Punch (74.1878)

February 23, 1878.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. 81

SERVICE NO SLAVERY.

S~ ur pessimists complain of

" f H\\ the little distinction

....- ;M now-a-days between

- ji servant-girls and mis-

, tresses. Here is one way
of making that little

1^"^ less :—

A GENTLEWOMAN
&. 11**1 -tl WANTED, by a Lady,

A f ■ /^Sjhgf ?s GENERAL SERVANT

H • n , I i!>"•il^Mfti in a small family, where a

: 'i-■'"' S^^if W^k nurseis kept- No one who

p, ifwllj , y ,_7y%</ 9 B^fe is above her work need

1 lip .■, ■ ■ . 1-341 apply. She will be treated

a ill ''!.';, i- , ; ,; " K with every consideration

1W ••'•it >..V\ /(W • - and kindness. Apply, &c.

f J P/Mj/V "'i» Suppose it had run

/ | ' wfl "A Lady, Wanted by
Whx - -~/ ~ i! i liffl a Gentlewoman," would
fM\ --' /. .. !j | M it have been all the
tffflm ' y { [t'''.;/{ same ? Or is there a
Jmf y delicate distinction,

ifff^'" which Punch fails to

Mp|^rz^iz^r—catch, between the Gen-
^Bm . tlewoman and the Lady?

He hopes that if the Lady should find
/||jffir the Gentlewoman she wants, the only
')iB% rivalry betweeu them will be which can
WXm do her duty best by the other. If that
-•l|f$0§ were so with all Gentlewomen in service,
tMmk and Ladies out of it, it would be a case
Wmttju of Lady-Helps, in the best sense of the
''WMh^ word, upstairs and down.

" Unto this Last ! "—A Cockney sug-
gests " Hashley's " as a good site for the
"Hobbylisk"!

OUR EE PRESENT ATIVE MAN.

[On the Amateur Pantomime at the Gaiety last Wednesday

Afternoon.)

Sir,—The great event of last week in the Theatrical "World (and
what portion of the world isn't theatrical, seeing that it is all a stage P)
was, unquestionably, the Amateur Pantomime at the Gaiety Theatre,
on Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 13th, 1878. I give the date in full,
for the sake of generations yet unborn.

The subject of the Pantomime was the Forty Thieves. The
opening was written by Messrs. R. B,eece, W. S. Gilbert, F. C.
Burnand, and H. J. Byron, and the two comic scenes were arranged
by Mr. Sotjtar and Mr. John D'Auban, two of the most indefati-
gable, persevering, good-tempered instructors ever seen on any
stage._ Herr Meyer Ltjtz, director of the music, was also long-
suffering, and to him is due the harmony of the proceedings. The
whole affair, from first to last, was under the control of Mr. John
Hollingshead, who undertook it as a matter of charity, worked at
it as a matter of business, and managed it all most admirably.

The Forty Thieves were deservedly "taken up" by everybody
in town, and the theatre could have been filled twice over. The
performance was for the benefit of the General Theatrical Fund, and
brought about seven hundred pounds, which gives a balance to the
charity of about five hundred.

The Amateurs did work at it with a vengeance. For five ^or six
weeks, day after day, they persevered in their rehearsals at all
sorts of inconvenient hours; and Mr. W. S. Gilbert, who not only
supplied one of the scenes and a capital song to the air of the
Judge's song in Trial by Jury, but also played Harlequin, was
doing "animations," "trips," and "leaps" for three hours a day,
through a period of two months previous to performance. By the
13th of February he could have gratified a Shylock's rapacity by
writing a cheque for any number of pounds of flesh dispensed with
during these rehearsals. And yet, when he appeared as " Mr.
Spangles," and had a reception as brilliant as his dress, he did not
at all appear to be the shadow of his former self, Not a bit of it;
he was the Spanglest Mister Spangles that ever we did see—a very
Titan among Harlequins—at least his dress was a very tight 'un—
and he did his spiriting with a gentle firmness, a courteous deter-
mination of purpose, and an inflexible gallantry which evidently
impressed the dear little Columbine, Mdlle. Rosa, with a sense of
the intense devotion with which her glittering lover worshipped the

very ground she trod on. Mr. Gilbert's Harlequin was the Harle-
quin of the Iron Will and Supple Limb.

Happy Thought.—Did it ever yet occur to any historian, that The
Man in the Iron Mask was only a Harlequin, without his wand, of
course, pining for his Columbine, and imprisoned by Clown as
gaoler ? If Mr. W. S. Gilbert will but undertake the chief
character of Mr. Spangles in prison, I see a Pantomimic Drama
before me of deep and stirring interest.

Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon both the instructor, Mr.
D'Auban, and the instructed amateur pantomimists, who must have
been about the most apt and conscientious pupils he has ever
taught.

Mr. Knox Holmes, who played the Tyrant Gesler in the Ama-
teur Pantomime in 185G, was not a whit behind the youngest of
them all in his excellent rendering of the " Old 'un "—i.e., the
Pantaloon. Captain Colville, the Policeman, was " A. 1." Lord
De Clifford's weak-minded " Swell," who purchases an umbrella
from the Clown for two guineas, and walks off with only the stick
of it in his hand, apparently intensely satisfied with his own great
business-like capacity for a bargain, will be a thing of beauty and
a joy for ever in my memory.

But how am I to recall them all, and give to each his meed of
praise ? Wasn't that cancan first-rate between Mr. Algey Bastard,
as " Ung Mossoo," and Mr. McCalmont as an "Old Woman"?
Great praise is due to that "Old Woman" for the way in which
she managed her skirts, But then Mr. McCalmont is accustomed
to a gown,—and a wig. Mr. Leslie Ward as the "Artist," sketched
Gladstone and Disraeli on a black board with a rapidity and a
decision that proved he could both act, and "draw" when he acted.
And then—the Clown!! Mr. Wye, besides having acquired the
voice and actions of the very best of the "Old Joey" school, was
also a tumbling Clown; then, mind you, he obliged the company, by
the special request of some wags in the gallery, with " Hot Codlins"
and " Tippitiwitchit " {which it isn't spelt like that, I believe, but
I don't know any better), the former song being finished with a
Little " gag " of Mr. Wye's own making, that brought down the
house. All his "business" was a real pleasure to him, as one
might have imagined it would have been to the author of that
quaint little Christmas piece, "The Doll's House," played for two
festive seasons at German Reed's.

Now a few words as to the Burlesque portion. Captain Gooch
and Mr. Quintin were excellent as Ali Baba and Ganem. Mr.
Bastard's " make-up " for Cassim was very good. Mr. Maclean's
Hassarac was a most energetic performance, and his dancing
capital. Mr. Wortley's trumpeter's legs were quite Vokesian ;
and Mr. Pabker's likeness of Mr. Gladstone was something that
might have given the Lord Chamberlain fits. Mr. Higgins was
made up after the Vanity Fair portrait of Benson the Convict.

The Ladies who assisted, Miss Fleanor Bufton, and Miss Lucy
Buckstone, did their very best for the general weal, and the
General Wheel was a real " Merry-go-Rounder." Then it is but
fair that I should place on record the untiring exertions of Miss
Lydia Thompson throughout the rehearsals, and at the performance.
Well might she have sung (as she used to sing in Blue Beard),
" Shoulder arms! and pull yourselves together ! " for if any mortal
power, beyond that of Messrs. Soutar, Ltjtz, and D'Auban, did
keep the Forty Thieves (the rascals!) well pulled together, and
thoroughly in hand, it was Miss Lydia Thompson's. Her "go"
and verve (that's a French word, which I fancy expresses my mean-
ing—at all events I hope so—if not, any of my readers with a
dictionary at hand can select another for himself) were the very life
of the Burlesque opening. I. believe a Hollingshead Medal has
been struck, commemorative of the event; and each one of the
authors has been presented with a gold periwinkle-picker, set in
diamonds.

It was a day of most thorough and deserved success. That the
Pantomime, wherever it may be given, will be as successful as it
was at the Gaiety, is the faith of Your Representative.

P.S.—Once more my remarks on Diplomacy must stand over. I
will just add a line here to record the genuine success of the Opera
of the Merry Wives of Windsor, by the Carl Rosa Company, at the
Adelphi. Miss Gaylord is charming. Au plaisir !

Beyond Cardinal Virtue.

Pecci 's too clean of hand St. Peter's bark
To steer among the shoals and troubled billows.

A Pope should have sins—not, of course, too dark—
But Pecci has, at most, but Pecci-dilloes.

parody for the prudent.

We don't want to go to war; for, by jingo, if we do,
We may lose our ships, and lose our men, and, what s worse, our
money too.