"HIS MAJESTY THE KING."

NZ Truth, Issue 84, 26 January 1907, Page 8

"HIS MAJESTY THE KING."

Clarence as the Lead. Such, m brief, were the experiences of Clarence's Newcastle company, as told by. some pf, the members themselves of 'that combination. Before this, however, Clarence's ;name had already become pretty well loiown to the Australian public. Clarence and "Miss" Tittell seem to have first struck Australia m the eatrly part of 1904. They were « ABOARD THE AUSTRALIA, which was wrecked outside Melbourne, and, m this way, the two of them cot their preliminary advertisement before the Australian public. Shortly afterwards, Miss Tittell was taken m hand by Mr Williamson, and with him she has remained ever since. Clarence, however, had to content himself with whatever little scraps he could manage to snap up. For example, 'he became a member of "Mr Ernest Knight's new English Dramatic Company." One of the pieces staged m Sydney by this awful fraud— "Mr Ernest Knight"— was "His Majesty, the King." At the time that Clarence was assisting Knight m the production of this m Sydney, Miss Maud Williamson, of the . Woods-Williamson company, was, together with Mr Woods, m negotiation with a representative m Sydney with a view to prosecuting Knight Tor presenting under the a!~>ove heading what was alleged to be npt-hitie more nor lesa than MISS WILLIAMSON'S OWN DRAMATISED VERSION of one of Marion Crawford's novels, and which the Woods-Williamson

Company were themselves playing im- ! der the title of "In Old Madrid." ! "Truth" dealt pretty fully with the j matter at the time. Knight assured "Truth" that there were s-everal versions of the novel m question, that he himself had appeared m one m Bristol (England), and thait "his male lead (Mr Clarence Brune) was. last year actimr m another variation of the play. which had a big run m the United States." What truth there was m these representations of Knight's respecting Clarence and himself, the reader, after hearing the facts to be stated, can be left to decide for himself. For one thing, it was as clear as daylight that. "Er n est Knight," which was never the fellow's name at all, was assumed by him merely m order that it might m some way he associated m the mind of the theatre-gome; public with the name of Mr Julius Knight, of THE KNIGHT-JEFFRIES COMPANY, and the community hoodwinked into tha belief that m patting-up to see him they were going to be entertained by Mr Julius Knight, or by some instalment or addition of that genuinely first-class artist. Then "Mr Ernest Knight" had been a member of the Woods-Williamson Company m New Zealand, and while with them he played three different parts m the very drama respecting which, when afterwards charged with staging it m Sydney, under a different name, he denied having exercised any plagiaris-, Atis,, .. ,p,mfo>iningj. pr. pilfering wroclivi-, ties. Moreover . when, he" was" with*; Mr Woods and Miss Williamson, he also ha-d access to the scrip of the play. Finally. Knight went- to Brisbane, and, while m Brisbane, he was on a charge of embezzlement. He had, it seems, been the secretary to some benefit society m Melbourne, and his deficiencies totalled nome hundreds of pounds. ' He was . taken back to Melbourne, where t in the end, he was

SENTENCED. TO A TERM of imprisonment. Knight, who talked of having played m a version of Marion Crawford's novel m Bristol, was, affce<r all, a Melbourne native— or, if that wasn't What he actually was. all the facts seem to point to his never having been out of Australasia. The warrant for Knight's arrest was out when he was m Sydney. "Truth" itself had advice of the jssue of the warrant. Still, the Sydney police, who could have put their hands on the culprit at any moment, refrained from doing so, for one of those mysterious reasons known only to themselves, or those from whom they get their directions. Mr Woods and Miss Williamson did not go on with their threatened case against Knight. As a matter of fact, as things turned out. they had no occasion to do so; All that need be adr ded is. that the gaolin"- of Knight seemed to lead to a decisive separation between him and his "male lead —Mr Clarence. Brune." — Sydney "Truth." • •