AMUSEMENTS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2544, 3 July 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

AMUSEMENTS.

HTS MAJESTY’S

LOCAL FIXTURES To-night.—Allan Hamilton Company. July 7,8, 9, and 10. —Pollard’s JuvenHe Opera. July 26, 27.—Geach-Marlow Dramatic Company. AS OTHERS SEE US. “Look here, I think the Australians are really a critical crowd. The statement has frequently been made, I know, but it is a fact. And, what is more, they are evincing a strong desire for better things nowadays—plays with strong human interest in them.” So said Mr. J. W. Deverell, of Meynell and Gunn’s New Eng'.isn Darmatic Company, before he left for Melbourne, and who visited Australia two years ago. “Australians would not stand half the stuff the Londoners do.”

“Yes, life on the stage in Australia—at least I have found it—is better than in London, for you have a better engagement here; in fact, practically all the year round. In London, if you go eighth months of the year you are extreme’y lucky. Here you are practically assured of a 45 weeks’ season. And you get better paid out Here too.” Mr. Deverell commenced life on the stage nine years ago, and he has appeared in almost everything. His experience enabled him to give such a fine touch of humor to Reggie in “Lucky Durham;” in fact, his portrayal of the role is one of the big features of the piece. “Nine years ago I was given a magnificent salary of 25s per week,” he grimly added, when talking of first experiences. “And I played six parts in the play called ‘The White Heather,’ known to Australians. My first decent chance was with Tree, with whom I toured two years ago. I played at Wyndham’s in an all-star caste in three one-act plays. I played with Chas. Warner in ‘Heard at the Telephone,’ and was the original of the tramp. Then I played with Barker and Yedrenne in a beautiful fairy pay called ‘Prunella ;’ and I understudied James Welch. I was playing in ‘Resurrection’ with Tree when I came to Australia in 1906, but I only remained three or four months. Directly I got back to England I was engaged for ‘The Amateur Socialist.’ Then I played the light comedy role in £ My Wife,’ and that was one of my chances. At the Royalty Theatre I p’ayed in ‘Susannah.’ Then I toured with a piece called ‘The Divorcous.” from the French. I had another comedy part with Louise Freear, with whom I toured, and then Tree engaged me for ‘Faust.’ in which I was playing when Mr. Meynell engaged me for Australia."” Mr. Deverell’s sister, Miss Edith Deverell, was also engaged for the same company, and has proved herself a charming young actress. These_ two play the brother and sister admirab y in “Lucky Durham.” Harry Salmon’s entertainers, at present touring Queensland, will tour NewZealand during November next. Mr. Ashton is en route for America in search of novelties for the Williamson firm. He will remain in New York for a while. Subsequently he proceeds to London, where he will foregather with Mr. J. C. Williamson. Mrs. G. B. W. Lewis, late of Melbourne, is playing a part in the London production of “The Devil.” a- dramatic work which was recently produced at two separate theatres on the same night in New Y'ork. Paris will soon have one of its streets named after the deceased actor Coquelin. The proposition was made by M. Paul Escudler to the Municipal Council, and immediate sanction was given to it. Mr. W. S. Gilbert, who has already placed liis seventy-third birthday presents upon the shelf, is reported to be at work on the libretto of a fairy opera, tlie music which will be composed by Edward German. Miss Amy Murphy is stated by the Sydney papers to have achieved a conspicuous success in the music of Senta, on the occasion of the production in i concert form of “The Flying Dutchman,” by the Philharmonic Society there. The “Australasian” pays Miss Maggie Moore the following pretty little compliment:—“She has • forgotten neither how to sing nor to laugh, how to he the Maggie Moore that charmed us yesterday, or the Maggie Moore for whose to-morrow we have all the most earnest of good wishes.” Cinquevalli, the great juggler, is credited with being „one of the most learned of vaudeville artists. As a linguist he shines, the languages he speaks fluently include French, German, English, Polish, and Italian. He plays the violin, mandoline, and piano, and on one occasion rather astonished a private audience by ’Maying his own accompaniment on the piano at the same time as he played the violin. He might include this feat in his present programme. He also dabbles, in hypnotism, and is an enthusiastic photographer.

This is how Mies Maggie Moore describes her first attempt to go on the stage. —“There' was an advertisement, •Wanted, a Singing Fairy.’ Of course every mother tliin'ks that her own daughters are singing fairies, and as I had {in elder sister on the stage, my mother sent me down to the theatre to answer the advertisement. ‘What can you sing?’ the manager asked. ‘Just Before the Battle, Mother,’ I answered. ‘Sing it,’ lie said. So i sang it in ono key while a violm played the accompaniment in another, and it did not aooear to impress him greatly. ‘You go home and wait,’ he said, -and if. we want you we 11 send for you.’ .1 went homo and waited tor a year; but. they didn’t seem to want me. Shortly afterwards I appeared at a benefit given to my sister, who was about to marry and leave the stage. I sang two songs, ‘Yes, I Would the War Were Over’ and ‘Limerick. Races.’ Both took, and the management asked, ‘Would you like to go on the stage?’ I was practica, even at the hour of my triumph, and said, ‘What wages will I get?’ Six dollars a week,’ they said, recklessly. So f• went on, and very soon after was playing little Mary Morgan, in ‘Ten Nights in a Bar-room.’ I-was then eleven -.vears of age.” . . , V.; . .y; \ ] ■ wii- j \ i $ <s . i*L<r *'■

Mr. Walter Bentley reappearance on the Australian stage on the 26th of June, at the Theatre Royal,. Adelaide, -in “The Silver King,” under the management of Mr. J. C. Williamson. Subsequently Mr. Bently wif. play a three weeks’ season at His Majesty’s Theatre, Brisbane, opening oiu August 30th, and then tour through; the North, with a tour of New Zealand, to follow. Mr. Bentley as Wilfred Denver, will be seen in one of his best performances. He starred in America-, when he was selected b” Wilson Barrett to pi a’- the part in succession to Mr. Osmond Tearfe. Later lie appeared in the role in London and Australia. " ;

“So you are a great admirer <% Shakespeare?” “Yes,” answered Mu. Stormington Barnes. “The man hisri more than genius. It was prescience. Think of his being able, without having seen me act, to write parts that fit me so admirably.”

Dramatic business would seem to be pushing ahead in New York, as six new theatres are in the building or are announced. These include the Globe, to be erected by Charles Dillingham ; the Comedy, now being built in West Forty-first Street; the Columbia, to be erected in Times Square by Weber and Rush: the new Bornx, now being bui t for Percy Williams; and a Lincoln theatre, to be built on the east side of Columbus Avenue.

In America a big theatrical war is ■ impending, the first shot having been fired by the Shubert Brothers, who have peremptorily withdrawn from theTheatrical Managers’ Association of New York. Since the entrance of the Shuberts and their financial backers into the theatrical business, they have become powerful rivals of the so-called American Theatre Trust, composed of Messrs. Klaw, and Erlanger, Nixon and Zimmerman, Charles Frohman, and A. L. Hayman. The business of the Shubert Brothers and the Shubert Theatrical Company is valued between £2000,000 and £3,000.000, including theirvarious theatres, leases of sites and structures, their numerous houses in New York, twenty-seven companies, and the Hippodrome. According to their representative, they expect to have fifty companies next season.

William Hawtrey, whose name should suggest “A Message From Mars.”“ p ayed Mr. Brown in “An Englishman’s Home” in New York. One dramatic critic of the invasion play sums it up as far as American, audiences are concerned in the words: “So long as the Hotel Cecil does not, raise its rates, - and there continue to be free days at the Tower and Westminster Abbey, nobody on our side cares a tuppenybit whether Britain is invaded by or Fiji Islanders.” The critic admits that the humor of the piece was undoubtedly funny, and that the death of Brown defending his home struck a human note, and again he says: “When a pleasant young man who has been making sport of the whole business is shot through the heart, we gasped and were silent. Death is a tragedy in all languages.” A failure is predicted for the piece in New York, but in the Empire the matter is a different one,, and with the Dreadnought discussion sti'l alive the drama should be a success in the Dominion.

- The interview is a familiar form of theatrical “copy.” Scarcely an actor or actress who is of any note arrives, without they are subjected by the energetic theatrical reporter to the interviewing process. In America Mr. Harry Roberts had some interesting and curious experiences with interviewers, and the mention of this prompted the query as to his opinion of this form of advertisement. “I do believe in interviews,” said Mr. Roberts, “if conducted within proper limits. It is. in short, a form of advertisement which every actor and actress welcomes, and it is to be encouraged so long as there is no attempt to pry into one’s private life or overstep the bounds of good taste. Do not let me be misunderstood, however. The practice of interviewing becomes an abuse when the actor is merely made to serve the, purpose of supplying frivolous and uninteresting ‘copv.’ and to expect an actor to talk about the best way to cook tomatoes, or how to hang wail-paper, is not only stupid, but vexatious. But in the broad sense, we love to be interviewed.”