THE GHOST WALK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2734, 8 August 1906, Page 60

THE GHOST WALK.

Mr Clement Wragge is lecturing in Western Australia-.

Miss AHoe L»ytan has joined Bain's Gaiety Co. in Hobart.

The B^ack Family of Musicians have sailed for tibe Island?.

The Royal Comic Opera Company is at present ixt Adeliade.

"The Fatal Wedding" Company has concluded its season in Hobart.

Miss Olive Lenton is appearing with Riokards's Co. at Sydney Tiroli. Mies Nance O'Neil has postponed her trip to the Orient in the meantime.

Miss Ellen Terry goes to America under the jnanagement of Mar Chas. Frohman.

Mrs Langtry has been engaged to appear in New iork at » salary of £300 per week. Mr Ernest Collins, manager in Australia ior Mr George Musgrove, lias sailed for London.

Each «f tlie feet of La. Belle Otero. the famous* dancer, is insured against accident ior £2000.

Bl»nd Holt'has withdrawn tho drama "With Flying Colours,'' and revived "In London Town."

Sheffield City Council conditionally decided io permit smoking at the local Alexandra Theatre.

The most successful play produced in London aince September is Pinero's "His House in Order."

Miss Ada, Rehan, the American actress, has been suffering from appendicitis. She is now recovering. Mr Harry Shine, the well-known comedian, has signed on for Mr J. C. Williamson's pantomime. Wm. Anderson's Dramatic Company was at latest producing "Dangerous Women" at Melbourn* Royal. The Gibson Girle, recently appearing under the Fuller management at the Alhambra, are now at Hobart.

Md.le. Antonia Dolores, the well-known soprano, was a. passenger by the last San Francisuo mail steamer. Jflass Flo Eedsaille, the Australian vocalist, saus for South Africa shortly on a thareeznoEths' engagement. Jfcies Tittel. Brune and the dramatic 00. of which she is leading lady commence* a season in aydney on Saturday next. Cleopatra, the shake charmer, and Bonita, the expert jrifle shot, are appearing with Bain's Gaiety Entertainers at Ballarat. The Mnsioal Gardeners, recently with the "Sinbad the Sailor" Co., have joined Fullers' Eutertninere for » fhree-months' tour.

Ola. Jane "Humphrey send Charles WJaldron, while on -tour. wiP produce "The Christian, in adoHtion to "The Squaw Man" and "The Virginian." Comedian Irving Sarles is with Ricksrds s Co fct Sydney Tivoli ; -where also are Tcm Da'weon. Miud Faning, Arthur Elliott, and ahost of others. A cablegram to a, London paper from New York announces that Mies Ada Rehan is Buffering from appendicitis. An operation was to have "beeu performed. Having concluded bis engagement with Wm. Anderson's "Smbad the Sailor" Company, Ted Ca-'oway, the comedian, has joined Messrs Dix and Baker's Go. a-t Newcastle. Miss Mabel Lane, of Wm. Anderson's Dramatic Company, was, when the mail left, an inmate of a private hospital, suffering from an attack ol acute pneumonia.

"The Sqnaw Man" will tour the "Victorian provinces prior to opening in Adelaide on September 1. The company will subsequently go to Sydney and New Zealand. Mr Jaie Friedman, -who has been consistently employed on the variety stage since going to England, is achieving success in "bhe provinces as "the one-man opera." — Mr Basil Gill, who toured Australia with the late Wilson Barrett, is included in the cast of "A Winter's Tale," with which Her Majebty's Theatre, London, will reopen for the autumn.

It is understood that the production of "Enninie" by the members «f the CJhristchurcn Amateur Operatic Society will t*ke place about August 28. This will inaugurate His Majesty's Theatre.

"I*is." in Adelaide Critic : Mr Charles Waldron is the hero of the theatrical hour. His "Squaw Man" ie the craze. No actor has caught on so well since Cuyler Hastings won femininity as Sherlock Holmes.

There are now two parrs of_ "Australian Twins" appearing on the variety stage* in England. Tbe Anderson Sistera/now biJled m that style, have been creating an excellent impression at the Liverpool Hippodrome. Acoording-fco Mir J. Kevin Tait, who has just returned from London, Mif? Amy Castles has completely recovered the ciigmil quality of lnr voice, and she is- besides nov a cultured singer. A brilliant future is confidently predicted. Miss Nora lions and Mr Charles Carter, both from New Zealand, says British Australasian,, will be among the artibts who get. their first hearing in leading operatic roles in the West End when the Moody-Manners Company "jpene at the Lyric.

Receni'y in a oential Kew South Wa'es town Mt R G. Knowles was waited on by the principal clergyman of the town and invited to return a+ h;s earliest convenience, the saintly cleric remarking- that he "ha-d never witnessed a more pleasing or edifying entertainmeEt.

The Misses Sybil and Dorothy Tancredi. who are part!v New Zealanders and party of Italian extraction, appear to be doing well as singers in Pans. They have been studying lately at -the Ecole Maxchesi, and Mmc Marches* speaks in high -terms of her young pupils. Mr Harry Hill, formerly supporting Mi.-^ Kellie Stewart in "Sweet Kell of Old Drury " and other plays has arrived in London from America. Mr Hill, whose fine performance as Lord Jeffreys is remembered, went to America as a* member of Sir Musgrove's company. Mr Charles Cartwright is reported to hrve acquired tbe English and Austialian lights of "The Plainsman." a drama by Mr T Broadhuret. author of "Are You a Maeon'-"" which is one of the big sueeesse* of the prosent New York season. It is likely that Mr Oscar Ascba will play the principal part in the Londoa production. , Mr Harry Rickards has seldom presented « stronger bill than +hat now offered at Sydney Tivoli. Vasco, "the mad musician" ; Little Cliff, the clever juvenile comedian ; Bnnn. in his sensational battleship act ; and the graceful gymnasts, Alexandra aad Bertie, all provide star turns of a very high order. The wearing of hats "by ladies attending; the dress circles and stalls of the four subsidised thewlres of PariE — the Opera House, the Opera Comique, the Comedy Francais. and the Odeon — has been prohibited by the managements. This step was taken as the oonse-

' qnence of a referendum taken among Parisian playgoers by the Echo de Paris. Mr J. C. Williamson's latest dramatic acquisition. "His House in Order." lpaclied its one hundred and fiftieth performance in London last month, and to all appearances,, would double that number before withdrawal. Already two companies organised by Mr George Alexander are "on the road" through the English provinces with Pmero's great play. It i 3 understood that the Terry matinee at Drury Lane yielded JE6OOO. Patrons of pit and gallery began to take up their positions on Monday morning— the first to arrive being n lady, at 5.30 a.m The enthusiasm of th« audience wa« as remarkable as the performance on the stage. Mme. Duse journeyed from Florence to pay a tribute of sisterly regard Only the greatest actresses, oniy the i peatest actors, should be allowed the privi- | lege of selecting their own plays, and tharf, 1 not because they would show any hio-he* deI gree of wisdom in their choice, bnt because they are so great in an individual way that , me talent of the actor is sure to make more : or less substantial amends fox his fallibility I xn the other direction.

The public follow actors, and net playwrights and p]ays. The same thing happens many times over with productions of native growth, says an exchange, in which the names carry little o r no weight -with the average pleasure-seeker. Often a- play is. produced and fails which would have enjoyed a considerable amount of popularity if presented under other and more favourable auspices. G. B. W. Lewis, actor, circus-man, manager, speculator, etc., -who died in Melbourne recently, had many ups and downs in life (says "Gadfly"). At one time he was worth a fortune, running into tens of thousands; at another he had 8s 6d in his pocket and nothing oxtt of it. A pressman, seeking copy, once asked him how he earned his first shilling. "I didn't," replied Lewis promptly. Miss Amy Castles, m a private letter rcoeived in Melbourne, says that, notwithstanding her successes at Home, she is longing for a visit to Australia, and tUat she is fully determined to forego all European engagements to go there m 1908. She is booked ahead *:>r many of the principal musical festivals, and she has already been approached by an American syndicate for a tour in grand opera throughout the United States

A strong feature in "The Lady Typist," the r.cw nvisical comedy to be presentee! at His Majesty's Theatre, Auckland, o-i Monday, Atigust 13, will be the " Grand Empire Ballet " and "La danse dcs fleurs." fo r which during the past three months Mra C. R Bailey has had 12 young ladies in active rehearsal The new -work is described as bsing, from a musical point of view, most charming, and the story highly amusing.

"I should like to revisit Australia some day on a lecturing tour" (said Miss Amy Sherwin to an English interviewer recently) "interspersed with concert recitals, but I do not know when that will be. My pupils claim all my time, and all my endeavours. Sometimes I feel the homesickness which frets us all when the sun doe* not .shme, but the best antidote is work, and that is a medicine which I take myself in large doEes all the year round!"

Ellen Terry has be*T; p]u""i?d well beyond the possibility of want bj her relatives and a group of her personal friends. She is now in her fifty-rmth year, but has the spirit, and almost the physical endurance, of a woman of 40. She wUI proceed with her round of London and provincial engagements, a tour in the United States, further appearances in London, and so on. She will probably not attempt any new parts, for her -memory shows signs of weakening.

It is vvt surprising to learn that two Berlin girls lost -ftheir reason by overstudy of Wagner and suffering from acute melancholia, imrloreed their mumo teachei to kill them. They prepared for the .tragedy by putting on their best dresses, and unable to lesist their importunities, /the teacher, after a teat shot at some innocent furniture, fired bullets into their hear+s in turn. The court, which tried him for murder, was not able to ontei into the spirit of his politeness, and sent the obliging musician to gaol for eight years.

A West End fien-sation — It was «t an afterroon party. The hostess, anxious loi a sensation, and desiring something other Mian the orthodox thought-reader and the fraudulent piamsrt, engaged ft troupe of performing fleas io- the entertainment of her guests. The party was a great success. When it "broke up a loud wai! rent the air. It was -the voice of the impressario frantic with excitement "What is it' Tell me, I implore j-ouP' said the hostess. "Ach, madame, pardon," said the manager, greatly relieved light 1 y picking up something from her shoulder — "yon of my artistes!"