THE GHOST WALK

Otago Witness, Issue 2623, 22 June 1904, Page 61

THE GHOST WALK

By Pasquin, Jttn. - |

The new theatre at Perth will accoinruoiale SOOO. An Ohio judge has decided that acting is not ' natural labour. , A dr-a.matis'atioii of Biuiyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" is in hand Charlie Holloway has bee-i down with pneumonia in Adelaide. ! •Society entertainer Mel. B. Spuir is at present in Wellington. Pollard's Opnra Company are at present w : liaun^estcn. Tasmania. ■ "The Duchess of Dantzio" vail be produce J ia Australia next year.

j John F. Sheridan leaves West Australia foi I South Africa on the 22rd insl. : Sir Hawtrey and. company rare about to undertake a Weal, Australian tour. The Diamond Duo ure with Rickarels's company showing in Adelaide Tivoli. Hamilton Stewart and his wife (Miss May Chevalier) re-turn to Loncton shortly. Tho Australian mimic, Albert Whelan, is at the Palace of Varieties, Manchester. i The Gonzales Sisters have returned to Sydney, after a lengthy season in Manila. I Fred. Leslie, tho acrobatic comedia.ii, has joined the Royal Comic Opera Company. Sanford's American Players left Wellington for Sydney on Saturday by the Warrirnoo. An effort is being made in Melbourne to found a Playgoers' Club and Stage Society. Mrs Bandinan-Palnier recently went through her four-hundredth performance of "Hamlet." Beerbohrn Tree has opened his irr.matic academy with 100 .students, a>nd has refused many mere. Harold Ashton goes ahead of ths Beerbohm Tree Company to Brisbane and the Golden West. Miss Maud Beatty is appearing with E'ckards's Vaudeville Company at Sydney Tivoli. Chas. Holloway's company was at latest appealing in "The Two Little Vagabonds" in Adelaide. ! Miss Grace Noble, one time of Brough's Comedy Company, was ill in London when the mail left. Adelaide shows • Rickaordis's Vaudeville Company, Tivoli ; Willoughby-Gesch, Royal ; Wirth's Circus. - After "The Rose of Persia" George Stephenson's new English company will produce "The Dandy Doctor." The great German violinist. Herr Knessler, is negotiating with J. C. Williamson for a tour <*i Australia. Mr Charles Morton, the veteran "father of the music halls," has been oidered away for rest a.nd recuperation. A Santos Dninoni melodrama -eaititled "The Conquest of the Air " is to be produced shortly at the Ambigu, Paris. Edna May has been appearing in a revival of "La Poupce" in London lately, and has ■achieved great success. For "bochooing" a play produced in a London theatre recently .a patron was ejected from the building anct fined £5. Cuyler Hastings returns to Ainsirica at the disbanding o3 the company -which he has so long been associated with. Sir Henry Irving may possibly play in a six-weeka' season at Drury Lane, London, tcwa.rds the end of the y«ar. Woods-Williamson Company commenced a Wellington season with "The Gates of Bondage" on Wednesday evening. "Teddy" Royce, in Australia 10 years ago. is playing GasparcS in "Les Cloches de Corneville" in the English provinces. *Mr Barrett's new play, "Lucky Durban," will be produced at a London West-End theatre at the conclusion of his autumn tour. Miss Gracie Emmett and company were " sb owing at Polis Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut. U.S.A.. or: the 9tli April. Tom Fitzgerald goes to Batavia with a blanch iof the famous circus, a.nd the other, re- ' mforcecl tours Australia under Da.r. The Broughs are siaid to be doing well in South Africa. They are playing, amongst other pieces, "The Mairnage of Kitty." During the recent -illness of Mr Julivus Kright in Melbourne, Mr Harry Plimmer appeared as Wilfred Denver in "The Silver King." Sam Rowley— he of the big voice is appearing with the Gotham Quartette and the Perman Trio in "Gay Pa-ree," at the Melbourne Gaiety. The Royal Comic Opera Company concluded their N«w Zealand tour at Auckland on Saturday. They commence o season in Sydney on Jur« 25. Miss Julia MaJlowe and Mr E H. Sothern aro to be seen in London shortly in "Much Ado About Nothing," "Romeo and Juliet," and "Hamlet." A gala performance of "RigoleiKo." given at the Sar»h Bernhardt Thftatre, Paris, for the Russian wounded, produced the remarkable sum of £3000. A Dyson Joke. — Soubrotte : " And you did good business?" Montgomery Bangs (just returned frcm the provinces) : "Well — er — good vegetable business!" The alterations and improvements to Her Majesty's Theatie. Melbourne, will cost nearly £6000. The thoaire was re-openeid on June 18 for a biief revival of "Sherlock Holmes." Music Pupil: "Now, I want you to be perfectly candid with me. Do you think my technique is e;ettin° better 9" The Professoi • "Perhaps; but it's far from convalescent as yet." ''The Chinese Honeymoon" has now run for over 1000 nights at the London Strand. Ove.r £30.000 is said io have been cleared by its various representations in all parts of the weald. Mr R. Watkui Mi'.ls, the celebrated Erglish bas?o, was a tiirougb pa==enger for Sydney by the steamor 'Sonoma fiom San Francisco. Mr Mills is prviiig his first profcs<noral visit tn Aust-alasia Mr George Stephen fo.i's new Musical Comedy Company ihas quite taken Sydney by . sltDii. "Ihe Rose of the Rivieia" draws en- ! Ihn?ia«t;c crouds to the Lyceum during both t mature 'and evening pciifoimancef.. ; A clever <}e\ ice has been patented in England for the purpose of changing scencrv by electiicity. Only one m-a,n is needs:! for tho operation. He touches a button on a plate m j the wings, and the e^cbncity does tho ic«t. i Melbourne shows: "The Girl from Kay's," , I'nnce-s? ; "Tip Admhable Crich+on," Her Majesty's; "The (Jroit Wor'.d of London," T?cyal ;" Rxckards's Variety C'ompanv. Opera Ifou'-.c ; Perm-un's Variety Comcony. (iaietj*. The music-hall sketch question is likely to be settled on a oompj'Oiiii's-e of a two-scene, tliTly-mmute limit, with an r'.r.stic five minutes, together with the updo-i^tanc'iii? that !>\) sketches must be ongir.al and not adapted fi O---1 aiiy pay?. "You say you think Shakespeare is a foolish.

and trivial wiiter?" "I do," answered Mr Me&kton, rather tremu 1 ou i sly. "But you used to be aai almost idolatrous admirer of his works." "Yes. But that was befoie Herlietta h.n<3 I went to see " The Taming- o f the Shrew.' " "That was a splendid back fall you made in your depth scene last night," remarked a young } membra? of the compaTy to the eminent tra- • geclian. The latter looked at the flatterer with ; a suspicious gla.re. "Yes." he siid, "and I s-hould like to lay my hand 3 on the bhtheiuig idiot who soaped the boards of the stage " The will of Mr Michael Levcnston, a theatrical manager long associated with Me&sis Gcoige Ediwardes and H. J. Leslie m the piodnction of musical pieces, and who died on Maich 29, has been proved by th.s executiix thereia named. The testator's estate is entered at £5077, including net personalty amounting to £ISB. j AVhcn the Shaftesbury Theatre,, London, was rocpenod uy Georgia Mu=igio\e's company on May 14 with "The Prince of Pilsen," playgoers found iniajay improvements. 'The house has been redecorated and j eupholstered throughcut, a, r-e,/ and improved installation has bee.i put m, and the stalls have been piovided with a central gangway. The play wntte.i by Mrs Alfred Lyttelton, the wife of tho Colonial Secretory, will probo My be er.tit.lcd "The Thread of the Season," vlnch will not be inappropriate, seeing that the; story is, in ia measure, concerned with dressmakers anct their tasks during the height of the London sen=on. It is to bo produced by ilrs Patrick Campbell, who will appear as a dressmaker's assistant. "You will love me till the end?" faltered Hugo, vi the cT.rama. "'Till the end, Hugo," ai-Mvered Helene, the beautiful heiome. "But there viil be vicissitudes?" "Listen. Hugo. In the wsrdrobei which the management has provided me with there are 16 gowns. What is it that it means' Fiecisely that there will be no more than 16 vicissitudes. It is not many, Hugo, wheie love is." And she looked up into his face unutterably. A professional siuger m London is alleged to have been committed by a magistrate to the charge of the officials in oai inebriate home. She accepted the dtecision wit'i perfect equanimity "because it may prove a_ splendid advertisement I hope yet to be higher ip in my piofession than «vei. I feel pietty sure thai if I weie billed as 'the fallen singer,' to appear at the Queen's Hall, theie would be i.io difficulty in filling- the place." ' _ The Fityrnaurice Gill Company ?t the 1 Theatr.e Roypl, Hobart. have won much appreciation (says a local pape.r), Uiough there hag not been the overwhelming patronage accorded them which their merits deserve. Wintiy weather hus a g\ood dloa.l to do with lesssnirg attendances at public amusements. On the Prince of Wales's Birthday there was the usual holiday attendance. The pieces staged are good, and to Tasmanian audiences have the chaam of novelty. j "Walk up," shouted a showman, "and inspect this curious phenomenon — a real live wcinui-fish, tho oirty one in existence!" The

curtain rose, and a young woman* dressed all in black, ■appeared on the stage avid saidi. "Ladies and gentleman, I am the woman-fish. There's my marriage certificate. My husband's name was Fish. He was killed, last summer through a fall off a scaffolding, and as he has left me with four children unprovided for, 3 will take the liberty to go round and make a. collection on their behalt. ' According to tbe Era, Madame Sarah Bernhardt is the object of legnl proceedings, taken against her by M. De Max and Mdlle. Jazierpka, who were engaged! for the new play of "Varennes." M. D e Max refused' to have" hia liamu placed on the bills after that of another actor, and claims compensation four the disn.issal which followed his protest. Mdlle. Jaziersikia is a child actress, who was to iiave played Madame Roya.le in "Varennes." After 17 iehea.rsa'.s she> was found ,to be too small for the part, and she and her father now claim ' £48 damages. I Soma time ago Mr George Gios3niith, the . celebrated society entertainer, visited Norwich ' and gtwe a "show" at the Agricultural Hall. During the evening the weather became very rough, causing one of the window fastenings to become loose. The performance waa going on very happi'y, when all at once down came ( tho window with a terrible crash. For a i rvomeait everybody was startled. But , "George," who was quite equal to the occasion, ; came before the footlights and said, "Ladies ' and gentlemen, pray keep your seats. It's , all right. So_rnebody's trying to get in withi out paying." | A correspondent writes to a London paper making a complaint of shocking language at the Zco. "During a visit toi the Zoological Gardens a few days ago." he says, "I was surprised and! extremely shocked by the disgusting language of one of the parrots. On my approach he greeted me with a cheery ' Hullo"! How .axe you?' and I replied with tho conventional • T-r^ty Poll ! ' To my utter aicftzement, fifter cooking his head on cue side and legiarding me with a satirical glance, he swore at me, using two words familiar to the forecastle, and of a revolting nature." Madame Alva, the celebrated operatic singer, whose death was announced by cable, could boa st that she had received the largest fee ever paid to any prima donna in the world. A year or two ago she wa3 left a legacy of £35,000, duty free, by a wealthy Australian '" in recognition," to use the words of the testator, " of her goodness of heart in singing one afternoon at the convent at Bendigo to a number of nuns, as well a^ of her magnificent endowments as a rare singer and self-sacrificing, charitable Christian woman." The incident referred to occurred at Bendigo during a professional visit to Australia in 1898, when Madame Alva volunteered to sing for the nuns of the town just before their going into retreat. She contributed the -whole of the evenjng's programme, some seven songs in all, and is estimated, therefore, (o have received at the rate of £5000 a song. The interesting point about the episode, and one which no doubt swayed the te-tator, is that Madame Alva herself is a Protestant. Her husband, a wealthy literary man, is a prominent Home Ruler.