MISS MARIE BAINES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3019, 24 January 1912, Page 77

MISS MARIE BAINES.

THE BRILLIANT ENGLISH COMMEDIENNE. HER MESSAGE THROUGH THE D.L.F, PAGE TO THE CHILDREN OF NEW ZEALAND. AN INTERVIEW BY LAVENGRO. Sunday, January 14, 1912. My Dear Children,—l have not been very long in New Zealand, but quite long enough to realise that you live under very different conditions from those of the childrn in the Old Country. In the place I come from children of your age have to work half their time and go to school for the other half.

have very little time for play, and ere'what is called ‘ half timers.” They S<> to school one week in the morning and work in the afternoon. The next week they work in the morning and go to school in tno afternoon. Yon can easily understand that your life here, under God's blue sky. is much happier than theirs. The thing that has struck me most during my brief sojourn with you has been the happy, smiling childhood of the Dominion. I have stow! at the street corner and simply ached to kidnap some of the merry babies that I have seen. I have only one message for you. ion won’t understand it just now, but you will in future years. Kingsley’s lingering lines are haunting me: ‘‘Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be

Do noble’things, not dream them all day And so make life, death, and that ■sast

forever fi One grand sweet song.’ If veu children live un to that you will justify yur life in one of the best countries I have ever seen. haRTE BAINES. [Since not all the children to whom tbh kindly letter is addressed can possibly reply for themselves, I should like just to thank onr visitor for her gracious interest in them. There is one kingdom of little people within our Dominion (I mean our D.L.F.) who will be deeply interested in what Miss Marie Baines has to say. and Lavcngro s account of the hard work and industry that have led to the success of her career will »how how truly kind the nature must be that has spared time and thought to send this letter. For it we thank her cordially, and wish her still more success and happiness to com©. —DOT.] There’s a lady versatile, With a most engaging smile, And a very taking style— Miss Marie Baines. And she plays the Lancashire Sort of “slavey,” with some ire, Nor ever seems to tire. Nor e'en complains! With her wide experience. And Imr wit and good, sound sense, Her jokes touch e’en the dense—'Tis so. Marie! While her manners and her pranks Do not draw out any blanks, When the audience sends its thanks— The same from me. When the blithe M. Ellen T. Sings a gav song merrily. Or talks “ ’igh society”— Which she disdains,— flie stirs claret will: her thumb. Which strikes the party dumb, And turns Dip butler glum— Miss Marie Baines! But in tm*h. for downright, fun She lifts the well-browned bun. And claims the Number One— Onr bright Marie! So wlien she goes gwav file’ll leave the landscape grey; But come back some other day— Como hack to we. For we’ve got a deal to learn. And vr.nr art D our concern— That’s if we ca-o a durn For skill or brains. You’ve a wav. and veu can coax, So here’s love from Liitlc Folks For the friend!v words you “spokes”— Mi ss Marie Bnii.es! Arise Mario Baines produced the c-mod “Miss Lancashire. Limited,” at flic Municipal Theatre. Invercargill, on Friday evening. January 12. 1912. A = Marv Ellen Thompson, Miss Baines was inimitable, end offered a performance which must take bin'll rank in the liisfc r v of farcical comedv. Vivacious to a marked degree, and possessing a. versatility which was as remarkable as it was rof rest, ire, tips “larsie frmp Loncn.slp’re" exhibited a certainly delightful pay. sontlitv. A humorist with that rare quality of comic character,‘-af.'ou which nuts everything and cvervhodv t-> humorous account. Miss Baineo kent th“ house laughing from rise to faR of curtain. No other couim.erßenne who has visited tbese -bores can claim equal place w-th Miss Baines, for there is something that grips about the latter’s v ork. something inherent, something that cannot b" explained or analysed, and which places her nnart. Perhaps if is genius; we believe it is. But. in any. case, it is "that little me-which ir.ee ns so much." Her rone “p.;il v ” was *rirkv and well done, hut “Tim T r ip f n BVickpc-oi,” describing the fi-d holiday railway journey of a pert little English matclen, was with out nnv doubt the cleverest recitation delivered on iho Auftralasian stage for years or at anv time. I’ve beard all <he lm--t Australasian < leculionets. including such rotod r-erfo-mer- as Mr Lawrence Tampbell and Miss L : lla~ PrltehaH. and th.,-, I have also very vivid - and pleasant recol-1-oetions of Mr Leslie Harris and the late Mel. B. Spur; but in this particular rec : - tatic-n I muk a he'd fa state that none would oven approach M ; ss Baines. Into this short piece “ho introduced gesture which wa = masterful and was it~elf almost capable of telb’ug the story. Her mimicry of the girl’s voice and lone was consummate, and the whole performance got far hevoud technique nwnv into the realms of temperament. and art. If Afiss Marie Baines appeared only to give this one little- character recital I must still account her one of the finest actresses, elocutionists, and commediennes it lias been my good fortune to hear. Pieces in Ccckney and North Country dialect -were good, and c be handles French-Fnglbl, with splendid effect; but ; n the matt-,,, of traws-tv she approaches the work with an enthusiasm and confidence that is rare’ - dwee-ered on the boards. In fihort her Miss Thompson was eminently convincin'’' ar.d while she did many clever things, she did others which were quite union's. T”d„r.d, personality and grin characterise all her work, and thou she puts in such a. lot of detail. But it is ouite unnecessary >.o enlarge. The plot of “Miss !Lnucashir->. Limited." hinges on a servant girl who for some few weeks changes places with an hdress. and the part of the servant girl is. o? course, taken by Miss Baines. AN INTERESTING TALKER. Ttia 0.-e'-urn "'n v me~s-.r, f . sent by Miss Marie Baines f-> the children of New Zealand. and u.-.v*.-d (d, e bead of this. rir'r o s the great c «jpedi erne's attitude to life, ftnd as well lic'aivs her literary gifts. An omnivorous reader of remini’seenees, memoirs, find biography, which she greatly prefers to fiction. Miss Baines can still claim partiality for the navels of S. Baring Gould, whom she likes above all the other English fiction writers. Of Australasian literature the work of Adam Lindsay Gordon appeals strongly to hor. and she is never tired of reading his spirited lines. Afiss Baiue« looks forward, however, to a more complete stuelv of colonial literature, as the for 3fpste seems very satisfactory. A traveller s who has visited evorv important city in the : Old and the Now Worlds, the original of ;slary F-llen Thompson, although she hails from Lancashire, positively delights in

Edinburgh, which she considers to be her favourite city, and which she loves above London. . c ho mentioned Robert Louis Stevenson's book, "Edinburgh Days,” and holds horse If one with the gifted Scot in an enthusiasm for all pertaining to the historic Scotch city. In all her experience on tlie stage Miss Baines never met an actor who could equal Mr Forbes Robertson, the great English interpreter of Shakespeare. With no actor lias she such sympathy, and in her opinion very few, if any, can stand beside him on equal footing .Of course, it is well known that Mr Forbes Robertson is as great with the brush as ha is with the "inky cloak.” and Miss Baines told me that Robertson has actually received lessons in painting from the groat pre-Raphaelite. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and she also pointed out that Robertson stood for the. portrait ot Dante in Rossetti’s famous painting which depicts the meeting of Dante with Beatrice. Although she has osstyecl a hundred other parts, the clover Lancashire lady considers Mary Ellen Thompson to be well suited to liar, and. of course, she likes it very much. But she is looking eagerly forward to the completion of a new comedy by Mr Sydney Sydney, the well-known playwright, to be entitled “Our Kid.” which is being written especially for herself. In this new piece Miss Baines will play two parts—namely,

"The Kid” and “Mv Sister.” Mr Sydney, who thoroughly understands Miss Baines's requirements and appreciates her temperament. is putting his best work into the comedy, and we anticipate a big success for the subject of our interview when she 0 turns with “Our Kid” in England. Wo also hope to see the production pay some attention to New Zealand. CELEBRITIES AND ROYALTY. Miss Baines refers familiarly to London as “town.” “I’ve met all the big people in town,” she said. J. M. Barrie? “Well, 1 was introduced to him, and know him slightly.” Pinero? “Oh yes! I know the author of “The Second Mrs Tanqueray quite well.” And so on. Wo merrily traversed the names and E«.me of the outstanding qualities of almost every distinguished writer and player in the Empire. Miss Baines, who is the reciter and story-teller par excellence, entertained the young Prince Eddie on his fourteenth birthday, when by Royal command she proceeded to the Palace and relegated the young heir to the throne by numerous stories, quaint, comic, and pathetic. Happy the Prince who can listen to stories so entertainingly told. A PUPIL OF EUGEN SANDOW. One thing that strikes one about Miss Baines is her splendid physique and physical alertness. She displays a suppleness which would make even a circus acrobat envious. But then Miss Baines has come under the personal tuition of F.ugen Sandow (the famus strong man), and she is proud of the fact that she was for years one of his favourite and most successful pupils. She 1 e\or ceases to continue the exercises, and claims Hint she has benefited greatly from them. She would wish any D.L.F. or other per;on who wants really robust health to at once go in for dumb-bells and procure Sundew's chart of exercises. These never f ail to.have good results. SOME THEATRICAL EXPERIENCES. Miss Marie Baines hails from Lancashire. At 13 years of age fire ran away from Notre Panic Convent in Blackburn, Lancashire, to join a juvenile opera company. This certainly proves an early predilection for the stage. In her own words, she was taken back, given a good spanking, and strongly remonstrated with by the sisters. But convent walls held no fascination for the impulsive little girl, and the glamour of the footlights was already in her blood, with the result that on her fourteenth birthday she was appearing with Mr Harry Batteneby’s Juvenile Operatic Company in the provinces. The provincial tour covered two years, and was a great success, Ifttle Marie playing important parts from, the start. In “Dorothy” she played Lydia; and one can well imagine her singing—- “ You swear to be good and true To tbe maid whom veu adore, And tel! her you love her as few Have ever loved woman before.” Or in the trio—“Be wise in time, Oh. Phyllis mine.

Have a care, maiden fair, pray beware; Men that combine such traits divine

Ever dare, never spare, never care. Would you your liberty resign To gain a golden ring? ’Tnas best, in spinsterhoed to strive Than do so rash a thing.” Other comic operas were “Les Cloches do Corneville.” in which her.part was Scrpolctte ; and in “Olivette” Marie played the name part. But these do not by any means exhaust the list. A second tour of the provinces with Mr George Edwardes’s No. 1 Company was followed by London engagements at the Palladium and “turns” at many music halls. Miss Baines often appearing at four different places of amusement in one evening. The Gaiety Theatre, the Mecca of musical commediennes, opened its stage-door to Miss Baines; but for some reason her mother objected to the place, and the rising star bowed to maternal authority. An American tour brought he- to New York, from which she travelled the o-rr-at Orenheum circuit and the less-known William Morris circuit. Next wo find her back in England and under her own management. Miss Baines much prefers her own management, and really en- ;, 'vs her Australian tours. Speaking <f New- Zealand, she said to me; “I am in love with veur country. I hanponed to get a headache coming south from Christchurch. but this did not prevent me remarking so enthusiastically on the scenery we were passing that I must have annoyed many persons in the train. It was ‘Look at this.’ and ‘Look at that’ every few minutes.” And so I conclude just a few words remembered after an interesting talk with a very brilliant and accomplished English-won-.an. It must not be forgotten that Miss Marie Baines is one of the world’s great commediennes, and on behalf of Dot and the D.L.P. my thanks to her cannot l)o adequately expressed in words. She is interested in everything and everybody, and lire something illuminating to say upon every subject in dor the sun. Passionately fond of music, art. and letters. T only wi«h I could have remembered a. tenth of all she told mo. But meantime, in her own words, “Au revoir.”