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Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXXVII, Issue 1279, 28 November 1903, Page 2

BY "MASQUE." During the week the Taylor-Cariing-ton Company has been .appearing witn the Opera House. { The pieces staeed were "Home Rule," "The Blnid hotter," "Uncle TonYs Cabin» , and •The Mystery of a Hansonr Cab.• 1. wist m£ Taylor and Miss Carnngton luck on their travels. Hyland's Circus, after much difficulty in obtaining a site, -at last pitched their tent on the vacant ground at the rear of the Catholic Church. Mr. Hyland has a lot of fine horses, some of which are very clever. Altogether it is a nice little show. . ... v. The event of the coming week will, or course be -the visit of Miss Ada Crossley, whowill -appear a* the Opera House | on Wednesday evening. lhat Miss Crossley will receive the same reception as in the other centres of New fea,land so -far visited is certain. It is unnnecessary to say that the company associated with Miss Crossley is a most brilliant one. , . At the conclusion of their Dunedm geason. the Daniel Frawiey Company sail for South Africa. . Mr. Daniel Frawiey intends to bring one of Frohmann'a opera companies to New Zealand next year. . At the Auckland Opera House on Saturday evening last-, the Dampier Company produced a dramatisation of Ma ?io CorelK's "Vendetta," "For the Term c* His Natural Life," and "The Merchant of Venice" are to ue produced before the end of the season. Mr. Alfred Dampier is said to be an exceptionally fine Snaikespearian actor, and as his company is a very capable one, I hope he will include in his Wanganui produc-1 tions some of fie "Divine William's" plays. _ ■< iSays the Auckland "Star":—On Saturday, October 10, the mortal remains or the late Mr. Clarence Holt werfe laid to rest in the cemetery at East Finchley. Josepn Frederick Holt, to give him his correct name, had outlived -tne Psalmist's span -oy seven years, he had survived most of his old friends, and to the present generation of playgoers was but a name. Born in London in 1820, Clarence Holt made his first apeatrance. at the old "Vie" as .1 I youth of 16. After much mumming .11 j tour he found his way out to Australia,,1 but returning to England in 1857 started management at the Old Maryleho-ie Theatre, apearing iin "Hamlet," "Othello," "Macbetn," and other 'legitimate" drama,, and a year later produced for the first tiane in England "Ruy Bias." Then followed a visit to Nevy York, and a second visit to Australia. In 1862 he visited New Zealand, establishing at Dunedin a theatre which for two or three yeai's he managed. Returning to London he played with Miss Amy Sedgwick at the Hay market. Subsequently he supported Miss Helen Faucit at Manchester, and fulfilled an engagament. at. <vue New Adelphi. He ; then turned his, attention for a While td dramatic readings^ but in 1878 took over the •management of the Duke's Theatre, Holborn, in conjunction with Mr. Chas. Wilmot. A few months later came his, greatest success as an author, "The New. Babylon," wi'itten :iri collaboration with Paul Merritt. The theatre was burnt down in. 1880, but innumerableperloimances of "The New Baibylon" had been given elsewhere. His name hast recently been little heard of, and few of his old friends lived to gafehor round his grave. He leaves a widow. Among his manuscripts is:an autojbiography which should be •considerably more interesting than tJie usual run of "lives." r .

The "Are You a Mason?" Company had a very ; big season in Adelaide. Hill and Silvainy, whose wonderful _ trick cycling created such an impression in New ; Zealand,: are touring the East. Emile Lazern, the illusionist, is a member of the company. Fitzgerald's Circus, under Mr. Tom Fitzgerald, will commence a New Zealand tour at the Bluff on December 8.

Mr. MusgroTie's Comic Opera Company opens in Sydney to-night. Mr. J. R. Amory. a member of the F-rawley Dramatic Company, is a first cousin of the Duchess of Roxburghe (Miss May Goelet), recently married in New York to the Duke of Roxburghe.

Mr. J. C. Williamson has decided to send his "Sherlock Holmes" Company on another tour of New Zealand in place of the Royal Comic. The tour commences at Dunedin on Boxing Night. The Austra*an rights of "The Orchid Hunt," the latest London Gaiety success, -have been secured by Mr. J. C.

Williamson

The result'of .the Slapoft'ski court case, now being heard in Melbourne will be looked forward to with interest.

The Jubilee Singers are still located in Sydney, where they are ctotng very tine business.

There has been so much litigation, co much "pirating,"' in connection with dramas founded upon the exploits of the Kelly Gang, that it i.s interesting to know (says an Australian writer) that the original play on the subject was written by Mr. J. J. Utting Av-ho is Avell known m Sydney a« a journalist, haArinh" filled important posts on several papers; and who is now on the staff to the Hobai'ii. "Examiner." Mr. Utting has told the story of how he Avroie the original drama avhen Parliamentary reporter on tue "New Zealand Times," Wellington in 1880. in a two and ahalf column interview. A company appearing at the Theatre Royal was doing poor business, and Mr. Utting suggested that the management should give the ipublio something novel, instead of the old stuff. The long and short of it wala that Utting agreed to deliver a Kelly Gang piece for £10 on the following Monday (it was then. Saturday). The -contraofc Avas completed, but Utting, who had already AA'ritten <seA reral plays Avhich had achieved success, declined to ■have his name attached to it. The author, however, assisted in giving the drama a. great advertisement. He got the Chaii-man <of Committees in the House of Representatives (Captain Hamlin) to ask the Premier, Mr. (afterwards Sir) John HaM, whether the Govern-

ment intended to stop the presentation of such a play, and so on. The Pre- ' mier regretted that he had no power (the innocent author did not know that, 'of course), but, lik<* Gilbert's Mikado, he would have a. Bill introduced next session. A similar' question was asked hi the Upper House. Result—columns of the report of the debate, and an enormous attendance. The first Ned Kelly was Mr. Jttobert Lone, who married Mrs. Harmston. and became the proprietor of Mrs. Harmston's circus. ; What Mr. Utting, however, did not tell the interviewer was that there was ' a remarkably funny incident in-the-first presentation of the lurid play. The murder of •Sergeant Kennedy was a unique 0ne.... iNed Kelly advanced from I the wings, and presented his revolver,, •which declined to go off. However, down went Kennedy, represented by an actor named Wilkinson, atnid roars of l laughter, which were increased as he made observations to the. effect that he was about to die. To save the situation, the other three members of the gang tried to shoot the trooper, but their revolvers, also, strangely enough, missed fire. The trooper was a corpse by this i time, hut the situation wits too much for the dead sergeant, who began to wo-oie about «•-© stage, a. victim of uncontrollable laughter. Then the bushrangers 'began to laugh too, and the curtain finally descended amid shrieks oi: merriment. ■ It was Mr. Utting's "Ostracised, or the Downfall of Crime," another Kelly Gang drama, which was produced at the Academy of Music, Castlereagh street, Sydney, in 1882, and hi -which such Oi.a actors as Messrs. Geo. •Collier, Charles Burford,.Alick Andrews, and Jack Sweeney appeared, and a&o Miss Patti© Brown. "Ostracised," it will be remembered, was prohibited after the first performance. The scrip of this piece was lost, but the possessor of the original scrip is Reg. W. Rede, who appeared in its first performance. Mr. Utting was asked what he thought of his original drama, as a literary production. He replied: "The gifted author ougt to get six months." The production of "The Honeymoon" by "The Muffs" recalls (says the writer of the theatrical column in the Sydney "Telegraph") an amusing story of how lan actor achieved fame by making a "gag" of some of'the best quoted lines of this old-fashioned piece. The actor, whose estimate of his own abilities did riot square with that held by the management, had been cast 'for,a small part. His principal business was to announce th© arrivial of the otht'r characters. But he decided to make a "star" performance of it. He would make a stirring appeal to the by building up his I character with a few noble lints borrowed from "The Honeymoon." He kept the scheme to himielf. Having made his entrance, and announced Lord So-and-So, to the utter 'astonishment of the other players, he advanced to the footlights, and .thus unburdened himself to the gallery:

The man that lays his hand upon a woman, Save in the way of kindness, ,is a wretch, Whom 'Wei1© grosis flattery to name a coward. These noble, inspiring sentiments, delivered with such complete irrelevance, deeply affected the gallery, and the actor made his exit aimid a storm of frantic applause. When the player again -appeared, the .gallery, remembering the iiobMty of his utterances', "rose at him," and he repeated the address on the dastardly conduct of the ruffian who would molest a woman, "see-aye in the way of kee-indness." The piece was "killed." 'but the actor was made.-