NOTABLE PEOPLE MISSING!

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2459, 12 May 1915, Page 6

NOTABLE PEOPLE MISSING!

\. STAGE AND LETTERS SUFFER,, Germany's, world-shocking act of frightfulness, resulting in the sinking of the Lusitania, with tremendous loss of life, has robbed the world of many notable people, whose names were almost of household familiarity in America if not in New Zealand. The refer-' once is to those gentlemen who are reported as missing wiose names have' , for a decade or two been connected with either the sphere-of letters or the ■ stage. Tho name, for example, of Mr. I Elbert Hubbard, the American "dyna- • mite" writer, is fairly .well known ajl over the world, by reason of his assoi ciation with that smart little journal, i "The Philistine," and the more pre- ; tentious "Era," of which he was the s oditor. He was also the originator of • the Roycroft oult of East Aurora, Erie i County, New York, where people were inculcated with the .joys of the simple life, according to the tenets of Hubbard, and where they established large factories for the - manufacture of furniture, book-printing and binding, household iron and brass work, all of which bear ithe hall mark of quality. Hubbard preached and practised the gospel of plain speech. His sontenoes are stripped of all elaborative qualifications —he calls a 1 spade a spade, and : when he has "called" there is no mis- . takingivhat he means. He doesnotpal- : • hate—he punches that hard that one can feel tile sting (for days afterwards. He never wrote anything more forcible, and useful than his "Message to Garcna, a preachment on the gospel of ''going through with the job. It is •pe story of the- man who carried a message to Garcia,' the Cuban leader hid away in the fastnesses of his coun-. try. "It is young men -need, • jior .instruction about this and that,"/ wrote' Hubbard, "but a stiffening of the.j'ertebrao which will ' cause them ..to loyal to a trust, to act promptly," concentrate their ener- ' gies: do the thing—'Carry a message 1 ti> Garcia!'..,. ...c, . The ■ world cries out_ for such:. ho, is. heeded and needed badly the-man" who can carry a mesEa f? e _to Garcia!" Hubbard was a noted lecturer, a fine, breezy speaker. Some three or four years ago an attempt was made to' secure his service 9? these parts, but the negotiations failed, much to the regret of a host of Hubbard's admirers. Mr. Charles Frohman. Mr. Charles , Frohman was one of I s - theatrical managers, with big interests:, in London. He was 55 years of 1 age, • having been bom at Sandusky, • Ohio, in 1860. When twelve years of age he went to New York to join his elder brother who was then a on the "Tribune," and there he also found a .clerkship. . From that he' became connected with the adver- 1 of.the "Daily Graphic," < and, at., night, took a minor posi- ' tion\v-- m " 'a , ''Brooklyn theatre. 1 waen only seventeen years of '. ago he went _ West, in charge of a comedy company, with John Dillon as star. A ysar or two later he joined Haverley's Minstrels, and it was he who organised their appearanco in England. In 1879 he joined- his -brother Daniel,. then manager of the Madison Square Theatre, New ork, and. thereafter he was conturned..in .the management of various touring companies. . 'When practically' penniless he saw the- first production of Bronson Howard's play, "Shenandoah/ 1 and though it was not a great success initially, .he saw possibilities in it, and < secured tho American rights, Al. -Hay- " man and R. W. Hooley. putting up £300 eaoh to nothing. Three years later tlie-partners divided £30,000, and the author had been paid £10,000 m royalties. Later he conceived the idea of a big working amalgamation between iiiigland and America, and took °yer the lease of the Aldwych, tie Duke ■ j .s> Hick's Theatres in Lon- ] don, since when he has introduced many j hne English attractions to America, and vice _versa._ All the Maude Adams productions, including tho American per- 1 formances of. " Chaatider,"/ " Peter Pan," and ; all the other Barrie plays (over which Frohman holds the rights) have been presented by Frohman. All .' the ■ big American players have at one time or. another been under the Frohman management. and he is concerned in the "Famous Players" Pictures. Mr, Charles Kllen. Charles Klein, the very prolific Ameri- : can playwright, is also among the to : .ported missing. . Klein, who was 52 ■ years of age, was for years reader of plays to Charles Frohmim. He has been one of. the most successful of America's dramatists, and most people have seen at least one play that made j its mark. The reference is to "The Lion 1 and the Mouse," played here some five years ago by Katherine Grey and Cyril Mackay, under Williamsons management. Another distinct success of Klien's was "Heartsease," and still an- 1 other. "The Music Master," made famous by. the superb .acting of David Warfield. Other plays by Klein are "The Charlatan," "The Royal Rogue," "The Daughters of Men,'? "The Step Sister,". • His latest play is entitled "The Money ! Makers," which visualises the awaken- - ing of the public conscience. As is most " often the'case, Mr. Klein had a deal of trouble, in getting a producer for "The Lion and tho Mouse," and when it did show out it made several fortunes. - 1 The "Pair of Silk Stockings" Company. 1 The' English Company which had ' been playing the comedy, "A . Pair of ' Silk Stockings.," in New York and ] elsewhere-in America, from October 20 j last, as it appeared originally in New ; York, contained the following ■ players *. Misses M. Hamley-Clifford, Sybil Car- ■ lisle, Mary Glynne, Barbara Allen, Caroline Bayley, Hazel Ilouseley, Messrs, 'I'** Clayton Greene, Kenneth Douglas, Cyril Harcourt" (the author), Edward Douglas, Lawrence White, George ?rm' B j' ron Russel,' and Walter M'Ewen. Miss Sybil Carlisle, grand-daughter of the late General Sir John Bisset, . has been a distinguished ornament of ' tile -uDglisli stage for many years. AN AUCKLANDER SAFE (By Telegraph—Presr. Association.) .. . VAuckland, May 11. . , S. Hanna, son of Mr. Andrew Hanna, solicitor, who ■ was -going Homo to enlist in company, with Jack Macky, and, - : 'it-is presumed,''was among the passengers on the Lusitania, has cablcd to his parents ono.word. :"Well."