As a playgoer always on the search for fine acting,
may I say how pleased I was to read your dramatic critic's vindication of the art ? Younger critics are in danger of forgetting what
great acting is, for the simple reason that they have never seen any. -I should have been glad if Mr. Richard Jennings had given his explanation of the almost complete collapse of acting in the heroic or " grand " style. May I give him mine ? This collapse is due, partly, at any rate, to the deaden- ing effect of the long-run system. A successful actor or actress plays the same part over and over again, until all elasticity or freshness vanishes from the player's style. Which of our living actresses, for example, can claim anything like the professional experience of an Edmund Kean or an Eleanora Duse ?—Rov RIDGE, 24 Harcourt Terrace, London, S.W. 10.
BETTING AND HOSPITALS.
I have just opened my morning's mail. It contains two appeals, one from the Imperial League of Opera, inviting me to take tickets for a " mutual subscription fund," otherwise a sweepstake, for the Derby, the other pleading for support for the voluntary hospitals by entering for a gigantic Derby Contest," with a chance of making " a fortune in Derby Prite Money," and signed by the following gentlemen :—Lord Luke of Pavenham, The Duke of Atholl, The Marquess Of Northampton, .Viscount Knutsford,. Lord Mildinay of Flete, Lord Ebbisham, Sir Gerald du Maurier, Mr. George Roberts, and Colonel H. A. Werner. The law acknowledges that betting is an evil ; 'it still fines boys for playing shove-half- penny at street corners ; the religious organizations of the country are at one in this, if in nothing else, that betting is a curse among our poorer classes. Yet here we have it treated as the ally of art and religion, as the senior member in partnership, for only from twenty per cent. to twenty-five per cent. goes to art and religion, while the remaining eighty per cent. or seventy-five per cent. as the case may be, goes as betting prizes. Memories of Vienna in 1926, with Grand Opera subsidized by the State, and municipal hospitals organized on the latest hygienic lines, return to the mind, and make one speculate as to the advantages of members of smaller and poorer countries.—N. K. WELLS, Oxford.
HOSPITAL SUNDAY, JUNE 1ST.
For several years past so prevalent amongst all classes has become the week-end exodus from London that the number of those attending places of worship, within the Metropolitan area has continuously fallen, despite a large increase in the number of churches. This has brought it about that those who, happy in their fortune, are able to leave London, do so light-heartedly and neglect to send any contribution to the Hospital Sunday Fund Collection, with the-result that each year now sees a diminution in the amount subscribed. Sunday, June 1st, is the date on which the collection is to be made this year. Donors should send their contributions direct to their Ministers, since each Minister must wish his congregation to
make as good a showing as possible, or subscriptions may be sent to the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House, E.C. 4, marked " Hospital Sunday Fund." This year, in order to jog the memories of those who have forgotton to give in London, I hope to have various collecting boxes placed in popular resorts
round London. I should, therefore, be very grateful if any of my readers who are willing to help in placing these boxes would send me their names and addresses.—ROB HOLLAND MARTIN, Vice-President, Metropolitan Hospital Sunday Fund, The Mansion House, E.C. 4.
`THE FRIEND SHIP,' CHARING CROSS PIER, LONDON, W.C. 1.
Those of your readers interested in the promotion of world friendship may be glad to know that the Honourable Company of Friendly Adventurers has been able to arrange to send no fewer than 4,000 young people and their leaders for a fortnight's tour through Belgium and up the Rhine this summer. The Honourable Company of Friendly Adventurers was founded two years ago with the object of making a tour abroad and actual personal contact with the youth of other countries not only a desirable, but a practical part of every child's education. The route of the tours is by way of Ostend, Bruges, Aix-la-Chapelle, Coblenz, St. Goer, Trier, Luxem- bourg, and back to Ostend, and a stay of three or four days will be made at each of three famous castles generously placed at the disposal of the organizers by the German authorities. The total inclusive cost will be only £5 per head. The Central School Authorities, quick to realize the potentialities of the scheme, have agreed to count the tours as school work, and to allow the pupils to travel in school time. Plans are now being completed for reciprocal hospitality iri this country, and we hope shortly to be able to entertain children from abroad here. The Headquarters of the Honourable Company of Friendly Adventurers is 'The Friend Ship', the old fruit clipper moored at Charing Cross Pier, and the organization, the membership of which costs only Is. a year (or Is. 6d. with our monthly magazine, The Young Adventurer), is run on nautical lines, which make an unfailing appeal to the young mind. The " crew " throughout the world now numbers over 50,000. Your readers will perceive that our aims and ideals closely correspond to those of " A.PA."—Rorn ICis.° wrEs, Skipper, The Honourable Company of Friendly Adventurers.
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