A VANISHED AGE

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14584, 5 February 1921, Page 11 (Supplement)

A VANISHED AGE

“THE GONDOLIERS” AGAIN. WHEN THE WORLD W AS YOI NG. The middle-aged man sank into Ids seat hi' Hie stalls will) a faint fear in his hear! (says the Sydney Sun). He had come to revive his memories of Ids youth, to lesl Ids middle-age with the enlhnsiasm of the post. He had come from a Jazzing world to see "The Gondoliers” again. Would he find those rosy memories faded and grey? Had tins noisy age obliterated those melodies that still sang, sol to voce, as it were, in his heart? Would it be but another of Hie disappointments that come with middle-age ? He looked around the theatre. He was surprised, but pleased, to find that it was an elderly audience. The modern youth and Ihe chattering modern girl had stayed away. He fell more comfortable. Nobody was eating chocolates. The overture began: Ihe curtain went up. Ami instantly tm was hark in anuliier age: he had recovered Ids ynnlli. il was amazing how comp'lclely the modern world had been wiped mil. Il" was young again. Ids world was young again. The chonis were fully dressed. There were no bare backs nor naked legs. There was no sexual lure; 11 1 c\ were attractive and pretty; hut they existed ns a chonis and not as a man-

naquin parade. The idea Hint one of them would wink at the audience was inconceivable. And they sang ihc delightful music; they did not merely make a loud noise. They danced; they did not do contortionist stunts to display their curves. And once they had sung their chorus they retired from the stage and left the principals to carry on. They were not dragged back after Hie first verse of Hie tenor’s sung, to glide or hop or fox-trot in in new and amazing costumes. or )aek of costumes, and drown by (heir united noise Hie tenor’s notes. There was no help for the principals. The man at the lighting switch had not to work overtime changing the colours of (hr illumination. The principals had to work. They had to sing the delightful music and lo deliver the clever dialogue: they had In carry on the plot—for this musical comedy had come down from Hie days when a plot was considered necessary. There was no help for 11 1 e comedian: lie had lo be funny without either a double entendre or falling over ins feel or wearing women’s dress. He had lo look like a gentleman. He was not even allowed a red nose. And he was not permitted to "gag." Yet the wit of the author was as fresh as 20 years ago: for wit does not grow old. The music was wedded to the libretto. In Hie world from which the audience had just escaped the words \ and the music were invariably divorced owing to incompatibility of brains. The middle-aged gentleman, who had forgotten lie was middle-aged, congratulated himself; there was not a note of jazz in the whole score. He was amazed lo llnd llia( (he world could j gel oil, even for Hirer hours, wilboul jazz. "The Ciondoliers’’ was a rest cure Horn the modern world. Kyen the applause was subdued. The ] attentive house clapped their hands in almost an apologetic manner. II was as if lliey were loth lo interrupt Hie sparkling play, to destroy Hie beautiful and Heeling illusion. The curtain fell on the gentlemanly past : an era was obliterated. The middle-aged man was reluctant to rise from his seal. It was an effort to return to Hie modern world. Raucous voices were calling Hie

numbers of motor oars—his own umonsr [hem. Me slopped that, sent the man home. To-night, with those dainty rhythms running- through his mind and the delicate libretto haunting him, he would walk. He wanted to savour quietly the taste of that old world. How far Ihe clanging world of progress had go I from lli.it restful haven! There were i!" taxis, no wireless, no telephones, no aeroplanes in that forgotten age. Wind had those done for Hie soul of mankind'.’ Merely jostled il on faster and faster, merely deafened il with new noises, merely spun it around in a whirl of alleged gaiety and at a dizzying speed to the syncopated madness of Hie jazz. That old ago, only twenty or thirty years ago, was gone for ever. It was a gentlemanly, a comfortable age, an age of solid pleasures and decorum. Dull? No. Anyhow, he would rather be dull than dizzy. Wore these restless people, for over hurrying from one distracting pleasure to another, lasting and testing every new inversion, noisily prolesling that they must have excitement: where Hie children were grown up before they left school, and the youth were jaded men of the world before they had need to shave; where music was noise, and dancing was ugly, and dressing was undressing, and wit was misty; where people preferred smartness to happiness, and money to beauty: where afternoon lea meant cocktails, and the nmge on a girl's lips did not disguise the smell of Hie cigarette —were these people really civilised? Was all this living, or merely being hurled through life? And even Italy, tliot country of "The iinndoliers," was a modern Italy now. with bombs in Harntaria. and pools who composed proclamations and Soviets instead of solos.