STAGELAND

Southland Times, Issue 18967, 14 June 1923, Page 13

STAGELAND

Of Plays and Players (By “The Limelight Man”) July’ 12. —Orange Lodge Concert. July 23 and 24. —Emelie Polini (J. C. W., Ltd.*, an actress of rare ability Invercargill has not yet seen. August 13 to 18.—Invercargill Competitions. The result of the plebiscite taken by Mr E. J. Gravestock for M. Jean Gerrardy’s ninth and final concert in the Melbourne Town Hall recently proved an interesting indication of what the musical public wants. Of a list of sixty pieces submitted, Bach’s “Aria" was the most popular, with 490 votes. “Koi Nidrei,” Max Bruch’s beautiful setting of the bld Hebrew chant, was second, with 424 votes. These pieces were followed by “At the Spring” (Davidoff), “Chanson Louis XIII. et Pavane” (Couper-in-Kreisler), “Chanson Villageoise” (Popper), “Berceuse” (Schubert), “Papillon” (Popper), “Gavotte Ancienne” (Popper), “Le Cygne” (Saint Saens), “Romance” (Saint Saens), “Evening Song” (Schumann). “Nocturne" (Chopin). The concertos submitted included the Elgar, Haydn Concerto, Saint Saens Concerto and Lalo. The Saint Saens gained most votes, followed by the Elgar, but as there was an overwhelming preponderance of votes for the lighter compositions, M. Gerardy omitted the customary concerto from his programme.

Gilbert Emery’, an Aussie, who was seen with Marlow’s companies and later was in movies, played an important role in the New York premier of Pinero’s “The Enchanted Cottage,” a blind major, a characterisation for which he is congratulated by the critics. Lauretta Taylor, the original ‘Teg O’ My Heart,” is reviving in Oliver Goldsmith's “She Stoops to Conquer” in New York. I don’t remember seeing Goldsmith’s play since Mrs Brown Potter’s appearance in it. Mrs Brown Potter, by the way, is now living in retirement on the Riviera, where she is a neighbour of Mrs Lily Langtry. Oscar Ashe’s New Zealand tour with “Cairo” opens next month. “The Famous Diggers” are reported to be doing big business at the Queen’s Hall, Perth. “Bill” Bovis, Australian comedian, abroad for many years, has signed a contract with the Fullers. Older playgoers recall, no doubt, the Bovis Bros, as an entertaining act with Stephenson’s company. “Smilin’ Through,” which succeeded “Woman to Woman,” at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, has been hailed as another personal triumph for Miss Gertrude Elliott. By the time the new Fuller theatre in Castlereagh and Fitzherbert streets, Sydney, is completed, the cost will be between £l3O, 000 and .£200,000. Close by, in Castlereagh street, another new theatre is being built. A sure sign of the poverty of new plays of solid structure is the frequency of revivals. Gladys Cooper recently did “Magda” and George Goldsmith’s Pinero’s “The Gay Lord Quex” in London and Laurette Taylor goes to Goldsmith. Robert Keable’s “Simon Called Peter” has been dramatised and has its American first appearance under the direction of W. A. Brady, the father of Alice Brady, known here as a movie actress. Even Cyril Maude’s magnificent characterisation of Mark Sabri was not enough to save the drama version of Hutchinson’s “If Winter Comes.” Instead of gelatine plates for changes of colour in stage lighting, the Germans use silks which they claim do away with the sharp changes and give softer and more natural tones.

New York’s sixty-three legitimate theatres seat 67,784 people. Miss Irma Caron, well-known in New Zealand, is at present in New York, and doing well as a club and society entertainer. “This is America’s highest class of work,” she writes, “and I am also doing stunts for the New York Board of Education. Among the halls in which I have sung in this wonderful city are the grand ballroom of the Hotel Astor, Broadway, two select clubs in Fifth Avenue, the auditorium attached to the Museum of Natural His.tory, and the entertainment hall in the Friars’ Club—the best known professional men’s association in the State of New York.” Miss Caron (reports the Sporting and Dramatic Review) has also sung for the Theatre Assembly, which has a membership numbering over 3,000, and for the Dramatic Comedy Association—another big concern. Her husband, Mr Adams, is establishing himself as a lecturer, and has spoken on his film (Australia’s Wild Northwest) to the members of the Geographical Societies at Washington and Philadelphia, as well as fulfilling several high school engagements. In its report of a recent show at the Victoria Palace, one of the best London vaudeville theatres, the Encore says: “America has done us a good turn in sending over George Hurd, their representative juggler, for he is really a marvel. Hurd isn’t American (says the Sydney Sun). He is an Australian who appeared at the Sydney Tivoli, and was sent to Africa, and thence to London, and will play in America under the round-the-world tour organised by Harry Musgrove. Hurd appeared in Dunedin with the Fullers. Somebody describes Miss Josie Melville, of “Sally,” as “Australia's Mary Pickford” (says the Argus). Perhaps, in time, we will hear of Miss Pickford as “America’s Josie Melville.”

After a nine months 2 tour of India and the East, the Australian Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company returned to Sydney by the steamer St. Albans. Several of its members have not come back—Mrs C. H. Workman, who died in Calcutta; Mr C. H. Workman, who died at sea on the homeward voyage; Miss Gladys Baker, who has returned to Calcutta, where she married Dr. Rice during the company’s stay there; and Mr John Ralston, who left for the United States at the conclusion of the season. The company is unanimous in expressions of satisfaction with the tour. Cordial receptions were everywhere extended to its productions, with the exception of Japan. “We would like to start off and do the whole tour over again right away,” said Miss Bryl Walkley. Mr Victor Prince, speaking for the company, said the repertoire embraced all of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, also “The Chocolate Soldier :: “Merrie England,” and “Katinka,” the lastnamed, which had never been produced before in India, proving more popular even than the opera. The season opened in Bombay, where an English contralto, a tenor and prima donna joined up with tie Aus tralians. “The Indian theatres are very fine,” said Mr Prince, “and popular support enabled us to enjoy a long season. When we arrived at Singapore we found that every seat for the whole series of performances had been booked beforehand. This wrs also the case in Hongkong, which, by the way, is my birthplace. The newspapers there hurled me as ‘the man who forgot,’ because I failed to conjure up any recollection of the place. From Hongkong we went to Shanghai, thence to Japan. In Japan we received a disappointment, for, except in places where the English colony was large, we were ill-supported, the Japanese not appearing to take kindly to our plays at all."