M. A. P.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2104, 1 February 1908, Page 1 (Supplement)

M. A. P.

(Mostly About People.)

Amongst the stories which are told concern ill g Mr Henry Kemble, tho well-known -actor who has just died,i.s flic following. Kemble once played -in a rather bad comedy written by a notoriously i nisei bio dramatist, and there was friction at tho -rehearsals. One morning tlie author sarcastically pointed out to Ylr Kemble Unit ho was not playing melodrama, and advised him lo speak -as if -lie were in an ordinary drawing-room. Tlie actor instantly replied : “Ylr—, I should not dream of saying such silly, vulgar things in an ordinary drawingroom.”

Tho Kaiser has three nicknames. To his soldiers lie is “Alarm Kaiser,” because he will rouse a garrison or fort unexpectedly at any time of tho day or night; lo tlie sailors lie is “Gondola Billy,” for his knack of being any whore and everywhere on the boats j'.jihl to the general public lie is “The Travelling Kaiser,” on account of his propensity for unwearying journeyi.ngs to and fro. “Nice nicknames, upon my word!” sail His Majesty one day. “However, they all depict me as a busy mail, : o 1 rather like them, after ail.”

It is now forty-seven years ago since Paderewski, the famous pianist, was born in Poland, and in that period ho has risen from extreme poverty to great wealth. At one time Padorewski lived in Paris, poor and unknown, and was glad to accept a fee of 1001 r. for a private performance at the house of a foreign princess. Even tlien was shown the pride which has always been his strong characteristic. Declining the princess's offer of a carriage, with the words, “My carriage is at the door,” he slipped out quietly and walked home. But Paderewski can now afford the aloofness that wealth may bring. His or din try fee for a performance of twenty minutes is anything over £SOO. In one short American tour lie made £30,000, and ill one season of about 100 concerts in largo towns lie netted £200,000.

Although Ylr George Alexander has earned the 'reputation of being one of the best-dressed men botli on and off the stage, and, in fact, has been responsible for one or two fashions in men’s attire, he is by no means a dandy who sacrifices comfort for smartness. In private life he.has a weakness for lounge suits of cheek tweed and a flannel collar, a taste similar to tlmt of another popular actor, Ylr Oscar Aselie, wha, by the way, is also very fond of a Norfolk knicker suit, with cap to match. Ylr Andrew Carnegie, too, when ,it home prefers the latter mode of attire to any other. A jacket suit of Harris weed is Lore! Rosebery’s favorite; but Mr Balfour, except when golfing, r.iroly changes from the conventional frock-coat, which seldom fits him well. Tho double-breasted blue reefer of Mr. John Burns is well known, while the Rev. R. J. Campbell thinks there is nothing so comfortable as a flannel or velvet jacket, which he often wears both in public and private.

The “Electricity AVizard” has been responsible for many marvellous inventions which have conferred untold benefits upon tlie world in general. Now and again, however, he has been credited with l'eats which existed only in the imagination of American journalists. The story of the everlasting shirt is one which Edison is fond of relating. A few years ago a paragraph appeared in ; an American newspaper to the effect that Edison had invented an ingenious shirt which would last a man twelve months, or longer if he were economcal. The front of the shirt, it- was said, was made up- of 365 very thin layers of certain fibrous material — the composition of which- was known' only to the inventor —and each morning that the wearer put tlie garment on, all he had to do- to restore the front to its usual- pristine spotlessness was to teaa- off one of the layers, when he would have practically a new shirt.

Very few people know that the iv ii i of -Minto, Viveroy of India, ifi tlie only man who over survived a hrokeu neck. In his younger days the Earl was one of tho most daring and ardent' of sportsmen, and he scarcely.had a rival in riding,-rowing, shooting,* aiul fishing. His lordship's great passion, however, was forhorsoriding, and it- is related how he.took his degree in a riding costume covered by an academic gown. Immediately, after tlie ceremony he leaped into the saddle and galloped off to the racecourse, arriving just in time to win the ’Varsity Steeplechase. In 1876 the Earl rode Zero in the race for the Grand National, and it was then that he nearly met his death. Zero Jell at one of tho fences, and everyone thought that tlie rider had been instantly killed with a broken heck. Sir James Paget was summoned, and even to the doctor’s astonishment his lordship recovered, the famous physician declaring that in tlie whole of his experience it was tho only instance he knew of the vertebra going -back into its place after being stretched.