STAGE GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 3031, 17 April 1912, Page 68

STAGE GOSSIP.

Mr George Rignold, the veteran actor, of Sydney, is a visitor io Auckland. He inr tends to visit Rotorua. Tittel Brune has secured the rights of the play " Dwellers in Glasshouses" for Australia and New Zealand. Ths oldest actor : n the world i= E-vriro Pinel, and he recently celebrated his 110th birthday at Pelarmo, Sicily; by taking part in a charity performance. " Nightbirds," the successor to " Th-a Chocolate Soldier " st the Lyric Theatre, London, is doing enormous business, and promises to equal, if not exceed, the record ptit up by the Strauss comic opera, Madame Clar;v Butt will revisit Australia in 1913. During her stay in Melbourne she will open the nev concert hall that Messrs J. and N. Tait are now erecting in Collins street, on the site of the old As3?!v.»!v tfall. Messrs Werba and Luescher have launched their third " Spring Maid" Company in America. This musical play is still one of the outstanding successes on the American stage. It will be one of the ,T. C. Williamson attractions in Australia in the near future. Apropos of Sir Herbert Tree, he was once asked if ho was not worn out with the worry of launching a Shakespeare play. " Oh, dear, no!" replied the actor. " One great element of pleasure in the production of a play by Shakespeare lies in the fact that during the rehearsals there is no interference on the part of the author." An effort is being made in America to abolish the curtain call and the speech from the stage, which is desreibed as '•' the culmination of the inane." Curtain calls at times are badly handled, but the- inartistic effec't is nothing compared with the annoyance caused by the audience that will applaud in the middle of an act. The late Sir W. S. Gilbert, when rehearsing " H.M.S. Pinafore," turned round to Rutland Barrington and said, " Cross the stage and sit on that skylight pensively." He did so, but, being a weighty man, and the skylight composed of thin glass, it collapsed. "Ah," remarked Gilbert, "you've made a misatke, • that's expensively." rt is a fact not generally known that liobert S. Hichens, the author of " Tho Garden of Allah" and "The Fruitful Vine," abandoned a career at Oxford in order to study music, and served for several years 33 mu3ic critic of the London "World, succeeding Bernard Shaw in that capacity. He abandoned music because he foresaw more fame for himself in writing. Of the productions now running at the London theatres no fewer than six are included amongst the J. C. Williamson attractions for Australia. These include the following striking successes:—"Bella Donna," at tho St. James; "The Count of Luxembourg," at Daly's; " The Nightbirds," at the Lyric ;* and " Mousme," at the Shaftesbury. All of these will be staged in Australia in due course. The J. C. Williamson management had four notable first-nights on Easter Saturday, April 6. In Melbourne " Ki3met " and " The Girl in ttho Train " were two diverse types of entertainment presented for playgoer*.

In Sydney "The Blue Bird" made a big uuccess •at the -Criterion Theatre, end m Adelaide the " Sinbad the Sailor" pantomime was received with uproarious enthusiasm. At present the J. 'C. Williamson management has six attractions running in the three capitals. Miss Ethel Irving, in an interview prior to returning to England, said that her sojourn in Australia had been a most happy one, and she would cherish many dear memories of it. She wished to thank the Australian and New Zealand people for the support they had given her and her company. Asked whether we would have an opportunity of seeing her again, she answered that ft was rather soon yet to think about that, but still she would look forward to another trip to this country. In discussing Oscar Asche's plans for the new theatre lie is to build for himself, and which is to be ready for his return to London, the London Standard says that it will be the most modern and best-equipped house in the metropolis. Particular attention will be paid to the comfort of patrons in all parts, including the cheaper portions, and the stage, which will be of great size, will be- fitted with all sorts of mechanical devices that will assist in scenic effects, as well as in the shifting and setting of scenery. W. B. Percy, the Australian comedian who scored such a success as the president of the court in " The Girl in the Train," at Melbourne Her Majesty's, states it as a fact that there is only one town in each of the three Eastern States the mention of which will raise a laugh. Melbourne audiences will rock at a reference to Lai Lai, while Sydney playgores will shriek at the reference to Woy Woy, and in Brisbane audiences are thrown into convulsions when a comedian says that the one spot in the world for him is Humpy Bong! "A bushman's life has pleasures that the townman never knows" is the burden of an Australian poet's song. That there is another side to the picture was made apparent at Her Majesty's, Sydney, one evening during last week. A member of the audience showed his friendliness towards "The Quaker Girl" by telling the manager during an interval how he had lived 15 years in the Biverina. " I've made enough money to retire, and I'm going to live in Sydney," he stated. Then he added: "You know, one can never see a play like this at Coolamon I"

Mr Edward Branscomhe, Hie well-known entrepreneur, may be credited with having made the record booking eo far in connection with the Wellington Town Hall. He ha« booked the Concert Chamber from May 23 until September 7 continuously. The hall is to be occupied by his company of entertainers, entitled " The Dandies," who have been performing in Australia for a couple of yeara. They give a free-and-easy musiceon g-and-story entertainment, after the style ©f -the " Scarlet Troubadours" and "the " English Pierrots," which latter company thev will succeed next month at the Town Hall. Mr Griffiths, musical director of the " Scarlet Troubadours," will perform a similar duty with "The Dandies." Charles A. Wenman, who produced ' The House of Temperley." for the J. C. Williameon management, hunted high and low in liondon on his last visit for English uniforms used in the Peninsular war. At last he collected what he wanted for the play. They all bore the marks of a long campaign. Some were ragged and travel-stained, and the buttons were in a state of Mack neglect. They were shipped to Australia In this condition. When they were required a request was sent to the wardrobes department for them.. Imagine Mr Wenman's horror when ho discovered that some zealous but misguided person had sent them to (he cleaner. Ho rushed to the nearest cabstand, and dashed off to the establishment, being just in time to prevent the work of renovation being commenced on thenu In a few minutes the work of years would have been removed, and with it one of the most important details in the realism of tho production. Mite Ellen Terry celebrated the sixtyfourth anniversary of her birthday recently. She made her "first appearance on any etage," as the playbills have it, at the age of eight, and since that time right down through the crowded years .of her wonderful career she has radiated a charm and sweetness that have won for her, mot the admiration alone, but the Jove and affection of countless multitudes of many lands. The long succession of triumphs of tho old I/yceum days—the days of Beatrice,' of Portia, and of Rosalind—can never bo forgotten (says tthe Pall Mall Gazette) by those who were held in thrall by the subtle elocutionary powers and rare personal charm of the actress. But those days are gone, and Miss Terry remains to delight Savoy audiences nightly with her causeries of Shakespeare's characters with illustrative dramatic examples. Tho passing of the years has only deepened and widened the insight that has pierced into the iheart of Shakespeare's heroines, and the sweet voice has lost but little of its music.