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NEW PUBLICATIONS.
The Variety Stage.
"Ring up the Curtain," by Ernest
Short and Arthur Compton-Ric
kett. Illustrated. Herbert Jenkins,
London, 10/6. From the publishers.
MR. Ernest Short and the late Ar
thur Compton-Rickett have between
them produced a book which should in
terest readers-especially those who are
getting on in years-who can remember
the "good old days" of the variety stage
and of music-halls presided over by
chairmen, or masters of the ceremonies,
who personally introduced and guaran
teed performers, both male and female,
as they stepped debonairly on to the
boards to take their various parts in
entertaining and enlivening their usu
ally indulgent audiences.
The authors' "Pageant of English
Entertainment" covers, roughly speak
ing, about half a century, with an occa
sional allusion to the variety stage of
an even earlier period than the middle
eighteen-eighties-the period, that is,
of George Leybourne ("Champagne
Charlie"), and of the "Great Macder
mott," whose famous song, sung at a
time (the later seventies) when England
and Russia were at strained relations in
the Near East,'with Turkey as a prob
able "casus zelli," resulted in the word
"Jingo" becomihg incorporated as part
and parcel of the English language.
There are interesting chapters on the
Savoy operas and the long partnership,
so unhappily broken, of Gilbert and
Sullivan; the Gaiety and its Girls-"The
Shop Girl," "The Circus Girl," "The
Runaway Girl," and others; on Panto
mime, Comic Opera, Revue and Caba
ret; including reminiscences of the im
mortals, whose names still abide with
us, among others, Fred Leslie, Dan
Leno, Arthur Roberts, Herbert Camp
bell, Nellie Farren, Marie Lloyd, Flor
ence St. John and Phyllis Broughton,
who inspired so romantic a passion that
although rather heartlessly jilted, her
wealthy lover remained faithful to her
until her death in 1926. And after, for
surviving her more than a decade, she
was named-when his own end came-
his residuary legatee! Such an endur
ing passion goes a long way towards
making love respectable.
Some of the authors' stories and
ancedotes are new, and many of them
are amusing. For instmnce, the story
Sir Harry Lauder tells against himself
of how, in.Australia, "he had been tell
ing a certain Australian that wherever
he went-Canada, India, South Africa,
and the rest-he always found Scots
men. 'And I'm thinking,' he added,
'there must be a few good Scotsmen in
Australia.' 'There. are, was the Aus
tralian's reply, 'but rabbits are our real
pest.'" This would have pleased Dr.
Johnson.
At the time when Lady Constance
Stewart-Richardson was doing "classi
cal" dances at the Palace Theatre, a
West-End hostess approached one of
her guests, "a witty but 'old-fashioned
Marie Lloyd. Help
Marie Lloyd.
leader of Society, with the news: 'Lady
Constance has promised to do her bare
foot Persian dance.' 'Dear me,' re
plied the Duchess, 'I knew something
dreadful would happen when I over
turned the salt at dinner.'"
Marie Lloyd was perhaps the best
loved of all English variety artistes.
Her generosity was unbounded; that is
why she died a poor woman, despite the
huge sums which she had earned dur
ing her working life. "On one occa
sion she bought the entire contents of
an East-End shop, and gave away
bacon, sugar, tea and the rest. Sit
ting behind the counter, wearing the
familiar big hat, she handed over the
wares, refusing all payment. When the
goods were exhausted, Marie distri
buted silver to late-comers. She had a
score of acquaintances on her pension
list, to whom silver or notes were doled
out every Saturday night." When she
died in 1932, it was estimated that at
least 50,000 people attended her funeral.
Here is a reminiscence of the incom
parable Lottie Collins's famous song,
first sung in the early nineties: "In
1897, a party of British volunteers" (it
was at the time of the Greco-Turkish
War) "were in the habit of visiting a
small restaurant in Athens. One even
ing the Greeks present happened to
sing their own national anthem, and
the Englishmen Joined in. Not to be
outdone in courtesy, a Greek, who was
present, suggested returning the com
pliment by singing the British
'National Anthem.' What he really
sang was the refrain of 'Ta-ra-ra
Boom-de-ay.' The Englishmen had to
stand, with caps doffed and faces all
solemnity, until the assembled Greens
had picked up the air. Then one of
the volunteers sang a verse, and Greeks
joined in the chorus. The comedy con
tinued until Lottie Ccllins's song was
finished."
"Ring Up the Curtain" will doubtless
interest and amuse many playgoers of
the present generation; but . it is
essentially a book that will captivate
and enthrall those of us whose mem
ories go back in silent tribute to the
long-dead, or departed, entertainers of
fifty years ago.
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