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New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1401, 1 March 1917, Page 36

It is rumoured that Signor Cappelli, the operatic tenor of the Italian Opera Company, contemplates at the end of the season in Australia to tour New Zealand at the head of h's own company. W ♦ ♦ • Miss Nellie Bramley has been engaged as lead ng lady with the Fuller Dramatic Company recently inaugurated in Melbourne. Miss Bramley, who has shown fine talent on occasional visits to New Zealand with J. C. Williamson companies, is the wife of Mr. W. F. Russell, of managerial note. * * * * Miss Lizette Parkes has cancelled her projected trip to America and accepted an engagement under the banner of J. and N. Tait. afc * sjs si Fuller’s pantomime “The Bunyip” is still going steadily in Sydney, and will probably be seen c-ver here shortly. ♦ * * * Frank Greene, recently with the Tivoli Follies, will appear in J. C. Williamson’s production of “The Pink Lady.” * S * sj: Mr. Lionel Walsh is the stage" mana ger for J. and N. Tait’s musical production, “Very Good, Eddie.” * * * * Mr. W. F. Russell, who has been representing J. C. Williamson, Ltd., on the management staff of the Italian Grand Opera Company during its New Zealand tour, has joined the managerial staff of the “Damaged Goods” dramatic company. Miss Dorothy Cumming, who will be remembered amongst the J. C. Williamson companies, is now’ in America and at latest was with the Famous Players, having played the Fairy Queen in the production of “Snow White” with Marguerite Clark. * * # * Charles W. Mortimer, British Consul to Los Angeles, said at a dinner: “To improve one’s carriage, to acquire a manly look, there is nothing like doing one’s duty by one’s country. A young Englishman asked his doctor the other day: ‘Doctor, what is the best thin/; to expand the chest?’ ‘War medals,’ the doctor answered.”

Miss Mary Macfarlane, who managed “Neptune’s Daughter” so capably in New Zealand for Mr. Frederic Shipman, has been having phenomenal success with the picture in Hobart and Launceston. At the conclusion of the Tasmanian season, Miss Macfarlane was off to Sydney en route to Queensland, and thence to Victoria, South Australia, and West Australia, finishing up the tour in New Zealand about the end of the year. So this progressive young Sydney lady has her work comprehensively mapped out, and the fact that she is left entirely on her own responsibility during Mr. Shipman’s visit to China, Java and Japan with the Paul Dufault tour, speaks for itself as to her managerial adaptability.

The Italian Grand Opera. Company met with an exceedingly hearty re ception on opening its Dunedin season in “11 Trovatore.” Probably (writes a correspondent) not since the beginning of the war has such a large audience assembled at His Majesty’s Theatre. The advance booking for the other operas has not been eclipsed s nee the memorable visit of the Oscar Asche Company.

“I see you are presenting ‘Hamlet’ to the public this week.” “Presenting is the r’ght word,” assented the manager. “Nothing but deadheads in the house.” —Louisville “Courier-Jour-nal.” * * * * Messrs. J. and N. Tait’s “Turn to the Right” company includes four new men of remarkable capacity in comedy roles, viz., Walter P. Richardson, John Jun or, Vincent J. Dennis, and Stapleton Kent. There is also a new’ lady, Mrs. Calvert, whose sympathy and intelligence in a lovable motherly role appeals to everybody. Other leading parts on the feminine side are filled by Australians, and include Miss Lizette Parkes, Miss Eileen Sparkes, and Miss Nancye Musgrove. Winnie Volt, pr ncipal girl of Williamson’s “Forty Thieves” pantomime, whose husband (Captain Saker) was, after the New Zealand tour, killed in action in France, is “principal girl” in “Sinbad the Sa lor” at Glasgow Royal this year. Mr. Tom Plant, one of the nine producers acting under Mr. Griffith in the manuafeture of the “Birth of a Nation” film, is in Sydney on his honeymoon trip. His wife, formerly Miss Belle Verne, is a trick cyclist, who was recently selected by experts as one of the three most perfectlydeveloped female athletes in the United States. She will travel the Fuller circuit tor the duration of her husband’s holiday from film w’ork, after which she intends to permanently retire from the stage. Mr. Plant’s share in the “Birth of a Nation” film was the production of the Klu-Klu Klan section.

The Royal Dramatic and Comedy Company, which has been reviving that fine comedy-drama “Sunday” throughout the Dominion with remarkable success, opens a season in Auckland on March 10. The company’s new leading lady, M ss Madge Surtees, quite captivated her audiences in Christchurch and Wellington by her brilliant interpretation of the title role of “Sunday.” She comes of a good school, having received her training under the late Lew s Waller, of whose company she was a prominent member before coming to Australia.

Cyril Maude is the husband of Winifred Emery, who went to America with Henry Irvmg, and who was the original Dearest in Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” in London. * * * Miss Florence Rockwell was referring to the general public’s opinion of theatrical folk as “people of temperament.” “One often hears people say, ‘Oh, theatrical peop.e are so peculiar; they are all temperament.’ Well, they just have to be,” remarked

Miss Rockwell, who is now appearing in “The Misleading Lady” at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne. “Temperament is a valuable asset in the artist, and is as important as ability or personality. With the latter it might be said to be closely related. Artists are really Peter Pannish. They never grow up. They are always acting and living in a make-beheve world like children. Artists are just big children who keep their spirit of youth and make-believe, and it is temperament that keeps it alive. That is why we are different to other folk. So let us hope they will make due allowance for our peculiarities, if they may be called such.” * * * * The usual “first-night” speech by the producer had an interesting variat on at the initial performance of “Fair and Warmer” at the Criterion Theatre, Sydney. At the close of the clever performance by the J. C. Williamson New English Comedy Company, the producer, Mr. George A. Highland, was called upon by the audience to make a speech. “Can I send a cable to-night to say that ‘Fair and Warmer’ is a success?” he asked. “Yes!” roared enthusiasts from all parts of the house. And so the verdict was recomed. * * * * Novel in his treatment of everything pertaining to the making of the huge picture spectacles which have made him world-famous, D. W. Griffith describes “Intolerance” as “a sun play of the ages.” This new work is the largest Mr. Griffith has ever achieved. For over four years he had been completing its details. The predominant theme in the picture is of the present day, and paralleled with it are three additional

stories, which trace back through earlier periods of the world’s development. The ancient periods show mediaeval France dur mg the reign of Charles IX., when Lis mother, Catherine de Medici, dominated his career; Jerusalem at the birth of the Christian era, and Babylon about 539 8.C., when Belshazzar’s forces were overpowered by the Persian armies under Cyrus. But there is nothing of dry historical fact about “Intolerance.” The eras represented bring in their glorious pageants of the times, and thousands of people figure in it to provide scenes and spectacles of wonderful beauty and interest.

The J. C. Williamson pantomimes have for years been the training ground for many a young artist who has made good in the profession .n after years. “The House That Jack Built,” the big Williamson pantomime at Her Majesty’s, Melbourne, includes in its ranks quite a number of children from whom great things are expected, as well as several who have already climbed a few steps up the ladder of progress. As a rough selection, the names m.ght be mentioned

of Rita Nugent and Elsie Campbell, who have a duet in a pantomime which is numbered amongst its successful features; Phyllis Amery and Maudie Amery, who have already qualified as clever dancers; Florrie Allan, a versatile little artist whose experience ranges from Shakespeare to pantomime; and several others. All over the world there are artists who graduated from pantomime under the J. C. Williamson banner, and have taken their place in the front ranks. These are the days of the real thingon the stage. “Fake” has been to a large extent ban’shed from the property department. So when the property master at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, was called upon to provide a real Indian canoe for the second act of “The Misleading Lady,”

he promptly set about obtaining one. But an Indian canoe was not to be found in Melbourne. The property department of J. C. Williamson, Ltd., were not, however, discouraged. They set to work and built one. It is just the real thing, as seen on the placid waters of the Canad'an rivers and lakes. It is no dummy boat, but would carry one safely on Sydney harbour. A visitor to Melbourne Theatre Royal was so impressed by the dainty craft that he promptly made the management an offer to purchase it when no longer required for production.

“High Jinks” passed its hundredth performance in London in November. J. C. Williamson, Ltd., in conjunction with Alfred Butt, are producing it. * * ¥ * Cyril Maude, the distinguished English actor-manager, will appear in Australia in the title role of Grumpy, stated by the English and American critics to be a masterly character study. Mr. Maude is reputed to have made £lOO,OOO out of this play. # * * * An American motion picture house recently gave a children’s matinee, at which the price of admission was three potatoes or more, the tubers to go to the Associated Charities for a dinner for the poor.

“Sunday,” “The Fortune Hunter,” and “Stop Thief” will be staged in Auckland by the Royal Dramatic and Comedy Company next month.