The Secrets of a Savoyard

Human Shuttlecock-When Gilbert Appeared before the Footlights-Essays as a playwright-A Burl

alone remain actively in Gilbert and Sullivan. In all I have played thirty parts in the operas-no other artiste connected with them has ever played so many-and it may interest

(1875) Judge;

(1877) Hercules

John Wellin

(1878) Dick Deadey

seph P

zance" (1880) Samue

eneral

881) Grosveno

2) Strephon; Lo

Chanc

" (1884) Flor

(1885) The

(1887) Rob

Guard" (1888) Lieut

t; Jack

889) Giuseppe; The

td" (1893

ke" (1896) Th

y in "Ruddigore." That period was destined to continue almost without interruption until 1901. For most of this time I was touring in the provinces, though I was in London for many of the revivals, as well as for several of the plays not by Gilbert and Sullivan produced by Mr. D'Oyly Carte. Eventually this latter enterprise was brought to an end by the

st the most prosperous and happy in my career, and yet it is no affectation to say that all other parts seemed shallow and superficial when one has played so long in Gilbert and Sullivan. Shall I say I was anxious to return to them? In a sense that would be true. Certainly the yearning was

e wanted, and to the end he had the solace and companionship of his devoted wife, Lady Gilbert. He died in 1911. Following a visit to town, he had gone to bathe in the lake i

1901 and 1909. Lacking a good memory for dates, I cannot guarantee at all that th

Part. Ma

rsia" The Sulta

sle" Pat Murph

d" Earl of Ess

Stone" Simon

tar" Tobasco

" The King D

ess" Prince Pau

Bray" The Vica

f Kensington" J

he Girl" The Ea

cken" Boniface

chus" Aristide

on. Jack Hylto

Lieut. Reggie Dru

hemum" Lieut. R. Ar

affles" Raffle

Bobinet D'

n" Peter Grig

ess" Prince Pau

Captain Flappe

that the idle good-for-nothing fellow was shamming. And when Pat admitted it, the subterfuge had been kept up so long that, both to those on the stage and to the audience, the effect was marvellous to a degree. I loved playing the piper and speaking the brogue. "The Emerald Isle," as is now generally known, was the last work that Sir Arthur Sullivan composed, and on his lamented death the music was completed by my gifted friend, Edward German. I remember that when, later on, the piece was taken to Dublin, we had doubts as to whether anything in it might offend the susceptibiliti

for one year at the Adelphi, and then for a further year at the Lyric. When it was withdrawn I secured the permission of the management to use "My Cos

ries I ever drew. The idea of this piece was a contrast in courtships. First we would imitate a stately old colonel paying his addresses to an exquisite lady, and then a ranker making love to the cook, with an idiom appropriate to life "below-stairs." Eighteen changes o

o "United Service." But the theatre, she said, "called her ba

le for the unfortunate youngster. I scarcely relished the job, but old Harvey told me "All you've to do is to come on the stage; leave the rest to us; we'll pull you through." It was not a case of pulling me through. They literally threw me through. For half-an-hour I was thrown from one to another with lightning speed, and that was about all I kn

earer, in the finale, to the "show lady," before whom I walked with a banner inscribed, "St. George and the Dragon." Unfortunately, in my nervousne

me to be a wonderful honour, because it gave me eight words to speak. I had the

nd sinister): Who calls on

treble): A greater power

aside by sickness and suffering, and never had such a wonderful programme been presented. King Edward, then Prince of Wales, gave the benefit his gracious patronage, and it was in every way a remarkable success. The D'Oyly Carte contribution to the entertainment was "Trial by Jury." Gilbert himself figured in the scene as the Associate. It

music had been provided by my good friend Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Principal of the Royal Academy of Music. I conceived the idea that pieces of this kind, based on English stories and typically English alike in sentiment and musical setting, might be made an attractive feature on the music-halls, and in point of fact, all that was wrong with the exp

of them is written round the well-known picture, "The Duel in the Snow." This depicts a beautiful woman rushing between the two swords in a duel, and my object was

Leaning from my pedestal, I had to reproach them for daring to take such liberties, and we finished up with a boxing match. Our jokes on that occasion were mainly extemporised. Nobod

The Mikado." No doubt if I had come in my Oriental costume it would have been less difficult to act up to the part, but it was quite another thing to arrive in an immaculate frock-coat and silk hat, to be escorted at once into the circle of children, and invited then and there to ac

e have to get through seven or eight hard performances. With rehearsals taken into account, we have not over-much leisure for social enjoyment, and certainly no great reserves of energy. A Scotch lady was once most pressing that I should attend a dance she was arranging. Now, much as I love dancing on the stage, I have never had any taste a

te circles are the Lord Chancellor's "Dream Song"-it is so dramatic that it goes quite well as an unaccompanied recitation-and King Gama's "I can't tell why." Here I must note a remarkable fact. When I am on the stage, I know not only my own lines, but the lines of everyone else, but away from the stage and the atmosphere of the play my otherwise excellent memory is not always so amen

de by Pish Tush. Well, I was on as Ko-Ko at the time, and the sound of an unexpected voice was so strange, so bewildering, that for a moment it seemed to me that my reason had gone! "Get off! It's

nce remained in my mind, and only a few years ago I was talking about it to a man who had spent nearly all his life in Australia. When we were children we were neighbours in the same village. "Yes," said my long-lo

gement, and from that time to this she has been the intimate sharer in whatever troubles and successes have fallen to me in what is now a long and eventful career. Optimistic as I may be in temperament, there were times when her encouragement meant a great deal, and to my wife I pay this brief tribute (as brief it is bound to be). Our family has consist

uffoon is a lig

ten to pop

eculiar poignancy during that time of h

Before she retired she had probably played a greater number of parts-soprano, contralto, and soubrette-than any oth

y Jury"

" Constance;

afore" Jose

es of Penz

ce" Lad

the" I

ss Ida"

ado" Pit

re" Mad

n of the G

ndolier

, Ltd"

and Duk

ew r?les, she has helped me, "a lame, unmusical dog, over the stile." Our pianoforte at home is the one on which Sir Arthur Sullivan first played over his music for "The Mikado." It i