We must reluctantly confess to finding ourselves in the sorry plight of
the pitcher that went too often to the well. When we saw “Captain
Brassbound’s Conversion” we realised that we have been just once too
often to the well of humour at the Court Theatre, of which Mr. Bernard
Shaw is the copious spring. Generally one of the most attractive
features of the productions at the Court Theatre is the happy way in
which the parts appear to fit the artistes to whom they are given. But
in the case of Captain Brassbound we have sustained a disappointment in
this respect. The only lady in the caste is Miss Ellen Terry, and for
her saving presence we are most thankful, and we consider it one of her
greatest triumphs that she should galvanise Lady Cecil Waynflete into a
very attractive human being. Mr. Fred Kerr is seldom found in a misfit
part, but the title _rôle_ of the play, Captain Brassbound, the modern
but still bold buccaneer, is scarcely worthy of his art; and a still
greater disappointment to us was to see Mr. Edmund Gwenn, who in “Man
and Superman” was the very prince of chauffeurs, playing the part of
Felix Drinkwater, the prolix cockney adventurer, who to our mind
possesses no semblance of humanity. There are a variety of foreign
characters in the play uninteresting enough, and altogether we can only
hope that Captain Brassbound is an early effort of Mr. Bernard Shaw
which we may use as an example to point the advance he has shown in his
more recent works, and not as an instance of his present ability.
Having fortified for many a day and night the Garrick Theatre with “The
Walls of Jericho,” the fertile pen of Mr. Alfred Sutro was called upon
to provide a fresh theme for Mr. Arthur Bouchier and his talented
company.
“The Fascinating Mr. Vanderveldt,” a comedy in four acts, is a skit upon
a phase of Society—with a big S, when so many members of the peerage are
concerned. The motive of this smartly written play is that of an
adventurer, who in order to force a lady into marriage endeavours to
compromise her by compelling her to pass, unchaperoned, a night at a
village inn, at which he also is staying. You can all take your choice
about the play. If you are serious you may regard it as a melodrama of
the motor-car; if you are flippant you may laugh at the farce of the
sparking-plug; but however you take it, you must regard yourselves and
the play as very chic and up to date, and then everybody will be
pleased. Mr. Vanderveldt is labelled “fascinating” in the promiscuous
fashion that some eggs are labelled “new laid,” perhaps with just as
slight veracity, and in this matter much depends upon faith. To some of
us he appears to be a colossal cad, but to the ladies in the play he is
made to appear irresistible, although even to some of them, may be,
highly ridiculous.
There are a couple of dull old gentlemen suing the Lady Clarice for her
hand, and there is a very proper colonel who has the cheek to give her
good advice, but not the nerve to keep on asking her to marry him, and
there is the fascinator who can do more with a lady in ten minutes than
many a man in a lifetime. And greatest and most novel creation of the
author’s brain, we have the _Deus ex machinâ_ in the proper person of
the clergyman who drives the motor and saves the reputation of the
light-hearted lady, by his ready adaptation of the sparking-plug. And so
the alleged fascinator is left in the parlour of “The Cow and Calf Inn”
to the novel experience of drinking a bottle of champagne to his own
solitary cheek, and the tongues of the gossips are silenced, and there
is a prospect of wedding bells in honour of the alliance of the
coldblooded colonel with the laughing Lady Clarice.
This same Lady Clarice is played by Miss Violet Vanbrugh, and that, to
our mind, is the best of the play, for she gives a very charming
rendering of what cannot be regarded as a very great part.
Of so-called musical plays there are just now a large variety in London,
no less than eight West End theatres being devoted to that form of
entertainment. Mr. George Edwardes has in “The Little Michus” at Daly’s
Theatre what appears to be a perennial success, and certainly the charm
of Miss Denise Orme, the music of Messager, and the mirth-compelling
humour of Mr. George Graves, with a fleeting appearance of the great
Genée, combine to provide a delightful evening’s amusement. At the
Prince of Wales’ Theatre “The Little Cherub” has grown into “A Girl on
the Stage,” with much the same company as before, including those very
funny men, Messrs. Willie Edouin and W. H. Berry. Miss Ruth Vincent is a
valuable recruit with her charming voice, and Miss Zena Dare and Miss
Gabrielle Ray are as beautiful as ever.
Wyndham’s Theatre now finds itself the home of “The Girl behind the
Counter,” a musical comedy by Leedham Bantock and Arthur Anderson, with
music by Howard Talbot. It affords us an opportunity of welcoming back
to the stage that popular singer, Mr. Hayden Coffin, who is great in the
part of a millionaire miner just returned to London society in full
mining kit, and an imperial arm tattooed with the Union Jack. He is
supported by Mr. J. F. McArdle, who supplies most of the comic element
in a manner pleasantly suggestive of Mr. George Graves. Mr. Horace Mills
as an office boy apparently has based his methods upon those of Mr.
Edmund Payne, and there is a family likeness between the work of Mr.
Laurence Grossmith and his brother Mr. George Grossmith, junior.
Moreover, Mr. Hayden Coffin always seems to us to be imitating himself,
so that a mind keen upon imitations can revel in its fancy at Wyndham’s
Theatre just now, although about the best mimic of them all, Miss Marie
Dainton, who brightens the caste, did not, when we saw the piece, give
any of her celebrated imitations. Miss Isabel Jay sings and masquerades
charmingly as the girl behind the counter, and Miss Coralie Blythe is
once more at her best in a _soubrette_ part. There are several good
musical numbers and some amusing lines, and altogether we can recommend
“The Girl behind the Counter” as a capital entertainment.
Another amusing entertainment is “The Dairymaids” at the Apollo Theatre,
with those charming ladies, Miss Carrie Moore and Miss Agnes Fraser,
disguised first as dairymaids and then as athletes. They have a
half-sister in Miss Florence Smithson, and as Miss Phyllis Broughton and
Miss Gracie Leigh are also in the caste, it will be seen that there is
no lack of fair ladies in “The Dairymaids.” Mr. Walter Passmore supplies
some fun, although, personally, we dislike his dressing up as a woman;
but the hit of the evening was made by Mr. Dan Rolyat, who, we believe,
is a new-comer to London. As a comic sailor-man he at once won the
hearts of his audience by his funny methods and agile clowning, and
probably by this time his part has been expanded to allow him better
opportunities than he at first enjoyed.
The last scene of the play takes place in a ladies’ gymnasium, which is
a clever set, and bids fair to make “The Sandow Girl” very popular.
Sporting Intelligence.
[During April-May, 1906.]
The international match for the tennis championship of the world
(professional) and £250 a side was played at Prince’s Tennis Club at
Brighton on April 22nd, 25th, and 28th. The match was between C. Fairs
(champion), and Ferdinand Garcin (challenger). The conditions of the
match were the best of thirteen sets, played on three separate days,
four sets to be played each day. The match was exceedingly well fought,
but terminated in a victory to Fairs by 7 sets to 4, 56 games to 47, 373
strokes to 332.
* * * * *
The final round of the amateur tennis championship was played between
Mr. E. H. Miles, the holder, and Mr. Jay Gould, amateur champion of
America, on May 7th, at Queen’s Club. The holder retained the
championship, defeating Mr. Gould by 6 games to 3, 36 strokes to 33.
* * * * *
We regret to record the sad end of George Jones, huntsman of the Whaddon
Chase Foxhounds, who was found dead in a barn at the kennels. It appears
that owing to a change in the mastership Jones was leaving, and this so
preyed on his mind that he took poison, which caused his death.
* * * * *
Gamekeepers have sustained a very real loss by the death of the Earl of
Mansfield, who was one of the most active supporters of the Gamekeepers’
Benefit Society, and who took a great interest in all questions relating
to the gamekeeper’s profession. Lord Mansfield was the owner of some
forty-six thousand acres in Dumfriesshire, Perthshire, and Clackmannan,
in addition to Ken Wood, near Hampstead. The late peer was succeeded by
his brother, the Hon. Alan David Murray.
* * * * *
A remarkable sale of shorthorn cattle was witnessed last month, when
Messrs. John Thornton and Co. dispersed the well-known herd that had
belonged to the late Mr. Philo L. Mills, Ruddington Hall, Nottingham.
The sale of 115 head reached the great total of £17,930, an average of
nearly £157 each. The highest price was 1,100 gs., paid by Mr. F. Miller
for the two-year-old bull Ruddington Prince Christian; his half-brother,
the famous King Christian of Denmark, being bought by Mr. A. W. Hickling
at 900 gs. The dam of these two bulls, Countess Farewell 5th, realised
600 gs., and her six-weeks-old heifer calf 400 gs., both going to Mr. E.
N. Casares, a noted Argentine buyer; whilst yet another of her sons, a
yearling, realised 200 gs., the total for the five being 3,200 gs., an
average of 640 gs. each. Three representatives of the Dainty tribe sold
at 500 gs., 420 gs., and 130 gs., respectively, and nine descendants of
the Duchess tribe made an average of £250. Five calves, averaging eight
and a half weeks old, and all of them by the 900 guineas bull, averaged
£230 a piece. The herd was widely distributed, thirty-four head going to
South America, sixteen to Scotland, two to Ireland, the remainder
finding new homes in twenty-three English counties.
* * * * *
Mr. S. Laing Moffat, the Secretary of the Hunt Servants’ Benefit
Society, states that the following amounts have been received as the
result of caps: The Croome, £36 1s. 9d.; Eridge, £35; Badminton, £30;
Surrey Staghounds, £26; Burton, £20 15s.; South Staffordshire, £19 14s.
7d.; Cotswold, £18 4s.; Fife, £17 17s. 6d.; and the Warnham Staghounds,
£17 15s.; while a collection made at the South Hereford Foxhounds and
Ross Harriers’ Point-to-Point Races realised £10 16s., the total amount
equalling £232 3s. 10d.
* * * * *
The trade for really first-rate Hackneys and harness horses appears to
be unaffected by the presence of the ubiquitous motor car. Thus Mr. W.
Scott’s mare Menella, the winner of two firsts, the gold medal and
special prize at the last show of the Hackney Horse Society, was sold at
the Thornholme sale to Messrs. Carr and Co. for 1,175 gs. The black
gelding Gay Mathias was sold at the same sale to Mr. A. Gemmell for 650
gs. The average price paid for ten Mathias mares and geldings was fully
£319; whilst the twenty animals sold averaged nearly £185, against £108
at last year’s sale. Since the sale Menella has been exported to the
United States.
* * * * *
Much regret is expressed in the Hursley country at the decision of Mr.
F. C. Swindell to resign the mastership. Mr. Swindell has hunted hounds
since 1883, commencing with a pack of French hounds given him by the
Marquis of Anglesea, with which he hunted part of Cannock Chase. From
1885 to 1894 he was Master of the Puckeridge, and from the latter year
until 1898 of the Old Berks. He then went for two seasons to the Taunton
Vale, taking over the Hursley in 1903.
* * * * *
Knowle Halma, the champion mare at the recent Hackney Horse Society’s
Show, was sold to Sir Lees Knowles, Bart., at Mr. R. W. Jay’s sale, for
650 gs. At the same sale the two well-known show geldings Southport
Performer and Towthorpe Performer realised 395 gs. and 250 gs.
respectively, both being purchased by Mr. T. Mathieu, of Brussels. The
sale was a very successful one, an average of nearly 128 gs. being
obtained for twenty-four lots.
* * * * *
During the last month good prices have been paid at Tattersall’s on
several occasions for polo ponies. Mr. U. Thynne disposed of Ariel at
150 gs., and Mr. Dennis of Toko at 110 gs., Nettle at 103 gs. and
Glisten at 100 gs. Colonel Godley received 110 gs. for Black Nancy, Mr.
McCreery 125 gs. for Sunset, and Mr. Dixon 105 guineas for Dolly. Major
Neil Haig’s ponies sold well; Ardaghhowen made 290 gs.; Bluey, 128 gs.;
Alcibiades, 90 gs.; and Mrs. O’Shea, 88 gs. The hunters and polo ponies
belonging to the officers of the 14th Hussars were all sold and realised
good prices. A gold medal polo pony from Captain Walker made 175 gs.,
and Seddington, from Captain Campbell, 165 gs.
* * * * *
A great loss has been sustained by the Zoological Society owing to the
death of Daisy, the fine female specimen of Ward’s giraffe, obtained
from Mr. C. Reiche in 1895. The loss is the more to be regretted since
Daisy was in calf to the young male presented to the Society by Colonel
Mahon in 1901. The immediate cause of death was tuberculosis of the
lungs.
* * * * *
The first important sale of blood stock at Newmarket was that of the
horses in training, thirteen in number, belonging to the late Sir James
Miller, and they fetched very good prices, considering that all their
racing engagements are voided by the owner’s death. The total realised
was 7,475 gs., making an average of 575 gs. each, and three of the
thirteen reached four figures. The highest price was 2,500 gs. for
Roquette, a two-year-old filly by Chaleureux-Roquebrune, who went to M.
Edmond Blanc’s stud in France; and another two-year-old, a colt by
Sainfoin-La Sagesse, winner of the Oaks, was sold to Mr. W. Raphael for
1,650 gs.