CHRISTMAS NEWS. [FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.]

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 38, 23 February 1884, Page 3

CHRISTMAS NEWS. [FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.]

By the San Francisco Mail.

A New Year's Greetixo— Christmas Ways —Grand Old Yule-Tide Customs—Christmas Boxes— The Executions ok Poole and O'Donnell— Gossip — Sarah Beunhaudt's Last Escapade — A Treacherous lUval— Sally's Revenge — A Foggy Christmas Day— Depressing Weather— The Panto- 1 mimeSeason— Gilbert and Sullivan's New Opera— Mary Anderson— One ortwoNkw Books — " JonN Bull and His Isle "— "Don't"— Magazine Gossip.

Loxnox, January 3. A Nkw Year's greeting to ye, my antipodean readers, and- well, I really think the best wish I can waft across the seas to > on is that the future of your "great and glorious " colony may be as wonderfully pvospeious and eminently respectable as its past. "Christmas," says the poet, "comes but once a yeai'," and on the whole the English folk have much to be thankful for that such is the case, A diet of turkey and mince-pies, alternated with plum-pudding and goose, is just tolerable during a single week of the twelvemonth, but I should tremble for England's greatness if t-imilar periods of gluttonous festivity ere otten to recur. Ourrinedigestions— theieal bulwarks of John Bull— would be gone, and our nervous systems ruined. I object, too, to many of the "grand old Yule tide attorns," which are kept up with such persistence all over the country. The " Christmas-box-please-sir " nuisance might be borne, though it converts all one'stradesmen's employes (from Her Majesty V postman down to the potboy's assistant) into brigands for the time being. The promiscuous kissing which goes on at this festive season is, however, intolerable. Jones would never dream of kissing Brown's wife or any fiancee at any other time of the year ; but now, what with kissing under the mistletoe and playing at kiss-in-the-ring or j some equally diveiting game, he seems to be always doing it. Moreover, at Christmas, parties there are usually some rollicking dogs w hose jokes take a horribly practical turn. Last year two "dear old chappies"' slit my bran-new dress - coat up the back whilst 1 was groping about in the agonies, of blind-man's-buff, and the other evening some young idiots set a w hole ball-room oil" sneezing by sprinkling strong snuff on the floor. But enough of the humours of Xmas. You have almost forgotten there ever was a holiday-time when this letter arrives ; indeed.l think I can hear the " gentle reader " observe, "Why doesn't he go on with his news instead of maundering about things any fool knows? You, of course, heard full particular.- of the executions of Poole and O'Donnell. Both men died pluckily, and without giving Government, or rather the police, any information whatever re the Invincibles. O'Donnell, there can be no doubt, was employed to assassinate Carey. Since the trial, a Plymouth tradesman has filed an affidavit to the eifect that before the Irishman sailed from that port he had two tickets in his possession, one by the Orient s.s. and one by the Donald Currie boat, in which he eventually went. Up to the very morning he left, he seemed doubtful which vessel to take, and his inaction on the voyage to Cape Town probably arose from doubt as to whether he had really struck the right trail. Once certain that Power was Carey, O'Donnell lost no time in killing Mm. The "immortal Sally (or, to be more reverent, Mdlle. Sai-ah Bernhardt) has once again afforded " tout Paris '" a spicy scandal to gossip about. Under the title of "The Adventures of Sarah Barnum," an actress, erstwhile Mdlle. Bernhardt's adoring friend, but now her deadly enemy, published a cruel satire on the great tragedienne's social,moral, and theatrical eccentricities. When Sarah read the "squib' she was furious, and, accompanied by a male friend, invaded the viper's bedroom with a riding whip. The wicked one iied precipitately, but left a male champion behind, who rolled about on the floor with Sarah's young gentleman. The Bernhardt meanwhile wreaked her vengeance on the vilifier's wardrobe, tearing her old lace to tatters and slashing all the most beautiful toilettes she could find with a pair of scissors. Eventually the invaders retired in triumph, and Mdlle. Colombier (as I believe the lady is called) was left to weep over the wreck of I'oOO worth of splendid dresses. Duels and rumours of duels between the supporters ot the two actresses followed, but so far at any rate no blood has been spilt. The latest on dit is to the effect that Sarah intends to bring an action for libel against La Colombier. I was not, thank goodness ! in London on Christmas day, but those who were tell me that the metropolis was wrapped in a fog almost as dense, yellow, and impenetrable as that associated with the famous Christmas Day fog of 1879. " The streets," says the tow m correspondent of a Northern paper, " were drearer than they have looked for a very long time. There were no outward and visible signs of the festive season, and the intelligent foreigner might reasonably have thought, if this w ere the great ieetival of the year, the English do indeed take their pleasures sadly." Theatrical critics have had what is vulgarly termed "a high old time " this last fortnight. In addition to several comedies, burlesques, and opera bouffes, 14 pantomimes were produced in London on Boxing Day, and of all these the public requires a full, true, and particular descriptive report. As usual, the pantomime of the season par «xce^ewceisatDruryLane,wheretheenergetic Gus Harris has spent more than £9,000 in mounting Cinderella, " and achieved a really striking success. " Sinbad " last year was splendid, but dull "Cinderella," on the contrary, makes the children roar with laughter, and to see the great house at an afternoon performance when the vast auditorum is filled, mainly with wonderstruck and delighted littie ones, is a charming and never-to-be-forgotten sight. The great features of the Drury Lane show are a hunting scenewith realdogsand horses, and a gorgeous pageant in the shape of a procession of fairy tales and nursery rhymes. The latter takes place in the " Illuminated Gardens of the Prince," and pleases the juvenile onlookers beyond measure. Fancy, if you can, the heroes, heroines, and chief .characters of thirty fairy stories and nursery rhymes, making their appearance in one scene with all their familiar .companions and equipments. Robinson •Crusoe, with his parrot, goat, and man Friday ; Gulliver, with his Lilliputians and JBrobdingnagians ; Blue Beard and Fatima,

accompanied by numerous headless wives : Old Mothor Hubbard with her dog and empty cupboard ; Littlo 80-peep and the Sheep ; Ah Buba Ganem, the historic donkey and forty glittering thieves in shining silver armour ; Sinbad and the Old Man of the Sea, &c, &c. Each group is announced by the Court Heralds, and goes rapidly through the chief incidents of its story or rhyme. The fairy tales are proceeded by King Gallopade, his court, and upwards of 100 pages in the most exquisitely designed costumes, and fol lowed by the Seven Champions of Christendom, who arrive separately, accompanied by standard-bearers, knights, and vassals. The entire pageant only takes half an hour to arrange, and when complete — tier rising above tier far into the back ground of the trebly enlarged stage — forms the most superb sfweUtcfe J have over seen. One might go on for ever about the novel funnyisms and gorgeous scenic effects introduced into " Cinderella," but there are other theatrical matters that must be dealt with, so I will simply give you a hint or two re the music, which a? usual settles tho question of what are tho most popular songs of the winter. The manor of the lion comirjKC, Macdcrmott, is largely poached upon ; his ditties, " Lots of Love for Breakfast," " Matilda's Up to Snuff," and "Ducky Darling,'" being al freely introduced. They certainly possess swinging airs, and this remark also applies to the nigger melody, "I'll Meet Her when the Sun Goes Down," and to " Dream Faces " and " Only a Pansy Flower,"' which invariably receive plentiful encores. The popular patriotic songs of tho pantomimes appear to bo Slade Murray's " Balaclava,' and Godfrey's "Old Guard," but they neither of them have the "go "that made " Shoulder to Shoulder" so successful last -winter. Tho famous French rondeau, "Le Petit Yin dc Bordeaux." one, of course, hears everywhere just now. Lotta, the American actress who wa& so glaringly pulled by all the newspapers prior to her debut, has come to sad giicf. The " dramatic cocktail" of America (as she is \o\ inely termed in Yankeel.ind) turns out simply a variety-show artiste of the same stamp as Jenny Hill and other music-hall "stars," and by no means exceptionally r/iir. ller first night resulted in unmib takeable failnie. Had the piece Lotta appeared in been clever, she might ha\e just passed muster, but alter two acts of melodramatic fashion of tho penny-gaff sort, the '' gods '' took the law into their own hands, mid roundly hissed the performance. I'eoplc are now wondering why " Lotta " is such a big draw in the State. The Gaiety Theatre management have postponed " Camaral/aman," producing instead a farcical comedy called "The docket "and a burlesque on "Pygmalion and Galatea/ entitled " GalaLca and Pygmalion Reversed." The humour of the" latter consi&ts in the idea of altering the relathe positions ot tho hero and heroine of Gilbert's comedy, viz., making "Galatea a sculptress, and " Pygmalion" I the animated statute. The jealous w ife, Cynisca, becomes a jealous husband called Cyniscos, and there is at once room for some admirable fooling. The picture Echvaid Terry presents on his pedestal when Nelly Faueu, a*. Galatea, chisels him into life, convulses the house with laughter, and from the time he descends and, dancing about the stage with a small looking gla->s, sings " Just Look at This, Just Look at That," to the sad moment when a number of jealous husbands (whoso wives he has been innocently making love to) threaten to break him to pieces unless he instantly becomes marble again, one is kept in a perpetual giggle. The little piece was a palpable hit, and will be played all over the world in the course of the next twelvemonths. I have not been to Her Majesty's yet, but am told that the pantomine there is quite as good in its way as the Dairy Lane show. Belore Igo through I mean to pay a visit to the St. James's Theatre to see the 1 evival of " A Scrap of Paper." Probably you know this comedy. It is founded on Sardon's "Les Pattes dc Monches," and was one of the great cards of the late Alfied "NVigan's repertoire. In 1870' Mr Have produced it at the Court with conspicuous success, but, according to the critics, the present performance throw s all others into the shade. lam most anxiousto witness it. The most important of forthcoming noveltie.-^ is Gilbeit and Sullivan's new opera, which -will positively be produced at the Savoy the day after to-morrow (January 5). The seciet of the story has been admirably kept, for beyond the fact that it is founded on Tennyson's "Princess," no one has a gho«t of a notion what it 'will all be about. Up to yesterday even the title had not been fixed upon. Next Thursday Mr Toole produces a newcomedy by Arthur Law called " A Mint ot Money," at the little theatre in King William-street, and a burlesque on " Claudian," happily entitled "The ßoman Awry " (The Romany Rye), has also been put in hand there. Miss Anderson is drawing crowds to the Lyceum. Her Galatea has on all hands been admitted to be a most original and beanti'ul interpretation of the character. Undoubtedly, however, it lacks human i feeling 1 . To quote a vile punster, Mrs Kendal played Galatea marvellously, whereas MKs A. played marblelously. Mrs Oliphant's new story, " Hester," will be one of tho most popular novels of the writer. It is a great advance on " Sir Tom" and the "LadiesS Lindores," and contains some grand studies of character. I have not enjoyed one of her books so thoroughly for a long, long time. ' ' Belgravia," for January, contains a complete story by Wilkie Collins, "She Loves and Lies," and the same author's new romance, "I Say No!" is to run through "London Society," as well as "The People" and a number of provincial weeklies. " Heart and Science" is out in ths popular 3s Gd form, and "Healey," an early story of Jessie Fothergill's, has been added to the six-shilling green series. These are both readable, but by no means exceptional novels. If you want to be thrilled by a shoi't and strange tale, buy the "Cornhill Magazine" for January, and read "J. Habbakuk Jephson's Statement." The author's name has not leaked out, but most people attribute it either to Julian Sturgis or James Payn.