DOI Heft:
May 14, 1892
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17693#0242
May 14, 1892.]
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
233
brick; yes, it's vert/ beautiful—and yet, do you know,[meditatively)
I almost think it's prettier in tbe engravings !
Before the Burne-Joneses.
A Fiance. Tbis is the '' Wheel of Fortune,'''' Emily, you see. {Heads.)
"Sad, but inexorable, the fateful figure turns the wheel. The sceptred
King, once uppermost, is now beneath his Slave. . . . while beneath
the King is seen the laurelled head of the Poet."
His Fiancee (who would be charming if she would not try—against
Nature—to be funny). It's a kind of giddy-go-round then, I sup-
pose ; or is it Burne-Jones's idea of a revolution—don't you see—
revolving ?
Fiance {who makes a practice—even already—of discouraging
these sallies). It's only an allegorical way of representing that the
Slave's turn has come to triumph.
Fiancee. Well, I don't see that he has much to triumph about—
he's tied on like the rest of them, and it must be just as uncomfort-
able on the top of that wheel as the bottom.
[Her Fiance recognises that allegory is thrown away upon her, and
proposes to take her into the Hall and show her Gog and Magog.
A Niece (to an Impenetrable Relative—whom she plants, like a
heavy piece of ordnance, in front of a particular canvas). There,
Aunt, what do you think of that now?
The Aunt (after solemnly staring at it with a conscientious effort
to take it in). "Well, my dear, I must say it—it's very 'ighly
varnished. [She is taken home as hopeless.
COURT CARDS.
A splendid hand is just now held by Mr. Arthur Chudleigh,
Sole Lessee and Manager of the Court Theatre. Full of trumps,
honours and odd tricks. A perfect entertainment in three pieces.
You pay your money and you take your choice. You can come in at
8"15 and see The New Sub, by Seymour Hicks (Brayvo, 'Ices! and
may your success be Hickstraordinary!) or at 9'15 for W. S. Gilbert's
Rosencrantz and Guildenstem, or at 10 for A Pantomime Rehearsal,
which, as I remarked long ago on seeing it for the first time, might
last for ever if only judiciously refreshed, say once in every three
months, and on this plan it might continue until it should be played
in 1992 by the great - great - grandchildren of the members of the
present company.
There is one charming line in the bill—a bill which, on account of
its colour, must be "taken as red"—not to be missed by visitors.
It comes immediately after the cast of The Neio Sub ; it is this,—
" The Uniforms by Messrs. Nathan, Coventry Street." It has a
line all to itself, which is, most appropriately,'' a thin red line." Now
the officers in the programme are given as belonging to the "-
shire Regiment," i.e., Blankshire Regiment, but as they are all
wearing the Nathan uniform, why not describe them as officers of
Two Trumps.
Brandon Thomas plays the King. Gertrude Queen-and-Kingston.
the Nathanshire Regiment ? Perhaps such a title might be more
suggestive of Sheriff's Officers than of those belonging to Her
Majesty's Army; yet, as these gallant Dramatis Persona are
avowedly wearing Nathan's uniform (which may they never,
never disgrace !) why should they not bear the proud title of
" The First Royal Coventry^ Street Costumiers"? Let those most
concerned see to it: our advice is gratis, and, at that price, valuable.
9'15. Rosencrantz and Guildenstem. Excellent piece of genuine
fun. If Mr. W. S. Gilbert could be induced to add to it, I am sure it
would stand an extension of ten minutes to allow Hamlet to return
and have a grand combat with the King, and then for all the
characters to be poisoned by mistake, and so to end happily.
To everyone who does not look upon Shakspeare's work as " Holy
Writ," the question must have occurred, why did the Divine Wil-
liams put his excellent rules and regulations for play-actors into the
mouth of a noble amateur addressing distinguished members of " the
Profession " P Imagine some royal or noble personage telling Henry
Irving how to play Cardinal Wolsey, or instructing Sir Frederick
Leighton in painting, or telling J. L. Toole how to "get his laughs"!
Probably actor and artist would listen in courtier-like silence to the
illustrious lecturer, just as Shakspeare makes his players behave
when Hamlet is favouring them with his views on the histrionic
An Awful Moment of Suspense. Miles. May, Christine, Ellaline, and Decima
implore Lord Arthur Grosenez not to throw up the part. He cannot
refuse them ; il rtose pas.
art. In Mr. Gilbert's skit the leading Player makes a neat retort,
and completely shuts up Hamlet, — who, being mad, deserves to be
"shut up,"—much to the delight of King and Court. But, the
question remains, why did Shakspeare ever put this speech to the
players in Hamlet"s mouth ? My theory is, that he did not want
Burbage to play the part, but couldn't help himself, and so, out
of pure revenge, he introduced this speech in which he makes
Burbage himself condemn all his own faults. Later on the Queen
describes Hamlet as "fat and scant of breath," which certainly was
not the author's ideal Prince of Denmark; and this is evidently inter-
polated as "a nasty one" for Burbage. At the Court Theatre the
skit is capitally played all round, though I confess I should have
preferred seeing Hamlet made up as a sort of fat and flabby Chad-
band puffing and wheezing,—an expression, by the way, that suggests
another excellent performer in this part, namely, Mr. Hermann
Wheezin', who might be induced to appear after a lot of " puffin'."
Finally, A Pantomime Rehearsal is still about the very funniest
thing to be seen in any London Theatre at the present time. The
ladies are, all of them, as the old gentleman in Pink Dominoes used
to say, "Pretty dears!" They dance charmingly, especially Miss
Ellaline Terriss and Miss Decima Moore, whose two duets and
character-dances are things of joy for ever. The representative of
Jack Deedes, Barrister-at-Law and Gifted Author, is Little and
good, and the services of Mr. Draycott as the Lime-Light Comedian
are invaluable. Weedon Grossmith and Brandon Thomas are
better than ever: their duet is immense, but their combat is too
short. Why not introduce a Corsican Brothers duel ? The music,
by Mr. Edward Jones, is thoroughly appropriate and very catching.
By the way, one of the songs most encored goes with the exquisitely
sensible and touching refrain of '' Diddle doddle diddle chip chop
cho choorial li lay," which was enormously popular about thirty
years ago when it was sung at Evans's by Sam Co well, and by
Charles Young as Dido on the stage of the St. James's Theatre.
Odd this ! The air has been a bit altered, but I thought that comic
songs once out of date were dead and done for. The success of this
is proof to the contrary. Will " Ta - ra-ra-boom " achieve a second
success in 1922 ? Perhaps. A capital entertainment, which has
caught on at the Court, says
The Humble B. in Box.
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
233
brick; yes, it's vert/ beautiful—and yet, do you know,[meditatively)
I almost think it's prettier in tbe engravings !
Before the Burne-Joneses.
A Fiance. Tbis is the '' Wheel of Fortune,'''' Emily, you see. {Heads.)
"Sad, but inexorable, the fateful figure turns the wheel. The sceptred
King, once uppermost, is now beneath his Slave. . . . while beneath
the King is seen the laurelled head of the Poet."
His Fiancee (who would be charming if she would not try—against
Nature—to be funny). It's a kind of giddy-go-round then, I sup-
pose ; or is it Burne-Jones's idea of a revolution—don't you see—
revolving ?
Fiance {who makes a practice—even already—of discouraging
these sallies). It's only an allegorical way of representing that the
Slave's turn has come to triumph.
Fiancee. Well, I don't see that he has much to triumph about—
he's tied on like the rest of them, and it must be just as uncomfort-
able on the top of that wheel as the bottom.
[Her Fiance recognises that allegory is thrown away upon her, and
proposes to take her into the Hall and show her Gog and Magog.
A Niece (to an Impenetrable Relative—whom she plants, like a
heavy piece of ordnance, in front of a particular canvas). There,
Aunt, what do you think of that now?
The Aunt (after solemnly staring at it with a conscientious effort
to take it in). "Well, my dear, I must say it—it's very 'ighly
varnished. [She is taken home as hopeless.
COURT CARDS.
A splendid hand is just now held by Mr. Arthur Chudleigh,
Sole Lessee and Manager of the Court Theatre. Full of trumps,
honours and odd tricks. A perfect entertainment in three pieces.
You pay your money and you take your choice. You can come in at
8"15 and see The New Sub, by Seymour Hicks (Brayvo, 'Ices! and
may your success be Hickstraordinary!) or at 9'15 for W. S. Gilbert's
Rosencrantz and Guildenstem, or at 10 for A Pantomime Rehearsal,
which, as I remarked long ago on seeing it for the first time, might
last for ever if only judiciously refreshed, say once in every three
months, and on this plan it might continue until it should be played
in 1992 by the great - great - grandchildren of the members of the
present company.
There is one charming line in the bill—a bill which, on account of
its colour, must be "taken as red"—not to be missed by visitors.
It comes immediately after the cast of The Neio Sub ; it is this,—
" The Uniforms by Messrs. Nathan, Coventry Street." It has a
line all to itself, which is, most appropriately,'' a thin red line." Now
the officers in the programme are given as belonging to the "-
shire Regiment," i.e., Blankshire Regiment, but as they are all
wearing the Nathan uniform, why not describe them as officers of
Two Trumps.
Brandon Thomas plays the King. Gertrude Queen-and-Kingston.
the Nathanshire Regiment ? Perhaps such a title might be more
suggestive of Sheriff's Officers than of those belonging to Her
Majesty's Army; yet, as these gallant Dramatis Persona are
avowedly wearing Nathan's uniform (which may they never,
never disgrace !) why should they not bear the proud title of
" The First Royal Coventry^ Street Costumiers"? Let those most
concerned see to it: our advice is gratis, and, at that price, valuable.
9'15. Rosencrantz and Guildenstem. Excellent piece of genuine
fun. If Mr. W. S. Gilbert could be induced to add to it, I am sure it
would stand an extension of ten minutes to allow Hamlet to return
and have a grand combat with the King, and then for all the
characters to be poisoned by mistake, and so to end happily.
To everyone who does not look upon Shakspeare's work as " Holy
Writ," the question must have occurred, why did the Divine Wil-
liams put his excellent rules and regulations for play-actors into the
mouth of a noble amateur addressing distinguished members of " the
Profession " P Imagine some royal or noble personage telling Henry
Irving how to play Cardinal Wolsey, or instructing Sir Frederick
Leighton in painting, or telling J. L. Toole how to "get his laughs"!
Probably actor and artist would listen in courtier-like silence to the
illustrious lecturer, just as Shakspeare makes his players behave
when Hamlet is favouring them with his views on the histrionic
An Awful Moment of Suspense. Miles. May, Christine, Ellaline, and Decima
implore Lord Arthur Grosenez not to throw up the part. He cannot
refuse them ; il rtose pas.
art. In Mr. Gilbert's skit the leading Player makes a neat retort,
and completely shuts up Hamlet, — who, being mad, deserves to be
"shut up,"—much to the delight of King and Court. But, the
question remains, why did Shakspeare ever put this speech to the
players in Hamlet"s mouth ? My theory is, that he did not want
Burbage to play the part, but couldn't help himself, and so, out
of pure revenge, he introduced this speech in which he makes
Burbage himself condemn all his own faults. Later on the Queen
describes Hamlet as "fat and scant of breath," which certainly was
not the author's ideal Prince of Denmark; and this is evidently inter-
polated as "a nasty one" for Burbage. At the Court Theatre the
skit is capitally played all round, though I confess I should have
preferred seeing Hamlet made up as a sort of fat and flabby Chad-
band puffing and wheezing,—an expression, by the way, that suggests
another excellent performer in this part, namely, Mr. Hermann
Wheezin', who might be induced to appear after a lot of " puffin'."
Finally, A Pantomime Rehearsal is still about the very funniest
thing to be seen in any London Theatre at the present time. The
ladies are, all of them, as the old gentleman in Pink Dominoes used
to say, "Pretty dears!" They dance charmingly, especially Miss
Ellaline Terriss and Miss Decima Moore, whose two duets and
character-dances are things of joy for ever. The representative of
Jack Deedes, Barrister-at-Law and Gifted Author, is Little and
good, and the services of Mr. Draycott as the Lime-Light Comedian
are invaluable. Weedon Grossmith and Brandon Thomas are
better than ever: their duet is immense, but their combat is too
short. Why not introduce a Corsican Brothers duel ? The music,
by Mr. Edward Jones, is thoroughly appropriate and very catching.
By the way, one of the songs most encored goes with the exquisitely
sensible and touching refrain of '' Diddle doddle diddle chip chop
cho choorial li lay," which was enormously popular about thirty
years ago when it was sung at Evans's by Sam Co well, and by
Charles Young as Dido on the stage of the St. James's Theatre.
Odd this ! The air has been a bit altered, but I thought that comic
songs once out of date were dead and done for. The success of this
is proof to the contrary. Will " Ta - ra-ra-boom " achieve a second
success in 1922 ? Perhaps. A capital entertainment, which has
caught on at the Court, says
The Humble B. in Box.