Press Clippings for the week ending
Saturday, 5 April 2003

A random selection of cuttings
from newspapers and magazines

* * * * * * * * Dion Boucicault, George Alexander, William Rignold, Lydia Foote, Mrs Billington, et al, in Dion Boucicault's version of George Colman jnr's comedy, John Bull, Gaiety Theatre, London, 8 July 1872

Lydia Foote (1843-1892), English actress

(photo: unknown, probably London, circa 1875)

'The version of John Bull, by Mr. Boucicault, produced last week at the Gaiety, has not long held possession of the stage. An unpropitious time of the year and the attractions of rival entertainments, rather then any deficiency of interest, must account for the failure of the comedy to hold its place. In the form it now takes, divested of sentimentality and the moral apophthegms which made it a treasure-house for the modern Joseph Surface, John Bull is an amusing and interesting play, with no fault more noteworthy than that a characteristically English title is applied to a piece with a characteristically Irish interest. Mr. Boucicault gave a fine presentation of Dennis Brulgruddery, a part which, next to Looney M'Twolter, perhaps, did most of all to make the reputation of Johnstone [sic]. His humour is quiet and effective, and his brogue is, of course, perfect. On the whole, he is the best stage Irishman we possess. Mr. Alexander, a young actor of promise, played the part, now shorn of its original importance, of Tom Shuffleton; and Mr. W. Rignold presented Job Thornberry with a moustache! Mrs. Billington played the close-fisted Mrs. Brulgruddery; and Miss Lydia Foote the deserted Mary Thornberry. The alterations Mr. Boucicault has made are extensive, including a different arrangement of some of the incidents, and the elevation of the character of Mary, who is represented as secretly married to Frank Rochdale, instead of having been seduced by him. Mrs. Grundy is thus appeased at the cost of some little sacrifice of probability. The excisions that have been made are justifiable enough. Against the new jokes and other like matters introduced into the piece, something may fairly be advanced.' (The Athenaeum, London, Saturday, 20 July 1872, p.90b) * * * * * * * * Royal Cambridge Hall of Varieties, Commercial Street, Bishopsgate, London, Saturday, 29 September 1888

Royal Cambridge Hall of Varieties, London, Saturday, 29 September 1888

'Mr. William Riley never permits his entertainment to reach a standard which may with any justice be called tame or indifferent; he is always on the alert for new talent, and ever willing to treat for old when it is good; so that by his determination to supply his supporters with the best material the market yields, he is able to keep his friends around him. Just now, the evergreen [E.W.] Mackney is retained at the Cambridge, and convincing the visitors that his smartness and humour have never moulted a feather. Mr. Mackney is an artist who proves to demonstration that it is quite possible to spend a lifetime in entertaining at music-halls and not suffer that deterioration of physique which too commonly overtakes many of his brotherhood. Mr. Mackney is quite a phenomenon in more than one way, and the policy which he had pursued has served to build up for him a tremendous reputation. Early in the evening at the Cambridge Mr. Walter Purssord comes to the footlights, and succeeds in mystifying the audience by his sleight-of-hand feats, all of which are well-devised and smartly executed. Mr. Medley, with imitations of some of the luminaries of the music-hall, prove[s] that he possesses the mimetic faculty to an unusual degree. This is the kind of entertainment capable of indefinite expansion, and Mr. Medley might add fresh subjects to his list with advantage. Madame Carilini's well-trained dogs and moneys exhibit sagacity and docility which argue that these animals possess some kind of intellect, humble though it may be. Mr. Fred Cairns, with character and comic songs, gets very cordially applauded every evening; and the Mezzettis tender a very capital acrobatic "show" on triple horizontal bars. A combination calling itself "the Four Emperors of Music" is composed of performers who play upon a variety of instruments, and who perform very meritoriously, too. Their several essays are received in such a manner as to fully indicate a decided success. Miss Ethel Victor is a vocalist who knows how to invest an author's lines with the fullest significance; in a word, she is a genuine comic-singer. Mr. Somers and Miss Boshell still supply those amusing manifestations the merit of which we have fully recognised at various times in our columns; which Mr. Harry Randall is very successfully asserting himself here just now. Mr. Randall is constantly adding to his repertory, and his latest son, "The Automatic Battery," proves a fresh triumph. Miss Fanny Beane and Mr. Charles Gilday are a couple of enterprising entertainers from the "other side" [i.e. the United States], and very merrily do they work together, getting results which only the exercise of genuine talent can produce, The Jackleys tender their stirring athletic performance here with excellent effect, and Mr. Jovial Joe Colverd "hits the bull's eye" with his songs that are delivered with an emphasis which cannot miscarry. Merssrs. Scully and Morrel, with some lively doings, successfully wind up the entertainment, which is kept capitally going by Mr. E.V. Page, Mr. Riley's excellent and loyal manager.' (The Entr'acte, London, Saturday, 6 October 1888, p.6a/b) 'BIRTH. – On the 19th inst. [September 1888], the wife of Walter Purssord (Prestidigitator), of a son.' (The Entr'acte, London, Saturday, 22 September 1888, p.12b) * * * * * * * * The Barrister, a farcical comedy by George Manville Fenn and J.H. Darnley, revived at the Royalty Theatre, London, 17 May 1890

Susie Vaughan (1853-1950), English actress

(photo: The London Stereoscopic Co., London, circa 1890)

'The Royalty used to be a bright, prosperous little theatre, but of late years the name has been synonymous with failure and disaster. I can only hope that the bad days are past, and a new regime or brilliant success inaugurated, not that I think the present programme will conduce greatly to that much-to-be-desired end, for The Barrister has pretty well worked out his brief, I imagine, but we are promised other legal amusements later on. 'The Barrister is a most diverting face, but the present company are not quite at home in their respective parts. To begin with, Mr. Fred Mervin, excellent actor as he is, was much more at home as the peppery Major than he is as the distracted Barrister; neither Nature nor Art intended him to impersonate giddy young legalities. 'Mr. Robert Medlicott was unsuited as the Major. Mr. Laurence D'Orsay gave one of his usual truthful portraits of Mr. Laurence D'Orsay, and Jack Roderick, the inane nineteenth century masher, was brightly and pleasantly played by Mr. Walter McEwan. 'The one perfect, polished performance in the piece was given by Miss Susie Vaughan, who played her original part inimitably. The wife, whose suspicions are aroused by the discovery of a pair of steel-clad corsets in her husband's brief bag, was played by Miss [Alice] Yorke, a lady whose figure is as steelbound as the aforesaid article of feminine torture, and whose voice always carries me back to the pages of Dickens – it is so brassy!' (The Topical Times, London, Saturday, 24 May 1890, p.5e) * * * * * * * * The new fashion in Paris: doll collecting. Mlle. Lyska Kostio of the Théâtre Michel, a follower of the new Parisian fashion in pets.

Lyska Kostio

(photo: Talbot, Paris, 1914)

'There is a tendency among the followers of new crazes in Paris to supersede dogs and cats, in the capacity of pets, by dolls. Mlle. Kostio, for example, takes all her dolls with her, it is said, when she travels, and looks after them all herself, dressing them and giving them a bath every morning. Later, she takes those who have been good for a walk in the Bois. Her collection of dolls has been gathered together from various countries.' (The Sketch, London, Wednesday, 29 July 1914, supplement p.3) * * * * * * * *

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© John Culme, 2003