Crocodiles in the Green Room: Comic and Curious Clippings From The Legendary Theatrical Paper "The Era", 1900-1910

By Julia Atkinson

The second volume in a series of extracts from The Era, Crocodiles in the Green Room covers the years between 1900 and 1910 in which traditional theatre and music hall entertainment was faced with a new rival - the early cinema.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Julie Diane Atkinson
• Release date: Oct 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781999761042

Julia Atkinson

Julia D Atkinson was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in 1960. She was formerly a critic for the British Theatre Guide. Her ground-breaking article "A Name Not Just Now Familiar to Ears Polite: The Importance of Being Earnest and Lady Windermere's Fan on Tour, 1895-1900", was published in the July 2015 edition of "The Wildean: A Journal of Oscar Wilde Studies".

Book preview

1

1900

Goosed By The Gallery

AUGUSTUS J MURRAY, an actor, was charged at the Swindon Police-court on Monday with inflicting grievous bodily harm on Harry Bruce, manager of The Two Hussars company, which appeared at the Queen’s Theatre, New Swindon, last week. Mr. Bruce said he had had occasion to complain of prisoner’s acting during the last week, and he was told to take his basket out of the dressing-room, as it was needed for another gentleman who was going to play the part. On Sunday morning the prisoner met the prosecutor and struck him over the head with a walking-stick. He made a second attack with a stick in one hand and a revolver in the other. In struggling to secure the revolver Mr. Bruce was struck several times on the head and fell, the prisoner kneeling on him and beating his head with the butt. Faint and almost blinded by blood, the prosecutor managed to cry out Murder! and Help! The prisoner then levelled the revolver at Mr. Bruce, and pulled the trigger, saying Now I will do for you. The weapon, however, would not go off, and another member of the company coming up, the prisoner decamped. After hearing evidence, the Bench committed the prisoner to take his trial at the coming assize, allowing bail in the sum of £50.

6/1/1900

MISS DAISY DE ROY had a narrow escape of being killed on Wednesday evening. Whilst driving from her house to the Empire, Holloway, in a dogcart, she pulled up, to give her horse a slight rest, at the corner of Blackfriars-bridge. Suddenly a lorry bumped into the trap wheel. The boy behind shouted to the driver that his wheel was jammed. The man backed and got loose, then started off again only to make matters worse, for instead of clearing the trap he dashed into it again. Miss de Roy’s horse took fright, and bolted all among the ’buses and traffic, but the plucky little lady stuck to the reins, and screamed out for someone to stop her horse, which fortunately a young man did, in the middle of the bridge. Luckily Miss De Roy and her horse but escaped unhurt, but she lost her handbag with her few knick-knacks, including a plain gold bracelet – a present from a lady in Oldham. It appears that the man in charge of the horse and van was asleep.

20/1/1900

MRS. BROWN POTTER at the close of a matinèe performance in aid of the Yeomanry Equipment Fund at the Lyric Theatre, Bath, on the 2nd inst., after reciting The Absent-Minded Beggar, put up to auction the tambourine with which she had assisted in collecting for the fund during the performance. The bidding having stopped at seventeen guineas, Mrs. Brown Potter announced that she would kiss the buyer if the price reached twenty guineas. The offer was immediately taken advantage of by Mr. Dhunjhiboy Bhomaniji, a Parsee merchant, who stepped upon the stage and received the tambourine and the embrace. 10/2/1900

FRED WORTHY, nineteen, who was charged in Bristol, on Tuesday, with obtaining food and lodging to the value of 19s. from Annie Comber by false pretences, gave a card with the name Alec Seale, character comedian. At the top of the card appeared the words, The Mighty Atom. He said he was engaged at the People’s Palace. Frederick Welshman, secretary and treasurer of the Palace, Baldwin-street, stated that the prisoner was not engaged at the Palace. The unworthy Worthy was sentenced to imprisonment for twenty-one days for his impudent attempt. The genuine Mr. Alec Seale is at present playing with Mr. Harry Glynne’s combination at the Grand, Clapham.

3/3/1900

PLAYGOERS who really love the dramatic profession will indeed feel sad after witnessing the first act of Zaza, now being performed at the Garrick Theatre. We have never seen the profession dragged through the mud so shamelessly. What must Mr. W. S. Gilbert’s young lady of fifteen think of the stage when such orgies of vulgar dissipation are represented in a play as going on behind the scenes during a performance? It is a great grief to us to find American actors and actresses taking part in such a disgraceful libel of their own calling, and trying to bring their class into contempt, giving the enemies of the drama an opportunity of pointing to the evidence of the stage itself as to its inner life. It must be a bad bird indeed that fouls its own nest.

21/4/1900

AN unrehearsed scene took place at Runcorn Theatre on Saturday evening last. A large audience had assembled to witness the drama of Unknown, and about five minutes after the performance had commenced quarrelling was heard amongst the performers. The act-drop was suddenly lowered, when no less than four of the actors came in front of the curtain in a most excited condition to speak of their grievances. Mr. Caddick then wisely returned the habitués their entrance money, and closed the theatre for the evening.

26/5/1900

MR. CHARLES COLLETTE was recently questioned as to what he regarded as a crying evil on or off the stage. However, the Cheerful One said: – Crying evil, eh? Well, I don’t know of any evil so annoying as a crying baby. I was much distressed some time ago, whilst giving my entertainment at the Crystal Palace, by a loud-lunged squalling infant. Unable to stand it any longer, I apologised to the audience for the annoyance caused by my juvenile patron. I went on to say that I saw outside the theatre notices prohibiting the admission of children in arms, and knowing that the officials carried out their duties with the strictest integrity, the only conclusion I could arrive at was that the infant in question had been born on the premises, under which circumstances I considered it extremely injudicious for mother and child – but the rest was drowned in laughter.

18/8/1900

WHILE Faust was being performed by the Carl Rosa opera company at the Empire Theatre, Oldham, last Saturday afternoon, a goblet, into which evidently too much spirits had been poured, was given by Mephistopheles (Mr. Alexander Bevan) to Faust (Mr. Julius Walther). As soon as the goblet had changed hands flames burst out, and Mr. Walther’s hand was burned. When he felt the heat he dropped the goblet, and he and Mr. Bevan soon stamped out the flames which arose, and continued the act. On the reappearance of Mr. Walther in the second act his hand was bandaged, and throughout the performance he was in much pain.

20/10/1900

ON the first night of The Gay Pretenders at the Globe Theatre last Saturday the performance dragged somewhat, and the audience became very restless. In the second act, when Mr. John Coates as Perkin Warbeck began his song, Uneasy Lies the Head, for the first two or three lines he was regularly goosed by the gallery, and one gentleman commenced to play on a penny trumpet. It was with the greatest difficulty that Mr. Coates went on with his song, but when he came to the second verse he mesmerised the audience completely, and when he had finished he received a rapturous encore, after responding to which he came on and bowed in answer to the continued applause. The incident proves how unfair some playgoers are who express their verdict on an entertainment before its conclusion. We are glad to see that the opera has been considerably pulled together since the first night.

17/11/1900

MADAME SARAH BERNHARDT, when she was last in America, was playing Jeanne D’arc, and one night when kneeling was hurt by a rusty nail. The wound gave her considerable pain and trouble, and it was thought that a slight operation might possibly be required. The fact was mentioned in the daily papers, and a day or two afterward the actress received a telegram from the manager of a museum in Chicago, asking, if it was found necessary to amputate her leg, might he please have it. He added that he would drape it if desired.

22/12/1900

2

1901

The Forces of Pantomime Evil

SUPERSTITION dies hard in the profession, and good and bad omens still abound. According to past prophecies, Charley’s Aunt, which is still running at Mr. W.S. Penley’s pretty Queen-street theatre, ought not to have been a success, for on the first night the production was attended by quite a serious mishap. In the middle of the second act an actress standing in the wings accidentally leant against the electric button which worked the curtain bell, with the result that the curtain descended at a most important part of the play. This was as bad an omen as anyone could imagine, but somehow it did not work on this occasion, and the play has had the longest run of any piece ever produced, and still holds the record.

MR. ISRAEL ZANGWILL, who originally conceived the plot of The Mantle of Elijah, which he has just dramatised as a play, has been explaining that Children of the Ghetto was absolutely ruined at the Adelphi by Jewish Hooligans, who objected to the reproduction on the stage of their own manners and customs and mode of life.

5/1/1901

MDLLE. JANOTHA took her black cat, White Heather, to the cat’s-meat men’s supper at the New York Restaurant on Thursday. She played Home, sweet home, in her usual expressive style; and Mr. Courtice Pounds, Mr. George Giddens, Miss Phyllis Rankin, Miss Alma Stanley, and Mr. Scott Russell also contributed to the very enjoyable entertainment which followed the repast.

MISS WINIFRED HARR, who is playing Dick Whittington in the pantomime at the Coronet, Notting-hill, received a letter on her arrival at the theatre on the evening of the 3rd inst., the writer of which threatened to kill her on the following day, and to similarly treat all the leading actresses in London. The letter was signed Jack the Ripper, the writing being crude and juvenile. Miss Hare attaches no importance to the epistle.

THE Empire Theatre and Variety Hall, the largest place of public entertainment in Northampton, was seriously damaged, early on Sunday morning, by an enraged band of people, who had failed to obtain their week’s salaries. There were altogether about eighty artists, most of them young persons, who had been engaged chiefly in the production of the Christmas pantomime. One of the two men who were said to be proprietors of the company made various explanations for not paying the salaries on Saturday morning. During the evening performance he collected all the money taken at the doors and disappeared. At the close of the piece Mr. Hill, the second proprietor, told the performers that his partner had gone off with the money. Indignation was strongly expressed to Mr. Hill, who managed to get off in a cab. About fifty of the company followed him to his hotel, which they slightly damaged. They then returned to the Empire, broke all the windows, smashed the doors, wrecked the furniture, and destroyed the scenery, only ceasing when tired out. Many of the victims are in poor circumstances, and are unable to proceed to other towns for engagements.

WANTED, by Lady, Very Short, and Well Known, to Join Sketch or Burlesque Company; or would Join Tall Gentleman or Lady as Partner. Apply, MURDOCK, 10, Chesney-view, Hunslet, Leeds.

WANTED. Rumbo Austin and His Aristocratic Nippers, with his New Budget of Comicalities, Acknowledged to be the Funniest and Greatest Parody Acrobats now before the public are Vacant Feb. 4th and 11th. Monday next, Argyle, Birkenhead.

AT the Lyceum Theatre on the night of the 13th inst., while the choristers playing in Henry V were on stage – after they had received their salaries – someone abstracted the money and valuables from their clothes. About £20 was taken, and among the articles stolen was a gold presentation watch. On the choristers’ return to their room they discovered their loss, and enquiries showed a dresser named George Henry Hill* to be missing. On Saturday evening this man, who had been a soldier, was apprehended and taken to Bow-street Police-station by a detective. Mr. Lewis Waller showed his sympathy with the choristers by giving each of them a sovereign. Hill was brought up at the Westminster Police-court on Friday, charged with the murder of William Pearson by shooting him in a third-class carriage on the L. and S.W. Railway between Surbiton and Vauxhall on Thursday afternoon. The prisoner was remanded.

*Hill, whose real surname was Parker, was found guilty of Pearson’s murder and executed on March 19th, 1901.

MISS KITTY LOFTUS, who is playing Harriet in Shock-Headed Peter, at the Garrick Theatre, met with an accident on Sunday last. Returning from Southend in the evening, Miss Loftus and her mother alighted at Kentish-town, thinking it was St. Pancras. Discovering their mistake, Mrs. Loftus got into the train again, when it started. The train was at a standstill when Mrs. Loftus entered the compartment; indeed, it would have been impossible for her to get in had it been in motion, as she is an old lady, and somewhat stout and heavy. The sudden jerk of the start threw Mrs. Loftus out of the carriage. Miss Loftus was knocked down, and both ladies were dragged along the platform several yards, when a woman rushed to their aid and pulled them both away from the train. Miss Loftus’s mother was cut about the head, and Miss Loftus was badly shaken. The latter is anxious to obtain the name of the woman who came to her assistance, and will be glad if she will communicate with her at the Garrick Theatre.

A PAINTER named David Dunn had a narrow escape from death on Wednesday when engaged in the alterations and decorations at the Theatre Royal, Warrington. In the afternoon he was working at the ceiling, when the plank on which he and two other painters were sitting fell. The two were precipitated into the gallery, but Dunn fell a distance of 30ft. into the pit. Fortunately, the balcony broke his fall. He was taken to the infirmary, where his injuries were attended to.

NO success on the music hall stage was ever more instantaneous than that of the lamented Bessie Wentworth. She came on to the Tivoli stage one Saturday afternoon, and the sympathy of her voice, her unaffected, genial style, and her good looks created an immense impression. Her fortune was made as soon as she finished singing Mammie’s little Alabama Coon. Miss May Yohe (Lady Francis Hope) had already popularised the coon song on the theatrical stage, and a similar mission had been faithfully carried out by Mr. Eugene Stratton on the variety boards. Miss Wentworth, however, immediately took first rank as a lady exponent of plantation melody and character; and, though she had many rivals, she kept her position until her death as the coon queen who had won her way to the hearts of the British public.

The chief anxiety of poor Bessie Wentworth on her deathbed was concerning her mother, and it was her intention to make some provision for her by taking out a life insurance policy for £1,000. She had, indeed, made an appointment for that express purpose, but a rush of business engagements prevented her keeping it at the last moment. Another day was fixed, but, alas! The illness which was to be fatal struck her down, and the devoted daughter was unable to carry out the dearest wish of her heart.

19/1/1901

DR. JAS. BIRTENO has invented and registered a new idea in serpentine dance. The performer, instead of merely dancing on the stage, is raised by means of invisible wire to mid-air, where various evolutions are performed and many charming effects introduced. The registered title is The Human Butterfly. The dance is being done by Mdlle. Flora Lumerie with much success in Mr Volny’s pantomime Aladdin, at the Royal Albert Theatre, Gloucester.

WHEN, early in the week, managers concluded that the illness of the Queen might have a fatal termination, it was decided that if the news of Her Majesty’s death came during a performance the curtain would be rung down and the audience dismissed, and on Tuesday evening this was done in places where two houses a-night are the rule. In the majority of cases, however, the grave and sorrowful tidings came before the opening of the doors, and a notice was at once exhibited announcing that the house was closed.

ONE of the decorations in the Palace scene in the pantomime of Cinderella at the Pavilion Theatre, Mile-end, is a festoon of artificial flowers which stretches from side to side of the stage. The scene opens with a duet between Korodian, the Evil Spirit (Mr. Arthur Laurence) and Fairy Lightheart (Miss Kate Cohen), and while this was being sung on Thursday night the centre portion of the festoon was seen to be on fire. With admirable presence of mind the two occupants of the stage continued their duet as if nothing out of the way had happened; the festoon was at once lowered, and several of the stage hands, rushing on, speedily put out the fire. Some of the sparks having alighted on the border above, that was also lowered, and all further risk of the flames spreading was thus prevented. The audience behaved excellently, showing no signs of panic, and the incident, alarming though it was, only interrupted for a few moments the enjoyment of those present.

2/2/1901

AT Sir Henry Irving’s performance of The Merchant of Venice at the Theatre Royal, Belfast, on Monday, the head management gave a broad hint to the ladies. A curtain was displayed bearing these words, Madam, will you kindly take off your hat, as I am sitting immediately behind you, and cannot see the stage? This had the desired effect upon the hat-wearers in the stalls.

A MUSIC HALL ARTISTE’S DAMAGES.

Miss Ada Webster, one of the Sisters Webster, well known on the music hall stage, was awarded £100 at Manchester Assizes, on Tuesday, as damages for breach of promise of marriage.

Ernest Arthur Wainwright, on Manchester, money-lender, was the defendant, but was neither present in person nor defended by counsel. The plaintiff, after being engaged to Miss Webster for several years, jilted her and married another woman. He proposed marriage to her five years ago, and was accepted. Some of his letters expressed the utmost tenderness of affection. One of them, addressed to My darling Ada, contains the following passage: –

How I shall endure the coming fortnight I cannot say. Not seeing you last night was bad enough, but a fortnight – Great Heavens! I shall die, Ada, I am so unhappy. The only thing that made me think life was worth living was yourself, and now you are gone from me for a time, but that time will seem a lifetime. Will the time ever come when we shall meet to part no more? Ada, it must! It shall!

Ever thine, ERNEST.

The first intimation she received of a change in his feelings was the following letter from Southport, dated Aug. 14th last:

Dear Ada – Our acquaintance must end, now and for ever. Now, be a sensible person, and do not do any silly things or try and do me the slightest harm. I have spent on you the best years of my life, so be reasonable. I did you a favour once. I refer to the time when ------- returned me my letters, which you so meanly gave him, but as you loved the man I refrained from sending your letters. Did I not, now? I only ask you to return me the obligation, and return me all my letters and telegrams. Immediately on receipt of same will send you your watch and ring. I intend living a good life. To go on as I have been I think I must have been mad. With my last goodbye, and wishing you health and prosperity, and finally let me just remark be good for your own sake.

Yours truly, ERNEST.

The plaintiff discovered shortly after that he had married another girl from a music hall, and the shock threw her into a serious illness. In her evidence she stated that defendant, whom she had known for eleven years, sent her altogether 103 letters and telegrams. They met each other in their school days. He was an acting-manager before entering the money-lending business. She was twenty-nine years of age, and he was twenty-six.

Mr. Gibbons, the Sheriff’s assessor, in addressing the jury drew attention to the plaintiff’s diminutive stature, and said that as this misfortune might militate against her chances of getting a husband, it ought to be taken into consideration.

NEW HEPWIX FILMS.

FUNERAL OF QUEEN VICTORIA.

This solemn pageant was photographed by our operators from five different positions, which were in every case the best it was possible to obtain. The photographs are of splendid quality and are wonderfully interesting. In most cases there are portraits of all the important personages who took part in the proceedings, and so life-like and well defined that they are easily recognisable. The complete set constitutes a record of the entire proceedings.

The complete set of five films was ten minutes long and cost £25.

9/2/1901

WANTED, to Sell, Smallest Educated Pony ever seen. Wrestles, Boxes, Retrieves, Waltzes, Siezes, and really Comedy Pony. Not a Dummy. £10. Letters, HYDERABAD, 55, Lee-crescent, Birmingham.

16/2/1901

MR. ALBERT WAINWRIGHT, of the Quo Vadis? company, brought an action in the King’s Bench Division, on Thursday, against Day’s Metropolitan Drug Stores, Limited, to recover damages. The plaintiff’s case was that on June 14th last he went to one of the defandant’s stores in Hammersmith to obtain drugs, which a fellow-artist had suggested as a cure for rheumatism. He asked for a pennyworth of nitre and a pennyworth of bicarbonate of potash, and was served by a young man behind the counter. The potash was wrapped up, but the assistant neglected to put a label upon it. After taking the potash when he got home he became seriously ill, was in great agony, and for a time his life was in danger. It was then discovered that he had been served with bichromate of potash, described as a poison. The jury gave Mr. Wainwright £75 damages, and judgement was given for that amount, with costs.

CONVIVIAL and bacchanalian songs of the Strolling Round the Town order are not to have it all their own way. A ditty, entitled The Beastly Sober Boys, detailing the festive nocturnal rambles on strictly temperance principles of a teetotal lodge, and the disastrous results thereof, has been concocted by Edgar Bateman and George Everard, and will shortly be heard on the halls.

ON Tuesday, at the Southwark County Court, a costermonger named Watson sued Francis and Matilda Bailey, circus proprietors, described as of the World’s Fair, Agricultural Hall, to recover £5 for damages to a barrow and stock caused by a traction engine. The plaintiff said he had a stall outside the Thomas à Beckett public-house on the night of December 18th, which was loaded with holly and mistletoe. A traction engine, which was drawing three wagon loads of defendants’ circus properties, and a water-cart came along, collided with his barrow, and upset all of his stock, £2 worth of which was either stolen or spoiled. His stall was damaged to the extent of £3. It was contended that the occurrence was a pure accident, but his Honour gave judgement for the plaintiff for £5 and costs.

23/2/1901

AN inquest was recently held on the body of Alfred William Newstead, aged twenty-two, who hanged himself in a stable loft at Ipswich after seeing the melodrama entitled Under the Czar, in which one of the characters hangs himself. After witnessing the performance Newstead went home, and told his parents he should never be able to get the scene out of his mind. The coroner remarked that certain dramas made on sensitive minds impressions not easily erased.

16/3/1901

SHORTLY before two o’clock on Wednesday morning last fire was observed to be proceeding from the top of the Queen’s Theatre, Chester-le-Street. The local fire brigade, under Mr. T. Wright, and the Cooperative brigade, under Mr. B.K. Aunger, were at once summoned, but for a considerable time their efforts proved unavailing on account of their not being able to find the proper main connections. The whole theatre, which is entirely built of wood, with a thick coating of tar on the outside, was a mass of ruins by three o’clock, everything being destroyed. The house was purchased from the representative of the late Mr. Lawrence Daly only a few weeks ago by Mr. Mark H. Lindon, proprietor of the Victoria Theatre, West Stanley, his intention being to enlarge and considerably improve the place. Mr. Fred Cooke’s Briton and Boer company, who were visiting the theatre, lost all its scenery and properties.

6/4/1901

MISS MABEL LOVE, who has this week been staying at Eastbourne, where she appeared on Tuesday in a matinée at Devonshire-park, has been walking every morning on the parade, and has been exposed to the attacks of a numerous body of mashers with kodaks, who try to secure snap-shots of attractive professional ladies. Miss Love, who is very sprightly and inventive, has led her admirers a pretty dance, and whenever they endeavour to photograph her she raises her book in front of her face and trips gaily away. The visitors to Eastbourne have been greatly amused by Miss Love's smartness and her quick way of dodging the kodaks of amateur photographers.

MR. RICHARD MANSFIELD, in addressing the graduating class of the Empire Theatre School of Acting in New York, recently, warned his listeners against hitting a supernumery, and they pricked up their ears at this reference to his recent encounter with a stage soldier in Henry V. He said that while he was uttering the once more unto the breach speech a super commenced dancing a pas seul, which developed into a mild cancan. He stared at the man, but instead of his angry look stopping the dancer it seemed to encourage him. Then Mr. Mansfield hit him lightly on the shoulder with his sword,