UPS.EMENTS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2592, 28 August 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

UPS.EMENTS.

HIS MAJESTY’S. LOCAL FIXTURES. (Nightly, —Path© Pictures. September 1,2, 3,4, 5,6, 7 —Scottish Covenanters. September 21, 22, 23.—J. C. Williamson.

Tho Path©, Pictures will present an entire change of programme at tho Matinee this afternoon and also tonight. Owing to tho Theatre being otherwise engaged this programme can only be presented to-night, Monday and Tuesday.

M. Franz Leliar—tho composer of “The Merry Widow”- has written three new pieces, and the first to be produced .will be bis collabaration with Dr., Wjil'neir, called “Ulie (Count of Luxembourg,” which will be staged at the Ander Wien Theatre, Vienna, in October. • ’

Mr Hugh Ward, Miss Grace Palotta, Celia Gilhoni, Rose Musgrove and their merry associates, are still filling thq Mclborurne Princess with “A Bachelor’s Honeymoon.” The piece is said ‘toAlsri- one of the • funniest of all the funny modern farcial comedies which have been brought to Australasia. We understand that Mr William Miller is endeavoring to fix Avith this company to play at Gisborne during Show Week, in October.

Schubert seemed born to be unlucky. Three of his large works were used by t'he maid to light the fires Avith—and all his labor was thrown aAvay by the carelessness of his servant. But perhaps he was careless too, in leaving it out of place. And when ho Avrote the J song avo knoAv so well, “Die Forelle” I (The Trout), he was in such haste for Ht to dry that he shook the ink over the ( paper, instead of the sand. For in the < old days blotting paper was not known \ and sand was used for the purpose.— “Etude.”

“The stage has given me everything,” proudly declares Julie Opp Faversham. “To be a conscientious actress, Avith intelligence, Avill power, and a capacity for bard Avork—for all of thorn are needed—is to. have the privilege of meeting practically all of the leading artists of the time and of the countries in which it is your fortune- to act. What would I have been if I had not gone upon the stage. Merely a dull, usual Avoman of the middle class, Avitli no real knowledge of the outside Avorld or of books or music or art or of the men and women who make art live. All of these the stage has given me.”

“Acting is not mere imitation, as many people think,” says David Warfield “If, for instance, I were to play the part of Avaiter, and were to study a particular -specimen of the class in this hotel and then try to be like him on the stage, I would fail utterly. In some Avay or other I would have, to be mvself, while being the Avaiter, too. Acting is an art. I didn’t use to think so but I am convinced of it noAV. Mere imitation or photography in acting is as repugnant as in the art of painting. Everything that is great, in both these arts must be colored -with the personality of the artist.” •

A member of the J. O. Williamson staff tells an amusing story of an mtervieAv in which for a change there were two victims instead of one. Miss Ethel WarAvick of “The Flag Lieutenant” Company, was the victim in chief, while the interviewer, who shall be nameless, ran her a good second. The actress chatted with brightness till she %vas asked her .opinion of Sydney women. She said she thought them very smart in appearance. “But what, has struck me most particularly about them,” she added, “is their beautiful hair. 'ls it tho climate?” she asked guilelessly, and at the same moment became conscious- of the fact that the pressman \vas oonfusedlv reaching for his hat, but not before she noticed with horror that ho was quite bald.

The Lord Chamberlain has refused to license G. Bernard Shaw’s “The Showing up of Blanco Posnet,” and consequently (records “The Stage”) lias become the subject of an attack by the injured author, who, after stating' that he will allow the play to be performed in America and throughout Europe, adds: “Young dramatists cannot afford, as accidentally I can, to lose the price of months arduous labor andi.be black-listed by managers as dangerous. This reminder to them that there _ie safety in “The Merry Widow” and the utmost danger in plays of the kind I write will invariably act as a lesson to them which will. seem gratifying and hopeful only to those who not only enjoy “The Merry Widow”—l- enjoy it myself greatly, for the matter of that—but who think that it presents a complete, satisfactory, and edifying-view of human motive and destiny.” There is a good deal in what Mr. Shaw says about ’’The Merry Widow.” The loose moral tendencies of a certain set form a leading theme of the opera, which, however, is cleverly veiled in comedy; perhaps Mr. Shaw’s subject was treated in too nude a form. , Mr. Albert Galdie', business manager for the Hugh Ward Company writes from Melbourne and says that the company is -doing wonderfully fine business with “A Bachelor’s Honeymoon,” and that the playgoers of the Commonwealth are thoroughly- enjoying the farcical comedy. Mr. Goldie believe© 'in fact, lie is confident—that Dominionites will also appreciate the new piece, in which, of course, Mr, Ward and Miss Grace Palotta are playing the leading parts The plot revolves round this attraction Mr. Benjamin Bachelor has ittthicod Miss Joyce, a leading light of the stage, to elope 'toith him, but, although he has entered into the bonds of matrimony with her, he decides to keep his marriage a secret, ■pending' an opportune time for its disclosure to bis sister and moral guardian, on whose good favor his financial fortunes depend. Opt of this.preliminary episode aro involved a succession of situations and incidents which, through’: the whole- of the three acts; provide mirth: without measure,, and loaves even the seasoned playgoer with laughter-aching; sides. “A Bachelor s Honeymoon’'’ is purely .and simply., a fun-maker, and if. it belonged _to the category of what sir John Madden has described ns * ‘tomfoolery de profundi s, it ha® its Mystification in the proverbial relish of even the wisest men Tor a little nonsense now and then. Several songs and some dancing, after the musical comedy style, serve to add variety to the performance, • ■ ” -• ' ” ■