A Great Comedian.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 91, 8 April 1914, Page 5

A Great Comedian.

I VUIUiUUVU iJ-WJ-n “ / rlod an umbrella. 1 thought that when you went to London you had te wear a top hat, and, as the Americans would say, 1 must have looked a guy. . immediate Success in London, “I wont on spec to Loudon. No, I didn’t take a letter of introduction from any of the managers. My "ay was to be original, and then if I made a success, there would be something to talk about. It was at Gatti’s, iu the Westminster firidgeroad, that I first appeared. I sang ‘Tobermory’—that’s the name of a place iu Scotland,” be explained to a questioner, “a little town iu the Western Highlands.” “Did you catch oils'” • “Yes, immediately. Then I sang ‘The Lass o’ Killiccraukie.’ ’lhere s something euphonious in the names of these songs, and they caught on. T gave them an Irish character song as well.” “Was that ‘CallaghanF’ ”

“Yes; it’s a play on the name, with the words ‘Call again,’ the reply to an importunate tailor presenting his bill. ' A Birmingham chap, Herbert Rutter, and I wrote this song.” la this natural fashion the great artist reviewed his career. From that night at Gatti’s, when lie had the greatest difficulty in getting off the stage, so many were the recalls ho had, lie sprang with astonishing rapidity into world-wide fame. He has been on six visits to America. The first of these was in 1907, and he has just completed the latest one. For one of these tours he was offered £IOOO a week. His Best Critic. Mrs Lauder arrived with her husband in Sydney. “Mrs Lauder,” he says, “always accompanies mo whereever 1 go. Did she inspire, ‘I Love a Lassie?’ Yes, all my loro songs have been inspired by her. It is also true that everything I sing is first submitted to her. She is my first critic, and my best one. If Mrs Lauder is satisfied, I know the song is all right.” Their only son, John Lauder, is at Cambridge University, where ho is studying law and music. He has already gained his B.A. degree, and will take the degree of Bachelor of Music this year. He is coming to Australia in July to meet his parents. His 21st birthday was celebrated at the family home at Dunoon, in the Western Highlands, last year. , Mrs Lauder, who is from Lanarkshire, .has a sister living at Kurd Kurd, and one of her brothers is on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. She has two brothers at Saskatchewan, in Canada'. Mr Lauder has two brothers at Kurd Kurd. Entertaining Royalty.

Mr Lauder appeared before the late King Edward in 1908 at Radford Abbeyj Newark, where his Majesty was the guest of Lord and Lady gavile. The comedian sang some of his most famous songs, his son playing the pianoforte accompaniments, and Harry Lauder afterwards declared that the King was the best audience he had ever sung to. At the end of the programme, Ids Majesty sent for him and thanked him for the pleasure he had given him, saving, “I have not enjoyed anything so much for a long time.” Mr Lauder has also appeared before King George. The last occasion was at the London Palace in August. “What shall I. sing in Sydney? Well, my first song will be the one I began mv London career with, ‘Tobermory.’ • It’s the first I sing m every country in which I am a stranger.'' And 1 shall follow it with « np 8 ,„ Ticklin’, .lock.' No. 1 don’t think I’ll sing ‘Eon the Non.’ There’s an element of intoxication in it; and since I first sang it the world have grown more temperate. Therefore, I would leave it out rather than disturb the susceptibilities of any one person in the audience. As you say, ‘I Love a Lassie’ is one of my greatest successes. • It has boon sung in French, German, Italian, and eveiij Russian. Of course, they don’t get the Scottish vernacular, but they have the sentiment and the melody. The German sings, for instance, Teh Ucho eine madchon.’ I write all my own music—every note I sing. Yes, ‘She’s ma Daisy’ is mine-well, it W as written by another chap and mvself.

One for tEio Interrupter. '~T\\ o) it isn’t correct that when I first went on at the halls someone called out, ‘Hack to the pit.’ But 1>1! toll you what did happen one night when I was in the middle of my programme. Someone in the audience, quite near the stage, called out, ‘Where’s your pick and shovel?’ 1 said, ‘1 don’t know where they are now, hut if I were as ignorant as yon are, I should be using them yet.’ Oh, I always score in repartee!” Incidentally, Mr Lander, though he has no idea of taking to the legitimate stage, has plenty of talent as an actor, and showed this a. couple of years ago at the London Comedy, when lie appeared one alfcenioon at a charity matinee as Georgia Bow, in a performance of “A Scrape o’ the l»on,” the play written hy his friend Graham Moffatt, who has made so emphatic . a success in London with “Bunty Bulls the Strings.” ‘‘Graham Moffatt is coming out here, and you will like him,” he says. “He is just the finest Scotch character old man living to-day, and his wife, who acts with him, is the finest Scotch elm meter old woman. They aro hoth actors of the first water.” An Exciting Reception, The comedian, short, hut sturdily huilt, who wore as his kilt the M'Leod plaid, and smoked a meerschaum pipe of unusual proportions,

greeted bis Scottish friends on the wharf with a beaming smile as th© Sonoma drew to her berth. He was practically mobbed when h« landed, and the scene as he drove through the streets to the Hotel Australia, accompanied by Mr John 11. Tail-, was most exciting. thousands thronged the streets, and in .Martinplace people clambered on to the motor car, and refused to be driven [off. The crowd outside the Australia held up the traffic, and there was a. tremendous cheering as Harry Lauder alighted and entered the hotel. (Scores waited in the street for hours, in the hope of catching another glimpse of the star. When he caino out on to one of the balconies to have his portrait, taken a cheer of recognition came up from the street below. iTho pipe band of the Highland Society played him up from the wharf, and entertained him with bagpipe music for the rest of the morning.

RISE OF HARRY LAUDER. FROM 35s to £IOOO. (Sydney Daily Telegraph.) A career really unique is that of Mr Harry Lauder, who arrived in .Sydney last week by the Sonoma, under engagement to J. and X. Tail. The famous Scottish comedian, after a reception which was wildly enthusil astir, tore himself away from hi* (other admirers at the Hotel Australia, and chatted gaily to the inter|viewers. He is full of good humor, laud it was clear that he was enjoying {every moment of his visit. Talking jwith a pronounced Scottish accent, ihe spoke of his reception in Sydney ias the finest he had over had. j Then, in reply to questions, he told the story of Ids career. It was related in the simplest, most unassuming style, and yet the narrative reads dike an epic;— “Yes, I was horn in Portohello—that is Edinburgh now, for Edinburgh (annexed it, or. rather,” with a twinkle in his eye, “it annexed Edinburgh. Edinburgh was my father’s town. My mother was born on the east coast, at Arbroath, between Dundee and Aberdeen ; her people belonged to Possshire, called the 'Black Isle,’ from the character of its scenery. My mother’s name was Isabella. Urquhart M'Leod Maclennan ; and I believe that it was from her that I got my love of the hills, and the rivers, and the lochs, and the glans.

“I was for ten years an amateur, before I thought of making the stage my profession. I used to go round singing at charity concerts, and at places like that, never for a moment thinking that anybody would ever give me money for singing. Then it happened that they would ask me to sing, and offer me half a crown; and so I’d get my half-crown, and a cup of tea. and two or three buns in a paper bag, and an orange—that was my night’s salary, with the halfcrown. The Jcy of a Stage Career. “Well, that was all right. I was working in the mines at the time, getting from 3os to 45s a week; and three , or four half-crowns over and above that helped wonderfully. Then look at the joy I was deriving from singing my own songs. Finally, I applied for a situation as a comic singer with a concert party, and my application was accepted. The terms were 35s a week.” “Then you made a sacrifice in accepting that?” “No, I made no sacrifice, for think of what I felt whe.« r in tne morning, and heard the birds sing, and realised that 1 did not have to go down the mine. And then, too, I was at the work I loved. With this concert party I toured through Scotland—all through the little villages. The tour lasted for four months. I was baggage man, too; in the forenoon, I went round the shops with handbills, and handed them over the counter, telling them there was to be a concert that night; at dinner-time, I went to the works, and gave the men the handbills as they were coming out, and in the afternoon I went round the houses of the gentry, and gave them a programme, not a handbill. Then I went back to the hall, and put up the ‘fit-up.’ ”

‘■They certainly kept you busy.” “Wait a N bit; I haven’t told you the half yet. I went homo then, washed up, and had my tea. Then I went back to the hall, and got all my ‘props.’ laid out. You see, I had to sing seven or eight songs, all in character; and so I got the ‘props.’ ready for that. Then the door was opened, and I checked the sixpenny portion of the house, as they were going in. Then the tenor sang his first song. He was in evening dress, and he checked the two shilling place, which was next to the stage. Somebody relieved him when he went up to sing, and then he came and took ray place at the sixpenny part of ths house while I went on. Then I had to pack up before 1 went home that night. So if I didn’t earn my 355, I should like to know who did!”

“But you were happy?” “I was neper so hapov in all bit life.” A Meeting with His Brother. At this moment Mr John Lauder was announced. “That’s ray brother,” exclaimed Harry Lauder. “Where is ho?” and lie sprang to his feet and followed the waiter out to meet the brotner he had last seen ton years ago. -Mr John Lauder, who travelled down that morning by train to meet the famous comedian, is a miner at Kurri Kurri. From this interesting meeting in the corridor, Mr Lauder returned and took up the thread of his narrative. “It was at the Old Scotia, in Glasgod, that I first went on to the halls. Then I went from there to Aberdeen. 1 established myself in Scotland, and then in the English provinces, as far south as Birmingham, before I went to London. The idea suddenly occurred to me, ‘London has sent up her artists to Scotland, and Scotland appreciated them very much. Why shouldn’t London appreciate the (Scotch artists?’ and so I made a bid (for it. I went to London, with a ■few sovereigns in my pocket, and jmyself dressed like a newly-married I man,” and ho roared at the recollection. would give £5 for a photo{graph of myself as T walked down. |the Strand that morning, because I i wore light trousers, a black vest, a I frcck coat, and a tall hat, auu w-