SOME MORE THEATRICAL STORIES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 43, 6 March 1937, Page 9

SOME MORE THEATRICAL STORIES

XXIL The stage anE the Police Court can, over a long period of years, usually be depended upon to provi.de a goodjsrop of entertaining stories. I have already told some stories of the stage; in this article I have set down a few more. Stage life, in reality, is as full oi comedy and tragedy as in the plays produced, and the characters portrayed. Some of the smaller companies that travelled round the Dominion were often faeed with such a grim struggle . for existence that only brave spirits and stout hearfg sustained them. tt was nothing new for some of these small companies to have to put up with very humble f are and not much of it. Not for them were rooms at the leading hotels and champagne euppers. It was a ifine lesson sometimes to see how the memberg of the theatrical profession helped their fejlows in times of distre&s, if they knew that help was needed. But with a eplrit of independence that one could not help but admire, some of the small companies kept their troubles very much to themselves, putting up a valiant flght to keep the wolf from the door, and disdaining to let old comrades know juBt how low funds were at times. One of these small companies was the James Cowan Comedy-Dramatic Co, The leading man, Jimmy Cowan, was a whole show, or I might almost say, the whole show. He -was the company's advance .agent, bill poster, leading aetor, treasurer, producer and many other things all rofled into one, and he caj ed his qualifications by cutting out of culoured paper the large letters for the namee of the plays, which were pasted on fences and eignboards in varfous parts of the town. The Cowan Dramatie Co- was quite a good company for the smalls, but travelling is an expensive item, and country audjeuces often very small. They played in Napier on several occasions, but that was more with the idea of getting a big town Press notice than with any expectation of reaping much profit from their appearance here, However, they always paid their way and kept a smiling face to the world. X xemember on oue occaslon Jimmy cbming into the Herald office to placesome advertising for a short Napier season. Ea was looking very ill, I thought. He pnt down 10/- to pay for a two-inches space for one insertion. "Sorry, Mr. Frxce, that I cannot make it three or four inches, bufc I have not much money to spare." "Had a bad time, Jimmy?" I said, \ "Very bad, eir. Wet weather, and poor houses for two whole weeks in the "Wairarapa. Mnstered up all our funds after playing at Eketahuna. After payiug for the female membera of the company to go by coach ta Woodville, we had 1/6 left. With that the male members bought a loaf of bread aud some Butter, pfit what was left in a paper bag and set out to walk to Woodville, 27 miles. When we got there we Were nearly all in, but luck was with us for oiice. It was fine at Woodville and we had a good house. After the show was over, we had supper. You would almost have crled, Mr Price, if you had seen the way tho girls hugged and kissed eaeh other when they saw we had a good house. It meant a feed for them, for they hadnot had a bite since early morning. I got a cold in the Wairarapa and don 'tr see.tn to be able to shake it of£." Ee didn't' shake it off, poor chap, for the next time I saw him about 18 montha afterwards, he had T.B. very oadly, and eventlially it carried him off. However, the Napier notices on the particular occaeion to which I refer helped the company when they played at Waipawa and Waipukurau almost lmmediately afterwards. Another company that I am going to refer to was of quite a different type to the Cowan Company. This was the C — Dramatie and Comedy Company. They played a season of one week. I think it was at the oJd Gaiety Theatre, and the company, or rather the principais, two brothers, occupy a special niche in my memory. And not because of their talents, either. They plagiarised well-known old plays, and produced hotch-potch imitations' under various high-sounding titles. Whether they would have been capable of acting fairly weell if the seript had been good I do not know, but they were without any exceptioh the worst company I have ever seen perform. The Herald had a signed order to eolleet the preliminary advertising from the theatre proprietor, Mr. H. P. Cohen, from the first night 's taking, and afterwards each day's advertising in advance. Mr. Cohen, however, had advanced the company the amount of their fares from Auckland, and that, as

well as theatre hire, had to be deducted from the takiugs before we got our share. Mr, A. C, Morett was in tho ticket-box. The takinga were never good because the playT^gnd acting were atrocious. The Herald never colleeted the amount of the preliminary advertising, aud I don/t know how much of the money Mr. Cohen advanced he got back, but I took good care. that all other advertising was paid for bsfote the advertisements appeared, and I think Mr. Marett managed to get the theatre hire. The company first produced A socalled diama, to a fair-sized house. It was lurid melodrama, with all the vil lains (about half a dozen.) *dlied in the course of three acts, and their reappearmg before the curtain wae lowered. The second night was, I fancy, an adaptation of East "Lynne, and drew the best house of the season. The third play was supposed to be a romance. It is typical of stage romances that the course of true love never runa emooth]y, but is invaTiably straightened out towards the finish. In this romance— save the mark— I saw no signs of true love, but for all that the play did not run smoothly. The players forgot their lines, and there was a general mix-up. I dia not return to the theatre after the first interval. Hav'ing collectsd my advertising money at the box office, 1 retired, but a frieud who sat it out said that there were two marriages at the finish, but bridegrooms, best men, brides aud bridegrooms got so tangled up that they did not appear to know who was marrying who, and did not seem to jeare. Probably a Beno divorce magistrate could have unmarried the couples and hitched them np the right way, if there was a rlght way, but he 4id not think anyone else could." The company did not know what to put ou for their final performances. On the fourth and fifth nfghts the takiugs wero very small, so for final performance they billed "Salome." Salome was a then modern play based upon a very old history story# and had been produced in New York, with the leading American actress, Olga Nethersole, in the title role. The jplay ^did not have a long run even in America, "because it was eonsidered a 'nasty" play, and America had not then aequirel such a taste for nasty plays. Salome, as depieted in the play, is not a cold, passionless heroine, 110 r was she quite like Caesar's wife., in one respeet — i.e., above suspicion. Some men lose their hearts, and some their heads over young ladies, but Salome had a playful way when she took a fancy to a young man, If he did not lose his heart to her, Salome caused him to lose his head, and have it brought to her on a dish. The C— — — Company did not in the Jeast know the play "Salome," but the fact that it was supposed to be "nasty" they thought might draw a certain section of the community out of curioaity. To the credit of Napier 's good taste, I may say that it did not. During Mr.'C. H. Wilkie's first vlsit to the Old Country, he had gone across to America, and had seen Olga Nethersole play Salome in New York. Hearmg this the C brothers tried to get hold of "Bert" to get an idea of what the play was like. At my instigation "Bert" kept out of the way, but went to see the play at night. His description was that the play produced as Salome resembled the real play Salome less than a crocodile resemblea a giraffe, The C 's moved on from Napier to Dannevirke. At that time the Dannevirke Advocate was pwned by Messrs. Buick and Russell. I went to Palmerston Noxth just after the Napier season of the C — —— Company had closed, and sitting at the Press table with Mr. T. Lindsay Buick, one of the partners of Buick and Russell, I told him what sort of people the C 'a' were to deal with, and advised prompt measures to obtain cash for their account, A wire to Dannevirke enabled the firm to collect half the amount of their accouut before the season closed. I think they were the only people in Dannevirke who got any money out of the company. The theatre manager impounded the boxes of theatrical costumes, scenery slides, etc., until theatre jtire was paid, but promised to forward these on to Wanganui, where the company was going as soon as a remittance was wired, but in the meantime the brothers, by promising to give doubla usual rates, had got a carrier who did a lot of carting fbr theatrical companies and had a key to the back of the stage to put all the impounded stuif in a truek and see it attaehed. to the express train. But the poor carrier was not paid, neither did the theatre manager collect any theatre hire, while hotelkeepers were also lamenting. The C 's skipped from Wanganui in the same f ashion. thoueh not before

oue angry creditor had tried to pull one of the brothers of£ the train at Aramoho. Going back to New South Wales, whence they had come, the brothers carried out similar tactics and. earued for themselves the sobriquet of the "Flying C — 'a." Just about this time a very fine troupe of acrobats and trapeze artiste from England, styled "The Flying Jordans" were playing a three-month season at Harry Bickard's Tivoli Theatre in Sydney. They were a big suecess, and on concluding their season in Sydney, they formed a good vaudeville company of their own and proceeded to do the country towns of New South Wales. When their advance agent. a dapper little chap, went to NewcastJe to arrange for the appearance of his company there and also for their accommodation while there he had a rather funny experience at one hotel, which happened to ke kept by an Irishman Enter, the advance agent. "I reprasent the Flying Jordans. I want to make arrangements for say half a dozen of my company to stay at your hotel. What is your tariff?"

"12/- a day." "Well book in six of my company please, from next week-end," "And whgt about pay?" said the Irish landlord. "Oh, we'r© the Flying Jordans, you know, we pay as w© go." "Oh, do ye, well ye'll uot do that here. I had the "Flying C 's here a fortni 't ago, and they said they 'd pay as they go, but they wint widout paying, so the Flying Jordans will pay before th'ey come if they are going to stay at this hotel." The agent laughed, He had heard of the "Flying C 's" and understood the landlord 's reference, so he paid up, and gave the landlord a complimentary ticket to the first night of the show. The lUndlord went to see it. When the "Flying Jordan's" returned to their hotel that night, champagne was brought up to them by an' Irish waitev. "The boss says ye're champeen aerc'bats," vsaid he, "aud he says will ye drink his health in tho only liquor fit for such champeens to drink." And the worst of it was said the laudloru afterwards, the Flying C 'a were countrymen of me own, but they let me down, while the others paid up like uobs.