SIR HENRY IRVING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 36, 12 February 1937, Page 10

SIR HENRY IRVING

ECHOES OF THE I’AST Fifty years ago last September 28. the death occurred in Melbourne of William Hoskins, actor, who made £50,000 in the gold rush and lost nearly all of it in theatrical management in Australia. Hoskins it was who wanted to bring Sir Henry Irving with him to Australia in 1856. Irving, then known as Henry Brodribb (his family name) was introduced by Hoskins to Phelps, of whose company Hoskins was a member. The earnestness and ability ol the boy who recited Othello's address to the Senate impressed Phelps. Refusing an offer by Phelps of £2 a week to play at Sadler's Wells. Brodribb determined to begin his career in the provinces. Hoskins was then preparing to come to Australia. He offered Mrs. Brodribb an engagement of £5 a week for her son if she would allow the boy to accompany him to .Australia. But the offer was not .■wceptod. “The- time will come,” said Hoskins to Irving’s mother “when your child will earn £5O a night!" Before he sailed from England in 1856, the Shakespearean actor gave young Brodribb a letter to a well-known manager of that day, E. D. Davis, saying, “You will go tithe stage. When you want an engagement present this letter and'you will find one.” It was that letter, according to Sir Henry Irving’s standard biography, which opened the fortals of fame to Irving—for as Henry Brodribb he then passed out of history. William Hoskins married Florence Colville, a popular actress.

An “Astyrian" Setting. The A. A. Armstrong comedy, Business with Royalty,” in London, stars Claire Carlton, the American actress who appeared in lhe London production of "Three Men on a Horse," Jack Melford, Helen Hay, Sebastian Smith, Walter Piers. Douglas Jeffries, Nancy Hornsby, and Marjorie Kirby. It is an adaptation, -freely done, from the German of Fred Heller and Adolf Schutz, and was done at Croydon last year. The main scenes are set in a mythical country called Astyria and the last act takes place on the terrace of an hotel at Palermo during a b g motor race. Blended. "Can This Be Dixie?” Jane Withers latest 20th Century-Fox picture, offers blending of all the requisites of a picture—comedy, drama, romance, and music. Slim Summerville. Thomas Beck, Helen Wood and Sarah Haden are prominent in the supporting cast.