STAGE GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2921, 9 March 1910, Page 69

STAGE GOSSIP.

Langford Kirby, I.C.W.'s new importation, appeared for the first time in Australia in "A Waltz Dream." Miss May Beatty has achieved the distinction of being styled one of the best principal boys on the English stage. Le Roy, Talma, and Bosco. who were out here some time ago under Harry Eickards, ~j.e at present touring Germany. Melba, giter singing in Florence and Paris, will make her reappearance in London in July as Desdeinona in "Othello." .Madams Grace Miller Ward, wife of Hugh Ward, is appearing in " Vivian's Papas." She possesses a very fine soprano voice. •Miss Beatrice Dav is appearing at the Palace Theatre, Sy>«v. with the Hu.eh Ward Company in " The Fencing Master." One of the principa. attractions "in " The Dollar Princess " is a lawn ■rrnusp's on the stage. A game is played in view' of the audience. Howard Vernon, who. with his wife, Vinia, de Loitte, has been on a visit to London, is about to take a touring company to Indian • • One of the best things in " Havana" is the "Denmark Hill" duet, with its rollicking dance, -done by Mr'W. S.- Percy and Miss Lottie- Sargent.- .-.i :■■':'. .-. Among , the .Manuka's, passengers from Sydney was. .'' Victor.;the .Great," . a conjurer, who has corne,«ver to carry ,out an-, engagement with Messrs .Fuller. Still another Auetrab'an comic opera artist has joined Hugh ,T. "Ward's Company. Walter Whyte this time —the tenor who was here with " Vercmioue." An old Maoriland identity in theatrical circles, Mr R. A. Underwood,- is dead. He.

was connected many years ago with the Dunning Opera Company. Mr Claude Whaite. who was for se long with the late Mr Herbert Flemming, will, it is understood, be the Wellington manager of the West's Pictures.

Miss Nellie Stewart will appear as Maggie and Mr Harcourt Beatty as- John Shand in "What Every Woman Knows/' to be staged at Melbourne Princess's on Easter Saturday. When "The King of Cadonia" was performed in the Empire-Theatre, Calcutta, on December 4, the actors and actresses in the coronation scene blazed with " £500,000 worth of jewels. Miss Mab Paul, leading lady in _" The Night of the Party," played for some time in the same'company as Oscar Asohe and Lily Brayton, under the'management of Sir Herbert Tree. Miss Amy Castles, whom Australians will see in gr?,nd opera ere long, underwent considerable training as an actress under the guidance of the. once-famous French actor, M. Valdajo. A theatre on the lines of the Great Guigno! is being established in London, but the one-act pieces will not be quite so gruesome as those of the Parisian house. Five pieces a night will, it is said, be given—one sentimental, three dramatic, and one comic.

A young New Zealand bass named Olive O'Keefe. has been chosen by Signor Hazon for the chorus of J. 0. W.'s new opera company. Another Maorilander who will. probably get a show is Miss Rosina Buckman. Miss Mabelle Morgan has made quite a sensational success, as Robin Hood in "Tht Babes in the Wood" at the Theatre Royal, Bolton, and' as a consequence was offered a re-engagement for the next three years.

Michael Nolan, who had a successful season in Sydney iir 1898. and who revisited Australia under the Rickards' management in 1907, has passed .away. After two years of illness poor Nolan died last month, near London.

A cable received by Clarke and Meynell on Thursday stated that the firm's new English Comic Opera:Company, which is to present "The Arcadians" at the Theatre Royal at Easter, has sailed for Australia. It comprises 16 people. In the Marylebone (England) Workhouse there is a composer aged 66, named William Ramsay, a painter and paperhanger by trade. At a recent performance given by the inmates he sang his own song, "Scarlet and Gold," with great success.David James, one of the principals in "The Night of the -Party,", is known in private life as David James Belasco. He is a cousin of David Belasco, the American playwright, . whose "Darling of the Gods" has been seen in Australia.

-"The Dollar Princess,'' which is to be the first new offering by J. C. Williamson's new opera company during their forthcoming l Eastertide season ,at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, "is still faring on its rejoicing' way both in London and New York. A dramatic writer thus Sums up the situation at the beginning of 1910:' —"We have able actors and actresses and skilhil dramatists; but where -are the audiences with the necessary intelligence to appreciate tho best work offered for their judgment?" Arthur Shirley, the English playwright, writing to a friend (actor) in Melbourne,, advises, him to remain" in Australia, and to advise his brethren to do so; if not here, to proceed to America, Things theatrically, he says, in London are lamentable.

The fault of 'modern playgoers (a writer thinks) is that instead of asking themselves such questions as "Shall I see a fine play?" and "Shall I see fine acting?" bsfore choosing a theatre to visit, they ask themselves the single question, "Shall I be mada to laugh?" For the production of "The Fencing Master" Mr Hugh Ward secured the services of Miss Beatrice Day, thus strengthening a companv which already had a fine feminine nersonelle in Miss Grace Palotta, Miss Rose Musgrove, Miss Celia, Ghiloni, and Miss Maud Chetwynd. According to American papers Oscar Hammerstein has discovered a remarkable tenor, Mr Orville Harrod, singing in a music hall and is having him trained for grand opera. He is to make his debut before the end of the present season at the Manhattan Opera House, New York. At His Maiesty's Theatre. Johannesburg, the Wheeler-Edwardes Gaiety Company is playing "The King of Cadonia." Leonard Rayne's Opera Company was in its last nights at the time of the mail leaving, -producing "La Poupee," with Freda. Godfrey as The Doll, at the Standard Theatre. The English members of the George Willoughby Company, to. present "The Night of the Partv" under the management o: Clarke and Meynell. will include David James (leading comedian), Mab Paul (leading lady), George Willoughby, H. C. Buckler, Amy Willard, Arthur Cornell. Violet Paget, Reginald Fry, and others. J. C. Williamson's new comic opera company, at present in Dunedin, is now bringing its highly successful. season in New Zealand + o a contusion. They are due to open at Her Majesty's Theatre. Melbourne, on Eaet-er Saturday (March 26) with a revival of " The Country Girl." preceding their production of "The jViPfl.r Princess." It is estimated that during his career of 20 years as a Clyde Fitch won over £4OOOOO with his pen. Last year Charles Klein, with ''The Music Master" and "The Lion and the Mouse." was reported to have obtained over £150,000. It is stated that Hall Caine netted over £50,00» for " The Christian" in its dramatised form.

Miss Ruth St. Denis, who interprets India's life and religion for Occidental eyes by m>3ans of her remarkable dances, is a native of New Jersey, and has neve'to India. She believes herself to be the reincarnation of an Ind'an priestess. and thus aoounts for h?r seemine-ly inspired knowledge of Oriental mysticism and ccultipm.

George Marlowe's dramatic com-nany. which is touring this wav, opens its 2\ew Zealand s°ason at Auckland on Easter Saturday. The olays it brings along are: '"Married to the Wrong Man," "The Wedding Ring." "The Woman from France," and a dramatisation of Bret Harte's "Luck of Roaring Caino." Duncan N?vin. formerly of the Auckland Herald staff, is business manager. Signor Hazon's reintroduction to Australia was a rush. He landed at Adelaide on Wednesday, boarded the train, spent a few hours in Melbourne hearing the chorus selected for him there, left the same afternoon, and was welcomed by a crowd of old friends on trie Sydney station on the Friday morning. He has returned as full of energy as ever, boyishly glad to bs back in Australia.

According to the newepjipers, the following Australians .have, "scored", in pantomime: Alice Pollard, principal girl "Goody." Princes' Theatre, Bristol; May Beattv, "Dick Wbittington," B'-itannia Theatre, London; and Florrie> Ford?. "Robin Hcod," Theatre Royal, Leeds. Kilburn Heron is playing in pantomime at the Shakespeare• Theatre. Loudon, and' the' tenor's singing is highly praised;

Clarke and Meynell have selected an Australian prima donna for their new comio opera company, which makes its first appearance in "The Arcadians." Miss May Sydney was the first Australian to win the scholarship and gold medal of the Royal College of Musio, London, and after completing her musical training she was engaged by George Danoe for his comio opera company, and subsequently passed over to George Edwardes.

According to Signor Hazon, who is to h&ve the musical direction of the J. C. Williamson season of grand opera- in English, Parma, the city of his yout'K, produces "cheese, wine and conductors." Of the last product, Parma claims the finest examples—Toscanini, of the Metropolitan Opera. House, New York; Oa-mpanini, of the Manhattan, the rival house; Conti, of Boston; Hazon, of Sydney.

Edwin Geach has made arrangements with Clarke and Meynell to tour several of their dramatic successes through New Zealand. A company is being organised in Sydney. The plays to be presented are " The Midnight Wedding" and 'Tier Love Against the World," and C. B. Stanford, who originally produced "The Midnight Wedding," will be stage director.. New scenery is being painted by Harry Whaite, and a new ward* robe made at the Melbourne Royal. St. Petersburg lias a people's opera house, in which performances may be heard for as little as ljd. Years aso Count Witte persuaded the Czar to build the People's Palace and subsidise it heavily for operatic and dramatic representations "by the best artists. It was to serve as a counter attraction to the vodka shops. It has served this purpose to the extent of attracting- always large audiences- composed of people too poor to attend the other places of amusement. Interesting statistics of the performances during the first half of 1909 at the Paris Grand Opera are to .hand. The Orgeat number of performances fell to Wagner, who had fifty-one evenings to his credit, and he was the only composer who was represented by as. many a 3 five works. Gounod csm-3 next with forty-two, Saint-Saens bad twentyfour. Meyerbeer, with two operas, had only twelve. There are opsra-goers in Paris who remember the time when Wagner was hissed off the stage. Owing to lack of training a horse which appeared in a production of "Shenandoah " at the Tivoli Theatre, St. Joseph, Mo., U.S.A., generally upset matters. The scene showed a battlefield, with several "dead" Yank 3 about, when suddenly the horse began to kick, and a wholesale resurrection tool place, the corpses clearing out of the way with remarkable alacrity. Having nothing animate to kick at, the disturber of the peace proceeded to demolish a stage stone wall with his hoofs, which formed a fitting finale.

The first week of "A Waltz Dream" in Sydney beat the first week's attendance record of "The Merry Widow;" Oscar Straus does not rely upon the waltz: theme to the. same extent that Franz Lehsr-. did when he gave tfa e world "The Merry . Widow.'' In regard to the music of the third act, which was furnished by Mr Bamish.-MacCunn, it is but. just to- acknowledge (hat it does not suffer by comparison with the. brilliant work of Oscar Straus. The vocal music of the opera now running puts the. vocal music of "The Merry Widow" in the shade. On February 17, in the pr-esence oi a great crowd, Houdini, "the handcuff king," with his hands bound by iron fetters behind his back, and a- number of chains fastened round his- neck and body by padlocks, jumpad from the Queen's Bridge, Melbourne, into the Yarra. In a few seconds he reappeared above tho surface, holdinsr his grim paraphernalia above his head, and was driven off in triumph. The weight of the iron he carried was declared to Be about 251 b. Houdini. has performed this sensational act in nmny parts of the world.

The theatrical dancers of Paris are organising a union, followin-sc like combinations of orchestra, musicians, chorus people, and stage mechanicians in thai capita). The dancers claim that they are the hardest worked and poorest paid persons in the profession (savs the JVe'w York Dramatic Mirror), and they to eliminate foreign competition, especiallv from Italy, and secure higher pay based on long apprenticeship and earning power. v et such an organisation cannot prevent, the occasional appearance of a genius of motion from, the ranks of the mechanically *KHu»«"ful. Miss Olive Lenton will sail from London for Australia on March 11 on board the R.M.S. Orrirah, under engagement to Harry Rickards, with a comedy sketch company. Mias Lenton carries with her two tons of scenery. The music in her act entitled "Harvest Time'' was written by George Hall, who was a musical director for J. C Williamson before he went to England. Miss Lenton comas direct from the Coliseum, London, and upon the completion of her Australian engagement goes to New "Xork under contract to Klaw and Erlanger. The clever little kdv was born in Sydney The late Lauco Lenton, comedian and journalist, was her father. To demonstrate aga.m the care that should be taken in the iise of firearms on the stage, what might have proved a serious accident was only just averted at Aberdare recently, when "A Soldier's itomanee " was being played, records Era. There is a scene in which the comedian, has to fire a shot into the win us, and by' a grave error the revolver was loaded with a ball cartridge instead of a blank one. The shot struck the floor and bounced up. hist grazing the band of Mr Alexander Loftus. who was_ standing about two yards away reading, with another revolver in readiness «hould the one on the stage miss fire. Had f>lw» weapon been aimed a couple of feet higher the result must have been fatal. ..'■.". ->tThe'new American emotional actress. Miss Kafherine Grey, who has been arnwaring in Sydnev in " The Lion and the Mouse," has decidedly taken a strong hold oa the affections of the Sydney p?r\yg'. : !:g public. Although her face, wit- i*« :v-/e. soft br.own eyes a ll d sensitive mouth, is of n serious tyne vhen in repose. H will suddenly dimple with the merriest of lauehf.er when her sense of humour is aroused, and in this particular connection Miss Grey says she always thanks heaven for her Irish oTandrnMher. Amongst the treasures which adorn her room is. a billiken, which smile* snconrajfiriagly at her, and she explains when looking at hirn>— "He iwa.kes me lau«rh>—and that's one of the chief things in life." Mr David Belasco was recently ouoted as saying; that last year was the most, difaatrous theatrical year ever known in New York. " And," he added, "the springing nr> of new theatres means that it will he still more disastrous. There are too many tbeatrp?. both an New York and throughout the country. Theatres are now. built, in New York ps factories for the''manufacture of any old thing to send or the road. Butthe day has gone bv 'when a play can. make a successful' tour- on the strength, of a New York run. Th°\ manager who forces a run here makes a mistake. The legitimate drawing power of the greatest success is exhausted here in twelve weeks. Bv that time all the New Yorkers who go to the theatre tepularlv have *een the play, and tbsy're looking for something; new."

t " What Every Woman Knows," ir which Miss Nellie Stewart. will ba'Welcomed back to the Melbourne Princess Theatre on • Easter Saturday, will mark another new departure in histrionics for that idolised actress. F.OT Barrie's most delightful comedy depends for none of its charm upon the | colour of costume or the gorgeousness of I mounting which characterised " Sweet Nell i of old Drtwy " or " Sweet Kitty Bellairs." ( It is modern in its settii:&, its scenes are the i familiar interiors of everyday life, its people ■such as we meet from day to day, and its dialogue in our own speecii— touched, perhaps, with a trifle of Scotch accent, which, by the way, Miss Stewart, thorough in all ehe does, is now diligently acquiring from a Glasgow lady, who is giving her the very tone and inflection that her fellow townspeople would use.