combinations of vaudeville artists ever seen in Wellington . It contains th e very cream of the variety hall profession in Australasia. Miss Irene Franklin has undoubted genius. She hag to be seen repeateuly to grasp the full extent of her abilities. The delicacy of treatment her songs receive, the suggestion of reiserve force, and her grace of movement all stamp her as an artist of rare charm and distinction. She is an object lesson in the very best school of music hall culture. • • • - •

The Galardi Sisters will leave Behind them many pleasant memories and many admirers. In grace, ability, and; popularity they were a well-matched pair.

Miss Elsie Rosser has a contralto voice of delightful quality,- and our acquaintance with her has been all too brief.

Pope and Sayles are the greatest ■ exponents of pure negro humour seen in Wellington for many a day. The hearty enjoyment with which they throw themselves into their business places them en rapport with the audience at once, and the flow of responsive sympathy set up is renewed whenever the irresistible pair make their appearance on the boards. a *** . * •

Martin Hagan is looking well, and is doing a capital turn. j*. > • •

On Monday Les Thiers Quartette, to whom reference has been made several times in this column, and Miss Maud Hewson will appear, and Miss Olive Lenton will make her reappearance. * * ’* • •

What with Mr Will Steyens, who made such a name for himself at the Sydney Empire Music Hall, Faust and vvalhalla. the acrobatic musical clowns, and the clever company now appearing in conjunction with those star artists,Tittle wonder need exist at th 6 crowded houses which are nightly filling Fuller’s Choral Hall.

It is reported that the Auckland Amateur Operatic Society, which i s about to produce “lolanthe/’ offered the part of the Fairy Queen to Miss Etty Maginnity. Another* Wellington lady, Miss Violet Mount, ■ who went to reside in Auckland recently, has been asked to undertake a part in the production, namely, that of the ward in .Chancery, Phyllis. I do not know if these flattering offers have been accepted in either case.

The Josephine Stanton Opera Company, after a bad start, which the management could hav e avoided, has steadily won its way into the esteem of Wellington audiences, and its members may now claim to have fairly established themselvs as warm favourites with all who appreciate the sterling production of opera bouffe. “Said Pasha,” the opening piece of the season, was little more than a series of vaudeville sketches, strung together apparently without rhyme or reason—clever, exceedingly so, but lacking that thread of interest which attaches to an opera with a plot however flimsy and helps so materially to bridge over the weak links in the chain. “Fra Diavolo” and “Girofle-Girofla” were both delightful productions; with such vocalists as Miss Josephine Stanton, Messrs Lyding and Hallam, and such a bright comedian as Mr Clarence Harvev, it could hardly be otherwise. Mr Kunkel is another member of the company around whom much interest centres, as a specimen of the purely American humorist. In his line he is excellent, and a worthy representative of the Harry Conor school of comedians. This week will witness the close of a season begun in the back flow, after a trying period of popular enthusiasm, and car ried through a record run of cold 'weather. From an artistic point of view the Stanton Company has been a big

success. A more level series of entertainments it has seldom been my lot to witness than those provided by this company, and I hope when they come to reckon up the results of their first visit to Wellington that they as a company and inaividually will remember that thev have maae many warm friends and admirers here whose hope it is that the company will give us another opportunity of showing how much we nave learnt to appreciate this pioneer American “-aura company.

In it;s notice of a performance by Harmston’s circus at Manila, the “New American” has a flattering reference to the display made by three acrobats named Alton bros.—ail Wellington boys, whom some of my readers will recognise under that name, no doubt. They have been “touring” the East for tho last five years and were, at latest advices, appearing at Singapore, Siam.

Mr Harcus Plimmer has joined the brothers George and" Mario Majeroni, who were billed by the latest advices to open at Broken "Hill with “Trilby.” In “The Shamrock and the Rose” Mr Plimmer has been cast for the young Irish hero, O’Connot Desmond.

Mr and Mrs Harry Plimmer, according to the Sydney papers, have sailed for America.

“Ben Hur,” the Australian and New Zealand rights of which, as previously stated, have been secured by Mr Williamson, has just closed a run of fourteen months in America. It is a powerful religious play, and during its run the receipts pre said to have been enormous, amounting to a gross total of over £160,000 —at the rate of, roughly speaking, £3OOO a week.

The approaching marriage of clever Dion Boucicault and charming Irene Vanbrugh will not (says "the bo the immediate result of lov© at first sight, anyhow. They met in Australia eleven years ago, when Miss Vanbrugh was the interesting young heroine of J. L. Toole’s company. Perhaps there was something prophetic in the fact that the lady made her first appearance at the Princess’s on the same night - (April sth, 1890) that Brough and Boucicault opened their new Melb. Bijou Theatre with “Money.’’ Dion B. didn’t act in the luckless comedy, hut he was on the spot as stage manager. Miss Vanbrugh was then a pale, slim, bright-looking charmer of say, something oldci' than 22. Anyone could have been excused for falling in love with her. Lord Hopetoun opened his first Parliament at the time, and old Johnny Toole and Miss Vanbrugh wer© distinguished visitors at the ceremony. Present scribe, gazing at Johnny’s fair companion from the opposite side of the Vic. Legislative Council, wrote her name upon his heart, and now lives to tell the tale. m

Shazelle opened his successful show “Our Navy” at Brisbane last week. *» J * * • , >

After a successful career extending over several years the Steele-Payne combination of vocalists and bellringers, which is well-known among the Englishspeaking communities of the Southern Hemisphere, has disbanded; Mr and Mrs Ralph. Steele having decided to settle in Ballarat, where, as Miss Lizzie Payne, Mrs Steele was at home before she entered on a professional career.. In settling in Ballarat it is the intention of Mr and Mrs Steele to go into business, they having purchased the Kalizoio, 171, Sturt, street. * » * * « *

Mr Charles Fanning, an old Choral Hall favourite, hasi been appearing with marked success at the Sydney Empire recently. « « • » •

Mr “Jimmy” Bain is at present engaged on a short Queensland tour, after which he will fulfil a lengthy engage.•meat with Mr Harry Rick|rds.

Mr J. C. Williamson has •- expressed himself in th© following terms on the subject of Australia as a field for young actors: —“Australia should prove the happy hunting ground for - the clever, earnest, and hard-working young actor who wants'to get on, and is not afraid of study and rehearsals, though there is plenty of breathing time in between production and production. But it is the variety of pieces that we do that gives th© aspiring actor his scope. He can leam more in an Australian repertoire company in twelve months than, he can in three years anywhere else travelling about, or remaining in town with one or two pieces that score their hundreds of nights. I think it a most admirable field for the comedian to expand himself, and to thoroughly leam the technique and.-art of his profession. But h© must work, and he must do his level best, for if the manager misses him the audience don’t. Mere mediocrity is no use; there must be talent, and for talent there is a large area and fair remuneration. Experience comes with change, and that is what all who visit Australia soon secure. Our theatres are open all the year round, with very few breaks indeed, and consequent, ly capable l artists have excellent opportunities of coming to the front. So many are engaged to play all lines, and as an old actor, who has been through the mill from beginning to end, as it. were, I njaintain that playing all linea possibly affords the best and the most valuable practice.” •

Mr L. J. Loir, writing of Mr Charles Arnold’s tour, -says that the Westralian business has been enormous. Mr Arnold will return to Melbourne on leaving Westralia, and will open at the Princess’s on August 3 with “Why Smith Left Home.”

Mr Geo. Conquest, actor, manager and playwright, is dead. He wasi a: famous stage demon, and it was his i boast that in the pursuit of his calling as a pantomimist, he had at one time or another broken every bone in his body. He was certainly a very remarkable man, and three years ago he was able to claim that he had produced forty three and played in twenty-seven j pantomimes. t Mrs T. P. O’Connor, wife of'the editor of “M.A.P.,” was to have produced a comedy from her own pen, “A Lady ( from Texas,” at Penley’s Theatre (Lon- 1 don) last month. j Mr Maurice Hewlett’s brilliant novel!

“The Forest Lovers” has been drama, tised and will be seen next season in America.

The following note might he headed, “How the Fashions are made”:—“A leading French milliper has selected Miss Edna May (says an exchange) to make the Gainsborough hat popular by wcaring it in her most fascinating style. So the fascinating and talented young lady is now wearing a Gainsborough hat niglUly in ‘The Girl From Up There’ at the Duke of York’s, where business is said to he of the very best.”

Tho Savoy, beloved by the admirers of Gilbert and Sullivan, which first was opened nearly twenty years ago with “Patience,” and since has re mained under the same regime without a break, passed on the 24th of last month into the hands of Messrs Greet and Engelbach. To these gentlemen Mrs D'Oyley Carte has granted a long lease of tho theatre, and under their direction the Savoy traditions will be maintained in all details as far as is possible.