The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 27, 1903, Page 19

wnlow, Miss Part- at the Orpheum As knowledged the inter- the further enlightened ow does not like to be wa N n bad form, don't you K the new Tivoli barytone cheer- f agreed. He frankly mopped a pink brow and continued: *“All a « , aren’t they and—isn't warm to-day?” feudal’—and—not this time mmented, and informed v Mr. Bros w is English, by alia for the last ten years, nths-old Californian superfluousnes 1 ask re they kes a fat church- London for ten replied. “Too long. you it's. jolly plum pudding thermometer at sitting down turkey with the W0 degrees the shade, and panto- 1 all around.” id me that they be- there were buffa- the hearty re- told me when 1 left that ad to welcome me back pleasant to feel outsung one's favor s ver; not singing all the time in was not mining,” was the though there is that that should v such history. Like who is an actor, he ed reply actor ry other ess like one than he is like every one was because I knew se. Possibly it he had sen soldiering in South ht his keen blue eyes h they w much more trigger than a hare's six feet or so to the teboard throne. vniow complexion, freshness in spite of at all suggest the business-like actor: g for three years, 1 went back to the laughed a little sadiy »st what I got out 1 speculating.” with Williamson, ne is in Australia. ot Australia. 3 the Frohman and des things there, while ng in New York and don 1st- through a iong Lady Molly’ and ‘The h yes, there aren't kangarous We have to amuse roun had ‘My Lady chuckled. get things sooner deal between George and Frohman amsor g ugh. I believe they are to bine Serious though, Austra- s = pretty up-to-date place. They know. It is alto- gethe erican than English t An engagement with very pleasant affair. r round, you know. —something like the includes Perth, Bris- Melbourne and Ade- end there we he chief cities, € This is in light opera only?” Yes, but we have English and I grand opera companies there te frequently -depte and Travaglini of the were there—" t Tivoli seasor Oh, Benedetto!” and Browalow ;ghingly shaped a very buxom out- e of the plump prima. *I remem- per.” He is much more given to gesture than the average Englishman. How do you produce grand opera ere: how much of a chorus and 80 on? Sixty in the chorus usualiy, and an orchest f thir six,” the barytone estimated; “very well mounted, too.” » shillings, two America of oper- (th s the Tiv when Meiba gives a con- ce es boom,” the barytone will pay their guineas popula creat an idol & I sew something abo A, P. once that amused me greatly. The London papers all had a lot of wild out Meiba just about then—"" sed.” a -reporter will turn, Mr. One hears so much of the ty of the American newspa- Englan: that it really does to hear the other side. But ab: ) a A. P. had it that Melba wasn't scooping in all the profits of her tour £ but to build "another wing on the Melbourne hospital!” If Mr. Brownlow had been a woman he we ave sniffed here. “There has not been anything about that wing since. There isn't any foundation J2id, nothing done. It is possible that Melba may have given a thousand or two thousand dollars for such pur- pose. Not more—or we should cer- tainly have heard of it! Now, I'll tell you some one who IS popular down ntonia Dolores.” “We like her very much here.” “But the crowd will stand outside the theater and cheer her—they like her for her sweetness and simplicity as well as her singing—as they never cheer Melba. TI'll tell you what I've seen. I've seen Dolores follow Melba the same week and patk the houses, where Melba has had only half a house. Nellie Stewart—'our Nellie,’ they call her—is another great Aus- tralian favorite. She is the most ac- complished all-round actress I ever knew. She was the recbgnized prima donna for twenty years down there, and has now turned to the drama. She is leading woman in plays like aza,” and equally successful as in opera. There's a woman now you could justly say is a thousand times more popular than Melba. But all this rather m s me out an Aus- tralian, and—" “It's greatly to his credit is an Englis an,” I laughed. g know that you were with Gilbert and Sulliv o that you fought in South Africa “But—it 't necessary to talk about Africa.” Lieutenant Brownlow carries honorable scars from Zulu- d, but he certainly looked like run- ning away at this moment. “We'll take the Savoy first,” I tem- porized. “You know Teddy Webb was accomplice of yours in those days?” I was in the same ‘Mikado’ company as Teddy Webb, that came to Amer in 18 * the barytone con. fessed. ‘We were both understudies —1I for the Mikado, Webb for Koko. I made my first American appearance then. It was awful! I knew then, for the first and only time, what stage fright is. 1 shivered like a dog in the December rain. J wasn't allowed to play the part again and I don’t blame the management! There wasn't even this,” and the barytone patted one limp palm with the other to illustrate. ‘The understudy’s lot is not a hap- py one, happy one,’” I quoted. *Tell me something about the Gilbert and Sullivan regime at the Savoy. Did you begin as a singer? “My first appearance was as a comic policeman,” Brownlow replied, “with a bogus manager named Mat- thews Monk. I got a pound a week— most of the time—and slept in the . greenroom with the rugs off the floor over me to save expenses.- If I raised sixpence for dinner I was lucky. By Jove! this is a good one, too! I'll tell you who was in the same company, a dashing juvenille then—Lawrence d'Orsay. He made a bully Duc de Nemours. 1 hear he has a swagger position in ‘The Earl of Pawtucket!’ He may perhaps be interested to know that another member of that miser- able company is still on deck. How is he?” “The only Kking I ever saw that looked the part,” I testified. * sec- ond Dundreary those say who knew the elder Sothern.” Well, well, I'd like to see him. No, T went afterward to the Savoy on the advice of some other poor devils that Monk exploited+-principally because Mr. Monk happened to fall down- stairs after a little argument we had” —the Brownlow fists squared them- selves here. “I was immediately en- gaged there for ‘Princess Ida." ™ “As i “In the chorus of the road com- pany. I had four years of that and then went up to London, judging the opportunities better there. One heard there all the good people, and the chances as understudy were much better—they had first, second and third understudies there, and the ri- valry was very keen. My first real chance came—you really want to know ?—in a ‘front piece,” “The Carp.’ We played that fish for two years until he was positively er- 2 I waited for the characteristic “rot- ten,” but instead Mr. Brownlow d cided charmingly to put it “putrid.” “Then came,” he continued, “an ap- as the lieutenant in the of the Guard.’ Grossmith was the sergeant, I remember—that his last engagement with Gilbert, y the way.” “They 1 been long associated?” “All of those parts, the Mikado and #0 on were written to fit Grossmith-— pearance in fact all of the Gilbert parts were written round particular personali- tie: That's interesting, in view of the dictum that the drama is suffering from the written-to-fit pl “That was alw Gilbert’s habit,” Mr. Brownlow ineisted. “But Gros- smith and he fell out very curiously. Gilbert insisted on c being an au- tomaton. Individuality had no play at all—except his. Eve inflection had to be r de according to his judgment. Grossmith,, it sece couldn’t—or wouldn't—infiect ¢ ntence he had, where he had to sa) Suppose I wi to =it down on somethi sharp’—I ply: ‘Sit on the spur of the move- ment—" But there was a "Touchstones gesture and zn inflection that he didn't get. We rehearsed for four morning on that sentence “] gather that Gilbert was no great favorite?” No, he wasn't. He was one of the worst would-be cynics that ever hap- pened. Didn't mind whom he hurt if he could be funny. He would aim a being funny and succeed only in being personal. Tremendously clever chap, though.” Ll “You haven’t any more at home like them,” I quote. “But Sullivan was just as amiable as Gilbert wasn’ ““There is only one word that fits the ‘little master'—that's what we all called him and that is ‘sweet’ He was absolutely ‘sweet’ in disposition.” There was a very graceful and grate- ful homage in” Mr. Brownlow's ton “He was the most courteous of men, and generous!—he would give away everything he had to those in need. He pulied me through—but I must tell you that while I was playing in ‘The Yeoman of the Guard,’ they came to me on Saturday night and gave me the part of Prince John in ‘Ivanhoe,’ to sing on the Monday night following!™ “And that is grand opera?"” “Yes, that was the first grand opera | : % given in the Royal English Opera- house. You remember the play D'Oyly Carte was at the head of it, and it was intended to be a continuous performance of grand opera, all by English composers—a kind of na- | tional home of opera. ‘Ivanhoe’ was the first work produced. It ran for 150 nights. But Sullivan put me through my paces—so kindly—and I managed to sing Prince John in two days without falling down. In fact, with some success.” “And the national home of opera is no more?” 0,” the barytone replied regret- fully. “We did Messager's ‘La Basoche' after ‘Ivanhoe’—Frederick Cowen’s opera that was to follow be- ing still in the stocks. I alternated in the buffo role with Bispham——- " “That speaks very well for ‘Brown- low,””” I thought, and aloud said: “Bis. o up then finally. I went from there to the Prince of Wales Theater, as lead- ing barytone in ‘Blue-eyed Susan,’ then to the Lyric in ‘Incognita’ and Goring Thomas, ‘The Golden Web'— 1 wish we could have that here. It is pham is delightful, isn't he?” “Yes, but there was another bary- tone singing then that I think was the finest 1 ever heard—he sang the Tem- plar Sir Brian Boi ilbert in ‘Ivan- hoe’—Eugene Oudin, I mean. I have humbly tried to model myself on his lines.” a lovely thing. But it failed through “By the way, with whom did you Aan absence of low comedy, I believe. study 2" ‘La Basoche’ would be another fine thing for the Tivoli. We could do it, too. Then I was in “The Magic Opal’ 1 —that Lord Francis Hope financed for May Yohe. 1 didn’t tell you of ‘The Gondoliers’ at Windsor Castle, did I. in my Savoy experiences?” he suddenly asked. “Never had a lesson in my life,” Mr. Brownlow amazed me with. “Do you mean that literally?” asked. The person that “never had a lesson in hislife” is an old acquaint- ance iz many walks of art. But one doesn’t find him doing the things that count. I nodded a negative and-the bary- “Quite literally,” the barytone in- tone said: “I never felt so ludicrously sisted. Then he earnestly ouflined his Small in my life as on that occasion. It was the first comic opera given at Windsor Castle since the Prince Con- sort’'s death in 1861—twenty-eight years later, in 1889. But you remem- vocal credo something follows: “I cannot see how a teacher ean teach ou how even to ‘place’— it is called —your voice. He is really familjar only with his own vocal machinery, ber ‘The Gondoliers?” I had to sit and cannot possibly enter fuily into there on a throne, with the people all the intricacies of yours. He can tell Kneeling to me with their backs to Queen Victoria—by Jove, I felt like a silly ass. It was a fine performance, We had Geraldine Ulmer you, true, the natural way of placing a voice, but you really have to do the rest. And you can. If a man will though. take the tr@uble to be his own cr and Jessie Bond-—Jessie Bond distin- to andl§ze himself, and not go -ound 8Suished "herself, by the way. The ladies dressed in the throne room, and nothing would do but Jessie must sit on the throne of England. And sit she did, in a costume that no Queen with an elongated arm patting him- self on the back”—Mr. Brownlow's arm here solemnly reached over to his 1 vertebrae—"he can do all ,_ nec But he must take ©f England has ever worn. his performances to pieces all the “And now, I haven't forgotten time. He must find out their weak- Africa, Mr. Brownlow.” ness and the cause of it, and listen, “I hoped you had,” exclaimed the listen, listen always to other singers. barytone. “¥You see I never said any- He must learn why certain things thing about that in Australia ” please and other things displease his That's their fault,” I laughed. public and act accordingly. As to the “But was itreal fighting? Where?” technical side, I think we ought to “wWell,” he resigned himself, “if T sing as the birds sing. We were must. But it has nothing to do with meant to. If you can’'t sing you the case. I want to be known as a shouldn’t. I believe a ‘made’ voice is =inger, not a soldier. That was a long always inclined to go wrong. Mind time ago, too. People will be asking my age, don’t you know! But I went into the Cape Mounted Rifles as a private at 18 and was a lieutenant at 21. My fighting .was in Basutoland and the corner rebellion of the Zulu- land war. That's all.”- “Oh, that's all! Did—anything hap- you, I'm not posing as an authority. I couldn’t explain how I sing—only to say by emitting a sound through my mouth. You see, it's a method of my own.” And here, vocal teachers and pupils, is an example of the self-taught singer ~—the singer who literally “never had pen?” a lesson in his life.” I heard Mr. Mr. Brownlow stretched out® his Brownlow as Apollo at the Tivoli right hand, where one white mark opening on Wednedday, but there was too little of him, and the circum- stances were inopportune. for judg- ment of that little. The next produc- tion, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” will, however, afford excel- lent opportunity to measure the bary- tone’s accomplishment. gleams at the knuckle, another at the wrist, and said simply: “It went in there and came out here.” He showed a bent little finger on the left hand, and remarked: “And there's a charge of buckshot somewhere in my ribs, I believe.” Then I shook the hand where “it 1 asked then: “How was Mr. yent in here and came out the: X Cowen’s opera—that followed “La ,nq said good-by. Basoche?' " ——— IN THE MUSICAL WORLD. “Why did no one think of it be- fore?” Probably every one who has seen the new Tivoli will wonder why the “Oh, it was never given,” the bary- tone replied. “D*Oyly Carte asked us after ‘La Basoche’ to release him from the contracts. I had just signed for three years with him, too. No, the scheme was a failure, and was given eplendid possibilities of the old Olym- pia were so long undiscovered. As it now is the opera-house is one of the most admirably suited to its purposes that could be devised. But therein also is lost a music hall that would have placed San Francisco on a level in this regard with almost any city in the United States. The acoustics are ideal. One can hear, as in the Greek Theater at Berkeley, the light- est sound made by the performers from the farthest seat in the topmost gallery of the house. The view of the stage also is practically perfeet from all parts of the auditorium. Let us be thankful, however, for an opera-house fit to house Grau—or rather Herr Con- ried—and all his stars and destined surely to make history that will make us all very pridefu’ o't. The question i» now as to whether there is another Olympia going to waste. It is hardly likely though. Such opportunities don't offer twice. In the meantime, however, the Tivoli will have to be hospitable. Obviously it is the only place for the symphony concerts—that are going to be given somehow, and with Meister Fritz Scheel, beginning March next. I had hoped, by the way, to be able to give particulars as to the symphony con- certs this week. Affairs, however, are still too unsettied for any but the definite informgtion that they are to, be given, through the efforts of a number of music-loving citizens who are working strenuously to that end. But one can imagine the “Pathetique” in that vibrant chamber of sound, the “Broica,” Maestro Handel's ‘‘Grosso Concerto” that we had last October! One can hardly wait to hear them. Patti, who comes on the evening of the 7th for her first concert, her sec- ond te be bn the afternoon of the 11th, will sing in the Pavilion. One under- stagds this only as the new Tivoli was not bhegun when her arrangements were made. But one would like to hear the famous singer under the most favorable circumstances, which means the Tivoli. In fact, there is nothing musical that would not gain immeas- urably from the sumptuously grateful setting. The Tivoli is San Francisco's most precious gift to music for many years, worthy to be bracketed with that splendid gift of the year to the sister art—the Greek Theater at Berkeley. . . s Victor Herbert, who resigned last week from the conductorship of the Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra, re- quests the publication of .the follow- “hy dear madam—I should vajue March 19, 1904, I, by no means, intend to give up conducting an orchestra. On the centrary, my present plans in- clude not only by usual spring and summer-tours, but the maintenance of a permanent in New York. “This is by way of correction of an impression that has gone abroad that with my departure from Pittsburg T had intended to give up conducting. Sincerely yours, “VICTOR HERBERT."” The National Conservatory of Music, founded by Mrs. Jeannette M. Thurber in 1885, and chartered by the United States Government in 1891, has received three new scholarships to be awarded at the nineteenth semi- annual entrance examinations, which will be held at 128 East Seventeenth street, New York, on January 4. One of them {s for voice, one for the piano and the third for the violin. They will be given to students who have no organization I means, but whose talent promises dis FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY; DECENBER 27, 1903. 19 = - 2 i PSR sy ————f very highly the statement in your its interpretation. Robert Drouet, 0 columns that while I am to leave my whose Armand Duval to Mary Man- ¥ position as conductor of the Pittsburg nering's Camille made so favorable an \ Orchestra at the end of this season, impression here, yillebe among them, as well as Mrs. Thomas Whiffen, Ida Conquest, who essays Miss Blood- good’s part; Grace Henderson, Rose Flynn and Frank Dekum, all people chosen by Mr. Fitch himself for their ts. The mountings are those of the New York production. The pigy itself is a study in jealousy and said to be among its author's best work. - . . The Orpheum Road Show begins to- day its second week. The combina- tion is one of the best seen here, star turn the weird mind-re aesar, and the dog Merian’s direction. Oth beth Murray, in her famous coon songs and stories: the Nighton batic geniuses; E. F. Reynard ventriloquial king; Ernest Hogan, coon king, and Mattie Wilkes; Alber- tus and Millar, club-swinging experts; Hunberty, a jugsling wonder; the fa- vorite Melani trio, and off and Gordon, clever musi a poor sketch. . . . “Blue Jeans” continues its success of last week at the Alcazar. The formance is capital and the comp is seen to much advant Next Me day “A Lady of Quality™ will be put on. - - . “Are You a Mason?"’ the hilarious German farce, will begin a week's gagement to-night at the California. . . . en- “I O U” is still running bright Fischer's. The next burlesque will also be a local production,zsis in active rehearsal, bét yet without a date of opening set. ;o6 & “The Minister’s Son,” with W. B. Patton, heralded as the culiar comedian,” is billed for a week at the Grand Opera-house. . * . The Céntral has an important at- traction for the week he Dairy Farm,” a pastoral dram that has made a considerable suc in the East. - . . The Chutes Theater is in evidence with good vaudeville for both after- noon and evening performances. * . . Alberta Gallatin, an actress of some repute, brings to San Francisco for one night only the Ibsen problem pla “Ghosts,” to be given Sunday evening, January 10, at the Columbia. i i “THE SILVER SLIPPER.” The Buffalo Express says of “The Silver Slipper,” soon to be given here “Florodora set the pace for musical comedy, and a play of the me ¢ acter by tite same authors was p sented last evening at e Star Thea- ter before a well-pleased audience. “The Silver Slipper’ is bright and en- tertaining, filled with tuneful musical numbers and several exceptionally pretty songs. Moreover, it has that essential qua for a light musical play, snap, and it goes with a N that catches the fancy of the audi and keeps every one on the qui vive of expectation. “ “The Silver Slipper’ has to do with the earthly wanderings of Stella, exiled from Venus, because in = fit of naughty temper she kicks her small - B WALLACE BROWNLOW, THE ENGLISH BARYTONE. WHO BEGAN LIFE ON THE STAGE BY CARRYING HE NEVER RECEIVED ANY VOCAL INSTRUCTION. A SPEAR AND WHO SAYS +* tinction as artists.. One of the most eminent singers now before the public —Lillian Blauvelf—was a holder of one of these scholarships. PLAYS AT LOCAL THEATERS Seals aré selling for two weeks in advance at the Tivoli. Every one seems determined to be able to say they have seen the first show in the new house, and as there are to be only three weeks of “Ixion,” one must book early to get 2 peep at it. The extrava- ganza is going snappily. The manage- ment has squandered a royal cast on the piecé and mounted it regardless. All the old favorites are there and some new ones. Hartman, Webb, Cunningham, Wallace Brownlow, Schuster, Anna Lichter, Annie Myers and Bessie Tannehill form a combina- tion not often seen in light operatic realms, and they all appear in “Ixion.” There are ballets galore, on a scale of magnificénce and beauty never before attempted at the Tivoli, and in all there aré 150 people in the cast. It would be cruelty to children to permit them to miss “Ixion,” though by the box-office reports not many of them will. “When Johnny comes Marching Home,” the light opera by Julian Ed- wards and Stanislaus Stange, will fol- low. . - . . “The Girl With the Green Eyes,” one of this season’s Clyde Fitch plays, will to-morrow evening be introduced. for the first time to San Francisco playgoers at the Columbia Theate: Though the lady originally announced to undertake the leading role, Miss Clara Bloodgood, will mot be in the cast, there are many good people for . over F slipper falls to earth, v of trouble for ers until it is at las who straightway ret companied by her six sisters, who had joined with her in search for the ing bit of precious footgear. “A light and airy thread of a plot, to be sure, but it is all thagis required to string together the sor special- ties and unusually clever dancing that have made the ‘Silver Slipper’ one of planet an akes no end and their lov- 'r own two girls miss- the oresent-day musical comedy suc- cesses. “There is the double sextet of Florodora fame. somewhat different as was to be expected, but a Specialt) that never fails of many recalls. Ann Tyrell captured most of the honors, so far as the women of the company go. She is bright, piquant and attrac- tive and her songs were all received with favor, especially ‘Four and Twen- ty Little Men.” Snitz Edwards s whimsically funny and Denald B has a part as well sui ) that he assumed in th al comedy of ‘Florodora. “The English dancing girls are about the most graceful that Buffalo has seen in many a long day., They are original, attractive and versatile. Their ‘Champagne Dance’ was one of the biggest hits of the performance and a specialty of which the first- night audience seemed unable to get enough. *“Taken as a whole, ‘The Silver Slip- per’ deserves classification with the best in its line of musical comedy. The company is good, the giris for the mest part pretty, the specialties fresh and original and the lines suffictentiy bright to sustain interest in the piece from beginning to end.”