Theatrical Topics.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1163, 25 July 1912, Page 18

Theatrical Topics.

George S. Titlieradge, now playing in Melbourne in “A Woman of No Importance,” has a very poor regard for America. The subject was broached to him in Sydney recently. “America!” he exclaimed. ‘‘l broke down in America. . Had I stayed in the country my health would have been ruined. Playing one-night towns, eating when and where you can, and what you may get. It is one continuous rush. My first experience was with a company which started on a six weeks’ series of rehearsals in New York prior to going on tour. First call, nine o’clock, and when one o’clock arrives no sign of an adjournment. I went up to the manager, and said, ‘lt is one o’clock; I am going out to lunch.’ The members of the company gasped in amazement. The manager was speechless. I left, and came back at two o’clock, and found the rehearsal still in progress. I did the same thing next day. On the third day a notice was posted:—‘There will be an interval for lunch from 1 till 1.45 p.m.’ Members of the company came to me and whispered their thanks for bringing about this innovation. I told them that they were slaves, and that it was a howling fallacy to call America the ‘Land of the Free. * * * * Johnny O’Neil last year made a tour of the western towns. “What was it like in those towns?’ was asked him. “Oh, a hundred and five in Cobar, a hundred and seven in Bourke, and round about that.” “What! a hundred and seven quid! Do you mean to say you got a hundred and seven in the house in Bourke!” “Good Lord, no,” said Johnny O’Neill, “not in the house —in the shade.” —From “Theatrical Caricatures.” * « * * A judicial opinion in regard to hissing in a theatre has been delivered in a Virginia law court. At the recent premiere of a piece entitled “Papa” in the People’s Theatre, two neighbours in the stalls quarrelled. A manufacturer, who applauded the piece, was much annoyed because a merchant sitting next to him hissed it, and finally gave the latter the benefit of his opinion, that “It's low to hiss and a sign of bad manners and defective education.” For this insult the merchant brought an action, and the judge fined the manufacturer two dollars, remarking that hissing is just as permissible as clapping. * * * * Miss Grace Palotta was warmly welcomed back to Australia on her appearance in “The Quaker Girl.” “No one,” says the Melbourne “Age,” “got a better reception from the audience than Miss Grace Palotta, whose natural vivacity and good looks added to her touch of foreign mannerism, make her an ideal representative of such a character as Madame Blum.” * • * # -> For M. Paul Dufault, who aids Mme. de Cisneros in her concerts, Sydney audiences and critics could not find words sufficiently enthusiastic. He is truly one of the noblest tenors ever heard on the platform in Australia, and his first appearance secured him a sensational success. It

is safe to prophesy the same enthusiasm for M. Dufault here as that with which Sydney welcomed him. At times his success rivalled that of Mme. de Cisneros, who showed a generous delight in the appreciation of the singer whom she herself had selected as a “surprise packet” for Australia. A letter from Mr John Fuller, jun., was read at the sitting of the Education Commission at Wellington, protesting against assertions that picture shows were harmful to the morals of the community. Such statements were absolutely without foundation, as far as the entertainments under his control were concerned. In his public capacity, he said, he would be glad to assist the commission in devising measures which will prevent children of tender years from being in the streets at a time when they should be in bed. Something on the lines of the by-laws of the London County should be enacted here. This would prevent children from being in places of amusement or on the streets after 8 p.m. Charlie Landis, who is famous throughout all Indiana as a wit and story-teller, thinks he has read the most original Shakespearean criticism ever written, so says an American writer. According to him, it appeared in a paper published in Rising Sun, Indiana, and it was. called forth by the production there of “Hamlet” by Walker Whiteside. In Rising Sun, Shakespeare was a novelty, and the little theatre, the only one in town, was crowded to the doors for the performance. The next morning the daily chronicler of the happenings in the village printed this: — Shakespeare’s immortal tragedy, “Hamlet,” was produced here last night. It was a great society event. The leading men of town and their wives and daughters were out in the best clothes they could afford. Seldom has such a distinguished assemblage been gotten together in this part of the country. There has long been a dispute as to whether Shakespeare or Lord Bacon wrote the plays of Shakespeare. That knotty problem can now be solved. Let the graves of both men be opened. “Hamlet” was written by the one who turned over last night. * * * * Apropos: of George Musgrove, one of Australia’s greatest entrepreneurs, Melbourne! “Punch” gives the following typical incident: He is the sort of man who hates to ask for information. He thinks he knows most things, and what he does not know he prefers to find out without assistance. He used to search the papers for the advertisements, of new operas. One day he saw that at Frankfurt, under the announcement Frankfurt operas, there appeared in large letters “Geschlossen.” - That was all. He had never heard of the opera, and the way in which it was advertised struck him as so novel that it must be something indeed worth having. He travelled to Frankfurt to hear this wonderful opera. He told nobody of his purpose. This is his way. He arrived at the sausage city, put up at an hotel, and in the afternoon ordered a carriage to drive him to the Opera House. He arrived there, and found the doors shut, but plastered with great red labels, “Geschlossen.” He demanded by gestures and signs

to know why the doors were not open, and it took the cabman and a policeman ten minutes of vigorous pantomime to convey to his mind and intelligence that “Geschlossen” was the German for “closed,” and not the name of an opera at all. V Miss Ethel Irving has just returned to England from Australia, and made her re-appearance at the Hippodrome. Miss Irving finds the Australians a race of passionate theatregoers, and she notes the amazing power of the Press in moulding their judgment. “The social side of Australia,” she says, “is very marked. The Australians are a pleasure-loving race. Dinners, balls, dances from one end of the year to the other, and everybody goes to the theatre. Their likes and dislikes are marked. They take every sort of play offered —but it has to be the best of its kind or you hear from them. The power of the Press is amazing. Everybody from the little boy in the street to the man at the top of the social scale —reads the papers, and their faith in the Press is complete. ‘I read it in the paper,’ you will hear them say, ‘so it must be true.’ We played Lady Frederick, Dame Nature, and The Witness for the Defence. These plays have little in common, but I am glad to say that, critical as the Australians are—and they take nothing on hearsay —we got home with all three. Their appreciation was extraordinary.” ’ * * * Mr Charles Blake has taken up the advance work of Wykeham-Nable foi the remainder of the South Island tour and the country tours thereof. Mr Blake has played many parts on the stage himself, amongst them lago in “Othello,” Marcus Superbus in ‘-‘The Sign of the Cross,” John Storm in “The Christian,” and others. The company are playing “Who’s William?” in addition to “Plaster of Paris” and “The Belle of Newport.” ■ * -■ =:= =" Mr Kenneth Brampton, the clever English actor who made such a good impression, here, has now joined the George Marlow Company. Mr Brampton has made two visits to South Africa with companies of his own. It was just after the war that he first went there. At times the members performed in cornsheds, with' nothing in the way of a stage, or stage equipment. ‘‘Yet we played,” says Mr Brampton, “to audiences who did not pay less than a sovereign or half a sovereign a head to see us. In those days money was most plentiful. We stayed there ten months. But it was different when we went back £0 South Africa twelve months later. '• Things had completely changed. All the theatrical managers were suffering terribly. People who, when we went there the first time, would not mind throwing down £5 for a few seats, without worrying about the change, were now considering themselves lucky if they could scrape up a shilling for a back seat.” Mr Harry Carson Clarke has been engaged by J. C. Williamson, Ltd., to play in “Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford.” Mr Clarke is a noted American comedian. He set out to tour the world some years ago with his wife —Margaret Dale Owen —also a famous comedy actress. The pair have struck big engagements everywhere they went, and their holiday tour has been converted into real hard work.

Mr Clarke came to Australia feeling safe from work, but the tempting offer put up to him by Mr Hugh J. Ward, who learnt-his business in the same school as Mr Clarke learnt his, induced him to take up the part again. Miss Carrie Moore is scoring brilliantly in her new metier as a vaudeville artist. “I have been asked ever so many times why I went into vaudeville ((she wrote to a friend in Sydney). There is no answer to it. Going into vaudeville has become a habit in England and America; I simply contracted the habit —that’s all: You know, there have been many so-called legitimate actors and actresses of undeniable ability that have failed in vaudeville, and I am sure the reason is simply that they did not pay enough attention to what they offered to the public. They kind of looked. upon vaudeville as ‘Pie,’ or something easy, and gave the audiences a slipshod performance, which was resented. I am still relying mostly on comedy for my success, although a letter from a friend in New Fork tells me that all the big vaudeville successes this year are tearful acts, one of them being ‘The' Melody of Love,’ played by Mabel Frenyear.” A farmer from the country went to London to visit his son. After dinner the son said to his father: — “Dad, let’s go to a good show.” The oid man was game in a minute. Not knowing that his son was addicted to the picture-palace habit,, they dropped into one of the big cinejnatograph theatres and took seats in the last row. Three films had been run off, when the youngster turned to the old man: “How do you like it?” he asked. “Aw!” said the old gentleman, “it’s a good show, I reckon, but we re sit- - ting so far back I can’t hear the actors speak.” “Find the Woman!” Such is the new title of “The Third Degree” as produced by Mr. Bourchier at the Garrick Theatre, London. Miss Violet Vanbrugh takes a principal part. The Third Degree is the term applied by Americans to their police system of putting arrested persons under a strenuous and prolonged examination with the object of extracting a confession from them before they are brought to trial. The piece was play--ed here a couple of years ago by Katherine Grey and William Desmond. * * * * The new Auditorium Concert Hall, now in course of erection in Collinsstreet, Melbourne, will be the most modern and comfortable edifice ever yet built in the Commonwealth. It will be modern French Renaissance in outward design, and in its interior will be a close model of the Queen’s Hall, London. It will have no less than seven exits, with a special artits’ subway leading to the stage and dressing rooms at the rear of the hall. In the basement there will be installed a novel automatic device for heating or cooling the hall and supplying a continuous current of fresh Air.

Miss Alice Moffat, who was leading lady with “The Arcadians” here, has joined the Wykeham-Nable Company.