THE MACCALLUMS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVI, Issue 935, 6 February 1908, Page 16

THE MACCALLUMS.

We 1-deserved success has followed the the MacCallum family of. entertainers, instrumentalists and vocalists, etc. All along the line the Press have been unanimous in expressing the opinion that there is hardlv a farni y south of the line possessing talents so versatile and so wellcu tured as he MacCallums. Their recent opening of the new theatre at Greytown will be long remembered by residents of the district as an artistic triumph. As was only to be expected the new building was packed to its utmost < apaci l -— and those who were fortunate enough to gain admission went away leeling satisfied that the building was a credit to the town and hat the first performance in it was a credit to the f ’icCaflum fami y. Every item on the programme was vociferous’y encoreu, and some of the artists had to respond t > double encores. The company are now on their way .a Rotorua, where .hey intend resting, and after a short season in Auckland and a tour of the district they will return to fulfil their au umn and winter engagements in Austra ia and South Africa re- . spectively. . Mr Larkin, secretary to Mr Harry Rickards, is seriously il and his recovery is doubtful. ■ :j: 5: Miss Florence Baines is appearing ifi “ Lancashire Limi ed ” at the Adelaide Royal. . sp # A The evergreen “ Char ey’s Aunt ” has been going strong at the Sydney Criterion with Mr Frank Thornton as the author’tv on nuts. SS $ T Mr Walter Fuller will be in charge at the Opera House during dad’s wanderings abroad.

Fred Elton was to have left Sydney for Wellington on Saturday. '» '# • '■ “ The Dairymaids ” is now being played at Her Majes y’s, Sydney. ■ \ * • * . ♦ . ♦ Miss Madge Mclntosh and Mr Harcourt Beatty are appearing in “Camille” at the Melbourne Theatre Royal. * * ♦ * . Carter, the magician, is due to open at His Majesty’s on March 9. * * » » It is rumoured that Julius Knight and ‘ ‘ The Scarlet Pimpernel ” will take up the April dates booked by Mr J. C. W. at His Majesty's. * * • ♦ Mr John Fu 'er, sen., leaves for his round-the-world trip on Saturday. Everyone will wish “honest John” the best of good luck and a right royal time during his lengthy tour. * * » ♦ The Herbert Flemming Company have the dates ai His Majesty’s from February 17 to March 7. No doubt, Mr Claude Waite, the popular advance manager, will be over by the next Sydney boat to let us know which piece the season will be commenced with. Probably it will be “The Mummy and the Humming Bird,” to be followed by “ O ivia. ”

Mr Christchurch corespondent writes: — Clara Butt and papa Rumford have come, and long ere this reaches you they will have gone. Their three concerts must yield between and at a moderate computation. A little extraordinary the rush for guinea and halfguinea seats to hear C ara. Ins rumentai artistes quite as talented, quite as famous, have played here to empty benches. Do- . lores, too, cou'd only, partially fill one of our- sma lest halls (at very moderate prices) when she was in Christchurch some years ago. It is very strange, rea ly. . Possibly the advertising accounts for it. It’s wonderful advertising. Portraits of Clara Butt and Mr Rumford (life-size busts), portraits. of Clara (solus), . and interesting family groups (introducing the Butt-Rum-ford babies) stare at one from every other shop window. This keeps people ta king about the concerts, of course. That agent understands his work. . . Did I tell you that the new Theatre Royal is to be opened (by the “ Blue Moon ” Co.) on 26th February, which recalls a “ gag ” got off by “ B’uebell in Fairy and ” artistes when that show was here. Somebody is supposed to have slept for 300 years. The first ques ion he asks on awaking is : “ Have they opened the new Theatre Royal, yet?”. . . Sarah Bernhardt will visit New Zealand after playing in Australia. Present arrangements provide for a 10-night season in Auckland, 10 nights in Wellington, six nights in Christchurch and five in Dunedin. . . The news of Luscombe Searell’s death was received here with much regret. He was a very able man. Local opera goers will remember his ‘ ‘ Bobadil, ” produced a few years since at the Theatre Royal. His latest work “ Mizpah,” is to be staged shortly at the London Lyceum. His mother resides in Christchurch. . . . The Bauvard Bros, are making a hit at Fuller’s. Opera House in their acrobatic act, and “ The Musical Cromes ” are great favourites. So are the Stagpooles. In short, the present bill is quite up to the mark. West’s pictures are winding up the Christchurch season. * * • * Cinquevalli arrives at the end of the year, and will make a starring tour of Australia under Harry Rickards’ management, commencing at Perth. Tasmania and New Zealand will also be visited. The tour will last for 36 weeks, and on its completion, the great juggler will retire from stage life. * » • • ‘‘ln Convict 999,’” at the New Star Theatre, New York, a sledge-hammer is used to foil the villain. One night the head of the hammer flew off and hit n the face a lady who sat in the stalls, two of her teeth being knocked out. The victim is now suing the proprietors for damages. It is said that Mr J. C. Williamson has engaged the complete American company appearing in London to produce “ Mrs Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch ’ ’ in Australia. This piece is an enormous success in London, and has been running for a long time. It has captured he English public. The company is entirely American. The play, indeed, could not be properly interpreted by actors of another nationality, for the simple reason that it is so racy of the soil that much of its effect would be lost in the hands of “ aliens.” Mrs Madge Carr Cook has made a triumphant success in the title role, and others who share the honours with her are Louise Clogser, as Miss Hazy,' Fred. Burton as Mr Stubbins,

Grace Griswold as Mrs Eichorn, Lot-ie Alter as Lovey Mary. * * * * The J. C. W. Musical Comedy Company have in rehearsal that popular opera “The Toreadors.” It was done here by the Pollards years ago, when Connie Birttet used to be called back again and again for the toreador song. It is full of pretty music and shou d go well. * « * * Miss Daisy Wallace, who gave such a delightful rendering of “ Lady Madcap ” is in private life, the wife of Mr Myles Clifton. * * * * Dick Stewart’s two chi dren are well known to aL patrons of His Majesty’s where they so often occupy the theatre box. The boy’s big curly head is evidently chock full of brains, and he is doing well at his studies. At history he is quite in a class by himself, and it would take a professor to puzz e him. * * * * Mr Myles C'ifton’s Trooper Smi h in “ Lady Madcap ” was the most amusing Johnnie part yet seen here.

Mr Victor Gorriet’s imp is hardly noticeable , yet after his Adelaide accident it was thought he. wouldn’t walk again. We should all like to see the talented comedian “tripping the light fantastic”; but of course that is an impossibility for many moons yet. * * * * Mr Harry Rickards thinks that the Klos Sisters will be the biggest “draw” he has ever had. They are “ sisters ”in name only, for one comes from Saxonia, another from Austria, and the third from Scotland. They were trained by Mr E. Klos, from whom they adopted their name, their respective weights are Bst nib, lost and lost jib, and their ages range frony 23 to 25 years. During an action in the Westminster County Court on December 18, when Harry Relph. better known as “ Litt'e Tich,” was sued for commission, it transpired that the comedian’s salary at the Palace, Blackpool, was £250 a week. Mr Lewis Waller’s latest production is “A White Man,” by Milton Royle. Miss Mary Rorke joins Mr Waler’s Company for the season, and will play the very important part of the Dowager Lady Ker-, hill.

According to . Melbourne Sporting and Dramatic news, Mrs Geo. Dean, better known as Martha Gwynne, for some time with Mr J. C. Williamson’s Opera Co., has been seriously i.l in a Me bourne private hospital for about , a fortnight. Her many friends and acquaintances will be glad to hear she is on the royal road to recovery. * * * * Miss Amy Castles sang at a big concert a; Edinburgh in December. * * * « Mrs Bland Ho t, who has been very seriously ill with typhoid, is reported to be rapidly mending. Very glad to hear it. Hs * * Ms The last and youngest recruit to the ranks of London thea.re managers is Mr Norman Roe, who has jusF celebrated his twen.y-third birthday. He has tjaken the Roya ty Theatre for the greater part of 1908, and opens in January with “ The Sphinx,” a play by a new wri er, in which Mi®s Janet Steer will appear in the title role.

Miss May Beatty is principal boy in a panto at Newcastle-on-Tyne. One of the most attractive turns that has been seen in Auckland for some time is that given at the Opera House by tbf Vantells, triple bar performer®. Three horizontal bars at a distance of about nine feet from each other form the apparatus on which several skilful and daring feats are executed. One of the pair of ath'etic young men carries ou a number of humorous actions to the great amusement of the audience, while <_he more active of the two is responsible for a .disp’ay of agility that calls for the the greatest praise. « « * * How many of the successful plays >f to-day win out in spite of the handicap of a weak act? There was “The Climbers,” for instance. That play, which real’y, set Clyde Fitch on his legs, was turned down by Charles Frohman on a - count of the opening act. He was of the opinion that the public would not stand for that post-funereal scene. Then there’s “Merely Mary Ann.” All the critics told the author that its last, act is fair’y puerile in its , weakness. In “The Lion and the Mouse ” it is the first act that

everybody grumbles over, and as for “The Squaw Man” its opening portion is almost the limit for dulness. And there is “The Hypocrites.” The final act. of that is a good deal of an anti-climax as we 1 as an awful strain on one’s credulity. One can imagine Henry Arthur Jones anathematizing the public’s craving for happy endings as he wrote it. And in Belasco’s “Girl of the Golden West” nearly the whole of that schoolroom scene in the third act is padding of the most unblushing description.