"LADIES' NIGHT."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 877, 25 July 1910, Page 6

"LADIES' NIGHT."

AT THE AVELLINGTON SAVAGE CLUB. ■ :

i Two of.the most beautiful sights ever witnessed' within tho walls of the Town Hall occurred during last week. Tho first was the picturesque flower pageant and the second was provided in the. Wellington Savage Club's "ladies' night," which took place on Saturday evening. The big hall has been seen in many guises, but it is doubtful if it ever presented a more brilliant seenc than on that occasion. Added to the dainty azure and white ■ fastoonings, which converted tho hall into a colossal Arabian tent, with its stripings streaked with rilvbons of vari-coloured electric lights, the whole of the. floor-space had been trausformed, most tastefully, into a great lounge, carpetcd in red baize and dotted with a couple of hundred little tables, round which numerous guests seated themselves.. Enthroned in his wigwam on the choir steps sat the.august Savago Chief (Colonel R. .T. Collins), and beneath him on the enclosed stage sat the singers and merry-makers of the hnpu, ready to do their part. No one who was present could, cavil at the entertainment provided or the versatility of the performers, seeing that the items Tanged from tho somewhat lugubrious "Thou'rt Passing Hence" (Sullivan) played as a trombone solo to the merry antics of Savage Kenny, who was surely born to make this little part of the world glad. Approval of. everything done, sung, or said shone from the sea' of faces uplifted, which included those ol Sir Joseph Ward and Miss Eileen. Ward, tho Hon. Dr. Findlay and Mrs. Findlay, the Hon. Geo. Fowlds and Mrs. Fowlds, Mr. - Justice Sim and Mrs. Sim, and Captain Blunt and the officers of H.M.S. Pioneer. As to the spirit of "ladies' night" In Savagedom, let the Chief explain. Ho said:— „

/'Ladies and Gentlemen—Once and once only in the whole year are our koreros graced by the presence of ladies. This is the ladies' night of tho Wellington Savage Club, and my first duty as Chief Savage is to welcome thorn with a heartiness worthy of their influence, and with an admiration worthy of- their graces. The influence of women upon savages from tile day of Adam until the 'present moment is "a most interesting field for investigation. The more savage a man is the more easily can a woman subduo him. It may seem a far crv from ,that first korern in the Garden of Eden and from t.lio influence which led tho earliest Chief Savage to mako such a blunder ot (he refreshments. (Laughter.) . . .

Adnm was tho first Savage, and from researches made by Savage Dykes we are satisfied that the language spoken at that time was Maori, For did not Adam, in reply to Eve's question, 'Where art thou?' say 'Haeremai'r So I say to you, 'liaeremai! haeremai! haeremai! Welcome, thrice welcome!' Ladies, we welcome you. AYe submit to your power, adore our yoke, and say with the poet— 'The ladies, God bless them, And the men, God help then!.'" Tho programme opened with a bright march played by the club's orchestra, under the baton of Savage D. Kenny. Following this cainc the installation of the Chief Savage by Savage Toogood, to which reply was made as above. Savages 1). J. Hill, Blandt'ord, and G. Parsons were associated "in the eccentric, trio, "Three Blind Mice," written by Alfred Hill, formerly the ciub's musical director. Savage Brown, an artist in soot, executed a picture in black and white by a process of elimination from a smokeblackened white enamel plate. The glamour of Gilbert and Sullivan never dies, and the excerpts from "The Pirates of Penzance" given during the evening were perhaps as acceptable as anything on the programme. These consisted of the chorus

"Hail, Poetry," the tenor solo, "O, Is There Not One Jlaiden' Here," sung l),v Savage Fletcher; the baritone solo, "The Pirate Kins," sung by Savage Ernest Partes in ringing style, and the policeman's chorus, with Savage Geo. Parsons as ' the sergeant, and Savage Rowland llobertson •as Mabel. The precminent kit of the evening was made by tin] last-named Savage, whose assumed, soprano is a tiling of beauty,. good in quality and power over a surprisingly big range. He appeared in full toilet, as "Madame Caruszsiiui," a grand -opera prima donna, and amused arid delighted the audience with an amazingly good rendering of the ballad "0, Promise Me," and, encored, sang a parody on ."Comin' Thro' the Eye." Being such a perfect parody of the real thing, the substitution of other words for the ■original was not really needed to gain the desired eft'cct. Savage Parkes pleased in that sweet old ballad, "I Arise From Dreams of Thee," and was quite properly encored. Savage Blandford contributed a couple of clever sketches humorously, and .Savage Borneo Gardiner whistled with much musical graco and finish, Chaminade's "L'Ete," anil a floral excerpt from "La Traviata." After an adjournment of forty minutes for supper—served in the hall by an army of Savage waiters—the revels were 'continued, Savage Horace Hunt leading off with a piano solo, a "Prelude" by Rachmaninoff (encored). . Mr. E. J. Hill sang "My Queen" (Blumenthal), and encored, "The Poi Song" (Alfred Hill). A couplo of burlesque quartets were comieally sung by Savages Newton, Parsons, ICenny, and Robertson, in Eton jackets and Mor-tar-boards, and Savage J. I'. Carr carolled tho old English ballad "Drink to Mp Only With Thine Eyes" to n humming accompaniment. Savage Morris Fox contributed one of George Ade's smart "Fables in Slang," and Savage Dolierty sang the toreador's song from "Carmen" so well that, he had to supplement' it with "A Soldier's Song." Savage Kenny, tho indispensable, sang comically of how things were managed when "Richard the First sat on the Throne," and in "Horrigan" made a further appeal to the risibilities of the audience. ' During the entertainment Sir Joseph Ward was called on "to fill a gap' (as he expressed), and in doing so complimented those responsible for the exeellcncc of tho entertainmnt, which in his opinion was so good thai it ought to be repeated. Savage J. Dykes acted as director-in-general, Savage A". W. Newlon as stago director, and Savages Wilson. Bastings, and Brown should be mentioned as tho executants of tho poster programme.