Films and the Stage

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 284, 26 August 1922, Page 14

Films and the Stage

To bo branded as a slacker and coward and yet to be holder of « the highest military distinction, the Victoria Cross, „is the theme of, “The Man "Who Would Not Tell” (Earle Williams), * • now being screened at Everybody’s Theatre in Wellington. Mr. Williams gives a convincing character study as Hawtrey Burke, a British Secret Service agent in the United States. Miss Grace Darmond, well known for her excellent work in several photo-plays for First National, supports Mr. Williams.

The advent of the Sistine Choii Soloists, which combination was brought about by the recalling of the Sistine Choir to Italy, is regarded as \ the, natural product of a new era.— ‘ the era of the popular high-class music at popular prices to entice and satisfy the. million. The Sydney ‘‘Daily Telegraph’s” musical critic recently wrote: “‘Not one in a thousand cares for any-, thing in music but the simple melody. These are the people that the musicians should reach, because there is no impas- „ sable gulf between the great in music ‘ and the people, seeing that the art has mainly sprung out of folk music.”

It is reported that Madame d’Al- | Varez is coming to New Zealand. “Tall, dark, imperious, you could not mistake Marguerite d’Alverez as being other than a very daughter of Spain,” runs a Sydney description. ’‘The raven blackness of her hair, the red, insolent i mouth, and flashing, white teeth, and, ] above all, the dark eyes, reveal her. j All the moods and all the passions find | an interpreter in this wonderful hu-“ man personality. One can readily understand how she has achieved such fame, how she won the title of the world’s greatest dramatic contralto.”

Constance Talmadge was recently granted an interlocutory decree of divorce from John Pialoglou, tobacco manufacturer, of New York, ou grounds of mental cr<<°'tv. No answer aixii. waa Glaxl bv PialacrlmK.

Lalla Forbes, who is appealing at Fullers’ New Theatre, In Sydney, in the merry revue, "Sunbeams,” is a New Zealand girl, who has been all round the world with her hubby, Richard Norton, doing vaudeville acts. Their most interesting experience happened in India, where they had the privilege of performing in the palaces of th© groat rajahs. Their most treasured possessions are a host of wonderful Indian curios, presented to them on their last Indian tour. Some of these are worth a fabulous amount, and are heavily insured. Mr Norton is a keen student of antiques, and when he is not playing at a theatre he is always to be found hunting np curios in old. curiosity shops.

Apropos of the fiction that a vaudeville actor puts his profession above all things, here is a story:—A very suc- ' cessful dancer, whose partner is also his 'wife, not long ago came to the manager of the theatre in which he was playing and asked if he might substitute himself as a “single” for the rest of the week,, instead of doing the, “double” with his wife. “Why, cer- 1 tainly,” said the manager. “Is your wife ill?” “No,” said the vaudeville headliner, “she has skipped out with another man.” Whereupon the matnnger extended his condolences. "And do you know,” the dancer continued, “this isn’t the first time she has done ft. Three years ago she ran off with a musical director, and last year with a floctor.” “But,” protested the manager “you don’t mean to say that vfu always take her back?” “Take her back ” repeated the actor in surtone. ‘‘Why, sure I take her Jack. Bho’a a K rettt performer 1

Every man who is young enough to remember the delight with which he read Daniel Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe,” which is now 'screening at the Strand Theatre in Wellington, will find the greatest pleasure in the pictured version of the story. The picture describes the life of Robinson from the time he started out as a cabin boy at sea„ to the time when ho was rescued from the island; of his life and adventures there, the arrival of cannibals, the rescue of his man Friday, and his several fights with savages.

Mary Pickford recently saved the life of one of the members of her company, Anna Wilson, who had been antidotes from a first aid kit. The girl would have died in agony had not Mary acted as quickly or as expertly as she did.

“A little Paris is a dangerous thing for some people } for me it is a source of endless tion,” says Mae Murray, who is starring in “Peacock Alley,” at the Strand Theatre in Wellington, “What I 4>aw in Paris,” she says, “filled me with enough inspiration to last for a long time. It must. For one of my rules is ‘Keep away from people.’ Watch them. Be on the edge of the crowd. Study it. Be in it but not of it. I have no patience with players who say we can look within and find in the manifold man or woman within _us all we need for interpretation. Races differ. Nations differ. Individuals differ. They eat differently, walk differently, talk differently. We must know ’now they do these things.”

“The Great Train Robbery” (produced by Edison in 1901 and one of the first specials), is today still being played to big houses.

A SHOW LION AT LARGE

Captain Frank Pearson, the second in command of the Frank Hurley expedition to Papua and the Torres Straits, who now relates the story Of “Pearls and Savages” at the King s Theatre, has led an adventurous career. In 1910 he was managing a famous magician in Melbourne, who was using for one of his big illusions a full-grown lion. During a performance one Saturday afternoon the lion made its ffiacape from the cage and was about to jump over the ‘footlights into the audience, when Pearson jumped to its 'head and drove it off the stage into the street. Consternation! Everybody in the vicinity ran for dear life, including the police. Pearson walked alongside the lion until he came to the Temperance and General Assurance Company’s building at the corner of Little Collins and Swanston Streets. The door happened to be open, and, jumping _to the lion’s head, he forced it into the building, closing the door after it. For two hours he kept it . there, while thousands of people anxiously waited outside until the mounted police'arrived on the scene with, a special cage sent from the zoo, into which the lion,! by Pearson’s gentle persuasion, was induced to enter. Captain Pearson was afterwards attacked by the same lion three times in eight weeks, and bears the marks to this uay. “Exploring is less risky,” he says.

Jackie Coogan giving himself a bath, standing in a washtub and using a mammoth scrubbing brush to dislodge the evidences of terra firms, is one of the side-splitting episodes in “My Boy,” his latest First National attraction. which is coming to the King’s Theatre on Friday next. The picture is full of humorovts situations, with a mixture of pathos which makes it one of the most appealing productions ever glnnod. .

How .things run in circled! First samp “The Sheik.” It was a hit. Then came “The Sheik’s Lover” and “The Sheik’s Wife.” Now comes a delude of “Sheik Comedies.”

“And what do you think of 'primitive lovers’ as real life propositions, /aside from the picture romance?” ' someone asked Connie Talmadge. “The cave men in actual life are few,” the actress said, "and they are not popular. They have no chance with the modern girl.”

Few finer stories of mother-love, it is said, have reached the screen than “Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight?” which is coming to the King s Theatre in Wellington shortly. No subject is more appealing than that of mother-love. It <i£s universal in its appeal, it is all embracing m its power. Cullen Landis plays the leading rolein “My Wandering Boy,” which was suggested by the famous hymn lof the sama name and tells a beautiful story. ,

Commencing at His Majesty’s Thea<tre in Wellington on Monday are Paster and Merle, with diverting comedy acts, and the Three Jacksons, tumblers of an amazing variety and skill.

A story written by a man undergoing a life sentence in prison ought to have possibilities on the screen. _ These possibilities have been duly visualised, and successfully materialised in the strong drama produced by Universal under the. name of “The Man Under Cover,” starring Herbert Rawlinson in the title role. \

Of “Squibs,” the latest British film production, Arthur Weigall, the critic of the “Daily Mail,” says:. “Of all the British I have seen, this is the best. A capital story, clean, laughtermaking, with splendid acting and perfect photography, all these go to make up a successful production, to which I can pay no greater compliment than, to say I wish we had more —and more —like it. It was produced by Mr. George Pearson, and I take off my hat to him.’.’ - Wellington people will have the opportunity or seeing “Squibs” at an early date.

“A Prince of Lovers,” a Gaumont film based on the lite of Lord Byron, was running for an indefinite period in London when tho last mail left. Starting from the day when Bvron "awoke one morning to find himself famous,” the story relates—and graphically enough—many of the outstanding incidents of that brilliant and short career up to the final exile and his tragic death in Greece, the ludicrous' though significant affair with Lady Caroline Lamb, his marriage to Isabella Millbanke and the domestic crises which ensued, and many of the brilliant receptions of the period. Particularly impressive are the scenes of the ball given in Byron’s honour by Mme. de Staci, at which the Prince Regent himself appears.

Jennie Hartley’s season at Fuller’s New Theatre with their New English Musical Revue Company, will be her last in Australia. She is off to America shortly, and it is extremely doubtful whether she will return to Australia. She has big contracts waiting her over the water, and it will be a long-time before she completes thesei. Jennie is sorry to leave Sydney." “I have had a wonderfu 1 time and made a legion of friends,” she said to an interviewer recently.

As refreshing as a trip 'to the open country of the north is James Oliver Curwood’s latest production, ‘ ‘The Flower of the North,” which is now being screened at the Empress Theatre in "Wellington. This is a film of the great outdoors. Stately forest, rushing mountain torrents, and rugged hill country make up the stage on which the human actors play their adventurous parts.

How Jackie feeds the old rheumatic sea captain with a dose of liniment forms one of the many amusing fficidents in “My Boy,” the First National attraction starring little Jackie Coogan, the hero of “Peck’s Bad Boy” and “The Kid,” which will be seen at the King’s Theatre next Friday. “My Boy” is a picture in which humour and pathos have been woven into a tale which alternately brings laughs and tears.

Doddy Hurl and .Tarry Evans, proved successes in revue productions, fre recent announcements of near-future Interest for New Zealand.

“When were you most disgusted with yourself?” “Well. I once sat in the gallery and watched the waiter I had tipped occupy a box.”

The' discomfiture caused by taking clcse-up scenes on a hot day was revealed by Gcrinne Griffith during the production of “The Single Track,” the star feature now screening at Everybody’s in Wellington, w'hen she went to the producer and said: “Feel the back of my head.” Webster Campbell, the producer, put his hand on the spot indicated, and exclaimed: “Why, you are burning up. Don’t you feel well, Miss Griffith?” “Well, I’m not comfortable,” she said. “In taking that last close up you had the arc lights so close to my head that I thought my hair would singe. It was worse than a Turkish bath.” “The Single Track” is a story of adventure and human interest. Among other things, in the early part Miss Griffith poses as Salome, and does the dance of the Seven Veils.

By special request a private view of the official film of the Prince of Wales’s tour through India and Burma was recently given in London for the benefit of Lord Peel, Secretary of State for India, and a number of the chief officials attached to the India. Office. In the time given it was only possible to show about a quarter of the whole film, but a representative selection was made covering the whole giound. The pictures of the Khyber Pass and the Malakand Pass (places which have never before been photographed in. this way). were especially appreciated. This official film was produced by Cinechromo Instruments, Limited, of London, and is now being distributed through the United Kingdom by the Stoll Film Company.

FILM PIRATES

American moving picture interests are making particular efforts in the Far East, and particularly in Japan and China, to put an end to the pirating of films. In recent years many notable scicen successes, it is alleged, have been stolen boldly, and have been exhibited throughout the Far East without authorisation or grants of any sort from concerns in America owning then;.

Those engaged in the effort to check the use of pirated motion pictures say they have encountered a certain measure of success in Japan. As a measure to meet the situation in China, where legal remedies are lacking, notices have been given to operators of motion picture houses that their general supply of pictures will be cut off if it is shown that they have exhibited films that have been stolen.

“The Tiger of San Pedro,” the next of the Sherlock Holmes series, will be screened at the Empress Theatre' in "Wellington. It is another of those fascinating stories from tho works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, with Eille Norwood, the English master of makeup as Sherlock Holmes.

At a recent dinner attended by several leading lights of the screen, speeches were made by the most prominent guests. A star, whose husband addressed the table, was talking to a friend the next day. “My dear,” said the friend, “I’d no idea your husband was such a brilliant after-dinner speaker.” The star eyed her sceptically, and sighed: “You should hear him before breakfast.”

A romance without a villain, a clever story acted by good-looking people, and clothes and settings that are the last word, all are included in “The Beautiful Liar,” Katherine MacDonald’s latest production, which will be the star attraction at the Empress Theatre in "Wellington, commencing on Friday, September 1. The star masquerades as a famous actress, when in reality she is a stenographer. And in substituting one identity for the other, the part presents the star with .many adventures..

The fashion plate of the screen, Gloria Swanson, whilst in Mexico during the screening of her latest Paramount picture, “Her Husband’s Trademark,” had a unique experience. An entire troop of cavalry escorted her to a dance. Feeling a little nervous she asked her leading man, Richaid Wayne, to go with her. As they, went together down the road, the soldiers fell in behind in dress naradn aider.

“How about signing you up for our new big picture, ‘The Taming of the Shrew’?” said the booking agent of the Fakecraft Film Company to the Punkvillp theatre owner.' “Nothing doin’,” responded the latter. . “My audiences don’t like them wild animal picters no more.”

Movie actresses now affect coloured cigarettes to match their frocks.

The Rubaiyat of Omar ’neath the Bough, A jug, a loafing cameraman —and

thou Beside me posing in the movie scene — Ah! Hollywood were Paradise enow I

W. J. Ferguson, a character actor of merit, on the screen with Mae Murray in “Peacock Alley,” has a career of particular interest in view of the. recent San Francisco presentation of John Drinkwater’s play, “Abraham Lincoln.” Ferguson was a_ call-boy at Ford’s Theatre when J. Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln. Ho is a veteran actor on both stage and screen, having played many finely delineated types. Ferguson witnessed with his own eyes the incidents of the scenes which are re-enacted in tho play.

A stirring tale of the mining region of Death Valley , is related in “Where Men Are Men,” to be screened at the Empress Theatre in "Wellington, on Friday next, September 1. This is the type of play in which William Duncan and his co-star, Edith Johnson, excel. The greater part of the production is filmed in the open against beautiful scenic backgrounds. A big fight scene comes at the climax —between William Duncan and Tom Wilson, once sparring partner of Bob Fitzsimmons.

“Not even my own friends are quite so dear to me as D’Artagan.” Thus wrote the immortal author of “Treasure Island” and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” in speaking of the gallant, indomitable, great-hearted soldier of the king whom Douglas Fairbanks .has recrated for the entertainment of the film public. “The Three Musketgers” will be seen at Everybody’s next Friday, September 1.

Rupert Hughes has just renewed, his contract with Goldwyn. ■ A feature of this agreement is that Mr. Hughes will write,- edit . -and direct his own pictures.., . ■.■ Hughes: " is,, how the only author in pictures‘ who is. at the sama time the central figure in all branches i of his nrnrlnn.iinn-

Manager :Well I . Actor: We have an act that is absolutely new to the vaudeville stage. “Impossible!’-’ “Yessir. My wife and I. talk about nothing but the pleasant side of married life, and there isn’t a shimmy wigglp in the act.” “Name your own figure.”

“The Three Musketeers,” adapted from Alexander Dumas’ famous classic story, is to commence _ a season at Everybody’s Theatre in Wellington next Friday September 1. The screen adaptation of this fascinating production is attributed to Mr. Edward Knoblock, one of the most successful of our piesentiday playwrights. He has prepared a vehicle which preserves all or the dramatic qualities of tho book and at the same time gives Douglas Fairbanks in tho role of D’Artagnan the opportunity to do some of the greatest work of his career.