FOOTLIGHT FLASHES.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 232, 21 February 1885, Page 12

FOOTLIGHT FLASHES.

"The Candidate" was the great success, of the winter theatrical season in London. Miss Fortescue will invest part of that. £10,000 in a tour with " Pygmalion and. Galatea." Mr George E. Sims' new Adelphi drama; is to be entitled "Outcast London." "In the Ranks " was still drawing well. Mr H. A. Jones, author of "Saints and Sinners," is to contribute an article to theNineteenth Century entitled " Eeligion and the Stage." Miss Anderson is evidently up to snuff... When she took up a goblet in one of her chief scenes, she discovered in the nick of time that a quantity of pungent snuff had. been piit into the vessel. A correspondent, signing himself "English's Playgoer," takes to task the colonial journalsfor their fulsome flattery on theatricals in. general. He says ther^ have been equally as. good actors and actresses as Mr Vernon and. Miss Ward in the colonies before, and outside these two the other members, are very ordinary. . ' Charles Warner, the eminent English, actor, was the son of an actor, and when .he first went on the stage as Manley in the ' ' Castle Spectre " he was such a mere shadow •of a youth that his sister had to make him. some false calves,, which got turned round in the struggle with* the villain of the piece, and appeared on his shin bone. His salary was ISs a : week. " Roland " writes : "On Thursday night, at ttie Opera House, I threw a bouquet on. the stage towards ' Lady Ingram,' but the 'Colonel' appears to think they should not go to anyone else but the ancient 'Miss Letitia Pierpoint.' Now, that is not fair.. The other lady members have an equal right, to these floral offerings." It is evident that Willie Sprately h&s made a .deep impressipn. somewhere. y Miss Louise Crawford, Miss Melrose,£and Mr Percy Shannon recently took passage together from Wellington to Sydney. A fellow passenger (who ought to have been., pole-axed and thrown overboard) nick- • named # the two actresses "The. Belles of Shan(dn f )on. ' ' Within a day' s sail of Sydney there was a sort of triangular duel between the company. Shannon blacked Melrose's . eye, and Miss Crawford avenged her clierc amie by putting one of Shannon's' 1 peepers into mourning. The' " star" seems to have' been the boss pug. of the . company,- but on. their arrival in- Sydney there was a big rise in the price of raw, beef » n ,d iodiiieT We observe with very liiuch pleasure" that . Mr James Kitts, the genial business manager of the Pollard Company, is once more in . Auckland. In the Australian colonies thename of "Jim Kitts " is as familiar as household words with all the theatrical world,, and as the business agent and intimate friend, for many years of the late Mr Lyster. Mr ■ Kitts deservedly made himself endeared and . respected by all who were brought into contact with him, both in his public capacity as . Lyster' s business manager, and, privately, as. a thorough good- hearted man of the world. Mr Kitts heralds the Pollard Juvenile Company, which some three years 'ago so delighted the theatre-going portion of Auckland. Since the last visit here the Companyhas been considerably augmented, and the repertoire is one that will eagerly be welcomed by those who love the excellant performance of these little people.

Mr Goring Thomas has practically finished iis new opera. "Nadeschda," which will be produced at Drury Lane at Easter. The story is a Russian one. Nadeschda is a serf, and is beloved by the virtuous tenor, Vladimir, and by the desperate villain Ostab, also a serf. It will thus be seen that the usual plan of such works is reversed, and that the lord of high degree is preferred to the sweetheart of the heroine's own rank :in life. In the last act the villain Ostab : gets o-stabbed, and the lovers are united. Vladimir's mother and his wicked brother - also take part in the plot. The period is the reign of the Empress Catherine. The subject would seem to be well suited to Mr Thomas' style. At the Opera House, the " Queen's Favourite," after a most successful run, was withdrawn on Monday night, and replaced iby Sardou's inimitable comedy, "A Scrap of Paper" — a piece which gave Miss Ward an ■admirable opportunity of displaying her talent for versatility, the piece being intensely comical, drawing forth roars of laughter from the audience. As the title « implies, the whole interest is centred on the " Scrap of Paper," showing that out of little -things great things may arise. The plot of the piece, if plot it can be called, is hinged on a small piece of paper, on which had been written a few lines from a love sick maiden to her lover, and the great aim of the writer is to keep this " scrap of paper" from falling into the hands of her husband, who is a jealous bear. Miss Ward sustains the part of Miss Pierpoint, and in the scene where she sacrifices her good name to save Lady Ingram from the jealous boorishness -of her husband, Miss Ward gave the •audience a piece of delightfully refined acting, which drew forth loud and prolonged applause, showing the appreciation in which the efforts of the talented actress were held. Miss Watts-Phillips, as Lady Ingram, was all that could be desired. Mr Vernon, as Colonel Blake, had a difficult part to play, ' and to say that he played it well is but small praise. The boorish husband, Sir John ■ Ingram, had an able impersonator in Mr Fenton, and the other characters w.ere well •and ably sustained. The performance eon.eluded with the laughable farce of "A Regular Fix," in which Mr Vernon forcibly reminded old. theatre-goers of that prince of V- .comedians, Charles Mathers, as Hugh de Brass. The way in which the various pieces produced by Miss Ward are staged reflect most creditably on all concerned, while the ■orchestra, under the leadership of that talented musician, Weinberg, junr., during <the intervals discoursed most elegant music.

TAUL C. PURCHASE.

, The subject of our sketch is a young man who has spent neai'ly all his years in Auckland, and has earned the respect and goodwill of all with wftbm he has come in contact. Before he had completed his eighteenth year, Mr Purchase was looked upon by the citizens •of Christchurch as the coming Myers of N.Z., being then in the hands of Mr Martin, the well-known Auckland trainer. He won, from scratch, a race in the fast time of - 56 2-ssecs, beating Pentecost (Christchurch), O'Connor (Timaru), Organ (Waiinate^, and ■six others ; but the confinement of a printer's trade weakened his constitution, and he dii verted his attention to other pastimes, .amongst others to brilliant feats of equilibrium, in which he was inimitable. He was always-most liberal, giving his services gratis for any charitable object, irrespective of sect •or creed. Mr Purchase recently had the misfortune to lose his hand in a printingmachine, and the Waiteinata Minstrels, ever ready in a good cause, have tendered him a benefit, which will take place next Tuesday, -the 24th, in the Theatre Royal, when it is to be hoped his old friends and the public generally will roll up en masse.