GILBERT & SULLIVAN

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2373, 1 February 1915, Page 6

GILBERT & SULLIVAN

FRESH MEMORIES

STORY OF A COSTLY CARPET

A STRANGE SPLIT

With the company which is reviving Gilbert and Sullivan in Wellington comes one who relates some very entertaining memories of the two groat men who created these operas. This is Mr. George Weathersby. who is hero as the producer of the pieces. For thirty-five years Mr. AVeathershy has been with these operas, and during that time he has put through his hands many of tho players whom we have seen in New Zealand. Ho commenced on the boards in boy parts, and was at tho Criterion, London, when he first made tho acquaintance of Gilbert, who was then producing "Topsy-Turvydom." As years rolled on, Mr. Weathersby frequently came into close touch with' the great wit.

"Gilbert was an autocrat," ho says. "He wanted everything done his own way. Yes, he was an autocrat; and it was just as well that he was, for ho was a genius too." Gilbert's was the master mind, and years have proved the soundness of his judgment. Celebrated players who sought to introdt.ee a personal touch at rehearsal frequently found themselves stopped abruptly with "I'm telling vou what to do." "He was a big healthy-looking man," continued Mr. Weathersby; "One might easily have taken him for a farmer. Very energetic, and very thorough. He was a lawyer, and _he seemed to bring into his compositions the habit of trying to'convince peonle about something. The lawyer tries to convince the jurv: Gilbert endeavoured to convince the audience. The Unfortunate Separation.

"Two days before Gilbert's first piece was produced in London. Gilbert's father said that his son must have been mad to have written such drivel. However, the son took no heed of his paternal 'encouragement,' and the great metropolis was taken by storm." Gilbert's foot was on the rung; but it is scarcely possible to believe that he would have scaled the ladder except for the excellent combination he made with Sullivan.

Many things they accomplished together, and there, was a time when they drifted apart. The period of separation represents a grcatloss, but it has ensured a true appreciation for the theory as to the greatness of tho combination.

At the time the separation occurred, Mr. Weathersby was connected with Mr. D'Oyly Carte, the . English producer. The trouble arose over a trifle. Mr. Carte purchased a piece of carpet and apportioned the cost of it amongst two shows concerned in the use of it. Gilbert hotly objected to tho apportionment. Words ensued, and Carte and Gilbert parted company. Sullivan sided with Carte. Carte searched tbo world- for another Gilbert, and failed to find one. \ Gilbert scanned tho globe for a Sullivan, and he, too, had but a fruitless search. .. . .

Gilbert found men who "only give me sugar"—sweet music, but music without the character he wanted, the character which Sullivan infused into his compositions. Carte tried authors galore in search of a man to. write stuff worthy of Sullivan's music, but it was soon found that these productions relied solely on their music.

However, "Time heals . . ." and eventually the trio came together again. "Utopia" was the result.

The Thoroughness of Gilbert.

That was the la6t production except one. The final work was. "The Grand Duke," in which the friends of the great authors profess to have detected signs of deterioration in Gilbert's work. A little while later came another separation—this time one which was truly irreparable. Sullivan died. Carte and Gilbert have since followed him across the footlights. Many people hold the strange notion that great authors dash off their work easily and rapidly, and have it ready to hand out to the world in a few hours, or a few days. That is a misapprehension in most cases, and Mr. Weathersby says that Gilbert was a man who took infinite pains with his lines, and improved them, altered them, and polished them up with the utmost care before he was | satisfied with them.

Recently there has been some controversy as to whether the company now playing here has been guilty of "gagging" in its Gilbert and Sullivan productions. For whatever "gagging" there is, Mr. Weathersby sheets home the responsibility to Gilbert himself. He says that' a great mistake is made by the average Gilbert and Sullivan enthusiast in thinking that the published books of librettos are the "prompt" versions. Such was never the case. The books of the_ operas are sold to give the publio an idea of the story. Generally, the dialogue and the verse axe contained in these books, but quite a lot of Gilbert's interpolations made at final rehearsals and at revivals are absent from them. Many of the idioms of the time lost their point in the flight of years, and others took their place. Those are Mr. Wcathersby's views on the "gagging" controversy. He gives examples. 'Where the policemen m "The Pirates of Penzance" are besought by Mabel to do their duty, the sergeant used to say: "Very well I" When the opera was reproduced at the Savoy a popular expression ■of the day was "Right 0!" Gilbert substituted it for "Very well!" The "(Sagging" Controversy. One may discover in the ''prompt" books whole speeches which do not appear in tho published text. An example of this is where Frederick offers : his sympathy to do the Major-General iu "Tho Pirates." This is what appears in the opera as published:— Frederick: Bo comforted. Had you not acted as you did these reckless mon would assuredly have called in the- nearest clergymen and havo married your largo family on the spot. General: I thank you for your .proffered solace; but is is unavailing, i That is all; but in the Carte "prompt" books the General adds:— I I assure you Frederick that such is • f, io anguish and remorso I feel at tho •iiiiahlo falsehood with which I have i. these easily deluded pirates that l would go to their simple-minded chief this very night and confess all—did I not feel that tho consequences would bo most serious to myself.

The reason given by Mr. Weathersby for tho omission of these speeches from tho public's books is that it is desired to reserve somo little extra points and laughs for the professionals. Once when tho operas wero being taken through Ireland, doubts wcr6 expressed as to what would bo tho effect in Cork and Waterford of tho "Pinafore-" song which ironically eulogists "an Englishman." 'The manager 'telegraphed to Gilbert and got a quick roply. Tlint night Bill Bobslay sang:

For he, himself, has said it, And it's greatly tv> his credit, That he's nil Irishm'a.u! "Tho gods almost lilted the roof off the thoal.ro," said Mr. Weathersby.