WELLINGTON WING WHISPERS

Otago Witness, Issue 2288, 6 January 1898, Page 39

WELLINGTON WING WHISPERS

By P. Romptbb.

December 31. Dear Pasquin, —The last day of the year. Hogmanay ! May you and the Witness this time next year bear witness that it has been a good time. We are having a gay time — fine weather, 24 hours of it per day : a full town, some of it getting fuller as the night fills, and any amount of places to fill. A gay old, rare old, hi-tiddle-hi-ti time, With the same old, game old after the midnight chime, ' Filling the night With great delight, Missing the footpath and hitting the kerb, No thought just yet of using the curb — Having a gl .rious 1 o'clock dong, Getting ahead of the skylark's song, Y/ith a hip-hip, Hogmanay ! It'siust pure recollection of Dunedin that has driven my p-ohibition pen to this music hall doggerel, and I suppose I wanted to work off just one more little thins of my own before the roof of gool old '97 caved in. Yes, that's it, 'zactly ! But let's to our biz. Of course the event of the Xmas season has been " I>jin Djin." Every other theatrical evont of the year >-as been back-staged by this bu*;e venture of Tom Pollard's. Iv fact, you may talk about l)ry gin — to Too thin ! wear Djin-ljjin 'em in Is Djin. I/jin-Djin. There's tin The panto In Djin! is finNo &in de-siccle In l>jin ! Djin-Djin. Ni erin- ' That's all, OUn Ltsfc O^ll ! Is in With fizz Df in Djin. To Biz, Tii*y Sv«iikaldo i caII ! not Djin-Djiu, Begin Pa»quin ! This eft'urfc clean knocks me over. The afflatus has mo, like the influ-microbr, in its grip. 1 cannol do better than giv« your confrere ' Orpheus's " introduction to bis notice of the i>antomimo. My frieiul of the Post saj'rf :— "lt was a bravo n*sht for Mr Tom Pollard : in the auditorium an iinmeuac audience ove.crowdiug ev«iy part of the Opeia ilousn ; on the stage a fiuigeous spectacle, tbo lik<i of which, for wealth of colour, fantastic nir.tiinM. life aud eaietv. has uavar hefnra bean

displayed to the eager eyes of a holiday audience in this city. And the reception was worthy of the occasion— timid at first-, as though the muchBqueezed onlookers were afraid of results if they became too demonstrative, but gradually expanding as scene eclipsed scene, spectacle outshone spectacle, until ' Bravo 1 ' was heard on all sides, and the curtain finally went down amidst perfect tbundercl&i s of applause. This was as it should be! fc> r Mr Pollard deserves well at the hands of a public for whom he has supplied so sumptuous a Christmas fare." I could say a lot about Tom P. Hudson's grand little company now doing a season at the Exchange Hall— but you have already said what there is to say. After the Wellington season " Djin-Djin " goes right down to your city. A number of young ladies at Hastings have formed themselves into a minstrel troupe, and the other night they journeyed to Napier and gave a performance in the Theatre Royal there. A vast audience turned up to jeer, but remained to be thoroughly amused, and the local papers spoke highly of the performance, which was given in aid of the Band Contest Fund. Mr Knight Aston, the well-known tenor, was a through passenger by the Alameda for San Francisco, leaving Auckland for that port at 2 p.m. on Christmas Day. We are all looking expectantly for " The Sign of the Cross." This item is from a phristchurch paper :— " A postcard was received in Christchurch oil (Saturday morning from Hong Kong. The writer is a well-kuown theatrical entrepreneur who, while in this city, had been beguiled into purchasing a shilling ticket in an art union. Bethinking himself of the fortune he might unwittingly be throwing away, he wrote to Mr T. Jacobs, commission agent, asking him to act as his attorney in the event of his ticket winning a prize." I find this item going the rounds up here : — " Mr Barne Marschel has written another drama. 'Humarire Taniwha' is the name it carries romid." I trust I am not sending rain to Dunedin.