CLEM DAWE REVUE COMPANY

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21323, 16 November 1934, Page 7

CLEM DAWE REVUE COMPANY

CHANGE OF PROGRAMME TO-NIGHT To-night the Clem Dawe Revue Company will enter upon its ninth week in Christchurch with a complete new production entitled "Joy Bells." That the company still continues to attract large and enthusiastic audiences is proof of the general high standard of their many and varied revues, and their programmes have become renowned for life, colour, and humour. It is announced that a welcome will be extended to the Woolston Band next Monday, when the audience at the St. James' Theatre will have the opportunity of hearing the band, which has just returned from Australia, play the test selection. On Saturday there will be a children's matinee, and many presents will be given away.

Chief honours in the company's revues go, of course, to Clem Dawe, a versatile and clever comedian, but he is given excellent support by a number of capable artists. Clem Dawe's jokes are fresh, and v iver too far-fetched, with a basis in everyday experiences that everybody Knows. But his skill consists in far more than the ability to say clever things. Like the lady in the song, "His face is his fortune." His command of facial expression is unusual, and it is invariably well timed. In addition, he is a skilled eccentric dancer.

The ever-popular Cliffe O'Keefe is heard to advantage in many songs exactly suited to his fine bass-baritone voice. Gregory Ivanoff, who shows equal mastery of light and classical music, makes a notable contribution to the evening's entertainment. Eric Edgley, Les White, and Joe Shriner assist Clem Dawe very ably in agreeable foolery. Not a little of the success of the revues can be attributed to the carefulness of the production, which is in the capable hands of Mr Eric Edgley. In this department the company's revues are superior to most that have been seen in Christchurch. The work of the ballet, leadership of Edna Moncrieff, has been of a consistently high standard.