A VERSATILE ENGLISH ACTOR.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 1006, 17 June 1909, Page 9

A VERSATILE ENGLISH ACTOR.

MR. EDWIN BRETT’S STAGE CAREER.

“ Any relation of Edwin J. Brett of ‘ Boys of England’ fame?” Mr. Edwin Brett, who had met the writer by appointment at the Opera House on Tuesday, laughed. “ Funnv how people will try to establish a connection between that gentleman and myself,” he said. “ You’re not the first journalist by a good many who has asked me that question. No, I’m not related to him, so far as I am aware; but I often enough get my letters addressed with his initials, and that makes me think there must be a good many admirers of ‘Edwin J.’ in Australasia. I’m a Cumberland man myself, but my people took me to London when I was quite a little fellow, so I know more about the world’s metropolis than of my native moors. I grew up and was educated there, and finally entered a stockbroker’s office and thence drifted on to the stage.” “ Drifted?”

“ Yes, that’s the only word for it. The thing was not premeditated, although I fancy it was destined to come about, for I felt the call to the stage, and did a good deal in an amateurish way before I took up professional work. The fact that I was musically inclined also helped me in this direction. I early acquired the habit of writing music, and I may tell you that I score most of my own work. The music in my song, ‘ Round and Round,’ in ‘ Miss Hook’ is my own, for example.” “How did I begin? My first engagement was at Saddlers Wells Theatre, in which I played several parts in a season of melodrama, ‘ Cartouche’ and the like. Then I went to the Theatre Royal, Woolwich, a noted stock house, where I played parts from Eton boys to heavy leads. We never produced less than two plays a week, with the usual farce, in which I vas the juvenile. On Saturday nights we often put up two dramas. Soon after that season I joined Mark Melford. Yes; the author of ‘Turned Up.’ He is both actor and dramatist, and in those days was very prolific. As an actor, Melford shone in tragedy, and it is on record that his acting, like Kean’s, was too realistic for some of the members of his company. Still, he is generally associated with comedy- He wrote a melodrama of four or five acts, entitled ‘ Flying From Justice.’ At this time any necessary music was written by me, and for that play there were some 30 numbers. Melford had half-a-dozen companies playing his pieces.”

Mr. Brett was with Mark Melford for quite a long time, and then, as he puts it, he tumbled into Drury Lane dramas. “Although (he said) I was appearing in heavys I was also doing pantomime comedy parts. ‘ Cinderella,’ by the way, is my nineteenth pantomime, and. curiously enough, 1 appear for the first time in that pantomime in a woman’s part. I got into musical comedy oy joining Horace Lingard and August Van Biene, of ‘ Broken Melody’ fame. At that time Van Biene was the principal musical comedy touring manager. George Edwardes did not then tour his own comedies, and Van Biene produced them all in the provinces. Afterwards George Edwardes, I suppose, saw there was money in the touring company, and he went in for it himself. Louis Bradfield made his first appearance with Van Biene, and Edmund Payne was with him. Bradfield and I played in Ruy Blas’ and ‘Blue-eyed Susan.’ What has become of old Teddy Royce ? Oh, he is alive and well, and with Seymour Hicks, I think. He had been playing Gaspard in ‘ Les Cloches’ for years. His son, E. W. Royce, is a fine producer. I remained with Van Biene for some years, and until he dropped the musical plays, passing over to ‘ Gentleman Joe,’ one of the most popular musical comedies ever staged. It is by Captain Basil Hood and Walter Slaughter. I played the title role, which had been created by Arthur Roberts. Then came ‘ Orlando Dando,’ by the same writer and composer. On this occasion I was cast for an American comedy part, one Jonathan Q. Jefferson, a millionaire sort of chap. Mrs. Brett was the Trimmer.”

When the music halls began to get a grip on the profession Mr. and Mrs. Brett turned their attention to specialty work, appearing in sketches and musical miniature comedies, four of their most successful pieces being “ Mixed Bathing,’'’ “ The Two Love Birds,” “ A Near Thing,” and “ A Ten to One Chance,” each of which run for about ten minutes. Mr. and Mrs.

Brett have been on the Moss-Stoll, Empire circuit, for the last seven years, and return there for their eighth season next year, their engagement covering 35 weeks out of the 52. Mr. Brett writes his own sketches, composes his own music, and writes his own lyrics. He would not have been in New Zealand but for the difficulty that arose in connection with the music hall artists last year. There was, he says, a regular upheaval, but it did not affect Mrs. Brett or himself, because they were playing in ‘ Mr. Popple of Ippleton,’ Mr. Brett playing the title roll and Mrs. Brett La Bolero. They were playing for 20 weeks in the above piece, and then went to Hull to play in the pantomime “ Blue Beard,” Mrs. Brett appearing as the principal boy and Mr. Brett as Blue Beard. At the close of the pantomime engagement, having received an offer from Messrs. Meynell and Gunn, they sailed for MelbourneMr. Brett speaks in enthusiastic terms of Australia and also of this country, so far as he knows it. There is no doubt, he says, that the people, as the Americans put it, ‘ extend the glad hand’ with a vengeance. They are determined that you shall have a good time, and they do give it to you. What about the audiences ? The notable feature is that you get a fine reception, and then the house settles down to see what you are made of. Once they come to the conclusion that you’re all right, you needn’t worry any more. They have taken you up, and they pretty soon let you know it, and make you feel at home.” “Was it not considered infra dig for theatrical artists to accept music hall engagements?” queried the interviewer.

“ That used to be the case years ago,” Mr. Brett replied, “but a great change has taken place during the last decade. So many of the theatres are closed during the summer months because the managers will not take the risk of running companies, while the music halls keep going merrily ahead, that artists like Mrs. Brown-Potter, Seymour Hicks, Florence St. John, Hayden Coffin, Rutland Barrington and so on, have accepted engagements in ‘ legitimate’ turns at the music halls, which are really tip-top. Of course, it was a bit of a shock to the patrons of the theatre to see their idols going to the halls, but they quickly followed them there, and so the halls benefited. And they are really tip-top places of amusement. There is the Coliseum, for instance, where there is a first-class band of 40 performers, and one can get an upholstered seat for fourpence, and take one’s wife there in perfect comfort. The Moss-Stoll Empire again gives first-class “turns” at low prices, the best price being eighteenpence for the stalls. There are two programmes each night, each artist, of course, appearing twice. The hours are from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., 9.5 to 11 p.m. That suits everybody, because there are folk who cannot remain out late, and the early performance just fits in with their arrangements, while the late show is just fine for those who cannot get away until later in the night. The hall is really magnificent in its equipment. The old feeling in regard to music hall entertainments has entirely disappeared, because the ‘ turns’ are of a superior character altogether. I am inclined to think, from what I hear of your vaudeville shows, that they have hardly advanced as much as the English music hall stage has done.” Mr. Brett wound up by expressing regret that his business engagements would preclude him from seeing more of New Zealand than is to be gathered from his sojourn in the four leading centres —Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin —and the two or three days to be spent en route at Palmerston North and (prior to returning to Australia) at Invercargill.