STORIES OF GILBERT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 380, 22 July 1911, Page 5

STORIES OF GILBERT.

The late Sir William Gilbert earned a reputation as ' the happiest maker ! of impromptu fun in England" and he has left behind him a rare store of quaint sayings and witticisms. His quickness was extraordinary, and Mr Rutland Barrington once remarked that staying in his house was "like living in a literary fireworks factory." On Sir William's property at Harrow Weald there is a little wood, of which he was never proud. "Rather a nice li'tle wood, that," said a polite visitor one day. "Yes," said the dramatist sadly, "it would if it could, but it can't." A certain actor who had a part in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas was remarkable for the persistence with which he sang out of tune. One, night, however, at a first performance, he surprised everyone by striking the right note. When this was pointed out to Gilbert he remarked: "Oh, I know that first night nervousness; it will wear off." Describing to a friend an unpleasant experience he ha had when dining out, Sir William remarkad pleasantly, "Never mind, I'll pay him out. by asking him to dinner. I have J an avenging sherry at Is 9d, which I think will astonish his digestion. Sometimes hi 3 satire was brief and biting. A gushing young lady in America who asked him if "dear John Sebastian Bach" was still composing and received the ready answer, "No, madam, he is decomposing" could hardly think of the great humorist as "that dear Sir William." As a stage manager he was the terror of all but the most proficient actors. If he could not get things done just as he wished he would await an opportunity to ridicule the offending player. In one of his plays the leading lady insisted on altering the text of "Stay Let me speak," to "Stay, stay! Let me speak. She said it for the last time on the day when the author remarked, "You're wrong again. It isn't 'stay, stay,' it' 3 'stay'--one stay, not a pair of stays." Sir William's it was biting,but not bitter and he was a good friend to many of the actors however associated with the production of his work.