ALBERT CHEVALIER ALBERT CHEVALIER A RECORD HIMSELF BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER CHAPTERS BY BRIAN DALY I I. LUST R A T E D LONDON : 3 o b n /Ifc a c q u e e n HASTINGS HOUSE, NORFOLK STREHT, STRAND TO THE PUBLIC. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, Whatever I am, you have made me. The greatest compliment an artist can receive is your encourage- ment. I have done my best up till now now I will try and do better. It has been said that the road to a certain warm place is " paved with good intentions." I cannot be- lieve it, but, if such be the case, then have I very largely contributed towards the path-paving of the thoroughfare to that undesirable permanent address. I am not exactly a fatalist, but I feel that I must go on as I have commenced. With your assistance, I will defy superstition, and only count the fatal flagstones when I fail to please you. I am proud to sign myself, Your servant, ALBERT CHEVALIER. P.S. After reading the proofs of my friend Daly's share in this book I refer particularly to certain per- sonal eulogies I have eome to the conclusion that his " good intentions " must have left him well on the road, 2062253 vi TO THE PUBLIC. with "some of all professions that" according to Macbeth's Porter, " go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire ' " I wish you to remember that I am only re- sponsible for the anecdotal portion the remainder of the work is my friend's. He is a brave man, and knows not fear. PROEM. [To the One from the Other.'} Give me your hand in clasp strong, proud and royal, Such as men give that have in them the king, With a high sense of brotherhood right loyal, Our friendship perfecting. This be my plea (if there be needed any) : Who finds a friend has found in life a grace; And I am only one among the many That owe you time and place. Herein the tributes from a real heart streaming Are small return : but they may be a sign, That often just a little of your dreaming Will weigh and count with mine In those deep harmonies that men call feeling, On which glows God's indubitable star ! . . . Give me your hand there is no touch of healing More potent, near or far. BRIAN DALY. Islcworth. February, 1895. CONTENTS. PAGE To THE PUBLIC. _____ y PROEM [To THE ONE FROM THE OTHER.] vii PART L ACTOR. PRELIMINARIES. I. THE BOOK MAKES ITS BOW I II. AN. INTRODUCTION 6 III. FROM "TURN TO TURN" AND WHAT BEFELL ----- 8 IV. AN INFANT PRODIGY - - 13 "MR. KNIGHT." I. 1877 THE OLD PRINCE OF WALES'S THEATRE ----- 23 II. A FEW RECOLLECTIONS - - - 29 MANY AND VARIOUS [1878-87.] I. THE "DIPLOMACY" TOUR - - 35 II. WITH MR. JOHN HARE AT THE COURT THEATRE ----- 38 III. ON TOUR AGAIN, WITH MESSRS. HARE AND KENDAL 41 IV. VAN BIENE'S OPERA COMPANY [1881] 47 V. CECIL BERYL'S SEASON [ 1 881]- - 51 VI. "THE SQUIRE" TOUR [1882]- - 55 VII. TOOLE'S THEATRE '[1883] * - 58 VIII. AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE '- - 61 IX. THE GLOBE THEATRE [1883] 63 X. THE "IMPULSE" TOUR [1884-5] ~ 65 XI. THE ROYAL COURT THEATRE [1885-7] 6 7 x CONTENTS. WITH WILLIE EDOUIN. I. THE INTRODUCTION - - - - 75 II. "A TRAGEDY" 78 III. "KATTI, THE FAMILY HELP," AND " AIREY ANNIE " - - - -79 IV. CONCLUDING WITH EDOUIN 82 AT THE AVENUE THEATRE. I. " THE PRIMA DONNA " - - - 87 II. " THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD" 91 III. MR. GEO. ALEXANDER'S SEASON " DR. BILL " 93 IV. "SocK AND BUSKIN" - - - 97 V. " THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE " - - 102 PART IL MUSIC HALL SINGER. "THE COSTER'S LAUREATE." I. DOUBTS - 109 II. TRIUMPH - - - - - 115 III. THE APPRECIATION - - - - 120 IV. CONCERNING HIS SONGS - - - 140 V. BETWEEN THE "TURNS" - - - 156 VI. UP THE RIVER - 160 AT HOME AND AWAY. I. THE DEN AT ISLEWORTH - - - 167 II. A SENSATIONAL TOUR - - 183 III. EN DESHABILLE A HOME-STUDY IN AUTUMN ----- 192 IV. A SUNDAY AT ISLEWORTH - - 195 CONTENTS. xi PAGE A CHAPTER OF ANECDOTES. I. " A HOLIDAY SMOKE-ROOM " - - 203 II. VANDALISM ----- 207 III. ON DRESSERS- - - - - 2IO IV. "ONE TOUCH. . . ." - : - ' - 211 V. A SLIGHT MISTAKE- - - - 213 VI. A FRENCH LESSON- _ - - 215 VII. TRANS-ATLANTIC - - - - 217 VIII. THE CENTRE OF THE STAGE - - 219 IX. A NEW WAY TO EARN A LIVING - 220 X. THE "FIEND" - : - '".'- - 221 XI. INVOLVED - - > - - - 223 XII. A FALL IN THE SOCIAL SCALE - - 224 XIII. A FRAGMENT - 225 XIV. PRESENCE OF MIND (?) - ' - - 226 XV. EXTEMPORE - - - - 227 XVI. NOT BEFORE THE BoY ! - - - 229 XVII. A SELECTION BY THE BAND - - 230 XVIII. ENCOURAGING - - - - - 231 XIX. CONCERNING A HAT - 232 XX. CANDOUR - 234 "IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE" - - 239 "THE CHEVALIER RECITALS" - - 247 POLITICAL PARODIES, ETC - - - 257 "AN OLD YEAR OUT." I. MOONLIGHT MYSTERY - 269 II. "THE DOYEN OF BOHEMIANS"- - 273 III. ODDS AND ENDS - 276 IV. A LATTER-DAY REVERIE - - - 292 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE ALBERT CHEVALIER ------ 4 ALBERT CHEVALIER AND HIS BROTHER, AUGUSTS - 16 "MR. KNIGHT" [CHEVALIER AT 16] 26 CHEVALIER AS "BERNSTEIN" [THE SCHOOLMISTRESS] 70 ALBERT CHEVALIER AS " SAM WELLER " - 96 MESSRS. JOHN BEAUCHAMP AND ALBERT CHEVALIER AS " BETSY PRIG " AND " SAIREY GAMP " - 99 ALBERT CHEVALIER AS "SAIREY GAMP" - 103 " ST. CHEVY " - - ' 108 " THE COSTER'S SERENADE " - - - - 113 CHEVALIER SINGING "TicK-TocK" - 129 CHEVALIER SINGING " MY OLD DUTCH" - 137 CHEVALIER SINGING " WOT'S THE GOOD o' HANY- FINK" --_-___ 147 CHEVALIER SINGING "THE NIPPER'S LULLABY" - 153 CHEVALIER SINGING " OUR BAZAAR" - - - 253 PART I. ACTOR. ^Preliminaries. Albert Chevalier: a Record. PART I. ACTOR. Preliminaries. THE BOOK MAKES ITS Bow. There isn't a great deal of me. I am not a portly, well-developed, aristocratic Gentleman, with an air of superiority, or with a pompous desire to be reckoned as clever and important as other members of my class. My dress is as simple as my pretensions, which are to place upon record, without ostentation, a brief survey of an actor's public career a simple, earnest life, in which the B 2 ALBERT CHEVALIER. pulse of an artistic temperament stirs ever with con- vincing throbs. Somehow, I feared that I should never reach matu- rity ; so many circumstances combined to delay my growth. You see, I was not more than two chapters old, when I was very unkindly hid away in a drawer for a long period. Not receiving any nourishment from the pen which had fed me, I ceased to develop but as there was no waste I did not die so remained in statu quo, among a lot of other immaturities of various and doubtful ages, until one day I was sud- denly jerked out of my dark prison, turned over, scrutinized, branded with scratches and blots, and finally found myself rapidly expanding iiato my present condition. My present condition. Well, of course I had to undergo an operation, but it was not unpleasant ; in fact, it w r as rather refreshing to be transferred bodily from the irregular manuscript to nice, clean apartments such as I occupy now. Just step in, will you ? This way ; turn once to the left ; allow me to introduce you to A NOTE BY THE CHRONICLER. 5 [_Now that the introduction is complete, the chronicler remembers that among his notes is one having reference to a ludicrous incident related to him by Chevalier soon after its occurrence. As an "introduc- tion" was responsible for it, let it be produced here, and in Chevalier's own words.] ALBERT CHEVALIER. II. AN INTRODUCTION. " I was singing at the Alhambra, Brighton, in the winter of 1892, and owing to a slight throat-trouble, I had a night off. The following evening the manager (Harry Lundy) and I were chatting together inside the house, when a swellish young fellow left the bar, and crossing to Lundy, asked if ' Chevalier was on to- night.' Of course he didn't know me in my non- professional disguise. Lundy replied, 'Yes, he'll be on at so-and-so,' mentioning the time I was due. His questioner looked dubious, and remarked, ' He was off last night drunk, I suppose ? ' As he turned away, Lundy winked at me, and touching the young fellow, who stopped, said : " ' Allow me to introduce you to Mr. Chevalier ! ' " I inclined my head, and judge of my surprise, when, without turning a hair, he did likewise, and in a per- " HE LIKED THAT MAN." 7 fectly unconcerned way, as if he had known me for years, said : " ' How do you do ? Hope you're well.' I liked that man.' ALBERT CHEVALIER. III. FROM "TURN" TO "TURN," AND WHAT BEFELL. I distinctly remember the night this book was first suggested to me by Chevalier. We were going from "turn" to "turn," from the "Cambridge" to the " Canterbury," and, to be precise, it was just when the brougham was about half-way over London Bridge. A dark November night, and a fog slowly spreading its yellow shroud over and along the highway. Inside the brougham, the comedian, muffled to the nose, was growing anxious as the moments approached for his appearance at the "Canterbury," for the coachman could make but slow progress through the dense fog, destined, before we reached the hall I have mentioned, to get us into a little trouble. " I think the book would be interesting, don't you ? " he asked. " It ought to be," was my reply. INTERVIEWERS. 9 " Well," he continued, reflectingly, " we shall have a bit of trouble, I'm afraid. As you know, I am not a methodical man, and diaries and such things I never kept at any rate not for long at a time." " Never mind," I answered, " we must utilise the material we have. I don't think posterity will be kept in ignorance of your work." " Not if it reads all the interviews. But in a hun- dred years hence people will surely wonder at the conflicting stories told of professional people. Most of the interviewers I have met are very good fellows and mean well, but oftentimes some have a knack of distorting one's assertions, and as these are imported immediately into a hundred other papers and the importation entails a certain amount of local tinkering, we get the credit of having either very bad memories or an inventive faculty known as lying." Here the brougham left the bridge, and moved to- wards the Southwark Bridge Road. It looked very miserable and uninviting through the fast-closed windows, and we had lapsed into a mutual silence, when a sudden jolt of the vehicle, followed by a sharp pull up, roused us rather rudely from our medi- tations. Now the road we were travelling was very dark, and 10 ALBERT CHEVALIER. just by a railway arch which spanned the thorough- fare, it was almost totally so. An object stationed in the centre of the road was rendered invisible in the shadow of the arch, and the coachman had driven into it. " Good gracious ! what's that ? " said Chevalier, starting up as the carriage came to a halt. A reply reached us from the outer darkness, in a thick, beery voice, as the owner addressed the coach- man. "Orlright ! You've done a blanked fine thing, ain't yer ? 'Old on a bit now let's see the damidge." This sounded serious to us. Chevalier still wore his coster suit under a great coat, and reminding me of this, added " This chap musn't catch sight of me, or there'll be the deuce to pay." " You sit well back," I said, "and I'll jump out and see what it is." This I did, and encountered a man with a dark, swarthy face, seared by old passions, who remarked leisurely, though gruffly : " It's all up aginst yer, gov'nor the can's broke." The " can " was an iron chest of drawers on wheels, used for baking potatoes in the streets. Upon inspec- tion, I found that a leaf of one of the small springs upon which the " tater-can " rested was broken. At the out- A CLAIM FOR DAMAGES. I I side, two or three shillings would have covered the cost of repairing, or even re-purchase, but on my asking the question, the vendor of potatoes promptly replied, " One quid is the damidge, an' don't you forget it." I said I wouldn't, nor would he get the sove- reign. At that moment, much to my surprise, another fellow came forward and claimed damages, at the same time seizing the horse's bridle, and blurting out : " Yer don't git away from here without yer part, strike me dead if yer do ! " And now from a neighbouring public-house came a number of rough, slip-shod fellows, who surrounded the carriage, and there was quite a Babel for a few moments. I was in despair. I endeavoured to bargain with my man, but the fellow, holding the horse's head, loudly swore that he'd see me to perdition before he would budge an inch. Chevalier came to the rescue. Lowering one of the windows an inch or two, he said : " There can't be two owners. I'll pay the first-comer or neither." All this time there was not a policeman to be seen. The two men now entered into an argument, the first- comer endeavouring to persuade the other to leave, then turning to me, said : 12 ALBERT CHEVALIER. " Give us ten bob, an' we'll let yer go." " No, five." "Ten, or" The one who held the horse, came forward to support the other's demand. I pushed two half-crowns into my man's hand, jumped into the carriage, and away we went as fast as the horse could take us to the Canterbury, where the comedian arrived just in the nick of time. I should not like to say that the " tater-can " was " planted " there, but I have often wondered whether that spring had been broken before, and how many times it has suffered since. IN A "PAVILION" DRESSING-ROOM. 13 AN INFANT PRODIGY. " With reference to the reminiscences," suddenly remarked Chevalier, proceeding to divest himself of his stage dress, " I'm afraid there's not much early material to work on." It was in a dressing-room of the London Pavilion. Bates, Chevalier's dresser, was busily engaged packing up his master's " props," and Chevalier was now apply- ing himself to a bowl of water. "And, perhaps, it's just as well," he continued. " As a prodigy, the sufferings I inflicted upon the public must have been awful. Fancy ! twenty-five years ago I fully persuaded myself that I was a pocket Bellew and Leybourne in one. What I must have been like, I dread to think, but certain am I that I met with a tolerable amount of success at the various entertainments constantly being organised in the 14 ALBERT CHEVALIER. neighbourhoods of Netting Hill, Shepherd's Bush, and Kensington. By the way, W. Lestocq, part author of 'Jane/ 'The Foundling/ and several other plays, was, I remember, a budding tenor at this time, and appeared at many of these entertainments." I accompanied Chevalier home that evening, and he showed me a time-worn exercise book in which were pasted many of the poems and songs in his earliest repertoire. The same book contained some entries of his infant performances, one of them being : " The September Gale, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, delivered at Cornwall Hall, Netting Hill, iyth August, 1870." He was about eight years old at the time, but in- formed me that his debut in public was made quite a year previously. So that the genesis of the future " coster's laureate," as Mr. Arthur Symons has so aptly named him, was commenced at the tender age of seven, when, as a rule, memory is scarcely developed enough to hand down its impressions to later years. But truly I think that, in Chevalier's case, it was different. From this time the effect made upon him was so strong that it never passed away ; nay more, it grew upon him, and his natural artistic instinct sheltered and preserved it. ALBERT CHEVALIER AND HIS BROTHER, AUGUSTE. AN OLD EXERCISE BOOK. 1 7 Upon glancing through the same book, one comes across various little evidences of his analytical and ob- servant characteristics, for, with the enthusiasm of his boyhood, he has entered herein memoranda of several performances witnessed in company with his father and others, among whom is mentioned the name of " Auguste," this being his brother, who has since won his spurs as the composer of many of Chevalier's songs, under the soubriquet of " Charles Ingle." Headed, "Princess's, March nth, 1874," we find a short account of his visit- " with papa " to see the play of "Mary, Queen of Scots," in which Mr. and Mrs. Rousby took part. There are also accounts of a performance of "The Wandering Jew," with Mr. James Fernandez and the late Mr. Benjamin Webster in the cast. Chatting over this with Chevalier, he said : " My father at that time was French master at the Kensington Grammar School, and amongst his pupils were the sons of the late Henry Compton. I obtained an introduction to the popular comedian, who good- naturedly consented to give me a hearing. I remember calling at his house in Kensington Square, and being shown into his study. He was sitting in an old-fashioned, high-backed Windsor chair, and was smoking a long c I 8 ALBERT CHEVALIER. clay pipe. Laying this aside, he looked me up and down in a kindly way, and said, ' So you want to be an actor, eh ? ' I told him that was my burning desire, and, subject to his encouragement, my ultimate determira- ation. ' Recite something to me,' he said. It was an awful ordeal, I know, for me. If he suffered, and I am sure he must have done, he dissembled his emo- tion. First he patted me on the back, and exclaimed, ' Good ! very good ! ' Then gently shaking me by the hand, and smacking his lips, as I had heard him do on the stage, prior to making a point, he said, ' Come and see me again when your voice breaks. 1 " Before leaving these early days of budding ambition, it is proper to record that Chevalier was born on March 2 1st, in the' year 1862, at 21 in St. Ann's Villas, Royal Crescent, Netting Hill. A near neighbour was Mr. G. A. Henry, the popular author of many stirring stories of adventure, and now editor of The Standard. Chevalier tells me he remembers quite well Mr. Henty delivering, some years later, a lecture, with magic- lantern views, at his own house, on the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1, on which occasion our comedian thinks he obliged with a recitation. Claiming origin from three races the Gallic, the Welsh, and the Hibernian the secret of Chevalier's "WHATS IN A NAME r IC> mimetic power, plaintive minstrelsy, and natural humour, is doubtless therein explained. Five other children were also born to his parents, two of whom died young, the three remaining being a sister, Adele ; and two brothers, Bertram and Auguste ; the latter mentioned later on in his adopted name of " Charles Ingle." His father having died some years since, Chevalier is left the head of his house. But I must hark back to his young days again [introducing readers to an unknown gentleman " Mr. Knight "] and leave for awhile the more famous Albert Chevalier, or, to give him his full name Albert Onesime Britannicus Gwathveoyd Louis Chevalier. C 2 \Mr. Knight. BLOSSOMS FORTH AS A MANAGER. 23 Mr. Knight 1877 THE OLD PRINCE OF WALES'S THEATRE. On a previous page, I have recounted some of Chevalier's early exploits as an amateur. It now appears, from a programme before me, that, on January 24th, 1876, he blossomed forth as a manager, and at the Ladbroke Hall, Netting Hill, produced, on that date, "The Quack Doctor," " Handy Andy" (dramatised from Samuel Lover's novel), and " Ici on parle Francais." Chevalier portrayed Handy Andy and Victor Dubois. In the casts of the two last pieces, his brother Auguste (" Charles Ingle ") is numbered. " Yes," said Ingle, upon my referring to it, " I was the Squire O'Grady in 'Andy.' I recollect it quite 24 ALBERT CHEVALIER. well probably from the fact that I didn't know a line of the part ! " Another programme of an amateur performance is headed " Roscius " DRAMATIC CLUB. LADBROKE HALL, NOTTING HILL, MARCH 22ND, 1877. and I find that three pieces were performed on the date mentioned, "Taming a Tiger," ''No. i, Round the Corner," and " Richelieu : or the Conspiracy." It is worthy of record here as, heading the cast of Bulwer L yttcn's play,I find " Louis the Thirteenth - - Mr. ALBERT CHEVALIER." I laughingly handed the programme to. Chevalier. "I told you so," he said. "Oh ! I must have- been a terror. Fancy having the impudence to assume a kingly role at fifteen ! " "At least, you didn't act without precedent," I replied. ; " There might be precedents for the part boy-kings I mean but precious little, I fear, for my interpretation of it." On Saturday, September 29th, 1 877, at the Prince of "MR. KNIGHT." [CHEVALIER AT 16.] " MR. KNIGHT " APPEARS. 2/ Wales's Royal Theatre, Tottenham Street, Tottenham Court Road, Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft produced Tom Taylor's comedy, "An Unequal Match," in which ap- peared the Bancrofts, Henry Kemble, Arthur Cecil, and Misses Ida Hertz and Kate Phillips. As an after- pjece, the old farce, " To Parents and Guardians," was presented, and cast as follows : Doctor Swish - Mr. TEESDALE. Monsieur Tourbillon - - - - - Mr. ARTHUR CECIL. Master Robert Nettles - Mr. W. YOUNGE. Master William Waddilove Mr. KEMBLE. Master Skuttler Mr. DEANE. Master Skraggs - Mr. KNIGHT. Nubbles - - ... - - - Mr. NEWTON. Dogget Mr. HATTON. Mary Swish ... ... Miss A. WILTON. Virginia ....... Miss IDA HERTZ. The company engaged here for the season also in- cluded Mr. Kendal, Mr. John Clayton, Mrs. Kendal, Miss Le Thiere, and Miss Marie Litton. " I made my first appearance on the stage in good company, didn't I ? " said Chevalier, glancing over the programme I was examining. " I appeared under the noin de theatre of ' Knight ; ' Englished my name, you see. Twas a very tiny part, but being originally en- 28 ALBERT CHEVALIER. gaged as a ' super/ I was somewhat pleased with it, and reckoned myself an actor there and then. I don't remember much about it, except that Kemble was very funny as the fat boy, and Cecil excellent as Tourbillon" " NICE OF BANCROFT." 29 II. A FEW RECOLLECTIONS. " By the way," he continued, " I recollect very well writing out the farce from memory, with all the stage business, etc., introduced. The boy who played Nettles (certainly one of the best boy-actors I have seen) was Willie Younge, who has since won a reputation in journalism, and as a writer of lyrics." " Any recollection of Mr. Bancroft ? " "Yes, one in particular. Whilst I was here I had the misfortune to sprain my ankle, and he very kindly told me to rest until I was quite well again, adding that during my absence from business, I should not suffer pecuniarily ; and I think it was very nice of him." I turned to my notes and said : " Now we come to the ' Diplomacy ' tour." "Yes wait a bit, though. I should like you to 3O ALBERT .CHEVALIER. chronicle this show," handing a programme to me, which read : KING'S CROSS THEATRE, LIVERPOOL STREET, KING'S CROSS. PROPRIETOR MR. HARRY CROUCH. MAY 2/TH, 1878. Hereon was announced a drama, "The Omadhaun Witness," and the farce, "Checkmate," in this last- named "Mr. Albert Knight" being cast for Sam Winkle. " It seems ages ago," he said with a smile. " Harry Crouch, an old Strand Theatre comedian, was the lessee, and in the company was my old friend Cecil Thornbury, now playing with W. S. Penley, in ' Charley's Aunt,' at the Globe ; and Dalton Somers." Mr. and Mrs. Kendal having booked a tour for " Diplomacy," which had been produced at the Prince of Wales's, by the Bancrofts, on January I2th, 1878, with tremendous success, Chevalier was engaged for the small part of Antoine. " Say that I owed this engagement to Arthur Cecil, who introduced me to Mr. and Mrs. Kendal, and gave me many kindly and valuable hints," said Chevalier, "COULDN'T PAY FOR GAS." 31 upon my asking him if he had anything to say before I closed this section of the book. "And," he .continued, "! should like you to mention that as a youngster I was greatly impressed by the silence observed behind the scenes during the perform- ances at the Prince of Wales's Theatre. To prevent the least noise, the stage was covered with felt, and the scene shifters wore slippers ; and also gloves to avoid soiling the scenery. The utmost attention was given to the smallest details, and the smart, business-like way in which everything was done inspired me with great respect for my managers. " The excellent fantastic dancer, Fred Storey, was one of the boys in 'To Parents and Guardians,' and I can well remember his antics in the dressing-room, going through the performance known as the ' splits,' and making energetic attempts to tie himself in knots, much to the wonder and amusement of us all. " Before I went away with the Kendals, a gentleman engaged me to play Conn in ' The Shaughraun,' and Claude Melnottc in ' The Lady of Lyons/ which was to be the Saturday night's bill. It may sound a bit absurd, but at the time I was very flattered, I can tell you, and actually turned up for rehearsal at a hall the name of which I have forgotten but on arriving found 32 ALBERT CHEVALIER. that the place had been refused him because he couldn't pay the required deposit for use of gas, and all I had to show for my engagement was a play-bill, on which my name was ' starred ' in huge letters ! " Many and Various* 'CHEVALIER HIMSELF AGAIN. 3$ vii >.. Many and 'Various. [1878-87.] I. THE " DIPLOMACY " TOUR. The youth now dropped his assumed name of " Knight," and was billed in his own cognomen Chevalier. His part in " Diplomacy " was, as I have said, a very small one, but it seems to have called forth a deal of praise from the provincial press, and this, with such proven artists as Mr. Kendal, Mr. Teesdale, Mr. Elwood, Mr. Draycott, Mr. Mackintosh, Mrs. Kendal, Miss Talbot, Miss Crawford, and Miss Kate Pattison in the cast, should count for much, when we consider that Chevalier was an inexperienced lad. Two of the principal Press opinions of his perform- ance are here appended. D 2 36 ALBERT CHEVALIER. " For a small part, Mr. Chevalier's Antoine should also be praised." Edinburgh Daily Review, September 24th, 1878. " The Parisian quaintness of Antoine, the major domo of the Parisian menage is exactly hit off by Mr. Chevalier." Liverpool Daily Post, October aand, 1878. In this piece, Baron Stein was played by William Mackintosh, a man of whom Chevalier has the highest opinion, both as an actor and as a friend. " Mackintosh," he has exclaimed, enthusiastically, to me, " is one of the finest actors I have ever seen a perfect artist alike in comedy, burlesque, or the serious drama ; and," he would add, feelingly, " a jolly good fellow to the backbone.'' And so he is. As an actor, I admire him ; as a man, I respect him ; and Chevalier could have paid his friend no more touching tribute than in dedicating to him his song, " My Old Dutch " (" an' wot a /w//"). Here is the programme as performed by the company at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle : FOR SIX NIGHTS ONLY. MR. AND MRS KENDAL (Miss MADGE ROBERTSON) And COMPANY (by arrangement with Mr. and Mrs. BANCROFT), in the new play called DIPLOMACY. Adapted for the English Stage, from M. VICTORIEN SARDOU'S Comedy, "Dora," by Mr. SAVILLE ROWE, and Mr. BOLTON ROWE. WITH THE KENDALS. 37 MONDAY, AUGUST 26TH, AND FIVE FOLLOWING EVENINGS, At 7.30, will be presented DIPLOMACY Captain Beauclerc Mr. KENDAL. Henry Beauclerc Mr. TEESDALE. Count Orloff Mr. ELWOOD. Baron Stein Mr. MACKINTOSH. Algie Fairfax ------- Mr. DRAYCOTT. Markham - Mr. HATTON. Antoine Mr. CHEVALIER. Marquise de Roi-Zares Miss A. CRAWFORD. Comtesse Zicka Miss K. PATTISON. Lady Henry Fairfax Miss M. TALBOT. Mion Miss G. TEMPEST. Dora - - - Mrs. KENDAL (Miss MADGE ROBERTSON). 38 ALBERT CHEVALIER. II. WITH MR. JOHN HARE AT THE COURT THEATRE. Chevalier remained with the Kendals until the end of the tour. Mr. Hare being about to re-open the Court Theatre, after a long recess, with a revival of Palgrave Simpson's " A Scrap of Paper," (adapted from " Les pattes des Mouche,") Chevalier was cast for Jones, a subordinate part. The comedy was produced on Saturday, January 6th, 1879, and in the cast were the Kendals, T. N. Wenman (since deceased), Mackintosh, (who, in this piece, made his first appearance on the London stage ; and, according to the press, offered " a really admirable bit of character acting as the old entomologist, Dr. Penguin") W. Younge, R. Cathcart, Mrs. Gaston Murray, Miss C. Grahame, who also made her first London appearance, and Miss Kate Pattison. It appears to have been a superb production and met with unquestioned success. Matinees were at this time rapidly becoming custom- A MEMORABLE BENEFIT. 39 ary, and in accordance therewith, on Saturday, Feb. I5th, 1879, Mr. Hare produced "The Ladies' Battle," in which he was inimitable as Montrichard; and Mrs. Kendal gave a splendid performance of the Countess. Curiously enough, Chevalier's part was named Antoine, as in " Diplomacy," and in reviewing the play, the London Express of February 22nd, 1879, wrote : " MT. Chevalier's make-up deserves the very highest praise." In May, 1879, the stage paid its tribute to the fund raised for the relatives of the men slain in the lament- able catastrophe at Isandula, where, it will be remem- bered, the 24th Regiment was suddenly surrounded by thousands of Zulu warriors, and butchered almost to a man. A benefit performance took place at the Gaiety Theatre, when the Bancrofts appeared in " Ours," and Chevalier supported the Kendals as the old guardian, Barker, in " Uncle's Will." " I have very strong reason to recollect that after- noon," said Chevalier, as I obtained these particulars from him. "The Kendals, of course, were quite at home in their old characters. I was playing for the first time the old man's part, and Mr. Kendal had re- arranged the piece so that it opened with a long speech, wherein the story was told up to a certain point by me. Of course, I was quite a youngster (about 1 8 years old), 4O ALBERT CHEVALIER. and very nervous when I went on. There were only the three of us in the cast, and after Mr. Kendal had entered, my mind kept wandering to the ' cue ' I should have presently to give for Mrs. Kendal's entrance. Well, do you know, it completely escaped my memory I could not remember it, and to add to my confusion, I happened to glance towards the prompt entrance and caught sight of Irving, Bancroft, David James, Miss Ellen Terry, and a lot of other celebrities watching the progress of the piece from the wings. The shock to my nerves was such, that I absolutely ' dried up," and couldn't utter a word. At that moment a tremendous round of applause from the audience startled me, re-assured me, and after it subsided I got along capitally, and went off. My mind was a bit uneasy as to the Kendals' opinion of my performance, so I did not wait to see them, but went home. At night, I met Mrs. Kendal, who spoke very well of my effort. Mr. Kendal, coming up at the moment, said : "'You were a bit uncertain of your lines, though ; in fact, upon one occasion you stopped dead.' " ' Yes,' said I, ' didn't you hear the round of applause I got ? ' " He laughed. ' Oh, you mean when the Prince of Wales entered the theatre ! ' " ON TOUR AGAIN. 4! III. ON TOUR AGAIN, WITH MESSRS. HARE AND KENDAL. There is not much to record here. In September, 1879, for the second time Chevalier accompanied the Kendals, who joined forces with Mr. Hare. In the company wereT. N. Wenman, W. Mackintosh, William Terriss, Draycott, Brandon (now known as Bran- don Thomas), J. H. Barnes, Mrs. Gaston Murray, Miss Wade, Miss Cathcart, and Miss Grahame. The pieces performed were " Old Cronies," the late Lord Tennyson's one-act play, " The Falcon;" "Still Waters Run Deep ; " "A Quiet Rubber ; " " Uncle's Will ;" "The Ladies' Battle ; " "A Scrap of Paper ; " and Val Prinsep's playlet, " Monsieur le Due," the latter being first produced in Manchester about the beginning of September, 18/9. In the five last-mentioned pieces Chevalier played small roles, and "acquitted himself commendably." 42 ALBERT CHEVALIER. I produce a week's programme of performances at Liverpool. PRINCE OF WALES THEATRE, CLAYTON SQUARE, LIVERPOOL* SOLE LESSEE AND MANAGER, MR. FRANK EMERY. MONDAY. SEPTEMBER aoth, MR. & MRS. KENDAL, MR. JOHN HARE, And FULL COMPANY from the St. James's Theatre, London. Stage Manager ) For the ( Mr R rATi Acting Manager and St. James's Theatre Mr ,f r {i^ftjfj Treasurer .. ..{ Company ( MONDAY and TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 oth and aist, The Performance will commence at 7.30, with the Comedy in Three Acts, written by J. PALGRAVE SIMPSON, entitled A SCRAP OF PAPER Sir John Ingram Mr. T. N. WENMAN Col. Blake - Mr. W. H. KENDAL Dr. Penguin, F.Z.S., etc. - Mr. MACKINTOSH Archie Hamilton, his Ward - Mr. DRAYCOTT Thomas Mr. R. CATHCART Jones Mr. CHEVALIER Lady Ingram ----- Miss FLORENCE WADE Susan Hartley - Miss MADGE ROBERTSON (Mrs. W. H. Kendal) Lucy Franklyn ----- Miss M. CATHCART Mrs. Penguin - - - Mrs. GASTON MURRAY Mrs. Perkins Miss DALBY ON TOUR AGAIN. 43 Concluding with the highly successful One Act Play, entitled A QUIET RUBBER Lord Kilclare Mr. HARE Charles, his Son - Mr. DRAYCOTT Mr. Sullivan Mr. T. N. WENMAN James - - Mr. CHEVALIER Mary Sullivan - Miss M. CATHCART WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY, SEPT. aand and 23rd, TOM TAYLOR'S Celebrated Comedy STILL WATERS RUN DEEP Mr. Potter - - Mr. HARE Mr. Mildmay - - Mr. W. H. KENDAL Captain Hawksley Mr. J. H. BARNES Dunbilk . Mr. T. N. WENMAN Gimlet Mr. DENNY Markham - - Mr. DRAYCOTT Langford - Mr. BRANDON Jessop - - Mr. CHEVALIER Mrs. Mildmay -------- Miss WADE Mrs. Sternhold Mrs. W. H. KENDAL Concluding with the Comic Drama HOW TO MAKE HOME HAPPY Mr. Dabchick - - Mr. MACKINTOSH Tuffins Mr. DENNY Frederick Eldon - Mr. DRAYCOTT Peter ------ -- Mr. BRANDON Mrs. Dabchick - Mrs. GASTON MURRAY Emily Showden - Miss FLORENCE WADE 44 ALBERT CHEVALIER. FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 2 4 th The Celebrated Comedy, in Three Acts THE LADIES' BATTLE The Baron de Montrichard ----- Mr. HARE Henri de Flavigneul - ... Mr. DRAYCOTT Gustave de Grignon Mr. KENDAL Antoine -------- Mr. CHEVALIER Brigadier ------- Mr. DE VERNEY Leontine de la Villegontier - - Miss MAUD CATHCART The Countess d'Autreval Miss MADGE ROBERTSON (Mrs. Kendal) And for the First time in Liverpool, ALFRED TENNYSON'S FALCON An Original Play, in One Act, founded on a story in the " Decameron of Boccaccio." The Count Federigo delgi Alberighi - - Mr. W. H. KENDAL Filippo - Mr. DENNY The Lady Giovanna Mrs. KENDAL Elisabetta ------ Mrs. GASTON MURRAY Concluding with OLD CRONIES Dr. Jecks Mr. MACKINTOSH Captain Pigeon Mr. T. N. WENMAN ON TOUR AGAIN. 45 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 5 th. BOLWER LYTTON'S Poetical Play, of THE LADY OF LYONS Claude Melnotte - ..- . Mr. W. H. KENDAL Colonel Damas - - - .... Mr. HARE Beauseant Mr. J. H. BARNES Mons. Deschappelles Mr. R. CATHCART Gaspard - Mr. DRAYCOTT Captain Dupont ------- Mr. BRANDON Glavis - - - Mr. MACKINTOSH Landlord - - Mr. DENNY Captain Gervais - Mr. DE VERNEY Notary - - Mr. CHEVALIER Pauline --------- Mrs. KENDAL Madame Deschappelles - Mrs. GASTON MURRAY Widow Melnotte Miss DALBY In the latter part of 1879, Chevalier, at the conclu- sion of this tour was re-engaged by Messrs. Hare and Kendal for the St. James's Theatre, which opened under their management with " M. le Due" and "The Queen's Shilling." He also appeared in " Still Waters Run Deep," "A Regular Fix," and "William and 46 ALBERT CHEVALIER. Susan " (a version of Douglas Jerrold's play revised by W. G. Wills.) In these plays he had very small parts, but understudied several of the principal characters. Chevalier tells an incident of a rehearsal of " M. le Due," as follows : " John Hare read the piece to us on the stage of the Court Theatre. My part was not very important, but, as Hare read it, I conceived in my own mind a man of at least eighty, a senile, shrivel led-up, snuff-taking old beau. A rehearsal was called the next day, and I com- menced operations by doddering about the stage, and otherwise endeavouring to prove that I was not going to lose the chance of showing my manager I could score even as an octogenarian. I did not receive much en- couragement, but nothing serious happened on this occasion. By the time we rehearsed again, I must have aged considerably in my desire to be accurate. Imagine my disappointment when Hare, unable any longer to control his feelings, jumped out of his stall, and asked me how I was going to make up? 'As a man of eighty,' I replied. ' Eighty ! ' he screamed ; ' he's supposed to be a boy of eighteen ! Go off, sir ! and come on young f ' " CHEVALIER TRIES OPERA. IV. VAN BIENE'S OPERA COMPANY, [1881]. Mons. Auguste Van Biene, the well-known 'cello player (at present touring with "The Broken Melody," a play written specially for him, and in which he sus- tains the leading part), in February, i88i,took into the provinces an opera company, comprising the following ladies and gentlemen :- Mdmes. Blanche Cole, Annette Albu, Arabella Smythe, Phillipine Siedle, Joyce Maas, Ella Collins, Marie Jay, Bauermeister, Messrs. F. C. Packard, Dudley Thomas, Michael Dwyer, Henry Pope, Herve D'Egville, and Albert Chevalier. Julian Edwards (a clever composer, whose name transpires again in the course of these records) was chorus master and assistant conductor, and H. A. Freeman (now at the Grand Theatre, Islington, London), acting manager. In "La Somnambula," Chevalier was the Alessio; and in " The Grand Duchess," he was cast for Prince Paul. 48 ALBERT CHEVALIER. " Mention of ' Somnambula,' " said Chevalier, " re- minds me of a story which reached me shortly after I left the St. James's Theatre, to join Van Biene's Opera Co. A new piece was produced by Messrs. Hare and Kendal. During the rehearsals one of the actors grumbled at the part he was cast for. This happened to reach Mrs. Kendal's ears, and she remonstrated with the malcontent. In the course of conversation, my name cropped up. 'Ah,' said she, 'we can't play pieces to suit every member of our company. We can't put up ' Hamlet ' to please Mr. . We can't produce ' Somnambula ' to oblige Mr. Chevalier 1 ' " While yet with the Opera Company, one or two in- cidents occurred, which Chevalier thus relates : " We had been doing awful business, so Van Biene suggested that some of us should try and swell the coffers by giving a concert in a small town, about six miles off. The concert was advertised, and, in due time took place at the Albert Hall, which, if I remember rightly, was in the middle of a kind of fair ground, over a carpenter's shop. Julian Edwards was the pianist ; Annette Albu, soprano ; Joyce Maas, contralto ; H. D'Egville, baritone ; and I, for the nonce, was turned on to sing comic songs. At half-past seven the doors opened. I was on the stage, anxiously listening for HOW CHEVALIER TREATED MOZART. 49 the rush of paying people. There was no ' rush ' at least, none of that kind. About five minutes to eight, I heard a pair of clogs advancing steadily over the benches. Suddenly the noise ceased. I peeped through the curtain, and saw a very-much-begrimed mill-hand, sitting in solitary state, waiting for the per- formance to begin. By eight o'clock the audience numbered, in all, about twenty roughs. They hissed nothing they applauded nothing. They were solemnly apathetic till / came on to sing a stuttering song, called ' Sammy Stammers.' I had hardly finished when I heard the before-mentioned clogs moving this time towards the door. An argument with our manager ensued, and through the now rapidly-emptying hall, a harsh voice was heard to exclaim, ' Fancy payin' to 'ear a chap as can't sing wi'out stutterin ! ' " The next night, in the same hall, we played ' Don Giovanni.' Outside the principal, nay, the only en- trance was a brass band in a gilt chariot. As an appropriate bait to tempt the lovers of Mozart, this itinerant orchestra indulged in an impromptu arrange- ment of that popular comic song, ' Tommy, make room for your Uncle.' A crowd collected round the cart. Presently a few of the onlookers yielded to the tempta- tion, and came in to hear the opera. It so happened, E 5O ALBERT CHEVALIER. that the artist engaged to play Masetto was unable to appear, and with only a few hours for study, I had to take his place. I entreated the management to spare me and the public, but my prayers were unavailing. Van Biene was good enough to acknowledge that he didn't expect me to be letter or note perfect, and gave me carte blanche to get through as best I could. George Fox was kind enough to sing most of the music at the wings, during which I opened my mouth on the stage, and for the first and only time in my life passed for a real vocalist. In the second act, I played a scene (spoken) with the Don (Michael Dwyer). I was in a hopeless muddle about my words. No one in the company had a copy of the English libretto. One or two noble-hearted choristers confided certain grey- haired gags 7 hardly knew the subject of the scene. As the time drew near for my entrance I was standing in the property room. My eye dropped on a bundle of stuffed sticks, sausages, bladders, etc., which had been used at pantomime time. In desperation I seized the whole lot, rushed on to the stage, and gave an imitation of Chirgwin, the " white-eyed Kaffir." The scene went very well, but I didn't wait to receive the congratula- tions of either Dwyer or Van Biene, and stranger still, I didn't get my notice ! " CHEVALIER TRANSLATES A PLAY. 5! V. CECIL BERYL'S SEASON [1881]. Concluding with Van Biene, Chevalier joined Mr. Cecil Beryl for a short season at Glasgow, Greenock, and Coatbridge, and opened in the former town, at the Royal Princess's Theatre, playing Major Stretlon in Frank Harvey's play, " False Glitter." In the com- pany were Mackintosh, who scored heavily ; Denis Coyne, Brandon Thomas, and Miss Chippendale. The after-piece was a version of " La Joie fait Peur," called " Peebles." The translation was Chevalier's work, but he tells me that Mackintosh localised and practically re-wrote the comedy ; likewise enacting the nom role in a splendid manner. The company was then drafted to the Theatre Royal, Greenock, where both pieces met with success ; from Greenock, to the Theatre Royal, Coatbridge, where the late Dion Boucicault's " Streets of London " was produced; Mackintosh playing Badger] Brandon IT 2 52 ALBERT CHEVALIER. Thomas, Mark Livingstone ; and Chevalier, Puffy ', of which latter the local Advertiser, of August I3th, 1881, "wrote : "The Puffy, of Mr. Chevalier, is a splendid bit of low comedy acting ; while his great attention to detail, and an absence of strain- ing after mere effect are commendable features, and not often found in pourtrayers of parts of a kindred nature." The Stage, of August 5th, 1881, wrote : " We predict a first position for this young actor." Harking back to the Glasgow Theatre, an amusing incident occurred which may be worthy of mention. William Mackintosh was accorded a benefit there, and the management produced three pieces, " Behind the Scenes," "The Spitalfields Weaver," and "The Peep-Show Man." The incident under notice, happened during the progress of the last-named piece, and is thus recorded by Chevalier : " Brandon Thomas always was, and is still, an enthusiast. He was cast for one of two smugglers with whom the virtuous Peep-show man had along and desperate struggle in the second act. Mackintosh, who was playing the title role, had to appear on the rocks at the back of the stage and give vent to a long soliloquy. The smugglers, possibly unused to similar surprises, were to attack him there and then. Mackintosh's only REALISM. 53 weapon of defence was a big oak stick. Now Thomas arranged at rehearsal to have a board down his back, under his coat, so that the audience might hear and appreciate the drubbing he was to receive at the hands of the Peep-showman. At night, unfortunately for Thomas, in his excitement, he forgot the board. The struggle was to have lasted at least five minutes. Down went Thomas at the first blow, and nothing would induce him to move, until the despairing stage manager dropped the curtain on him. He gave one wild yell, and the act-drop was raised a few inches to enable him to die inside. The next night, when he undressed, he might have passed fora sandwich-board man ! " Continuing his recollections of this period, Chevalier says : " I was returning to London, after a not too successful engagement in the North of England. A basket containing my wardrobe (not extensive) was in the van. I took into the carriage with me my violin, banjo, one-stringed fiddle, and a brown paper parcel, containing the overflow from the aforementioned basket. A serious looking young man jumped in as the train was starting, regardless of the warnings shouted at him by porters, guards, etc. He had evidently been running and \vas out of breath with the exertion. By 54 ALBERT CHEVALIER. degrees he recovered himself. It took him some time. I should say about 50 miles ! Presently he became conscious of my presence. He carefully ran his eye, first over me, and then my ' props ' on the rack. I could see him mentally striving to find the connecting link. Suddenly, with a smile, as if anxious to open the conversation, he said, ' You're a professional, I pre- sume ? ' I said I was might I be equally curious and ask him how he had guessed it ? ' Oh, easily enough,' he replied. ' Your careworn expression and your luggage / ' " AN OPERETTA. 55 VI. "THE SQUIRE" TOUR. [1882]. During the interval between Beryl's season, and "The Squire " tour, Chevalier gave one or two enter- tainments at the Athenaeum, Shepherd's Bush, and amongst the items submitted was an operetta called "Begging the Question," written by himself, and with music by Julian Edwards. It was acted by the author and composer, assisted by Miss Annie Kinnaird, and proved very successful. The West London Advertiser, under date, March 25th, 1882, in noticing the piece, said : " The music teems with exquisitely bright and sparkling melody a bright, merry, and most laughable little piece it would grace and usefully occupy the stage of any theatre in the Kingdom." In April, 1882, Mr. Edgar Bruce's company, which included Arthur Elwood, Geo. B. Phillips, Chas. Garthorne, Chas. Fawcett, Brigata Bucallossi (son of 56 ALBERT CHEVALIER. the well-known composer), and Chevalier ; and Misses H. Lindley, M. Talbot, and Maria Siddons, and later Rose Leclercq, opened at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, in Arthur W. Pinero's play, "The Squire." Chevalier's performance of Guimion, the old farm labourer, at once stamped him as a character-actor of extraordinary ability, and throughout the provincial tour of nine months, he was the recipient of numerous testimonies from the Press in eulogy of his subtle and artistic rendering. Make-up, gait, voice, dialect, all came in for the abundant praise offered him ; and from this performance he dates much of his after-success in London. I reproduce here a few of the Press opinions: " . . . . It is worth a visit to the theatre this week, if only to enjoy Mr. A. Chevalier's acting as old Gunnion." Brighton Times, April I4th, 1882. " . . . . Mr. A. Chevalier, whose Gunnion, an agricultural septuagenarian, was one of the finest pieces of character acting we have ever seen. It was perfect." Northampton Weekly Guardian, April 22nd, 1882. " . . . . Is uncommonly clever, and the very essence of good comedy. The character of the old farm labourer is portrayed with a minuteness of detail, and a broad, powerful grasp that should attract special notice. Mr. Chevalier is thoroughly successful in showing what comedy really is, and when it should stop short of* the buffoonery, which so often is mistaken for art." Leicester Daily Post, May gth, 1882. A GREAT SUCCESS. 5^ " . . . . Gunnion stood out as one of the most astonishing and truthful bucolic sketches we remember to have seen." Derby Daily Telegraph, Junezoth, 1882. " . . . . An exceedingly clever impersonation, almost beyond the reach of criticism." Croydon Guardian, July 22nd, 1882. " . . . . It is simply a creation, and we cannot possibly speak in terms of too high commendation of Mr. Chevalier's make-up, acting, and general fitness for the part." Bradford Daily Telegraph, November 7th, 1882. 5.8 ALBERT CHEVALIER. VII. TOOLE'S THEATRE [1883.] " The Squire" tour finished in December, 1882, and after a recess of six months, Chevalier obtained an engagement under Messrs. T. W. Robertson and H. Bruce's management at Toole's Theatre. Their season commenced with the late Tom Robertson's comedy, " M.P. " ; and besides our comedian, who was cast for Mulhowther, the company included Messrs. J. F. Younge, the late E. D. Ward, Allen Beaumont, J. F. Macklin, Fred Irving, A. D. Adams, and Misses Cora Stuart and Florence Gerard. "M.P." was preceded by "Our Bitterest Foe." Later on, in the place of the latter, a posthumous farce by T. W. Robertson, called, "A Row in the House," was produced, in which Chevalier played Scorpion. In October, 1883, "Ours" succeeded " M. P.," and A STORY OF " BORROWED ROBES." 59 Chevalier made -a hit as Sergeant Jones. To the above- named artistes, Miss Fanny Addison and Miss Amy Roselle were added. During the run of this play, Chevalier was the hero of a ludicrous scene, which he shall describe for him- self. " A week prior to the termination of this season, J. F. Younge left Toole's to fulfil an engagement at, I think, the Olympic. I had been his understudy for the part of Colonel Sliendryn in u Ours," and was, therefore, called upon to play the part. Between the first and second acts I was to change my costume and appear in regimentals off to the Crimea. I am not usually care- less in these matters, but as there was apparently little difference in our heights, I had not troubled to try on Younge's uniform. At night, when I put on the tunic, I discovered, too late, that I had been very much mis- taken. I could not fill it, even by wearing my ordinary jacket and vest underneath. Suddenly, the dresser who had watched my struggles with a hopeless air, became inspired. Handing me a bundle of towels, he, said, 'Stuff them in your chest while I put on your spurs.' I did as he suggested. I made my entrance, and contrived to get through pretty well in the scene where the Colonel bids farewell to the wife with 6O ALBERT CHEVALIER. whom, for some years, he has not been on the best of terms (en passant: perhaps, the audience thought the remarkable chest accounted for this domestic misunder- standing). I then prepared to work up an effective exit. To this day I remember the lines I had to speak, ' I may find peace in the campaign I cannot find it here. I can control a regiment, but not a wife ! Better battle than a discontented woman.' In my excitement I stamped my foot. Down came the towels. I turned round, holding them up and went off to the Crimea, dragging in my wake two large fur mats. The inspired dresser had put my spurs on upside down." " It was here," continued Chevalier, " that Herbert Waring made his debut, before a London audience, playing in the comedietta, ' Our Bitterest Foe.' In the same piece, J. H. Darnley (who has since produced several very successful plays, ' The Solicitor,' ' The Balloon,' etc.,) made his first appearance in the metro- polis. Here also I Hrst met the late J. F. Younge, who was extremely kind to me. I remember one day after rehearsal, the subject of mimicry cropping up, and Florence Gerard giving some of the very finest imita- tions of popular actresses I have ever seen." THE OLD HAND GETS THE "ROUND." 6 1 VIII. AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE. Conducted by Mr. F. H. Macklin, a series of dramatic representations was given in October and November, 1883, in the Crystal Palace Theatre. One of the productions (October 3Oth), was an adaptation by Wybert Reeve, of Mrs. J. H. Riddell's novel "George Geith of Fen Court," entitled : "George Geith, or the Romance of a City Life." The company consisted of Messrs. F. H. Macklin, Albert Chevalier, Myers, H. Darnley, Harry Proctor (since dead), E. W. Gardiner, W. H. Gilbert ; Mesdames F. H. Macklin, Kate Neville, Rosier, and Harriet Coveney (since dead). " I have a very vivid recollection of a performance of, I think, 'The Lancashire Lass,' at the Crystal Palace, under the management of F. H. Macklin. The part I played had one very good scene. At rehearsal, the stage manager, an old actor, with whom I had to play this particular scene, asked me if I wanted to ' run 62 ALBERT CHEVALIER. through it.' I was young and foolish enough to reply, with an affectation of long experience, that ' I was all right if he felt equally sure of himself ; and so the scene was passed over. At the performance, I was letter perfect. I gave him his cue, whereupon he pro- ceeded to reel off all my speeches in a long oration, and exit with the one line on which Ihad relied for a big round of applause. He got the round. I never ' skipped ' anything at rehearsal after that ! " WE'VE PAID." 63 IX. THE GLOBE THEATRE [1883]. Under the Management of Messrs. John Hollingshcad and J. L. Shine. Chevalier continued : "The company engaged for the production of ' Low Water/ by A. W. Pinero, included Mesdames Comp- ton, Abingdon ; Messrs. R. C. Carton, Chas. Cart- wright, the late J. F. Younge, Smiley, E. W. Gardiner, the late T. Squire, W. Guise, and J. L. Shine. The comedy, though full of extremely clever writing, was not a first night success, and was withdrawn after a week's run. The part I played S/uman, a broker's man appeared only in the first act. I remember going round to the front to see the remainder of the perform- ance. I stood in the upper boxes, just in front of the gallery. The first act had gone very well ; but no sooner did the curtain rise on the second, than for 64 ALBERT CHEVALIER. some reason which I have never been able to discover two boys began to hiss and whistle. I am able to speak positively, because they were standing immediately be- hind me, and were the ringleaders of the uproar which followed. Seeing what I had hoped would prove a long engagement slipping away from me, I ventured to remonstrate with one of these larky ' gods.' ' Can't you wait till the curtain falls ? Is it fair to interrupt the performers ? ' The young gentleman addressed beamed on me, and replied, ' Keep your 'air on, guv'nor ! You come in wiy a horder ! Weve paid. 1 As there was nothing more to say I said it ! " THE WALL MOVED. 65 X. THE "IMPULSE" TOUR [1884-5]. " Impulse," having ended its successful run at the St. James's Theatre, was, in February, 1884, taken into the provinces by Miss Fanny Josephs and Mr. C. W. Garthorne ; Chevalier being entrusted with the character of Sir Henry Auckland. Other parts were allotted to Messrs. P. C. Beverley, J. H. Darnley ; Mesdames Helen Cresswell, Maria Daly, and Fanny Enson. " On this tour we visited in addition to most of the principal provincial towns a number of smaller ones, where the absence of a regular theatre necessitated the use of a fit-up, with scenery, etc. I appeared as the old blind baronet. One night, in the second act, during a little pathetic scene, I was somewhat annoyed at a sudden ripple of laughter. As I played the part with my eyes closed, I could only indulge in vague specula- tion as to what, on this particular occasion, had so F 66 ALBERT CHEVALIER. tickled the audience. The more earnest I tried to be, the more the people in front laughed. I remember the relief with which, on making my exit, I opened my eyes, and saw two stage-hands, busily engaged in fixing a portion of the scene, which had been fastened at the bottom, but not at the top. No wonder the people laughed ! All through my pathetic speeches, I had been fanned by a canvas frame portion of the mimic wall, on which was painted the counterfeit pre- sentment of a massive carved oak chimney-piece ! " CHEVALIER AT THE COURT. 6/ XI. THE ROYAL COURT THEATRE [1885-7]. The first successful play of Pinero's, with which Chevalier's name was associated in Lcndcn, was "The Magistrate." On Saturday, March 2 1st, 1885, tne piece was pro- duced at the Royal Court Theatre, under the manage- ment of Messrs. John Clayton and Arthur Cecil. The full company performing the piece was as follows : Messrs. Arthur Cecil, Fred Cape, and John Clayton (both since dead), F. Kerr, Harry Eversfield, Chevalier, Delane, Gilbert Trent, Albert Sims, Lugg, Burnley, Fayre; Mrs. John Wood, Mesdames Marion Terry, Norreys, and La Coste. Chevalier's part was that of Achillc Blond pro- prietor of the " Hotel des Princes " and his rendering was in every way satisfactory to public and press. During the rehearsals of "The Magistrate," at the Court Theatre, Chevalier says Mrs. John Wood com- plained that in the hotel scene, there was no fire-place. F 2 63 ALBERT CHEVALIER. Finero quietly reminded her that there were four walls to a room, adding, " If you wish it, Mrs. Wood, we'll have a fender and fire-irons placed behind the foot lights !" Whilst Chevalier was still enacting his part in "The Magistrate," a farcical comedy, called ''The Lady- Killer," of which he was part author with Mackintosh, was produced by the latter, with his own company, at Theatre Royal, Plymouth, on July I3th, 1885, and was followed by a burlesque of " Called Back," entitled "Called Back Again." This latter was written by Chevalier, and Mr. Walter Slaughter supplied the music. Here is the cast : Mary Galatea Pauline Mr. MACKINTOSH Macari - - - Mr. KENNETH M. BLACK Ceneri - - Mr. CECIL THORNBURY Petroff Mr. J. MORTON EMMETT Osip Mr. H. BUCHANAN Gilbert Vaughan - - - Miss MARIE WILLIAMS Anthony March - - Miss MINNIE ROTCHLEY Kenyon ...... Miss FLORRIE YOUNG Nellie ..-..-- Miss LILLIAN HOBAN Both pieces met with a fair share of success during the tour which followed, Mackintosh especially re- ceiving great praise for his funny performance in the burlesque. " The Magistrate," after being performed for 300 SVALIER AS " BERNSTKIN " [THE SCHOOLMISTRESS]. PINERO AS A READER. J I nights at the Court Theatre, was succeeded by another farce of A. W. Pinero's, entitled " The Schoolmistress," in which Chevalier's talent for character-acting was even more forcibly demonstrated than in the late piece. The character of Otto Bernstein, a German composer, was assigned to him, and taking the late Sir Julius Benedict as his model, he produced a quaint and clever portrait, which, with his natural acting in the part, greatly advanced his reputation. Arthur Wing Pinero is, Chevalier says, the best reader of his own plays he ever heard. To listen to this gifted playwright as he interprets the various cha- racters in his dramas is the greatest treat imaginable. Chevalier was very fond of genial, bluff John Clayton, whose early demise removed a striking and important figure from English dramatic art. Mention of his name reminds me that in reply to a business communi- cation, Chevalier received the following characteristic note written upon an odd piece of paper : 11 14 Dec. " God help you, Chevalier. (I can't find any paper. You must be satisfied with this.) " In the country, I merely join the country company without a change. 72 ALBERT CHEVALIER. "As to London, God, he knows when the infernal architects, surveyors, lawyers, etc., will have finished their ghastly deeds. "Yrs, "J. C." [The foregoing letter refers to the New Court Theatre, then in course of erection, the completion of which poor John Clayton did not live to see.] With Willie Edouin, CHEVALIER MEETS EDOU1N, 75 With Willie Bdouin. THE INTRODUCTION. To his association with Willie Edouin, Chevalier probably owes much ; indeed, he has himself declared that his way to later popularity was opened and smoothed by the fortunate circumstance which led to an agreeable engagement under that gentleman's manage- ment. It was, therefore, his very sincere expression of goodwill when Chevalier told me that Edouin was one of the best and kindest of managers : a man whom to know was to admire and respect, as well for his. estimable personal character as for his excellent gifts as actor and manager. Referring to their first meeting, Chevalier says : " Tom Taylor's play, ' Clancarty,' was running at the St. James's, and I had written a burlesque on it. This I read to Mackintosh, who thought very highly of 76 ALBERT CHEVALIER. it. He seemed tickled at the way in which I had parodied the part of King William III., which he was playing with such remarkable success. He wrote to Willie Edouin, and the result was an appointment, and an introduction to the popular comedian, under whose management I was destined to fulfil many very delight- ful engagements. We (Mackintosh and I) called at his house in St. John's Wood, about ten o'clock one November morning, and were shown into the dining- room. Edouin entered, very much en deshabille need I say smoking a cigar ? (By the bye, what an extra- ordinary smoker he is ! He lights a cigar, begins to talk gets excited shifts it about from one side of his mouth to the other ; and you wonder where on earth it disappears to, seeing that, after the first two or three preliminary puffs, he lets it go out, and seldom troubles to re-light it ! ). He welcomed me very kindly, and, pointing to an easy chair, said, ' Sit right there and read away. Don't mind my walking up and down. If I don't like the piece, I'll stop you ! ' He didn't stop me, and more consoling still he sat down ! To cut a long story short subject to certain altera- tions, he agreed to produce the burlesque; but, unfor- tunately, Mrs. Edouin was taken seriously ill. As she did not recover until the withdrawal of the original NO MASCOT. 77 play the public was spared one of my inflictions. Shortly after this, I wrote another burlesque (to order) for Edouin, entitled, ' Buffalo Bill Held by the Enemy.' This shared the same fate as ' Little Lady Clancarty/ and from the same cause Mrs. Edouin was again taken seriously ill. I was, evidently, no Mascot so far as she was concerned. Consideration for her possibly accounts for the fact that I submitted no more burlesques to Edouin. A third might have proved fatal I " 78 ALBERT CHEVALIER. II. "A TRAGEDY." Mr. Charles S. Fawcett's farcical piece, " A Tragedy," was produced by Edouin, at the Royalty Theatre, on April 28th, 1887. The cast included Eric Lewis, Edward Emery, Albert Chevalier, Walter Groves, Edward Thirlby, and Willie Edouin ; Marie Hudspeth, Emily Dowton, Dulcie Douglas, and Olga Brandon. Chevalier tells me that Edouin was excruciatingly comic as Burbagc, an actor of the old school ; and it is his opinion that the play deserved a better fate. He, himself, made a decided success as Christopher Cute, the polyglot detective, and in his protean disguises of character, asserted yet again his remarkable ver- satility. CHEVALIER SCORES. III. "KATTI, THE FAMILY HELP," AND "AiREY ANNIE." The production of the first-named, at the Royal Princess's, Glasgow, on September 3Oth, 1887, by Edouin's company, provided Chevalier with a character in which he excelled all his previous efforts, and placed him in the front rank of comedy character actors. Indeed, he seems to have run Edouin pretty hard for first favour, and, throughout the short tour organised for the play, he won the following, amongst many similar tributes, from the provincial press, for his admirable performance : " Mr. Edouin, as Finnikin Fluffy, and Mr. Albert Chevalier, as his brother Richard, a retired provision merchant, act their parts with such skill as to keep the audience in a state of constant merri- ment, and the loud and involuntary shouts of laughter provoked by them were quite refreshing to hear." Manchester Courier, December 6th, 1887. " The best performance in the piece is Mr. Chevalier's Richard Fluffy, a retired provision merchant. Of course, everyone is heartily sick and tired of the habits and customs of the retired So ALBERT CHEVALIER. shop-keeper, as exhibited in the three-act farce, but, as an eccen- tric comedian, Mr. Chevalier is possessed of so large a store of grotesque gesture, and burlesque attitude, and uses this pantomime so cleverly that one can easily pardon the character for the sake of its thoroughly laughable setting." Manchester Guardian, December 6th, 1887. " Mr. Albert Chevalier's make-up and acting in the part of Richard Fluffy, a retired provision merchant, who has married a ballet dancer, proved his qualification to rank high in the list of our low comedians." Manchester Examiner, December 6th, 1887. " Of Mr. Albert Chevalier's impression of Mr. Fluffy it is almost impossible to write too highly. The part is one which most actors would ' walk through,' but in Mr. Chevalier's hands it is lifted to the highest rank of character-acting." Birmingham Ouenue Theatre. THE PRIMA DONNA. " My engagement at the Avenue like most of my strokes of good luck came about in a very casual way. I had, from time to time, been employed by Geo. Edwardes to scribble odd verses, scenes, etc., for the Gaiety. Among other things I wrote a couple of songs, which were accepted and sung by Miss Nellie Farren. E. J. Lonnen heard me sing 'Our 'Armonic Club,' at the Strand, and asked me to write something similar for him to introduce in ' Faust-up-to-date.' Never anticipating the eventual run on my Cockney songs, I submitted ' 'Ave a Glass,' which he sung with considerable success as Mcphistopheles. I should like to say how fairly and generously Geo. Edwardes treated me in all my dealings with him. He always listened to anything I brought him. If he liked it he gave me 88 ALBERT CHEVALIER. what I asked, and being somewhat hard up at the time, I daresay my demands were not always as modest as they might have been. I hope he will accept this late apology for several over-paid non-successes. One night I happened to meet Marius at the Gaiety. He asked me what I was doing Could I accept an engagement ? He told me the Avenue Theatre was about to re-open under his management, with the production of a comic opera, composed by Tito Mattei, and written by H. B. Farnie and Alfred Murray. He gave me the libretto to read and asked me to let him know if I could play the principal comedy part. " I need hardly say I had considerable qualms. How- ever, it was a case of nothing venture, nothing have. I ventured and the result was that after the first night of the ' Prima Donna ' I was engaged, at a consider- ably increased salary, for two years as principal comedian at the Avenue Theatre." Daily Telegraph. i8th October. 1889. " Mr. Albert Chevalier, as Ballard, the manager, was throughout the evening irresistibly droll." City Press, aoth November. 1889. " The piece was received with genuine enthusiasm by a crowded auditorium. Undeniably, the honours of the piece devolve on Mr. Chevalier, who as the wonderful stage manager succeeds in keeping up the fun all the time he is visible, The one song that falls to his lot is genuinely humorous, while, what is more, it possesses the point OPINIONS. 89 that is usually missing in the so-called comic songs one often hears nowadays at the theatres." Evening News, 22nd October, 1889. "The Avenue management was fortunate to secure the person of Mr. Albert Chevalier, a comedian worthy to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Arthur Roberts, for Mr. Chevalier is a good all-round comedian, equally at home in comic opera, farcical comedy, or burlesque. Unlike his predecessor, he is not a man of many inches, but then he has more wit in his little finger than many another man has in his whole body." 57. Stephen's Review, 3oth November, 1889. " Mr. Albert Chevalier, a comedian who, when with Mr. Edouin, and subsequently at Terry's Theatre, showed unmistakeable talent, here appears as Bollard, the manager of a troupe of strolling players, who are induced to impersonate the Ministers of an impecunious Grand Duke. Upon Ballard, of course, most cf the comicality depends, and it is not too much to say that Mr. Chevalier worthily fills a part that would have severely tried the facetious powers of Mr. Arthur Roberts or Mr. Fred Leslie. Always original, always amusing, always quaint, and never vulgar, Mr. Chevalier brings a new kind of fun to bear, and I shall be much mistaken if he be not in a short time one cf the most prominent comedians on the stage. The duet between him and Mr. George Capel, ' 'Tis love that makes the world go round ' is one of the most diverting things in London. " PERCY REEVE." Daily Chronicle , xyth October, 1889. "A capital song for Ballard. 'Behind the Scenes,' of a some- what topical nature, and provided with several encore verses, to be sung when needful, as was the case last night, thanks to Mr. Albert Chevalier's clear enunciation of the words, and quaint acting. Mr. Albert Chevalier was very humorous throughout." Pall Mall Gazette, iyth October, 1889. " Mr. Chevalier's quaint Ballard the manager of a theatrical 9O ALBERT CHEVALIER. troupe- is so good that one wants more of it. Never obtrusive, and never out of the picture, it is a performance which, after a few days' settling down, will be quite a model one." Theatre, November, 1889. " Mr. Albert Chevalier is a host in himself; the stage was never dull so long as he occupied it, and he was compelled to sing three encore verses to his topical song, ' Behind the Scenes.' He is quite original and thoroughly humorous." Sporting Life, iyth October, 1889. " Mr. Chevalier, one of the truest and most quaintly original comedians, established himself firmly in the favour of the audience by his piquant humour and quietly effective vocalism. His song ' All the world's a stage' was demanded again and again." Daily Chronicle, 6th December, 1889. " Mr. Albert Chevalier embodies this character with a verve and heartiness that ensure for it the prominence rightly its due, and in the ' business ' of the scenes in which he is engaged, exhibits an amount of quaint originality that is not likely to be lost sight of in the future." Evening News and I'ost, ijth October, 1889. "About the successor to Arthur Roberts? Well, Mr. Albert Chevalier has come, seen, and conquered. It was a trial for any comedian to follow a man so popular as Mr. Roberts, at a place like the Avenue, where the success of an opera was always considered to depend more on the individual efforts of ' Arthur ' than on anything else. Mr. Chevalier comes out of the ordeal triumphantly, scoring his efforts in virtue of a quaint and dry vein of humour." MORE OPINIONS. II. "THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD." The " Prima Donna " had a comparatively short run, and then the management tried the experiment of re- viving an old burlesque by Robert Brough, entitled "The Field of the Cloth of Gold." In this, Chevalier played Francis 7, introducing a burlesque French song, entitled "Tink-a-tin," written by himself,and composed by J. Crook ; and " Funny, without being Vulgar," by Harry Brett and Charles Ingle. Both songs were very favourably received. Here are a few opinions of his performance : Stay, 27th December, 1889. "First and foremost in the fun is Mr. Chevalier, whose French accent in the part of King Francis I entitles him on this occasion to be called Mons. Chevalier. How he sings a Parisian ditty, ' C'est chic,' and a topical ballad, ' It's Funny without being Vulgar', how he dances a can-can, how he fights King Hal (with the assistance of a friendly 'corner') all these things must be seen and heard to be believed. 1 ' Observer, 2oth December, 1889. " Mr. Albert Chevalier was extremely funny as the French King, and has some clever songs, which he sings with much humour." 92 ALBERT CHEVALIER. Sun, agth December, 1889. " Mr. Albert Chevalier most certainly scored a big success as the French monarch." Morning Advertiser, 25th December, 1889. " Mr. Albert Chevalier, who danced and sang very cleverly, could scarcely be surpassed in the role of Francis. 1 ' London, 28th December, 1889. " One performance in particular, that of Mr. Albert Chevalier, would, in my opinion, have sufficed to redeem any piece from a charge of dullness. This clever actor's Francis I is a most genuine piece of humorous work, and it is a long time since I have heard two such capital songs as he has managed to supply himself with." Pall Mall Gazette, 28th December, 1889. " Mr. Albert Chevalier always a quaint and original actor makes an admirable Francis I His comic methods, his songs, and his ' business,' throughout the piece could not be better." Theatre, February, 1890. " As to Mr. Albert Chevalier, as Francis, he was delightfully droll ; his fun seemed to be such a natural outcome, so quaint, and so original, and his songs are droll and well sung, He most certainly contributed largely to the encores gained." Evening News and Post, 27th December, 1889. " The cast is exceptionally good. Mr. Albert Chevalier, ' a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy,' plays Francis I with that quaint and dry humour peculiarly his own, and most fitly described in the words of a capital song he sings, as ' Funny without being Vulgar.'" Stage, 3rd January, 1890. " To Mr. Albert Chevalier must be accorded the greatest praise for his most humorous and original conception of the character of Francis ; his broken English, his quaint ' business,' and excellent singing of a French song, and of ' Funny, without being Vulgar, brought down the house." The World, January, 1890. " Mr. Albert Chevalier is an excellently quaint Francis /." CHEVALIER IN " DR. BILL.' 93 III. MR. GEORGK ALEXANDER'S SEASON " DR. BILL." After this, Chevalier had the pleasure of serving under Geo. Alexander's banner during that gentleman's first season of theatrical management. It was Mr. Alexander's intention to open with " The Struggle for Life"; fortunately for him, as it afterwards proved, he had to substitute " Ur. Bill," an adaptation from the French by Hamilton A'ide. This piece was a great success, and ran about a \ear. Here is the cast of the original production: Dr. William Brown Mr. FRED TERRY Mr. Firman - ... - Mr. ALBERT CHEVALIER Mr. Horton - Mr. GEORGE CAPEL George Webster - Mr. BENJAMIN WEBSTER Baggs - Mr. HARRY GRATTAN Mrs. Horton Miss FANNY BROUGH Louisa Brown - Miss ELIZABETH ROBINS Jenny Firman Miss LAURA GRAVES Mrs. Firman - - Miss CARLOTTA LECLERCQ Fllen Miss EDITH KF.NWARD 94 ALBERT CHEVALIER. Opinions seem to have differed about Chevalier's performance in this piece. Here are a few specimens from a mass of Press-cuttings : Whitehall Review, 8th February, 1890. " Mr. Albert Chevalier renders with extreme dullness a part that ought to be particularly grotesque." St. Stephen's Review, i5th February, 1890. " Mr. Albert Chevalier's sketch of Mr. Firman is the best bit of acting the novelty affords. Mr. Chevalier has very little opportunity, of which he avails himself to the utmost." Punch, 5th April, 1890. 11 How capitally it is played ! Miss Brough, excellent ; and so also is Mr. Chevalier, who entirely loses his own identity in his make-up, and is not to be recognised at all, save for a few mannerisms." The Era, 5th April, 1890. " MR. ALBERT CHEVALIER AS MR. FIRMAN. This is that dreadful father-in-law. The doctor applies to him an adjective slightly stronger, but also initialled with the letter ' D.' Mr. Chevalier's Mr. Firman is funny in appearance. There is a laughter concealed in that lock of hair that is so artfully arranged on his fussy forehead, behind which lurks a fussy brain. The air with which he brings in medical works for his son-in-law's study ; the importance he puts on as he hands out envelopes for direction to ladies of all the profes- sions ; the consciousness of having done a clever thing which marks his acknowledgement of the letter forged for the doctor's advertise- ment, and the gulling of the British public, are all comical in the extreme ; but still more comical is the actor in the exhibition of old Firman's perplexity in the wildly extravagant business of the second act. Mr. Chevalier is certainly responsible for many of the aching sides that are the result of the hilarity created during the progress of the piece." AN ILL-FATED VENTURE. IV. " SOCK AND BUSKIN." By arrangement with Mr. Alexander, Chevalier seceded from the cast for several weeks in the summer, and Mr. John Beauchamp and he booked a short tour, under the -management of Mr. Chas. Ingle. Chevalier relates the following experience of this ill-fated ven- ture : "Beauchamp and I arranged an entertainment called * Sock and Buskin,' which consisted mainly of duologues from Dickens." Here is a bill : CORN EXCHANGE, NORTHAMPTON. SPECIAL ATTRACTION FOR TWO NIGHTS. BANK HOLIDAY AND TUESDAY, AUGUST 4th and 5th. Prices of Admission Front Seats (reserved) 35. Second Seats, 2S. Back Seats, is. Tickets obtained of Messrs. Able and Son, Parade ; Mr. Mark, " The Drapery." Doors open at 7.30. 98 ALBERT CHEVALIER. MR. JOHN BEAUCHAMP, Of the St. James's, Drury Lane, Adelphi. Princess's, and Ga'ety Theatres, London ; MR. ALBERT CHEVALIER, Of the Avenue, St. James's, Strand, Toole's, and Court Theatres, London, will appear in an entirely New MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC ENTERTAINMENT entitled : ' SOCK AND BUSKIN; consisting of RECITATIONS, ORIGINAL HUMOROUS SONGS. BUR- LESQUE LECTURES, ETC., and the following SCENES FROM DICKENS In character. ' PICKWICK: Tony Weller ... - Mr. JOHN BEAUCHAMP Sam Weller Mr. ALBERT CHEVALIER ' OLIVER TWIST.' Bill Sikes Mr. JOHN BEAUCHAMP Fagin Mr. ALBERT CHEVALIER 'MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.' Betsy Prig Mr. JOHN BEAUCHAMP Sairey Gamp Mr. ALBERT CHEVALIER Business Manager (for Messrs. Beauchamp and Chevalier) Mr. CHAS. INGLE. AND " SAIRKY GAMP." A BANK HOLIDAY FIASCO. IOI "The remainder of the "programme was filled in with songs, recitation?, and burlesque lectures. My list of songs included ' Our 'Armonic Club/ ' Yuss, or, The Coster's Courtship,' and the 'Costers Serenade.' I remember we engaged the Corn Exchange, North- ampton, on August Bank Holiday. Only one person paid for admission ! As it was holiday time we could not find anyone to fix up our footlights. The hallkeeper took compassion on us told us not to worry, and pro- mised it would be 'all right at night.' When w : e returned, half-an-hour before opening time, we found he had kept his word. In the absence of gas he had arranged a row of very tall candles where the footlight should have been. There was no mistaking how our light was produced, as the candles towered above the reflectors. We opened the doors and let in the soli- tary audience. We took him on one side, talked to him kindly, returned his shilling, and went home. I re- visited the same hall on my first recital tour. The house was packed, money being turned away from all parts. The hallkeeper was very much surprised, as in the morning, recognising me, and remembering my last visit, he had made a bid of ten pounds for the night's receipts!" IO2 ALBERT CHEVALIER. V. "THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE." George Alexander's season at the Avenue closed with the above play, an adaptation from the French by Robert Buchanan and Fred Horner, in which Chevalier played Chemineau. The piece had a very short run, and after a brief engagement at Toole's, where he played in Frank Wyatt's three act farce, " The Two Recruits," Chevalier's theatrical career closed for the time being. PART II. MUSIC HALL SINGER. 44 The Coster's Laureate. " ST. CHEVY. LETTER FROM EDWARD TERRY. ICX) PART II. MUSIC HALL SINGER. " The Coster's Laureate." I. DOUBTS. The first time Chevalier ever ventured to sing songs in private before any professionals was on the occasion of a little supper party, presided over by Mr. Edward Terry, who a few days after wrote as follows : " Terry's Theatre, "October 8th, 1888. " DEAR MR. CHEVALIER, "Is it too nmch to ask you to let me have the words and music of the two songs you gave us the other night ? They were admirably written and sung. " Sincerely yours, "E. TERRY." IIO ALBERT CHEVALIER. " Our 'Armonic Club," and "Yuss, or the Coster's Courtship," are the songs alluded to. Chevalier treasures this letter, as coupled with Willie Edouin's permissicn to sing " Our 'Armonic Club," as Abanazar, in "Aladdin," at the Strand Theatre, it was one of the earliest encouragements he received to continue his series of Cockney lyrics. " I have done a deal of writing in my time," said Chevalier, showing me a heap of manuscripts of lyrics, comediettas, and burlesques. We were in the comedian's study at Isleworth a small, but comfortable room at the top of the house facing the woodlands that stretch towards Twickenham. On the walls were numbers of framed character- sketches from the Sporting and Dramatic News, illus- trating various plays in which Chevalier has taken part ; and a collection of books and manuscripts filled several shelves on two sides of the room. <( It was my -friend, Julian Edwards, who first' en- couraged me to write," he continued, after a pause. " He was a clever composer, yet somehow met with but indifferent success in this country. I am, however, pleased to say that he has since done meritorious work in the States, which has been well recognised. Some IN REQUEST. I I I of the best stuff I ever did was in the libretti of two operas written in collaboration with him, but I regret to say they were never performed." In three or four portfolios I found scores of songs, mostly written in pencil upon odd sheets of paper songs upon all conceivable subjects humorous and sentimental, topical and fantastic. Among them were the originals of some of his earlier Cockney ballads, such as " Yuss ! " " The Serenade," etc. " Now," said I, " will you tell me the actual facts about your genesis as a music-hall artist. There are so many tales floating about that He laughed and replied, " So there are, and most of them are wrong. You see, there were a number of forces at work ; the principal one, I suppose, being, that I was out of a shop. Upon one occasion a well-known music-hall manager after hearing me sing at the Bons Freres Club, offered me an engagement, but for some reason or other I refused. I could not make myself believe that my songs would be appreciated by an audience that liked broad effect. "Another occasion found me introduced to Mr. Charles Morton (then manager of the Alhambra) by a friend of his, named Goldstein. Morton then and there asked me to come to the Alhambra ; and still I held out 112 ALBERT CHEVALIER. for the reason already given. ' Do you think I should succeed ? ' I asked. ' Succeed ! ' he exclaimed, ' of course ; with a face like yours ! ' Dear old Morton meant it, of course, as a compliment." "Didn't Coborn ?" " Yes ; Charlie Coborn got me inside the Pavilion ; wanted to introduce me to Villiers (the manager,) with a view to an engagement. Finding me obdurate, 'Well,' said he, 'if you won't do the business, I shall!" To cut my story short, Ben Nathan finally persuaded me to make up my mind on the matter, and in his capacity as an agent, negotiated with the Pavilion Syndicate on my behalf. At first I would not sign the offered agreement for a year's engagement, thinking that the public would be sick of me in a few days. I therefore agreed to sing for a week on trial, and 1 chance my luck,' as the saying goes." THE MAN AND THE MOMENT. I I 5 II. TRIUMPH. On the evening of the 5th of February, 1891, Albert Chevalier made his first bow as a music-hall performer at the New London Pavilion, Piccadilly Circus. He re- ceived a princely reception on his appearance, and at the close of his entertainment was rewarded with a storm of cheers. All doubt as to whether his audience would comprehendingly grasp the intention of his songs dis-, solved the desperate moment had been met and con- quered and the hitherto despised supporters of the music-hall proved conclusively that they could appreciate a fine art just as cordially as the high-priests of culture. The difficulties opposing the comedian were not small. It is far easier for a music-hall performer to succeed in a theatre than for an actor to win laurels in a music-hall. He was one of the few actors of any prominence who had migrated to the halls ; and his t 2 Il6 ALBERT CHEVALIER. success at the Strand and the Avenue in comedy, burlesque, and comic opera, made the public expect much from him. It is pleasant to know that he com- pletely realised their expectations. On the 2nd May, 1891, the Star, one of the first papers to acknowledge Chevalier's merit, wrote as follows (inter alia) ... "All of a sudden the house wakes up with a start. The buzz is hushed, there is a ruste lof expectant at- tention, and a cry of 'Sit down in front.' Number 13 has gone up at the wings the number, says the pro- gramme, of ' Mr. Albert Chevalier, comedian.' A queer little figure bounces on the stage, and is received with a storm of hand-clapping. It is not a figure of ideal beauty. Phidias would hardly have chosen it for a model. A puny, crouching, angular figure a sort of human ferret. A peaked cap over a close-cropped poll ; a rag of coloured cloth where the rest of us wear a collar ; a check-patterned jacket on the meagre body, turned up with velveteen ; trousers trumpet-shaped, like those of a Mexican vaquero. ' Et puis, des boutons, des boutons, des boutons,' as the husband in 4 Frou-Frou ' says about the costume of the debardeur everywhere rows of pearl buttons. It is all very ugly, very quaint and very interesting. For you at A "HUMAN DOCUMENT. 117 once feel yourself in presence of one of M. Zola's 'human documents.' It is a genuine type: the East- end costermonger in his habit as he lives. After the fantastic idealism of the earlier part of the performance, boneless gentleman simulating serpent, and ladies in crimson Mephistophelian doublet and hose this figure of uncompromising realism is a welcome relief. " And your sense of its ugliness vanishes as soon as it opens its mouth. You find that this Cockney Caliban has a heart. Nay, more : he is a sentimentalist, a Romeo of the hand-barrow, a Werther of the donkey cart. He sings a serenade to his lady-love. What could be more romantic, more sentimental, more sug- gestive of moonlight, mandolins, and morbidezza than a serenade? He calls up tender reminiscences in his mistress's breast. 'You ain't forgotten,' he says " You ain't forgotten 'ow we drove that day Down to the Welsh 'Arp in my donkey shay. Folks with a 'chy-ike' shouted 'ain't they smart ? You looked a Queen, me every inch a Bart. Me in my pearlies felt a toff that day Down at the Welsh 'Arp, which is 'Endon way. (The Coster's Serenade.) "And each verse ends with a plaintive whistle, like a long-drawn sigh. The mixture of the ludicrous and the pathetic, of vulgarity and simple natural affection Il8 ALBERT CHEVALIER. in this ' Coster's Serenade ' is inexpressibly piquant. It is a masterpiece in its way. Credit must be given to the musician, too ; the strange ' crooning ' air, with its touch of Spanish-gipsy melody being, as Mr. Andrew Lang would say, a separate ecstacy. I have heard such music more than once in the orange plantations between Valencia and Castellon de las Planas. " After the coster in love, the coster with a grievance. He has a friend, whose dispiriting company drives him to pessimism, tempts him to become a Schopenhauer of the slums. "'E makes yer think that life's a blank, A disgustin' dreary ' dezzit. 1 It ain't exactly wot 'e sez It's the n-a--a-asty wye 'e sez it ! (The Nasty Way ' Sez it.) " But pessimism cannot hold this blythe spirit long. Open-air life, the consciousness of many pearl buttons, the exhilaration of a rapid drive behind his 'moke' and alongside his ' missus,' soon give him saner views of the cosmos. He becomes even jubilant, and gives vent to his almost Pagan sense of the joie de vivre in another song, ' Wot Cher ! ' " 'Wot cher! ' all the neighbours cried ; 1 Who're yer goin' to meet, Bill ? ' ' Have yer bought the street, Bill? ' Laugh l'l thought I should have died. Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road ! (Wot Cher! or, Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road.) M A FINE ART. 1. 1 9 "You see all. the ends of the earth, or at least the opposite postal districts of London, sing the glory of the coster from the Old Kent Road to the Welsh 'Arp, which is down 'Ehdon way. " The success of these three songs is immense. They have already become legendary. Last night I saw more grave legislators than one, hereditary and elected, listening to them enraptured. A globe-trotting friend of mine, just returned from a surfeit of all the sounding brass and tinkling cymbals of the Far East, tells me in all his travels he has never heard anything so spon- taneous, so typical, so racy of the soil. This I take leave to call fine art in the music hall. There are no forced effects, there is no shouting, no clowning. "Mr. Chevalier's experience on the regular stage gives him an immense advantage ; it gives him what few of the others have acquired : restraint, distinction, style. His work is essentially artistic work. " SPECTATOR." I2O ALBERT CHEVALIER. III. THE APPRECIATION. And now from all 'quarters sounded the notes of appreciation. Rare indeed, is it, that a performer in the variety halls has marked such an epoch in their history ; arid rarely, if ever before, has an actor by profession stepped from the well-ordered and carefully-managed theatre, with all its helpful surroundings, and so suc- cessfully overcome the anachronisms and incongruities existing in the music halls. The comedian remarked to me on one occasion : " Fancy having to go on and sing the ' Old Kent Road ' in a scene representing a Moorish palace, or the grand staircase of a baronial hall ! They really can have no sense of the incongruous, and the humour of it is somewhat subtle ! " Still, for all the difficulties and obstacles which pre- sented themselves on every hand absence of oppor- tunity for rehearsal, meagre accessories, unsuitable, 'THE MAN OF THE MOMENT. 121 often ludicrous, stage managements and settings the sure, firm stroke was made, and the public response was sincere, sympathetic, and hearty. Offers for private engagements poured in from Princess Louise, Dowager Lady Vernon, Lady Jeune, Lady Osborne Morgan, Mrs. Asquith, Mrs. Labouchere, Duke of Westminster, Duke of Newcastle, Lord Rothschild. Canon Wilberforce, Dean Gregory (of St. Paul's), Mr. Alfred Rothschild, and numerous other celebrities ; the newspapers eulogised, and the illustrated journals pictured this new bard of the barrow-boys, (the " Costers' Burns," as Byron Webber christened him), and soon the length and breadth of London was alive with his songs, and every club and coulisse knew in Albert Chevalier the man of the moment. Perhaps the following Press extracts, letters, etc., may not be out of place. Black and White ^ June i8th, 1892, contained a signed article by Arthur Symons, headed " The Coster's Laureate," in which the writer thus expresses himself: " . . . . And that memorable first night at the London Pavilion a year ago was not merely the triumph of an individual : it was at once the statement and the achievement of' a new art. . . . He has quietly taken his place at the head of the profession. There was no dispute, for none was possible. . . . He sang the ' Coster's Serenade ' ; it was a triumph, an unparalleled triumph, and from that night .to this. Chevalier has never known the excitement of a 122 ALBERT CHEVALIER. rival. . . . Simple, whole-hearted passion, infinite tenderness, with a humour that gives it relief, that gives it intensity that is what lies at the root of the new art which Albert Chevalier has created." This from an article in the New Review, October ist, 1892: ". . . . Thus Mr. Chevalier shows us the cockney coster as he lives and moves, and has his being, driving with his ' dona ' in the Old Kent Road, or eating shrimps with 'Arriet down by the Welsh 'Arp, which is 'Endon wye. Delicacy, restraint, perfect finish, vigorous fidelity to life, are the qualities of this master among the variety artistes." This from a signed article by the late Edmund Yates, which appeared in the World, December 7th, 1892: 1 ' The make-up, allowing for a little over-cleanliness, which is, perhaps, essential, was life-like, and the songs were sung with great spirit and go. There was no touch of vulgarity throughout, and no exaggeration. ... In certain of the songs, notably in the serenade or invocation to 'Arriet, and in one referring to the precocious clever- ness of his little son, 'The Nipper,' there were notes of wholesome f natural, unaffected pathos, which gave me the idea that Mr. Chevalier was capable of far higher flights had in him, indeed, the stuff of which a sound and interesting melodramatic actor, such as the late Sam Emery was made. ... In the minor and pathetic Jjey, he reminded me now and then of that extraordinary artist, Robson." Rev. Dr. Momerie, being interviewed for Winter's Magazine, expressed himself as follows : " The Stage and the Music Hall I find like other things sometimes good, sometimes bad ; but most "THE KIPLING OF THE MUSIC HALLS." 1-23 frequently the first. You have seen Albert Chevalier, of course ? " "Who has not?" replied the interviewer. "Ah ! yes ; indeed, everyone in London must have heard the Costers' Idol. I have a great admiration for Chevalier. I have never met a more consummate artist." Morning Leader, May 3oth, 1893. " But to Mr. Chevalier, I take it, belongs the credit of having raised music-hall songs to the highest level they can attain. ' He is the Kipling of the music-hall, for he takes the common clay of Whitechapel, and fashions it into real works of art. He is an epoch maker, entitled to a lasting memory as a latter-day Monte- vedre, or Wagner." From signed article by John Gray : " . . . . Mr. Chevalier, a spirit of finer grain than most, an artist of ripe and subtle experience, proceeds in a manner of his own Taking his subject in one or another appro- priate aspect, he makes of him an excuse for an artistic creation. The beholder, powerless to trace the means by which the effect is produced, wonders at the miracle, can only wonder. . .- . . The result is not a limited menage, but like every true work of art contains all art The single moment in the life of a single individual is revealed in all its human significance, and it is seen to be a key to all life and all emotion There are the few who have power to create the living soul of a thing. These latter are the magicians, the real artists. . . . No com- parison is ultimately possible between talent and genius. Mr. Chevalier is of the few. Theory and formula and artifice are' steps by which the artist rises to clear utterance of the thing that is in him The stars are still a long way from the telescope." 124 ALBERT CHEVALIER. From Jerome K. Jerome. (The magazine referred to is the Idler, in which the words of " Our Little Nipper " were reproduced, by permission of Messrs. Reynolds and Co.) "DEAR CHEVALIER, " I have been asked to edit a big magazine, which will start in January. The main feature will be humour. The idea has occurred to me that if you are writing one of those brilliant coster songs of yours, it would be useful to both of us if you published it first in the magazine ; or could you write me one specially, you retaining all rights in the same ? " Yours, "JEROME K. JEROME." FROM C. HADDON CHAMBERS, ESQ. " DEAR CHEVALIER, " To-morrow (Friday) night I am taking my wife and a brother author to hear you at the London Pavilion. I want them to hear the 'Coster's Serenade ' and the ' Old Kent Road ' song. ' Laugh, I thought I should have died,' when I heard you sing last. I need not tell you that you are a great artist. "Yours sincerely, "C. HADDON CHAMBERS." "PRINCESS MAY SINGS 'WOT CHER!'" 125 Copy extract from a letter, written by Richard Harding Davis, of Harper s Monthly (America), author of " Van Bibber, and Other Stories," etc. : " MY DEAR MR. CHEVALIER, it " I have a great deal to thank you for, as your per- formance has really been the newest and best sensation of my present visit " Sincerely yours, "RICHARD HARDING DAVIS." After appearing at a benefit matinee entertainment, at the Trafalgar Theatre, Chevalier received the follow- ing from the Entertainment Secretary : (Extract.) " DEAR MR. CHEVALIER, "I hope you were gratified with your reception, and pleased with your audience at the matinee, on Tuesday. Princess Mary was delighted, and Princess May our future Queen sings your songs. She sent me down to ask for 'Wot cher.' Could you see how pleased Lord Salisbury was ? He sat in front. . . . . . " Yours very truly, 126 ALBERT CHEVALIER. COPY OF LETTER FROM STAGEY MARKS, ESQ. " SIR, "Allow me to write a line to thank you for the great pleasure you afforded my daughter and myself by your performance at the Tivoli on Thursday evening last. " We heard you in the ' Lullaby,' ' My Old Dutch/ and ' 'Appy 'Ampstead.' To say that your rendering of the two first was the only touch of art in the entertain- ment is to say little. It was full of honest, manly pathos, and true in its simple unexaggeration of nature. I cannot pay you a higher compliment, from my point of view, than in saying you reminded me more than once of some of Robson's tenderest touches in the ' Porter's Knot.' I could write more, but you might think I was disposed to flatter you so I only say again ' Many Thanks ! ' and ask you to believe me "Yours faithfully and admiringly, "H. STAGEY MARKS. "ALBERT CHEVALIER, ESQ." Henri Clark, manager at the Metropolitan Music Hall, told Chevalier of an interesting incident which happened during his engagement there. An old man and his wife were sitting in the front row of the cheapest seats in the house. Chevalier came on and HE KISSED HIS " OLD DUTCH." 1 2? sung " My Old Dutch." When he had finished almost before he had time to get off the stage the old man threw his arms round the old girl's neck and gave her a kiss which sounded all over the building ! Upon the comedian's recital tour, mentioned else- where, he received a splendid reception from the pro- vincial, and Irish and Scots press, a few of whose opinions I give here : Liverpool Daily Post. "CHEVALIER. This is the great singer of coster life a true genius, who, with an instinct of character, of tune, of comedy, of eccentricity, and of perfect moral taste, has hit on a new type of comic singing, and is nightly displaying under the unlikeliest conditions all the pathos and all the humour of a Regnier or a Keeley. There has been nothing finer on any stage nothing more poignant nothing hat ploughs into the emotions and turns up sympathies of sweeter savour than Chevalier's singing of ' My Old Dutch.' " It takes barely five minutes. But there is not a dry eye in the crowded hall. The sympathy of everyone is seized on gently, surely, pathetically. That is Chevalier's nightly triumph. Those who, besides owning to brimming eyes can remember and compare, know that since Regnier dusted the salon in ' La Joie Fait Peur ' at the Theatre Franais, or Wigan gave his daughter, in the ' First Night, a little drop from a bottle to sustain her courage on the stage, there has been no acting of humble life more true and tremulous with the very life of dramatic power." Irish Times. " ALBERT CHEVALIER IN DUBLIN. The Leinster Hall, large as it is, was packed last night, when the renowned Chevalier commenced a series of recitals, which will be brought to a close on Thursday evening. The more fashionable parts of the house especially were 128 ALBERT CHEVALIER. crowded by society people, who were anxious to hear this poet of the people of East London. The utter absence of the vulgar in Mr. Chevalier's entertainment has won for him general admiration. He is educated and refined to begin with, and being blessed with an artistic and sympathetic nature, he has been enabled to depict in poetry that tenderer strain in humble life which is often suffocated by its sordid surroundings, but which exists nevertheless. One moment he makes our eyes to fill with tears, the next he appears as 'Arry on 'Ampstead 'Eath, and we are compelled to laugh and sing and dance with him. At the same time we seem to see his good-natured 'Arriet joining him in the unconventional waltz." In his inimitable song, ' My old Dutch," we find the nearest ap- proach in English to the Scottish song, ' John Anderson, my Jo ' ; like, yet unlike ; but the same fealty and feeling expressed. Chevalier is throughout thoroughly natural and unextravagant. We have heard numerous imitators who reproduced his voice to perfection, 'but none have equalled him in interpretation. There they all have failed. Mr. Chevalier was more than generous in the number of songs he sang, and for every one he was enthusiastically encored." The Scotsman (CHEVALIER IN EDINBURGH). "... Every seat was filled, every available corner was crowded, hundreds were turned away from the door. The field he has chosen for his work he has exploited thoroughly. He has been down among the people he sings about one would almost think he was to the manner born and has studied their character in all its phases humorous, amorous, arid pathetic. In his own field, Mr. Chevalier is certainly as great an artist in his song pictures of East London life as Du Maurier is with his pencil in depicting modern West End Society, or Jan Van Beer with his brush in hitting off the. foibles of the 'chic' Parisian belle. Though the most of the songs he sung might be called ' comic,' they had this outstanding feature that there was not about them one touch of buffoonery, not a suspicion of vulgarity. There was in all of them 1 that touch of nature which makes the world kin,' and set, as they FROM THE PRESS. 131 were, to admirably appropriate tunes, and rendered with rare dramatic power, they delighted the vast andience in no ordinary degree. One thing is very outstanding in Mr. Chevalier's art is worthy of notice, and that is his great power of facial expres- sion and descriptive gesture. It is really wonderful, and of course, adds greatly to the success of his singing. Each line of each song, whether it be grave or gay, is illustrated 'not only by varied intonation, but by picturesque gesture and expression, and the completed product is a finished work of art. Last night Mr. Chevalier did not spare himself. He gave no fewer than ten songs, and among these were all his favourite ditties. It would be hard to say which found most favour, My Old Dutch ' with its pathos turning almost to tears, the intense passion put into ' The Coster's Serenade,' the light and lively touch with which he treated ' Mrs. 'Awkins,' or the rollicking fun of ' The Old Kent Road,' which closed the concert. The applause was so great at the end of this last song that Mr. Chevalier was constrained to say a few words of thanks for the heartiness of his reception." Bradford Observer. " MR. CHEVALIER IN BRADFORD. Last night Mr. Albert Chevalier made his first appearance in Bradford, at the Mechanic's Institute. Mr. Chevalier may fairly claim to have done for the English music- hall song, what Gilbert and Sullivan have done for English comic opera. Before those twin stars of the lyric stage rose above the horizon, it was too often true that comic opera was insipid when it was not vulgar, and vulgar when it was not insipid. The same remark, expressed in much stronger terms, is generally applicable to the English music-hall song, and to Mr. Chevalier belongs the honour no mean honour, if we accept the philosophy of the saying, ' Let who will rule the people, so long as I make their songs ' of renovating this despised article, giving it artistic form, warming it with pathos and humour, aud gilding it with sentiment and fancy. The audience which crowded the Mechanic's Institute last night was an unmistakeable tribute to the position which Mr. Chevalier has won. It was not the audience which turns up at any popular enter- tainment, but was largely drawn from the ranks of those who make K 2 132 ALBERT CHEVALIER. a point of seeing anything first-class which is given in the town, be it lecture, music, or play. At the close of the performance there was an array of carriages at the entrance to the Institute, suggestive of a Subscription Concert. Mr. Chevalier met with a most flattering reception, the warmth of which increased as the programme proceeded. He sang alto- gether ten songs, most of them already more or less known to his audience, and, with one exception, all of his own writing. Mr. Chevalier's rendering was in every instance the work of an artiste. His humour was rich, and the tender passages were given with a delightful touch. His powers of imitation are of the first -order; every gesture was a stroke of character. At the close of the performance he received quite an ovation." Manchester Guardian. (RETURN VISIT.) "MR. ALBERT CHEVALIER'S RECITALS. The praise of Mr. A Chevalier as an exponent of coster pathos and humour has been so widely sounded, that the great size and enthusiasm of the audience at the Free Trade Hall last night could occasion no surprise. The music alone of many of these songs would indeed serve to lift them above the level of a mere local popularity. The moral tone of these songs is sweet and manly ; the pathetic in them never becomes mawkish ; and praise and gratitude are due to the artist who, in achieving their popularity, has also made a real improvement in the taste of his public. Of last night's performance it is, perhaps, the best commendation to say that Mr. Chevalier more than satisfied the great expectations of his audience." Manchester Courier. (RETURN VISIT.) " ALBERT CHEVALIER AT THE FREE TRADE HALL. Long before the doors were opened yesterday evening, a considerable number of people thronged the main ' entrance to the Free Trade Hall, "A LITERARY EXPRESSION OF THE TIME. 133 anxious to secure the best seats available for the first of Mr. Albert Chevalier's recitals. By eight o'clock the building was crowded. Mr. Brian Daly has well said of this clever artist that ' he never loses sight of those high human ideals that dignify and exalt nature. He, like the true poet that he is, has found in a neglected and alienated class a darker poetry, rugged, perhaps unlovely in its form, but, nevertheless, full of those stirring emotions, those kindred touches of nature that raise the lowliest life from the dead level of the commonplace.' " Brighton Standard. " MR. CHEVALIER'S RECITALS. The aspect of the Brighton Dome on Thursday evening, when Mr. Chevalier gave his first recital, was suggestive more of a ' Patti ' concert, at the height of the Brighton season, than anything else one could liken it to. The vast area of the Dome was crowded with well-dressed people amongst whom might be discerned the " light and leading " of the town, and the cream of Brighton's fashionable society. Mr. Chevalier's exquisite humour was cordially and demonstratively appreciated. Mr. Chevalier repeated his recital yesterday afternoon and evening to big houses." Leeds Express (RETURN VISIT.) " MR. CHEVALIER'S RECITALS. No one remembering what the music hall was before Mr. Chevalier's advent, and knowing what it is now, can fail to acknowledge the influence he has wielded. Mr. Chevalier came to stay, and year by year as he has been moulding public taste, so has he been developing the seemingly endless characteristics of the coster. The idylls of the coster are > in their way, as remarkable a literary expression of the time as the Idylls of the King. The Albert Hall was filled in all parts, by a most critical and appreciative audience, who gave Mr. Chevalier no rest. Mr. Chevalier gives excellent value, and his recitals grow more attractive each visit." 1 34 ALBERT CHEVALIER. Some remarks of Chevalier, re Promenades and the Sale of Drink in the auditorium of a music hall, were so misrepresented by certain temperance advo- cates, members of the County Council, that he was compelled to write and explain what he really had said. He received the following reply : " L. C. C., " Spring Gardens, " March 6th, 1894. " DEAR SIR, " I am much obliged for your interesting letter. The Theatres' Committee will, I need not assure you, be glad to consider your views as to matters upon which we willingly recognise you as a great authority. "Sincerely yours, "RICHARD ROBERTS, " Vice-Chairman. ''A. CHEVALIER, ESQ." Mention of the County Council reminds me that even Mrs. Chant has had a word of praise for Chevalier. The following is an extract from a speech delivered by her at Bristol, and reported in the Western Daily Press, January 28th, 1895. Someone having sung " My Old Dutch " without Chevalier's permission MRS. CHANT SPEAKS. 135 " Mrs. Ormiston Chant, when the applause which greeted her had ceased, asked those present to think of what they owed to men like Mr. Chevalier for making songs like that which had just been sung, that expressed the finest sentiments in the human heart ; who had voiced themes that had been there, but before were not voiced, and had done so in language understood of the people. Think of 'Mrs. 'Enery 'Awkins," Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road,' and others which had taken the place of the boozy, fighting, hateful songs which too often in former years were the songs supposed to belong to music halls. She had sat in a music hall in the poorest part of London where 'My Old Dutch' was being sung, and where the whole audience took up the chorus, and again and again repeated it until one could not listen without the tears coming into one's eyes, and the feeling arising that music like that taking hold of the public heart might be the means of introducing into lives a tenderness and a sentiment not hitherto displayed (applause)." Chevalier assures me he can remember no audience taking up the chorus of " My Old Dutch," and repeat- ing it again and again. Such a demonstration might have helped to popularise the " Old Kent Road," but would have seriously interfered with the success of his 136 ALBERT CHEVALIER. performance in a song like " My Old Dutch." The fact that the boys in the gallery refrained from " join- ing in " was, he always considered, the greatest com- pliment they could pay him. He tells me that garbled versions are frequently given at concerts and other en- tertainments, notwithstanding the fact that his pub- lishers make it a rule to allow no one but himself to sing his songs, without their special written permission. Chevalier is grateful to Mrs. Chant for the compliment paid him, but he does not care to accept praise which may belong to any gentleman who thinks proper to ignore the printed notice on all copies of his songs issued by Messrs. Reynolds and Co. As the artist rose in public favour, so did apprecia- tion of his professional worth elicit many flattering and substantial offers from theatrical managers. Amongst others, Mr. Frank Wyatt sought him for the comic opera, " Erminie," as did his late manager, Mr. George Alexander, for the part subsequently played by Edward Righton, in " Liberty Hall." Miss Annie Hughes asked him to play the late David James's part in " Our Boys," at the Crystal Palace ; Mr. John Hollingshead offered him 100 a-week to play a strong part in a new drama ; and the promoters of " Morocco Bound," at the Shaftesbury, tried hard to get Chevalier for 100 CHEVALIER SINGING "MY OLD DUTCH. NUMEROUS OFFERS. 139 a-week to sing between the acts! This, however, the Pavilion and Tivoli Syndicate, with whom our comedian held a special contract, refused to allow. Charles Brookfield very much wished Chevalier to perform Joe in "The Burglar and the Judge," a piece written by Brookfield and F. C. Philips. Numerous offers for America, Australia, and the Colonies were advanced, all of which, for the time being, Chevalier was compelled, on account of pre- arranged engagements, to refuse. I4O ALBERT CHEVALIER. IV. CONCERNING His SONGS. Over and over again the question has been asked, " Does Chevalier write his own songs ? " Indeed, I have been personally credited with their authorship ; and, upon one occasion, the startling news reached me that I was the " ghost " well paid to keep in the back- ground, there to mysteriously spin out coster effusions by the yard ! This is the first opportunity I have had of publicly denying the mistaken notion. Those who know Chevalier intimately, know also that he is a gen- tleman, and, to the larger public, let me say that in no case has he claimed authorship of any lyric which was not absolutely his own composition. Of the forty-six songs, now published by Reynolds and Co., he has written thirty-five. Those penned by other men bear their authors' names in every instance.* Here is Chevalier. [* The songs now number fifty about forty of which are Chevalier's creations.] A ROMANCE. 14! "Tell me something about the songs how they were written, and so forth." " Much has been argued about the sentiment ex- pressed in them," he said. " But you know, old man," (a favourite expression of his) " the coster, or the cockney, is a human being, and his sentiment, in his degree, is as tender and poetic as a ' noble Romeo's. This reflection was forced upon me as I was strolling along the tow-path of the river, near Hammersmith, a few years back. I remember it was a summer's even- ing, and I saw just ahead of me a coster and his girl ; his arm was around her neck, and hers encircled his waist. Very pretty, I thought. They kissed one another now and again. Prettier still ! Presently they became kittenish (just like ordinary folk 1), there was a laugh, he seized her hat with its wealth of feather, and shambled off with it. She pursued him they dodged she thumped his broad back, and gave him a 'goffer' which is costerese for flattening his hat. After a brief struggle, he clasped her round the waist, kissed her, took off his damaged hat, and placed it on her black curls, and covered his own close-cropped poll with her white straw and ostrich plumes; then he drew her head to his shoulder, and they slowly moved along singing ' Annie Rooney ' to the moonlight." 142 ALBERT CHEVALIER. " It impressed you ? " " Yes it produced ' The Coster's Courtship ' for me." " What about the ' Serenade ' ? " " I think John Crook suggested a serenade to me at any rate, he had heard me sing the ' Courtship/ was very pleased with the song, and said he would like to write one with me. I accordingly wrote ' The Coster's Serenade,' and he set it to music. About this time I had written a musical sketch, in conjunction with George Capel, called 'The Phonograph/ in which the principal part was a costermonger, and it occurred to me to drop in the ' Serenade ' as one of the musical numbers. It was whilst I was playing at the Avenue. Mr. George Alexander wanted a first piece to precede ' Dr. Bill/ and 'The Phonograph ' was read to him in the green-room of the theatre. He, however, needed a serious piece, although he told me he liked the song- very much indeed. I think John Crook's music to it is lovely." " Both words and music of ' The Courtship ' are your own ? " " Yes ; the same as of ' The Future Mrs. 'Awkins.' I was staying in Brighton. One day I was just fooling about on the piano, and somehow struck "YER CAN'T 'ELP LIKIN' *IM." 143 on this melody. G. W. Hunter, the comedian, who was present, suggested that it would make a capital song, and ' Liza/ was the result. ' The nasty way 'e sez it,' and ' Yer can't 'elp likin' 'im," were written upon the backs of old envelopes and odd bits of paper as I was riding home after an evening at the Green-Room Club. The latter song had its living original in Mr. ; (you know him, of course). He was a man who did the most annoying things, in fact, he was a confirmed and confounded nuisance ; but there was a weird humour underlying his very faults, which made you like him in spite of yourself. "Of course, you remember when we wrote 'Our Bazaar ' ? " " Yes," I replied, " it's now more than two years" since." This lyric, just produced by Chevalier on his present tour [Summer 1894] with great success was a joint effort. It was written at 38, Wingate Road, the comedian's old abode, between four and five on one morning in April, 1893, after we had returned together from the Green-Room Club. I think one of us had suggested that the incidents at a charity bazaar would make a good musical sketch or comedietta, " or a good 144 ALBERT CHEVALIER. song," said Chevalier. That was the origin of it and an hour or so later, the song was completed.* The music is by Bond Andrews. " ' Knock'd 'em in the Old Kent Road,' " said Chevalier, upon my reference to it, "happened in this way. One Sunday I was in my bedroom shaving, my brother Auguste being downstairs at the piano. All at once, he struck into the melody, and the idea of its making a capital song at once occurred to me. I rushed down- stairs to him. ' What tune's that ? ' I asked. ' Oh ! a little dance of mine,' he replied. Then he played it again. All I can say is, I never left the house until ' Wot Cher ! ' was written." Our friend, Alfred H. West, composer of "Tick- Tock," one day brought a tune to Isleworth. He lost his last train home, and Chevalier suggested that he and I should write a lyric to West's melody. West was going to stay the night, and whilst he was playing marches and fantasias in the drawing-room, we stole away to a building, apart from the house and used as an office, and then and there " Our Court Ball" was * "Our Bazaar" has lately (July, 1895) created a stir in Plymouth, one or two clerics rushing into print to condemn the song as " ridiculing religion." The satire has struck home, as we intended it should; but " religion " is not " ridiculed " thereby, because the orthodox charity bazaar is far removed from religion. B. D. " MY OLD DUTCH " IS BORN. 145 written. When we returned to the drawing-room, West had gone to bed ; so we very unceremoniously awoke him and made him get up to try the song over. I think it was about three o'clock, a.m. ; but West was very pleased with the lyric, and forgave our enthusiasm. In the late Summer of 1892, the notion of a Darby and Joan song began to take shape. One evening, as we were driving from the Royal to the Pavilion, Chevalier, binding me to solemn silence, said : "An old labouring man is the character: }^ou know corduroys, doe-skin waistcoat short thick serge jacket, shapeless old hat. I've got the make-up in my mind's eye. But the song I'm going to play on the word 'pal.' ' Wot a wife to me she's bin, an' wot a pal! ' " The idea struck me at once. These words were all he had thought of so far ; but I knew the whole matter of the song was in his mind, and only required to take shape. The next time I was in his company he read me the chorus, which he told me was written to a tune he had heard some years before, and he wondered if it was obtainable. He whistled it over, and I recog- nised it as the air of a song which was sung by Mr. Billy Emerson, some years since, during the visit L 146 ALBERT CHEVALIER. of Haverley's Mastodon Minstrels to Her Majesty's Theatre. Chevalier looked rather glum when I told him this, for he had set his heart on the melody. However, there was no help for it he must get another. A few nights afterwards he read me two verses of the song, written under peculiar circumstances. He had walked from the neighbourhood of Piccadilly to Collins's Music Hall at Islington one evening, and on his way he stopped now and again at a lamp-post, to scribble down the lines in his pocket-book as they occurred to him. Subsequently, the third verse was added. Thus far, not a soul but ourselves knew of the song. One Saturday night, I accompanied him to his house, and for the first time heard the beautiful melody which his brother had set to the song. I must confess that no melod}'' has ever touched me so deeply since the pathos of " Auld Robin Gray " came to my hearing. The song itself was a wedding of "perfect music unto noble words," a true comedy of a humble life a clear, glad cry of faith and love a hymn to an ideal ! " She's stuck to me through thick an' thin, When luck was out, when luck was in : Ah ! wot a wife to me she's bin, 'An wot a pal ! " CHEVALIER SINGING " WOT's THE GOOD O* HANYFINK." ROBERT BUCHANAN S TESTIMONY. 149 Chevalier first sang " My Old Dutch " at the Alhambra, in Brighton, and the late David James having heard it, suggested that the song would bear a fourth verse, which was afterwards written. Upon its production at the London Tivoli, in November, 1892, it proved once and for all that the singer was not limited by conventionality, and that his art was of wider range, and fuller of subtle sympathy than even his warmest admirers may have deemed. There was no false note, no exaggerated sentiment, no " new " emotion ; it was that simple, earnest, human yearning which calls forth a loving response from the hearts of all good men and women. The Press united in its praise, and Chevalier's per- formance elicited from that fine poet and litterateur, Robert Buchanan, the following letter : ''Jan. 1 7th, 1893. " DEAR MR. CHEVALIER, " May I congratulate you en your new song, "The Dear Old Dutch," which I heard you sing on Saturday evening. It is infinitely sweet and beautiful a breath of pure human tenderness which ennobles the atmos- phere of even a Music Hall. The feeling and the expression are alike perfect, and taken with the rest of the work you are doing, a precious boon to the public . 150 ALBERT CHEVALIER. I think your songs unique in ballad literature, and your own art in rendering them something to admire and envy. I am glad to see that the public responds so enthusiastically to such admirable work. You are doing more good than perhaps you realise, and you deserve all the success that can possibly come to you. " Forgive my sending this poor testimony of apprecia- tion it is meant as something far more than a mere compliment and believe me, with kind regards, " Yours truly, "ROBERT BUCHANAN. " ALBERT CHEVALIER, ESQ." The pulpit likewise paid its tribute to the far-reaching influence of the song and the singer ; when, having visited Liverpool during his Summer tour in 1893, the artist received from the Vicar of St. Mary's, the frank expression of his appreciation, a reprint of whose letter is appended. " S. MARY'S LODGE, " CROXTETH ROAD, " LIVERPOOL, "May 3 ist, 1893. " DEAR SIR, " Having always welcomed everything beautiful and human in art as a natural ally in the endeavour to raise "CHURCH AND STAGE." 151 and sweeten, life I venture to thank you sincerely for your Coster Songs, which I have heard here in Liver- pool to-day. Their humour and pathos alike touched me to the core, wh'le the real refinement of their lan- guage and your interpretation of it were quite above cavil. " You have given high artistic expression to a side of humanity which has long been supposed to belong entirely to the seamy side of life, and you have made thousands feel the touch of nature in it which makes the whole world kin. " ' My Old Dutch ' is beyond criticism ; but I may tell you, perhaps, without too much egoism, that I ventured to quote you a few Sundays ago as one of those with a special ' Grace of God ' to awaken in hearts we parsons cannot reach, appreciation of a faithful woman's comradeship in the hard battle of life. " Wishing you much more very real success, and thanking you for much pleasure. " I am, faithfully yours, "T. W. M. LUND. "ALBERT CHEVALIER, ESQ." Perhaps the following critique from The Daily Tele- graph of September 23rd, 1893, reviewing "The Nipper's Lullaby " (by Mel. B. Spurr and Bond 152 ALBERT CHEVALIER. Andrews) and "My Old Dutch," at the London Pavilion, may appropriately close this chapter. " It has been a debated question for many a long year how far it was possible to devulgarise the ordinary music-hall entertainment. The pessimists declared it was impossible. They remembered the days of the coarse brawlers of the tavern hall. But there were some of us who maintained that the better the entertainment the more it would be appreciated : the more human it became, so it would be- come more popular ; the more graceful and sympathetic the music, so it would win itself to the hearts of the people ; the more artistic the performer, so he would gain the hearty and honest suffrages of the people. It is not too much to say that Mr. Albert Chevalier has had much very much to do with the wholesome reform of the modern Music Hall. An artist by instinct, he left the stage, where it was impossible, except by a miracle, that his delicate and sympa- thetic style of singing could have made a very decided mark, and, with laudable courage, he gave his talent to the common people. He understood that there was a warm heart under a corduroy jacket, a vein of sentiment even in the lowly costermonger, and he gave us the ballads which are now household words. The pessi- mists declared it was all a lucky hit, a fluke, a coincidence. When the people were weary of the gentleman with the many-buttoned 1 fakements,' his 'Liza, and his ' donah,' away . would go Mr. Albert Chevalier. ' There is no lasting success there,' they said ; 'it is a mere flash in the pan.' But they did not, and they never will, recognise the fact that an artist is by the public recognised as much at the London Pavilion as at the Albert Hall. The public high or low -never turns its back on what is good. So they awaited the return of Albert Chevalier with anxiety. Was his talent an ac- cident or an actuality ? That question should have been decided last night, when the artist, with very little voice, but exquisite feel- ing, smoked his pipe by the side of a baby's cradle, and sang to all these drinkers and smokers a berceuse which touched every heart in the hall. What was it all about ? A costermonger was singing a lullaby to his first child. It was ' their very own.' This rough hawker of greens and carrots from Covent Garden was as tender and CLEMENT SCOTT'S EULOGY. 155 delicate as any woman. When he puffed at his clay, he blew away the fumes of the tobacco, lest they should disturb the sleeping chil d. It was the ' Nipper's ' birthday on the morrow, and he had bought it a penny trumpet ; and then he told us all the wonderful ideas he had this despised costermonger concerning his marvellous child. Now this is a very risky thing to do on any stage. A baby and a cradle have the elements of laughter and ridicule in them. But then Mr. Albert Chevalier is an artist, and where art is, ridicule is impossible. He deeply affected his careless, light-hearted audience with the supreme love of a London costermonger for his first-born. But the power of mind over matter was even more clearly shown when the same acute observer of human feeling sang ' My Old Dutch,' a little gem of acting and expression. An old man smoking his pipe gives utterance to his love for an honest and faithful wife. He des- cribes her constant charms, and does not disdain mention of her often failings. But there is one refrain in his rough old heart, ' We were such pals." The method of delivery, of expression, of delicate changes of manner, can scarcely be described, but those who have heard such varied styles of sympathetic singing as Dejazet, De Soria, Lafont, William Wrighton (the ballad composer), and Fred Leslie, would give a place among such artists to Albert Chevalier. We have seen no such true pathos in the character of an old man since Robson played in the ' Porter's Knot. 1 There is no power, because power is not wanted, but there is a touch of human nature, with which the sensible public is consoling itself with on the Music Hall Stage. If the theatres refuse to give it, they will find it surely else- where. The horrors of life seem to amuse the better educated folk nowadays, the simplicities and beauties of life delight the people.'' 56 ALBERT CHEVALIER. V. BETWEEN THE " TURNS." [1892.] "Come round with me, old man." I accept the in- vitation, and at Collins's, Islington Green, we chat with burly Mr. Herbert Sprake, the good-natured proprietor, who has much to say of songs and singers, and is very complimentary to a small volume of verse of mine, lately published, and which owes its appearance in public to my good friend the hero of these records. Presently Chevalier has to prepare for his performance, and leaves me standing close to the saloon bar, where two men have taken up positions, and are discussing music hall matters over a pipe and glass. Presently, the chairman, John Read [himself an old-time singer, and author of numerous songs] announces Chevalier's name, and one of the men alluded to, remarks to his companion, "Wonder Chevalier don't retire, I s'pose 'e's a millionaire pretty nearly by this time." The other shrugs his shoulders. "Well," he replies, "I AN INVITATION. 157 reckon 'e's got a bit ; but they're all alike. Easy come an' easy go." Having vented his opinions on artists' improvidences, he changed the subject, and asked, " What do you think of 'im ? " His companion hesi- tated a moment, as he listened to the refrain of " The Nipper's Lullaby," which the comedian was at the, moment singing, and then answered, " Oh, 'e's orlright, when he dorit sing through 'is nasals ! " On our way to the Tivoli, Chevalier tells me the plot of an opera, which he contemplates writing, and adds, " We'll do it together, if you like, old man." I do like ; in fact, I am proud to collaborate with him, and I tell him so. " Very well, come to Shepperton to-night with me. I can give you a day's fishing to-morrow, and we'll talk it over." " But I'm not ready. I've no things, and am too far from home to obtain them and catch the train." " Oh, that's all right. Twelve o'clock the train goes. I can find you The brougham stops outside the Tivoli the " luggage " opens the door, and says, " They're waiting for you, sir ! " Chevalier springs out and vanishes, leaving me to my reflections. What a convincing man he is. He will make a pro- 158 ALBERT CHEVALIER. posal to you, and assent to it on your behalf in the same breath. And I am not the only one attracted by his magnetism there is no other word for it except it is sympathy. Yes, that's it. There must be something very hard in the nature that Chevalier cannot reach. Sympathy's the word and sympathy to a large extent doubtless prompted the following little occurrence. It is worth relating, because it shows how close in touch an artist often is with his public, which is more generous at heart than is usually admitted. Chevalier had finished his " turn " at the Tivoli, and was just off to the London Pavilion, when a cheery- looking young fellow, with a decidedly "horsey" ap- pearance, stopped him on his way to the brougham, with : " 'Ullo Albert ! 'Ow are you ? " The comedian looked a bit puzzled, and replied, " I think you've made a mistake, I don't remember meeting you before." The "horsey" one laughed. " No," said he, " you don't know me; but I've orfen seen you. I've just bin inside the 'all, an' 'card yer give the ' Old Dutch.' It's a - fine song ! Come an' 'ave a drink ! " " No, thank you," replied Chevalier, " I'm due at the Pavilion now. Good-night." ANECDOTE OF SIR JOHN ASTLEY. 159 And he turned to go, but the fellow seized his hand immediately, with a purely generous impulse, and said : "Sorry yer can't stop, Albert; 'ere's the price of a glass of ale treat yerself 1 " Speaking of the Pavilion, I am reminded of a pathetic incident which occurred there. It was related to me by the comedian, and I give it in his own words : " I had just finished my last turn. I came off the stage in my make-up as an old labouring man. I re- ceived a card : a gentleman wanted to see me on busi- ness. I obtained the necessary permission, and he was shown into my dressing-room. I should say he was between sixty and seventy. He had come to know if I would sing at a concert he was organising. We sat talking for some minutes, and I could not help noticing that he treated me as a man of at least his own age, if not his senior ; he was not connected with the theatri- cal profession, and, consequently, knew very little about the art of ' making-up.' Suddenly, remembering an appointment, I tore my wig off, and rubbed out the painted wrinkles. His face changed also, as in tones I shall never forget, I heard him murmur, ' / wish I could do that: " The gentleman was the late Sir John Astley. l6O ALBERT CHEVALIER. VI. UP THE RIVER. Tucker Purdue, proprietor of a punt at Shepperton- on-Thames, in a character well worth an acquaintance. His sense of humour is not particularly quick, and he is very grave and reticent on all matters save angling indeed it is life, love, and religion to him ; and in ecstatic moments, when his steel-blue eyes look into the emptiness of air, he perchance dreams of shining rivers, and murmurous rushes, and of fairy fish that rise obediently to the temptations of the luring worm. There is something ruggedly picturesque about this weather-worn old fisherman, with his hoary hair and lined face, and his general bearing of unpretentious in- dependence. It is of not much use trying a joke on Tucker he always laughs at the wrong moment, and your COMPLIMENTARY. l6l climax is reached in silence. He is monosyllabic if you endeavour to draw him into conversation, unless the subject be angling. That is the Alpha 'and Omega of his existence in his opinion all roads lead to the river, and there is no " catch " in any other occupation. Well, Chevalier (whom Tucker called Shillaylee), Robert Nainby, now in the company at the Gaiety, and I, arrive at Shepperton for a day's fishing. There's Tucker at the end of the lane, armed with tackle, and blinking in the sunlight, awaiting us. Soon the punt is slowly moving up-stream towards D'Oyly Carte's island-home, near which Tucker lays to, fastens our boat to the poles, and prepares our lines, now and again turning his dreamy eyes towards the pastures spreading far away on either hand. Whilst he dreams at his work, Chevalier tells a story. " I suppose one must take intended compliments in good part. Being on the river reminds me that upon one occasion I accepted an invitation to attend a small party at a house close at hand. During the evening I found myself alone with a young fellow in the drawing- room. I sat at the piano and just played a bar or two of one of Chopin's pieces. My companion, with a touch of sympathy in his voice, said, M 1 62 ALBERT CHEVALIER. " 'Ah, I see which way your tastes lie. How you must hate the muck you' re doing now ! ' " Something similar occurred at the London Alham- bra. I had a bit of a cold, and couldn't sing that night, so on my way home I dropped in to see a turn or two. A swellish fellow came up to me, and after a few pre- liminaries, concluded with : " ' I admire you awflly ! Heard you once sing a French song. That's your form ! I s'pose you must do those coster things ? What a pity ! ' " Another young gentleman of the genus Johnnie complimented me upon a certain occasion by remarking that the rendering of my songs had given him the greatest pleasure Unhung! " Here Tucker handed us our rods, and the sport commenced. "The 'coster thing' seemed to be in great request upon one occasion, I remember," continued Chevalier. " I had promised to sing at a benefit smoking concert, and took with me the band parts of half a dozen of my better known songs. I arrived rather late, it being after I had finished my usual evening's work, and I must confess to being not a little annoyed at discovering that several amateur singers had exhausted my repertoire earlier in the evening." A BIT OF "BACK-SLANG." 163 And thus the day wears away. We are in a back- water of the Thames, beyond Shepperton lock there is a calm peace every where and the translucent waters are indescribably beautiful with the glory of a sublime sunset. The punt is propelled along with mechanical movements of Tucker's pole, and the swish of the stream is almost the only sound heard. The religious silence of the scene is communicated to us, and nothing more is said until we land at Tucker's boat-house. There is about a mile to walk before we dine at Chevalier's cot- tage, and on the way he tells us of a curious coinci- dence, which was brought to his notice immediately after producing " My Old Dutch." He had used the same horse (or, to be correct, mare) and brougham for more than a year ; in fact, they were the same referred to in an incident recorded early in these chronicles. When the coachman discovered that Chevalier was singing the above-mentioned song, he stated that the mare had been known in the stables for some years as the " Old Dutch." " Here is a little anecdote," he continued. " It was related to me by Herbert Sprake, I fancy : " You know that I occasionally render, by way of encore, the chorus to the last verse of 'Wot cher!' in French. Well, Sprake overheard one of his audience M 2 164 ALBERT CHEVALIER. ask another what he thought of it, and the other a local sweep, I believe remarked, ' Think of it? W'y it's the finest bit o' back-slang I've 'eerd for years 1 ' " At Home and Away. NOT ALL "BEER AND SKITTLES." 167