NOTES BY PASQUIN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1764, 12 September 1885, Page 23

NOTES BY PASQUIN.

(Cont ribxiiionsfrom the Profession chronicling their Moviments and doings are invited. AH communications to be addresed to "Pasqtiin," Otago Witness Office.)

Mr G. A. Sala arrived in Auckland at the beginning of this week to commence his Now Zealand tour under the management of Mr R. S. Smythe. He visits only the principal towns in this Colony, occupying only six weeks in all, as he has to return in time to witness the Melbourne Cup, and' write a description for the leading Australian papers. On Monday last Mr W. H. Thompson exhibited his Egyptian War diorama at the Princess Theatre, and although the series comprises only about 16 views, these form one of the best of the several good panoramas that Mr Thompson has travelled with in his time. The artists are Messrs Gordon and Ashton, of Melbourne, who may well be complimented upon their work. The battle pieces, such as the charges at Kassassin and Tel-el-Kebir, are admirable specimens of grouping and figure-drawing, and the treatment and composition are in each case remarkably vigorous. The desert scenes are also very striking in their way, and there are some really beautiful views upon the Nile, — one especially showing the moonlit water and a couple of Nile boats with their brilliantly illuminated deck cabins, making their way up the river. Even a villainous pun, perpetrated by the lecturer in cold blood, was insufficient to destroy all the poetry of this picture. Details are forwarded me by Messrs J. Powers Smith and Co. of a scheme undertaken by them to, publish a N.Z. Theatrical Gazetteer, which is to contain the names of all towns in this colony which possess theatres, public halls, or other accommodation suitable for entertainments, together with much information of a general character. Under the latter head it is propossd to give the population of the town and district, holding capacity of the theatre or hall, terms of letting, names of local newspapers and charges foHheatrical advertisements, proprietors of billposting boards, and many other details which it generally falls to the duty of an advance agent to fossick out upon the spot. If the publication obtains (as is promised) a wide circulation in this colony'and Australia, it should prove of great service in theatrical circles. ■ ' Oh the first night of " The Lights o' London" 'by Messrs M'Mahon and Leitch's Company in Wellington booking for the stalls had to be discontinued a quarter of an hour before the curtain rose. Mr Leitch fills the part of Jarvis, the travelling showman, and Mr F. C. Appleton that of Harold Armytage. I

'• Hugo's Buffalo Minstrels opened in Auckland on Thursday last. Mr Wybert Reeve produced a, piece called " Passion " in Christchurch on Monday last, a flay adapted by himself from Mrs Campbell 'raed's novel "Policy and Passion." The scene is_ laid in Queensland, and the story, which is without any very striking dramatic ,eifects, treats of the disruption caused by the advent of a pretty adventuress into an Australian family

circle. *Mr Reeve himself plays the part of Maddox Dyson, an explorer, through' whose intervention virtue is ultimately triumphant, and vice nowhere. The play is not likely to achieve any very brilliant success, -fit -gave ,_ place on Wednesday evening to " The Crushed ' Tragedian." , , Correspondence has appeared in a Melbourne

paper from which it .seems that the Hall- . Hamilton Dramatic Company had morejunplea1 aant experiences during their recent Tasmanian engagement than transpired at the timej They gtate that th,ey were unable to get sufficient money from the management to defray their hotel bills, and were compelled to cast them-

pelves upon the mercy of the public jby announcing a big benefit in the Exhibition Build- ■ ing. ' " Othello " was played, and the response was sufficiently liberal to help the distressed professionals over their stile. " Isidora," the comic opera composed, written, and conducted by Mr Luscombe Searelle, is having only a very moderate success in Sydney. The piece concerns a ferocious pirate yclept the Black Rover, who behaves unkindly, to say the least or it, towards a young woman whom he has rescued once upon a time from the deck of a burning ship :— Maddened one morn at her tears forlorn, I threw her over the side, And she sank to rest with her babe at her breast, 'Neath the billows' heaving tide. ' The curse of heaven consequently falls upon the pirate and his crew, and remains, keeping them .company until the spell is happily broken by the maiden Isidora.

According to the Theatre, Dr Johnson and the famous Garrick were early companions in poverty, aad resolved to try their fortunes in London together. They walked from Lichfield, and when they reached the metropolis they were in a most pitiable state, one with a shirt and half a pair of breeches ; the other with two pairs of stockings without feet. They took up their abode in an obscure court in the Old Bailey, and for a time lived in poverty and obscurity. Garrick's histrionic abilities at last burst forth, and success crowned his efforts. Poor Johnson was obliged meanwhile to make * the most of his solitary shirt, and lie in bed while it was washed. Bartley Campbell, instead of sticking like a sensible man to the field of playwriting wherein he is excelled by few rivals, has chosen to run $m.UQk at poetry, and tries his 'prentice hand npbh the late Victor Hugo, as follows :— Toll, toll the bell— the soul of France is dead, ' The P.oet King has laid aside his pen ; His work is over, and the thoughts of men lfave lost their guide of many years, And he who taught them how to live Can only give them now the beneficence of tears. Toll, toll the bell— tb.£splrit of romance ' Stands near the bier wherelies her favourite son ; Thalia weeps for tfee flower of France, s Wrhose'lDngllong race on earth is run. The lines appear to require a good deal of humouring before they will scan, and the metaphor is, to say the least of it, shaky. How about the "Flower of France" running a "long, long race?" There is talk of a Japanese burlesque in London, the idea being suggested no doubt by the great success of "The Mikado." Mr Willie Edouin is credited with an intention to take the • Novelty Theatre for the purpose. Miss Fortescue is to occupy Toole's Theatre this year during the off season. The Prince and Princess of Wales were present at the Lyceum Theatre on Tuly 21, when a most successful morning performance was given in aid of the Royal General Theatrical Fund. The collapse of the London theatrical season is due in a measure to the Inventions Exhibition, tod more to the excessively sultry weather have had to face. People will not

patronise a London playhouse with the thermometer at 75 in the dark, and there is a demand for some such contrivances as obtain in American theatres, — punkahs, fountains, electric light, cane seats instead of stuffy cushions, and a machine to cool the atmosphere.

The air-cooler at Wallack's theatre, New York, is a particularly simple and effective contrivance. A large wheel, very much resembling the paddlewheel of a steamer, is set in motion from the engine. Its revolutions drive currents of air successively through a cylinder into an ice chest, and thence through another pipe into the air tank. This tank reaches under the whole expanse of the auditorium. Under each seat is a little slit in the floor 'about two inches long and an eighth of an inch wide. Throu gh these the cold air is forced up without creating any draught, and cools the house very thoroughly. The dampness that may accumulate in the air while passing through the ice settles to the bottom of the tank by its weight, and does not carry colds and rheumatism to the unsuspecting audience. Those who clamour for " real tears " on the stage ought rather to applaud the idea carried out by an actor at a recent matinee in London. He, as the hero, received great praise for his well-simulated grief over the dead body of a monkey, which had been his pet in previous scenes of the piece. The grief was pathetically expressed, but of course no one imagined that the poor monkey had been killed in order to provide the cause for his tears. This, however, had actually been done. The dead monkey was a real, not a property one, and the actor (who was also the author of the piece), had caused his dumb favourite to be killed in order to help him touch the spectators of his simulated distress. "If this had been known at the time," says a London paper " he would doubtless have been taught by a sound hissing, that his artistic efforts were held no excuse for wanton cruelty."