MIMES AND MUMMERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11281, 8 January 1915, Page 2

MIMES AND MUMMERS.

(By Tfllo LIMIOTJGHT MAN.)

It is now officially announced that, when Everybody's opens, ihe Colosseum closes.

The City Council as n provider ot music for the city is a gorgeous failure. Its faults aro organic.

Charles Macula lion has done big business with hi.s pictures, "The Silence of Dean Mail-land ' and " Lights o' London."

When " The Kver-open Door" was produced in London. Miss Hilda Spong played the lead. The melodrama was a big success.

" Seven Little Aiisl ral in us,'" based on Ethel Turner's hook, was :i, success in Sydney, when produced dining the holidays by Beaumont Smith.

A Sydney paper says that the Fnl-ler-Brennan people have vaudeville- 111 full swing at Christeluircli. Tliev havekept it pretty quiet here, aey way. * - • Portion of the old Market Square a-t the Haymarket, Sydney, is being rapidly transformed into a hippodrome by the- City Council, lor lease by Wirlh Bros.

It is a- peculiar thing that at leastone picture house, in Christelmrch senilis to secure a. number of revivals. Is it the machine for squeezing out the last inch of a film?

Leslie Harris, :iu Adelaide violinist, was conducting an orchestra at the Brandenburg Conservator when Europe started scrapping. He has not been heard of simv.

Phil Smith, the comedian who lias been with the Willianisui: productions of "The Count of Luxembourg'' and Autumn Manoeuvres,'' is appearing in vaudeville in Australia.

Philip Newbury and the Bohemians have just concluded a tour in Western Australia, and did very fair business. They have left for jndia. where they tour I ric!i;i and tlie East under an indian syndicate.

"Your King and Country Want You," is the title of a recruiting song being sung by Miss Dorothy Brunton. in •" The Girl on the Film " at iler Majesty's, Sydney. The number has a fine lilt. The music is by Paul Beuberis.

The Gilbert and Sullivan people are booked for Christchurch next month. A great critic with a foreign sounding name, now in Australia, and a profound knowledge of everything, says that we are to have the Australian cast with one change. He says it's all right.

Two years ago the Greater J. D. Williams Company in Australia was in a serious condition. William Barringtou Miller, of New Zealand, took charge, and had to find £30,000 to settle old troubles. A month or .so ago the last .score was wiped off at a cost of £9OOO, and last year the company paid a o per cent, dividend. Pictures are O.K. in Australia.

Mdlle Antonia Dolores, accompanied by her pianist, Miss, Cairos, de has just concluded a tour of Western Australia, and, notwithstanding the war and drought in the State, diet jemarkably well everywhere. iUd'le Dolores made a tour of the West that no artist of her standing has evt-r attempted, for she visited serentpoa towns, from Perth and. Fremautle to Kalgoorlie, and from Bunbury to Gerald to 11 in the other directions. A notable feature of the tour was the fact that in sixteen out of the- .-evjnteen towns the local residents comprising the principal musical and business peo-

pin vied with one another m doing honour to this artist.

H. Werner, who created the rolo of Diinilo in Leliar's " The Merry Widow," hits been killed lighting in the, ranks of the Austrian army.

E. V. Lucas, w as F. \V. Mark, hns supplied th.■ K;;.il< of a i""'w revile entitled '' lousiness A.-, L.sual, which is now running in London.

Belgian plays are (o be given an outing in London, where th> ctun'.rv whose acute distresses have Ireland's chronic: o'le.s. w:ll ie turned to profitable account.

Peter Dawson has been appearing, successfully in the Concert Chamber of the Wellington Town Hall. His lour of (lie Dominion is being made under the direction of J. and N. Tait.

The new Mayor of llobart (Alderman "W. M. Williams) has decreed' that ftuu(l ay night picture entertainments must close in that city after the end of tho present year. The picture managers are going to test tho Mayor's cjeoisiiri.

After a run of twenty months, Arnold Bennett's "The Great Adventure," was withdrawn from the Kingsway Theativ. London. Bill's excursion in "Belgium put an end to the season, which looked like seeing out two years.

The liondon Opera House, built by Hammestein. and then used as a vaudeville theatre is to "'blossom forth as the National Theatre." It was announced that at Christmas it would house the greatest pantomime over preiintc d to the Bi.fish playgoers. # #

Monday will see the Opera House open again with vaudeville from the Fuller-Brennau circuit. The company will be as follows : Hermand and Shirley, American contortionists; Rose Leo Ivy. a comedienne; Brankman and Steele Sisters, a novelty vocal act ; Neil Cant. Scotch comeaiau; Monagluin und Sheehaf!. musical act; and the Magpie Costume Comedy Companv, * #

Some vents ago Thomas Hardy wrote a Napoleonic drama, cnsitleu "" The Dynasty." ft was built on vhe Chinese-plan,, that is to say, a vtek or more is required tor its lull pioduction. The war, however, has tempied one manager to take it up and in^ succession to "'Tho Great Adventure, at the Kingsway Theatre, J, mion, as much of the plav •'■s can be squeezed comfortably into one night will Le piiu on. Granville Baker is the brave man who has abridged the long drama and will produce

The cast for the pantomimes Sinbad the Sailor," opening at the King's .Theatre, Melbourne, on Boxing Night, included Miss Maggio Moore as Mrs Sinbad, Miss Olive Maiston as Sinbad. Miss Rita Reuas as Kaclourn. Miss .Liiura Roberts as Zoe, Miss Florence Failing as Araminta, Miss. Aimee Ivelley as the 1 airy Queen, Miss Iza Crossley as the Old Man of the Sea. Mr John Ralston as King Kopa-z. Mr Harry Burgess as Sinbad. M. Eugene Ossipoff as the Demon King, Mr Frank Crossley as Ben Bunk, Mr Fred Maedonald as Captain Taffrail, and Mrs J. H. Nuim as Hassan.

Some statistics of the W illiamson pantomime " Cinderella " have been leathered. Tt is stated that if tho canvas used in the scenery were placed end to end it would reach from tho General Post Office, Melbourne, to the St Ivilda Junction. A mile and a half of timber has been used, though the other dimensions have not been given. Foil:* hundred and twenty costumes figure in the eighteen scenes, and the properties number 780. There are at least two modern jokes in the production, and the Press agents' eulogies,

it plaeed end to onrl. would start from the ('ln isLcliui'cl) Post OHiee and Knock 1111' last numeral oil' 111 c iip xt, century.

The At iisic in us . Union in Australia declined an invitation to blow music for fewer notes, and as a result ibe Christmas shows in Australia had to ho satisfied with smaller orchestras.

Edward Ilarrigan, father o| William 11. Harrigan, who was here in "'The Arg.vle Case. ' was the writer <>f " The. Little Willow Dunn '' and " Tho Hahies on the Block." two soups which were introduced ( 0 Australia hv Miss Moor.'. Harrigun also wrote. "The Mulligan Guards," a song which had a. World-wide popularity.

K oner Icy Rurnford, alter singing Harold Bcgbie's ■' fall In" through the North Country, lias obeyed the summons, lie has enlisted, and as lie studied for the gunpowder game bofore ho took to singing for a crust, lie should not be long in getting to tho front. Meanwhile Madame Clara. Butt is using her great voice to attract donations to the patriotic funds.

Writing to ilie newspapers in Australia some genius has discovered that in 1881 " Cinderella " was produced at the Theatre Royal. Melbourne, and had in opposition Sinbad the Sailor '' at the Opera House, while this year '"Cinderella" lias. been put on at the same playhouse with " Sinbad " at the Melbourne King's. Thirty years ago Miss Maggie Moore was in Cinderella." Now she is in '"Sinbad."

DUTY ON MOTION PICTURES. The . Australian Government, has tried to assist the makers of motion pictures in Australia by imposing a tax of '2d per loot, on all imported films, but the result has been a heavy blow to the exhibitors. The Customs tariff means an increase in the price of from 50 to 100 per cent, and the largej" portion of this is being passed on. Recently most of the exhibitors signed contracts with tho big combine for two years' supply of films, and agreed to pay pro rata any increase in charges due to a Customs tariff. On December o the combine announced that the price for all films, whether imported before that date or not, would go up oO per cent. Unfortunately for the showmen, the independent houses at the same time put up their prices from . r lo to 40 per cent, to the exhibitors got caught both ways. There was a proposal that the Independent houses should not increase their rates, but one firm broke away and all hod to follow. Now there has been talk by the exhibiting showmen that a showmen's co-opera-tive exchange should be established, but so far it has come to nothing.

THE CAPTURE OF SHAKESPEARE The Germans have captured Shakespeare. Since the outbreak of the little European discussion, the German produced "Twelfth Knight" and preceded it with a prologue specially written for the occasion Lv Ernest, Hardt. The prologue announced that England was Shakespeare's first and native home, and added that that country had become so -'abhorred" that "he doth find himself quite homeless there." Poor old Bill of Avon therefore decided to find shelter with Bill of Potsdam, and the Teutons took him in. The modern poet finishes by eulogising the home of the Achs and Donnerblitzens £s follows:

Thou' wonderful and noble land! Remain thou Shakespeare's one and only home, So that he wander not uncomprehended Without a shelter in the barren world. This shelter has not yet been confirmed by a communique from Paris or Petrograd, and the American papers haven't received official news from Ivan Fernandez yet.

ORCHESTRA OR. ORGAN RECITAL. Some noble defender of the City Council worried himself into print the other day in a comparison of the municipal organ recitals and the orchestral concerts, and talked aTwufc people being paid. Let's see how it works out. The owners of both buildings have to get their rent; the organist draws pay for a certain number of concerts, .the conductor of the orchestra has a yearly salary, with three or four subscription concerts as the minimum ; the organ has had songs and speeches by the Mayor and other orators to help them at times, and so has the orchestra on Sunday night; the organ recitals have had diminishing audiences, the orchestra has had packed audiences. Both play the same class of music, 'now W. H" Thorley does not have to conduct Sunday night concerts to fulfil his contract. Ho might oven decline to do that work and not lose anything. The city organist ca?i not refuse—he is paid for Sunday playing. In such a comparison which recital gets nearer being playing for profit? Then the recital has a minimum fee for admission, and the orchestra has to be content with anything. Which gets nearer a charge for admission? Has anyone ever heard such drivelling rot as the suggestion that an amateur orchestra, playing high-class music, should bo barred from playing, or permitted under absurd restrictions, while an organ recital is permitted. The organ is a dead loss, and its small audiences show that it is not reaching the people. If the council really thinks about the welfare of the people of the city it should have no hesitation. If it is frightened that the organ recitals will go clean out if the orchestra starts business why doesn't it say so, and the Orchestral Society might even give a couple of charity concerts to help the Bands and Organ Committee out. and save the face of the city. We want music, and at the next election the councillors should be told about it.