VETERAN THEATRICAL MANAGER.
MR FRED. DUVAL'S JUBILEE. On August 26, 1859. Mr Fred. Duval, the well-known and popular theatrical manager, ; commenced his connection with the stage. j During the half-century which has passed I he has travelled all over the civilised, and over a great part of the uncivilised, world, as will D 3 seen by the following interesting story which he furnished to the New Zealand Times : — -* SEEMS LIKE. YESTERDAY. Fifty years ! Yes, it's a long time ; and yet it only seems like yesterday to me since I walked in for the first money I ever earned in show business. % It , was 9s per. week. That does not sound 'much, but then the principal comedian was .only receiving ' 30s - * j Born in the North of Irelana in 1848; my parents removed to Glasgow when" I was about ,&ix. I 'went to school at Maryhill. . Stey-dancing at that time being a crate. { we youngsters started learning, and it was ' nothing to see at playtime, or after school, ' a dozen boys on a cellar-flap showing each other steps. I was rather good, and when the management of the old Theatre Royal, .in Dunlop street, advertised for boys who ' could dance, I applied, and was engaged, j J?he production was a burlesque of j "Hamlet," called "Hamlet the Dane-fey," 1 and the comedian r>layed the Prince as. a Scotchman with kilts. I was cast for the part of the Rooster, which meant coming on the battlements and crowing thrice I then had to do a few ste]>i of a cloz — and get off. ([ saw an English artist playing the Rooster a few weeks ago, and I wondered if tnere was anything new in the business.) ON THE MISSISSIPPI. Early in 1852 my parents decided to go to America, and we landed in New Orleans. Some time that year I joined a little minstrel party, and wo used to travel up the Mississippi to St. Louis and back on a steamer called the Natchez, about 1000 miles each way. There was great opposition between this 1 - boat and the Robert E. Lee, and the old gag of a nigger sitting on the safety valve was not far out, as it did not matter whether boilers burst or not, so long as the rival boat *wjis beaten. I have had j to swim ashore on more than one occa- | sion. I have seen poker played thousands of times since, bub ne\er as the planters U9ed to play on those teips. They only used two kinds of chips, a white and a Mack. The white represented a bale of cotton ; the black, a nigger. That is why I hate to 6f>c the _ equivalent of a bale of cotton champion boxer of the world. JOHN F. SHERIDAN. The war upset everything so in the Southern States tha.t my people decided lon going north. We eventually settled ! down in Providence, Rhode Island, and ! I lived for seme time next door to the la-te John F. Sheridan (the Widow I O'Brien). I have heard people say that the genial Johnnie was a Jew. Well, this jis wrong. His parents came from Strai bane, County Tyrone, Ireland, And were 1 6trict Roman Catholics. I remember his j first appearance as an amateur, and also . his doubling up with Pete Mack. For many years there was no more popular team in America than Sheridan and Mack. YELLOW FEVER. ' I knocked about for a year or two with j Primrose and West's Minstrels, and ' eventually joined Orrin Bros.' Circus for_ I a tour of South America. We left New ! York 86 strong, and some 10 months after three of us returned -Signor Agrati, who ! came out here afterwards as manager of | Chiarini's Circus ; Joe Francesco, an" acroi bat ; and myi=elf. Yellow fever claimed tba others. B.andy neat, and plenty .of it, i saved us. Those who have read Ainsworth's description of tho Plague of London can ir*agine what tho city of Para, Brazil, was like during the three months that the epidemic lasted. WITH C. H. DUVAL. On rctuning to N3W York I joined a touring company managed by Harry Miner, who was then handling a number of amusement enterprises. 1 was with him for soiie time until i leeeived a letter from Ireland from my brother Charlie, , who was then at the top of ths tree as a monologue entertainer. Many of your j ' readers will remember C. H. Duval in his " Odds and Ends,'" and his immense popularity, at the St. James's Hall. London, Ilengler'b Circus, Glasgow, and the Round Room Rotunda, Dublin. I went over to ! Ireland and joined him, and after a few ' months we went for a tour of South ' Africa. Landing at Capetown, wo played everywhere, through to Kimbsrley (Johannes- | bur? was not in existence in those days). | Returning to Jreland I split with Charlie and joined Batty'h Circus, and while with ] that combination I visited every city, town, arid village in thi United j Kingdom. j ALL OVER THE WORLD. Getting tir-ed of circus life— consisting ] mostly of oi!2-night stands, which meant | riding in the waggons all night, showing j twice a day, and then pack up and off again — I joined Weldon's Marionettes for an extend-ed tour of Russia. We went up the Baltic and opened at Riga, then north to St. Petersburg. After placing some 30 cities we finished f.t O'des«a-. Wo crossed the BUu4 Sea to Constantinople, and from there worked a number of the Mediterranean cities, including a month at Valetta (Malta). We played Alexandria, Cairo, and two or tlires other places, en route tp the East We started our Eastern tou.r at Karachi, in the Persian Gulf. This is acknowledged bcinj about the hottest shop on the face of the earth. It is claimed that the heat is feo gi«a.t tliat the. mosquitoes have been known to crawl undor the kitchen fire for the cake of the shade! We played every hole f,nd corner, -city [ and hill station in, India, China, Japan, j Burmah, Korea (we were two weeks in ' Seoul, the capital) Straits Settlement, I Manila, Siam, Annam, Java, Sumatra, and I several other small islands unknown to most theatrical managejs. We went up the Irra-
■ f Trac'dy River from Rr.ngoon to Mandalay, acl li.wed a foir.nijrht i:\ihs Palace, under I crs«r-co:*ir:i: to Kin- Thcbaw, and we were ;' a hariy pr.riy \iher.\- \to got safe back to • ! najifiVjii. Jaja-n was a <Ir;am in thos^days, : but row ifc is commercial to ~the> core. [ Everyone is waking for you with a club, ■ r which means. " Give m<3 all the money you have got." BACK TO AMERICA. When we returned to England I left amd went o\er to America. I was with my people for some months, and then joined ~" the Soldone Comic Opara Company — the first complete opera company that ever toured the world. We were in America for nearly two years. We n,sv<ar played tne same town twice, and never played in any town with a population under 50,000. A tour of the colonies was decided on, and I remained with them until we reached: Dunedin. I left there, and for some time knocked about with Hoskins, Johnnie Hall, Hiscocks, Hayman, and De Bourbel. THE ORIGINAL POLLARDSI evon.tua.lly joined the new firm of Dunning and Reynolds, who brought oveT the original Pollards in 1881. J was sent with them, and after the conitiract with Dunning a.nd Reynolds expired, I remained with tba old show "We went .ell through Australia, and in 1833 we w-snt to the East, catching the Calcutta Exhibition of that year. " EXPERIENCE AS A LESSEE. After f lengthy Eastern tour'w© re- , ■ turned in 18E4, and I settled down iwBrisbane, having secured a lease of tho Albart Hall, which I improved and called the Gaiety Theatre. During the seasons of 1884, 1885, and 18E6, I brought up 30 companies from oydney and played through every hole and cornel • of Queensland. " In October, 1886, I woke up in Brisbane one morning and found the Government steam launch going in the stage door That flood nearly ruined me, so I sold out. went down to Melbourne, and joined the Cogill Bros at St. George's Hall, where we played a continuous season, of 86 weeks. * Leaving them, I then joined the Mon-tague-Turner English Opera Company, was with them for about a year, left and joined Johnny Sheridan, and was with him until his departure for America in August, 1892. I joined Tom Pollard in Adelaide In September of that year, and was with him until November, 1901. MANY CHANGES. I then threw in my lot with P. R. Dix; and was with him until January, 1903. Then I put in a few months with Billy. 'Anderson, and in May of that year I left for America to bring out a company for George L-tetibenson. I organised the Stine and Evans American Comedy Company, and wo played" " Mama's Nenr Husband " and " Brown's in Town." When Mr Stephenson went out of the business in May, 1906, I joined Ted Holland. Theatre Royal, Bris-. bane, and toured all through Queensland with one of his "companies. I had my first real illness on this trip, and it laid me up in the hospital ,for 37 - weeks. Returning to Sydney I met "The Pollards," and being offered my old position as advance I accepted it, and here I am. A HUMOROUS INCIDENT One runs against many peculiar and ■ funny incidents in a life like mine. • Some day, perhaps, if I feel in the '• humour, and can get a clever man to i sub-edit me, I may put them into book „ form. One incident was brought back n to me the other day by finding an old programme of Baldwin's Butterfly Com- •" pany. I met this company at Penang. s Prince of Wales Island Baldwin accepted! an engagement to go over to the mainland, / to the Province of Larok, and give six per- i forraances in the Palaoe before the Rajah, and his family. Among other illusions "> performed by Baldwin was the " behead- , ing " tfiok. He had for assistant in this ~ a Melbourne comedian named " Shorty Tay- " lor." Now. "Shorty" was rather good at make-up. So the first night he was beheaded as a clean-shaven youth, the next! , night with a full beard, and the third as an oIS man. On the morning of the fourth . day an orderly from the Palace .called on - Baldwin with a letter, which read: Dear Sir, — Do not kill any more of youiv - company I enclose you an order on th» J governor of the gaol. Please take all the ~ prisoners you require. NO PLACE LIKE NEW ZEALAND Having 6ean a good deal of the wqrld, £ emphatically 6tated that there is no ooun- • try like* New Zealand. On a population) basis the people of the Dominion are that - greatest amusement seekers in the world. And there is another point : There is no country in the world that gets its amuse- : merits feo good or so cheap as New Zealand. It may be asked if, after 50 years, , in one business, I have any fads or, v fancies. Well, no. I think it's unlucky :, to sit down the thirteenth at dinner if it has only been cooked for 12 My mottois : " Keep amoving, and don't etop to - pick flowers." Religion? Not working afc any particular branch just now ; firmly bej lie\e that "as you sow, so shall you reap. Anyhow, whatever chance I had of going to heaven I lost cursing billposters. Talking about religion, I think there in only one man living ol the same "belief*^ as I am. He's a bookmaker, and I ow«* him some money over a disputed bet, ami he believes he'll never get it. Homo? Have none. In the words of an old American song: Portland Maine is just tho same as Sumry; Tennessee, Any o'd place I hang my hat is Home, Sweet Home, to me. I have lived all my life mostly in hotels. Anyhow, in many cases, home is where the mortgage is. '•>' Vices? Principal one, backing horses. I, have had several decent wins, and am still J trying to pick a double for a few thousand so that I can end my days, in somei ruiraJ retreat, near a racecourse, where- the**;, salaries cease from, troublir and the« royalities are at rest. Drink? Tee. lc have never refused since I was. 14. I hnottg, it is killing me, but it is a lingering and- 'm pleasant death. Languages? I ©an ask- Cod
what I want in. about 14. * .^ A suggestion of the discomforts of buslif life is conveyed in the 'following' advertised ment which is culled from a. King Country^ paper : — " For sale. — Boarddnghouse ano£ furniture complete, in a progressive^ centre; can (accommodate 30 persons;;: price £60 for everything, except piano. 0, rare- bargain."- ■ ?
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Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 61
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2,143VETERAN THEATRICAL MANAGER. Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 61
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