The Washington times., 1914-01-04
ACTORS END TOUR
OF transforming
Britons Suffered Many Hard
ships During Year and Cow
cred $4,000 Miles.

LONDON, Ian. 5.-Actor-A Manager
F1tzroy Gardner has just returned with
his company from a tour Of the Far
East. Describing the company's expert
snces in the Daily Chronicle, Manager
Gardner said:
I'VE left London just over a year ago.
and since then have covered almost ex-
actiy 1900 miles. including iiftsen sea
passages. and have visited nearly every
place with a European population and
! a theater in India. Burmah. Ceylon. the
Straits Settlements, the Malay States,
China and Japan. Our audiences were
! not always English or even European.
In Rsngood there was a strong Bur-
mese contingent in the best as well as
the cheaper seats. and one night IN
Colombo the Cingalese greatly outnum-
bered the Europeans. At Tsingtau. the
port OF German leased territory In China,
we PLAYED to an audience Of 30 Ger
mans. mostly officers and their families.
three Englishmen and one American.
During the tour had 20 pay salaries
and other expenses In eight different
currencies, reducing each to British
money for the purpose OF keeping ae-
counts. Another trial was the transport
OF scenery and baggage Three times
I had 10 face a strike of coolies when
loading or unloading. But the most diff
ficult job of all was to get our things
I'D to Mussoorie. an Indian hill staten
5000 feet above the sea. For the last
half of the elamb there Is no road, and
all our baggage and scenery hoo 10 Be
carried nine miles up rough path by
coolies
"On another occasion, owing to. I
ho roQ son tn hall urfxr rfrrnr 70
backsheesh TO Eurasian railway ofd-
ctals, through a miscalculation OF high
| finance on the way to Cawnpore. our
truck OF baggage was left in siding.
II took hours of telegraphing to learn
where II was and twenty-four hours to
recover II, so that our first performance
was given with local apologies for
scenery and such a wardrobe as our
company happened to have In their
| light luggage.
1.-THE heat on the stage Of an Indian
| or Malayan theater was simply terrific.
for we could have no fans or punkahs.
as they would have spoiled the acous-
tics Imagine grease-paints on the face.
and the necessity OF rushing about the
stage as in the rough and tumble
humor of the library scene In The
Glad Eye which we frequently played
The actors and actresses had to make
up several times every evening. per-
spfrauon washing out the effect almost
as quickly as IL was made. We played
IN the NtW EtcClIlC IlcdleE al M10IH3
before the dressing rooms were built
and had to dress in the managers
bungalow and walk across the COM
pound TO the stage More than once
our money-taker at the gallery en-
trance wore evening dress consisting OF
little but a loin cloth.
'T was in Calcutta when the alarm
| ing news Of the attempted assassina-
ton Of the Viceroy was being shouted
+, in the streets. Months later We were
In Peking when the formaitfes con-
nected with the issue Of the much dis
cussed Chinese loan were being com
pleted and southern China was threat
eninR to fight the north; For hun
| dreds Of miles every station that we
| passed on the line going south from
| Tientsin was guarded by government
| troops, some OF whom Travelled in our
ST. was on. Shameen, the European
i concession island IN the Canton river.
i when, in June, the British police In
/ spector came into the hotel with the
news that French passenger steamer
/ capture By pirates only twenty miles
/ away the following morning saw
| a con regiment of Canton troops
march away to the station to attack
/ little army Of rebels which had cap
4 tured a town on the line.
1 I'VE played in Cawnpore the evening
! of that critical day in october when the
viceroy arrived TO discuss on the spot
/ the question of releasing the natives I'M
! prisoned for taking part In the mosque
/ riots in August. Apart from undis-
/ guised threats as to the use Of bombs
/ In a native paper which were trans
/ lated for me, 1 had reliable Information
/ that il the pardon had not been granted
/ very serious trouble was expected ey
/ the authorities.
| sTwe were all very much struck BY
| the way in which the English. VINO 80
| into exile in the Far East 20 do the
| empire's work. welcomed our visit II
| brought them into touch with LONDON
again, and for an hour or two they LOT,
| got how far they were from the Strand
ana the theaters Of London-