"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 75

"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

(Specially Written for the Witness Ladieo' Page.)

THE NEW YEAR

England's New Year lias been u&herecl in with biting cold winds, snow, and frost ; yet, in spite of the weather, many in London joined the annual gathering outside St. Paul's Cathedral, which gradually grew, till near midnight the crowd was estimated at quite 10,000 people. A good many Scotch people among them while 4 away the time with singing snatches of popular songs and in greetings, till' gradually over all a hush falls a« tjie throng waits for the first boom of JBig'Ben. Then the crowd breaks out into ajnging " Auld lang syne," and handshaking. At the large hotels, such as the Cecil, the Ritz, Prince' 6 Eestaurant, the Savoy, and the Carlton, special New Year Eve entertainments were arranged. At Claridge's Hotel there was a particularly happy party, 800 gueste sitting down to supper, after which the wassail bowl was passed round. lhen, after the New

Lear was ushered in, there was a dance opened by Sir Roger de Coverley. On New Year's Day itself the weather w<l& intensely cold. The New Year, however, is not a general holiday in England, although millions who are not bound by business ties make merry. The melting snow and the biting wind were anything but inviting, and the clammy vapour-laden atmosphere jsuggested nothing of brightness. Xews Irom the country was of white fields and hedges. In yorkshirey orkshire there was severe frost, with skating ; at Cambridge, snow ; Warwickshire and Hampshire, snow ; and on the east coast, frost and hail. The country trams brought hundreds to London for the theatres ar.d pantomimes, and surely nowhere on the cold winter's night could people be warmer and more contented than dining after their journey at a restaurant, amid the flowers and light, and seated in a brilliant theatre, one of a well-dTessed audience enjoying fairyland

and wit

Drury Lane Pantomime was one of ti-e chief attractions of the week. The pantomime is a children's pantomime, and when the doors were opened to " Babes in the Wood" on Boxing Night, theTe was the same densely-packed house of young and old children ready to be delighted by the jokes and the ballet and the transformation scenes.

I cull come notes of this year's great spectacular show. This year's pantomime has a very full and complicated story; in fact, in this respect it is quite old-fashioned. It has a triune story— the Babes, Robin Hood, and the Old Woman in the Shoe, all in one. So that in the grand ballet of the " Harvest Home " dramatic complications begin. There is Maid Marian (Miss Madge Vincent), ever so pretty and cajo.'ing. who has given her heart to Robin Hood and is pursued by the ■wicked Lord Hugo. Maik him! This gentleman has a bold alliterative name — (Miss Meredith Meredro), — some good top notes, and a wonderful dimple. Here, too. is Will Scarlet (Miss Florence Warde). all in reel, the most bewitching outlaw imaginable. And then, with blast of horn, Robin Hoed himself, quite a rival to Mr Waller ; and no wonder Maid Marian is in love with him, for. as first pantomime " boy." Miss Agnes Frassr is most " conducive " ; while Friar Tuck, with conventional carbuncled face and a sesquipedality

of belly, brandishes his quarterstaff With histrionic gravity, most disturbing tt "the centre of other people's. The plot thickens; two robbers, in the make-up of Caldecott's designs, entice the Babes into the wood and unfold the wonders of the Lane's pantomime stage-craft. The Babes are seized by rabbits — deligln-

fu l coryphees these, in skins and tails, who of course execute a rabbit dance But thy

are wicked rpbbits, and imprison the Babe 0 ,

and things look serious until King Ferret effects a pretty ballet rescue. Then Ferrets and Rabbitf dance together. But the Babes are not yet " out of the wood." They are ho-y in Giant Land. The dance of Giants,

performed by the Pender Troupe, is gigantic, very dioll and unearthly, with z good old pantomime lilt to enforce the thiill. Then they get lost in " the Berrie3 " and finally fall asleep in the ' Garcien of Life and Light," under the protective w?nd of a dear little fairy. This is a beauiiful scene. Here the stage mechanician gets lig chance. Colour succeeds colour; rabbits, bats flitter here and there, treas great

oaks vuiiler about the =ta«« . atajrs core out, and twinkle ; wonderful astral effects anuear in the fky; will-o'-the-wisps perform cakewalks, fairies float, descend, dance, and xeascend;'' the whole air is a ballet, the '■whole thing is a marvel of magic fern and forest pantomime lore. And then Time is seen on the rocks holding his scythe over a. sleeping fairy, and then again it change's, and night performs its multitudinous shadow ■tricks and fa-ncies, and then dawr begin* •'o creep ut> over the line in eo'den maniff tion. The moon is a sleeping beauty, the music is the famous Hoffmann Barcarole, and the very sun rises dancing into the leavens, «nd when it reaches the zenith the curtain falls, and we have ten minutes to Tecover in. After the interval we are in "Lol'iroo Land " There is a grand lollipop ballet and a grand procession of sweets. They are dancing girls, of course, but not less sweet to look at, and after that there is the (inevitable reaction, with wild, fcies happenings. The Babe 3 are imprisoned by the Old "Woman jn the Shoe. Rcbin Hood and Ins

men to the rescue, «f course.

But even he

cannot kill the old -witch. Up she flies on a broomstick, right up to Drurv'3 loftie'-t heights, and finally goes bang through the ',sun in smoke and explosion. Tru'.y, a weird ,Tide that. Then' the robbers fight a serio1 comic duel, horribly blood-curding and delightful Then. I think, alliterative Hugo abducts Maid Marian, and away we go to ' " The Castle Ramparts." The Dog, the Governess, and 'the Baron 1 have si deep-laid serenading plot, and now Frageon gets his chance A piano is brought in, and Fragson gives us some of his famous French songs. The inevitable cornet-man - follows , there is some wild knock-about I business, and then Robin storms the castle. I Has anyone any doubts as to the result? }Of course, down falls the drawbridge, the •frails are scaled, and captive Marian appears iin the arras of Robia_

AMUSEMENTS.

The end -we can all guess. In pantomimes only the good -*re rewarded. "Every Jack geta his Jill. Certainly we get our fill, and the last scene is s, gorgeous spectacular effect of " Good luck."

In a recent article Katharine Burrill haa drawn attention to the other side of the pantomime curtain, the sid« of the shivering fairies. Fire, she says, is the only thing that affects the audience ; bo long as there is no danger of nre, a' parent sits warm and comfortable sut-" rounded by her smiling family, "and thinke what a wise and beneficent council rules over the land. It never enters. her head that the other side of -the curtain, too, is important, and that in many' cases in. the provincial theatres nothing is done to guard the performers against the frightful chills and draughts lurking in every corner of the wings, and in some instances sweeping across the stage like a -whirlwind." Pantomime comes with Christmas cheer, the writer proceeds, but also, unfortunately, with ice and snow and fog, and although the queen of the fairies waves her wand and the stage flowers open their petals, she cannot bring * summer atmosphere to herself. "No one has seen a stage flower or stage fairy suitably clad — we could hardly expect bluebells to shake their silver bell 6in any other garments than diaphanous blue chiffon, or daisies to wear more than white muslin." This lady pleads that as the authorities have taken so much pains to protect the warm side of the curtain from fire, they should take equal pains to make the other side more ip keeping with the fairyland it represents.

The dangers that these pantomime breadwinners face, th.& writer graphically depicts. The pr.nce and the princess — that is, the etars — may motor or cab to the theatre door, but the fairies at' a pound a Week, or thirty shillings, take a coki walk or ride in thin shoes and jacket, and change into " spangled tinselly costumes." And yet, true as are the disabilities and d eadvantages of the pantomime fairies' lot, there is another side. The thin shoes and thin jacket are no less so because worn to the evening's work. Rather, is there not a better destination for those worn shoes than an aimless -wandering in se.,rc;h of bread? They come irom sordid surroundings, many of these pantomimic fairies, where there as no demand, no outlet, for the artistic. Some have learned to dance to barrel-organs on tlie pavement r others have been trained and educated for the stage, with dreams of tame to urge them on, remembering those " stars'" who once so served their apprenticeship. But, in either case, would they have been happier, baiter provided to. - , if left out? Many of these pantomime fairies, as other artists, find in expression of their art an uplift that gruel and a blanket would not give ; and in the appreciation of an audience a warmth of mind that warms the body. The gratification of taking part in a big magnetic occasion has a certain warmth of its ovm. Then, again, pater and materfamibas, surrounded by smiling children in thek comfortable dness circle eeats, have paid for them, and indirectly contributed to the salaries of those engaged for their entertainment. And is it fairer to blame an audience for the discomforte of their entertainers than to blame a city merchant who honourably pays for service for the going and coming of his employees, or to blame the purchaser of a book for the weary hours in which the author wrote it — perchance, by an empty grate. Chills behind the St^ene.s? — every worker has them. If not physically, then mentally, spiritually. There is the chill of the man on the watch, while, unheeding, the ship's passengers sleep. There is the chill of toe so'dier dyaig in his trench and for his pay. Behind all the scenes of life there :s the shi\er in the tin-pel. Nobody knows how we out on our -Kings, and carry our wanUe, lixl how "cold we are at he.trt under^ the flush of the limeii;,-ht. It i? sometiiinsj that, cold and disiilus ; oned oin-s-slves. we ' can vet put others urder illusion of happy fairies and strong jriants. Do vrs not all, "in fact, we older children. love talcing the younger chiid r en to the pantomime because they are iUusioned? Ar.d tc laugh ourselves because we once were? When the fairies are no longer fairies to youth, but cold, betir.selled poverty then there w'll be no more youth. "Alf^idin," at Adelphi, is represented a, a lively piece, with two personalities and with a "thought for the little ones." They were there in good numbers, one acco'uni pays, but there were co many gTown-ups among them that Aladdin will not want a magic lamp to Ught him to popularity.

Aladdin is a gui — so much is allowed to convention— and Miss Mi'he Legarde gees through with it. and finally marries the Princess, acquiring oieirt all the way But the two personalities of the pavtonmae are Happy Fanny Fields and Malcolm Scott as " Widow Twankej '

These two different s!>lps and ecxes come on and " hold the stage " a tern-tely. and no doubt wisely foi it gives the ether a rest. Whether in the "Home of Jewek." ox in the " streets oi Pekin,' "in the Laundry," or " Aladdin's Pa ace," there Ihey are People who are afraid of the " halls " should go and see the=>e two. They me both v<eil enough known but I never saw Malco'.m Scott funner than in the patter of the first act. He real'y said seme exquisitely diol! thirgs in his luual rlp.cid manner 'vi.ile deftly attending tc hi 3 hair. How he can dance, tco' And what a good German acccit he has! Potsdonnertvetter, as he says "they don't expert a music-haller to be erudite." Happy Fanny FieMs is irie?is."ible. v. ith a force which grows upon one, a spontaneity of humour and esprit de gosse which mark her as a true artist She is the counteifoil to Widow Twankey laughs and makes us laugh ail the time She just throws herself at us She is the magic lamp of the piece — histrionically, I mean.