STAGE NOTES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1398, 8 February 1917, Page 5

STAGE NOTES.

Norma Talmadge, who is at the head of her own company in America, recently married Joseph M. Schenck, the president of the concern.

Every member of the pink and gold ballet in “So Long, Letty,” has had an opportunity to marry a soldier. Most of them promised to be sisters and knit socks for them.

The Williamson management has been trying for years to secure for Sydney an attraction that would run as long as a pantomime. With “So Long, Letty,” they did the trick, the musical play putting up a record run of 17 weeks.

Ernest Langford, who appears as Farmer Barleycorn in “The House That Jack Built,” the Williamson pantomime in Melbourne, was for some time partner with Barry Lupino in comedy sketches at the London music halls.

Miss Florence Rockwell, the new J. C. Williamson leading lady, was, at the age of thirteen, widely known as a Shakespearian prodigy. She starred as Juliet, Ophelia, and Desdemona, supported by a grown-up company of artists, for two years.

“To-night’s the Night,” the big London Gaiety piece vhich goes on in Auckland after “So Long, Letty,” is said to be packed with all the ingredients which go towards making up a refreshing evening’s entertainment, including catchy music, tuneful melodies, clever and witty dialogue, humorous situations, and the dresses, scenery, and the mounting, it is stated, are on a more lavish scale than ever before.

An interesting publication was received by Miss Dorothy Brunton, containing all the squibs writen on the s.s. on her last trip to England as a troopship. Among its contents was the programme of a concert as the troopers crossed the line. One of the items, “sung by everybody,” at the concert was a number specially written for the occasion, entitled “Our Dorothy’s the Best.”

A recent London engagement is that of Miss Ena Grossmith, the eldest daughter of George Grossmith, the renowned Gaiety comedian and librettist, to Captain Alexander Mawson, of the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment. George Grossmith left the Gaiety a few weeks ago, and now holds a commission in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

Playgoers at Her Majesty’s, Melbourne, have remarked upon the unusual all-round excellence and evenness of the cast of “The House That Jack Built,” and frequently the suggestion has been made as to the suitability of the company for musical comedy. The J. C. Williamson management, however, had early recognised what a fine musical comedy company they had ready to hand, all in thorough working order, as it were, and arrangements have already been made so that when the pantomime tour is completed the company will be kept together in its present form and transferred to musical comedy. According to present arrangements, the first piece to be played will be “The Bing Boys Are Here.”

In “So Long, Letty,” Auckland audiences will make the acquaintance of the noted Gaiety comedienne, Connie Ediss. Miss Ediss is as humorous a personality off the stage as on. This is a portion of an interview with Miss Ediss in a Sj dney paper, in which she recounted her experiences in “high society” in London when, fur a fee of 40 guineas per time, she appeared at receptions given by the aristocracy: “I sang at the town house of a society leader one afternoon, and she did me proud. She told me to take her carriage back. Mother was with me and she nearly tripped with importance when the turn-out, footman and all, drew up for us at the door. We sat back and sniffed at the proletariat as we drove home. On the way I saw a beautiful equipage coming in our direction. Then I recognised the King and Queen —George and Mary. . As they came nearer I saw the Queen nudge the King, and an amused smile came over her face. The King beamed and raised his hat. Of course, they do that to everyone, arly fell out of the cai\ age bowing back. Mother said, 'My word, Connie, you are coming on when Royalty lifts its lid to you.’ Mother was pleased.”

At the age of eighteen, Miss Bessie Love, the dainty Triangle actress, enjoys the unique aonour of having been leading lady for three of the big men in the film business, De Wolf Hopper, Douglas Fairbanks, end William S. Hart. Less than a y ear ago she was going to school in Los Angeles, but one day decided she would like to “go in the pictures.” She joined the army of girls who every day wait at the studio doors to be engaged as extras, and was lucky in securing a trial the very first morning. D. W. Griffith subsequently took her in hand, and in a few months converted her into a leading lady.

“Getting into the pictures” in America is not the easy job which many girls imagine, according to one ■who knows, for the number of girls striving for photo-play honours is particularly large. Picture actresses at present are recruited from the supernumerary ranks, most of them comingdirect from the legitimate stage. There are, of course, exceptions, such as Mary Pickford, Mae Marsh, Blanch Sweet, and Mabel Normand, none of whom had much stage experience. They all joined pictures, however, at a time when it was considered below the dignity of girls to appear in films. The pay of the “extra girl” in America is about two dollars a day, and there is said to be an average of 200 applicants for every vacant position, many of the applicants being society girls anxious to appear “just for the fun of it,” and without pay.

On the first night of the Fuller pantomime, “The Bunyip,” at the Grand Opera House, there was a special call for Mrs. E. Edwards, says the Sydney “Sun.” Under her direction, all the pantomime dresses and costumes were made, and there were a great number of sleepless nights for the clever little lady with the gift of gorgeous colour and quaint design. First of all, the cutting has to be done, and then silks and satins pass into the hands of Mr. Phil Cohn, who, with deft brush, paints the material, which is then made up by Mrs. Edwards and her regiment of dressmakers. Naturally, each pantomime principal worries about her costumes and brings her fears and her troubles to the wardrobe mistress. Queenie Paul wears seven different costumes in “The Bunyip,” and others are equally lavish. The frocks have not only to be individually beautiful, but each must blend with all others to secure the colour pictures without which no pantomime would be complete. Mrs. Edwards works without artists’ designs. Usually the pictures come from London or America, but with the Australian production at the Opera House, this has not been the case, and full credit must be given to Mrs. Edwards and Mr. Cohn for the results obtained. When one realises that Mrs. Edwards designed and supervised the making of over a thousand costumes in “The Bunyip,” it is easy to believe her when she says she had to count herself to sleep for a fortnight before the first production.

To provide a suitable theatre for their newly-organised theatrical companies, Messrs J. and N. Tait have secured a lengthy lease of the Palace Theatre, Sydney, from the trustees of the George Adams estate.

It is understood that the Now Zealand Government has bought the kinematograph films showing our soldiers fighting and engaged in other war work in France. The films are to be sent out to the Dominion and the fortunate theatre proprietors who get the right to screen them should make a good harvest.