GREENROOM GOSSIP.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVIII, Issue 1022, 7 October 1909, Page 17

GREENROOM GOSSIP.

THE WII.I.IAMSON ENTERPRISES.

The results *of Mr; J. CJWilliamson ? s visit to the Old and Nevr-WOrld will very shortly be realised out here (writes a Melbourne correspondent), arid new arrivals for ‘praciicallyoevery company under that managemerit continue to come orit from England and America until well on into next year. Miss Marjorie Murray and Miss Eth?l Gordon will be the first newcomers to put in an appearance. They have both had splendid experience in dramatic work, and should prove decided acquisitions to the companies which they are to join. An engagement which will affect the Royal Comic Opera Company is that of Miss Fanny Bauer, the well-known Sydney girl,' who is due out here next November. There are also several artists who are coming out to augment the ranks of the Pantomime Company, and who even now will be thinking of making preparations for their , trip to Australia instead of the usual remaining in London for the big Christmas extravaganza there. And so the stream of newcomers will continue to mvade our shores until the various J- C. Williamson organisations will have th?ir ranks augmented.

THBICE MARRIED. Norflica. the once famous singer, was married five or six weeks ago for the third time. No. 1 spouse went up in a balloon and descended in the wrong way. No. 2 the lady divorcsd for good and sufficient reasons. Her third is a New York banker named Young. '• **. * ♦ MAORI ENTERTAINERS FOR SYDNEY. Maggie Papakura, the well-known Maori guide, who lias been A sojourner in Sydney for some time, recently returned to Rotorua to gather a Maori company for displays at Clontarf. The Balmain Ferry Co. are to rim the scheme, and the Papakura will run the Maori co. The pah that was used at M.L. Exhibition of some years ago will be put up at Clontarf, and the visitors will live there. Hakas, poi dances and other properties peculiar to aboriginal Maoriland will enliven the coming Sydney summer. Such, at least, is the story we gather from the Sydney “ Bulletin.” * * * * “ WHAT EVERY GERMAN KNOWS. 1 ’ What the Germans in general think of Du Maurier’s play, “An Englishman’s Home,” and the state of the defences in England, doubtless coincides with the remarks passed by a G’erman attache when asked by an English friend if he had seen the play of that name. “ Well,” remarked the loyal subject of the Kaiser, “ I did see a military play the other night. I don’t remember whether it was called ‘An Englishman’s Home’ or not, but anyway it might just as well have been called ‘ What Every German Knows.’ ”

“ JACK AND JILL” HUSTLING.

Something- like a hustle is being made by the “ Jack and Jill’ company, which has been accorded an enthusi astic welcome on its return to Sydney. They left the New South Wales capital on Friday, and are due at Fremantle at daylight this morning. They were to leave Sydney after the last performance, in the very small hours of Friday morning and board a special train with all their vast paraphernalia, including scenery, wardrobe, properties, etc., spend two hours at Albury, half-an-hour in Melbourne, and expected to reach Adelaide at 6.30 on the Saturday evening. At Adelaide the A.U.S.N. Company’s Kanowna was to be in waiting in the outer harbour, and all the baggage was to be transferred from the train to the steamer as quickly as possible. Then the steamer was to be sent full steam ahead across the Bight and

reach Fremantle at daylight on the Thursday morning. Even the mails (writes our informant) cannot boast of such a rapid trip, for a letter from Sydney to reach Fremantle on the same day as the Pantomime Company would have to be posted in the former city at five o’clock in the afternoon nf the day before the company leave the Harbour City. .» ♦ ♦ * DRAMATIC RIGHTS SECURED. Two fine dramas, “ The Fires of Fate” and “ Strife,” have been secured for Australia by J. C. Williamson. The former piece is by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and boasts of some thrilling situations. It treats of a comparatively young military man who goes to consult a doctor about his health, only to be told by a specialist that his days are numbered, and that he .has only about twelve months to live, being the victim of an insidious nerve disease. The patient with set face listens to the verdict, and then comes the temptation to commit suicide and end at once all anxiety and suffering, but he is dissuaded from this course and finally decides to take a trip out to Egypt and try as best he can to reconcile himself to his fate. On the way out to Egypt, Colonel Egerton (the doomed man) meets an American girl and falls in love with her. But he refrains from making the state of his feelings known to her. Later on, however, the party falls in with a horde of Dervishes, who ill-treat them and drag them into the desert. But, strangely enough, this encounter with the enemy proves to be Egerton’s salvation, for a blow which he gets on tne head is the means of restoring his nerve centres to sound health, and, of course, the love story works out to a satisfactory ending. The other T. C. Williamson acquisition, “ Strife,” by John Galsworthy, is that author’s best drama, and treats of the problems of the eternal warfare between capital and labour. Mr. Charles Frohman thought so highly of this piece when "he saw it at the Court Theatre that he organised an all-star company to play it at the Duke of York’s Theatre, where it ran with great success this year. * * * * EQUAL TO LONDON. One of the British pressmen accompanying the Empire Congress delegates has paid a tribute to the Australian stage. After seeing “ The King of Cadonia,” he remarked the production equalled in every way that in the Prince of Wales’ Theatre, London. “ I don’t know,” he said, “ how you can mount a piece so elaborately, and give it so exceptional a cast, with a tariff so far below that of London. No

charge for programmes either —this is indeed the theatre-goers’ paradise.” “ The King of Cadonia” is now being played in England, Canada, South Africa and Australia simultaneously. Jt is also by : an English composer, author, and lyrist. * v * * THE OLDEST EMPLOYEE. Mr. Willie Ford, head wardrobe man of the J. C. Williamson management in Sydney, claims to be the oldest servant in the employ of the firm. Nearly 30 years ago, when Mr. Williamson decided to go in for comic opera, he entered his service. “I was a good wicket-keeper,” he recalls, “and Mr. Williamson wanted me chiefly for Its eleven. And what a team we had I — the Rices, the Musgroves, Sid Dean, and I wasn’t bad myself- We are starting ‘ The King of Cadonia’ Cricket Club, and we hope to play some matches during the coming season. I have played a lot of small parts in my time, and can take a top A and C as easy as apples falling off a tree. I have seen most of the present managers come to the front, and played cricket with all of them. The most exciting game I ever had was when we played the Kew Lunatic Asylum in Melbourne. I was behind the wickets, and when I tried to stump one of them he showed homicidal tendencies. ‘ Look here,’ he said, when I made as though to take the bails off, ‘if you put me out I’ll bash in your head with the bat’’ and he brandished it so meaningly that I was long-stop for the rest of his innings. I have dressed all the leading tenors and baritones for the last 20 years, and I’ve never had an angry word with one of them in my life.”

* * * * PERFORMING SEALS. Captain Winston’s seals (according to the “ Bulletin”) impart quite a religious flavour to 'the bill of Sydney Tivoli. They look like sleek seacurates as they bark hoarsely over Iheir pulpits, and their flippers suggest the cloth-encumt ered arms of th a clergyman in his working garb. To complete the resemblance, their strange terminations are like the lower ends of elongated surplices. If the Truth is ever planted in the Polar regions, “The Bulletin” is willing to lav six archbishops to one vicar that seals will do the job. However, their welloiled religious aspect doesn’t prevent them saying “ D n” publicly. During their performance, when the small humorous seal is trying to get the big soft globe balanced on his snout, he has to chase it down to the footlights, nip it with his teeth, toss it into the air, and catch it. It is the difficult to their best concerted

trick, and he generally has to make three or four attempts. Usually, after the second unsuccessful try, he whirls round to the audience and shouts “D- n!” It is a loud, wild, human “ D— —n,” and the fact that it is said in Sealish makes no difference; it is so plain that no translation is needed. The three Sprightly Sisters have a change of programme, including a clever doll dance. They are a joyous trio, and when they rush through a romantic burlesque it is like three clever girls romping at home. One of the great charms of their j.-a*. formance is that they seem to enj ;y their own fun. Other cheering turns are supplied by the Kremka Brother.?, Blake and Granby, and Ronald George, a young instrumentalist from London.