THE GHOST WALK

Otago Witness, Issue 2671, 24 May 1905, Page 61

THE GHOST WALK

Eyland's Circus is ahovrtng in Tasmania. Harold Ashton is reporteS to be spending a holiday at Eotorua

Miss Jennie Opie is singing at the MclDourne Opera -House. The Bio-Tableau of the Husso-Jap War is •howmg in Tasmania. Watkins Mills and his English Concert Party have arrived at Perth. Tom Pollard's Opera Company was to ha-va appeared in Adelaide this month. , Miss Celia Mavis is appearing with Bain's Gaiety Entertainers in Tasmania.

Jim Bell and Ada Delroy are appearing with Rickards's show at Sydney Tivoli. Wirth's Circus, with which show is Abomah the Giantess, is en route for Queensland. Julius Knight Company was at latest producing "If I were King" «* Sydney Royal. The Pollard Opera Company is due to open in Adelaide with "The Belle oTNew York."

The Royal Comics, after "the present Sydney season, shed the' light of their presence in Perth.

Miss May Moore Duprez, recently in these parts, was at latest appearing at London Tivoli.

George Stephenson revived. "The Rose of Siviera" at Sydney Criterion on Saturday night last.

Those dainty ehaimers, the Diamond Duo, received a great welcome back to "Wellington last week.

Acknowledged with thanks from some reeponsible person press comment on "L'Aiglon."

Irving Sayles, the coloured comedian, is appearing with Rickards's Company at Sydney Tivoli.

Dan Barry is ura to date with a new piere ♦ntitled "The Prisoner of War; or, The Russian Spy."

After Mr W. F.- Hawfcrey*s engagement with Mr Harry Rickards finishes, he goes to the United States.

Comedian Will Percy is playing Sir Peter lioftus in "The Cingalee" with the Royal Ccmios in Sydney.

Stated that George Robey will be the next star comedian to visit Australia under engagement to Rickards. Mr Maurice Bcrrymore, the actor, whose death is announced, w»s an amateur boxer of repute in his younger days. Fred Bluett has concluded his engagement with Rickards's Company, and has joined Bain's Company in Tasmania.

" According to London Sketch Miss Ada,. Crossley intends returning to Australia with -her husband 'and' settling there. Mr H. "Norman, stage manager for Miss "Billi« Howarde's Company, was for 18 years 'stages manager for Mi Bland. Holt. "* '. "'•Gas Xiizzie- Kirk has terminated her engagement* in the Golden West, and is now appearjing atthe Gaiety Theatre, Melbourne. ■^' -Harry Rickards definitely leaves Australia "for America and England in search of variety talent, at the end of the- present month. Minnie^ Mario, -who for a number of years played at the Drury Xian-e pantomimes as principal boy, died recently of heart disease. It is arranged that" L Mr Andrew Mack vi«l pl»y short seasons in Wellington and Auckland before his return to America in October.Bert Bradley, and Miss Flo Barnes have gone west with the "Sinbad" Company, and will not appear with J. F. Sheridan in Sydney.

"VDss Nellie Stewart and the dramatic company which she heads will commence a season at His Majesty's Theatre, Auckland, on May 26.

O-ilhert and Sullivan Revival Opera- Company, now in Christchurchj commence » fortnight's season- in His Majesty's on Monday, May 29.

The dramatic company which claims Miss Tittell Brune as the "bright particular" commences tt New Zealand tour at Wellington on June 14.

Reported that a leading Australian actress, ene of the most popular and most talented in ■the profession, has been stricken with paralysis of the brain. Anderson's Dramatic Company commence a season in the Opera, House, Wellington, on the 27th inst. Opening bill will be "Through the Divorce Court."

Rickards'e Vaudeville Company conclude .their 3Sew Zealand season, at Wellington on .Friday nextl The company sails for Sydney the following day. . iHaa Ifaud Be*tty, the well-known operatic ~ and vaudeville artist, who has been «njoying a holiday in Chxistehurch for some -weeks past, ,'ltts returned to Sydney. . liass Nance CNeil, the American actress who toured' Australia-. »nd New Zealand scfce five years ago, returns to commence a- season in Melbourne- on June. 17.

Bland. Holt apparently finds a good frieu3 through.' the box office of "Th» Best of Friends" at Melbourne Roy»I, v ior there is no sign of a change in the bill. Julius Knight is reported to have contracted typhoid fever in Sydney. His place has been filled "by Mr Harry Plimmer (Wellington), pending recovery. "That little knowledge which -is supposed ta be dangerous in most -walks of life is the desideratum of the stage artist," "writes Mr Beerbohm "Tree in the London Magazine An American stage manager states that Jho qualifications necessary for a girl to get into the chorus are a good voice, ditto figure, and plenty of ginger — "Yes; plenty of ginger."' Coppin's Dralmatic Company has been in town all the week. The company gave a performance of -'The Miner's Daughter" at the South Dunedin Town Hall during the week.

Miss Mabel Lane, who has been plajins; ■with the Knight-Jeffries organisation in Sydney, permanently rejoins the Tittell Brune Company, and will appear in her old iuut. in "Sunday." F. M. Clark's New Folly Company, at Mel"bourne Gaiety, has been reinforced, by two . mew performera, Mr Alf Sherwin, "the mad musical tramp," and Mr Albert Lucas, dramatic reciter.

Mr Alfred Dampier, ihe -well-known actor, lias disbanded his company, with a view to taking a lengthy rest at his -home in Sydney. -Mr Dampier has not enjoyed good health for EOine time past.

The part of Cayley Drummle in "The Se eond Mrs Tanqueray" will be taken in Mcl- , fwurne by Mr Albert Gran, who played the character when the pieco was originally produced in London.

Stated as the reason Musgrove's Dramatic Company purposes passing Wellington and Dunedin on the return visit of the popular mummers is owing 1 to the difficulty of obtaining suitable dates. Win- Anderson has rearranged dates for bis •fiiabad the Sailor" Company, and for tlie pre-

sent the Tasmanian tour has been postponed. The organisation has sailed for the West for an eight weeks' season.

For the concluding nights of "Theodora," in Melbourne, Mr Gieorge Majeroni appeared most successfully as Belisarixis in place of J«Tr Jeffrey Williams, who was compelled to retire through ill-health.

To hand from Mr Claude Whaite, representative for the Brough-Flemming Comedy Company, press interview with Mr Herbert Flemming, in which that gentleman discourses interestingly on the company. The Tittell Brune season »t the Melbourne Princess closes on the Bth June-. "The Second Mrs Tanqueray," due on the 27th May, will be the final production. The company leaves directly after for New Zealand.

The actor's egg: "Many are the uses of music. If you want to boil your breakfast egg to a tune, put it in the saucepan and then play through the overture to 'Figaro.' When you have finished the egg will also be done." "The 'stage dress,' " says an authority, "is dead. Not so long since no one would have dreamed of copying theatrical costumes. Now the dresses seen at West-End theatres are of exactly the same style as those worn by ladies of fashion."

"The Tragedy of a Tragedian" is the appropriate heading given -to a paragraph in a London daily telling that a man who once played Hamlet, Claudius and Virginius with success now sells boot-laces in the streets of a town in England.

The regrettable illness of Mr Julius Knight will delay the production of "Hie Majesty's Servant" in Sydney. In place of Jhis, there will be a revival of "The Silver King," and the new drama will, therefore, not be presented until after that. *"

An appreciation of Brough-FlemminK's play, "The Walls of Jericho" : "It is not too much to say that those theatregoers -who miss seeing 'The Walls of Jericho' will lose an opportunity of witnessing one of the finest plays ever presented in Perth."

Mr Bert Royle, who has been managing the New Zealand tour of Mr J. C. Williamson's Bio-Tstbleaix, Has returned to Wellington. The company left the Bluff a. few days ago for Tasmania, after a highly successful tour through this colony. Mr Watkin Mills, whose rich, full bassbaritone voice has charmed three, continents, has returned to Australia, after an absence of five months. In the four centres of New Zealand Mr Mills will sing oratorio in conjunction with the choral societies.

Miss Cecilia Loftus has signed a contract, with Mr Charles Frohman's consent, to appear twice a day at each of Proctor's two theatres. She will receive i-630 a week, which is the largest sum ever paid to a music-hall performer in the United States.

Madame Melba recently closed her successful operatic season at Nashville, Tennessee,, and is now filling engagements in England. It is stated that next winter she intends taking up her permanent residence at San Mateo, Cal., close to San Francisco.

Mrs Howie (Princess Te Rangi Pai) is shortly i.o stage in London a Maori operettaor musical sketch, in which ten Maoris from, the colony will take part. The sketch will include baka and poi dancing. Hall Caine's latest novel, "The Prodigal Son," is to be produced at Drury Laa*e by Mr Arthur Collins. Mr Hall Came has considerably altered his novel for the stage, and the much-criticised element of digging uv> the musical manuscript has been suppressed. At the j3-aiety Theatre, Melbourne, recently, -there were present Frank M. Clark, The Stagwooies, Edith Ma*donald, Albert liucas, Will Rollow,-yera Wallace, Waddell Sisters,' Jessie Dell, Elsie Bates, Harry Leggett, Barbara Renton, Gus. Hayward, and Crystal Sylvena. Miss Nance O'Neill, who is bringing with her 'from the United States a company of about a dozen, including Mr Charles Daltou as her^ leading man, is due to arrive in Sydney on the 10th June. She opens her Australian season in' Melbourne exactly a woe.c later.

An American; actor on critics: 'No critic's opinion, one way or the other, counts very much, except to draw attention to the t>lay. For that -it is invaluable. But it is John Smith, who tells his friend that the show is rotten, and not to go, who is the real influence*."

Mr Geo. Musrtovc has departed by the mail steamer Sonoma- on a trip to America. It is his intention to return by the same- steamer on her next trip from San Francisco, arriving about the end of June, in time to join his comedy company, which will be playing in Auckland.

While the pathetic song "Nobody's child" was being rendered in the Volunteer Hall. Geraldine, the other evening, and the youthful performer was pointing skywards »t an imaginary »star, a stone fell on the roof, making timiH folk opine for the moment that the star liad suddenly dropped from the firmament.

The jnetny friends of Dan FitzeraJd will, remarks Sydney Newsletter, regret to learn that he is suffering- from very b»d health. He is an inmate of a private hospital, but his indomitable spirit prevails over his physical weakness. He visits the circus every day, and his control of the ring is as masterly as ever.

The principal parts for the forthcoming revival of "The Second Mrs Tanqueray" at the Melbourne Princess, hare been cast as follows: Aubrey Tanqueray, Roy Redgrave; Cayley " Drummle, Albert Gran ; Captain Ar-dal-e, Gaston Mervale; Orrayd, Maurice Dudley; Lady Orreyd. Miss Hewn Ferßiieon; Ellean, Miss Florence Gleeson ; and Mrs Tanqueray, Miss Titell Brune." At the close of the last performance of the pantomime at Bradford Theatre Royal the attendants found lying in the lavatory the unconscious form of a member of the ballet named Annie Thornton, 20" yeaw of age, who resided at Bradford. Miss Thornton was removed to the infirmary, where it was found that she was suffering from laudanum poisoning. Later she recovered consciousness, and is now progressing favourably. In London th* other day Mr Gill, K.C., applied to Mr Justice Darling for a. stay of execution in view of am appeal in the Fraser v. Edwardes "Cingalee" case, which ended in a verdict for Captain Fraser and the award of £3000 damages. His application was on the ground that the damages were excessive and the verdict against the weight of evidence. His lordship granted a stay of execution subject to £2000 being paid into court. Mr Andrew Mack's Melbourne season will be limited to nine weeks ; the star will then appear for seven weeks in Sydney; he will open in Brisbane on August 7, in Adelaide on August" 26, and will close bis Australian experiences at Perth. As the American company does not resume work in the United States until October next, it is quite possible that they may appear for a- few weeks in New Zealand on their way. to San Francisco.

A New York telegram: Mr Charles Frohman will duplicate the tour of Miss Marie Tempest to New York by sending to London Mr William Collier and the company now appearing in "The Dictator," ntnnbering 45, with understudies, auxiliaries, stage hands, and scenery. The steamship fares alone for the two companies will cost something like £4000. If the experiment succeeds, Mr Frohman will engineer a succession of similar rapid exchanges. Mr Edward Bran-scombe's Westminster Glee and Concert Party have arrived a>t Townsville from China.. " Tha party has visited dur-

ing this last tour South Africa, India, Ceylon, British Burma, the Straits Settlements, and China. For the Australasian tour the company will consist of seven boy sopranos, two tenors, two basses, and two male altos, and will be assisted by Madame Hooton and Mr Dudley Causton. The Dunedin season commenoss on October 5.

The following matrimonial announcement has appeared in Sydney papers : " TreglownBlight — Thomas.— March 25, at St. Philip's Church of England, Church Hill, by the Yen. Archdeacon Langley, William Treglown-Blight, of Hobart, formerly of London, to Lily Adelaide Thomas (Lily De Vere), youngest daughter of Mrs Thomas, Forest Lodge, Sydney." Can this lie the Lily D« Vere who was for niany months an inmate of Dunedin Hospital, suffering from a severe illness?

Lady Haldon is now appearing at the Tivoli Music Hall, in London, in 'A Sporting Duchess." This peeress has had a romantic career. She was Pauline Miska, a beautiful Viennese girl, on the boards at Drury Lane, when the Hon Captain Palk, son of the fir6t Lord Haldon, married her. For a- considerable number of years the Hon. Captain and Mrs Palk resided in Sydney. They went to London, an exchange explains, when Captain Palk came into the title of Lord Haldon.

The Maas-Rickards wedding celebration was one of the big Sydney events of the past few months (says the Newsletter). The crowd of women who nocked St. Mark's, Darling Pom 1 ., church grounds and the neighbouring vicinity surpassed anything of the kind ever heard .if in that usually sober neighbourhood. At the wedding feast at "Canonbery," Mr Harr> Rickards's mansion, at Darling Point, a great number of guests assembled. £500 is said to be the value of the wedding presents. The Brough-Flemming Comedy Company have "made a very good beginning with their Australian season. Opening in Perth, they have produced "Beauty and th» Barfje" with pronounced success, despite the unfortunate impediment of Mr Brough's illness, and he,ve now presented J. M. Barries famous comedy, "Little Mary," which was received with enthusiasm by a large audience. Mr Robert Brough's condition is much improved, and it is hoped that he will be able to make '>ia appearance in Perth before the end of the season.

An English music-hall manager has (says Melbourne Dramatic News) adopted a new and very desirable alteration in his advertisements, day bills, programmes, etc., by doing away with the top and bottom liners — the star turns — and arranging the names of he artists appearing at his hall alphabetically. This gives audiences a chance to select their own favourites, and may, perhaps, in the future have the .-affect of reducing the enormous salaries paid to some artists, by bringing the performers to a level — on the programme at anyrate.

One of the most noteworthy features of "The Ciugalee" is the lavish splendour of the mounting, dressing, and staging generally, the last act showing the "Parahara," or New Year celebrations, in which Mr Fred. Lceiie performed a weird and marvellous "Devil Dance," assisted by the Misses Violet Sylvester and Elsie Hamilton. The magnificent palace was suddenly illuminated with twinkling lights, the stage was filled with superbly-dressed dancers, and a scene of brilliancy and. animation succeeded to which it is quite impossible to do justice in mere words — it must be seen to be realised.

A novel attraction at the London Oxford are the Aerial Lady Wrestlers. A bar is hung across the stage about 18ft from the level of the footlights, and from this hang, or rather swing, half a dozen perpendicular poles. The young ladies" who wrestle are divided into two teams, distinguished respectively by the ■colours of their sashes, one team sporting red and the other blue. A selected number of them hang on to the poles while an opposition lot make! frantic efforts to force them to the ground (according to an exchange). It is very amusing to watch the tussles, for the ladies throw themselves into the business with obvious c-arnestness and energy, and the tide of victory rises and falls in most exciting fashion. Mr Edmund Payne's first start as "a real actor" was in pantomime at Leigh ton Buzzard. He was a snowball. "I narrowly escaped being burned to death, to start with. I was fixed into a round basket, with my head through a, hole- in the top. The whole was smothered in cotton wool, to represent snow. When the curtain went up a- man stood behind me. Either by accident or design — I think he did it by way of a joke, just to have a, lark with the new member of the crowd — he gave a kick to the basket in which I was crouched. The snowball rolled quietly down the stage. I could not escape. I could only see I was getting nearer and nearer the footlights, and then — I was into them, and the cotton wool was ablaze. Fortunately the other actors quickly pulled me out of the fire, and I escaped seriou3 injury. But I wa3 nastily scorched and singed." A circular letter haß been sent to all the London managers stating that the Lord Chamberlain has come to the conclusion that in some cases it may be possible for him to "elßsticise" certain oi the reoently-isened rules which govern theatres under his jurisdiction. The rules referred to are as- follows : "7. All doors and barriers must open outwards, and the management must allow the public to leave by all exit and entrance doors, which must be thrown open for the use of the audience at th» end of the performance. 8. Sufficient gangways, passages, and staircases for the exit of the audience must be provided and kept entirely free- from chairs or other obstructions, whether permanent or temporary, and the audience are not permitted either to sit or stand in such gangways." Sir Arthur also "requests" from each manager a schedule illustrating the maximum number of persons who could be admitted at any one performance to his theatre, indicating in detail also the capacity for standing room. These particulars are to be endorsed on the original building plans of the theatres which are in custody of the County Council. Sir Arthur also suggests tha-t these particulars should be exhibited where they can be conveniently seen by the audience.