STAGE GOSSIP

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18438, 23 March 1922, Page 2

STAGE GOSSIP

Messrs E. J. and Dan Carroll have taken on a big contract with the Sistine Choir. The initial outlay alone to bring this noted combination to Australia and New Zealand is big. The fares for the whole of the company will be £17,000, and the choir will only be in Australia for a few weeks. The company left Italy by the Orient tseamer Omar a few days ago, and they will open their Australian tour at Melbourne on April 15. The choir is the greatest choral organisation in the world. One of the many notable tributes paid to it was by the celebrated composer, Paer, who said, "This is indeed divine music, such as I have long sought for, and my imagination has been exceeded in its beauty and solemnity.”

Since Mr Allan Wilkie formed his Shakesperian company in Melbourne in September, 1920, it has been strengthened by the inclusion of several well-known Australian actors. One is Mr Fred Macdonald formerly of “On Our Selection.” Casca, in “Julius Caesar,” is one of his best parts, and it is not at all like Dave. Two promising recruits from Melbourne are: Mr Leslie Manners —just seen as Romeo—and Mr Hamilton Henry. From England there is Mr Frank Moore, who was associated for more than 12 years With the celebrated Birmingham Repertory Company.

Mr Victor Prince, who returned to Williamson musical productions recently after some years in other forms of acting, has been appearing in Gilbert and Sullivan opera in Sydnej-. One of his parts is the Grand Inquisitor in “The Gondoliers,” first played in Australia by his father, Mr Howard Bernon.

Sheila Gale, a new English musical comedy actress, is on her way out from England under engagement to J. C. Williamson, Ltd,

Many people who are fond of sleight of hand and other feats of magic” are awaiting the arrival in Melbourne of the brilliant Nicola—one of the cleverest exponents of card tricks in the world. He mentioned recently the mystification he had caused when dining one night with a number of English gentlemen in a club at Rangoon. At the request of his hosts he performed a number of tricks, when one gentleman pulled cut a pack of cards and, shuffling them, asked the wizard to name the top card. Without a tremor Nicola called, “Three of clubs,” and to the general stupefaction, this was the card. Nicola was no less secretly astounded, but he pretended that the trick was an ordinary everyday affair. He had actually guessed the top card!

Patrons should be pleased with Jascha Spivakovsky, the great Russian pianist who has arrived in Sydney, where his tour is to open under the J. and N. Tait management. He is a very quiet, unassuming young man, devoted to his art. It appears that he is a great reader, and he confessed that he had been reading Gibbons’s “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," which, he declared, was the most fascinating work he had yet read in English.

It is almost certain that Andre Skalski will in future conduct the New South Wales State Orchestra. Commenting on this, a Sydney critic says: “It was in the beginning the tact that Mr Skalski was in a position to take over full responsibility for the Orchestral concert at the Town Hall that induced them to give him a try. Mr Skalski went about things the right way. He advertised generously, the Town Hall was filled, and he tells me he made money on the concert. It evidently can be done. It'is not every young musician that is fortunate enough to have the money, or the backing, to take on such a venture, and I am sincerely glad that Mr Skalski’s pluck has been rewarded. He is a born conductor, and a thorough musician, and, I think, one of the State Orchestra players just about hit off the situation when he remarked after Saturday’s concert, in reply to a query as to what he thought of the conductor: .‘Fine—he’s Verbrugghen before he got tired.’ Mr Skalski has no intention of remaining in Australia. He tells me he is hungering to get back to Europe and the musical art centres again. Let us hope he will wield the baton at Melba’s concerts with the orchestra. To my way of thinking it is a pity we cannot retain this brilliant young pianist and conductor permanently.”

Since mention was made of the fact that Maud Fane, who is appearing in “A Night Out” at Her Majesty’s, Melbourne, frequently holds spiritualistic seances in her dressingroom, the popular actress has been inundated with letters from people who want to know all about it, so much so that Miss Fane has been unable to cope with the correspondence. Every day a huge pile of letters is dumped into her dressing-room. Many of the writers are frankly sceptical, and ask for demonstrations. Others want answers to all sorts of questions, including the winners of races, advice upon financial matters, and even domestic affairs. One lady wrote: “Please let me know if my husband is true to me. Lately he has been absent-minded and does not come home to dinner sometimes, saying that he has to go back to the office. We have only been married seven years.” Another lady wrote: “I am thirty-one years old, but am unmarried. Will you tell me whether there is any chance of my getting a husband, and who will it be?”

Louis Bennison, who is appearing as the cowboy hero of “Johnny Get Your Gun,” at Melbourne Theatre Royal, should be very popular with Australian audiences, for Mr Bennison not only has real acting ability, but is also a good-looker. By many he has been likened to something between Fred Niblo and Doug. Fair-

banks. He has ease and grace, a natural method of action, and knows how to make use of restraint. His smile alone would win any audience. Of his success in “Johnny Get Your Gun” there can be no doubt.

The new managerial arrangements of Mr Hugh Ward, and the collaboration with him of Sir Benjamin Fuller, are subjects of much interest in theatrical circles. In his early appearances in Australia, Mr Ward played “old man” character parts, any many theatregoers were surprised when they found that he was comparatively youthful. His makeup was always excellent. A memorable specimen of his skill in this way was his representation of the Emperor of China m “San Toy.” Cyrus W. Gilfain, in “Floradora,’ was one of Mr Ward’s most popular parts, but he had many others. After varied stage experience in America he made his first appearance here as an old man in the second production of “A Trip to Chinatown.” His comedy and dancing were features of many later Williamson productions. Afterwards he had his own companies, at one time in association with Mr George xVilloughby. He toured India and other Eastern countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand, and after appearing in London and Paris he was back in management in Australia when he joined the Williamson firm. That was before Mr J. C. Williamson’s death. Mr Ward has shown a special gift for directing carnivals for charitable and patriotic purposes, and his work in this direction at the time of the war was remarkable.

Sir Benjamin Fuller is a son of Mr John Fuller, an English tenor, whose singing was long familiar to audiences in all parts of Australia. In New Zealand members of the family established an ‘entertainment business which gradually spread to many parts of the Dominion. Then the business was linked with the Brennan vaudeville circuit. Now Sir Benjamin Fuller and his brother, Mr John Fuller (the younger) direct entertainment enterprises of several kinds, with representation in all the leading cities of Australia and New Zealand. In Melbourne they control the Bijou, Gaiety, Palace, and Princess Theatres, and in Sydney the National -Theatre and the Grand Opera House.

A playgoer at Melbourne Her Majesty’s has written to the J. C. Williamson management suggesting that a beauty competition might be held in connection with “A Night Out.” With such pretty girls in the company as Winnie Tate, Madge Elliott, Mardi Andrews, Beryl Ferguson, Lucy Greenhill, Eve Gray,. and others, there certainly appears to be plenty of material available to make such a competition more than usually interesting. As a matter of fact, Louis Bennison, the famous romantic actor appearing in “Johnny Get Your Gun,” was present at a performance of “A Night Out” prior to the opening of his season, and expressed his astonishment at the pretty girls that he saw. “I have never seen a more beautiful lot of girls in any part of the world,” he declared, “even in New York.” And that is some compliment from a patriotic New Yorker!