THE LONDON THEATRES. London, September 29.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 78, 29 November 1884, Page 4

THE LONDON THEATRES. London, September 29.

The " Fall season at our theatres is now in full swing, and every week brings new and important novelties. The Court reopened last Thursday with a revival of Tom Taylor and A. N. Dabourg's comedy, "New Mon and Old Acres." This piece has had more than one long run in London, and is always acceptable when well cast. I saw it first at the flayrnarket about fifteen years ago. , So George Leybourne has gone at last. I expected to hear of his death about a year ago, but, wreck though he was, he clung to lifo tenaccously, and talked nonsense to the last. Leybourne was the first and tho greatest of the so-called "lion comiques," and a very fair sample of his class. There are various stories as to the manner in which he commenced life, but I am told, by one who ought to know, he was the " pot-boy " of a Bradford free-and- 1 easy. Subsequently ho was sent to work at | the mills, and might have stayed there for e\Bi' if his facility for catching up lively tunes anal improvising what the profession call "patter" had not struck one of the singers at the local music-hall. He taught Leybourne somo of tho comic ditties of the day, and got permission for him to sing them in public. The lad's broad humour and i questionable jokes delighted the provincial audiencos, and Leybourno was soon a man of many engagements His great success, however, dawned on tho day that he met Alfred Lee. Mr Leo is a man who has made a great many folks' fortunes without materially bench' fcfcing his own. Fully sixty per cent, ot the successful comic songs played and whistled and barrelorgancd about tho world for the last twenty years havo been composed by him, and yet 1 think it piobablo that nine men out oi ten never even heard his name For Leybourno he composed the ever-to-be-remembered "Champagne Charlie," "Tho Lancashire Lass," "Up in a Balloon," " Moot and Chundon," "Down in a Diving Bell, "and many other ditties which brought in hundreds ot pounds to the ex pot-boy. It was "Champagne Chailio" made L«yboiunc's fame. Tho words (as is generally the case with this class of song) weie of the vulgarcst description — in fact, beneath contempt, but the music would not disgrace Oflcnbach or Hem.'. Leybourno paid £7 for "Champagne Charlie." He sang it night after night for thico years, doing " turns " at four diflbient halls each evening when in London, and sometimes earning as much as £120 a week. Pie was not the least bit of a vocalist The veriest amateur could have sung "Champagne Charlie" better, but his "patter" amused people, and he -was the fiict tonuqtt" to dress up his paits appropriately. Well do I remember my first sight of "The Great George Leybourne," as the play-bills used to style him. I was a boy then— a "snobby" lad with honibly vulgarised tastes— and I thought Iliad never seen anything so "swell" as Leybourno's broad striped trousers, dashing cutaway coat of costliest velvet, resplendent tie, bejewelled paws, elaborate cane, and curly-brimmed hat. I daresay your readeis would laugh it Iweieto say that Leybourne, when at the zenith of his career, did something towards setting the fashions, but it is true he did. Many beside 1113 self will, I doubt not, recollect the time that [ flat curly brimmed " Champagne Charlie" hats and coats cutaway almost to swallowi tails were as much " tho thing" as crutches and toothpicks afterwauls became. Like most of his brothien, Leybourne was hopelessly improvident audevtravagant. Money "lipped through hi* lingers miraculously. The more he earned the moic invohedho became. People seemed 1o be always- after him foi money. As for his, tastes and life, they wove accurately described in " Champagne Charlie," '• I pall niulit. In bed .ill d.i.\ , And sw lininiiitf m champagne." This sort of caicm couldn't last, and in duo course Icybouine bioke down. He was sent to a lotrcat, recovered, and began life again, but his \oico, his "patter," and his popularity were alike gone, and, though up to the very last he could earn £20 a week when able to siny, he appeared but the shadow of his former self. I Leybourne' 8 last success was a song, " Ting ! Ting ! that's how the Bell goes !" Like "Champagne Charlie" it was composed for him by Lee. 1 heard the poor I fellow try and croak through it at the Pavilion Music Hall eighteen months ago. The singer was a failure, but the song a triumph, and for months after the melody kept poor Leybournc's mcmoiy green. He leaves a widow and some childien (wholly unpiovidcd for) as legacies to the profession. Thoy will probably be duly looked after Leyboiunc, besides being good-uatuied, was kind-hcaited, and never refused to assist to tho best of hi* abilities a broken singer. Those who knew him personally aver, ,\ith a sigh, that he was nobody's enemy but his own. After an unprecedentedly long run of just two years, '"Confusion" w as withdrawn from the bills at the Vaudeville Theatre, and tonight "Saints and Sinners," a live-act drama by Henry A. Jones (part author of the "Silver King"), will be pioduced. The scone is laid in a small provincial town, and the pay iUustrathe of modem middleclass life. Mr Thomas Thorno lakes the principal pait. "The Private Secretary" continues to capital business at the Globo Theatre, but when it gives out, tho brothers Haubrey havo a new comedy ready called " Out of Sorts. ' On Monday nevt a farcical comedy in three acts, entitled "A Wefc Day," will be produced at the Gaiety, where a burlesque ou "Called Back, "rather peculiaily named "Called There and Back," is also in prepaiation. Meanw hile "Little Fra Dravolo " will bo revived as an afterpiece. The Novelty Theatre management are preparing "Tally," a comic opera by James Mortimer and Edward Solomon, in which Miss Lilian Russell will appear. I don't think it will bo worth much. Tho long-piomised revival of "Hamlet," at the Princess Theatre, with V\ ilson Barrett as the Danish Prince, will take place noxt month. Miss Eastlakc has been cast for Ophelia, Mr Willaidfor Claudius, and Mr George Barrett for the Fiist Gravedigger. Great things are hoped from Wilson Barrett's Hamlet. "The Babes, or Whines from the Wood," tho now burlesquo in three acts at Toole's, is but a poor affair, and unlikely to have more than a brief run. Lionol Brough, as " not too much villain but just villain enough " is funny, and Willie Edoum and Alice Atherton, as two immense babies, look droll; but the pieco itself is thin, attenuated, and terribly slow. On the evening of our visit the sole success was achieved by Alice Atherton, who gavo " The Babies on our Block," so well known in Australia with great effect. Tho song is not known in England, and, of course, caught everybody's ear.

A student at a veterinary college being asked, "If a broken - winded horso were brought to you for treatment what would you advise?" promptly replied, "To sell him us soon, as possible."