STAGBJ3OSSIP

Otago Witness, Issue 2848, 14 October 1908, Page 69

STAGBJ3OSSIP

Glasgow has secured the pantomime services of Mr Harry Lauder '.his year. Mr John Fuller, jun.. who hap been on * short business' visit to Auckland, has returned • to .Wellington. .. Miss Dolly Castles is in the cast of tbe new musical comedy "Havana," at the Gaiety Theatre. London. . ( Rumoured that a complete American vaudeville company will visit N«w Zealand and Australia in th-a near futuxs. ll&daro© Lydis. Yeamaas-Titus. with her "baby songs," was starring at the London Coliseum when the mail left. , i Mr Philip Wirth psid a. thousand poiira« ! for the giraffe whuli i« the star quadrunccl j in bis cirtu? and mfriager'f. j Mr K-Vi" Reach's vranrdic company produces . "Tbe Wcra-an Pays" at the Bijou Theatre, Meibonrre, on Derby night. Allan Shaw, the coin manipulator out here with the Wcrid's Entertainers and other shows, wa3 st latest at the London Pavilion. Miss Ella Anderson, an Australian actress and vocalist, i? reported io ha\e made a hit on bir first in drama in th-e English provinc". \ Director Gregor. t'-ie present manager of the Berlin Ccmic Opera, curposes erecting a Wagner Opera House in the German capital, capable of seating 2503 people. Tha newest infant prodigy is Frar.ce<=co Mol! c na. aged four years and three month?, who played one of Mozart's conceitcs at a concert in Brindisi last ltiont' 1 ! Mr Ar.dersoni fends a dramatic company to New Zealand toward? the end of October. "The Squatter's Daughter" will bs the star play in the company's reper.oir-o. The new Australian melodrama which Meynell and Gunn intend to pioduce shortly at the Palace Theatre, Sydney, baa been named "The Miner's Trust." During 1 the performance of a tragedy, a bald-headed gen-tleman, looking up iv the galleTy. said, "My dear, m&dame, I respect your emotion, but the truth is you are shea- • dinsr tears on my head!" | •"AVTiat do you regard as the niott difficult character in Shakespeare?" "The GbosV answered Mr Stormington Barnes. "In 'Hamlet'?" "No. on pay-day." Mr H. H. Wallace has joined Mr George ■Rdwardes's company -at Daly's Theatre, London, a nd is to uiulerrtudy Mr George Graves, the comedian, in "The Merry Widow." "For girl? \wio wish to amuse themselves, to occupy their idleness, or to gratify an empty vanity. 'he stage- is not Hie proper place; and it i» they, and they only, who 'overcrowd' it. ' — Eia' | Miss Fanny I.ic'c-iard is bi.sy lehearsirar the i new jnvei'i'e cempacy she bas fonnod for j India, a~»cl due to embark this month. Mis? • Liddiard has secured a clever crowd of : l:iddie = . I Meynell and Gunn wii! shortly ht bring- I ing out a complete cc> any from London The name will occasion a good deal of <-ur- ' prise to playgoers in Australia when it is j arn.omiced. i One of *he Fenoatxons i;i "Two L'ttle Sailor ' 3oy&'' at the Palace Theatre. Sydney, >s the ! scene in which Admiral Grey's wife throws j i'.sr chid over a bridge into the rushing waters below. The ballets for Meynell and Gnnn's Christmas pantomime. "CinderelJa." at the Theatre- Eoyal, Sydney, are already in Te- | kearsal. Mr Tom Payne has invented a number of novel dances for i:. William Anderson recently discovered a capable young actor in Oswald Edgewor L h Lawrence Dunbar was ill. and unable to appear in "Bobbery Under Arms," but Edgeworth etepped into the breach. Last year no fewer than 160S performances of .Wagner's operas were given jn Germany and Austria. "Lohengrin" headed the list ] with 316 representations, "Tannbauset" coming next with 306. Miss Amy Castles h&3 definitely decided to revisit Auetralia next year (says a London journal). She will leave London in February for a six months' tour of Australia and NewZealand under engagement to Messrs Tait. Walter Alfred Slaughter, the well-known composer, who wrote tbe music for "The French M?.id'' juid m*vj other musical

comedies, as well «s "The Dear Homeland" ' and other songs, left estate valued at £7324. Mr Harry Hill, who is a native of Chris ucimrch. and well known to New Zealand playgoers for his fine work as Lord Jeffreys, in "Sweet Nell," is now managing the Melbourne Histrionic Club, an-d doing so successfully. Miss Gladys Ure. •& clever Australian gir 1 . who wen* {o New York a few years ago. and is considered very beautiful there, is starring in opera. Sh© has »le-o struck -cut into composing, and Mr Savage haa staged one of her compositions. John P. Sheridan has finished his New Zealand tour under Williann Anderson's direction, and it proved exceptionally successful. An Australian tour will commence in a few weeks. A new pantomime will be stpgsd at Bailsrat at Christmas. Contemplated productions of Mr J C. Williamson are "The G-irl of the Golden We si" and "Diana of Gibsons." "Doroihy Vernon of Etaddon Hall" and "Bcmeo pnd Juliet" ars to be revived. Mass TitteU Uni^ie is to be the star Miss Carrie Moore wa<s quietly married at the Congregational Churcn. Castleresghi street, Sydney. recently, to Mr P. P. Bi£wocd, an Englishman. The only outsider pretant r/as' her sister. She appeared in "The Merry Widow" the fame nigLf. Mr" George Lauri. tire well-known 'omsdiaE, has bean on a holiday trip to Colombo, and. on his return, proceeds to Kalgoorlie, for the purpose of visiting a relative prior *o returning to the Eastern Stals-s to rejoin Mr Williamson's companies. Just how popular Miss Vesta Tiliey is wiiii music-hail patrons may be jtidg«d ftom the fact th*t 8500 people paid to be present a*, her 45 minutes' turn at the Palace, Douglas, Isle of Man, recently. This attendance easily broke all records ».t the Palace Pavilion. Madame Melba is to go to America for four weeks in December, returning in time to catch the steamer at Marseilles for her visit to Australia. Mr Harold "Whittle has been engaged as the •accompanist_for the eininen,, singer's tour of Australia and New Zealand. One of th© most novel effects in "The Belle of Mayfair," which is attracting Large audiences, is the swing song, which «t the Criterion Theatre causes quits -a stir in (he stalls wb«n the gentlemen on the stage secure their lady partners and swing- them right out over the footlights. Caotain Loiinen, who was drowned recently on the northeast coast of Tasmania, was uncle of the late E. J. Lonnen. who visited Australia about 14 years a-go as leading comedian of the London Gaiety Company. -"Teddy" Lonnen was the original singer of "Tie Bogie Man." The "Red Mill" Company spent iheir last days in Melbourne rehearsing "Th© Belle of New York," to play en tour. Nearly every member of the present comoany has played in "The Belle,' and Mr Gerard Coventry was the original producer in New York. London, and Austra'ia. It i<* related of Stephen Kemble that when he -wished "to rebuke a noisy spectator in a stsge-box in a Dublin theatre he did it by making Shylock say to Gratiano : "Till thou canst rail the seal from thfs bond, ihou and ■thai noisy fellow in the box yonder "but offsnd'st thy lungs to speak so loud." I'be newest thing in d*ncirg was presented by Miss Loie Fuller at th© Hippodrome. London, recently, when a combination of artists specially trained by ihxt l*dy appeared in a bailet called 'Tfce Golden Blaze.",' Nine lady dancers who had been in training in Mis* Loie Fuller's school in Paris participated, and some original steps were introduced. Place: The dress circle of Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne; Play: "The Taming of th© Sh*evr." Said the first lady to the second lady: "Who wrote this play?" Said the second lady to the first ditto in a slightly dubious tone: "Shakespeare, I think." — " D:d he Teally?" responded number one " We've got a book of his at home ; I must read it!" Thsre i* an impression abroad that the Royal Welsh Choir sing everythingin their native longue. This is. of course, not so, and far the greateT poriion of their programme is in English. But they have m their repertoire several national air=. and one in particular, an un accompanied part song, which they have so far had to sing at every concert. Tho death of Pablo Martin Meliton Sarasate, of Navascues. which took place at Biarritz on September 2J. removes a picturesque and notable fi»ui-c from tbe musical world. SaTasa'.e was born at Pamplona, in 1814. He appeared in Madrid when he wss only nine years old. and so pleased Queen Isabella that she gave him a Strad violin, valued at 25 000 francs. "Two Little Sailor Boys" was =lag?d r! the Palace Theatre. Sydney, on October 10. by Meynell and Gunn's specially formed <hamitio company. The performance was a great success in every way. TWe cast included Mies Lilian MeyerE.'Misi Maud Cbetwynd. Mr Arthur CowJey. Miss Lorna Fcrbe«°. Mr James Lindsay. Mt Conway Wingfield, Mr Leo. Chateau, and others. "The Belle of Mayfair," the jnujic of wh ; ch is by Leslie Stuart, the composer of the never-to-be-forgotten "Florodora." is at the end. of its third week *t the Criterion Theatre, Sydney, and is still drawing crowded houses. The night after his arrival in Sydney the new Governor-general, the Earl of Dudley, attended the performance with his suite. There was a brilliant audienc*. Mr Sam Walsh, the English comedian of the Merrymakers, wa3 tfce original Earl, of Mon thigh ate. in "Th° Belle of Mayfair " On seeing it in Sydney he deciared that it was better in many respects than the London production "We cannot get chorus voices like those "m London." said Mr Walsh. "I Lave never heard a Letter r'-oru* anywhere and th^ male voices e«pecia'Jy are fc'piendid " 'ike best actoTs and actresses, I can say without ,i moment's hesitation, aic those who are the keenest and best students of human nature To them to live is to le^rn something fresh daily, to pick up a wrink'e here and_ there which will surely one day come in I's.cfu] They know r.o distinction "of class: there is but one class, and it i<? to b? found everywhere — life. — Mr George Alexander, in the Koy«:. The Harcourt Beatty-M'lntovh Co. will open in Melbourne on October 31 in "She Stoops to Conquer" Mi«s M'lntosh will b? Kate Hard-castle ; llr Beatty Young Marlowe ; Mr Gastou Merval. Hastings; Mr J B. Atholwood. Mr Hardcasile: Mr Tom Carman. Tony Lumpkin. and Miss Winifred Ciinii ant' others will also be in the cast It is intended dunrfg the season to produce «, number of old classic plays, which are too rarely seen these days. Miss Eugenic Duggan is appearing in tbe leading loie in "The Gayest of the Gay." whicii was produced for the first time "at; the King's. Melbourne, recently. A striking scene represents the Hiver Thames. A huge tank has been let into the stage, measuring 1 30ft long by 12ft wide and 3ft deep There is thus a weight of over 50 tons of water on the stage. Boats, punts, swajis, ducks, and real water lilies are introduced. The hospital fete, with its brilliant illuminations, is another gorgeous spectacle. Frank Thornton was in % generous mood in Sydney when he g*ve »wa,v some secrets

' about "The Private Secretary" and "Charley's J Aunt." He said that when he paid £300 to Charles Hawtrey for the Australasian rights of the former he was told that he was mad to pay such a higli pries. "Eut, you see." he^ wen-i on, "I have played it for 23 years and it has always been a money-maker. The first week's royalties to Penley for the Australian tour came to £266, and for the second to £2G7. It ran for nine- weeks, and his royalties came to close on. £1500. Brandon Thomas has the rights now, and he also ; draws royalties on a percentage basis." A gentleman with a, humorous outlook has been writing to Margaret Anglin to thank her for the influence her repertoire has had upon his better half — if, indeed, the epithet ' better " can be applied to the lady whose 1 subjection is related in the following: — After my wife had Feen ' The Thiof ' she was po obviously impressed with it that I seized the opgortunity to drive home the moral of being too fond of finery and a danger of a. tco free use of her husband's income may lead a wife into. As a result I -»m laappj- to gay tliat her drapers' and milliners' "bills immediately showed a fallingoff — most gratifying fo a man of moderate i income. ' Then came ' The Truth,' with _ its I sermon on the disadvantages cf white lying. My wife, like most women, never bsfcr« 1 realised the enormity of her offence in this legard. but last washing Say I can-.e home and found her entertaining seme of her least J liked acquaintances in the drawing, room. She explained afterwards that % She could hot bring herself to say ' not at home ' to Ihem, and I leave it to you as a woman to judge of the immensity of the sacrifice involved in her action. Now comes ' The Taming of the j Shrew,' with its thorough lesson of how to j . subdue a. t*o tempestuous wife. I will not s<iy that mine is as curst a3 Katherine. but lat the same time that lady's experiences have certainly given her to think— much to , the better comfort of yours in undying gratitude — a hitherto downtrodden huabaud." j