AMUSEMENTS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2580, 14 August 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

AMUSEMENTS.

HIS MAJESTY’S

LOCAL FIXTURES

August 9.—Howards’ Pictures. September 21, 22, 23. J. C. Williamson.

It is probable that Mr. G. P. Huntley, the well-known comedian, and Mr. Maurice Farkoa, the handsome French light comedian, will tour Australia and New Zealand next year under the aegis of Mr. J. C. Williamson.

Mr. Edward Branscombe has formed a new company on the lines of “The Merrymakers.” This is entitled, “The Jesters,” and comprises, 'amongst others, Messrs. Percy Coward,,the male alto singer here with the Westminster Concert Party, Percy Denton, who has rehnguislied for the time the delights of comic opera; and Walter Whyte, the Auckland tenor.

Mr. Harry Rickards has booked the great Houdini at, it is- said, one of the largest salaries ever paid an artist in Australia. Houdini, it is believed, will receive £2OO per week from “the moment he puts foot on board the ship at Marseiles until lie returns from Australia.” “I predict he wall be the biggest sensational hit that ever put foot in Australia,” says a critic in the ‘ ‘Australasian. ’ ’

Theatrical Manager Anderson secured, while in London, the refusal of several sensational plays. He has bought the rights of a new drama, “The Prince and the Beggar Maid,” which sounds as if it will be too esoteric for Billiam’s adherents; and has boon trying to arrange for another tour through the Commonwealth and Maoriland of Miss Ada Reeve.

An opera company composed of children is appearing in London. The company is composed of children specially selected from amongst the most musical and intelligent in the south of Italj’. On the first night of the season “Lucia de Lammermoor” was given, in which a fourteen-year-old tenor, ittorio Gamba, made his debut. He is the son of a peasant, and used, to sing at fairs in the neighborliooh of Rome. The prima donna is Signorina Dora Tlieor, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a well-to-do Roman citizen.

The Literary Agency has the control of the films taken by Lieut. Shackleton, the intrepid Antarctic explorer. Those who have seen them say that, from an educational point of view, these films are extremely valuable, thought perhaps not so interesting a nature or so full of remarkable incidents as some other entertaining subjects. Probably this kinematograph history of the journey (accompanied by lantern slides made from hundreds of still photos taken) will prove, one of the most popular displays of the kind ever witnessed in the country. It is understood that between four and five thousand feet of realiy good film was taken.

Oscar Asche. interviewed on the slump of things theatrical in London, attributes it to three causes: (I) The simple one of too many theatres. (2) The cdd one of stage illusions being “given ay,'ay.” “I am as sure- of that as I am sitting here talking to you-that the now very common practice of letting friends behind the scenes, and the printing of magazine and newspaper articles showing how this or that illusion is worked, has done a great deal to destroy the old enthusiasm for the drama.” (3) The English practice of making a good show by filling up the house with “paper.” Once a man or woman (particularly a woman) has been given a free seat for the play that person is probably spoiled for life as a cash patron. Asche declares that a manager he was with, who had given away two seats for a Friday night, was thrown out of work by the burning down of the theatre on Friday, and on Monday received a- letter from the passholders presuming that, as there "had been no play for them to see, the money-value of the seats would be handed them!

The tribulation of a number of persons who succeeded in hearing Melba on the cheap are amusingly described by a “Bulletin” correspondent. Some Melba worshippers had a bad time'at Rockhampton (Q.) last week, says the writer. They wanted to hear , the cantatrice (as the “S.M. Herald” chastely hath it) on the cheap or dead-head system. So they got them a town ladder and stormed the roof of the Town Hall wlierin she was carolling, applied attentive ears to the various skylights and things, and drank in the sounds that percolated through with the greater zest in that they cost nothing. -The concert over, they prepared to descend. Alack! the village humorist had spirited away the ladder. Two alternatives faced them: they might either yell to the crowd below for help (thereby disclosing the unworthy game- they had been at), or keep quiet and stay the night where they were. They decided on the second course. Not till next morning did hunger and weariness impel them to jettison dignity and attract the attention of a passing John Dunn. As dreary a band of economists as the district had seen, streamed home shortly afterwards. They had been “on the tiles,” and they looked it.

The “Melbourne Argus” in its comment on Oscar Asche, in “The Taming of the Shrew,” the company’s opening bill in Melbourne, said: “Mr. Asche’s Petruchio is a strong, full-blooded, honest creation, impressing by its power, thoughtfulness and finish. Ft is a study that leaves little or nothing to bo desired. His dealings with Katherina are always tinged with humor, and even in his moments of extreme violence he is nevdr truculent or burgeois. There is beneath the assumed violence and antic disposition a certain bonhomie, a kindliness, a chivali’ic touch that must, in the end appeal to such a shrewish tomperament as Katherina s. His superabundance of animal vigor nevor gets out of hand. Ho bullies and hectors, storms and bustles, and cracks his whip throughout the play, knocking over like ninepins, all that gets in his way, cap makers, cooks, haberdashers, and yet ho never touches tli-o wrong note (so often struck) of sheer brutality. A saving grace of wit, half cynical, half tender, is displayed, coupled with the underlying suggestion that whatever treatment he metes out to Katherina lie is thoroughly prepared to undergo himself. It is an impersonation that fully, deserves a niche in the great dramatic gallery where live Brooke’s Othello and Walter Montgomery’s Hamlet.