Music-Hall Artists are not by any means "Fixed Stars." During the
evening they manage to accomplish the somewhat paradoxical-sounding
feat of shining in the same parts, yet in different places and at
different times, appearing everywhere with undiminished brilliancy.
The Student of the Music-Hall Planetary system, has only by
observation to ascertain the exact time and place of the appearance of
his favourite bright particular Star, and then to pay his money, take
his choice between sitting and standing, and like a true astronomer,
he will--glass in hand, a strong glass too,--await the great event of
the evening, calmly and contentedly.
If the Wirtuous Westender wandering down the Strand, after having
on some previous nights exhausted the Pavilion and the elaborately
gorgeous Variety Shows given at the Empire and Alhambra, seeks for
awhile a resting-place wherein to enjoy his postprandial cigar, and be
amused, if such an one will drop into the classic Tivoli, he will find
excellent entertainment, that is as long as their present programme
holds the field. The Holborn and the Oxford may delight him on other
nights, for it seems that much the same Stars shine all around; but
for the present, taking Tivoli as synonymous with Tibur, he may, with
Horation humour, say to himself ("himself" being not a bad audience as
a rule):--
"Holborn Tibur amem ventosus, Tivoli Holborn,"
and he can then enter the Tivoli, now under the benign rule of that
old Music Hall Hand, CAROLUS MORTONIUS, M.A., Magister Agens, while
the experienced Mr. VERNON DOWSETT--"_Experientia Dowsett_"--manages
the stage. Good as is the entire show, and especially good as is
the performance of Mr. CHARLES GODFREY as an old Chelsea Pensioner
recounting to several little Peterkins a touching and heart-stirring
tale of the Crimean War, yet for me, the Costermonger Songs of
Mr. ALBERT CHEVALIER are the great attraction. His now well-known
"_Coster's Serenade_," and his "_Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road_,"
are supplemented by a song and dialogue about a Coster's son, a
precocious little chap, about three years old, and "only that 'igh,
you know," in whom his father takes so great a pride that it works
his own temporary reformation. It is so natural as to be just on
the borderland between farce and pathos, and recalls time past, when
ROBSON played _The Porter's Knot_, and such-like pieces. Now what more
do Music Halls want than what Mr. CHEVALIER gives them? This is the
very essence of a dramatic sketch of character, given in just the
time it takes to sing the song,--that is, about ten minutes, if as
much. The compact orchestra, under the directorship of Mr. ASHER,
discourses excellent accompaniments, and the music of the CHEVALIER's
songs--composed, I believe, by himself--is not the least among the
attractions. The CHEVALIER, who, as he takes more than one turn every
evening, may be termed a Knight Errant, is certainly the Coster's
Laureate and accepted Representative in the West; the mine, which is
his own, is inexhaustible. He is a magician in his own peculiar line,
and may write himself ALBERTUS MAGNUS.
* * * * *
"AL FRESCO," the Lightning Artist, whose full name is "ALFRED FRESCO,"
writes to suggest that the Alhambra under Mr. JOHN HOLLINGSHEAD's
management should start a Rotten Row Galop and Kensington Gardens
Quadrille to follow as in a series the highly successful _Serpentine
Dance_.
* * * * *
NOVEL QUARTETTE.--At the next Hereford Festival there will be
performed a concerted piece by four Short Horns.
* * * * *
[Illustration: STARTLING DISCOVERY ON THE YORKSHIRE COAST.
_Young Tripper_ (_on his first visit to the Sea, becoming suddenly
conscious of the ebbing Tide_). "HI! BILL! JACK! T'WATTER BE A RUNNIN'
OFF! BY GUM, LADS, BUT AI BET SHE'S BRUSSEN SOMEWHERES!"]
* * * * *