STAGE GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2399, 22 February 1900, Page 51

STAGE GOSSIP.

(Specially Written for the Otago Wit-

Dear Pasquin, — "I'm the .kiddy that the ' Beggar left behind him ' " is a London song hit by Miniature Marie, and written by her father, Mr Frank Egeiton. Marie, who will be 14 years old on April 12 of this year, is billed as " The youngest and most talented juvenile actress,, vocalist, mimic, and specialty dancer on the stage. ' The Lynch Family of Belliingers are doing the small towns of South Australia. ThenAdelaide season opens at the Town Hall- about March 8. A theatrical touring company extricated themselves cleverly from a position of considerable difficulty in the early days of the exodus fiom Johannesburg. The play was "The Merchant of Venice," and the trial scene was " going strong," when a messenger arrived breathless to say that a mistake had bosn made in the tune at which the last train left for the town where they were next due to appear. It would sfcait some two hours' earlier than had been expected. The news was hastily communicated to the actors on the stage. The scene had reached the crucial part, at which Portia, tuinirg to the Jew, says: " Shylock there's thrice thy money offered thee!" and the leading man, his wits illuminated by desperation, decided to cut the cackle and" the gordian knot at one bold stroke. He threw aside slavish adherence to the text. " Done!" he exclaimed. " Hand over the bags and I'm off. It's a precious sight more than I'm Hkely to make by staying in this city!" — a topical allusion that wad keenly appreciated, and produced a storm of cheers as the curtain fell — and the belated actors caught their train. " There's no pay, pay; or the girl the absentminded beggar left behind," is a hit at London halls. Ditto, "If she don't bump you get your money back. ' "A Mother's Sin" is the title of Maud Williamson's dramatisation of Hall Caine's '"The Manxman." That gory melodrama, " The Kelly Gang," was being played in Perth at latest. Recently Dan Bariy put it on at Wangaratta, Victoria, and the original Sergeant Steel, who was one of the audience, and the local bank manager had the pleasure of witnessing other people play the parts in which they themselves had actually figuied many years ago. "Tommy, don't you worry," is the title of. a new patnotic song, written by A. J. Morris. Though obviously inspired by Rudyard Kip- , ling's " Absent-minded beggar," it has considerable merits of its own. The following is the refrain : — - Sa}- — it's Tommy don't you worry, And it's Tommy don't you fret, You're an absent-minded beggar, But your country won't forget 1 Whilst you'ie fighting England's battles, Many miles across the foam, We'll look after Mrs Atkins And the little ones at home. The Sarah Bernhardt of the music halls — Marie Loffus. Dear Bis, — I notice, from Berlin files, that among the talent at the Winter Gardens " Miss Airagon, who is an Italian beauty performing on a wire, is exceedingly attractive.' Can this bo the beautiful Virginia, who was here with the Flying Joidans? — Yours truly, Jiblet Gullivan, Esq. Actor Alfred Woods and brother Charles have volunteered for the Transvaal. Both have had military experience. If Alfred Woo Js goes Dan Fitzgerald has offered to provide a good horse for him, and wired fiom Victoria recently to confiim his offer, adding that "Australia must be well represented in the show business in the Transvaal.' Any more? Several members of a third-rate dramatic company, at present travelling Moaland, should be shot on a rubbish heap. At a lecent complimentary benefit to Manager Arthur J. Barclay, of the Granville, Walham Green, London, the 'gram consisted of no less than 122 turns. Sir Hemy Irving in a paper on " Christmas Memories," in the Temple Magazine, tells the following touching story : A poor actor went tj dine one day at the house of a comrade who was far from affluent, except in native kindliness. The invitation was a godsend to the guest, who had no other prospect of a satisfying meal. Silbon's Grand Circus — Walter Silbon, sole proprietor — is touring the English provinces. Two very interesting " freaks of Nature " were recently on exhibition at Westminster Aquarivm — Krao, the Missing Link, and the United Chinese Twins, " the only two similar beings on fcho face of the earth. ' Krao, the Missing Link, half monkey and half woman, was exhibited in babyhood at the Royal Aquarium, London, in 1883, and waa then, owing to her extraordinary hairy development, the talk of

London, as being a ha.lf animal and half in.imt.if child. This remarkable person is now 20 yearsof age, and since her babyhood engagement a l i London Aquaiium has visited all the .Royal' Courts of Europe. The "United Chinese Twina are two djstmct living people joined together. They were born in 18S6. They are 4ft 3in high! and weigh sst each. In their travels they are accompanied by their father, Lin Yuen Shang Lin and an interpreter, who speaks English, fluently. The mother died in her 25th year, when the children were but three years old. The twins are well-grown, bright eyed, lively boys, happy and cheerful. They converse in broken, English, and shake hands with their visitors. Dressed m native costumes and dark hair pigtail &, they present a very attractive appearance. Before depaitmg from Shanghai, they were carefully examined by Dr ZVlacleod, who reports : " I have exp mined the Chinese Twins and find them to b'i m perfect health. They are united. by a bond of ,xissue 3m in length by 1J inches accss traveraely." The boys have good appetites, and have perfectly distinct existences, ths one perhaps sleeping with the other awake and at play ; the one feelirg hungry and the other not at all, and a distinctive feature m the connection is that each boy is able to turn almost completely round from tho other, and walk side by side like ordinary people. Harry Crawford, " the limber-legged coon," whose illness was noted m this column a fortnight back, is a"bout once more. He speaks in very high praise of the treatment and attention he received from the medical and nursing staff of the Wellington Hospital. Dr Bridge, the conductor of the Royal Choral Society of London, sends me a copy of his setting for chorus and orchestra of Eudyard Kipling's '" Ballad of the Clamperdown." Some imagine that Kipling intended in this grim ballad to satirise our ponderous ironclads, and to compare them unfavourably with the men-of-war of bygone days, as the vessel opposed to the Clamperdown is a swift cruiser of the kind Nelson &o greatly appreciated. Whatever Kipling's intention mpy have been, he describes the ironclad as getting the woist of the encounter 1 ' for he says : — It was the sinking Clamperdown, Heaved up her battered side — And carried a million pounds in steel To the cod and the corpse-fed conger eel, And the scout of the Channel Tide. Dr Bridge has, however, taken qxiite a serious view of the struggle between the ironclad and the cruiser, and his fine choruses, backed by spirited orchestral accompaniments, make a "be Had worthy of Dibdin. Vesta Victoria, " a vesta that will strike any where, ' is playing four London halls nightly. Sir Aithur Sullivan — " the legitimate sue ces&or to Mozait!" " Mirella," a three-act opera by' Gounod, waf recently staged in London by students of tht Guildhall School of Music. Although Gouuod'i " Mnella " has of lste years vanished from th( operatic •stage, at me time it was greatly ap picciatsd in Paris. The opera never enjoyed much popularity m London, yet it contains charming music, having been composed between the period of " Fau&t " and " Romeo and Juliet." When performed, about a quarter of a century ago, at Her Majesty's Theatre, London, Mr Saittley was the representative of Vincenzo, and Madame Titiens (that grand singer to whom time has brought no successor), Madame Trebelh, Madame Volpini, and Signor Lvugiini were also in the cast. Latest London song hits: " Collar the fellow that bumps," ■ '• When the boys come home a£,ain," " Oh, Mr Kruger " (described as powerful as lyddite'l, " The lion wags his tail," " There's something in the English after all." C. Holloway's company, with Charles Saunders and Miss de Winton in the lead, is now playing at Sydney Royal in " The Power and the Glory." From Sydney they go to Brisbane. The season at Ballarat was a very poor one financially, whereat the management put in the local press a very sarcastic (advt.) letter of thanks to the people of Ballarat for their kind pationage. etc. The note wound up by saying that if Mr Holloway's repertoire were extensive enough, etc., he would have made Ballarat his permanent address, etc. With grim humour the Courier put the " thanks " under an obituary notice. Amongst the pttractions at London Crystal Palace are the diving horses, which have been a big attraction in the States. They mount a platfoirr erected at a height of 40ft above a tank of water, into which they dive head foremost. If they do not perform the dive perfectly they mount to the platform again and repeit it with greater care. They have been ki c-ftn to do this twice before satisfying themselves. W. H. Downes (" I'll await your srnilino face "), through Moaland in 1888 with HicksSawyer's Minstrells, bills himself at Home as " The coloured Australian tenor." Little Dora Mostyn is now with Alfred Woods, at latest at Broken Hill. Ditto. Maud Williamson, Ada Guildford, Alf. Boothrnan, Harry Beaumont, and E. G. Coghlan. — Youra truly, BIS. [Permanent address : G.P.0., Wellington, N.Z.]