STAGE GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 3014, 20 December 1911, Page 66

STAGE GOSSIP.

The Titheradge benefit fund' in, Sydney will amount to- about £SOO. Footlights on the stage were- first used in Italy. Garrick was the first to use them on the English stage in 1765. Mr Charles A. Wennian produced " Everywoman" at Melbourne Theatre Royal. Mr F. "Wynne Jones is musiea.7 director, and Mr Lionel Wa'lshe stage manager. He: "Do you know him?" She: "I love him." He: "Them you don't know him." This is a sample of the satirical quips in the new comic opera, " The Chocolate Soldier."

Mr Victor Gouxiet, who created the part of Baron Popoff in "The Merry Widow," wias appearing in Capetown as Simon Slinks in "Miss Hook of Holland" when the last mail left South Africa. On the occasion of his benefit at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney, Mr George Titheradge appeared with Mr Cyril Mackay, Miss Lily Titberadeje, and Mrs T. H. Kelly in " In Honour Bound." On Saturday, December 23, Mr George Marlow will present, as a- Christmas attraction at the Sydney .adelphi, J. C. - Williamson's new English Musical Pantomime Company in " His Majesty's Guest." A new Sydney season of melodrama will be opened at the False* The^t— > ■■- -i February, under the direction of Mr William Anderson, who will Mr Walter :! '■■ r and Miss Frances Rosa in '""The French Spy," " His Natural Life," " My Partner, and " Tommy Atkins.'' At the conclusion of Allen Doone's Brisbane season Mr Marlow proposes to send the company as far a 3 Rockhampton, returning south again and playing Newcastle for six nierhts. A New Zealand tour is to follow. Mr Stanley Grant will be the manager of the Allen Dcone tour throughout Australia and New Zealand. The society entertainer, Mr Joseph Blaseheck, is proving a signal success in Adelaide, which city he is visiting under the direction of Mr William Anderson. Mr Blasoheck, accompanied by Miss Mildred Wrighton, will visit New Zealand, en extensive tour of trie Dominion being fixed to open in Christchurch. Mr Oscar Ascbe and Miss Lily Bnayton are looking forward to their Australian tour, which is to commence at Melbourne on April 5 with the successful " Kismet" Mr Apche's programme is Australia includes a plav on the subject of Mary Queen of Soots, another Eastern drama, entitled " Mecca," and a revival of " Antony and Cleopatra." The sale of the Princess Theatre. Melbctirne, freehold was completed on Novembor 30. The purchaser was Mr Gcorse Marlow. of George Marlow. Limited', the present lessees of the theatre. The price paid was £380,000. There is also a consideration to be made for the unexpired portion of the Princees Company's lease, which had about two years to run. " The Mousme," which has been a success

fit the Shaftesbury, in London, is shortly to be staged in New -YoTk under the. Savage management; in Australia, by the J. O. Williamson management; in Egypt, India., China, and Japan, by the Bandmann Optra Company; and by four companies on the road in England. It followed " The Arcadians " ait the Shaftesbury. Tenders will be called throughout Australia in January for the erection of Mr William Anderson's new theatre m Sydney. The structure will occupy about half the area of the present, market building, and will be on very elaborate lines. Mi William Pitt, architect, has his plans ail ready, and they a.re now being considered by the City Council of Sydney. Miss ' Wells, of Johnson and Wells, of Brennan's forthcoming vaudeville company, is a most refined, highly educated coloured lady. Her father is a barrister practising in New York. Miss Wells herself speaks no less than seven different languages. A muchadmired feature of hecr stage work is the elaborate and costly creations in the way of dresses that she disports. Jordan and Harvey, who will be seen in Dunedin with Brennan's Amphitheatres, Ltd., are famous throughout America and England as Hebrew comedian®. "We do rot," says Mr Jordan, " burlesque the Jewish character. Ours are simple, natural character imitations. Precise replicas of ourselves —or as we appear .on the stage—are to be seen by the thousand in ordinary life in London." Mr Wybert Stamford has been rehearsing " The Quaker Girl" in Melbourne. This is to be the big J. C. Williamson., Ltd., attraction in Sydney, and promises to excel any of the musical comedy productions put on by the firm. Mr Stamford is most enthusiastic regarding "The Quaker Girl," and confidently anticipates that it will break all records, not even excepting that of " Our Miss Gibbs." y When the Hamilton-Plinimer-Denniston company return to the Palace Theatre, Sydney, on December 23, " Inconsistent George," •a farce adapted from the French, will be presented for the first time in Sydney. The new work in London achieved a run of 278 consecutive nights at the Prince of Wa'Ws Theatre, and is described' as very amusing, with a touch of pathos before the final fall of the curtain.

A drama for night -time and a pantomime for the afternoons will ba the Christmas double bill at the King's Theatre, Sydney. The director, Mr William Anderson, tried this plan with marked success a year ago, and he hopes to reap an even more satisfactory result this year, N his pantomime company, after a ±2 months' tour, being in thorough training, and fully equipped with fresh turns and comeay wruapa. The young artists have been working hard at the new pantomime for some weeks. There are five acts in " Everywoman," staged' for the first time in Australia at tho Theatre Royal, Melbourne, on the 16th. The first takes place in Every woman's home; the second on the stage of a metropolitan theatre; the third, in Everywoman'.s apartments in New York; the fourth, on Broadway, New Year's Eve; the fifth, a room in Everywonian's home. The scenery has been designed on a magnificent scale from the original mode's sent out from New York, and has been painteß by Phil Goatchsr and J. P. Hogg. Miss Alice Hollands*, the Sydney contralto, who, after a classic career in England, which embraced appearances at the Richard ' Strauss Festival, London, secured a star position at the vaudeville theatres, was. at. Latest at, Moscow. Miss Hollander on October 20 was singing at the BouffesTheatre on a six weeks' starring engagement at a high salary. The city was already under its mantle of snow, and the artist forward's a photograph of the great drive along the river outside the wall's of the Kremlin, crcvvdsd with skighs and foot passengers in furs.

Tlio Long arm of coincidence 'annihilates time and space, particularly in the theatrical profession. Years ago, when Miss Florence Imeson, principal boy of the J. C. Williamson panto, of " Sinbad the Sailor" mado her first appearance in pantomime, playing Gretchen in " Mother Goose,' - Pip Powell was the Dame. Last Monday, when Mr Powell stepped off the Osterley from London, and wa3 infonned that Misis Imeson was the principal boy, he »ruiled.\ '' Fancy that. now. We meet in panto again after years. Only last time we were together she was principal girl." Miss Eva Mudge (" The American girl •who captivated London") appeared in seven distinct changes of character in the course of her performance with Brennan's Amphitheatres, Ltd. She comes out first as ia lieutenant in the United States Navy, then disappears into a little tent, erected on the stage, and in three seconds she emerges frcm this dressed as a nurse. After similarly brief absences she is seen (1) as a sailor, (2) as Stonewall Jackson, (3) as Dick Turpin, (4) as a bejewelled soubrette, and (o) as a dainty morsel in a pink bathing suit. Miss Mudge is a pretty singer, and gives a song appropriate to each character. Mr W. S. Percy is something of a bookworm, and lately has developed a marked appetite for Australian history. Consequently he sought admission to the Mitchell Library in Sydney. He found it necessary to get someone to vouch for him before he could get the run of the place. " What's your occupation?" he was asked. "I'm an actc™ playing in ' The Girl in the Train,'." he roplied. The official was not impressed. " Well," he said, after some hesitation, " if you can get a letter from some reputable member of the profession—Mr George S Titheradge, for instance—we will be pleased to accord you the usual facilities for obtaining access to the library." The New York critics gave Hilda Spong, the star of " Everywoman," a eulogistic send-off in their columns when she sailed for Australia under engagement to J. 0. Williamson, Ltd. The Nsiw York Herald commenced .a column of nice things about Miss Spong with the following :—" Some day Hilda Spong will be recognised as one of the greatest of dramatic artists on the American stage. She is" threatening the stronghold of that little group .now composed of Mrs Fiske, Margaret Anglin, and Julia Marlowe. The reason for arriving at this conclusion is simple—she is already a great emotional artist, and all she wants is the proper sort of plays, that will give her wider range. She is an artist in every eense of the word, and has full and! plenty of that ■wonderful thing we oafll personality." Hilda Spong has the record 1 of being (he youngest star that ever appeared in Australia. She was a mere girl when she appeared with the Brough-Boucioault company, and after three years with this organisation she graduated into leading roles, followed by a starring tour as Bosalind, Juliet, Pauline in " The Lady of Lyons," Galatea, Niobe, etc. She was not then out of her teens. Proceeding to London, she made her first appearance at Drury Lane in the title role of, " Th& Duohess of Coolgardie," afterwards appearing in "The Kiss of Delilah," and was at the Princess's Theatre in "The Two Little Vagabonds." and at the Court In " The Children of the King." She was then engaged by A. W. Pinero, a lifelong friend of her father, to

originate the role of Imogen Parrott in " Trelawney of the Wells," at the Court, in which her success was so great that she was engaged by Daniel Frohman