HENRI MARCELLE

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 275, 15 August 1921, Page 7

HENRI MARCELLE

AND AN EXASPERATED AUDIENCE. The entertainment presented by Henri Marcelle at the Grand Opera House on Saturday night was on the lines of the ordinary vaudeville Shota but tho quality of tho performances given and the extreme brevity of the programme, gave a good-humoured audience some show of reason for exasperation at not getting its money’s worth. Not that there were not talented people among the performers. Mr. Henri Marcelle. who is said to have recently arrived from America, is a slick conjuror on accepted lines, and has one of the most attractive settings for his ant that could be devised. Ho adopted the role of a Chinese magician, and the whole fit-up was sumptuously Oriental in character. He revived the magic bowl, which, like the widow's cruse, seems to contain an Inexhaustible supply of water. He changed the colour of silk handkerchiefs, turned sawdust and rice into milk, tea, and sugar, and then when about to drink the content found it to be confetti. He also showed three trays of a trunk filled with clothes and apparently containing nothing else, but when they were put together and enclosed in tho trunk properly, a revolver report found a smiling lady snuggled in the box. Mr. Marcello also figured ns ono of the Maclarens, who do some lightning' sketches in coloured chnlks rather well. A nocturne by tho male performer was especially well done. The la.dy specialised In patch-work pictures (pinning material in various shapes within a frame), with Indifferent results.. William M’Dougall, in the garb of old Gaul, piped until something gave out in tho instrument, whilst a chubby little loss executed a. fling. On M'Dougall's roturn to the stage he played the mandolin no long that tho patrons of thor gallery became restive. Robert Marshall, a very clever contortionist, did some hair-raising body-twists quietly < and without show. Mr. Marshall appeared in Red Indian dress as “Chief Spotted Horae.” and gave a brief exhibition of lariat-throwing at a distance of about four or five yards, and also danced an Indian measure. Miss Margaret Olarence sang “That Dear Irish Mother of Mine” and “The Rosary of Love.” George E. Barnes, an alleged comedian, sang a comic song, the leading motive of which ran “I’m Not Satisfied and Your’ro Not Satifiled,” anticipating rather miraculously the impression ho was crca.ting, for on his attempting tt third r.ong—following ono in Questionable taste—he was counted out by the gallery, and, like a wise me.n, “took the count.” The display of conjuring by Marcello concluded at 9/0 n.m., when, to the surprise of many and the indignation of some, the orchestra played “The King.” Outside the theatre quite a number of galleryites assembled, protesting that the show was a “sell.” and for half n.n hour or so wafted to expreen their feelings personally to tho management.