GREENROOM GOSSIP.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1240, 22 January 1914, Page 36

GREENROOM GOSSIP.

Conscience Doth Make Cowards! Mr. Bowers, the portly member of the Three Rubes, whose specialty is one of the big features in “The Forty Thieves” at Melbourne Her Majesty s, was appearing at Reno, the famous divorce centre in United States of America, and relates this story. “One night, a man with a wild glare in his eye, sought out the manager of the vaudeville house at which we were showing, and, producing an aggressive looking revolver, said, My wife is in your theatre with another man. When I get her I’ll kill her.’ The manager persuaded the man to go away, for a time at any rate, and then making his way to the stage announced the facts to the audience, concluding with the following: ‘Now, ladies and gentlemen, I will have the lights lowered for a little while, and anyone desiring to leave the building may do so.’ When the lights went up again it was found that half the audience had disappeared, the majority of the couples having fled! ” ... * * * * “Joseph and his Brethren.”

We hear a great deal about the large incomes of some of the dramatists, but Louis N. Parker, who wrote “Joseph and his Brethren,” soon to be staged in Melbourne by J. C. Williamson, Ltd., is said to top them all. It is foolish to quote figures, for they are not always believed, but it is known that the royalties paid to Mr. Parker in one week from “Disraeli,” “Pomander Walk,” and “Joseph and his Brethren” amounted to ovei £2500. “Joseph and his Brethren” at the present time has achieved a huge record for business both in London and New York. In London it is running under Sir Herbert Tree’s management at His Majesty’s Theatre. In New York it has been packing the Century Theatre since last February. * « * * Maud Allan and her Dances. Miss Maud Allan, who is to appear in Australia, is the unorthodox dancer par excellence. Apart from disdaining the ordinary trappings of the ballerina she never over embellishes her acts with scenery, shrewdly considering that a surplus of scenery tends to distract attention from the dancer. For her part, she prefers cleverly arranged curtains for scenery, leaving it to the colour of the curtains to enhance the illusion she is trying to create. As a matter of fact, the curtains vary according to the mood of the dance, and are most effective when properly lit and hung. For such of her successes like “The Salome Dance” and the “Marche Funebre,” curtains afford the most distinctive and brilliant of backgrounds.

Ethel Warwick as Potiphar’s Wife. In a recent interview in London, Ethel Warwick, the beautiful actress who is coming to Australia to play Potiphar’s wife in “Joseph and his Brethren” for J. C. Williamson, Ltd., confessed that there was a good deal more of artistic satisfaction in appearing in a role with a touch of “evil” about it than in the more conventional type of part. “After a long course of acting, in which the conventional side of life is depicted to a more or less extent,” explained Miss Warwick, “it comes as a relief —to me, at any rate —to handle a role with what might be described as a ‘touch of the panther’ about it. The smooth-flowing action of a ‘good’ character is not conducive to bringing out all the power and dramatic intensity in an actress, and I must confess that I like a role that rouses me, stirs the emotion, and, perhaps, brings to the surface a little of the savage that is dormant in us all. Potiphar’s wife is a character I have longed to enact since ‘Joseph and his Brethren’' was read over to me by Louis N. Parker before it was produced. It has grip in it, and the fascination that any part has for an actress who realises that it draws the audience as well as making a demand on her own dramatic strength.”

Julius Knight Actor and Sculptor. Though a very busy man, for he rehearses and produces all the pieces in which he appears, Julius Knight, who has marked his return to Melbourne with the first production of “Diplomacy,” still finds time to indulge in his favourite pastime of sculpturing. Experts who have seen the work of Julius Knight in this direction have expressed the flatter-

ing opinion that if he were to forsake the stage for the art of sculpturing he would without doubt immediately step into a front place in the ranks of the sculptors whose names loom large before the public. During his recent tour of New Zealand Mr. Knight made a couple of striking Maori studies, which will probably be exhibited when the finishing touches have been added. A marble bust of Napoleon, executed by Mr. Knight, has attracted a great deal of attention in London.

Who’s the Lady? London critics have ueen stirred to their depths by‘the production of “Who’s the Lady?” at the Garrick. This farce-comedy from the French will be played in Australia by the Louis Meyer-Beaumont Smith Comedy

oumpiny, commencing next August at Melbourne Princess Theatre. The •' Daily Mail” described the piece as “risky,” • “sultry,” “naughty,” “impudent,” “unblushing,” and on top of this criticism the Bishop of Kensington sent two trusty henchmen to see and report on the farce to him. One reported: “It’s very funny, really clever, and humorous. I wouldn’t mind my wife seeing it. In fact, I propose to take her.” “The Telegraph” described the piece as “a jolly, rollicking, winking, nudging farce,” but the “Express” said it was probably the most salacious comedy ever seen in London. Whilst this controversy raged the Garrick booked up rapidly and when the mail left the very earliest date possible to secure a seat to see “Who’s the Lady?” was the middle of May next.

Harold Bauer and the Doctor.

Those who will have the privilege of meeting Harold Bauer on his forthcoming tour of Australasia will encounter a quiet and charming identity, modest about his own performances, and delightfully humorous in conversation. Bauer possesses the little-

known distinction of being one of the wittiest talkers, his mots and witticisms often being passed round reverently like the treasured sayings of the late James Whistler and Oscar Wilde. A Story of Bauer’s pungency of speech has gone the usual rounds, though it has never been previously given in print. During his early career in Paris when he was getting a small living by teaching music at a few francs a lesson, he numbered among his clients a popular doctor who possessed almost every civilised grace but the happy habit of paying his debts. He owned Bauer money for a long time and the unfortunate musician at last used to wait in his waiting room seeking an interview. One day after he had waited nearly two hours an English friend came in and said politely, “Hullo, Bauer; are you work-

ing here?” “Yes, I’m head waiter here now,” answered Bauer softly and significantly enough.

Harry Lauder on Tour. Harry Lauder will not feel particularly lonely on his forthcoming tour of Australasia. This time he is travelling accompanied by his wife and son. Previously he had only the company of his wife, who is fond of visiting foreign parts so long as they are civilised and up-to-date. The son, who is about twenty-two, has only seen his parents at infrequent intervals during the last five or ten years. The necessities of his education at college and university have kept him apart from his people, and while his father has been winning fame as a comedian, he has been steadily studying for the Bar. Harry Lauder, it is said, has sedulously encouraged his son in the course of study that he is pursuing, for, like many Scotchmen, Lauder would be highly proud of the importance of possessing a lawyer in the family.

Bauer and Paderewski.

Though they are practically rivals, Harold Bauer and Paderewski (the

great pianist) are the closest personal friends. Their friendship, which commenced in Bauer’s boyhood, has continued to the present day with no lessening of the intimacy on either side. Bauer himself recognises that he owes a lot to his Polish friend’s respect and admiration for him in his early days. When Bauer was working hard for a living in his youth in Paris it was Paderewski who invited him to play concertos with him and otherwise helped him to keep the wolf from the door. Bauer will never forget this kindly assistance in his need, and naturally holds the Polish virtuoso in the highest estimation on that account.

How the Panto. “Dame” Builds his Part.

An understudy, who was handed the part of Dame in “The Forty Thieves” pantomime at Her Majesty’s, Melbourne, looked at the slender bulk the pages made up and exclaimed, “Good gracious, is that all there is?” Now the part of Cogia Baba, as played by Edwin Brett in the pantomime, is one of the biggest in he cast, but it is not in the script, or typed pages of dialogue. The secret is, of course, that the part in this form is merely a “skeleton,” upon which the artist has to build according to his own ability and ideas, and this is where the ability of the pantomime comedian comes in. Mr. Brett has padded, and added, until Cogia Baba is now a role of substantial proportions, containing many of his own “gags,” bits of “business,” and ideas generally—the whole attached to the skeletonlike framework which was its original form as turned out by the librettist. It will, therefore, be seen that the comedian with gifts in this direction plays a prominent part in the building up of a pantomime.

“The Miracle” in Sydney. The “Miracle,” the big Reinhardt spectacle which Wests presented at the Sydney Glaciarium by arrangement with Beaumont Smith, has all the success expected of it (writes our Sydney correspondent). Also, the expected curiosity and diversion of opinion regarding the story of the errant nun, Megildis, turned up, and once or twice angry interjectors had to be emptied out of the vast building. For the most part, however, the “Miracle” had the support of the Catholic clergy, who visited the show in droves and said never a word but what was good about the picture. By the way, it is interesting to note that Louis Tracy, in his latest story, “Vertigo,” sends his Yorkshire heroine to see the “Miracle,” and the girl is so impressed and falls so deeply under its moral spell that she changes her mind about running away with a Londoner and returns to the paths of rectitude.