STAGE GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 68

STAGE GOSSIP.

May Yohe is playing through' California. George Fuller Golden is seriously ill in New York. Hamilton. Hill waa lately, singing at th» Holborn Empire. Miss Kitty Gormick, of the" Four Rosebuds, is about to marry. Mrs Walter Bentley is still touring Scotland as Helen Macgregor. A -tetter at this office for Mr Clyde Cook. Please forward address. Walker and May were recently showing at the Empress, Brixtou. That clever vaudeville comedienne, Miss Ada Delroy, is in Tasmania. Cissie Loft-us has been opera/ted on for appendicitis at New York. Mr George Titheradge announces thai his visit to Australia i» postponed. Mr Philip Newbury and Madame Emily Spada are due in Sydney this month. Frank Thornton return? to Sydney in September, opening in "The Private Secretary." Miss Alice Pollard is it>peaxing a* Haide* lin " The Thieves " at. His Majesty's, Johannesburg. / Albert M*Kieson is working- with Harry Baxter at Brisbane Eoy*l, with Ted Holland's company. Mrs* May Chevalier, with the " Sherlock Holmes" Company, is appearing at the Heymarket Theatre, London. Bart Gilbert will be retained to play in musical comedy on the completion of the run of "Humpty Dumpty. ' The Bicknells, who were in New Zealand with the Stine-Evane Company, are dancing at the Oxford Musio Hall, London, It is proposed to form a combine in Great Britain, in older to fight the variety syndicates which now dominate the musichalls. \> The FlemmiDg Comedy Company is touring ' New Zealand with " Olivia," " The Mummy and the Humming Bird/ and "The Red Lamp." Mt George Lauri. who has been leading comedian in Mr Williamson's Royal Comio Opera Company for many years, is about to take a holiday. Word has been received that Mis Hany Cogill (of Green and Gisbon fame) is «t present lying dangerously ill in St. Vincent's Hosoital, Sydney. Mt Henry W. Savage, the noted American manager, has given up all his poster advertising, having resolved to go in for newspaper advertising alone. Cinque valli' s coming Australasian - tour _ will begin at Perth towards the end of the year. New Zealand will be visited, and the tour will extend over 36 weeks. ' Madame Melba was a passenger from Australia to Naples by the Orontes. She is . accompanied By her son and daughter-in-law,, Mr and Mrs G. Armstrong. Miss Lillian Digges. who was a member at one time of J. C. Williamson's No. 2 Musical Comedy Company, has made a big hit as principal girl in the Dublin pantomime. That famous comedy-drama "Monsieur Beaucaire," which has been one of the biggest favourites in the whole* list of J. C. Williamson plays, ha» just been revived in London. For the production of "Peter Pan" at the Melbourne Princess's at Easier, Weston. a great American animal impersonator, has been engaged, his part being that of the dog Nana. Madame Clara Butt's phenomenally successful tour of New Zealand finishes -this week, and on Saturday, March 14, she begins her farewell tour of Australia at the Sydney Town Hall. Florence Young, who has been out of the cast of "Humpty Duntpty" for some time, goes into -a private hospital for a slight operation on her throat and on recovery rejoins th* Comic Opera Company. The fiTst pantomime in England, "The Ta-vera Bilkers," was at Drury Lane in 1702. "Mother Goose" had i*s- premiere at London Adelphi in 1806. Grimaldi was the great feature of the show. The late Matthew ' Brodie, who died in London last mouth, toured Australia with. Miss Marie de Grey's Company, the last professional orcankMition to appear wt th# old Princess's Theatre, Melbourne.

Mr Albert Whelan, a son of the late Mr T Aaron Waxman, who is as expert a comic as h\B father was a financier, has once more obtained an American engagement, and the j London music halls miss his fun. Forty-four animals left London Zoo the other day (says the Globe) for Australia. They include a porcupine, who is inclined to be more than usually fretful at the thought of missing the test matches! The Australian lyric stage is to have a valuable addition to its ranks shortly in the person of Mr George' D. Whitehead, a new baritone, who has just arrived from America -under engagement to Mr J. C. Williamson. { The Williamson ' Mu-sical Comedy Company , returns to Sydney on April 11, and during the Easter season will play "The Catch of the Season," th« Australian rights of which have iecently been acquired by Mr J. C. Williamson. Mr Max Schluyter will open his Australian tour tinder the management of Messrs J. and N. Tait at the Melbourne Town Hall. The i reappearance of the eminent young Danish violinist is being eagerly looked forward to Tjy Melbourne music-lovers. "The Scarlet Pimpernel" is becoming a, lardy annual in London in the hands of Miss Julia Neilson *nd Mr Fred Terry. \lt is now in its fourth year (with intervals for provincial tours), and recently passed its eight hun- | dredth performance there. "The Prisoner of Zend*." that fine romantic drama of Ruritania, is to be added to the Julius Knight revival repertoire, and with Mr Knight as Rudolph Rassendyll and Miss Ola Humphrey as the Princess Flavia should prove a strong -drawing card. "William HenTy Rice, the black face female impersonator, died of pneumonia in New York recently, aged 53. He made his firs* stage appearance with Charlotte Cuahman. Eo •was long with Sam Sanford's Minstrels, and later was with Bryant's Minstrels. The well-known London actor. Mr Matthew Brodie, who played in Australia with Miss Marie de Grey's company in the late "eighties," in a series of Shakespearean and "legitimate" plays, died in London on Janu- , ary 3 from an attack of acute pneumonia, at | the early age of 45. Mr Lewis Waller produced "The Squaw Man" in London last month {under the title of "The White Man"), and Mr Dwight Danforth -was m the cast as Nick the barkeeper, the character h» created for Australia when ct member of the J. C. Williamson Company which handled the drama. The last -weeks of the long and successful New Zealand tour of tlie J. C. Williamson . Musical Comedy Company have now commenced, and at the end of the month they will, again be on their way Austra-lianwards for an extended* season in Sydney, paying a Itwief visit to Hobart en route. Mr William Anderson, the well-known theatrical manager, talks of building a new theatre in Adelaide. He thinks good melodi&nms -would run there if properly staged and interpreted by competent artists. The theatre which is being built for him in Melbourne is ccstinp £38.000 apart from the land. TKe reported discovery by Major Hajdecki wt Vienna of 28 letteis and 47 pages of MS. mueic by Beethoven is calculated to bestir the curiosity of experts. The letters «re started to date from 1816-23, when Beethoven -vrae at the zenith of his noweTs and worries, and consequently should be interesting. , Mt Arthur Collins was asked the other day about the rumour which bad currency that a ghost haunted the stage of Drury Lane at midnight, when the lights are low. ; Mr Colling replied: "There is a ghost at the theatre, and he walks every Friday. He has never been known to fail for the past 28 years at Drury Lane. An interesting sale was announced to take place in England on February 24, when Messr3 Elliot, Son. and Boyton weie to offer the residence of Madame Melba. There is a lease of 13 years, at £250 per annum. It is stated that no less than £30,000 has been spent upon the house, which is beautifully fitted and decorated. The Carl Rosa Oi^ra Company is showing at Covent Garden— their first appearance «ince 1897, when they produced "Diarmid by the then Marquis of Lome— now Duke of Argyll They have staged "Tannhauser, "Carmen," "II Trovatore." "Faust," "I Pagliacci," "Cavalleria Rusticana," "Lohengrin, and "La Nozze di Figaro." The site for the Irving statue has been dtefinitely fixed in the centre of the broad pavement to the north of the National Portrait Gallery, and facing th& Chaimg Orosa road, LoDdon. Mi Thomas Brock, R.A., is proceeding with the work. It is etated, however, that at least 12 months will be occupied in the completion of the rueiro-"Wa-nganui! Yes, I know it's a good show town. We had over £1200 in there on February 26 last." Such were the words •used by the representadive of. Montgomery s Pictures -to a friend the other day. He didlft say that only £200 of this represented the takings, as £1000 was the amount paid over in. connection with the sculling championship. , ... ... Mt Beerbohm Tree's recent holiday visit 1 to Paris has not been without important result, for he has induced M. Sardou to ■write him a new historical play for pro- . duotion in tlie autumn, and he has some topes that he will persuade the veteran dramatist— who bas never yet visited London—to be present at the premiere at His Majesty's 1 . The PollaTd Juvenile Opera Company is booked for a tour through Tasmania, New South Wnles, and Victoria at the end of their peregrinations through New Zealand in Juno next. New attractions in the shape of operas axe to be obtained from England and America. The Australian tour will last about six tronths, and then New" Zealand •will be revisited. ; Bel*sco's new comedy theatre in New , York, -which was recently opened, is only 15 rows deep on the orchestra floor, bo tha* everyone is close to the stage. There is no oroheatiw, to play between the acts, Mx Belasco having adopted for his new house the , policy that obtains in Paris, xddmg a novelty of a chime of bells to announce the beginning of each act. Messrs Meynell and Ghinn's Comic Opera Company were entertained at a farewell banquet at the Hotel Cecil, in London, prior to their departure by the Orient Royal Mail s.B. Omiuh. There were over 200 guests present, including many prominent lights of the profesjon. The genial T. P. O'Connor, M.P., ■vns chairman, *nd in a happy speech wished the company bon voyage. Mr Tames Welch has been unburdening Iris mind about the> London critics to * New York Her*ld interviewer. He said : "Do you know tlrat those gentlemen to a man depounced 'When Knights Were Bold' as being- trashy, weak, and unworthy of my endeavours, and said it was dcomed to certain, failure. It has been going » year novr. Tha* shows how much they know about it." A real wedding under th* waters of the Hippodrome "L«k©" is to be a London sensation of a cuiioua character. The Moss Empires directors *re giving £100 as a wedding preoent, and other gifts will amount to £500. The strange ceremony is to be gone through •t M3X Eitaruoon performance. £vtv«ial concles

have already made application to be wedded j under the' "Lake," in full view of the audi- , ence. If suitable arrangements can be made it is quit© on the cards that the quaint and delightful " Bluebell in Fairyland," -which charmed Sydney so thoroughly last Christmas, may be seen in Melbourne before Easter. The whole of the juvenile company which made such an individual and collective success of the piece are available for the season if required. Miss Rosie Fitzgerald, who plays , the heroine, is, of course, well known, as is also Miss Lily Moore — Dicky the Bootblack. Messrs J. and N. Tait have engaged a musical company — the Hollanders — for a tour of Australia, commencing in Sydney next month. The Hollanders are, briefly, a. concert company on most original lines, appearing for their recitals in Dutch costume, and contributing a programme of vocal and intrumental numbers of a vastly entertaining character. The company have been immensely successful in London and the English provinces, and the novelty of their entertainment will be something to eagerly anticipate. The real name of Jamea Anthony Bailey, j managing director of Barnum and Bailey'a J Circus Company, was Gordon (says the well- , informed M-elbourne Sporting and Dramatio j News), and he did not die worth £6.000,000, in America. He left £29,670 in England, and . when all his debts are paid in America. ' there will be left an estate of £72,856 in the j TJnited 1 States, making the total net value j of Mr Gordon's, alias Bailey's, estate £102,626. I The widow. Mrs Ruth Louisa Bailey, has come out victorious in the recent litigation, > the courts holding thart the wi'l was valid, ■ notwithstanding tie assumed name — a secret y which her husband's relatives kept up their • sleeves. ' Mme. Tetiazzini's debut as a prima donna ; in " Traviata " at the Manhattan Theatre was marked by n demonstration of approval ' unsurpassed in the history of the New York oparatic stage. When Mme. Tetrazzini finished " Ah, fors c lvi," the noise suggested a great political meeting. Inarticulate shouts drowned the ordinary hand-clapping, and bouquets fairly showered on the stage during the prima donna's eight recalls. A pretty scene, which was entirely trnexpected, added: to the enthusiasm. The curtain rose too quickly for one of the recalls, and revealed Mme. Tetrazzini ecstatically hugging her brother-in-law, Signor Campanini, who conducted the opera. Distinction With a Difference. — Miss Mary Hall tells an amusing ptory of an interview which she once had with a newspaper man in Cincinnati, when she was the star of the ftock company in that city. " I didn't like his appearance." says Miss Hall, " and s<> I did my best to avoid talking to him. But if he wbo slovenly, he was also ener- i eetic, and simply haunted the hotel where i I was staying. Finally I gflve in. n^d con- : »en-!^d to see- him a<t the theatre. He was ; mucTi embarrassed. 'Do you object to my j paying that you do your hair like the Venus de Milo?' he asked, with evident trepidation. ' Not in the least,' I replied. ' Only you mustn't sn.v that I dress like the Venus de Milo ' And — he didn't even wait to say good-bye."