BURLESQUE ACTORS AND ACTRESSES.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 127, 27 February 1873, Page 2

BURLESQUE ACTORS AND ACTRESSES.

Ix every company there is the forward,, good looking youngwoman who makes her lower fiinba flourish like the Isle of Man arm*, who can sing a pert and almost impudent song,. and above oil is most at homo in a spanned p.ige's dress — that is, a stage page's drc3S — for in no Court in Europe, at leait frequented bv decent ladioa, would such a costume liavo been tolerated This young person must figure in every foolery as Prince Pettytoes or the young marquis, with an eye-glass and umbrella, accompanied by the spangled satin tights. The wretched monotony of those character!, and the invariable repetition of the- points, show how poor and limited ia the capability of burlesque. There is a miserableround of conventional 'tricks, chiefly taken from the musichalls — and, indepd, many of these young ladies graduate at the- " halls," and bring thoso stale devices from their Alum Mator, which are repeated ad nauseam. For instance, w hen a secret is to be communicated there i 9 but the one "common form" — the two parties stepping down to the front with erotosque steps, as if in time to music, "bobbing" theirheads, looking round mysteriously, aud conveying the offect of doing something very droll. The heart sinks when wesee this poverty-stricken proarammo beginning. There uroscores of burlesque*, too, were the situation is that thecharacters go tripping roivft crossing ench other, not forgetting the regulation fornWK for getting off, at the end of some grotesque danee — viz.H»y jumping like a kangaroo. Another conventional charflbr in the burlesque is the storming or raging king, with his queen (usually placed by a gentleman) ; while another is the leading comtc character, some monstrosity of "making up" — some terrible chef d'auvre of smearing, smirching, and masquerading. A combination of n modorn hat with a Roman dress — a modern dress with a Roman hat — somo such nightmare of co3tumo is all that is required. All, of course, wholly outside the regions of fun ; paint, pftt"hca, anil dress being bnrdly recognised as elements of genuine humour. These, indeed, belong to the mountebanks, and it is an unfair "poaching" on their manors. Burlesque- is as unchanging as some old Tory, and cannot succeed without repeating its old devices. Outside these it feels insecure. Accordingly the old characters and their old tricks are repeated in each effort with but little variety. It will bo said, perhaps, that though this entortainmentbears tho conventional name of" burlesque," it aims at a different order of amusement. It intends to entertain by mumming simply. It floes not mean to " burlosque" a story in the strict sense of the term. This in the only way of defending the entertainment ; but it is at the expense- of its dignity, for it is thus reduced to tho level of Punch and other shows. "When tl)o case is thus plainly stated, thoro is no more to be said ; but thetitle had better bo rectified forthwith. A trifling question , however, remains behind which may interest the public, who aftor all is the chief party concerned — viz., whether burlesqueon tho true principle would not be ti far more delightful sort of entertainment — whether by following these false gods it lias not lost the delight of a truer faith. Would we know what this is we have only to go over to Paris, or even read some, of the burlesques of those agreeable partners Mil. Moilhac and Ilalcvy. There wo learn the meaning of the fun that eun be extracted from a real tiwestie. Talvo Hie subject of "Blue Beard," for instance. Recently it has been put on the boards after the conventional fashion — tho hero of dancing grotesque, with a fnlse nose, singing comic songs ; his wife. " dancing off," every character being a sort of clow n, find tho story generally incomprehensible. The same subject is put on the stage in Paris, but there it is travestied, treated according to the principles of genuine humour Any one who lias scon Offenbach's " Barbo Bleue," will understand this. The conception of the character of Blue Eeard us that of a tender, affec>ed, and refined being, who required change, who was not in the least truculent, but only fickle, was in itself highly liumorou^M S\ too, with the notion of his last wife — u coarse count >W girl, who would not stand this treatment. AH this is Anting nnd comic. So with t.lie " Grand Duchess," the "■tneess Trebizone," and fho " Belle Ilelono," wheic calcha^^^we is simply perfect. But, our burlesque nulors, being require piece* of another description to be writfe^^^Lthcm. Last 4 iear Mr Gilbert brought out " ThcpiV an^^ft^uct y, an agreeable piece of humour, turning on tho "^^^^Lod business" being " used up." But the r>lu\ers did r^^^B to understand it The " fun" did not tell ; the clevoi^^^^unist Mr Pajno brought his legs to the rescue — ew^^BW) or four minutes spinning them about, or convert iiv^Mpu into eompassos — nnd thus secured u laugh. The IhuWloolo "gauged" and " gagged" again. He got hold of a phrase, " I don't know tou," nnd ground it like the handle of a bsirrel organ. A foreigner, Mdlle Clary, was nmong them, with her beaming iutclligent looks, and expressed ciiiovnient of what was going on. conveyed some intelligence and imparted some coherence Such is the trne burlesque bj the side of English burlesq-io. — Gentleman's ZlagazM.

CniNA — -The Pall Mall Gazette has somo gossip aboul tlie Emperor's marriage. Tlie bride was selected for him bj officers appointed for the purpose. She is only the heat -wife ; and the number of the other wrves and concubine: is fo arranged as to form a series of geometrical progression with three as itd common ratio : — The Emperor is compelled to tale unto himself, besides the Empress, three ladies a; petites femmes of the first degree — these have already beer •elected for his Imperial Majesty — nino of the second degree Y t»-enty-seven of the third degree, and nine times nine concubines. With equal precision the various duties of these fallen are minutely hud down, and not much more latitude oa to tlie choice of Ins companions appears to be allowed tv the Emperor after his marriage than in the original selection ofj the members of his household. For instance, no matter on what terms ho may happen to be with tlie Empress, he is obliged, in compliance with an ancient theory sanctioned by Confucius anil hallowed by the approval of the wisest men of China, to seek her society alone at the recurrence of every full iik on, and only then To each of tlie nine pititefemmes of the second rank is told off a " squad " of nine of the eighty-one concubines, for instruction in all the arts and accomplishments which adorn female life in China ; in sacrificial and religious rites they take part, and they attend on the Empress when nhc receives visitors. To duties of tho name kind m added, in the ease of the rank below these, the superintendence of the women servants of the palace. Jfrom each of the eighty-ono concubines is annually expected a certain amount of plain and embroidered work. On tho occasion of the funeral of the Empress they hold the wings which decorate the coffin, and ou the decease of any great personage within the palace it falls to their lot to wash the head of the corpse One more thing is required of them, compared with which every other duty appears as light as air — to their tact and persuasive powers is entrusted the responsibility of suppressing the jealousies which not unnaturally arise in a household consisting of 120 ladiea and one lord. Tin: Pastoiul Staff — The resumption of the use of the pastoral staff promises soon to be universal in the Church of England. In addition to the gift of a pastoral staff to the diocese of Hereford, three other 6iinilar presentations have taken place. An extremely handsome silver pastoral staff has been presented, the English Churchman says, to the Bishop of Lincoln, through tho intervention of Lord Brownlow, and to the 13ishop of Lichfield, through the Earl of Powj 3 Nor are these presentations confined to the English Church. The twenty-fifth anniversary of the consecration of Dr Forbes as Bishop of Bieechin has been commemorated by the promised presentation of a pastoral staff, which is now m actual preparation in London. The Brecchin staff is of ivory and siher gilt, btudded with jewels, while that of tlie Bishop oi Lincoln is of solid silver, richly gilded and jewelled In the central place, formed by the cuningof the crook, is a roundell, with delicately-perforated tracery, m which appears the figure of the " Chief Shepherd and Bishop of Souls," holding a lamb on his left arm and a pasforal staff m his right hand, with a label below, ego sum ISonus Pastor. The nimbus of the figure is enriched with diamonds. It may be interesting to know that thcro is a well-recognised distinction between the pastoral staff of a bishop and an archbishop. The former terminates in an ornamental crook, while the pastoral staff of the Primates ih a crozier, and always terminates in a cross. The authority for tho continued uso of tho staff is established by the rubric immediately before the morning prayer in the Prayer Book m the second year of Edward IV., which is referred to as btdl obligatory. It is thus ordered :—": — " Whensoever tho bishop shall celebrate tho Holy Communion, or execute any other public office, he shall have upon him, besides his rochet, an alb and cope or vestment, and also hi 3 pastoral staff in his hand, or else borne by his chaplains." Insects Shu-ed to the Xkelw of Flowers — The flowers of the Yucca plant are peculiarly constructed, so that it is impossible for the pollen to reach the stigma, it being glutinous and expelled from the anthers before the blossoms open. It has been, therefore, the opinion that the plants must needs rely on some artificial agency for fertilisation. Professor C Y. Riley, of St Louis, has lately discovered fhat tho work is done by a small white moth which he calls Pronuba Yticcasella, an insect which forms the type of a new genus. It is most anomalous, from tho fact that the female only has the based joint of tho maxillary palpus wonderfully modified into a long prehensile spined tentacle With this tentacle she collects the pollen and thrusts it into the stigmatic tube, and after having thus fertilized the flowers plic consigns a few eggs to the young fruit, the seeds of which her larvae feed upon. Tho Yucca is the only entomophikui plant known which absolutely depends for fertilization on a bingular species of insect, and that insect is remarkably modified for the purpose. The plants and the fructifier are inseparable under natural conditions, and the latter occurs throughout the native home of tho former In the more northern portions of the United States, find in Europe, w here A c ican Yu civs have 'o n introduci d and are cultia ated for their showy blossoms, the insect does not exist, and consequently tho Yuccas never produce seed there. The larva of the Pronuba eats through the Yucca capsule in which it fed, enters the ground aud hibernates there in an ovul silken cocoon. In this stage the insect may easily be sent by mail from one part, of the world to another, so that seod may easily be obtained from American Yuccas here without any trouble on the part of tho gardener, simply by importing the Pronuba cocoon A New Community.— Tho Echo says :— We arc to have ti it d in Australia the practicability of communism. A large number of Spiritualists havo decided to found a country n.imod " Aurelia." Tho location has not been yet fixed, but there are plenty of candidates for Aurelia. Property is to be held in common, lawyers are to be abolished, and clergymen ditto, and physicians treated as if lunatics, for the prospectus states they are to be placed under strict sur■vi'illanee, and their professions remodelleel. There are to be no capitalists and no landed proprietors, and no servants or retainers except for the rich, the infirm, infants, or insane pei sons. Merchants will be unknown, for there will be a cooperative store. All will be teetotallers, and women are neither to be slaves to men, nor treated as devotees to the K<> Uless of vanity. Neither chapels nor churches are to be built at all ; tl>e money spent in church building is to be expended in education. There is to bo no debt, nor selfishiu < t», nor acquisitivene 8, und contentment is to reign everywhere. The affair has proceeded so far that plans are prepared for everything, oven the building of barns and kitchens. New&p\pebs. — Under the heading of " A good word for local papers," tlie New York Times says: — "You might nearly as well forget your churches, your academies and suhoolhouse, as to forget your local paper. It speaks to ten times tlie audience that your local minister eloes. It is read eagerly each day from beginning to end. It reaches you all, and, if it has a lower spirit and less wisdom than a sermon, it has a thousand times better chance at you. Lying, as it does, on every table, in almost every house, you owe it to joursplvprt to rally to its support, and exact from it as able, high-toned a character as you do from any educator in jour midst. It is in no sense beneath notice and caro — unless )ou yourself are beneath notice anl <a c — for it is your representative. Indeed, in its character, it is the summation of the importance of the interest and welfare of you all. It is the aggregate of your ovrn consequence, nucl you cannot ignore it without miserably depreciating yourselves. The phenomenon of declining altitudes reported by explorers in the Andes has been noticed likewise by Professor Simony among the glaciers of Pinzgau. Tho principal glacier of the Kaprun Valley, it is stated, lias receded no less than 300 feet from its former periphery within tho last 15 icari, up to which the reverse action — namely, regular jj,-»wth— was visible. A second glacier has lost 1,000 feet of its radius, and a third nearly a mile. The loss of circumference indicates a nroportionate diminution of height. In other districts of the glacier region Professor Simony has not iced an increase of bare stone surface, winch was previously covered over with ice.