[ { "id": 206137, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1970", "page_number": 217, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "210\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\nby prolonged contact with the urban environment. Excellent material for comparison with the Plover Cove situation exists in the Tai Lam Chung (1956) and Shek Pik (1960) removals. Like the Plover Cove villages, they were agricultural villages which were removed to urban Tsuen Wan to allow the construction of reservoirs. They have been resettled for a number of years, however, and a brief survey of their religious practices would provide the Christian Study Centre with a most interesting supplement to its information on the Plover Cove villages.\n\nHong Kong, 1970.\n\nELIZABETH L. JOHNSON\n\nNOTES\n\n1 p. vii of the book under review.\n\n2 More information on this village removal can be found in M. I. Berkowitz, \"Plover Cove to Tai Po Market: A Study in Forced Migration.\" Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Volume 8, 1968, pp. 96-108.\n\n3 p. 142.\n\n* V. R. Burkhardt, Chinese Creeds and Customs. 3 vols. Hong Kong: South China Morning Post, 1955, and Wolfram Eberhard, Chinese Festivals. New York: Henry Shuman, 1952.\n\n3 p. 100.\n\n6 Ibid.\n\n7 Ibid.\n\n8 Ibid.\n\n9 See, for example, pp. 14-15, 116-117.\n\nTRADITIONAL CHINESE PLAYS, translated, described and annotated by A.C. Scott, Ssu Lang visits his mother, Ssu Lang T’an Mu, The Butterfly Dream, Hu Tieh Meng, The University of Wisconsin Press, 1967, Madison, Milwaukee, and London, pp. ix, 165, 13 photos hors-texte.\n\nA. C. Scott, the best Western specialist of Chinese and Japanese theatre, here gives us a translation of two Peking operas. The first, Ssu Lang visits his mother, is a tragedy which takes place in the second half of the tenth century, under the reign of the Sung. The son of a famous general has been taken prisoner by the barbarians, but, because of his fine looks, he is married", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207163, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1974", "page_number": 234, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "228 \n\nNOTES AND QUERIES \n\nThe few houses on the southern side of Boundary Street, just completed for the Credit Foncier d'Extreme-Orient, were the only buildings around; further at the junction of this street with Prince Edward Road was 'Mignon', a small bungalow occupied by Miss Santos; the rest was either carved out of Chinese gardens or totally undeveloped. Across what was later on to become La Salle Road was a garden lot of some three acres which Brother Aimar had acquired lately from Mrs. Chan Kwing Min, the wife of the former Waichow war-lord [the present site of La Salle Primary School]; there was a small Chinese house on the grounds, in which the Canadian Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels, newly arrived in the Colony, resided temporarily. There was not a single house standing on the southern side of Prince Edward Road. \n\nThe locality was admirably situated, equally distant from Kowloon City and Kowloon Tong: two abundant reservoirs for a Chinese school population; and Homantin, where a large number of Portuguese families then resided. \n\nThe Hong Kong architectural firm of Messrs. Little, Adams and Wood was engaged to draw up plans. This was the same firm that had designed not long before the nearby Diocesan Boys' School. In their plans for the new College they incorporated features of ecclesiastical architecture that we do not find in the D.B.S. building, such as columned porticos and a domed chapel. The dome is one of the most interesting architectural features to be found in Kowloon. The Great Hall was said to be modelled after the Theatre Royal of Naples, and the mushroom columns in the open area under the Great Hall reminds one of the pillars under the demonstration building of the Medical Faculty in Paris. The buildings were designed to accommodate 700 pupils, 350 of these being Portuguese boys living in Kowloon, and as Brother Aimar remarked at the Foundation Stone Laying, “We thought it only right to provision, as in St. Joseph's, for an equal number of boys of Chinese parentage and for a boarding department.\" (South China Morning Post, Nov. 5, 1930.) \n\nThough the land was bought in 1924, the plans for the building were not approved until 1929. The following year Governor Sir William Peel laid the foundation stone. The building was first occupied for classes in December, 1931, and the following month", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207487, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1975", "page_number": 255, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "CAPTIVE SURGEON IN HONG KONG\n\n247\n\nrun by as entirely separate institution. After the Canadians moved from North Point we drew our patients only from Kowloon and I suppose that the prestige of adhering to the Geneva Convention outweighed in Japanese minds the administrative drawbacks of our site in Bowen Road.\n\nAs time went on the need to supply and guard a unit widely separated from the main body of prisoners must have become more onerous. Increasing shortages and difficulty in supplying electricity and water to Bowen Road were probably instrumental in finally bringing about our transfer to Kowloon.\n\n24 MARCH -- 9 SEPTEMBER 1945\n\nWe now moved into the last few months of our captivity. At first, staff and patients were accommodated in Sham Shui Po camp and from there working parties of our staff went out daily to prepare the hospital. It was on that day that I got my only view of the Heep Yunn School and I did not like what I saw, but the same day I learned that we were to have the Central British School for use. This looked and proved to be a suitable building and we began to move our gear there. A little later Saito told me that the staff would be reduced to 40 all ranks though previously he had said that there would be 40 other ranks. On 9 April 6 officers and 34 other ranks moved in to the Central British School. Besides myself there were Major G.F. Harrison, Major J.W. Anderson, Captain A. Coombs, Lieutenant (Q.M.) F.J. Campbell and the Rev. James Squires our padre. There were five Royal Engineers, M.S.M. Sims, Q.M.S. Tyas, and sappers Samways, Carvell and Climo, and there were 29 other ranks R.A.M.C. and R.A.D.C. headed by Sergeant-majors Muxlow and Bartley. On 10 April 62 patients of whom 58 had been in Bowen Road and four were newly arrived in the hospital. There were at first no non-medical workers though these had been promised. On 12 April a further 62 patients arrived, 31 of these being crippled but in fair general condition and a further 31 being what we then called old men (i.e., unfit for service by reason of age). Two army officers and some American and British merchant navy officers were included, but we had no special accommodation for officers. The Japanese ordered that all patients were to have white beds, another example of window dressing. The hospital provided for 34 beds for patients on the ground floor and 81 on the first floor which also housed the operating theatre, X-ray room and laboratory.\n\nPage 255\n\nPage 256", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209589, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1982", "page_number": 246, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "224\n\nCARL T. SMITH\n\nWith children performing there was no question of respectability. It was announced some weeks after the first performance that \"several ladies having expressed regret at not witnessing the late performance of the Portuguese children, Mr. Souza, with the consent of the parents, and at the request of the Committee, has consented to repeat the performance at an early date\".\n\nIn 1866 the Portuguese community built a club house at Shelley and Elgin Streets. Attached to it was a small theatre. It was used not only by Portuguese amateurs but, before the opening of the Theatre Royal in the City Hall in 1869, it was the venue for the productions of the Amateur Dramatic Club. The Theatre portion of Club Lusitano was demolished in 1873,\n\nThe Germans built a club house on Wyndham Street in 1872. It contained a small auditorium. German amateur groups used it for plays and operettas. More appreciated by the non-German speaking community were the concerts and the appearance of Liedertafel singing groups.\n\nTHE A.D.C—BORN IN A MATSHED\n\nAn Amateur Theatrical Society was formed in 1860. Its membership was made up of both civilians and military officers.\n\nFor the 1860-61 season they erected a new matshed. It was said that in its internal arrangements there was \"no lack of comfort, indeed elegance has received its share of attention\". It included a continental innovation the prompter's box was placed in the centre in front of the curtain \"according to the French custom”.\n\nThe Committee of the Society came under attack for alleged misuse of funds. At the second performance of the 1861 season it was deemed necessary to make a public statement refuting accusations which had appeared in the local press. The Committee had been charged \"with spending the profits in cold fowl and sherry behind the scenes.\" Two professional ladies of the stage also figured in the accusations. The newspaper account of the public explanation concluded with the sentiment that \"Hong Kong thanks the Amateurs and has fullest confidence in the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209590, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1982", "page_number": 247, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "225\n\nmanagement. We hope they may not be out of pocket as the Garrison Company was last year.\n\nAfter the initial ballyhoo about the Committee, described as a \"scolding given in true washer-woman style\", which only amused the town, the season was a great success. A slightly sour note was injected into the 1862-63 season because only four performances were given, while it had been announced when advertising for subscriptions that there would be six. Complaints compounded in 1863-64 when prices were advanced to a sum which was thought to be \"just beyond the limit to which a class were prepared to pay for entertainment\". Consequently, the theatre for the first performance was only half filled.\n\nThe 1865-66 season also began inauspiciously. At a meeting in November to arrange for the coming season, there was such poor attendance that it was feared the Amateurs might have to give up.\n\nWhen the Amateur Dramatic Corps looked back on its history, it gave its founding date as 1860, however, in the announcements of the group in the 1860s it is called the Hong Kong Amateur Theatrical Society.\n\nTHE THEATRE ROYAL\n\nAmateur dramatics took on a new vigour with the organisation or reorganisation of the theatrical group in 1860. Revived interest emphasised the need of a suitable theatre. Until the opening of the Theatre Royal in the City Hall in 1869, various makeshift arrangements had to be made after the Victoria Theatre was closed in the 1850s.\n\nIn 1861, the China Mail looked toward the future:\n\nWe hope the time is not distant when a neat permanent building constructed on the best known principles of acoustics will take the place of the temporary mat sheds, which need so much exertion on the performers' part, and indulgence on that of the audience. The acoustics are bad. Now that the capability of having these entertainments annually is beginning to be procured, it would be well to take measures soon, to", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209602, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1982", "page_number": 259, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "237\n\nAnd then a good old China Hand you'll Be.\n\nSuch references brought drama down to the daily life of the theatre goer in Hong Kong.\n\nHOME GROWN PLAYWRIGHTS\n\nThe Hong Kong Daily Press in 1894 published a play by Henry E. Pollick entitled \"Soso: A Drama of the Day\". It does not seem to have been staged in Hong Kong.\n\n\"The Cook: an Idyll of the Peak\" was produced at the Theatre Royal in 1912. It was written by R.M. Crosse, of the Royal Artillery. The plot revolved around a search for a cook when a mess of the 445th Regiment, comfortably stationed at the Peak, had to replace their competent cook who had disappeared a few days before the expected arrival of the Brigadier General.\n\nTwo years later Mr. Crosse wrote another more ambitious piece which he characterized as \"a musical stunt in two acts\" entitled \"The Idol's Eye\". The first act was set in England at a garden party. The second act's setting was the How Kwik monastery in the Province of Kwangtung. One of the principal characters Lai On is the \"boy\" of an official in the Chinese Maritime Customs. He penetrated into the monastery to secure the Idol's jade eye by the pretext of becoming a novice. In case any should have been put off from attending by the problem of the language a Chinese character might use, they were informed that “Lai On speaks both grammatical and ‘Pidgen' English during the piece. Grammatical English is used where Lai On would naturally talk and think in Chinese. 'Pidgen' is reserved for his conversation with foreigners\". The How Kwik monastery scene enabled Mr. Crosse to introduce Chinese religious ceremonies and temple music into the play.\n\nAt the time, the public was being captivated by musicals with an Oriental setting, and Mr. Crosse, who was soon to return to England, hoped to have his work produced there. I do not know if he was successful.\n\n† Pollick may not have been a resident of Hong Kong.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209992, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1983", "page_number": 251, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "229\n\np. 60. Day, Peasant Cults, pp. 107-108.\n\np. 60. Burgess, J. S., The Guilds of Peking, New York, 1928, p. 179.\n\np. 69. A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, Hong Kong, 1960, p. 138.\n\np. 69, Maugham, W. Somerset, On a Chinese Screen, London, 1922, p. 138.\n\np. 70. Broomhall, Marshall (ed.), Martyred Missionaries of the China Inland Mission, with a Record of the Perils and Sufferings of Some Who Escaped, London, 1901, p. 8.\n\np. 74. Burkhardt, V. R., Chinese Creeds and Customs, Hong Kong, 1953-58, Vol I, p. 106.\n\np. 81. Ball, Things, p. 75.\n\np. 86. Ibid. p. 668.\n\np. 90. Williams, S. Wells, Middle Kingdom, Vol I, p. 340.\n\np. 92. Ibid.\n\np. 93. Doré, Researches, Vol V, p. 533.\n\np. 94. Ibid, p. 535.\n\np. 97. Ball, Things, pp. 499-500.\n\np. 101. Barnett, K. M. A., The Peoples of the New Territories' in Braga, J. M. (ed.) The Hong Kong Business Symposium, Hong Kong, 1957, p. 265.\n\np. 102. Hashimoto, Mantaro J., The Hakka Dialect, London, 1973, pp. 1-2, p. 109. Obraztsov, Sergei, (translated by MacDermott, J. T.) The Chinese Puppet Theatre, London, 1961, pp. 27-28,\n\np. 110. Dolby, William, 'The Origins of Chinese Puppetry'. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1978. Vol XLI. Part 1, pp. 109-110.\n\np. 112. Spencer, Cornelia, Made in China: the Story of China's Expression, London, 1947, p. 122.\n\np. 114. Burkhardt, Creeds and Customs, Vol I, p. 13.\n\np. 114. Clemens, John, Discovering Macau: a Visitor's Guide, Hong Kong, 1972, p. 121.\n\np. 114. Werner, Dictionary, p. 503.\n\np. 117. Lo Hsiang-lin, Hong Kong and its External Communications before 1842: the History of Hong Kong Prior to British Arrival, Hong Kong, 1963, p. 83.\n\np. 118. Peplow and Barker, Around and About, pp. 4-5.\n\np. 122. Ride, Lindsay, \"The Old Protestant Cemetery in Macao', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong, Vol III, 1963, p. 14.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211669, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 84, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "59\n\ndeities are not pestilence deities. The confusion has been compounded by the Fukienese themselves when over the years they unconsciously accepted all deities bearing the honorific Wang Yeh as protectors from epidemics.\n\nNOTES\n\nThe term Wang Yeh is best translated perhaps as 'The Excellencies'. It was a title given to imperial princes or lords, and interestingly it was also a term used by robbers for their brigand chief. See Plates 9-14 for illustrations to this article.\n\n2 There has long been controversy whether the Pestilence Wang Yeh are shen (Supernatural beings, spirits or deities) or kuei (shades of the human dead and pejoratively used for ghosts, spectres and demons). One god carver in Singapore explained that Pestilence Wang Yeh are \"half-deities\", (pan shen) that is half-shen and half-kuei. However, whilst a number of Pestilence Wang Yeh have ferocious faces, the great majority are portrayed as standard deities with no indication of demonic characteristics. An elderly and authoritative Fukienese god carver in Singapore explained in hushed tones that the Pestilence Wang Yeh are neither gods nor demons, are feared but not revered, and not only protect against plague but also cause it. They are, he repeated, semi-deities from the lower echelons of the bureaucracy of the Afterworld who do not like the human world and therefore cause trouble and bring calamity and misfortune. However, if prayed to they are quite prepared to care for devotees who seek protection. For this reason, more often than not the scale of devotion and offerings to the Pestilence Wang Yeh is greater than that provided to more powerful but orthodox gods.\n\nE\n\nDoolittle J. Social Life of the Chinese 2 Vols: New York: (1865).\n\nA god carver in Singapore suggested that Pestilence Wang Yeh have been given surnames so that no particular surname group is left without a specific deity to worship.\n\nThe only time that all images can be guaranteed to be on their altar in their temple is during the temple's annual festival.\n\nThe altar of Chu Wang Yeh in a temple in Lukang, Taiwan was destroyed by a flood some fifteen years ago. Of the three Wang Yeh images in the temple at that time (Chu, Ting and Nieh) only one image, that of Chu, was recovered. Although a new temple has been built for the three but only containing one image, the one of Chu recovered from the flood, devotees have largely stopped away. They seem to have lost confidence in deities who were unable to protect themselves against disaster.\n\n7\n\n**At Cheung Chau Island in Hong Kong in the afternoon of the third day (of the chiao festival of ritual purification held every ten years) a ('paper boat') ritual to chase away the Demon of Pestilence is performed. A Taoist issues orders to a Heavenly Envoy to carry off the boat and puts the Demon of Plague on a boat and leaves it in the outer seas. The Heavenly Envoy, like the King of Ghosts (Yenlo Wang), has a fierce-looking face. It is an image of about one metre high and the boat is a small one of about one and a half metres long. A Taoist lifts the Heavenly Envoy to a stage in the matshed theatre and chants a question-and-answer song which instructs the Heavenly Envoy. Having finished that, the villagers then put the Heavenly Envoy into the boat loaded with offerings. The boat is taken to the sea shore and left on the waters.\" Tanaka Issei: \"The Jiao festival in Hong Kong and the New Territories\", The Turning of the Tide Religion in China Today: Hong Kong Branch, Royal Asiatic Society, and Oxford University Press (Hong Kong); (1989), p. 287.\n\n8 There is a K'ang Yuanshuai, ie Marshal K'ang, on several Taiwanese altars where he", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211770, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 185, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "160\n\nminority in the foreign community.' The effects of this discrepancy on the local dramatic scene will be dealt with later.\n\nBy far the greater part of those who came out to China were active as merchants or mercantile assistants; in general, they were in their late twenties or early thirties, and lived together in the hong of their firm. During business hours they traded in silk, tea, opium, and sundries; leisure was sought mainly in sports: racing, fives, bowling, cricket; by some in the Shanghai Library (established 1849), or the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (founded 1857). All, however, seemed to love the amateur theatricals that were put on several times a year.\n\nII. Theatrical Criticism\n\nIn order to appreciate the information that has come down to us about the theatre in early Shanghai, some attention should first of all be paid to the way in which contemporaries wrote about it. (For reviews see the Calendar of Performances).\n\nThe main, in fact the only, source as regards the early history of the foreign settlement in Shanghai is the “North China Herald”, a weekly that was founded in August 1850. A daily edition, the “North China Daily News” was begun in 1864, but the surviving copies date back only as far as July 1866. Other papers were published in the period under discussion, notably the \"Shanghai Recorder\" (1862-1869), but of these too all trace is lacking, with the exception of one volume (1865) of the \"Shanghai Commercial Record”, the overland edition of the \"Shanghai Recorder\". So we have perforce to rely mainly on the \"North China Herald\"; and, to be sure, a worse source can be imagined. In its pages at the least we find the facts about which plays were performed and what kind of musical entertainment was enjoyed. That is, until about the beginning of 1866, for after that date there is a noticeable decrease in theatrical notes. Then one has to resort to the Daily News.\n\nAll articles, which could be as long as a column, were anonymous, or, in a few cases, signed with an initial or a pseudonym. Not that it matters very much, for generally speaking the critic, if we may call him so, went to considerable lengths to avoid any harsh treatment of the amateurs on the stage. Apparently it was not deemed proper to pull the rug from under a handful of well-meaning gentlemen who devoted their", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211778, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 193, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "168\n\nso called Christy's Minstrels --- a famous group in the United States, yet it may be doubted severely whether it was the same one that visited Shanghai.\n\nEight years later, the first company to come down to Shanghai from Hong Kong, where they had also been playing, was the one led by a Mr. C.R. Faylor. On February 10 1864 Lytton's The Lady of Lyons was on the bill as the opening piece, but the Herald thought it a failure in consequence of \"that portion of the company which had been collected in Shanghai and pressed into service\". How this is to be understood is not quite clear. Did Faylor's company consist of only a few actors, who were to be supplemented by local worthies? But then, who else could they be but amateurs, the darlings of the foreign community? However this may be, on May 9 at an evening in which also the \"Royal Shanghai Ballet d'Action\" [so far for fancy names!] participated, the \"celebrated comedy Nature and Philosophy or Eighteen Years Labour Lost” was given. As members of the company were mentioned Mr. and Mrs. C.R. Faylor, Mr. and Mrs. E. Yeamans and Major Pegus. Amateurs almost always adopted stage names in order to hide their real identity, but with professional actors it may be assumed these names were real.\n\n45\n\nA more substantial contribution to the amusement of the Shanghai public was made by Lewis' Dramatic Company. It was of Australian origin and the \"musical director and manager\" was Charles Edouin. Other members of the group were Tilly Earl, Mrs. Gill, Lizzie Naylor, Jenny Nye, T. Andrews, Henry Birch, J.B. Creswick, W.B. Gill and nearly the whole Edouin (or, rather, Bryer) family: Julia, Rose, John and Willie. Rose (1844-1925) married G.B. Lewis and became later an actress at, among others, the Maidan Theatre in Calcutta. Her brother Willie (1846-1908; his real name was John Edward Bryer) first appeared in public when he was six; after the tour to Australia, India, China and Japan he played in Melbourne, California, New York and London.46 In 1862 the \"Lewis' Equestrian Australian Troupe\" had visited the port with \"six of the best horses ever landed in China**,** but in 1864 the company had turned to drama and from October 6 until their departure in December an eight week season provided an unprecedented shower of farces, burlesques and even some quality pieces like Sheridan's The Rivals and the prison scene from Shakespeare's King John (Act IV, sc. 1), in which the role of prince Arthur was played by an actress, Julia Edouin, who took \"the house by storm\".48 The success of the company was apparently so great that they returned in March of the following\n\n47", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211787, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 202, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "177\n\n'Tis not in mortals to command success\n\n89\n\nAnd that the actors had in general nothing to fear from the public has already been shown and is testified once more by a contemporary: \"The scenery was rude, the action imperfect, but a good-natured audience showed that charity which covers a multitude of sins and seldom failed to enjoy themselves\".\n\nV. The Theatres\n\n90\n\nThe localities in which all performances took place were adorned with high-sounding names like the Theatre Royal, the New Theatre Royal, the Olympic Theatre or the Lyceum Theatre. And though it is evident that in this way it was hoped to conjure up visions of their namesakes in the British capital, realities were quite different. It was only in 1867 that a theatre worthy of the name was opened in Shanghai; it was called the Lyceum Theatre, like its predecessor. But that was, as all the ones that went before, a mere refitted and redecorated warehouse, or, to use the local term, godown. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to trace the vicissitudes of these \"Thespian Temples\".\n\nAs was the case with the theatrical companies that were formed anew every season, the \"pretty little theatres\" too had to be rented each year. This did not mean, however, that the buildings changed all the time; on more than one occasion the same godown was used for several seasons. Yet it is difficult to get a clear picture because the information given in the local paper is often very scanty with respect to addresses; in fact, in only one instance has a road been named, so one has to rely on other sources in order to establish the location of the theatres.\n\nA.\n\nSeasons 1850-1851 and 1851-1852: The Theatre Royal or New Theatre Royal (both names were used). No address can be fixed. For the opening performance of the season 1851-1852, on January 26, 1852, the theatre had been \"tastefully refitted and decorated; a very pretty drop scene of the Port of Leghorn added\". The painters were active this season, for on the evening of March 24 \"a new drop scene of the Bay of Naples adorned the proscenium\". The previous one had been \"transferred to decorate the walls of the theatre\". Furthermore, it was contemplated to \"paint a series of Italian scenery and in due time the whole theatre will...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211788, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 203, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "178\n\nbe embellished by a variety of cosmoramic views which will add much to its beauty\" 92\n\nThis process was continued and another new drop scene, “A View of Palermo\" was unveiled on May 6, 1852.93 Thus everything was done to turn the godown into something that resembled a theatre.\n\nB.\n\nOf course it would be more or less a waste if everything had to be demolished because the lease of the building could not be extended. Yet that was possibly the case, for during the season 1852-1853, after many doubts whether any theatricals would be given at all, the Imperial Theatre became the scene; it can only be guessed if this was the same as the Theatre Royal.\n\nC.\n\n94\n\nFor subsequent years we are on somewhat firmer ground.* The seasons 1853-1854, 1856-1857 and 1857-1858 came off in the same building, viz. a godown in the Commercial House or Commercial Hotel compound that was situated at the northwestern corner of Park Lane (Nanking Road), and Church Street (Kiangsi Road) (the names of the roads were, in 1864-1865, changed from the old \"homelike\" ones; Park Lane, Church Street, Mission Road, etc. into ones more in tune with local conditions: Nanking Road, Kiangsi Road, Foochow Road, etc.).† Despite the fact that the theatre was housed in one and the same building throughout this period it bore several different names. It was called the Tae Ming Theatre (i.e. Great and Bright Theatre) 1853-1854; once the name Old Theatre was attached to it (1856), then it was called the Theatre Royal (1857-1858). There was some political irony involved when the Herald announced that on March 8, 1854 the Tae Ming Theatre had opened \"under a concession from and immediate patronage of the Tae-ping-wong\" (the leader of the Taiping movement). Because of the change of regime in the native city the name \"Imperial\" Theatre was mockingly considered a little inappropriate.\n\nOriginally the stage was rather small, but later it was \"extended in the rear and the wings thrown back, giving a larger area for action\".95\n\n* See Map at Appendix III.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211789, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 204, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "179\n\nAs was common, it was occasionally furbished up, not always to the taste of the critic who at one time in 1857 feared the decorations \"threatened to overwhelm me with a fall of flowers and garlands from the roof\". This was not at all what a member of the amateur company wanted to hear and he acidly reacted that \"as your 'witty (?) contributor' complained of being so uncomfortable amongst the roses which surrounded him, it has been proposed and seconded by one of the ladies he admires so much |Mrs. Nesbit, cf. Calendar, 26.3.1857 — JHJ to put in a few thistles for his especial benefit, should he ever honour our private theatricals with his presence”. \n\nThe theatre was also used for a number of recitals, the acoustics reportedly being good.\n\nD.\n\nFor some reason or other (had the Commercial House temporarily closed down? cf note 94) the godown theatre could not be put at the disposal of the amateurs during the 1855-1856 season so they had to look elsewhere. They were saved by the firm of Cramptons, Hanbury & Co who agreed to lease one of their godowns to the A.D.C. It was very probably situated on Church Street (Kiangsi Road) and for the opening night on January 23 1856 a drop scene of the Lake of Geneva had been painted which aroused \"a general murmur of admiration and applause\".\n\nWith the sale by public auction of the Commercial Hotel (cf note 94) in November 1858 the fate of the Theatre Royal was also sealed, and not only of the theatre itself but of the scenery and properties too, for a reporter of the Herald saw a few days after the sale \"the mangled remains of Palaces and Cottages, of Bombastes' Wood [from Bombastes Furioso — JHJ] and Captain Copp's tavern [from Charles II — JHJ] lying in sad ruins in the open air\".\n\nE.\n\nSic transit gloria mundi, but, not deterred, the Thespian society managed to obtain a new building which was proudly called The New Theatre Royal. Once again we are at a loss where to find it, no information whatsoever appearing in the Herald. It was larger than the previous house, which was deemed all right for theatricals but much less so for solo", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211790, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 205, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "180\n\nTOT\n\nconcerts. For the performance on the first night, February 16 1859, the artists had prepared a drop scene representing \"a most romantic spot on the banks of the Lago Maggiore\". Italy obviously continued to stimulate the imagination.\n\nF.\n\nBut whatever its qualities a long lifetime was not allotted to this theatre; after the last night in June 1859 it was pulled down, and once more a new shelter for Thalia had to be secured. Where it stood, we have no idea; even a proper name was not given, but on February 15 1860 the opening night of the season took place.\n\nG.\n\nDuring the Taiping ravages of the years 1860-1861, numerous Chinese fled to the Settlement and a huge building speculation developed, everyone trying to get rich by erecting the most flimsy structures for the refugees. Because of this it cannot have been easy for the amateurs to rent a godown to set up a new theatre in 1863. But, as usual, they succeeded in their efforts and another Theatre Royal enriched the streets of Shanghai, though which one it is impossible to say. There is, however, an interesting description of the interior in the Herald of February 14, 1863:\n\n\"The audience part of the house consists of a dress circle and pit, the former enclosed with scarlet decorations, and the latter arranged with rows of good strong forms. The proscenium is plainly ornamented, with two 'guardian angels' on each side, and surrounded by a design having the flags of all nations combined round the British crown with the motto Unitate Fortior' underneath. These we understand were painted by a gallant captain [Hamilton, of one of the military regiments – JH] besides the drop scene, which is exceedingly well done and represents, if we are not mistaken, the Lake of Lucerne embosomed in the mighty Alps. The house was well lit up and the footlights were brilliant”.\n\nH.\n\nThe capacity of the house was given as about two hundred and fifty.\n\nThe following season, 1863-1864, saw, on February 10 1864, the opening", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211803, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 218, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "193\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Prologue, music\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (A)\n\nN: First performance of the season\n\nR: The proscenium had been adorned with \"a very pretty drop scene of the Port of Leghorn\". The report was in general terms only; both pieces were cleverly and effectively sustained”, During the interval “a most effective Irish song was sung and the orchestra under the veteran melodist Sir George Smart gave unqualified satisfaction* (NCH 31.1.1852).\n\n23.2.1852 (Mon)\n\nT. MORTON: “A Roland for an Oliver\" (1819)\n\nT: Farce (2 acts)\n\n\"No!\" by W.H. MURRAY or F. REYNOLDS\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Music\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (A)\n\nN: Second performance of the season\n\nR: Tonight there was a \"numerous attendance of the beau monde, but not so much as on the previous occasion\". A Roland for an Oliver was \"an old established favourite and we need only say that the scenery was admirable, the ladies well dressed, the bride quite lovely and the whole went off amidst enthusiastic cheers and bursts of applause”. The other farce \"No!\" was \"replete with fun and sly sarcasm on unequal matches between lovely young wives and gentlemen rather the worse for wear\". Somewhat contradictorily the critic continued, \"it decidedly exhibited much more spirit than its precursor and was hailed accordingly with more enthusiasm and good will\".\n\nThere was also “a solo on the pianoforte by a young lady, her first appearance, as we believe, on any stage. The rapidity of her fingering, the clearness of her touch and what is so frequently wanting with many performers, her musical emphasis, were striking. We hear that the young lady graduated at the Conservatoire at Paris and her style is characterised by that brilliancy and distinctness so marked in performances at that capital”. No more was heard of this pianist; as to her name and career we are left in the dark. Was she the wife of a local merchant or a touring artist? Or was the \"lady\" in this instance too, a “gentleman\"?? (NCH 28.2.1852).\n\n24.3.1852 (Mon)\n\nG. COLMAN Jr: \"The Review\" (1800)\n\nT: Musical farce (2 acts)\n\nR. AYTON: \"The Rendezvous\" (1818)\n\nT: Operetta (1 act).\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Music\n\nTh: New Theatre Royal (A)\n\nN: Third performance of the season\n\nR: For the occasion a new drop scene, depicting the Bay of Naples, had been painted. Apart from the plays \"a company of excellent jugglers amused the visitors, with a good display of surprising feats of sleight of hand\". Possibly these were Chinese, for in the announcement (NCH 20.3.1852) it was stated that there are several parties endeavouring to obtain Native Conjurers for the next theatrical night\".\n\nOf course the whole “went off with much eclat, the characters were well sustained and admirably dressed, the scenery as usual very good and the music first rate” (NCH 27.3.1852).", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211804, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 219, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "194\n\n6.5.1852 (Thur)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: \"Attic Story\" (1842)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nR.B. PEAKS: \"The Haunted Inn\" (1828)\n\nT: Farce (2 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Music, i.a. selections from Mozart's “Le Nozze di Figaro\" and other operas. Epilogue.\n\nTh: New Theatre Royal (A)\n\nN: Last performance of the season\n\nR: Again there was a new drop scene. \"A View near Palermo, a very pleasing view of an Italian villa with the bay and hills in the background\". The pieces were \"well performed and excited much merriment, especially the mistakes of the Attic Story\" (NCH 8.5.1852).\n\n27.1.1853 (Thur)\n\nD. BOUCICAULT & C. MATHEWS: \"Used Up\" (1846)\n\nT: Comedietta (2 acts)\n\nG.A.A. BECKETT: \"The Turned Head\" (1834)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nTh: Imperial Theatre (B)\n\nN: First performance of the season\n\nR: After not a little uncertainty about the state of affairs respecting the theatre, finally the management for the new season was laid in the hands of Horatio BUSKIN (a compound pseudonym: Horatio, from Hamlet; Buskin, the boot worn by Greek actors) who succeeded \"Doldrum\".\n\nFor a \"very good attendance graced by many of the beau sexe\" the evening \"came off with great éclat\" (NCH 22, 29.1.1853).\n\n23.3.1853 (Wedn)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: \"Betsey Baker\" (1851)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nW. BROUGH: \"Apartments\" (1851)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Prologue; comic songs\n\nTh: Imperial Theatre (B)\n\nR: In the presence of the British Superintendent of Trade and Governor of Hong Kong, Sir George Bonham, Betsey Baker turned out to be \"a most decided and palpable hit, received throughout with shouts of laughter and applause\". Bonham was in Shanghai on his way to Nanking which had been taken by the Taipings on March 19. The Rebellion had a profound effect on the foreign community and although the Taipings enjoyed for some time a lot of sympathy, on this occasion they were satirised in a **most original and witty Prologue**: \"The Manager appeared before the curtain, in a state of intense excitement, informing the audience of mutiny in the corps! Dreadful consequences!! No performance!!! What could be done!? Then arose such a \"Row and Bobbery\" [Bobbery: an Anglo-Indian word meaning 'noise, disturbance' - JH] led by those who were in the secret and poor Horatio BUSKIN could scarcely be heard amidst the crash of broken glass and was almost unable to face the shower of oranges aimed at his devoted head. An amiable conspirator elevating himself on a bench expressed most loudly and eloquently his indignation at this state of affairs; however, after a parley with the Manager, he proposed a compromise, and the curtain was drawn up exposing the corps evidently in a state of 'Rebellion'. Fortunately they would listen to reason and the 'refractory members' agreed to 'go on' for this occasion, and the Manager retired with...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211812, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 227, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "202\n\nByeplay showed that, although his first appearance here, it is by no means his first attempt at acting\". But another anti-French jibe was added when he wrote: \"Mrs. NESBIT and Miss DEXTER play indifferently and we are rather proud of it — for as they only profess to play English female characters it was no wonder that they did not feel at home\". These acid comments drew forth a letter from \"Another Man on the Bund\" in the Herald of May 2 in which a counterweight was offered: \"Are we to take the opinion of this would-be orator in preference to the unanimous opinion of the rest of the community? What meant those thunders of applause repeated again and again in a manner that has never been heard in Shanghai and the repeated calls at the fall of the curtain; are we to believe that a piece that has had an almost unprecedented run in both England and America and in the former country was played by the express command of Her Majesty at her own palace is worthless or so bad because condemned by 'The Man on the Bund?' (...) My own and the general opinion outside is that The Man on the Bund at the time of writing the above was either labouring under a severe attack of bile or intensely disgusted that the acknowledged best performance ever given here should have been given without the assistance of himself or his darling Peter Proteus\". After, at any rate his disappointment about Still Waters, in A Capital Match Mr. BRUSHWOOD restored \"The Man on the Bund\" to his comfort and equanimity, nay more, utterly overturned our critical gravity and made us laugh like the veriest schoolboy at a favourite pantomime\". Mr. Beverly NEWCOME made his debut and he appeared to be quite at home in the naval character and we admired his style almost as much as the widow did. And the widow; none other than Mrs. NESBIT. It was also the occasion on which the critic showed his disapproval of the new interior of the theatre: \"'On entering the Thespian temple, I observed that there had been a change in the decoration of it - I cannot add improvements. The same taste which had furnished me with a posting bill streaked all over with lightning threatened to overwhelm me with a fall of flowers and garlands from the roof and treat me as if I were a prima donna or the boeuf gras of a Parisian festival\". Yet, thinking about Mrs. Nesbit, he continued ironically: \"What will a man not undergo when a woman is on the tapis! So, in imminent danger of being garlanded, like the Ass of Silenus [attendant of Bacchus usually represented as riding on an ass, drunken and crowned with flowers — JH] in a classic fresco, I took my seat and, unfolding my portentous play bill, began to scan it over at my leisure\". (NCH 25.4.1857).\n\n8.10.1857 (Thur)\n\nM. BARNETT: \"The Serious Family\" (1849)\n\nT: Comedy (3 acts)\n\nB.N. WEBSTER: \"The Golden Farmer\" (1832)\n\nT: Domestic drama (2 acts)\n\nJ.S. COYNE: \"Binks the Bagman\" (1843)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: The \"Union Theatrical Company of the U.S.S. San Jacinto\"\n\nTh: On board ship\n\nN: More entertainment had been given by the crew of this ship, but this is the only one which has been recorded.\n\nR: Specially noticed was the prison scene in The Golden Farmer wherein the robber \"takes a tender farewell of his beloved wife and infant daughter Louisa. It brought moisture to the eyes of many\". Could it be of laughter, bearing in mind the ruling travesties? (NCH 10.10.1857). The San Jacinto was a U.S. warsteamer with a crew of 218.\n\n29.12.1857 (Tue)\n\nEntertainment by Mr. George Henri, a conjurer and ventriloquist. Th: Theatre Royal (C)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211815, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 230, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "205\n\nN: First performance of the season\n\nR: Alter the usual doubts about the formation of a theatrical company for the season, two plays were given this evening. The theatre had been redecorated and there was a new drop scene, not quite to the liking of the critic though: \"however picturesque and attractive the drop scene may be it ought not to absorb the attention of the onlookers to the exclusion of other objects quite as attractive and much more interesting\". Considering how much stage furniture was normal at that time, this performance must have been very crowded!\n\nOne of the plays, Done on Both Sides, also came in for some sharp remarks, yet this time there was no public outcry in the Herald. But for the remainder the principal character, Henry Jasper (in A Bachelor of Arts) was most successfully personated by Mr. NEWCOME who greatly excelled his efforts on a former occasion and succeeded in placing himself in the foremost ranks of our genteel comedians. Not less finished and effective was the acting of Mr. PICKWICK, in the character of Mr. Thornton. It would, indeed, be difficult to conceive a more quiet and judicious representation of the intelligent, gentleman-like, elderly merchant and man of the world than this performer succeeded in giving. \"Mr. PICKWICK as one of the new members of the corps, we look upon as a decidedly valuable acquisition\". And of course there was that \"first star of the galaxy\" Mrs. NESBIT as Emma Thornton with her \"astonishing powers of portraying the multifarious and often uncomprehensible traits of character which make up that delightful enigma 'woman'\". In Done on Both Sides \"our old favorite Mr. BRUSHWOOD appeared in the character of Pygmalion Phibbs, a veterinary Surgeon\" (NCH 13.2.1858). For behaviour of some members of the public see Survey.\n\n16.3.1858 (Tue)\n\nJ.H. PAYNE: \"Charles the Second\" (1824)\n\nT: Comedy (2 acts)\n\nH. LILLIE: \"As Like as Two Peas\" (1854)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Music by Messrs Phu & Mor; a selection of overtures and operatic morceaux\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (C)\n\nN: Second performance of the season.\n\nR: Again one of the pieces, As Like as Two Peas, was not quite up to the standards of the reviewer: \"what was successful in creating laughter was due to the acting, certainly not to the play\". Mrs. NESBIT got some competition tonight for an \"actress of much promise made her debut before the Shanghai audience [Miss WALTERS – JHJ]. The lady-like manner and finished toilette of the new candidate created quite a sensation\". Payne's Charles the Second was far more to the taste of Herald: \"On this occasion the corps took a large step backward — not, we would for an instant wish to infer, in point of ability, but merely in point of time. Hitherto their efforts have been enlisted upon contemporaneous subjects upon the manners and custom of the present day (this was not quite true, see e.g. 21.4.1851 and 26.1.1852). Their characters have been taken from the sunny side of Regent Street or the genteel suburbs of Clapham and exhibited on the stage in the costumes to which the genius of living tailors has brought us, and which we, in our foolish vanity, may consider elegant and becoming, but which, it is mortifying to think, will furnish a subject of lively mirth and ridicule to our great-grandchildren. The comedy selected went back to the time of Charles II and was illustrative of the manners of himself and his court. The scenes were laid in Whitehall and Wapping; and the characters were the courtiers of the merry Monarch and the occupants of a hostelry. The mise-en-scene, considering the means the amateurs have at command, was very well arranged and the two royal and noble revellers, together with the attendant Page and Lady Clara, were dressed with great elegance and effect.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211816, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 231, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "206\n\n(...) Our first favourite was Captain Copp. This is a glorious character and was performed faultlessly [by Benjamin BLUSTER-JH]. From the first moment we made his acquaintance until we took a reluctant leave of him, our heart was kept in a continuous glow by his honest face, his blunt, sea-faring manner; his rugged but kindly touches of feeling, harmonically blended together as they were by his ceremonial bursts of good humoured jollity. Every time he broke out with his favourite stave\n\n'In the time of the Dump\n\nWhen Old Admiral Trump'\n\nwe felt a strong inclination to hear more of it and were scarcely pleased with Mary for stopping it so abruptly. (...) Mary's taste in the choice of a lover was unexceptionable - a compliment which cannot be said with truth, of pretty girls generally. The page who was the favoured suitor deserved his good fortune: he played well and sung sweetly. It is some time indeed since we heard on the stage or elsewhere a song given with so much taste and expression (...). No wonder the pretty Mary melted under the influence of the mellow tones of such a music master\". And Mary? She was played of course by Mrs NESBIT who \"as usual placed before us a lively picture of the piquant and coquettish, but withal modest and pretty niece of the host of the 'Grand Admiral'; and she looked so enticing as to make some of those who were present and near us wish that they too were actors provided there was plenty of kissing in the play and such a delightful subject as herself to practice upon”. (NCH 20.3.1858). Again it should be stressed that all female characters were portrayed by men, which, paradoxically, probably allowed the critic to write in such a vein!\n\n5.5.1858 (Wedn)\n\nJ. COURTNEY: \"Time Tries All\" (1848)\n\nT: Drama (2 acts)\n\nJ.S. COYNE: “Urgent Private Affairs\" (1856) T: Farce (1 act)\n\nW.B. RHODES: \"Bombastes Furioso\" (1810) T: Burlesque tragic opera (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Music by the band of H.M.S. Highflyer\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (C)\n\nN: Third and final performance of the season\n\nR: For a house that was \"crowded to the doors\" the curtain rose on a new drop scene **of a light and pretty character\". Once more Mrs. NESBIT could be admired, in Time Tries All, as Laura Leeson and \"too much credit could not be extended on her for the manner in which she brought before us the wilful, pettish but withal warm-hearted woman\". As her husband, Mr. Leeson, \"Mr. ROLLER was most successful; he has made for himself a 'spécialité' in this line of characters which it would be difficult to surpass or to replace. Mr. PICKWICK played the role of Matthew Bates and by **his judicious, quiet acting gained considerable and well-merited applause\". Mr. TINTINNABULUM (who also sung a \"pretty Irish ballad\") as the Hon Mr. Yawn \"was capital and exercised the propensity with which his cognomen so plainly gifts him with such arts as to make many of the audience strenuously follow his example\"; whereas Miss Fact and Mr. Tact found fit representatives in Miss WALTERS and Mr. BRUSWOOD. Some of the actors again appeared in the closing piece; Bombastes Furioso when Mr. Beverley NEWCOME impersonated General Bombastes, “a creditable performance, but the role was evidently not so well suited to the powers of that gentleman as other parts in which we have seen him\". King Artaxominous was taken by Mr. PICKWICK, Furbos by Mr. TINTINNABULUM and Destafina by Mrs. NESBIT. Concluding, the reviewer was \"especially pleased with the scenery of this and other", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211817, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 232, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "207\n\nplays; the wood scene we thought very effective and true to nature\". This is one of the few times that at least some slight attention is paid to the staging of a piece. (NCH 8.5.1858).\n\n28.9.1858 (Tue)\n\nR.B. SHERIDAN: \"The Rivals” (1775)\n\nT: Comedy (prologue, 5 acts, epilogue), and two other, unnamed, light pieces\n\nC: Officers of H.M.S. Retribution\n\nTh: On board ship\n\nR: This must have been a long night for in addition to Sheridan's The Rivals (a full-length five-act comedy in which Mrs. Malaprop was played by \"Mrs. Taylor\") there were two other light pieces of which the titles have not been recorded. Small wonder then that \"our reporter did not wait to see as the hour was late and he had to rise early to see the comet\" — which had first been observed on September 15. (NCH 2.10.1858)\n\n2.10.1858 (Sat) and\n\n6.10.1858 (Wedn)\n\nConcerts by Mr. Martin Simonsen, violin, and some local amateurs.\n\nProgramme:\n\nCharles Auguste DE BERIOT (1802-1870): Seventh air with variations, Martin SIMONSEN: \"Sounds from Home\", Heinrich Wilhelm ERNST (1814-1865): **Andante” (= Elegie?), N. PAGANINI: \"Carnival of Venice\", Some German songs.\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (C)\n\nR: That the scarce recitals by professional musicians did not draw the same public attention as the amateur actors has already been pointed out in the Survey. On October 2 the attendance was not large, but for the sixth \"a considerable improvement\" was observed and it was hoped there would be a full house on the 12th so that the artist would not be left **with cause to regret his visit to this remote place”. The critic, \"'T.\", gave himself an air of the specialist when he wrote that \"though we do not find any attempt at the dignity and breadth of style which are the characteristics of the greatest performers of the age, we are glad to recognise an execution at once brilliant and lively and in some respects really astonishing\"; and he regarded Mr. SIMONSEN as \"a worthy member of that particular school of which De Bériot was one of the brightest ornaments (De Bériot was a famous violinist who had been forced by illness to end his career in 1852). It must be assumed that the writer had heard other musicians in Europe — where else? — with whom he could draw a comparison. These were the days without radio, gramophone or compact disc! He was apparently a lover of more serious music, for he added wrily: \"We presume it is necessary occasionally to introduce pieces of a light and striking character, but for our own part we deprecate the production of such solos as 'Life on the ocean' **. As to those who assisted Mr. SIMONSEN \"T.\" found it **creditable to this small Settlement that it can produce so able and numerous a body of amateurs who evidently study music for its own sake. We venture to ask them to persevere — it is a science which will amply reward its followers, which will repay a thousandfold its earnest students\". (NCH 9.10.1858). In well-to-do circles in Britain a musical education was considered a mark of good breeding and probably a number of residents had acquired their instrumental skill in youth. Others could profit from the piano lessons that were advertised in December 1858: they were given \"at moderate charges\" and persons interested should apply to \"D.D. at Mr. W.H. Moore's, Hongkew\". Why all would-be artists in Shanghai were so mysterious about their true names remains an enigma. The initials D.D. do not suit any of the residents in the *Shanghai Almanac for 1858'. W.H. Moore is listed in it as a pilot.\n\nT", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211818, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 233, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "208\n\n12.10.1858 (Tue)\n\nConcert by Mr. Martin Simonsen\n\nN: No review was published.\n\nMr. Simonsen had also visited Hong Kong; there he had given his last recital on September 20, 1858 (CM 23.9.1858).\n\n16.2.1859 (Wedn)\n\nT: Comedy (2 acts)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: \"Whitebait at Greenwich\" (1853)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Music by the band of H.M.S. Highflyer\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (E)\n\nR: For the first night of the amateur season \"a very numerous audience was collected and the presence of nearly all the beauty and fashion (we allude to the eccentricities [what may these have been? - JH] of masculine as well as to the elegancies of feminine costumes) of Shanghai imparted to the front benches a very brilliant appearance, which was further enlivened by the smiling faces of two or three laughing cherubs whom we detected nestling under the maternal wing\". For the occasion the drop pictured \"a very faithful (our travels in Italy enable us to state) representation of a most romantic spot on the banks of the Lago Maggiore\". Sink or Swim was found to be a \"dull plagiarism upon our old favourite 'Used Up'\" but it passed off with the utmost special due to the talents and exertions of the actors\", among whom \"Mr. PETREL's Mr. Scampley struck us as well conceived, a swindling roué's impertinence dashed by a sense of uneasiness\", Mr. FARREN (again a stage name after a London actor: William Farren, 1786-1861) sustained Lord Yawnley \"admirably\" and Mr. PICKWICK displayed as Adam Stirling all \"the quaint humour of his immortal ancestor\". Miss WALTERS, however, was thought to have been less fit for the part of Mrs. Stirling. She did not upon all occasions evince that grave decorum which usually characterises the British matron\". Morton's Whitebait at Greenwich was, as on January 23, 1856, a hit. This time Mr. PICKWICK took the part of Benjamin Buzzard in a \"quiet and most natural style of acting\". Mr. Phunago BRUSHWOOD - \"an actor of the Keeley-Robinson school, possessing a racy humour of his own\" played John Small and it was \"a gem of low comedy\". Of course there was Mrs. NESBIT, as well as Miss WALTERS whose portrayal of the servant maid came off much better than her Mrs. Stirling: \"we do not wonder at Mr. Buzzard's having been caught by her saucy face and bright complexion\" (NCH 19.2.1859). (Robert Keeley, 1793-1869, and Frederick Robson, 1821-1864, were both well known low comedians in Britain).\n\n22.2.1859 (Tue)\n\nConcert by Prof. Shonbrun, piano, and some local amateurs.\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (E)\n\n+\n\nR: The concert was given in the (New) Theatre Royal of the amateur dramatic corps, but acoustically it was not very satisfactory. No wonder that many of Mr. SHONBRUN's best efforts and most brilliant passages did not fully reach the audience\", an audience which was not very numerous in the first place, which too has its influence on the sound. For the following concert it was foreseen that \"a small scene will be erected and the wings closed in\".\n\nFor the time being the critic refrained from any strictures on the soloist, except that he hoped that \"on the next occasion Mr. Shonbrun will lead us to a higher class of pianoforte music than that put forward on Tuesday last\". It will come as no surprise that there was a eulogy on the amateurs who participated: \"the tenor solos were given with taste and genuine voice and the recall with which he was unanimously favoured was well merited\". (NCH 26.2.1859).\n\nT", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211819, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 234, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "209\n\n1.3.1859 (Mon)\n\nConcert by Prof. Shonbrun, piano, and some local amateurs (i.a. the Germania Singing Club) Programme:\n\nNo piano works were mentioned, with the exception of \"Monastery Bells\".\n\nVocal works: Sir Henry BISHOP: \"The Pilgrim of Love\", Wilhelm SPEYER (1790-1878) a bass aria, G. DONIZETTI: \"The great tenor aria from 'Lucia di Lammermoor\" (presumably \"Tombe degli avi miei – Fra poco a me ricovero\" from act III). Th: (New) Theatre Royal (E)\n\nR Were Shanghailanders music lovers or not? One wonders for again \"we were sorry to find so small an audience assembled on the occasion\", but the wretchedly wet state of the weather had no doubt much to do with this\". As it turned out the efforts of Mr. SHONBRUN were disappointing (at least in the ears of one critic — and how they may differ in opinion everyone knows). In this case the skill and artistic feeling which would be highly respectable in an amateur reflect no especial credit on a professional player and though Mr. SHONBRUN performed several pieces pleasingly we missed that precision, that brilliant crisp fingering and particularly that general careful finish which should characterize the true master of his instrument\". The amateurs were more appreciated and the tenor singer even had to repeat his Lucia aria. For the first time the “Germania Singing Club\" is mentioned, although there must have been earlier performances as the Herald says \"the number of the singers on Tuesday was much smaller than on former occasions\". Obviously it was in a somewhat precarious state for even a conductor was missing and the reviewer was \"constrained to say, without wishing to be too critical on the performers of amateur music, that the Association has not kept up to the standard which it established for itself by former deeds\" (NCH 12.3.1859).\n\n2.6.1859 (Thur)\n\nM. BARNETT: \"The Serious Family\" (1849)\n\nT: Comedy (3 acts)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: \"Grimshaw, Bagshaw and Bradshaw (1851)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nTh: (New) Theatre Royal (E)\n\nR: Very late in the season the last amateur night went off. And although the review was by no means scathing, the editor of the Herald thought it wise to add that \"the heat at the theatre was extremely oppressive and this may have much to do with the lukewarm manner in which our critic speaks of the performances\". The Serious Family was described as \"an admirable satire upon that morbid and mistaken feeling of piety which regards a smile as wantonness, condemns gaiety as sin and backsliding”, nevertheless **as a scenic representation it smacks too much of dullness\". The leading parts were put on the stage by Miss Minnie O'NETTE, who acted Lady Sowerly Creamly \"to the life\"; and Mr. TINTINNABULUM upon whom \"the action of the Comedy seemed chiefly to rest. His stage bearing is admirable and his intonation excellent, but we may perhaps be permitted to take exception to his brogue which, however good as an assumption, scarcely denoted one to the manner born\". Mr. PICKWICK exerted \"to the utmost his undoubted talents for light comedy as Charles Torrens; on the other hand darling Mrs. NESBIT \"scarcely found opportunity in the part of Mrs. Torrens for the display of that vivacity which forms her chief merit\". Mr. BRUSHWOOD (00 lacked something in the role of Aminadab Sleck, viz \"that racy appreciation of his part which usually characterizes him and the hat and garb of the puritan did not sit easily upon that comical little figure which has on previous occasions so often convulsed us with merriment\". In contrast Miss WALTERS “looked and acted extremely well, causing us much regret that a drama more adapted to the exigencies of the Corps did not form the chief attraction of the evening. About the second piece, Grimshaw,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211822, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 237, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "212\n\n26.12.1861 (Thur)\n\nConcert by Signor Robbio, violin, and some local amateurs, Programme:\n\n4\n\nL. VAN BEETHOVEN; Trio for strings in E-flat opus 3, V. BELLINI: “Norma”, the aria 'Casta Diva' arranged for violin, C.A. DE BERIOT: Tremolo\", C. GOUNOD: **Meditation upon J.S. Bach's first prelude\", i.e., the famous Ave Maria, C.M. von WEBER: \"Der Freischütz”, cavatine (presumably \"Und ob die Wolke sie verhülle”, act III), arranged for cello and piano. Sir Henry BISHOP: \"Home sweet home\" (from the opera \"Clari, the maid of Milan'), Sr ROBBIO: \"Grande Valse Diabolique“, In addition: some quartet and solo singing by amateurs.\n\nTh: N.N.\n\nR: Today the second concert by the violinist Signor ROBBIO came off \"for a very large audience\". In November he had made his debut in Shanghai but because of a gap of three November issues in the file of the Herald I have been using no details can be given. Once more, however, the paper seems to have been discontented with the selection of the pieces. Not so tonight, with the exception of one composition by Sr Robbio himself, **a work of the Paganini school” of which the critic was evidently not a lover. About the interpretations by the violinist, though, there was but praise; e.g. \"he greatly charmed his audience by the power and feeling with which he executed the beautiful air from Norma, 'Casta Diva'\". So all was enjoyable, the more so as \"for the moribund piano used at the last concert a fine 'Broadwood' was substituted, which displayed to great advantage the admirable playing of the gentleman to whom St Robbio was so much indebted for his accompaniment\". One letter writer went even so far as to exclaim that such delights in Shanghai are indeed 'like angels' visits few and far between' \"' (NCH 28.12.1861).\n\nFebruary and March 1861\n\nPerformances by \"Lewis' Australian Hippodrome” Loc: Commercial House in Hongkew\n\n-\n\n―\n\nוי\n\nN: During the months of February and March \"Lewis' Equestrian Australian Troupe\" gave a large number of performances, of which the first one was announced for February 15 and the last for March 17. The public was entertained with horses and artists, among whom Mr. and Mrs. COUSINS, Mr. BARLOW, Senior RAPHAEL, Jessi GARDONI, **Austin Shanghai**, and “Little Ella\". For all, benefits were held in March. It was not the first time that the troupe had operated on the China Coast. In December 1859 they had visited Hong Kong (CM 15.12.1859, 22.12.1859).\n\n13.2.1863 (Fri)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: \"Our Wife, or the Rose of Amiens\" (1856)\n\nT: Comic drama (1 act)\n\nH\n\nA. MAYHEW & H. SUTHERLAND EDWARDS: The Goose with the Golden Eggs T: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs (Local and British officers)\n\n13.2.1863 (Fri)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: \"Our Wife, or the Rose of Amiens\" (1856)\n\nT: Comic drama (1 act)\n\nA. MAYHEW & H. SUTHERLAND EDWARDS: \"The Goose with the Golden Eggs' T: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs (Local and British officers)\n\nF: Music by the band of the 67th regiment\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (G)\n\nN: First performance of the season\n\nR: Casts:", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211825, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 240, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "215\n\nProgramme:\n\nC.M. Von WEBER: \"Der Freischütz\", overture; by Messrs Essex and Ewing, piano. Sir Henry BISHOP: \"Foresters sound the cheerful horn“ (glee). Heinrich PROCH (1809-1878): \"Within the grove's deep shadow\", a song by Mr. J.P. Tate, W.A. MOZART: String quartet No 7 by Messrs Tate and Howell (violin). Ewing (viola) and Essex (cello). William HORSLEY (1774-1858); \"By Celia's Arbour\" (glee), F. MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY: \"Andante, presto and allegro vivace\" (from?) by Messrs Essex and Howell. Ibidem: “Andante and finale\" (from?), by Messrs Essex and Howell, Sir Henry BISHOP: \"Sleep gentle lady\" (glee), William Vincent WALLACE (1813-1865); **The Bellringer\", a song by Mr. Essex, F. von FLOTOW: “Allessandro Stradella\", fantasia, by Messrs Essex and Howell, William HORSLEY: \"See the chariot at hand\", song, L. van BEETHOVEN: \"Egmont\", overture, played on two pianos by Messrs Essex and Ewing.\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (G)\n\nR: This was the first occasion on which the names of the amateur musicians who entertained the public were mentioned. Some can be traced in the **Shanghai Almanac for 1862”. others belonged to the military forces. Thus the names have come to us of the following gentlemen: H. Cope and E.C. Essex (both of Geo. Barnett & Co). D.A.C.G. Ewing. F.R. Gantwell (Silk broker), A.A. Hayes Jr (of Olyphant & Co), Howell, Inglis, J.M. Nixon (of Blain, Tate & Co). J. Priestley Tate (of Blain, Tate & Co; Municipal Council member 1861-1862) and J. Wheatly (of Reiss & Co). In general the Herald was very satisfied: \"It was pleasing to see the gentlemen who volunteered to throw aside for the nonce the cares of business and entertain con amore their less gifted fellow residents with a charming chamber concert. Everything was conducted in a quiet gentlemanly manner so that we imagined ourselves in a drawing room more than a theatre. There was no attempt at grandeur of display or extraordinary performance on special instruments which characterize too much the quasi-musical taste of the day where the composition of the author is sacrificed frequently to the execution of the performer and the audience is led to think more of the latter than the former\". These were rather stringent remarks for someone living in an area where very few opportunities arose to compare musical qualities of instrumentalists. Yet the argument of faithfulness to the author's or composer's intentions crops up from time to time and that was obviously regarded as important by the Herald. Unfortunately the acoustics of the theatre were not of the very best so that \"Mr. TATE's delicate tenor voice (in the song by Proch) could not fill the house sufficiently for all to hear the diminuendo passages of his beautiful voice\". (NCH 18.4.1863). The Lancashire Relief Fund had been established in order to help those in Britain who had become a victim of the stoppage of cotton imports from the Southern states of America (due to the Civil War), with the result that numerous labourers in the mills were laid off.\n\n29.4.1863 (Wedn)\n\nPerformances by the amateurs of the Royal Artillery.\n\nNo titles of plays were recorded.\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (G)\n\nR: In consequence of the \"great success\" a \"Second Fashionable Night” would be given on May 4th (NCH 2.5.1863).\n\n4.5.1863 (Thur)\n\nAs on 29.4.1863.\n\n1.8.1863 (Sat)\n\nThe last of a series of performances by Mr. Smythe's company. Soloists: Miss Amelia Bailey (singing) and Martin Simonsen (violin) Th. N.N. (H)\n\nPage 240\n\nPage 241", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211842, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 257, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "232\n\nnot heard before and of which the best that can be said is that they are decidedly original. They seemed an imitation of the noise of braying of donkeys, but still they elicited great applause from the gallery [which was generally not regarded as very complimentary JH] perhaps from a certain feeling of sympathy. An amateur played Weber's \"Aufforderung zum Tanz\" with a \"perfect feeling\". To conclude the evening Mme SIMONSEN sung the \"Valse de concert\" (composer unmentioned) in which \"she displayed her powers more than in any other piece she has sung\" (SCR 22.5.1865).\n\n24.5.1865 (Wedn)\n\nH. MAYHEW: \"The Wandering Minstrel“ (1834)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nJ.P. PLANCHE: \"The Knights of the Round Table” (1854)\n\nT: Drama (5 acts)\n\nC: Amateurs of the Shanghai Mounted Rangers\n\nF: Music by the Band of the 67th Regiment; prologue read by Capt. Markham\n\nTh: Lyceum Theatre (1)\n\n―\n\nR: In lieu of the old time favourites, Messrs Brushwood, Pickwick, Newcome and Mrs. Nesbit had come new faces. Most foreigners had not yet made Shanghai their permanent place of residence, so turnover in the theatre too was rather high. Tonight could be admired Mr. SMALLWEED who, in the Knights of the Round Table, as \"the blameless king shewed a keen appreciation of his part and while he delivered the burlesque passages with much humour, proved by the taste with which he pronounced the prophetic eulogium on the Queen of England that he need not necessarily confine himself to broad burlesque in order to gain well-merited applause\"; Mr. Edmund (also a member of the Amateur Burlesque Company) won golden opinions as Launcelot, whereas Mr. PEEKT as Merlin \"displayed much cleverness in personating feeble old men\". In The Wandering Minstrel \"Mr. R.T. Larff, better known to the theatrical world as Mr. Wynnge (did this mean that he had two stage names? JH) sustained the reputation he has already gained as a low comedian and makes us the less deplore the absence of the well known and inimitable Brushwood” (last recorded performance 10.5.1860). Of course the female roles were taken by men, which led, as it always does, to some ridiculous scenes: \"The company possesses great strength in the important particular of lady performers. The only drawback which, however, is immaterial in burlesque, lies in the great height and muscular development of the fair ones\". Yet Miss Mary MIDDLESEX \"bore away the palm for natural feminine get-up\" and \"nothing could excel the dash which Kate COVENTRY threw into the part of the vivandière\", (NCH 27.5.1865). That not all patrons were equally pleased became evident from the Shanghai Commercial Record (5.6.1865) when it wrote: \"an allusion which was considered too personal led to a corresponding in our columns\" (i.e. the \"Shanghai Recorder\" which to the great regret of all historians treating the history of foreign Shanghai can no longer be found). At the end of the evening a number of toasts were proposed, among others to \"Alabaster, to whose exertions much of the success of the company was due\". This was a reference to Chaloner Alabaster (1831-1890), the British vice-consul who was also active in the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. In conclusion the Herald reported that \"the arrangements were excellent and notwithstanding the warmth of the evening and the crowded state of the theatre, the air within the walls did not become oppressively hot. Punkahs were slung over the front seats and during the temporary pauses kept up a current of air\",\n\n27.5.1865 (Sat)\n\nPerformance by Mr. Benjamin Seare. Programme unknown (reading, etc)\n\nTh: Lyceum Theatre (1)\n\nR: Both the Herald and the Record agreed that Mr. SEARE \"is possessed of great talent\"", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211844, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 259, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "234\n\nin 1846 and kept by the London Missionary Society. (NCH 25.11.1865; SCR 24.11.1865).\n\n14.12.1865 (Thur)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: \"Woodcock's Little Game” (1864)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nJ.P. PLANCHE: \"Faint Heart never won Fair Lady\" (1839)\n\nT: Comedy (1 act)\n\nC. SELBY: \"The Boots at the Swan\" (1842)\n\nT: Comedy (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps\n\nF: Prologue spoken by Edward Lawrance and Mr. Groom\n\nTh: Lyceum Theatre (1)\n\nN: First performance of the season by the S.V.C.\n\nR: Again only stage names were used in the review.\n\nIn Morton's piece, Woodcock's Little Game, Woodcock was played by Mr. DOLEFUL who had \"evidently elaborated the part with great care.\" His only drawback was \"a certain monotony in gesture\". Another central character was Mrs. Colonel Carver, \"inimitably performed by Mrs. St. CHAWLES. The majestic lady's make-up was characteristic and costly and many of her attitudes and tones reminded us of Miss Snowdon [Mary Jane Chippendale, 1837-1888; but she made her debut only in 1863 JH] whose imposing personation of similar female parts has assisted so many Haymarket triumphs\". Exceptionally some slight attention was also paid to the staging when the critic wrote about the second scene that the \"occasional glimpses of the whirling waltzers and partners-seeking promenaders were skilfully managed\". In Faint Heart never won Fair Lady Mr. DOLEFUL again took a leading part, that of Ruy Gomez. However, the Herald was not inclined to accept this gentleman's reading of the character without some exception, as a greater prominence might have been given to the comic element. Lightness, vivacity and élan are indispensable in all characters written, as this one was, for Charles Mathews. However, as he had appeared in a humorous part before, Mr. DOLEFUL was perhaps anxious to show his versatility\". Travesty abounded: \"The most difficult part was essayed by Miss SOFTLY [as Charles, the King of Spain, a role cast for an actress JH]. For a man to play a lady's part is hard, for a lady to play a man's part is not easy, but for a man to play a man's part as a lady would play it is hardest of all. Charles II, the mischievous, frolicsome schoolboy at large, newly awaking to a sense of royal responsibility, has been a favourite part with some of our cleverest and prettiest actresses and Miss SOFTLY held her own when compared with these formidable competitors\"\n\nAbout the Boots at the Swan the reporter confessed that \"we are inclined to think this piece has been acted enough\" (but hardly in Shanghai where it was on the boards for the first time). \"The elaborate mimicry of the inimitable ROBSON made the deaf Boots as popular with the London public as Sam Weller had been before him, but a peculiar talent alone can render Jacob Earwig interesting to an audience ten thousand miles away from the little theatre in Wych Street* (i.e. the Olympic Theatre in London). (Henry Morley wrote about Robson in this part, 1857: \"Mr. Robson, although deaf, is humorously wide awake. He is the Boots who is brisk and alive to all the humour of the street, who would be preternaturally knowing if he could but hear what people say. In word and look and action he is more the gamin than the simpleton. The extravagance of a most laughable farce is heightened by him to the utmost and there is not a long face to be seen while he is busy on the stage\"\n\n***\n\n136)\n\nBut, to continue with the Herald: \"FUNNYDOG, the new low comedian, is a valuable accession to the company. His stable yard dress, wooden attitude and imperturbable face formed a perfect study for Leech and Cruikshank, and the finish with which he played the long, and we confess to us tiresome, drunken scene shows", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211855, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 270, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "# BIBLIOGRAPHY\n\n245\n\n1. Archives:\n\n\"London Missionary Society\": Incoming Letters, Central China.\n\n2. Newspapers and Periodicals:\n\n**Boletim do Governo de Macao**, Macao, 1855-1865.\n\n\"China Mail\", Hong Kong, 1845-1860.\n\n\"North China Herald\", Shanghai, 1850-1867.\n\n\"Puck, or the Shanghai Charivari\", Shanghai, 1871-1873.\n\n*Shanghai Commercial Record*, Shanghai, 1865.\n\n3. Books and Articles:\n\nAdams, W. Davenport: \"A Dictionary of the Drama. A Guide to the Plays, Playwrights, Players and Playhouses of the United Kingdom and America from the earliest times to the present\", Vol. I (A-G) (no more published). Philadelphia, 1904.\n\nAppleton, William W.: \"Madame Vestris and the London Stage\", New York - London, 1974.\n\nBarr, Pat: \"The Deer Cry Pavillion. A Story of Westerners in Japan 1868-1905\", London, 1968.\n\nBlack, J.R.: \"Young Japan. Yokohama and Yedo. A Narrative of the Settlement and the city from the signing of the treaties in 1858 to the close of the year 1879\", Tokyo-London, 1968 (reprint of 1880-1881 edition).\n\nBoase, Frederic: \"Modern English Biography\", London, 1965 (reprint of the 1891-1921 edition).\n\nBooth, Michael (Ed): \"English Plays of the 19th century\", Volumes I and IV, Oxford, 1969-1973.\n\nBritish Museum General Catalogue of Books.\n\nBrown, T. Allston: \"A History of the New York Stage from the first performance in 1732 to 1901, 3 vols.; New York 1964 (reprint of 1903 ed.).\n\nBuckley, C.B.: \"An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore 1819-1867, Singapore, 1902.\n\nCarse, A.: \"The Life of Jullien\", Cambridge, 1951.\n\nChesterfield, Lord: \"Advice to his son on Men & Manners in which the principles of politeness and the art of acquiring a knowledge of the world are laid down in an easy and familiar manner\", Chiswick, 1826.\n\nConolly, L.W. and J.P. Wearing: \"English Drama and Theatre 1800-1900. A Guide to information sources\", Detroit, 1978.\n\nCordier, Henri: \"Bibliotheca Sinica\", second edition; 5 vols.; Paris 1904ff.\n\nDavis, Jim (Ed.): \"Plays of H.J. Byron\", Cambridge, 1984.\n\n'Dictionary of National Biography\".\n\nDyce, C.M.: \"Personal Reminiscences of Thirty Years' Residence in the Model Settlement. Shanghai 1870-1900\", London, 1906.\n\nEngle, Gary D.: \"This Grotesque Essence. Plays from the American Minstrel Stage\". Baton Rouge, 1978.\n\nFétis, F.J.: \"Biographic Universelle de Musiciens\", Paris, 1864; Supplement by Arthur Pougin, 1880.\n\nFitzgerald, Percy: \"Principles of Comedy and Dramatic Effect\", London, 1870.\n\n\"The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians\", London, 1980.\n\nHaan, J.H.: \"Origin and Development of the Political System in the Shanghai International Settlement\" in: \"Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of Royal Asiatic Society\", Vol. 22 (1982), p. 31-64.\n\nHaan, J.H.: \"The Shanghai Library: A history of the first foreign library in Shanghai\" in: \"Journal of the Hong Kong Library Association\", 1987.\n\nHartnoll, Phyllis: \"The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre\", London, 1972.\n\nHoward, Diana: \"London Theatres and Music Halls, 1850-1950\", London, 1970.\n\nPage 270\n\nPage 271", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212123, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 65, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "42\n\ndisasters. the second is for those who died because of plague. The final reason is to thank the benevolent governors Wang Lai-ren and Zhou You-de of the beginning of the Qing dynasty. In my opinion, all these reasons can be integrated into the first one.\n\n(d) Chan Wing-hoi \"The Tangs of Kam Tin and their Jiu festival\", Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 29 (1989) 302-375, a rich and detailed account of the lineage, its temples and villages, and the festival which draws them together.\n\nDr. Faure gradually switched his interest to the Pearl River Delta while Prof. Tanaka, as I was told, is now looking at Sichuan province. Talk on publishing a book on Hong Kong Jiao festivals has been going on for years by members of the \"Research Circle of the Regional Society of Southern China''. In 1990, the editorial board of the society set up a schedule to compile a book focusing on the Jiao festival. It is expected that papers on various aspects will be completed by the end of April 1991. (Correspondence from the society dated 28.12.1990)\n\nSchipper, Kristofer M., \"The Written Memorial in Taoist Ceremonies\" in Wolf, Arthur P. (ed.) Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974), 324,\n\nFor example, according to Chan Wing-hoi, villagers of Shek O celebrated their 16th Jiao in 1986 (Chan, 78). The Dengs in Kam Tin claimed to have celebrated their Jiao since 1684 (Tanaka, 918).\n\nSee for instance Basel Mission Archives, doct. Al-6, No. 51 (1869), and doct. Al-7, No. 51 (1870) and Der Evangelische Heidenbote, July 1867, in which a missionary describes how he was forced to go to the Magistrate to get his support before he could avoid having to pay his share of the Jiao expenses. All these cases are from Hsin An County. The Sha Tin poem will, it is hoped, shortly be published by Dr. P.H. Hase.\n\nThese two series are part of the 15 series of historical documents collected by Dr. D. Faure and others in the New Territories. Copies of the collections are kept in the libraries of CUHK, Hong Kong University, Sha Tin Regional Council Library, and Institute of Oriental Culture, Tokyo University.\n\n31\n\nTanaka Chugoku no Sozoku to Engeki [Lineage and Theatre in China] (Tokyo Univ. Press 1985), 608. Jiao festivals celebrated by the powerful communities in Hong Kong like Kam Tin, Ha Tsuen, Lung Yeuk Tau etc., were all performed by the Zhengyi Taoist group, led first by the late Master Lin Pei and now by Master Chan Kau. Another Zhengyi Taoist group is led by Master Chan Wah. However, many Taoist priests work for both groups. There are also other Taoist groups who performed for the Jiao festivals, like a Cantonese group which performed for Ho Chung and a Heklo group for Cheung Chau. In 1983, four out of five Jiao festivals were performed by monastery Taoists. It is not clear whether it was because of tradition or out of economic reasons. A comparison of the two Taoist groups has yet to be made.\n\n14 Choi Chi-cheung **Sho matsuri no jinmei risuto ni mirareru shinzoku ban'i” [Kinship as seen in the name lists of Jiao festival] Bunka Jinnú Gaku 5 (1988): 131, table L. 35 **Shinshi men\" [Section of Believers] in Fanling Wenxian (Historical Literature of Fanling) vol. 8. This brief account records details of the arrangement of the Jiao area, including the contents of couplets, names of deities invited, location and direction of matshed stages, and the sacrifices prepared etc.. See n. 32 for the depositories of Fanling Wenxian.\n\n36 See (1972) Lin Chuan [Lam Tsuen] Xiang Taiping Qingjiao huiyi jilubu in Dapu [Tai Po] Wenzian [Historical Literature of Tai Po] vol. 1. (see n. 32 for depositories)\n\n37 Tanaka Issei's three books, all published by the Tokyo Univ. Press are: Chugoku Saishi Engeki Kenkyu [Ritual Theatres in China] (1981), Chugoku no Sozoku to Engeki [Lineage and Theatre in China) (1985), and Chugoku Kyoson Saishi Kenkyu: Chihogeki", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213630, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1995", "page_number": 226, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "200\n\n3\n\nand four belong to German prisoners. The remainder are Allied servicemen's graves. The headstones, including those of the Chinese Labour Corps members, are of the usual Portland Stone with the Commonwealth War Grave standard segmental curve on the top (see Plates 1 and 2). This distinguishes them from graves for civilians which are curved but with a piece notched out at each top corner. Stones for Royal Air Force graves are 'winged', with curved tops sweeping upwards slightly at each side.* Few if any of the Chinese who served in Europe in the First World War, one assumes, were Christians. There are no crosses on their gravestones.\n\nOf the two Chinese graves in this cemetery one is unnamed (see Plate I), although there is an army number. This is not unusual. When Chinese labourers were first recruited, pigtails, which could still be found in China at the time, were cut off. Thumbprints were then taken and numbered wristlets were riveted on. The inscription on the first gravestone reads, in Chinese and English, 'Faithful unto death'. The second headstone (see Plate 2) is in memory of Wong Fuk-hing with the proverb, 'A good reputation endures forever.' Wong came from Shan Tung Province, Yeung Sun county. A Chinese person's native place is important enough to be inscribed on his or her headstone. Traditionally, Chinese like to be buried on their native soil.\n\nNot far from Foncquevillers Military Cemetery is an old farm house which, in 1916, stood near the front line of the First Battle of the Somme, the largest land battle Britain has ever fought. Some 57,470 British soldiers were killed on July 1, 1916, the first day of this action. The cellar at the time, linked by a tunnel to the trenches which crisscrossed the area, served as a battlefield operating theatre. On March 19, 1916, two British soldiers were shot at dawn, close by, for desertion. Although my son and I visited this old house owned by Avril Williams, which now serves as a guest house and English tea rooms, she was unfortunately not at home. Her daughter showed us around.\n\nThe chief reason that Avril Williams came here, from England, was so she might visit and tend the graves of those who fought and died: 'So we might continue to live the way we do.' On the headstone of Private George Palmer's grave, who was killed in 1917, a request from his mother is inscribed.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215239, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2001", "page_number": 16, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "Imperial Ideals and Chinese Practical Common Sense in Chan Lau Kit-ching and Peter Cunich (eds.), An Impossible Dream: Hong Kong University from Foundation to Re-establishment, 1910-1950 (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2002). Governor Frederick D. Lugard and the Hong Kong Chinese featured prominently in this article (ahylin@hkucc.hku.hk).\n\nProfessor Norman Miners, was the former Head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong. He is probably best remembered for his seminal work The Government and Politics of Hong Kong, first published in 1975, which ran to five editions.\n\nRobert Nield, F.C.A., F.H.K.S.A., is a certified public accountant and was a former partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers (Hong Kong). He is a Vice-President and the Treasurer of HKBRAS (hiflyer@netvigator.com)\n\nKirsty Norman is an active member of HKBRAS.\n\nKeith Stevens, B.A., served with the British Army and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office until his retirement in 1991. He is an authority on Chinese temples and deities, and Chinese history, and has written prolifically on these subjects. His articles are noted for the splendour of the illustrations (keith.stevens@chgods.freeserve.co.uk).\n\nDr Elizabeth Kenworthy Teather gained her B.A.(Hons) and Ph.D. in the Department of Geography at University College London. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Born in Britain, she spent some years overseas as a teenager (Iraq and Cyprus), emigrated to New Zealand in 1973 and moved to Australia in 1984. She joined the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of New England, NSW, Australia, in 1988. She has a second Honours degree in Theatre Studies completed in 1986, and is also a Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (Singing - Performance). From 1995-1997, 1999-2000 and 2001-2002 she was Scholar in Residence, David C Lam Institute for East-West Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University\n\nDan Waters, M.Phil., Ph.D., is a retired assistant director of education of the Hong Kong Government. He has written prolifically on the culture and history of Hong Kong. He is the immediate past-president of HKBRAS (benefit@netvigator.com).\n\nJenny Welch, M.A., now lives with her husband in Hong Kong having spent a number of years in Singapore, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Australia. Her interests include French culture and language, China and the Chinese, porcelain and history.\n\nxiii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]