THEATRICAL & MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2006, 4 August 1892, Page 35

THEATRICAL & MUSICAL NOTES.

CoatrlbntUnt from th» Profenlon ohronlcliug tholr moTemonti tad doing! *r« inritcd. All conimuuioaUoas to be »<l<lre«*o<l ts "Fuquln," Otago Wltncu Office.

Mr Charles Bradley, who was through New Zealand in the early part of this year with Mr Walter Bentley, writes to say that he is going to run through the colony as business manager for Signor Foli. He adds that Mr Bentley has accepted a starring engagement from Mr J. C. Williamson for the Princess' Theatre at Melbourne prior to his approaching trip throughout New Zealand. The Foli Company, which is now in Sydney, include Mr Orlando Harley, tenor ; Mr B. Barker, Welsh harpist ; Miss Bertha Rossow, who is now well known to the Dunedin public; and Miss Woods, who was pianiste for Madame Patey during her recent tour through this colony. The company will open in Dunedin on the 25th inst. The Montague-Turner Company brought their four nights' season to a close at Invereargill on Thursday, and sailed for Melbourne on Saturday last. The season in the southernmost city of tlie colony was satisfactory financially and artistically. A telegram from the genial manager, Mr Duncan M'Callum, despatched from the Bluff on Saturday just prior to sailing, wishes New Zealanders a kind farewell, and needless to say that the compliment is heartily reciprocated here by press and public alike.The Holloway Dramatic Company will probably commence a New Zealand tour at Dunedin on the 10th prox.

It is understood the Garrison Hall Commissioners have resolved to spend Ll2O in " deadening " the floor of the hall, so as to prevent the noise of drilling being heard upstairs.

Mr A. H. Fawcett, who has a thorough acquaintance with India and other portions of the British Empire, has arranged to give three lectures in the Princess Theatre next week. The lectures will be illustrated with limelight effects, and should prove interesting. Mr George Buller is at present in Dunedin making arrangements for a season here by Mr Alfred Dampier and his company, to commence about the end of the present month. Mr Dampier holds the rights to several modern dramas new to Dunedin, and these will be produced in quick succession, with one Shakespearian revival each week. It may be mentioned that the company which support Mr Dampier have played together in the Alexandra Theatre, Melbourne, for some five years with continued success, and as all the accessories for properly mounting the dramas will be brought from Melbourne the representations will be identical with those produced at the Alexandra.

Henry Hallam, an old Australian favourite, has just figured in an unrehearsed scene in Portnilan. It happened during the performance of the New York Opera Company at the Park Theatre. They were playing " Fra Diavolo," and George Olrni, the baritone, had his face blown full of gunpowder by the accidental discharge of a pistol in the hands of Mr Hallam. The latter was playing the title role, and his companion one of the brigands. Fortunately the injury is not likely to turn out seriously. Henry Hallam will be well remembered in this part of the world as the husband of Australia's brilliaut and gifted actress, dead and gone Hattie Shepparde. The Tasmanian of a late date says : — Mr and Mrs Alfred Dampier passed through Launceston on Tuesday last on their way to the capital, and I regret to say they have decided not to pay us a visit this season, as they go on to New Zealand from Hobart.

The career of Louise Pomeroy, who is now playing minor parts in a travelling theatrical company, is a striking instance of the mutations of fortune. Twenty years ago she was the bride of "Brick" Pomeroy, and had received from him as a wedding gift an opera house valued at 75,000d01. Pomeroy at that time was reputed to be worth 500,000d01, and his Democrat was a gold mine. The editor's fortune was subsequently lost in unproductive mines and in the famous Rocky Mountain tunnel, and luck has ever since been against him. Mrs Pomeroy is now the wife of an actor, Arthur Elliott.

"Beata," the latest of the Ibsenite dramas, failed at the London Globe in May, and the house was closed ; but the manager, thinking that the dramatic profession might like to see the piece, reopened the theatre for one matinee performance, concerning which a Lo don paper remarks that the audience must have felt themselves in the position of a coroner's jury at an inquest. Mrs Brown-Potter and Mr Kyrle Bellew deny that they incurred a loss by their tours beyond that involved in the fire at the Cape. The old partnership haviDg been dissolved by lapse of

time they are arranging a new one, and will again Tisit the colonies and America.

Madame Patti sailed from New York on the 18th May, aud went direct to Craig-y-nos. She intends to amuse herself this summer, and in addition to the operatic 2)erfonnances in her miniature theatre will appear in drama, playing Eily O'Connor in Boucicault's " Colleen Bawn." The song, " The Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow," which is incidental to the part, will probably be sung as it never was before. Although Ellen Terry's daughter, Miss Ailsa Craig, has inherited some of her mother's talent for the stage, it is the latters wish that she should stay away from it and devote her time to music and painting. She draws wonderfully well and can sketch anything. One of her favourite occupations is foncing.

Miss Mary Anderson now declares Jthat nothing would induce her to return to the footlights. She leads a quiet, homely kind of life in a pretty house close to Tunbridge Wells, bought by her husband, Mr NaVarro, shortly after marriage.

The matinee system has many advantages. It gives the great unacted a phance ; it allows the stage-struck to show their paces ; it has opened new possibilities in the way of burlesque ; it benefits the theatrical profession generally. Aud yet the thing is, probably, only its infancy. Numerous engagements, have.in fact, resulted from the investment in a special afternoon. Theatrical managers, ever on the look-out for promising recruits, make a practice of dropping in at such performances for an hour or so, and one may be sure that no new blood of any value escapes them. First appearances hare of late been unprecedeutedly plentiful. Several celebrated actresses have, too, during the past year or so, used the matinee for testing their power in now directions. What the crop from all these " special afternoons " will be "remains to be seen," as the leader writers observe, oracularly. More than one play produced at afternoon performances during the past 12 months has been snapped up by managers, and if their authors had not taken the public verdict on them they would very likely never have seen the light.

The two first theatres in England were called "The Theatre" and "The Curtain," aud were built outside of London in 1576. Shakespeare was only 12 years old at the time.

"Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road" has been traced to one of Schubert's sonatas. It is now claimed that "Tommy make room for your uncle" is from Schubert's " Rosamunde " music, where it is given to the oboe (some years ago it was alleged to have been borrowed from Handel's "Susannah"), and that "After the opera is over" is from the melody to which Heine's "Dv hast Diamenten und Perlen " is sung in Germany.

The practice of advertising as a " new play " what is merely a hash-up of old ingredients, an adaptation of some novel already published, or of some almost forgotten French piece, is becoming commoner every day. It is one that should be sternly discouraged, for it can only redound to the injury of tho3e who indulge in it. Managers and authors may rest assured that there is nothing the public more strongly resent than action of the kind I refer to. It is the worst possible policy.

Camilla Urso relates in the New York Youths' Companion that on one occasion she found herself at the house of a friend in New York in company with that illustrious performer on the violin, Ole Bull, and a very talented 'pianist, a young lady. Mr Bull and this young .lady discussed the relative merits of their instruments, and also the position and capacity of women in the field of music. The pianist asserted that she could bring out as much tone from her pi ano as any man, and that she "could make the strings break as readily as the strongest man could." Ole Bull, turnfng towards me, exclaimed very excitedly, " See, Camilla ! see what little regard these pianists have for their instruments. They pound them, they bang them, they glory in breaking them. How different from our love for our violins ! We pet them, cherish them, speak to them, and, when obliged to part from them a while, we lay them down, carefully wrapped up in the softest of silks, in a bed lined with the choicest velvet. We are so jealous of them that we permit no other mortal hands to touch them." To all of this I laughingly acquiesced, and turned the conversation towards something pleasanter.

Camilla Urso strongly recommends the violin to the attention of ladies as a means of obtaining a livelihood. She says : "I will not touch upon the matter of the utility to many students who might turn an hon3st penny by their acquired talent. Since few women can become virtuosi, many really good players can earn nothing by their skill, who, if they were given an opportunity, might help their families and themselves. Why should not this moderate degree of talent be utilised in the orchestra ? Women as a rule play in better tune than men. They play with greater expression, certainly, than the average orchestral musician. In Dublin and in Melbourne I have employed women violinists to reinforce my orchestra. They performed their part very well, and with close attention to details. They were quick to understand, prompt at rehearsals, obedient and attentive to the conductor's remarks, and not inclined to sneak away, under one pretext or another, if the rehearsal were a trifle long. They gave good work for the money paid them. If such an incentive as paid employment in this way were given to the many female performers on the violin, it would be a great benefit to them, as well as an advantage to the musical world."

The statement that the Duke of Edinburgh has written a grand opera to a libretto by " Carmen Sylva,' 1 the Queen of Roumania, for production at the Court theatre, Coburg, is probably a blcrr/ue. His predecessor, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was guilty of more than one opera, including the never-to-be-forgotten " Santa Chiara." But the Duke is not likely to follow so illustrious an example, and the immortal "Galatea Waltz" will probably remain his maymim opus. Mr George Conquest, the proprietor of the London Surrey Theatre, possesses brittle bones, and, consequently, has in the past fractured or dislocated almost every representative bone in his body while performing his marvellous feats of agility as a pantomime sprite and similar characters.

Handel's birthplace, No. 4 Nicolai Strasse, Halle, is for sale, A proposition is on foot to purchase the building and convert it into a Handel Museum, on the lines of the Mozarteum at Salzburg. An enterprising American is also understood to have entered the market, in the hope of carrying off the building piecemeal and re-erecting it at someplace in the United States, probably at the Chicago Exhibition. There was a moment of awkward uncertainty at the Haymarket during a recent performance of " Hamlet " when the least nervousness on the part of the actor or the folly of one person in the audience might have caused a panic. The torch that Hamlet (Mr Beerbohm Tree) uses had set fire to a small portion of the scenery, and Hamlet was soliloquising in blissful unconsciousness of this fact when a gentleman in the stalls said quietly ; " There is a fire behind you Mr Tree." With absolute tranquility Hamlet turned and extinguished the

flame and then went on with the play interrupted only by the round of applause in which the audience naturally expressed their thanks. The New York Musical Courier is rather hard upon a picture of Mr Paderewski, said to have been painted by the Princess Louise. The Courier describes it'as " the face of a man who has swallowed four large wasps, and is keeping them alive by eating Limburger cheese ; else how explain the look of bloated melancholy upon the visage ? "

At a recent concert in one of the London suburbs the leader of the orchestra, having finished a morceau by Bach, mentioned an addition to the programme in the form of an organ recital by saying: " Ladies and gentlemen, you will forgive me if I proceed to Handel the organ, after turning my Bach on the audience." And the audience cheered and Lisztened attentively.

Of the recent by no means successful representation of Stephanie de Mohrivart by Miss Janet Achurch a Home paper says : — Since the expiration of Miss Genevieve Ward's rights in " Forget-Me-Not," this singularly effective play had been allowed to rest until Saturday, when the Charles Charrington-Janet Achurch combination revived it at the Avenue. Few have forgotten the histrionically powerful impersonation of the passee Stephanie de Mohrivart by Miss Ward, and Miss Achurch's performance, of course, challenges comparisons which are not in her favour. To begin with, she is far too juvenile. Stephanie must be nearer 50 than 40 ; whereas, Miss Achurch makes her appear in the very prime of womanhood. A more grevious fault is the lack of clear enunciation and declamatory force. Her voice rises and falls in jerks, and many sentences are mumbled rather than spoken, so that the admirable speeches Forget-Me-Not has to deliver do not create their full effect. At some moments the embodiment is very fetching, and at others it is quite the reverse.

Madame Patti has been engaged for 1893-94 by Mr Marcus Mayer for a series of 45 concerts in the United States!" many of them taking place during the Chicago Exhibition season. She is, it is stated, to receive the tolerably handsome fee of L9OO per uighi,, and LSOOO has been deposited in advauce.

Talking of the operatic season, Sir Augustus Harris said: "The singers give the most anxiety on account of a curious illness which is prevalent among them from time to time, called maladie de prima donna, which in plain English means ' when they don't want to sing.' "

Under the heading " Roll Call of Thespians who have joined the great majority," the Sydney Sunday Times says :—: —

The late fire at the Theatre Royal has been the meaus of stirring up innumerable reminiscences and lingering memories of the past in connection with the theatre 'in Australia, and we have to thank Mr J. H. Rainford for the following list of those who have " crossed the river" to meet their pilot face to face during his career in connection with the stage and to the best of his personal knowledge. No stauncher friend to the theatrical profession in Australia lives than popular Jimmy Rainford, and doubtless the list of brother and sister artists now dead will awaken many sad and many pleasant memories among actors and actresses and friends of the departed who are still fighting the battle of life. The following is the list, for which we are indebted to Mr Rainford : — Acrons. Daddy G. H. Rodgers W. Collins Daddy Lambert W. Milner E. Vincent Arthur Redwood Chas. Dillon Fred Ede 11. N. Warner W. S. Lystcr Chas. Miran Bass Hodge Sam Howard George Simms Sam Woolfe Sir William Don William Andrews Gordon Griffiths Charles Young J. P. Hyde Charles Matthews J. Tilbury (treasurer) Charles Kean J. Booty (treasurer) Billy O'x\eil Stuart O'Brien I\ Houison James Le Roy J. Simmonds «. J. Munro Fred Younge J. Liddy Richard Younge Barry Sullivan William Hoskins Samuel Emery Walter Montgomery H. W. Emmett Tom Leopold E. Vinson Jas. J. Bartlett Richard Setright George Moreton Frank Towers Chas. Jones (treasurer) Richard Kohler Edwin Adams Robert Lawrence Signor Majeroni J. L, Hall B. N. Jones Frank Bates T. Noble W. E. Sheridan W. Creswick John Hall (musician) Barry O'Neil Billy Leake Scott Siddons W. 11. Cooper J. Allison Sid Chambers F. Marshall \ ■n,. n it, a - a Chas. Weightman T. Marshall/ B ™U™ a (manflsh) J. Hogan Mr Chambers (his Robt. Heir father) Dion Boucicault W. H. Thompson John Dunn (Zulu). Harold Grey (Pilgrim) Sam Lazar (lessee Theatre Royal) Actresses. Madame Ristori Mrs J. P. Hydes Ma^am M. Duret Mrs Geo. Simms Mrs Geo. Darrell Kate Corcoran Mrs Chas. Jones Patty Holt Mrs Cro.iby Mrs Chambers Mrs Chas. Poole Mrs Chas Kean Annie Lockhart Mrs Wm. Holloway Miss Hattic Sheppard Miss M. M'Keown Florence Colville Miss Lena Edwin (Mrs Julia Harland B. Holt) Mrs Vincent Miss Blanche Stammers Mrs F. Marshall (Mrs Arthur Garner) Mrs J. L. Hall Mrs Woolridge Mrs 11. Leopold Marion Melrose Mrs Euniml Ilolloway Tilly Andrews Mrs B. W. Jones Kate Warde Marie St. Dennis Louisa Arnott Lady Don Maggie Oliver (Added for the Witness by G. W.) ACTOUSi. ACTXIKShKS. G. V. Brooke Avonia Jones Tom Nu »n Tilly Enrle Ive Wolf - Mary Provost J. K. Emmett Julia Matthews Dick Roberts Rosa Dunn Jimmy Hooper Bessie Herbert Tom Lee Mrs Sam Howard Tom Barrou (clown) Polly Leake Henry J. Burton Mrs Alfd. Phillips Charles Wheatleigh Mrs Chester Jim Milne Mrs Winstanley George Fawcett Emma Stanley Tom Eawcett Lola Montes Sandy Fawcett Catherine Hayes Ben Tannett Sarah Flower Hey wood (prompter) Madame Strcbinger Cassy Matthews Mrs G. V. Brooke " And yen ye are dead how koon ye is forgotten." Rip van Winkle. " And when the earth you're under, It's just a nine day's wonder, And the world jogs along the same as before." —Charles Matthews. From the Bulletin : — • Emily Soldene has returned to Australia, after an absence of 13 years, by the Monowai. The question now before English critics : Who is the leading actor of to-day, Irving or Beerbhorn Tree ? The latter's supporters aver him to be the more versatile, by far. Word of an old friend comes from Liverpool (Eng.). A local music hall notice says that "dainty, charming, vivacious Amy Horton is a genuine, good, all-round turn." Amy still sports a long pinafore and a lisp, we presume.

Gracie Plaisted, who died the other day in America, will be remembered here as a bright and vivacious actress, with a fairly good voice. Her most successful part was in "LaPerichole," in which her drunken song, "I am so tight," was a marvellous piece of realistic work. She also tried to put some life into Luscombe Searelle's wonderful operatic effusions, but that was a task beyond her powers — or anybody else's

TRACKED TO A TURKISH BATH,

When in London, Mr Haddon Chambers, the famous playwright, occupies a beautiful furnished suite of rooms in a quiet street near Portman Square. Here I found him at 12 o'clock one morning, just preparing for the day's work, and with only an hour to spare before' rushing off to read a new comedy in the theatre. "I have been everything, you know," ho said, with a quick pleasing gesture — "miner, boundary rider, journalist. I came to this country from Australia in 1883 detex-mined to seek my fortune, and all that I possessed to do it with was a quill pen. Shortly after that however, I commenced to write short stories for weekly publications, and as these were prettygenerally accepted, I made my way almost from the start.

" My first play was a little piece, ' The Open Gate,' which was played at the Comedy. Then I wrote ' Devil's Cnresfoot,' produced it at a matinee with big success, and as a result I fell in with a — well, I'll politely call him unsuccessful manager. I knew little enough about tho stage in those days, and when it was arranged that my piece should be produced at the Strand, I was very pleased, and went off to Wcstgate a light-hearted ami happy man. Alas, the returning ! The first week passed, and no fees came to mo. I began to have anxieties as to the health of my impressario, and on the Saturday I went up to town to leave a card on him. It was nearly 8 o'clock when I reached Victoria, and almost 9 when I turned into Gatti's to get something to eat before going on to tho theatre. "What was my amazement to see the leading actress, who should then have been on the stage, sitting there calmly at supper, as though such a play as ' Devil's Caresfoot ' did not exist. " ' Whatever are you doing here ?' I asked. " ' Oh, don't you know ? ' she replied. ' The bailiffs are iii the theatre, and it is closed.'

"That was a pleasant piece of information, wasn't it ? Of course nothing was to be done ; nothing ever is to be done in these cases. I went home indignant enough, and determined that the only cure was work ; so I sat down and kept hard at it until I had finished 'Captain Swift,' and then I determined to chase Mr Beerbohm-Tree until he accepted it ; and I did chase him. He has never been chased in a similar way before or since. I followed him from place to place in hansom cabs, waited for him in public resorts, stormed him at the theatre, but always without result. Ho would not listen to me, and ' Captain Swift ' remained unread. "But one day my chance came, as it always does come to those who do not wait. I was in the West End, with the beloved manuscript in my pocket, when Mr Tree passed me in a hansom. I called another cab pointed to the scent, and on we went, careering westward. Suddenly the game stopped, and I gave a view halloa ! for the victim was about to descend to the depths of a Turkish bath, and there I pursued him, as the Furies pursued Orestes. " The work of undressing was for us both tho work of a moment. All the time that I was preparing for the lavabo I never forgot tho precious sheets. There they were, neatly bound together, and close was my hold on them as we descended to the infernal regions. Mr Tree, little knowing what was in store for him, duly prepared for a comfortable snooze. He lay like a beautiful statue upon the inviting marble, and I took my opportunity to lie beside him. '"Holloa! You here? How do you do?' " ' I was never better in my life, for I'm just going to read " Captain Swift " to you. Make yourself comfortable, for ib won't take very long.' " I won't be sure that my victim groaned, but I think that he did. Anyhow, he heard the play, and accepted it on the spot. There is no need for me to tell you that it was an enormous success. "Of my other plays the most prominent success has been 'The Idler,' produced at the St. James', but I have a farcical comedy to be played shortly, which I think will have a long run. People often ask me if I have any difficulty in getting my plots, but my answer is always the same. Stories come very readily to me. They always did, even when I was only a short story writer. But whenever I have got a theme I turn it over and over in my head for many weeks before I attempt to write it. Sometimes for a month together I never put pen to paper. Then the idea finishes itself in my mind, and 1 will sit up all night and produce an act. And I work, too, in the most erratic manner. The third act of ' The Honourable Herbert ' was written before the first and second acts were touched, for that was the act which completed itself most readily in my mind, and if I had not written when I did I might not have been in the mood again. "I cannot work in London; but that is the complaint of all dramatists, I believe. Most of my writing is done at Westgate, where I live for two-thirds of the year. Town is altogether too feverish a place for quiet literary work, and I get all the amusement I want promoting nautical contests amongst the boatmen, and living a good part of the clay on the water. " My father is an Australian, you know — Mr John Ritchie Chambers, engaged in the New South Wales Civil Service, where he wished that I should follow him. But I was always of a roving disposition, and after riding about the bush, and doing all things that a roving Australian loves to do, I came here to be a journalist. Yet the Australians are pleased with what I have done, as the comments in their papers show. I should not say, however, that all the inhabitants of Sydney are equally strong in dramatic appreciation, and I will give you an anecdote to show you what I mean. " My play, ' The Idler,' was being performed in that capital. It was observed that two Chinamen sat it out immovably, and without moving a muscle either for emotion or for humour. When the jierformance was finished the Celestials did not move. There they sat, while the house trooped out, until the manager at length tapped them on the shoulders, and notified that all was finished. Great was their surprise. " ' What, no more thukkus ? ' (circus). ' Oh. Klei!' " The idea of ' The Idler ' being described as ' circus 'was hardly flattering, was it ? " At this moment our interview was politely but firmly interrupted by a visitor, a sweet little girl of 18 months old. Mr Chambers clapped his hands when he saw her, and instantly she cried "Author ! " Then she made for the MS. lying on the writing-table, and while a fond father gently restrained her I saw that a love for paper-spoiling was distinctly hereditary in this remarkable family. They say that Mr Chambers tells his best stories for her benefit, and that is a story I am quite pre* pared to believe.