AMUSEMENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 43, 20 February 1926, Page 15

AMUSEMENTS.

STRAND THEATRE. Douglas McLean, the screen comedian, Has an entirely new role In "The sunshine Trail," the premier production that is being offered this week to patrons or the Strand Theatre. • "The Sunshine Trail" is» a Master Picture, and, as such, it is sure to please all. McLean, who first made his name in "The Hottentot," and rollowed up his great Isuccess in ".Going Up," is given; ample opportunities to display his inimitable ability, and he makes the greatest use or his chances. He is aWy supported by Edith Roberts and TuU cast: The story concerns the return from the 'great war or Jimmy ("Soriny") McTavish to his,.ranch, and later to his home town. His adventures are both amusing and thrilling. Jimmy believes in the "Sunshine Trail" motto: "Scatter sunshine on your way;- do something good every day"—and he lives up to it in every way.' In addition there are shown "The Raid," a Richmount comedy, a Strand Magazine, an Urban Chats feature, and "Hands and F.eet,"- a Nature study. A dance interlude is given by Miss Irene Long:, chatapion hornpipe dancer of New Zealand. MAJESTIC THEATRE. "The Price of Matrimony," a gripping screen version or the novel "Bread," by Charles G. Norris, the famous author of "Brass" and other equally well-kno.wn stories, is the chief picture on the present programme at the Majestic Theatre. ".Bread," as' a novel, caused a sensation, and ran into fifty editions. Its astounding popularity lies in the fact that it presentslire as it really is—that it depicts everyday emotions that are experienced by us all. The principal players in the production were all specially chosen Tor their ability to portray dramatic roles. They are Mac Busch, Wanda Hawley, Myrtle Stedman, Pat a'Malley and Hobart Bosworth. The supporting programme includes "Love and Learn," a Telephone Girl comedy, glimpses or the Dunedin Exhibition, a Majestic News, a Pathe Review, -and "Ko Ko, the Barber," another clever "Out of the Inkwell" cartoon. .. The Majestic Ballet present a specially staged scena, introducing: the "Barcarolle" .rrom "Tales, of Hoffman." THEATRE. Delightful- comedy is delicately interwoven into " The Fair Cheat,! , a Burton King production, now being shown at the Princess Theatre.' Dorothy Mackaill, Edmund Breese .and Wiirred Lytell have the leading: roles. The world or foot--1 lights is revealed truthrully ror the first i time in the history of motion pictures. 'Here, are no Broadway roues trying- to I seduce Innocent maidens, or offering pretty girls contracts, with a strong string , ! attached, the prevalent idea of stage life as conceived by the average layman. Here is a gay Broadway, a laughing- Broadway, a charming and/fascinating Broadway, but never a wicked Broadway! Dorothy Mackaiil, the charming English girl who won such an enviable place for herseir on the American screen, essays the role of the daughter or wealth who is forced through circumstances over which she has no con-i trol, to earn her own living. She is young, pretty and talented, and the stage natur-t ally suggests itseir. So to the stage—and Broadway—she- goes, and wins fame and fortune , ,' and the man or her -heart. A second offering- is "Unrestrained Youth," starring Brandon Tynan. HIPPODROME THEATRE. Playing the part of'Lassiter, Tom Mix is attracting big audiences to the Hippodrome Theatre, where , a William Fox screen adaptation .or Zane Grey's famous novel, "Riders of the Purple Sage," is being I shown. In this virile drama of pioneer days Mix portrays the part or a Western hero who, like a devastating angel, swept through the countryside or the early settlement and made his name a terror to right a great ■wrong. He plays it so. convincingly and with • such a wealth ..or dramatic force that the role is destined to stand as, one or His greatest/The closingscene or this throbbing drama or the great Western desert is staged in the mountains, in a. spot of great natural'grandeur. To save a g-irl and her sweetheart from a force of pursuing rustlers, a huge rock is dropped'down a .sheer cliff, crushing to death many or the horsemen. Running through the entire picture is-a powerful, absorbing love story that breathes the ruggedness and the wholesomeness of the great West. One of the biggest surprises is the discovery or the identity or the mysterious i masked rider. Mix is supported by his wonder horse"" Tony, while the heroine is ; Mabel Ballin. Others m the cast are ■ Marlon Nixon, Beatrice Burnham, Wilfred -, Lucas, Warner Oland and Harold Goodwin. The usual gazette, comedy and travelogue are , also shown. ■":_. . /^ EVERYBODY'S;* AND TIVOLI THEATRES.. Betty. Compson and Jack Holt have the .' leading roles in "Eve's Secret," a new ! Paramount production now being shown at both Everybody's and- the Tivoli Theatres. Described as a thrilling romance in a modern Garden of Eden, it tells the story or a beautirul siren and I the men who have learnt from her the truth .about women. Many beautirul setI tings in an old-world town by »the blue (waters or the Mediterranean are depicted. A second production at both- theatres is I "Siege," a Universal-Jewel special attraci tion, in which the leading roles are taken by Virginia Valli and Eugene O'Brien. "Siege" is the dramatic picture or a young girliwire who had a strong desire' for I life, for the pleasures that youth demands, and who was shackled by the conventions '■ or her husband's prim relatives. The film is adapted from the story by Samuel Hopkins Adams. Other attractions are included [on tne programmes. ! RIALTO THEATRE. f "Judgment of the Storm," adapted from .! the story, by Ethel Styles Middleton, a Pittsburg housewife, is the chier feature now being- -shown at the Rlalto Theatre. The story concerns a young man who has not seen his mother ror three years. He thinks that she is wealthy and touring abroad, but discovers suddenly that she owns a gambling den in which the brother or his sweetheart was murdered. Lucille Rlcksrm and Lloyd Hughes have the leading role in the production, which, ror sheer' dramatic intensity, has been compared to "Way- Down East." The second feature is "The Little French Girl," a , Paramount feature in which Alice Joyce, Mary Brian, Esther Ralston, and Neil Hamilton have the leading roles. The story is that of a beautirul little lady rrom Paris, who invades an.English home with the idea or making a match, her mother's indiscretions having made that impossible in her own. country. , "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA." Noted screen •actors, opera singers and i musicians mingled 'in the cast or "The .Phantom er the Opera," Universale spec - I tacular successor to "The Hunchback or i Notre Dame," when the opera "Faust" was , presented , in the replica of the Baris Opera House, built at Universal City for ■ the Gaston Leroux mystery spectacle. This i gorgeous scene, photographed in colour, vis i one of the big "shots" or this outstanding film attraction, which is due ror early 1 I release in Auckland. An audience of two i thousand people sat in the boxes and audi- , I torium to watch the performance on the ' stage. An orchestra or one hundred i pieces, all picked musicians, played under . the leadership of William Tyroler, former ■ conductor or the Metropolitan Opera 1 House in New York. Musicians had to be , I used to give 'the proper tempo to the per- - formance. For the same reason Alexander Bevani, the operatic basso, enacted - "Mephisto" on the stage and acted as ' technical director. The three principal [ stars in. the attraction are Lon Chancy, Mary Phllbin and Norman Kerry. Virginia ■ Pearson was added to the ca&t to play • "Carlotta," the diva appearing as "Mar- ;. euerite" Jn the performance,: and Edward Cecil Alcorn, the famous dancer, enacted ' I the role- oM,a Sorelli, premiere danseuse t; leading a ballet of two hundred dancers : I under the direction of Ernest Belcher ; noted producer or dance spectacles. John l Sainpolts, Grace Marvin, John Miijaun i Bruce Coving-ton, and George B Williams . were other operatic stars added to the cast Tor the reproduction of the opera ■ scenes. The reproduction or the perronnj ance not only times the weird happenings Jn the cellars below the Opera House • where Lon Chancy, starring- as "The I Phantom," holds sway; but also shows . how the sinister figure in the drama rorces the opera management to give the stellar • role to Christine (Mary Phllbin), now lie !j kidnapsi her on the stag-e and sends the , large chandelier suspended in the auditonum crashing down on the heads or the - crowded audience. ■■ -~ ■-.- ■ I AUSTRALIAN LADIES' PIPE BAND. s The Ladies' Pipe Band is to present , another of ■ its open air ■ concerts in J Albert Park to-night, when a fine pro- . I gramme or singing, Highland 'dancing, , J elocution, and other musical items will I j be^rendered. The band will also jplay at . ■ Point Erin Park on. Sunday arternoon, when ', a programme or music willbe given, while ■ ! on- Sunday night the band will grive one or . j its most popular programmes of sacred I music, elocution, and singing in the Albert , Park. This band is becoming- very popular ' with the Auckland people,'for at their last ' concert In Albert Park they had a record i' attendance, and this Sunday may be , their last appearance Tor the Auckland public, "as they intend sailing , for • Great 'Britain towards the end or this month.

. ■ . PAT HANNA'S DIGGERS. Announcement is made or the coming of Pat Hanna's Vice-Regal Diggers, one of the most remarkable record-breaking companies south of the line. They are the company who created a stir in the theatrical world by playing for 488 consecutive nights "in the Cremorne Theatre, Brisbane, which seats 2400 people. This record has never been- approached by any other company, and the fact of their creating such a record leaves no possibility of doubt regarding the calibre or the company. Also their proud record is further enhanced by their being the only company specially engaged- and brought rrom Australia to play a season in the Grand Festival Hall at the Dunedin Exhibition,, and the directors of the Exhibition have arranged Tor a return season in March. " This amply speaks for itseir. This brilliant coterie of performers include.such well-known names as-!G. P. Hanna, Joe: Vallf, Bert Gilbert, Stan Lawson, Brian Lawrence, Jim Foran, Jock Thomson, Chris .Kimer, Frank McDonald, Roy Brinsden,- Wallace Lloyd, Iza Crossley, Jessie Hanna, Vera Carew, Rosette Powell, Thelma Pittard, Wynne Thomson, Kathleen Lawrence, Olive Butler, Gwen Webster, Myra Webster, Vera Rlx. With he Daggers' Superb Ballet and a rull concert orchestra the company is unique in record," and.it is safe to.say no finer combination of artists has ever been brought together in any one costume comedy company. Of this company, with their merry quips, topicalities, song-s, sayIngs, male quartets, sketches, melody moments, domestic .episodes? and interludes, grave and gay, the Sydney "Bulletin" (acknowledged the critic or Australia) says: "The public are hungering for worthily made Australian goods, and in Hanna's Diggers we have a show of which we can safely say, 'They have the goods.' " The season is limited. The box Splans ape now open at Lewis R. Eady and Son, Ltd., with day sales at H.M. Theatre confectionery shop. STAFF SOCIAL. A staff social was tendered by the management or the Anglo-American restaurants, Ltd., to employees and their friends on Thursday evening. The centre or the spacious ~dining rooms was cleared for dancing, while several members or the staff contributed musical items. Dancing competitions were held, a jazz band enlivening the occasion, and altogether a most enjoyable evening resulted. Mr. H E Simmonds, speaking- on behair, or the directorate, commended the management, Mr. and Mrs. J. Wild, and the whole staff on their efficient service, and announced that a similar social function would be held each year. DIXIELAND CABARET. A rox-trot competition will commence this evening at the Cabaret Point Chevalier. On March" 1, : there wili be held, "A Night In Honolulu," when a special troupe or-Tiawaiian dancers will g-ive items. Dancing will contmue until 2 a.m.