STAGE GOSSIP

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 67

STAGE GOSSIP

Mr Gaston Merv*le and Mr Harcourt Beatty will join the Nellie Stewait Company shortly. Mr Charles Waldron, the hero of " The Squaw Man" in Australasia, is to play the leading role in "The Whirlpool" in New York. The Besses o* th« Barn Band will commence their return tour of Australasia under the Tarts' management next February or March. The London Hippodrome has been converted into a gorgeous theatre. It was to j have been re-opened this month with Mr ■ Charles Hawtsey in a high-class sketch. j One 'of the principal autumn attractions in N«w York will be "The Fires of Fate,", by Sir Arthur Con an Doyle, Mr Frohman having eecured the American, rights of it. ''The Babea in the Wood'- has been chosen as the William Anderson pantomime. A principal boy aiid several specialty artists ] •will be imported in addition to Nat Clifford. : Mr Gerard Coventry has arrived in Sydney from Melbourne to take charge of the Sew Comic Opera Company for the purpose of arranging new productions. ; Mr Bland Holt has secured the services i of Mr Harry Whaite to complete some of the scenery for his future productions Mr "Whaite is well known as one of our best scenic painters. The composer of "The King of Cadonia," Mr Sydney Jones, was at one time a con- | iductox in the employ of Mr J. C. Williamson. He came to Australia with one of the Gaiety companies. Mr Harry Phydora, -who made euch a success in Australia as the daice in "Mother Goose," ha« been engaged by Mr J. C. "Williamson for the part of the d.* m e in the "Aladdin" panto-mime. The original Pollards, whose name is now n household word in theatrical Australia and New Zealand, were first brought to Australia by th© theatrical firm of A. T. Dunning and Walter Reynolds. Mr Oscar Asche asserts that he would not care to play Othello every night for a fortnight. He doubts if he could, sijiiough he is a very strong man. He puis a vast •mount of mental force into the part. William A. Brady, in a letter addressed from London to an American journal, is succinct and laoonic with regard to theatrical | there. Thus:— " Theatres empty. -Public | bored to death with their own actors, but j will not ptand for ours." . . ' A decidedly novel turn was shown at theTivoli Theatre, Sydney, \»hen Captain Winston made his first appearance in Australia with a troupe of eeals. which walk the tightrope, juggle with balls, clmb ladders, and play musical instruments. Pantomime is -definitely announced as the attraction at the' King's Theatre. Melbourne, for Christmas. Mr Nat Clifford has been specially engaged to play the dame. Three " pantos " at one - time in . Melbourne will j be* Eomefching out of the ordinary. Miss Maudie Cosham. ballet mistress at the Kin it's Theatre, ie hard at work ten chins; various ballets for the forthcoming Christmas pantomime. In answer to an advertisement for children over 200 applicants arrived at the>te«re door of the Melbourne King's. Mt "Wialter Bcntley. supported by a strong company, will in all probability open a New Zealand tour in January next, under the manangement of Mr Allan Hamilton. Ths Tapertory will include " Hamlet." " The Bells," " David Garrick," and " Rob Roy." Mr Arthur Wirg Piiero recently knighted, and one of the soundest and most successful of the English dramatists, is the pioneer of problem plays. He married Miss Myra Enrily Holme, an actress, and first appeared in small parts as general utility actor at £1 pe~ week. There is at present the rather unusual spectacle of three J. C. Williamson organisations in New Zealand together. Two of them are just on the point of conclusion, and one — the Julius Knight Company — opened in Auckland on Monday with " The B'-eed of the Treahame." The Rickards Company, which commences , a Dominion tour in Auckland on October 4, in- j eludes Rose- Ca&Felli and her troupe of performing dogs ; Florence and Lilian, in their orieinal musical act; Fred Graham and Nellie Dent, with a number of new sketches; and another sensational English set. ■' Henri of Navarre," •which has been secured for -Australia by J. C. 'Williamson, is enjoying a fine run in Bondon, for, according to the Daily Telegraph, it scored its 200 th performance last month, and that paper goes on to state that it is " one of the conspicuous successes of the season." Miss Dolly Castles, who began her theatrical career under the J. C. Williamson znangement with the. Gilbert and Sullivan Company, is. according to recent advices from England, now appearing in London in an Indian musical love story entitled " On Jbehtm River," at the Aldwych Theatre. During the Asche-Brayton season in Melbourne playgoers began to assemble in the vestibule of the theatre as early as 11.30 o'clock in the morning. The doors were opened at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and by 6 o'clock every unreserved seat was filled. So much for popularity and ability. Mr Charles A. 'Wemnan. who produces the pieces of the Clarke, Sleynell and Gunn Comic Opera Company, left for London recently to bring out the new oompany, and to make arrangements in connection with the staging of the new works in Australia, commencing with " The Arcadians." Mr < Wenman, with the new company, will arrive in Melbourne at the end of the year. Miss Eugenio Duggan (Mrs Wm. Anderson) fldvisea that when she arrived in London she first looked at the historic buildings, theatres and artists having to wait until she 1 ad whetted her appelitj m this direction. Miss Duggan is a great admirer of Napoleon Bonaparte, and in France she visited the more important plaoes associated •with this hero. In Lcndon she met many Australians, and altogether had a very busy time. Mr and Mrs Anderson leave for Australia about the middle of this month. Mr Julius Knight enjoys a. somewhat Unique experience in "An Englishman's j Home" and "The Sacrament of Judas," inft«muoh as he is " killed " in both plays in one «veninsr. In "An Englishman's Home " he is shoT on his own front lawn as Mr Brown by the invading forces of the army of tha Empress of the North. Earlier in j the evening he is "done to death " by a firing equad. this time getting his quietus from ifche citizen soldiers of the French Revolution in the powerful one-act play '* The Sacrament of Judaa," which precedes the sensational militttr drama.

Mr Julius Knight is <a Scotchman, born in Glasgow. He was educated primarily at Harrow, and subsequently graduated at St. John's College, Cambridge Originally intended for the Church, he made his first appearance on any stage at the Gaiety Theatre in his native town in the role of Hamlet, the support being given by a professional company. For the privilege •of enacting the part Mr Knight paid £5, a sum which in those days was affluence to the manger concerned. The measure of success that attended the debutante's appearance of the melancholy Dane decided his career. Mr Harry Rickards srnounces that Miss Ashmore Gray, SaJon'e dancer, froni the United States, will arrive by the Marama from Vancouver next Tuesday. The Trapnell Family of Acrobats ere due on Monday next. Miss Bertha Stuart, a Scotch character vocalist, is on the P. and O. boat which, is due on October 7. Will Emerson and Gwenni© Asto are due by the Orient Company's boat on October 16. Emerson is described as ""six feet of comicality." Miss Dolly Harmer. chaipcler comedienne, will arrive by the Narung on October 3. Pranco Piper, banjo specialty artist and juggler, is due on October 30 It is claimed that he has no rival :-s a sokist. Nowadays it would seem that it is necessary for ,an actor to be an expert prymnast and finished athlete. In "The Breed of theTreabams " there is a scene known as the " Staircase Scene." The place is in danger of being sacked by Lieutenant Reresby's mutinous soldiers. Hurriedly he sscreies Margaret Tresham in a locked Toom approachad by a staircase of 30 eteep stairs. A. drunk-en corporal endeavours to break into the room. Reresby, seizing a pistol, shoots the man at the head of the staircase, and th-e " body " rolls and falls the entire length — finally reaching the stage, and pitching forward on its fa-oe. As a piece of stage realism this is £i>id to be hard to equal. The following is a list of actors and others connected with the theatrical profession who have died within recent years, leaviug behind them substantial estates :— Richard D'Oyley Carte, aged 56, £240,817; Frederick Charles Hengler, circus *- ropri-etor, aged 67 years, £59,655; D-avid James (David Belascoj, aged 54 years, £41.594; Jenny Lind (Mme. Goldschmidt), aged 67 years, £40.630; Ernest Nicolini (Ernest Dinard}, aged 62 years, £40,560; Frederick Ginnett. circus proprietor, aged 67 years, £32,139; Wilson Barrett, aged 67 years, £303 882; Helen Faucit (Lady Martin), aged 82. £27,997; Edwin Booth, aged 59, £24.000 ; Sir Augustus Harris, aged 44, £23,677; Dan Leno (George Wild Garvin), age 45 years, £10.944; Fredrick Burgess, aged 67 years, £10,894; Herbert Campbell, age 61 years. £4477; Hnry Irving, aged 67 3*ears, £20,527. Mies Beatrice Day. the leading lady with. J. C. Williamson's Julius Knight Company, has had a varied experience. Commencing in small parts with Sir B-eerbohm Tree, Miss Day, after a five yars' engagement with that manager, essayed eeveral enterprises on her own account. Returning to the Haymaiket Theatre, London, with the Tree management, Miss D»y played many of the leading roles in several of the big successes chronicled at this theatie. At the conclusion of this contract an American starring tcur followed, on the terniin«tion of which Miss Day returned to London and was engaged by the late Sir Henry Irving, with whom she played important parts until the famous manager's demise. Going to South Africa in partnership with the late Herbert Femming, and afterwards coming on to Australasia, Miss Day's performances will be well remembered. The success of " The Merry Widow ' seems to be perennial, and the famous Lahar opera appears to wield as powerful a sway now over playgoers as ever. Paris was the last Continental city to be charmed by its witchery, and the French capital responded most warmly and in a most practical manner testified th-eir appreciation of the mascotte. During its 85 performances there the returns averaged no less than £310 per performance, and at the close of the run. which was early necessitated By the termination of the Paris sason, the artists were all engaged to appear again at the opening of the next season at increased salaries. In London (although the piece has been running for over two years) the support of thepublic is still so strong that the proposed withdrawal of the opera has twice been postponed, and according to a letter lately Pf ce "-ef from Mr J. A. E. Malone by J. C. Williamson, there seems very probability of 'The Merry Widow playing right up *° ,, the X imo oi the Production of - The Dollar Princess" at Daly's Theatre, although the idea had previously "been to allow the company a rest between the two productions.