HARRY LAUDER.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 89, 6 April 1914, Page 4

HARRY LAUDER.

Mr Harry Lauder, the famous comedian, who arrived in Sydney on Monthly, made the first hit in London fourteen years ago. Encouraged by a success in Liverpool, he went to the great metropolis to put his fortune to the test, and was tried as a nameless “extra turn” at Gatti’s in Westminster Bridge-road. He sang “Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep,” without much response. Then he tried “The Lass of Killiecrankie,” and with this, the beginning of Harry Lander’s reputation as London’s “only Scot” was made. Since then, with a rapidity hardly equalled even on a musichall stage, lie has made himself a name to conjure with, alike amongst elegant, critical people, and the vast London crowd. He has been applauded with equal zest by educated literary men, and by ’Arry from Lam-beth-road. With three performances every night in London, not to speak of royalties on his enormously popular songs, he has made an income about five times as large as that of a Cabinet Minister. Not long ago he declared it to bo quite true that he had received an offer of £IOOO per week on a contract for on© year to perform in America. Yet, notwithstanding all his fame, those who know him aver that he is a quiet, simple-hearted, shrewd, genuine artist. He has been clever enough to see how to catch the taste of the masses in Loiyion, but ho aims at something higher. It is said that one of the most significant things about him is his .love, knowledge, and understanding of Burns, of whose work lie knows almost every line. If the London public wanted Burns, Harry Lauder could sing “Highland Mary” and “We’re a’ Nodding’,” so as to bring tears of either kind to the eye. And if he ever tires of the music halls —it is impossible to suppose that the music-halls will ever tire of him—ho may rely on finding a ready opening for his talents on the legitimate stage. So much he proved two years ago when he appeared in London in the comedy, “A Scrape of the Pen.”