New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-06-21
LONDON PAYS HOMAGE
TO KING SHAKESPEARE
Poets Supreme Sway Recoe-
nlzed Even in Coronation
Week by Grand Ball.
THOUSANDS IN MASQUERADE
Americans Prominent Among the
Society Women Impersonat-
ing Bard's Heroines at
Albert Hall

! London June 20.-Shakespeare Is king
even in coronation week. The costume
| ball at Albert Hall for the benefit OF
/ the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was
transformed into a royal function. 10
which the guests Of the King and Queen
were carried off after the banquet 81
/ Buckingham Palace.
The royal guests We're in four boxes
and numbered as many as sixtv. They
included the Duke and Duchess If Con
| nsught. Prince Louis and Princess Vic
toria OF Battenbers. Prince Alexander II
! Teck. Prince Henry Of Prussia and the
| princess. and the German Crown Prince
/ Frederick William and the crown prin-
cess They witnessed q pageant Of IN
/ exampled brilnancy and vivacity.
The immense hall had been converted
! into an Italian rather than a Tudor gar
/ den. with rows Of tai cypress trees yev
arbors and Elusive sloping banks q
green.
| More sumptuous and fascinating than
any royal rasque in Whitehall Gardens
I II Ben Jonsons time was the masquer
ade, in which nearly all Shakespeare
characters were represented by the
smartest people in London and by favor
ite actors and charming actresses.
There was q general procession after
the dancing had gone on two hours, and
each quadrille party with a distinctive
/ color scheme and standard preserved its
/ individuality
Royalties. ambassadors, n'illonaires
and statesmen in boxes witnessed a
series Of beautiful stage pictures, and
when the quadrilles were danced in ar
improvised Old World garden the collec-
tive effect was marvellous. Twenty nine
ouadrilles were danced simultaneously.
About twenty-five plays were COM
rletely represented in characters, and
there we're special combinations Of
/ Shakespeare's lovers. Ehzabethan court
/ iers Tudor dancers and Anazons.
There was a full muster Of literary
people on the dancing floor. Among the
/ onlookers were the Prime Minister and
Arthur Balfour
The musicians were in Elizabethan
costume and no dancer appeared in q
dress OF period later than Shakes
peare's own.
! The expenses Of this ball have been
enormous. but II has been so popular
among smart people that the pro6ts
available for the Shakespeare theatre
may approach 100000.
The ball was organized by Mrs. George
/ CORVALLIS West. mother Of the Home
I Secretary. Winston Churchill. and by
birth an American. Among those sched-
uled 10 participate were Mrs. Joseph
/ stickney. Of New York. as Catherine Of
Aragon, the Duchess OF Hamilton as
Mary Queen OF Scots. the Countess OF
1 Laresborough as Ann Boleyn, Mrs. Ava
Astor as the Countess OF Auvergne, the
/ Duchess Of Marlborough (Consuelo Van
derbilt, OF New York. as the Duchess OF
! Gloucester in Henry VI" Mrs. Patrick
7 Campbell as Shakespesre's love, Mary
Fitten. Mrs. Anthony Hone rs Portia,
/ Kitty Shannon, daughter OF an Ameri-
can artist. James Shannon. as Beatrice.
in Twelfth Night: viscount Maidstone,
who married Nargarita Drexel. as a
| peasant. the Duchess Of Roxburghe
| MAY Goelet, Of New York; as the
/ Duchess OF Buckingham, in Henry
/ VIII; viscount and Viscountess Ache
son as the Duke and Duchess Of Nor
/ folk, J. Armstrong Drexel as Hamlet and
the Earl Of Craven. who married Bradley
Martins daughter. as Malvolio
! The dancers numbered thousands,
while four hundred boxes were occupied
hv -he representatives Of foreign nations
and prominent British officials