HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 117, 19 May 1914, Page 3

HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

The change of programme presented last evening at His Majesty's Theatre served to introduce to Wellington Josephine Gassman and her troupe of piccaninnies, who presented an act which was as enjoyable as it was refreshingly new. Each, member of the company is an artist, 'and each bad an ovation. Opening with a song by Miss Gassman, the performance was continued by each member of the company in turn. A young coloured lady, dressed in a man's evening dress, sang sweetly, and this was followed by a dance by another "piccaninny." A boy, perhaps 15 years of age, nexb made his appearance, dressed as % fashionable lady, and his manner of singing, together with his assumed facial expression, soon had the spectators in roars of laughter. The audience called for more, and four members of the company executed some clever and difficult dancing. Still the audience clamoured for more, and it was then that the fifth artist, a child of about four years of age, made an appearance. The little one sang a love song, and the humour of it so appealed to the audience that they loudly applauded, and Miss Gassman acknowledged her thanks. Another turn of an interesting character was that given by Fernandez and May, who managed to extract music from every article on which they put their hands. _ To get grand opera music from one string stretched across a big barrel seems almost an impossibility, but it was successfully accomplished, and an ordinary piece of string stretched across a tin was successfully persuaded to give forth ragtime music. Carlton Max, with the aid of "James," gave a clever display of his ventriloquial powers to tho delight of the audience. Other artists who added to the pleasure of the entertainment included Dennis Carney> a clever humorist, Knowles and Les, and La France, who Appeared in some beautiful poses with coloured effects.