A Book of Burlesque: Sketches of English Stage Travestie and Parody. Adams William Davenport

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ the Gaiety was the first step towards the expansion of the Old burlesque into the New. In the following year Mr. Edward Terry entered on an engagement at the Strand – an engagement which lasted till 1877, and did as much for the progress of stage travestie as did that of Miss Farren at the other house. In 1869 there was burlesque at the Globe, with Edward Marshall and Miss Maggie Brennan, and at the St. James's with Mrs. John Wood in "La Belle Sauvage."5 In 1870 Harry Paulton went to the Strand; and at the Royalty were Rachel Sanger, Arthur Wood, and Alfred Bishop. In 1871 there was burlesque at the Court, with Mlle. D'Anka, Miss Oliver, Miss Kate Bishop and Mr. Righton. At the Vaudeville, next year, Miss Nelly Power and Miss Marie Rhodes were supporting Messrs. James and Thorne; while at the Royalty were Miss Emma Chambers, Miss Kate Phillips, and Miss Harriett Coveney.

      In 1873 Mr. E. W. Royce goes to the Gaiety, and Miss Lottie Venne is seen at the Court in "The Happy Land." At the Folly, next year, Mr. Edouin takes the fancy of the town as the Heathen Chinee in Mr. Farnie's "Blue Beard;" Belmore, Mr. Odell, and Mr. Leonard Boyne all essay to burlesque Mr. Irving as Hamlet; and Miss Pattie Laverne plays the hero in Mr. Burnand's "Ixion Re-Wheeled." A "Robinson Crusoe," by Mr. Farnie, at the Folly in 1876, brings to the front a droll Will Atkins in the form of Mr. George Barrett.

      In 1877, at the Gaiety, Edward Terry joins Miss Farren and Mr. Royce, and in 1878 Selina Dolaro and G. W. Anson are playing at the Folly in "Another Drink," while Alma Stanley and Charles Groves are playing in "Venus" at the Royalty. Miss Kate Vaughan, at the Gaiety, is already beginning to revolutionise stage dancing, making it at once graceful and decorous. At the Royalty, in 1880, are Miss Kate Lawler and Mr. Frank Wyatt; at the Gaiety are Mr. Dallas and Miss Gilchrist. In 1882, Mr. Toole, who has not been seen in burlesque for some time, takes part in a skit on rural melodrama. A year later Mr. Harry Monkhouse figures at the Gaiety; Mr. E. D. Ward and Miss Marie Linden first show, at Toole's, their talent for travestie; and Miss Laura Linden does the same thing at the Strand. In 1884 Mr. Willie Edouin and Miss Alice Atherton make, in "The Babes," their first joint success in London; and Mr. Edward Terry and Miss Kate Vaughan appear at the Gaiety for the last time in burlesque.

      It is from this point that we may date the foundation of the New Burlesque, to which I shall return in my last chapter. In the chapters that immediately follow we shall be able to see how numerous were the topics essayed by burlesque writers in the "palmy" days, and also with how much wit and humour those writers were able, for the most part, to charge the stories that they told and the pictures that they presented.

       III

      "CLASSICAL" BURLESQUE

      Planché was not only the founder of modern burlesque: he was the originator, in particular, of that form of travestie which is commonly described as "classical" – which deals with the characteristics and adventures of the gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, of the Greek and Latin mythology and fable. It is true that comic pieces on classical subjects had been played in England before Planché brought out, at the Olympic, his "Olympic Revels"6 (January 1831). But these pieces were not burlesques in the present-century sense of the word. Take, for example, the "Midas" of Kane O'Hara, which, produced in 1762, remained popular for so many years, and will always be remembered as including the once famous ditty: —

      Pray, goody, please to moderate the rancour of your tongue:

      Why flash those sparks of fury from your eyes?

      Remember, where the judgment's weak the prejudice is strong,

      A stranger why will you despise?

      The gods and goddesses are presented in "Midas" in a light more or less ludicrous, and the dialogue, songs, and choruses are flavoured with contemporary allusion, more or less humorous. But the form given to the work is that of the old-fashioned burletta. Indeed, the chief merit of "Midas," from a historical point of view, lies in the fact that it was its successful revival, with Mme. Vestris as Apollo, which, coupled with the publication of Colman junior's story, "The Sun-Poker," suggested to Planché the composition of his first "classical" burlesque. This had for subject the story of Prometheus and Pandora, and was remarkable, not only for the smooth flow of its versification and the general refinement of its tone, but also for the accuracy and consistency of the costumes, which were throughout "classical," and therefore in strong contrast to the haphazard, incongruous attire in which "classical" characters had hitherto been exhibited on the comic boards.

      Prometheus and Pandora, I may note, figured later – in 1865 – as the leading personages in Mr. Reece's "Prometheus, or the Man on the Rock,"7 in which the writer differed from his predecessor in admitting into his dialogue a large infusion of the punning element. In this direction Mr. Reece has always been proficient. Here are a few specimens of his work, picked out at random: —

      "Those steeds of yours will burn my house some day.

      Fine animals."

      "That leader came from Sestos;

      Stands fire well, and so he counts as best 'os."

      "What! don't you think me handsome?"

      "Not very.

      You've got red hair!"

      "Well, that's hair-red-itary."

      "Why, darn your impudence!"

      "There, stop your clatter.

      With all your darning you'll not mend the matter."

      "A couch that's made 'midst buttercups, he's shy on;

      The verdant sward how could a dandy lie on?"

      "You jeer at Pallas 'cos she's strict and staid.

      With all your railing you'll need Pallas' aid!"

      Planché's "Olympic Revels" proved so brilliantly successful that he was encouraged to follow it up, at the end of the year, with a companion composition – "Olympic Devils, or Orpheus and Eurydice." In this work, James Bland, the son of the lady who "created" Planché's Coquetinda, made his first appearance in burlesque, and among the female Bacchantes who took part in the groupings was a clever young girl, named Leonora Pincott, who was destined one day to be a great public favourite as "Mrs. Alfred Wigan." In "Olympic Devils" Planché's style is seen to excellent effect. Note, as an instance, the remarks addressed by Minos, Lord Low Chancellor, to the Fates: —

      I vow you Fates are most industrious spinsters!

      Miss Clotho there – man's destiny beginning —

      Life's thread at tea, like a tee-totum spinning.

      And then Miss Lachesis that same thread measures,

      Taking great pains, but giving little pleasures.

      Last comes Miss Atropos, her part fulfilling,

      And cuts poor mortals off without a shilling.

      The saddest sister of the fatal three,

      Daughter, indeed, of shear necessity!

      Plying her awful task with due decorum,

      A never-ceasing game of "snip-snap-snorum"!

      For help, alas! man pleads to her in vain —

      Her motto's "Cut and never come again."

      Elsewhere Orpheus says to Eurydice: —

      I am a lunatic for lack of thee!

      Mad as a March hare – oh, ma chère amie!

      But Planché had a higher wit than that of punning. His satire and sarcasm have an agreeable, because not too pungent, cynicism – as in such little scraps of song СКАЧАТЬ