Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1886-12-31
pANTOMIME SONGS.
ARTISTS" MAKING READY FOR
THE HOLIDAYS IN LONDON.

THE HOLIDAYS IN LONDON.
Good Songs in Abundance and at Low
Figures-Successes in the Music Halls.
Wide Differences in the Public Taste. 4
Political Verses. 4
The pantonlinle aartists" are already CIV
ing to the songs they mean to sing that atten-
tion which outsiders might fancy is only be-
slowed on their dresses. Asa matter of fact,
the dresses, and even the dances, have now
become subjects of secondary consideration.
The chief engagements for the coming season
are "signedn by this time; where there is an
important vacancy it is owing osome person
engaged having disappointed" Many les
sees engage their complete pantomine COM
pany early in the summer, and their starsf
the Christmas before. 1t is common for the
manager to make a round of the principal
provincial theatres during one pantomine
season in hope of getting a good thing" for
the next. As a rule, the comedian who has
the most fetching" topical songs is most
worth looking after; this holding even when
the player is lady. One song that takes the
popular ear brings more money to the man
ager than ESQ transformation scene; and it
is not so much the song that takes as the way
it is sung, the singer who scores" in one pan
tomime will probably repeat his success in
another.
AS profession the writing of pantomime
songs would not pay. The competition is SO
keen that popular singers need not give an
order for new song; they may go to bed
any night in confidence that song from
someone is sure to be delivered with their let
tiers in the morning. Thus the singer is pretty
certain to get something that will suit him
sooner or later; and, of course, songs sent for
approval are very cheap. Full rights can
easily be got for guinea, Or even for less.
SUCCESSFUL SONGS.
On the other hand, there are well known
"shops" for the supply of the article, and the
singer is measured for it, SO to speak. The
poet has to write to his customers voice, to
be patriotic" or topical" or Sentimental"
according to instructions In most cases he
is both writer and composer; but songs sent
on approval" are generally without music.
Five pounds is good price for song, even
when it is ordered of well-known writer;
but once produce popular pantomime song
and the music halls will find you plenty of
employment The most successful pantomime
song of recent years is a music hall dirty, in
which the principal boy says to the principal
girl: "Ducky darling, ducky darling, I love
you" That song oyerran the pantomimes all
over the country for year. It is dead
enough now; but the composer made name
by it, and will doubtless profit thereby for
the next decade. A wellknown dramatist
has had some great successes with pantomime
songs, such as "Wst, wst, wst," which also was
first heard in the music halls
The common impression is that the writer
Of the pantomime writes the songs as well, or
at least arranges with the manager what
songs are to be introduced at certain points.
He has nothing to do with is. The leading
performers are entitled to introduce their
own songs and dances, and that is why two
songs very like each other are often sung in
the same pantomime. If the local town coun-
Gil has been having squabble the fact of the
low comedians introducing it into his song
does not prevent the principal boys intro
ducing it into his. 1t has been said that the
actor who makes himself name in one
pantornime can generally keep up his reputa-
ton. There are, nevertheless comedians of
one song, as managers occasionally learn to
their cost. The comedians attachment to
song that has made him popular during the
pantomime season is often remarkable His
words perhaps, in next years pantomime,
and the managers remonstrance that 'it is
old now" has no effect It may be old, but
"it goes down"
THE PUBLIC TASTE.
A comic singer whom accident makes the
sole proprietor of a popular song likes to keep
it to himself He is, as rule, music hall
singer except at pantomime times, and when
La tall ,11o,4 TO- /I =
vantage that it should be coupled with his
name However, the limitations that at once
spring up are SO like that this exclusiveness
does not always pay, and SO he may dispose
of his rights to one or sixty or fifty other
singers, and thus the same song is sung in the
same way in twenty pantomimes 1t does
not, however, take equally well in each, and
the fault is not necessarily the singers. Just
as song may be redemanded two OF three
times on one night and fall quite fiat the next
in the same theatre, SO the public taste in one
town differs from the public taste in an
other Players who have been long on the
"road" know, OF at least plume themselves on
knowing, how to adapt themselves to the
tastes of different places.
A comedian now on tour with burlesque
company does recitative song that takes
immensely in some towns, while In others it
is so little appreciated as to make him feel
sbashed. It contains the information that
when he sang that song in California the
audience flung sovereigns at him He re-
peats this in SO pointed way that his hear
ers can hardly fail to see what he means.
Sometimes they rise to his meaning at once,
and pit and gallery pelt him with pence.
Unless they do this there is no point in the
lines that follow When the audience is slow.
to assist him with his business" coins are
flung from the wings just to give them a
start, but the hint is not always taken.
Political songs succeed and fail in the same
way. Some audiences are SO taken by them
that they insist on having them over again
from beginning to end. Other audiences re-
sent the introduction of politics with Kisses
and shouts of "No politics" On the whole
the safest hit in pantomime is the topical
song that is all about the election Of the
board of guardians or the town band, or the
disappearance of the grocer round the cor
ner, or the way in which the streets are lit
That appeals to gallery and dress circle
alike stalls are not common in the prov
inces) and as soon as the comedian arrives in
| the town for rehearsals he sets to work to
acquire the local gossip.-St. James Gazette
Untrustworthiness of History.
| In recent paper on Lord Timothy Dexter,
| Mr.. William Cleaves Todd, of Newburyport,
| disposes of the tales of Dexter's sending warm
ing pans and English Bibles to the West
| Indies. In illustration of the untrustworthi-
ness of history, Mr. Todd cites Professor J..
| D. Butler, of Madison, Wis, whose grand
| father, an eye witness, often told him, In re-
gard to Ethan Aliens Gin the name of the
| great Jehovah and the Continental congress, y
| that what the surprised commanders at Ticon-
deroga actually heard was: "Come out of
] here VOL ID old ratn This matches