LEGS VERSUS LEGITIMATE DRAMA.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1339, 13 November 1872, Page 4

LEGS VERSUS LEGITIMATE DRAMA.

Referring to the public entertainments in Melbourne, the correspondent of the Dunedin Times writes :— " Mrs Gladstane is a very competent actress, but to see JiBT fla the ■ successive heroines in hen series of dramas— Mary Stuart, Queen Elizabeth, Marie Antoinette, and all the rest of them — dramas constructed so as to | centre all the interest on one prominent ' female character, and therefore possessing great saraenew of form, is apt to become more than a little monotonous. So it was found necessary lately to supplement the attractions of Mrs Gladstane by those if Lottie, a female acrobat and trapeze performer, who, being young, pretty, graceful, and very scantily clad, and having, • moreover, a winning way of climbing about j the male performers, winding herself round them, and dinging with her leg*

arcjund their necks, was very pleasing to seel and everybody- for a time went to see he*. Very respectable gentlemen used to go jto see Lottie. They did hot take their wiyes. These sensational . trapeze performers are not suited for nervous women. But they did not stay away themselves onlthat account. 1 have seen grave legislators, men who condescend to, represent the" wealth and intelligence of the country in the Upper Honse— keenly watching the performances of Lottie through a good glass, and closely following all the entrancing movements of that lithe and agile form as they were exhibited through the scanty, close-fitting apparel that rather displayed than concealed the young girl's form. lam not sure that the Bishop of Melbourne and even Bean Macartney did not think it needful that they should go to see the performance — in the interests of ! the Society for the Promotion of Morality. But after a time Lottie ceased to draw. The most delightful sensations we^ry by too frequent repetition, and at length the flexile contortions of Lottie lost their interest as completely as the stifted action and wondrous vocal inflexions of Mrs Gladstane and Co. So the acrobat troupe left for a provincial tour, and before going Mr Ireland, Q. 0., performed the ceremony of presenting medals to the fascinating Lottie and her two "brothers" — for these things always run in families — who perform with her on the trapeze. Tho jolly Queen's Counsel did the presentation as readily as he would have defended a prisoner, and the next day our religious morning newspaper had a pious and moral leader on the ovent, in which some grave reflections, hinting disapproval, were blended with stimulating pictures of the jovial barrister performing on the trapese, with those shapely legs of Lottie clasping his neck. By that means, the readability of the article was preserved, and tho interests of public morality were defended in ft very high-toned manner, as bents a journal which is understood to possess the sympathies of the religious public.