THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2677, 5 July 1905, Page 60

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

By Pasquix.

TUESDAY, July 4, 1805. Miss. Amy Murphy, of this city, has been engaged to sing at the opening of the new Opera House at Palmerston North. Miss Murphy leaves this week for Wellington to take the name part in "Dorothy," to be produced by the Wellington Amateur Operatic Slooiety. The grave of the late Dan Leno, the King's Jester, in the Lambeth Cemetery, Tooting, is now marked by a handsome monument. It is in the form of a white marble cross, entwined with ivy, and bears th© following inscription:. —"ln loving I memory of my dear husband, George Calvin, ' Dan Leno,' who fell asleep October 31, J1904 j aged 43. Here sleeps the King of Laughter Makers. Sleep well, dear heart, until the King of Glory awakens thee." Mr Harold Ashton is at present in Christchurch arranging for the appearance there of Miss Tittell Brune and Williamson's Dramatic Company. The season commences in the Theatre Royal on Friday. Mr Harry Smith, of Smith and Smith. Dunedin and Wellington, wljo returned from an extended visit to the Old Country a few days ago, says that Mr Arthur Clutsam, *a.t one time of Dunedin, is the foremost of ballad composers in London, and publishers are anxious to receive his work. " With Ihis number we are issuing a special supplement of Miss Tittell Brune, the clever young American tragedienne, who is the star of a strong combination which commences a season in His Majesty's on July 18- , The company is at present concluding a remarkably successful season in Wellington. ' Expected to arrive by the incoming Melbourne steamer due here to-day Mr Joe Brown, in advance of George Stephenson's latest venture. The attraction of the new show is Professor Andrews, with his demonstration of liquid air, which created quite a furore 'va. England. By means of thi3 wonderful discovery grapes may be turned into hailstones, a kettle may be boiled on ice, and ice may be made on a spirit lamp. In addition to th© liquid air demonstration, a vaudeville company will vaudeville each evening. The English Pierrot Entertainers, musical and humorous artists with an extensive repertoire, "Victor Dougal (the Australian baritone), and Miss ■ Dorothy Forbes (a young and charming soprano), are on the 'roster. Mr O. R. Bailey comes across as business manager of the >show, which opens first in Invercargill. Prices are popular: 3s, 2s, and) Is. Mr Harold Ashton, representing Miss Tittell' Brune and Williamson's Dramatic Company, will arrive in Dunedin on Saturday evening to arrange for the opening of the season in this city at His Majesty's on July 18Mr George Barnes, dapper advance representative for Mr George Stephenson's Musical Comedy Company, advises me ficm fhe Princess Theatre, Melbourne, that Mr Slfcephenson has just completed arrangements with Mr Georgo Musgrove for the purchase of r A Chinese Honeymoon," together with scenery, wardrobe, and accessories complete. The play is now in active rehearsal by the company for of the Golden West, whither the company journeys very shortly. "Bill Adams," Mr Stephenacn's latest extravaganza, has proved a strong card, and should be particularly delectable to New Zealand audiences on the next tour of the Stephenson show. - Congratulations to that clever comedian and vocalist Tod Callaway on his recent marriage, of which I have been apprised by the bridegroom himself: "Theatre Royal, Christchurch, June 30, 1905. Dear Pasquin, —Just a line to let you know I was married on Wednesday last to Miss Cissie Masootte (of the Mascotte Sisters), now appearing with P. R. Dixs Company. Ralph Bioknell, of the clever dancing' Bickneils, was my best man." At the inquest on Mr Arnold Johanna Arnold, professionally <known as Charles Arnold, the well-known actor, who dropped dead while singing at the Savage Club? London, recently, the immediate cause of death was pronounced as due to fatty degeneration of the heart. An eminent surgeon, who was present at the Savage Club when Mr Arnold fell, states that he has no doubt that death was instantaneous. Artificial respiration was tried, without success. The songs that Mr Arnold had been singing did not require any great exertion. A verdict was brought in that death was due to natural causes. Mr Will Jamieson, the well-known advance representative, who has been pilotin? Montgomery's Entertainers through New Zealand, terminated that engagement on Saturday evening, and on Monday took the express for the north, en route for Auckland, where he pxirposes taking up his headquarters. The recently-formed Dunedin Amateur Operatic Society purposes going "the whole hog" in connection with the forthcoming production cf "Kip Van Winkle," which i 3to b© staged at Dunedin Piincess on August 2 and following nights. Mr Leader Williams, on© time principal scenio artist with Pollard's Opera" Company, has been engaged to paint epecial scenery for the opera. From back cloth to curtain everything is to be new. Mr Williams arrived from Christohiirch last week, and at once made a start on tha canvas. Another ex-

Pollard member has aKo been engaged in th > person of Mr J. D. Sltoyle, who has played in almost every production oi "Rip" dating back oven to the Dunnings in tho early eighties in New Zealand. Mr Stoyle will look after the stage, acting under Mr Sydney Wolf, who is the conductor and general manager. Arrangements had been made by the committee to secure the services of Mr Barrie Marschel as stage maiager, but some misunderstanding arose, Mr Marschel declining the position. The opera is anticipated to cost 'something approaching £500" before the curtain rises on tha opening night. The cast is &s fellows: — Rip, Mr G. Siovwright; Derrick, Mr F. Heudry ; Hendrick Hudson, Mr Haggitt; Burgomaster, Mr C. R. Andrews ; Knickerbocker, Mr Blandf ord ; Captain Rowley, Mr L. Hobbs ; Nick Tedder, Mr Lindley ; Gretchen, Mrs Hudson ; Katrine, Miss K. Fraser. Miss Dulcio Murphy will dance the Rhein fay, and Mr Lionel Cox will give the goblin dance.

Per electric telegraph from Auckland, the following reaches me, signed by a very happy man — none other than Mr Youlin Birch, dramatic critic of the New Zealand Herald, and joint author with Mr Alfred Hill of the new comic opera produced in Auckland a few nights ago : " ' Moorish. Maid' wonderful success; booking enormous whole season."

Patrons of Fifczgeralds' Circus throughout Australasia will regret to hear of the death of Commodore at a veterinary establishment jh the city a few days ago (says Sydney Referee). The pony was 27 years old, and had been connected with the circus since its inception. The brothers, in fact, considered hin? their Mascottc, and his death ihere'fore comes as a heavy blow. Everywhere the pony wa an immense favourite — probably th^re was not a more widely known oT more popular horse in the Commonwealth. He had been ailing for some time, but his death is said to have been a Deaceful one... The skin is being preserved, while the Roofs are being made -Ir-to mementos, which will serve as heirlooms in the families of the enterprising brothers.

A oasa of, interest to theatrical managers and artists, as well as to the "general," who dearly love to know the salaries paid on the stage, was heard at Birmingham England, a day or two before the mail left. The proprietors of the Birmingham Gaiety Theatre of Varieties sought to recover from Fred Carey, a comedian, £15 damages for alleged breach of contract. The plaintiff's case was that they engaged Carey to appear for £15, and as he failed to do so they filled the vacancy by employing another artist, who received £30.— His Hcnor: Need you have got such an ox-travagantly-priced gentleman? — Mr Dorset (for the plaintiffs) : We could not get anyone else.— Mr Bushell (the plaintiff's manager), cross-examined by Mr Graham Millward. said they paid a man in proportion to the amount he was likely to ' araw^ to the house. "It does not follow though, the manager .added; "you may pay a man £20 and he may not be worth a "fiver "—Mr Millward: Is there any scarcity of-- artists at £15 a week? Mo. There are plenty to be had at £15? There are plenty at £s.— Carey explained that after filling up a form agreeing to appear at the plaintiff's theatre he recollected that he was m the Barrasford torn-, and could rot appear at another place of amusement in the town in which they had a hall. He therefore told the agent not to push the contract.— Mr Millward: Could Mr Bushell have got a good man to fill your place at £15?— The Witness: You could get 50 now to appeav to-night.— You don't claim to be at the top of the lree?-Far from it. I am an average, ."fift-een-pounder," but there are average comedians who get £5. I hey are very \ average.— Mr Dorset*: What do you hope to get when you get to the top of the tree?— They do tell us some of them get £130 anJ £150 a week.— And you don t believe them?— l was with a comedian on Saturday and saw him draw £160 for his week's salary.-His Honor: £160 !— Th« judge gav<j a verdict for the defendant, an:l refused leave to appeal. Montgomery's Entertainers brought thenbrief season at the Princess Theatre to a close on Thursday last, and have moved northwards. Since his last visit here, Mr Montgomery has added very considerably to his picture repertoire, which is up-to-date with various subjects— humorous ( and serious, novel and intellectual. One of the best is that showing scenes at the lifeboat station at Worthing, England, from the launching of the bo;rt to- life-saving from a wreck and the return to the shore. All the pictures of the lengthy series are very animated and realistic/ Another lengthy and complete series shows train robbers at work and their exciting flight and pursuit and extermination at the- hands of the police. Other pictures included scenes •from the well-known drama "The Sign of the Cross," a reproduction of the midget comedian Little Tich doing a characteristic "turn," a depiction of the marvellously clever acrobatio work done by the Yullen Family, and in more humorous strain "Marriage by Motor Car, the Story of an Elopement and its Consequences," "Chasing a Pickpocket Through London," a scene showing what the united efforts of a few London policemen can achieve, "The Nest Bobbers," showing the adventures of some very small boys, and in the way of films of the novel order, so dear to the juveniles, "The Magio Sword," "The Waif and the Wizard," "Chinees Magic," "The Butterfly Metamorphosis," and "Transformations." A very good series in a melodramatic style was entitled "A Wife's Kevenge." Of the pictures generally it may be said that they are interesting and clear, and well worth inspection. Commenting on the first appearance of Mr Notfc Osborne, husband of Miss Maud Jeffries, in the role of Beaucaire, so successfully played in New Zealand by Julius Knight, a Sydney paper says : An astute managerial move introduced Mr J. B. N.. Osbome, of the well-known N.S.W. family, who has not been long on the stage, as Mons. Beaucaire, with Miss Maud Jeffries (Mrs Osborne) as Lady Mary Carlyle. Tho l-esult was a huge fashionable audience, which included the Governor-general and party, and which displayed the utmost enthusiasm, recalling Mr and Mrs Osborne again and again. Miss Jeffries' s performance as the Bath Beauty is well known. On Saturday she seemed over-anxious for the success of the Beaucaire, and so perhaps occasionally over-acted, but it was nevertheless an excellent performance. Mr Osborne, considering the little experience he has had, did surprisingly well as the cailant Frenchman. He kept «© Mt Julius

Knight's reading of the part, and gained in strength as he proceeded ; revealing a dramatics power with which he had not previously been credited. The entertainments given by the Messrs Fuller at the Alhambra Theatre show no diminution of popularity or general quality. The house was again packed on Saturday night, when several artists made their first appearance. Mr Pete Miller is a trick musician of more than ordinary ability in his line, and was received with special heartiness. His work is neat, sufficiently melodious, and pleasurably effective and original. Quite a different line is that of the gentleman billed as ''Beck.," who executes lightning sketches in oils with quite exceptional facility The first sketch — a war piece, in which forts and gunboats explode their armament with startling suddenness — is. it is presumed, this performer's own invention. Miss Pearl Ackerman is a well-known Australian contortionist, who twists herself to an extent so extraordinary that it is claimed that she actually accomplishes dislocation, a termination novel and disturbing. Among clever people previously noticed, Stewart and Sterling continue to do very pleasing and effective work. Miss .Goldie Collins sings and dances with dainty abandon ; Mr Will Stevens fully maintains his unquebtionabl-e ]4^>ularily; Mr Charles .Howard, who also stagemanages with entire success, sings with acceptance;- -and M-isses Florrie Swift and Fio Weston, with Mr Les Warton (whose items are exosJlent in their order) merit somewhat more than a word in passing.

The trust bulking most largely in the public eye just now is the theatrical trust (writes the San Francisco correspondent of the Melbourne Age). This combine, it has reoently been revealed, so completely controls the theatres in the leading of the United States that m a great many of them it is impossible for an independent company of any merit to appear. Nearly all "the stars" are under the trust. _ Some few have, however, held out, and in consequence they are able to secure bookings in only a limited few of the big cities. Minnie Maddern Fiske, generally considered the greatest actress before^ tho American public, is one of these. "The trust has excluded me from nearly all the larger cities of the country," she Bays, and explains how it has been done. She is able to appear in New York because of the multiplicity of theatres there, and the inability of the trust to dominate them all. But the trust, having secureu oast-iron arrangements with the owners of theatres in nearly all the larger cities, outsiders, no matter how eminent, are barred from appearing in them. Mrs Fiske is unable to' make what is technically known as a "tour" of America— that is, she cannot travel from 'large city to large city, in easy stages, appearing in each".* When on tour she must make. long jumps, missing many of the most desirable cities en route, because the theatres are closed against her. Until last year it was possible foi her to lease second-class theatres, but these have now also been absorbed by the trust. So absolute is the power of the trust that it is declared not even Sir Henry Irving, or Eleanora Duse, or Salvini, or Coquelin could tour the country without its sanction and aid. But, worst of all, the combination is gradually securing control of all the best stage literature written. It is well nigh impossible for an independent manager to get new material from abroad. A marked copy of the Detroit Free Press comes to hand containing the following appreciation of the clever New Zealand actor Henry Jewett as the king in "A Winter's Tale " : "The part of the king is confided to Mr Henry Jewett, an actor of studious habit, regal bearing, when it becomes necessary to assume the royal mien, and in other particulars a fitting and instructive exponent of the character. Leontes is a fool or a madman — a type of self-begotten jealousy, the passion that springs out of nothing, fashions its own evidence without facts, and after gorging itself upon nothing returns to its original eleme-nts. The best side of him is his late repentance, out of which in turn spring self-condemnation and corroding remorse. Here the spectator of his unha-ppinese gathers a little satisfaction in the knowledge that his monstrous offence has overtaken him, and that the lash of punishment is laid on his naked hide by way of most righteous judgment for a foul wrong. Mr Jewett plays the character with unusual intensity of passion and many histrionic graces. The helplessness of the king in the clutch of his mad jealousy, which is like a cancer in the heart, is all that saves him from universal execration ; and that helplessness is so well set forth, or rather suggested, by Mr Jewett as to command for him a measure of sympathy, even when he is most condemned."

| Ludwig Englander, the composer, who .has written 30 comio operae in 10 years, rhas a method quite his own for tho com- ! position of lyrics and ensembles. " First I get my lyrics," he said. "I take them to the library. If they are not typewritten I send them back and beg my friend, the author, to have them copied at my cxi pense. Himinen The handwriting of these j authors ! It is a torture, or if it is not a torture it is an offence to the eye. When I have finally read them I take up the one that is most truly lyrical. I might say it is therefore more easy. I do this because I want to get into the musical spirit, ■and to warm up to my task I must approach the difficult solos and ensembles last. I close my eyes, lean back in my chair, and think the words, say them, over to myself, in silence, again and again, Usually the melody steals into my brain out of the silence. If I am tired or out of time with the world, and the_ musical hint does not come, I do not wait for it, but go to the piano and run my fingers up and down the keys. Somewhere in the scale I strike a chord that echoes the hint that I have had from the jsilence of the melody. Or, if I have not had the hint, some note will suggest itself as fitting the theme of the song. Then, lest I forget, I feverishly write the score. Sometimes the hit of th© piece trails itself from my fingers thus in 15 minutes. Sometimes I toil upon an ensemble for three or four weeks. I have written a comic opera in three weeks, and I have taken six months for another. And the worst was not that which required three weeks nor the best the one I was writing for six months. Mr Englander was born in Leipsic. He was a pupil of Offenbach, who said to him, "Ludwig, remain single and you will be as great as I would have been had I not married."

M. Paderewski, ihe world-famed pianaat, arrived from America last Tuesday (writes a London correspondent under date May^ 11), on hifl way to Switzerland, whore he is to

rest for twe months. When M. Paderewski lose to leave tfoa train, Jio one would havo judged from his appearance that he had ever been, seriouaiy ill. "Dressed in. dark Inverness coat, with a flowing cambrio •tie and a silk hat, his personality seemed! to have lost none of its charm and magnetism," says an interviewer. "I am muoli better now, however, and I am going for two months' rest ti my villa, on Lak<* Geneva," ihe pianist remarked. He smiled when told of the rpport that he might never b© able to play again. "It is not true," he said, adding regretfully, "but, of course, I cannot fulfil my engagements in London this season. Where I shall next perform I cannot say at piesont, but probably I shall playin London in October." The pianist has brought back with him from Australia no fewer than six cockatoos. They are, it seems, his favourite pets. M. Paderewski speaks with enthusiasm of his audiences in. Australia and New Zealand. "It was liko playing in Europe — in England," he obfiDrves. "We artiste, of course, tl>ink thafi people have tc be of exceptional culture to understand and appreciate us." He says this with a smile "And in Australia and New Zealand the people »vere most cultured and charming, r.nd I have seldom or never enjoyed more ieal appreciation of what. I am able to do in my a.rt. I wa- quite sorry to lcava Australia and New Zealand. Perhaps I may go there again— who knows?" "I know it has been said," he continued, "that I mean to retire from the piano, and to become a composer pure and simple. That is not so. 1 love the piano tco well to discard it while my playing gives pleasure to the public. But that docs not mean that Ido not ooSJpo&e also. I have, for instance, a symphony which may be played in IJeipzic, perhaps in Warsaw ; in fact, I have- half promised it to the Philhatrmonic Society there*. It is comp'cte, except for two movements — the orchestra uarta, for which I have not yet scored. But for the prp'sent I make holiday," said Pa-dorewski, and Madame corroborated this statement with an emphatic vod.

A bishop writes :n appreciation of "Beauty and tho Barge." which we shall see here shortly produced by the Brbug-h«3Henirning Comedy Co. : — Dear Sir, — I was ablo to get to your theatre one nig-ht la>st weeJc to see "Th© Walls cf Jericho." I daresay you may be tired of i*eceiving letters from bishops and common parsons thanking you for the piece. However, here is another. I don't know to what extent a successful actor may be he'ped in his work by a sense of moral sympathy, but there can be no doubt that the particular bit of work you are doing just now is almost unique, and if sympathy has a place at all, it may well come in here. Your p.lay must either fail utterly, or it must make the "smart set" writhe. The mere acting all throug-b. is very fine; but iet aeirng reaoh the very height of its art and it could nevea* in "The Walls of Jericho" become a side issue to the point blank volley of its message. So that society cannot say as it might wish as a sort of escape, "It is a stupid play, but consummately done." I don't know how the thing- is working- out f or you, but smart folk do not usually likei the Joshua, Jonahs, or John Baptists who speak straight words to them. I think just now you are the counterpart of Watt's picture in the Tale Gallery. Why we clergy are co keen on what you are doing is, I fancy, this~ We are forever trying to preach such truths, but we never have the audience. The Mormons are nod there. A West-end theatre is a place of worship they still '-attend, find they have got to listen to what you say, and I think it must flash a sudden light into many a longdrugged conscience. But I must think you run a great risk. What if they only go to the stalls c-n condition there shall be no sermon? Shall you lose your audience soon, as we parsons do? For /ou are now a preacher every night, and your target is b&fore you. I was writing lately to a friendl about Stephen Phillip's "Sin of David," and I said that any actor who would dar© to present hp. its full emphasis the love of Lisle for his baby child would do more good to the West End audience than 50 parsons' sermons. There are several passages which you bpeak which reach the point of courasre I meant, and on the same subject too. Well, you're too busy for such long letters; I simply «-ay "Thank you." I only know Mr Sutro through his translations "of Maeterlinck. It is good to find him speaking x such words of his own; and, again, it is good to see an actor who will dare to hurl the message out. — Yours faithfully (signed), H. Wabd, Amotherby Vicarage, Malton, January 30, 1905.