DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 158, 11 July 1903, Page 16

DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL

By Footlights.

DIX'S Gaiety Company, at the Tbeatie Royal, aire, with persistence, urgmg the pubhc to take full value for their money, and, from the critical moment when the advertisement curtain goes up, revealing the first quaint scene of "Living Models a comedy of the farcical order to Mr. James Marion's afterpiece, "The Coon with the Rasor," there are few seconds that are not intense. "Living Models is the tale of two gay men, who tell their wives that they really must go to a Board meeting, and who immediately make for an art studio where they intend having a "tune" larger than the Roman conquest. * • * Mr Jim Marion, who appears to be exuberantly healthy after his „ i| and trip as a "Senegambian oddity, is all hat fancy and burntKX>rk might^pamt him Jim is not born to blush unseen Sn the ™esert shores of Somes Idand. Mr TodCallaway, as a character comedian is a tidal wave of humour, refine£S and all that sort of thinr and Tod works very hard and very conscientiously S^ him when your vaccinated arm is better. • * * George Dean! Where have I seen that^lme before ? Age cannot wither nor custom stale his infinite variety of acted songs. George, as of yore, washt» his liands with invisible soap in 1mJL^ptible water. wears hi 9 various hats at the old angle stands with his feet at an. "angle of 45, ' .and does the dear old things in the inimitable -nay that has made his name a household word wherever the great Australasian federated language is spoken. * ♦ * The Flying Moultons, who still fly, but who are too fly to flee thus soon, are still the masters of the serial bars, and, as of yore, throw the lesser brother about as if he were a Moulton featnei . Mr Steve Adson, with Miss Jessie Thorn, do what the Dix word-wizard describes as a "sketehlet. Steve says funny things in a way calculated, to provoke a breach of midwinter misery easily cured by a stitch in the side and Emmie Smith the smiling songstress, who is now described as "American, although she personally rejoiced in being known as an English cantatnce, is informing all and sundry that "You are my Rosey." Yesterday (Thursday) the Williams quartette threw their rays across the procenium. Next week 1 shall analyse those rays. • * * There were more people in the Choral Hall on Monday night than have ever been, gathered under that roof since the place was built, and Mr. Fred Bluett ought to feel flattered. Mr. Fuller has already made some alterations in the theatre as an earnest of what he intends to do. He has raised the stage, and improved the lighting, and now threatens to add a gallery and dress circle. Fred Bluett sang himself to a standstill on Monday. Not that he wanted to, but because the people threatened to kick the floor in if he didn't. As a comedian, Fred is a peer among commoners, and gets right home to the sympathies of the audience. ♦ * * Miss Amy Lursin, a charming coon singer, new to us, is. using her gift of song to advantage, and Miss Amy Blackie was encored so much that when she was apparently at the last gasp she had to come forth and sing "Might be a Millionaire" for a fifth item. "Larboard Watch," which isn't new, but which is food for local talent of the highest order, is worthily handled by Miss Mackie and Mr. Harry Hart, threatened to go away, but are still here. The Lenton sisters are a charming serio double, and in "Gay Boulogne" capture the boulevardiers of Te Aro. Johnny Fuller himself doffs his kingly managerial mantle to revel momentarily in the giddy farce as M. de la Rue, in "On the Fire," and all that is brightest and best in the company make that classic trifle buzz with bright business. There are others — Ted

Herbert, Tim Howard, George Harris, Jack Hall, to wit— and wit that does not Harris us. Who f rev dat buck' * * * "Are You a Mason 0 " If not, as may be seen by an examination of any poster hoarding m the city, you may be initiated to-morrow (Saturday) night, at the Opera House. In an age of "screamers," 'Are You a Mason" oiutsoreams them all. If you are already a member of the craft, you will enjoy the slyest of sly digs, and if you are not you miss none of the fun. Mr George Giddens is in charge of the big end of the merriment, and Mips Ethel Kiughb-Mollison, the leading lady, is conceded to be one of the most charming ladies the colonial stage has seen. The Australian papers aie still chuckling over R. IT , etc , and, with the wealth of genuine laughteir-provokers let loose on the community during the last few years, the position of first amongst them is no small honour. * ♦ • Mrs. Brown-Potter, as is well-known,, once dined with "the greatest diplomatist the world has ever known" — Li Hung Chang. She recently told an interviewer that she had the greatest feat of diplomacy to perform in avoiding an egg of inky blackness which the eminent Li assured her was one hundred years old. * * * Miss Loie Fuller, the famous serpentine dancer, has offered to contribute to the St. Louis Exhibition an old cherry chest that was buried during the revolutionary war by her great-great-grandfather when he and his family were taken prisoners by the- Indians, and carried off to Canada. When they were exchanged, and brought back, they found their money and goods all safe in the old chest, which has remained in the family ever since.