THEATRES IN WAR TIME

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 223, 14 June 1919, Page 9

THEATRES IN WAR TIME

UNDER BOMBS AND SHELLS

AUSTRALIANS IN LONDON

"Didtlie war interfere with lhe.thea.tres?--Why,, they never, did such .business in .their-life!" exclaimed Mr. Borneo Gardiner, a. New Zealander who lias been whistling his way through.England and France since early in 191 a. "I think 'the war increased the desire of the ptwplc for entertainment. They were goiiig to close th'e theatres in England, but instead of the attendance diminishing it incre.aseil by leaps,and hounds. All , the soldiers'on leave simply had to have some form of entertainment, to . pass the time away happily. •. And the ■ Aussios riised- simply to sjvaYmto the' theatres,. tyid wlienever.aii Australian artist made liis appearance he would be greeted-by .'coo-ees' from all over the house "■■ ■

"I remember when Dorothy Enuiton appeared iii 'Shanghai , you couldn't get near "the "theatre for 'Australian soldiers, and ..when you did get in you couldn't, hear' , anything for the row the coo-eeing made!" Mr. Gardiner, 1 who was'rejected for active service, did his bit by keeping up the spirits of the boys by his .whislling. He performed at nearly all hk hospitals' in Enphnd and France, , and most of the military camps, also receiving an engagement to appear in the pantomime at Drury Lane. " ' "France never quite lost.ifs old l:>vo of gaiety and pleasure even under war conditions, and the people were determined that their men .should have plenty of amusement. A crowd of artists uEed to wait at the 'different railway stations and entertain the .Preach, soldiers as they were passing through on their way (o tho front,. The. nerve, of the French people was marvellous. I was often performing in a Paris thealii'e under actual, shell fire, and generally we endeavoured not to lot the audience know. The word was passed round among the artiste, iijml.jrA all tried to -make tho show brighter than usual;sb'as' to keep the"attention l iif tho' house. .";'j..v. "On With the Play!" "I remember once when I Was , in : London, the German /.epps were dropping bombs all round tho theatre, and when the manager stopped in front io inform the audience—which happened to consist mainly of Aussies—of the danger, they- all'cried with one voice, 'Oh, cutthiit out, and get on with the show!' In fact, we-got so used to raids that-we paidno attention to them. One night I was motoring frohi one theatre to another when a bomb fell right in front of the car, and 1 was barely abU to keep my machine from running into Hid hole it had made. .Afterwards I discovered bloodstains on the car, which wero evidently from.one of tho victims in the explosion. . ' "Hospitable! Why the British' and French simply outdid each other in ■entertaining. i|s." To mention that you were an Australian was a golden toy which opened ■ any door; But somehow the 'Aiißsies' always found their way. to Scotlaud. 'Edinburgh was just like a lingo Australian city. But the Irislrdid their share, t00,'. , .continued Mr. Gardiner, with a merry-twinkle in his_ eye. "When I was performing in Dublin the owners-of Giiinjiess's. Brewery invited us, all out, to nispeel'tho brewery. Wo were finally" -ehown-into-ii -long, room in .which- wero. casks of every brand of- ale, arid our hosts invited us to try them all, and then to.give; our opinion , ' of the. best. Not. wishing .-to-seem ungrateful, wo nobly' did our duty—then helped each other homo. But that night at. the show things g0..t00 well.'. 1 know the theatre seemed to bo swimming round jnc, am! there were all Guinncss's employees iu tho theatre thoroughly enjoying tho" joke! Ono of the places at which 1 al-' wii.vs enjoyed "performing was the War Chest Clu'l> ;in. London. The, building, was fine, ajid they had a real stage erected.' 'You. know that Die 'Aussies' wore always known by their lack of respect; well, one afternoon .1 was there just nl'tor the wet canteen had been opened, and n certain general called in lo inspect it.. ITpoii. entering the clubroom ho was ijiwted with "the shout: 'Well, Gen., aren't you going to turn it on?' Tin?-general, 'was a 'sport',' and ■'shouted" them a r drink all J'ound. v -.:.

"I met-many Australian artists on the (iVlior side—Julius Knight was one. He was- eplemlid, and .refused to' tafco anj llientricnl contracts at all, but devoted his time to benefits for tin , men. .Another was Fred Lilis'ay, Australian champion whip-cracker, . It was rather amusing giift■jught'Mvlien lie was on at the Victoria Palace, an. 'Aiissjo' private called on!:;. .'Why .aren't you in the army? , :.. Mr.-l.iii-sny smiled—you'see, he was a. colonel,. , and only took on vaudeville work when lie'was on; leave. I always felt very sorry for the. Tommies—they seemed to feel very keenly. Iho fact that I hey we.re only getting tW-a day, a h<l for I lip samp work ftp' Australians tl.reiv lis. Consequently Tommy was always borrowing things, and earned fur himself thoi name. , 111 ".Woodbine/" ■Mr. .(.inrtliiicr intends leaving' shortly for England again, and this is piuliiiljl.v his farewell visit k> Australia.