Plays and Players

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVIII, Issue XVIII, 1 May 1897, Page 539

Plays and Players

A CERTAIN celebrated actor, well known in London, is possessed of the singular idea that there must be a negro in the audience for him to act his best. So tenaciously does he fix his faith to this fallacy that he actually hires a black man to be present whenever he is to perform. On one occasion the negro, while proceeding to the theatre, was knocked down by a cab, and so seriously injured that he was conveyed to a hospital. That night the actor, missing his attendant from the audience, found himself unable to take his part, and had to give way to an understudy. Think of a magnificent costume, once worn on the stage by Miss Lillian Russell, and still in fine condition, being sold for 225. That's what happened at a recent auction of theatrical wardrobe and effects in New York. The sale was well attended, many theatrical managers from other cities being present, and altogether more than 2,000 costumes were sold. The best price of the day, 30s, was brought by the court ladies’ dresses worn in ‘ La Grande Duchesse.’ They were of very fine silks and brocades and only slightly worn. Two gowns used in this piece by Miss Russell were knocked down for 22s each. Some ‘ Nadjy ’ and ‘Nanon’ costumes went for 4s and 6s apiece. Besides the costumes a lot of scenery was sold, including four drop curtains, which probably cost in all X4OO, two of which brought /’io apiece and two £4 each. Orchestral chairs, 530 of them, were sold for ios each, and 517 balcony chairs for 3s each. An effort is being made at Albany to repeal the law under which it is optional with the Mayors of cities to license children to perform on the stage. It is to be hoped that, even though the statute be modified, it will not be swept away. The unrestricted employment of children in plays would be an evil. When ‘ Les Jacobites,’ the original of ‘ For Bonnie Prince Charlie,’ was first acted at the Odeon in Paris in November, 1885, Mme. Segond-Weber made her debut as an actress, and won then a recognition and approval which have not been duplicated in her subsequent career. Speaking of the failure of ‘ Dr Claudius,’ the dramatisation of Marion Crawford’s novel, the New York Sun says:—‘ It is curious to observe that Mr Crawford's characters, charming as they are in the book, become intolerable bores on the stage. They look and talk as well as before, and the story in which they figure is the same, but no whit of their attractiveness has been transferred. What they do and say is commonplace and uneventful. This fiasco casts no slur upon the ability of Mr Crawford as a novelist. Nor does it prove, on the other hand, that literature theatrical enough to be of stage value is any less meritorious than that which quiet writers put into novels. There has been much regrettable glee over Mr Crawford’s failure as a playwright, and he himself was the cause of it. The complacency of his announcement that he was going to become a conspicuous dramatist, his confident accounts of the methods which he relied upon, and his tone of lofty superiority in letters and interviews for publication, lifted him to a dangerous height from which possibly to fall. All the newspaper critics who witnesed the first performance of “ Dr. Claudius” pronounced the play worthless. Some of them did their duty politely and considerately, while others did it with jeers, jibes and ridicule. While the unfortunate author had cause to resent the manner of some of the condemnation, he had no reason whatever to question the soundness of the adverse judgment.’ * The Sign of the Cross' is one of the few English melodramas to have been translated into Russian. It has proved highly successful in St Petersburg. It might have fared better in America with the cheap dialogue spoken in a language as generally incomprehensible as Russian. Madame Modjeska, the famous actress, who is known in private life as Helena Modjeska Bozenta, has a beautiful mountain ranch in Orange County, in Southern California, and finds her greatest delight in the occupations of a rural home. She spends every possible day of her long summer vacations at her ranch. Each morning throughout the summer Madame Modjeska goes about her ranch. She rises early and spends an hour or two before breakfast among the animals and chickens. Visitors at the ranch have many times known her to spend a whole morning caring for a sick cow or an injured horse. She frequently milks a cow herself, and can do it as well as any servant in the place. But the chief pleasure of the actress is in her chicken yard. Very many people have been to call at the ranch on a summer’s day and have found tnadame and her husband sittiug out in their hen yard watching their flocks and feeding the hens from the hand. She gathers the eggs from the nests daily, mixes mealy compounds for the sickly and ailing birds and pulls alfalfa for them to peck

it. The hens from the Modjeska ranch have won manv a prize at the chicken shows aud agricultural fairs in Los Angeles and Santa Ana, and the prizes are among the treasures of the house. A cock fight is an episode in • The Jucklins,’ a play which has been produced in the Western States of America. The fowls are genuine fighters, too, but their spurs are muffled. Rejane has been highly successful in a new comedy given at the Vaudeville in Paris. It is called ’The Sorrowful One,’ and is by Maurice Donnay, whose comedy , ‘ Lovers,’ was one of the plavs that appealed most strongly to Parisians last year. ‘ Trilby ’ has been a successful venture in the large German towns, and now ‘ In Old Kentucky ’ is to be exported with only a baud of pickaninnies as a distinctively American feature. The characters in the melodrama will be played by German actors. The Ada Delroy Company concluded a’very successful season in Auckland on Saturday last,and left for Sydney on Tuesday. The Wellington Opera House Company has declared a dividend of 5 per cent. The income for the year was /2,365, including £l,iy. for rent. The liabilities are /■20,330, and the assets /’21.323. An enormous audience attended the farewell performance of the Brough Company in Melbourne. After the play, ‘Dandy Dick,’ Mr Brough, in a speech, hinted that he might revisit the colonies. The Greenwood Dramatic and Comedy Company concluded a very successful four days season in Auckland last Thursday. They played to big houses, and they played well. There is no doubt that the beauty of the performers adds much to the success of the acting, and the whole Greenwood family are remarkably good-look-ing. As Barbara Miss Maribel Greenwood was a distinct success, and showed a marked improvement in style since her debut iu Auckland. She has now the appearance and manner of a finished actress. Her singing of the grand scena from Wallace’s ‘ Lurline ’ between the performance of ‘ Barbara ’ and the musical burlesque, ‘ A Cup of Cold Poison,’ or ■ Romeo and Juliet Up-to-date,’ was so good as to call for enthusiastic encores. Miss Agatha Greenwood also plays a conspicuous part. As ‘ Lilie ’ she was charming, whilst as Romeo she was loudly applauded. Miss Roberta acted the part of ‘ Mercutio ’ excellently, whilst Miss Nora made a very pretty Juliet. The company have most kindly consented to give a benefit to-night (Wednesday) for the Hawke’s Bay Relief Fund. Such a good object should ensure a ‘ bumper ’ house. New songs are promised, and the performance will be one thoroughly worth seeing aud hearing.