“EAST LYNNE.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3919, 16 March 1929, Page 4

“EAST LYNNE.”

LIQUIDATING A DEBT. A MEMORABLE PERFORMANCE. A Wanganui resident lms related to the Wanganui Herald the following experience he had while in business in Wellington in 1898. There ■were a number of stranded actors and actresses in the Empire City at that time, ,and he befriended them financially for a time but the drain on his purse became somelwh'at severe, and he asked the stranded artists to c'o- operate with him in staging a play at Petone. The said play .was a marked success financially, if not .froin an artistic point of view. The selection fell upon East Lynne, a play at that time each actor had some knowledge of without much rehearsing. The first thing the Wanbanui resident did was to visit a pawnshop to make sure that he had enough costumes for the company, and being assured on that point, he had the tickets printed, and then set out to Petone to engage the hall. There were plenty of barmaids about in those days, so he interviewed the whole of them, and as many of their friends as possible at Petone and the Hutt, and spread the glad news as a great secret that his combination was comprised of a number of Williamson’s artists who were on a health-recruiting tour, and they intended to spring a surprise on the good people of the neighbourhood. He also gave each barmaid a ticket for herself and two for her friends, and the newa soon spread rapidly through the suburban .areas that a treat was in store for all hands and needless to say the company opened to a full house.

iScenery was a scarce commodity and one or two gaps had to be filled up with branches of trees, and the Wanganui resident, who acted as stage manager, had to lend his dress suit to the leading (man while he made his appearance on the stage. The play proceeded, and he was quite certain that the author, Mrs. Henry Woods, would not have recognised East Lynne as played on that evening. Both actors and actresses insisted on a liberal supply of liquid refreshments 'before the performance, to say nothing of w'hat they required afterwards, and they put so much ginger into their parts that they had the whole of the audience rocking.

The death scene of Little Eva was the crowning effort of the whole performance, for the corner of the curtain caught the cot in the lowering, and Little Eva was sent flying into the orchestral well in a manner similar to an aeroplane being catapulted from the deck of a battleship, and she bumped heavily on the chest of the head piccolo player. Eva, instead of being dead, became very much alive, and showed that she was possessed of a flow of language quite foreign to the gentle Eva of the part. The Wanganui resident cleared £7O, enough to liquidate the debt and plenty to spare for the company. The trip out and in was made by horse-drawn bus, and someone hitched up the check reins wrongly, and one leader at the railway crossing ran up a cattle stop and it took some time to get him out. The Marine Retreat was then reached and the thirsty actors discovered that Iby standing on a box on the top of the bus they could climb on to the balcony. Hera they insisted on getting the proprietor out of bed, and several rounds of refreshments were ordered. Thorndon Esplanade was reached just as daylight was breaking, the whole outfit being then well and truly intoxicated and singing and waving the pawnbroker’s costumes to the toilers in the vicinity going on early shifts. - I i. ■