Press Clippings for the week ending
Saturday, 5 October 2002

A random selection of cuttings
from newspapers and magazines

* * * * * * * * Katie Lawrence at the start of her career, 1883

Katie Lawrence

(photo: Lowrie’s Portraits, Liverpool, circa 1883)

(Entr’acte, London, Saturday, 30 June 1883, p.14b)

Sam Collins’s music hall, London. ‘We must not forget to mention that Miss Maud Manfred and Miss Katie Lawrence agreeably exercise their various talent during the evening.’ (The Entr’acte, London, Saturday, 28 July 1883, p.11a) Middlesex music hall, London. ‘Miss Katie Lawrence only needs increased experience to bring her hosts of friends. It is evident that she has been under a good tutor.’ (The Entr’acte, London, Saturday, 24 November 1883, p.6b) ‘Jolly Katie Lawrence… Specially engaged to play principal girl in Pantomime Sketch, YORK MUSIC HALL, Southampton, Christmas.’ (The Entr’acte, London, Saturday, 15 December 1883, p.14c) * * * * * * * * ‘In the later part of the [eighteen] ’nineties [John L.] Graydon [of the Middlesex music hall] was having them all through his hands - Katie Laurence [sic], still celebrated for [singing Harry Dacre’s] "Daisy Bell" [1892], that song which Vesta Tilley declared to be the best music-hall number she heard in the course of her sixty-year career. Certainly Katie knew exactly how to play up to it all; she drove around from hall to hall in a hansom cab which fairly jangled. Everybody turned to see what the noise was, to exclaim: "Why, it’s Katie Laurence!" ‘She sang many another ditty, such as "I’ve gone out for the day," "His little wife was with him all the time," and "Say nothing," all popular enough at the time, but now completely forgotten. Like so many of her kind, there remains but one song to keep her memory green - "Daisy Bell," a fine rousing tune with its sentimental theme so appealing to the women. Katie died in poverty; she staged a come-back with the assistance of old friends, but the former fire had gone and the time had yet to come for the resuscitation of the old favourite melodies which the recent war brought about.’ (S. Theodore Felstead, Stars Who Made the Halls, T. Werner Laurie Ltd, London, 1946, pp.39 and 40) * * * * * * * * John Nevil Maskelyne of Maskelyne & Cook, Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, London, 1883 ‘There is "infinite variety" in the entertainment which is shadowed forth at this place every evening, and three afternoon performances every week. The greatest novelty to be found in the programme just now is a parodied spiritualistic séance. For the last few years Mr. Maskelyne has done his best to persuade the public that what are termed spiritual manifestations are produced by very natural means. The séance now to be enjoyed at the Egyptian Hall is modelled on these lines; but although Mr. Maskelyne tells us that the phenomena are brought about by mechanical contrivances, he does not go so far as to let us into the secret of his appliances. In the sketch under notice, considerable stress is laid on what is called the "materialised spirit," and the sceptic of the party is brought to a state of blissful belief by the appearance of his departed wife, who assumes a visible form, and is supposed to give him permission to marry again. Why she should do this the audience quite understand, for prior to such manifestations a lady, who has her eye on the rich widower, promises the demonstrator, Dr. Staid, a thousand pounds as soon as she becomes the duped man’s wife. Then, in addition to the appearance of this disembodied spirit, there is a skeleton, who plays all manner of pranks. His skull comes away from the rest of his frame, and floats all about the hall, and sometimes in such proximity to the heads of the audience as to being screams from some of the more impressionable lady visitors. All this is very capitally managed; as are the plate-spinning - a most dextrous and clever performance - with the other devices practised with faultless accuracy by Mr. Maskelyne, assisted by those around him. The sketch "Good St. Anthony" is of less interest than many features we have seen here; and as it insinuates that the holiest of men can be led astray by a syren, it might serve to give some little offence to those people who believe that superior men, holding high office in the Church, are proof against every temptation. If it should produce this feeling, it would perhaps be well to parade the illusionary phase of this sketch in a medium that would steer clear of those prejudices held by many goody-goody folks. ‘Mr. Maskelyne is not only a clever inventor, but every one of his exploits is managed with incomparable neatness; and it is this seeming infallibility which heightens the success of his entertaining feats.’ (The Entr’acte, London, Saturday, 24 March 1883, p.11b) * * * * * * * * The Mascot Moth, an ingenious illusion by Maskelyne & Devant at St. George’s Hall, ‘England’s Home of Mystery,’ London, 1906

‘As soon as the conjurer attempts to grasp the moth-girl, she immediately
vanishes out of sight, although the figure is not concealed in any way during the trick.
(The Lady’s Realm, London, June 1906, p.150)

(photo: Campbell-Gray, London, 1906)

* * * * * * * * Harry Randall at the Middlesex music hall, London, 1883 ‘Mr. Harry Randall is a comic singer who until just lately has not been known at our West End halls. His style is reminiscent of that of Mr. Arthur Roberts, and this we happen to consider a good one; in fact, we do not know a better. Refinement does not absolutely sparkle through every line of Mr. Randall’s songs; but with a better knowledge of what the best of his audiences like, he will, we are certain, be able to supply the desired staple, for he is a genuine humourist, and will surely take a good place as a comic singer. Mr. Randall obtains a capital reception.’ (The Entr’acte, London, Saturday, 23 June 1883, p.6a) * * * * * * * * Richard Carle’s Accident in An American Beauty, a musical comedy at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London, 1900

Richard Carle (1871-1941)

(photo: Purdy, Boston, circa 1904)

‘Mr. Richard Carle, the comedian of the American Beauty Company, is an inmate of Charing Cross Hospital, as the result of injuries received during a recent performance at the Shaftesbury Theatre. ‘In one of the scenes the comedian, who played the part of [Bayley] Bangle, wears an inflated rubber suit. ‘In this he proposed to collide violently with the proscenium frame, and, rebounding, fell backwards on to the stage, as if the impact had been accidental. ‘Mr. Carle was warned not to attempt the fall, but, feeling confident of success, he decided to try it. The result, however, was disastrous. He bumped against the proscenium, and was flung back some half-dozen yards on to the stage, his head striking the floor with great force. ‘So well-performed and humorous did this appear to "the house," ignorant of the real nature of the occurrence, that laughter and applause succeeded, and while the actor was lying unconscious on the boards there were vehement cries for a repetition of the trick. ‘Then, amid the laughter, some persons from the prompt entrance walked on to the stage and half carried, half dragged the injured comedian into the wings. Even then "the house," believing it to be all part of the "business," continued the laughter and applause, and clamoured for more. ‘But the comedian, still in the grotesque trappings of his part, was removed, suffering from concussion of the brain. He was taken to Charing Cross Hospital.’ (The Weekly Dispatch, London, Sunday, 13 May 1900, p.6e) * * * * * * * * The American actor and singer Richard Carle, who had a successful stage and screen career, went on to appear in the American version of the London Gaiety Theatre musical comedy, The Spring Chicken (Daly’s, New York, 8 October 1906). In this he played Mr Girdle, a part originated in London by Edmund Payne. Carle wrote the words and Milton W. Rush the music for the song ‘Waiting for a Certain Girl’ that featured in the New York production of The Spring Chicken. The number was recorded in New York about March 1907 for Edison's National Phonograph Company (cylinder no.9496) by Billy Murray and the Edison Male Quartet (RealOne, 257k). It is included here with kind acknowledgements to Glenn Sage’s www.tinfoil.com Web site, and to Albert J. Menashe. * * * * * * * *

Return to home page

© John Culme, 2002