The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-03 00:00:00

Unlicensed Theatres—The Alhambra.

Mr. Frederick Strange, proprietor of the Royal Alham-
bra, Leicester-square, was summoned before Mr. Tyrwhitt
for that his houso, being a place of public resort, was kept
for tho performance of stage plays without having a licence
from the Lord Chamberlain.
Mr. Roberts appeared in support of the summons ; and
Mr. Poland attended for the defendant.

Mr. Roberts said, in this case Mr. Horace Wigan, of the
Olympic Theatre, both for himself and other theatrical
managers, summoned Mr. Frederick Strange for a violation
of tho 26th Vic. cap. 28, sect. 2, in keeping open a place of
public resort for the performance of stage plays without a
licence. The 23d sect. defined stage plays. The entertain-
ment complained of was called a " ballet divertissement,"
and this, ho was prepared to contend, was a performance of I
tho stage. It had been argued, and would no doubt be again
argued, that if ballets had not been excepted, that would
have been named in the act. But at the time the Acts 10th
and 25th Geo. 11. were passed, the ballet was then part of
the opera, and never performed by itself. Even if a ballet
was performed by itself, it did not cease to be a stage en-
tertainment. " Webster's Dictionary," a good authority,
defined a ballet to bo a kind of dance, accompanied by
music, in which various passions and emotions were repre-
sented by the movements of the dancers. A divertisse-
ment, which was a word of French derivation, was also
an interlude, and described in " Webster" as an enter-
tainment exhibited on the stage, between the acts or
plays, to amuse the spectators while the actors were chang-
ing their dresses, or taking breath, or while the scenes
were being shifted. In " Beeton's Dictionary of Universal
Information" an interlude was stated to be a show, play, or
dance, accompanied by music, and introduced between the
acts of a piece, or a play and afterpiece. A pantomime was
no doubt a performance where actions or the passions of the
human mind were conveyed by gesture. If love, hatred,
grief, or joy were conveyed to the spectators by gesture, that
would be pantomime. The derivation of interlude was from
the French, and the French explanation coincided with our
explanation. Therefore he contended that the ballet diver-
tissement partook of all the characteristics of the theatrical
definition that had been given. He would not describe the
place nor the performances. He would leave that part of
his case to the witnesses. He would proceed to read and
refer to the different cases in point. The cases of
Gallieni and Hardy had been referred,to in previous pro-
ceedings, and at the sessions it was argued that it was
nonsense to say that ballets were to be prohibited, for how
could a copy of the performance be sent to the Lord Cham-
berlain ? But he would refer to what Lord Kenyon said in
the case of Gallieni. The object of the law was to put all
places of diversion under supervision in order to protect
public morals. It was well known that indecent perform-
ances could be presented by the aid of dancing, and the
Lord Chamberlain had lately issued a notice to theatrical
managers for them to send, as far as they could, a copy of
ballets, divertissements, and every stage dance.
Mr. Poland—Was this since these proceedings against
managers were commenced ?

Mr. Roberts—The notice was sent since these proceed-
ings had occurred. Ho would read the notice.

Mr. Poland—l object to tho notice being read.
Mr. Tyrwhitt—lt is not necessary. The only question
is this—is a copy
necessary to be sent to tho Lord Cham-
berlain ?

Mr. Roberts—With reference to the case of Gallieni v.
Labori, it was thought that Lord Kenyon overruled his
judgment in that case when deciding the case of the King v.
Hardy, but it was not so, for Lord Kenyon expressly re-
ferred to his judgment in the case of Gallieni, and stated that
it was right, and gave his reasons at length, showing the dif-
ferent ground on which the two cases stood. In the case
of Hardy, Lord Kenyon held that under the 25th George 11.,
the word dancing meant public dancing. But the point for
which he contended, and against which Mr. Strange con-
tended, was that the 25th George 11. did not give magis-
trates the power to allow stage-dancing. The magistrates
held the contrary opinion ; but he maintained it was not the
togive magistrates that power.
T h esuch cnought to convince every one that
no
in the Legislature when they
intentionroitai o
itfe itselfn theti c,Legislature o fexisted
the
act
passed the act. He contended that the words public danc-
ing in the act meant dancing by the frequenters of the
place, not dancing by stage performers. He might be
wrong, but the real question was whether the 25th Geo. 11.
meant to apply to any other kind of dancing than that to
which ho had referred. The act certainly applied to places
taken for dancing purposes. The ease of Clarke v. Serle
showed that the opinion of Lord Kenyon was that the act
applied to all places where persons could gain admission
by payment. If stage dancing was not an entertainment
of the stage, how could the singing of the song of " The
Ship on Fire" be held to be a dramatic entertainment, as
was ruled in the case of Russell v. Smith ? The judgment
of Lord Denman would be found in 17 Law Journal, 225.
At the quarter sessions the plaintiffs were not allowed to
give evidence of experts. It was stated by the magistrates
that it was a question for the Court, but Lord Denman's
judgment in the case he had quoted went to favour the
view that the plaintiffs had a right to the evidence of ex-
perts. The last case he would quote was that of Pepper's
Ghost, Day v. Simpson, and on appeal from the Brighton
magistrates, it was decided that the performance was a
stage representation, and must be licensed by the Lord
Chamberlain. lie had quoted all thy cam applicable