CARL T. SMITH
THE HONG KONG AMATEUR DRAMATIC CLUB AND ITS PREDECESSORS
THE PROLOGUE
To set the mood for an article on Amateur Dramatics in Hong Kong, I quote a prologue to the performance of "the screaming farce", 'I've Written to Brown' presented on 21 April 1871 by the Hong Kong Amateurs.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the pleasing task
Is mine tonight your kindly smiles to ask,
For those who now behind the curtain wait,
With biding, anxious hearts to learn their fate.
So let your verdict generous be, the while
We strive a pleasant hour to beguile.
But who can now a pleasant hour boast,
With thirteen steamers daily up the coast
Sharebrokers pressing one to sell or buy
With telegrams cach minute from Shanghai
With stern Welsh witnesses, who'd rather brook
A Judge's ire than kiss a dirty book,
And, by their word prepared to stand or fall
Say they'll be if they will swear at all!
With piece goods market all to pieces gone,
Through sales of damaged shirtings ex the Don,
And, piling agony, beyond endurance
With Oily Phantom's new Chinese Insurance;†
Where, of our interests most august protectors,
They've such a crushing army of Directors!
Since last we met, though some enlivening rays
Of social light have cheered our nights and days,
A quiet Picnic to Victoria Peak
Photos in High Life, taken once a week
†The American firm of Olyphant and Company organized in 1871 at Hong Kong the Chinese Insurance Company. It was the first insurance company on the China coast to cater especially to Chinese shippers and merchants. Its Board was composed of both Chinese and foreigners.