THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2856, 9 December 1908, Page 68

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

TUESDAY, Dec. 8, 1908. The extended season of the Bland Holt Dramatic Company ends about January 2. During the long run in Dunedin several of the most popular of the Bland Holtian dramas will be staged, including, amongst others. "The Bondman." "The Great Rescue," "War of Wealth," and a revival of "The White Heather." The member"? of the- Florence Baines Comedy Co., together With the lady who set all London laughing, departed by the first express for Christchurch on Friday en route to Wellington, where a season was commenced in the Theatre Royal last evening. j Miss Florence Baines, who has already boome much impressed with New Zealand, has decided to remain' n the country until Easter. After the Auckland season at Christmas a tour of the small towns will follow, taking in Gisborne, Napier, Hastings, Palmerston North, Wanganui. and New Plymouth, the final port of departure being Auckland. Miss Baines is due back in London shortly after Easter. Principal Christmas attractions in- the four centres: Dunedin, Bland Holt, at •His Majesty's; West's Pictures, at the Alhambra-; Wra. Anderson, at the Prin- , cess. " Christchurch : Miss Tittell Brune and Co., at the Theatre Royal; Wellington, a specially organised company headed by George Titheradge and Miss Ola Humphrey. Auckland:, The ''Prince of Pilsen" and "Red Mill Company. Mr Max Maxwell, who is play in? th« hero roles made famous by Walter Baker in Bland Holt's Co., is a promising young actor who has a future before him. Up to the present he has not yet had an opportunity of showing ua -the best that is in him, and one awaits with anticipation the \ production of "The Bondman," which offers 'the young Australian scop* for act ing. Meanwhile Mr Maxwell's work has much to commend it. A deservedly popular member of Mr Bland Holt's Company is Mr Charles Wheeler, who is now stage manager for the premier dramatic organisation of Australasia. Mr Wheeler has been associated with the company for many "years, and his promotion is well deserved. By the way, it may not be generally known that since hi 3 last visit to Dunedin Mr Wheeler hp listened to the ''Voice that Breathed o'er Eden." having married Miss Violet Grey, a former member of the Blaiu Holt Co. Miss Grey was last in Dunedin with the Blanrl Holt Company nine years ajro, when Miss Beanie Gellately (now Mrs Hamilton Hill) was the premier dan->cuse and tip-toe dancer. Time has workpd many changes since then. Mr Arthur Styan. the clever character actor with Bland Holt's Company, who met with an injury to one of his legs while playing in "The Bondman" in Wellington, is still nuising his injury. To see Mr Styan getting about the stage no one would imagine he was suffering tortur«. But there it is. A good story is being told in Wellington (writes my Wellington correspondent). A few nights ago a. conjurer was giving lih entertainment, but try as he would he could not induce one of the audience to wmr upon the stagehand "assist" him in hk trickery. At ia-st a well-dro=sed man m tlie front stalls exclaimed, "I will not •oo you stuck," and mounted the platform, md he (the magician). in his usual Facetious manner, warnpd him not to wink it the girls in the audience, assured him !iat lip would not hurt. and. when thn urn was finished, pleaded with his volun-!-iiv .assistant not to tell anyone "how it a.'i« <lono !" Meanwhile a «mall section >f tlip audience was almost shrieking with aughter at the situation. They were npinlipis of the Maskelyne and Devant Mv«t»iifs Company, just arrived from the lorlh. and the voluntary "assistant" was Vlr Owen Clark, one of England's leading nameian<* and illusionist". of whose donhtv th" performer was ignorant. Mr Jlaric promised he would "not tell any>n<> !" TKe repertoire of the Williamson Dramatic Company, headed by Miss Ola lumohrey, which commences a tour of the Dominion on Boxing Night, is a very com)leto and varied one. In addition to 'The Village Priest" and "The Silver ■Cinq." (hs leading roles in which are ssociated with the name of Mr G. S. the company will produce 'Zira" and "The Thief (both of whidh fill be seen for the first time in New lealand), "Twelfth Night," and "The Naming- of the Shrew." A writer in an English Journal describes ft follows a theatrical show at the local alls: — "A few nights ago, at the village all, the play was 'Boscobel.' and we rent and got all we wanted for our loner The stage being- a very small one, iere was no room on it for * tree, and/

Charles, in fleeing 1 from his pursuers, found that there was none for him to climb. ' Making the best of the position, he squatted down behind what appeared' to be the trunk of a tree, but there was no room far his feet. The parliamentary leader, Hurrying, in pursuit, not seeing the feet, went head over heels over them, ; doing considerable damage to his nose, which came into contact with, the floor. | Picking himself up, and holding his nose in his hand, he said to his followers, [ 'He nas eluded us.' " Mr C. M. Berkeley, the touring manager ' of "Mrs Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch/* tells of a unique experience in. the early" 1 history of Madame Melba in Australia, 1 when she was singing, unknown to fame, 1 as Mrs Armstrong. The company arrived in Orange, Mr Berkeley being in advance, ■ and opened to the magnificent sum of lo*s. ' Whilst the company were debating as to j whether sufficient inducement offered for the future prima donna of the world to sing, a gentleman in the audience offered to give £5 to the hospital if Mrs Armstrong would sing "Home, sweet home." i She consented to do so, and then other offers were made of various sume, with the result that £25 was collected in aid of the funds of the local hospital. From Edwin Geacb. comes to hand a statement of the affairs in connection with the Adam Cowan Memorial Fund. The total amount received in subscriptions was £90. Of this sum £20 is devoted to the* ! cost of a memorial, and the balance of £70 forwarded to the widow of, the late lamented Adam Cowan. The "jewel gag" with actresses is well known, but Madame Ada Crossley the other ; day in Perth had an experience ' which was much akin to the old-time fiction about "Miss So-and-So's Diamonds Stolen," which was once a Tunning headline in' the • American papera. When dressing for dinner in Perth the night she arrived she discovered to her horror that the most valuable portion of her jewels had beenleft behind on the s.s. China, then within half an hour of her sailing time from Fremantle. But Dr Muecke was equal to the occasion. Borrowing a motor car at a minute's notice, he flashed' down to the port and caught the liner just as she was moving off, recovering the missing property in the nic-k of time. Once before Dr Muecke had the fearful joy of speeding over the Perth-to-Fremantle road. The day he landed, and with the company was feted in Perth, the motor taking him back to the ship broke down on the road, and had it not been for another motor, which picked him up and just got him alongside- m time, he would have been left behind. For this year's pantomime at Her Maje'sty's Theatre, Melbourne, Mr Harry Shine is cast for a scarecrow, who becomes the servant of Baron Bounce. He is a distinct find for that aristocratic miser, for he cannot cat, he cannot drink, and, most -wonderful of all, he requires no wages. So he i 3 immediately engaged by the baron, and thereafter through the play he is a sort of inarticulate servant, who hardly has a line to 6peak, but whose actions speak plainer than words. It is not the first time that Mr Shine has been similarly situated. Once in Sydney he was a member of a dramatic company playing in a piece in which one of the big scenes was a banqueting table. The first night, under instructions from his stage manager, Mr Shine "cut loose," and those who know what a fund of natural humour he possesses can draw upon their imagination for . the feature he made of his chances. But unfoitunately there were one or two critics who did not appreciate his humour, and 1 on the Monday morning they adopted an aggrieved attitude' towards Mr Shine, accusing him of erring on the side- of : burlesque and working too "hard. This naturally hurt Mr Shine's feelings, and at the next performance he deliberately adopted other tactics. Instead of a pronounced liveliness, he presented a solemnity of demeanour as if there were nothing in the world of greater moment than meat and drink. There he sat at the table with a solemn face, quietly helping himself and paying no heed whatever to what was going on around him. Of course, the, audience laughed moTe than ever. Meyncll and Gunn's version of "Cinderella," which goes up at the Theatre Royal Melbourne, on "Boxing Night, will not only be a spectacular show—over £5000 will have been spent by the time the curtain goes up,— but it will be decidedly attractive as a play in- itself. There will be an intelligible story, the humour is real humour, the "book" being ©ne of the best ever associated with a pantomime production, and the characters will not be the types only created by makers of pantomime. In fact, it will be a. comio opera' pantomime, and an indication of this is , given m the fact that the two ugly sisters generally played by men in female apparef will be represented by lady artuts in thi* production— Miss Emmeline Orford tef T Fili^ P , et - ti - from p «*«r" fame) and Mis* Jenme Opie. TW, «ill be other features thai jjill entitle 3£essxs Mevnell «jjd Gunn

to claim "Cinderella" as a "somewhat different" pantomime. There will arrive in Melbourne next week Mies Meredith Meredre, the principal "boy" for Meynell and Gunn's pantomime of "Cinderella." Miss Meredith MeTedre comte with the best of credentials as a. singer and an actress. She is an American by biTth, and Jier experience of the stage Jbas been interesting and varied. She commenced in vaudeville in America, and afterwards studied singing in Vienna, having been sent there, free of all cost, through winning a competition open to the whole of the States. She' then migrated •to comic opera and grand opera at the Metropolitan Theatre, New York, where &he was the original Flower Maiden in "Parsifal." While in Vienna she had the honour of singing before the Emperor of Austria, and made a big success. Miss MeTedre appeared last Christmas in the Drury Lane pantomime oF "Babes in the Wood." The last few years have brought forth such plenitude of musical prodigies that it might have been supposed the last word had beep said, but the advent of the three brothers Cherniavski in New Zealand deserves some comment to the contrary. These three young Russians, aged respectively 17, 14, and 12, have caused considerable stir in the critical camp af musical London during the laat two seasons. Their talente — similar to those of the Hambourgfamily — are happily divided, Leo, the r eldest, being the violinist:, Jan, aged 14, a young maestro at the piano, and Mhchel, a picturesque little chap of 12, pc6=e. c oes a phenomenal mastery over his "c«llo for one of his years. These bojs, morecver, do not trifle with their art ; the greatest masterpieces, which are usually acknowledged sufficiently taxing to maturer performers, seemingly possess no obstacle for them. Mr Charles Holloway, ivhose death was announced last week, has been a wellknown fig-tire on the Australa&ian stages for aboui 40 years past. In the early days of his stage career he supported many of the big stare who visired the colonies, among ■whom were Miss Loui6e Ponieroy, the American actress, and later . Miss Essie Jenyns (now Mr 3 AYoocls, of Neuc£3t:<^. Though never in iJ.e top ffigL., of dramatic actors, Mr Hollow ay tr-jA^d eoms farae in character r*arf3, &jiJ (hi heavier character roles of tbe Shik«.-.yi s:-_a.: r^eitcsre. For 20 yeare p:xr, sn:._-< i<• haj been m management, he i.ab :ivn^-;-r' pjiuty closely to melodrama, and during ..,ui Inn? mad» feoveral visits to Ivev Zealr.ml, mti-< facing "My Jack" on one ec-tic:, .»:i'.; on another the Frank H-uvuy jejJ&Toirc, including "The King of Iron,' "Judw Not," "Tho World Against lje;,"and OEierj)Ja\s. Later still he produrod "Tiie Tv.o .kittle Vagabonds," which was a gicat success. Persons of a real intimacy with the stage, cays the Manchester Chronicle, read with infinite amusement the question of employment and its remuneration. The reading public swallow such morsels as Lauder's thousand-pound salary, for instance; and articles about the stupendous salaries of music-hall favourites are penned which" make every girl in a lodging-house kitchen Jong -to be a serio-comic einger. Next day Fleet street rings with the bitter ory of starving chorus girls from Maiden Lane in the Strand. The fact is. there is some Jruth in each taie. As to JLuud«»r, if half a thousand pounds iinds its way to him for each week's work in -America he will be a lucky iran. *lh- =,t?.te of the rank and file of the theatrical profession in England at the piesent time is too awful for description. There are hundreds upon hundreds of men and women v.ith a certain right to call thernsohes actors and actresses nearly starving. Some of them ihail with shouts of joy tho offer of work at 30-3 or £2 a week, some prefer to keep on starving. On the other hand, for a limited number of popular favourites there is work for a certain number of weeks each year, at wages that permit them to regard long vacations with equanimity. In "newest New York '' a Boweiy audience consents to see a "coon" girl dance for its amusement, and rewards nor generously. In a somewhat less new New York this was not possible. A "coon" girl might dance for a "coon" audience, but snot for white people, even of the Blums. Barnum the indomitable had a wonderful device nevertheless for utilising black talent when he found it. He did find, in fact, a_ splendid little negro who danced like eu kind of ang^el. How was he to bring him ""before a New York audience, not of the elurns, but of the foremost theatres? The imitation darkey wa6 always popular even while the real one was inadmissible, and Barnum made a stage negro of his boy. He painted him much blacker, coloured his lips of the conventional red, and put a woolly wig over the iroolly hair, and scored a great success.