LONG TACK SAM

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 128, 1 June 1936, Page 4

LONG TACK SAM

A BRIGHT AND CLEVER SHOW

There was not a dull moment in the j bright and clever entertainment at the Opera House on Saturday provided by Long Tack Sam.' It was twelve years j ago, he assured the audience, since he was in Wellington, and he was glad to return. His pleasure was shared by the audience, which let him know how highly it thought of himself, his company, and his show as a whole. The | curtain went up with a bang—for two; bass drums were not in the orchestra for nothing, and Jandy the clown came on with a bang 'and got to work at once. He showed himself to be a highly accomplished "Auguste" not only in his caperings and grimaccs, but in his extraction of music from sleigh bells, ocarina, bottles, electric light standards, gloves, and other unsuspected instruments. Jandy proved to be a clever musician; no talker but eloquent in saying much and that well by racial expression and the use of arms and legs. Jandy captivated the hearts of the children. He was followed by a clever coupie of tap dancers, Paul and Leon La Salle, who later appeared in graceful and intrepid roller skating acts. These two artists undoubtedly knew their business and fully justified their inclusion in the great star, skating act, in which a lady member of the quartet looped the loop in a hollow cylinder—a hair-raising and intrepid act. that sent a shudder and thrill through the house. Mascotte and, Maurice, a couple of ballroom artiste, gave a fine exhibition of dancing, remarkable for its grace and lightness. Astor gave impersonations of dumpy and temperamental operatic Sopranos, with an inexhaustible fund of broadly humorous patter quite to the liking of the audience. He also sang a duet, talcing soprano and baritone parts with equal facility. Dora Lindsay was the name of a diminutive Scots comedienne, with a song which did not matter very much and patter in between verses which mattered a great deal. She got her talk well over, every word she said was clear-cut, understandable, and unexceptionable, Dora Lindsay was the soul of good clean humour, human touches that were quickly recognised and genuinely funny. She was discovered with evident pleasure as an original knd uncommon little artist. Long Tack Sam and his Chinese entertainers were responsible for the second half :of the programme. He himself was seen and recognised as a first-class conjurer with tricks that were clever and baffling, even if they did include production of bowls of goldfish and glasses of tea from nothing more capacious than embroidered tablecloths. He took a sheet of newspaper, tore it into 32 pieces, folded them together, and in an instant undid them to reproduce the sheet intact. He did other mysterious things with silk handkerchiefs and umbrellas, and a variety of objects, but all of them examples of the expert manipulator who had forgotten to falter or fumble. With the support of a troupe of acrobats and contortionists, cleanlimbed boys and-girls, who seemed to know nothing about fear, Long Tack Sato kept his large audience thrilled to the marrow. Act followed act in such quick succession that the cinema could not have moved faster. The way of the Chinese conjurer or juggler is deliberate; not so with this experienced exponent-of both arts and his clever associates. They went at top speed all the time, and there were moments when it seemed that the heart of the audience as one being stood still. For instance, when a lithe young Chinese a la harlequin took a header through a circle of knife blades with barely'an inch to spare; or again, when a Chinese boy mounted a bamboo pole, just poised, thick end, on the shoulder of a Chinese. The lad not only climbed the pole, but, grasping a. loop near the top o£ it extended himself; at right angles. But there were other acts, too numerous to mention in detail, all going to make up a particularly fine entertainment in which art, courage, and skill all combined to make thoroughly enjoyable. Nee Sa Long, the pretty daughter of Long Tack Sam, stood out in the bill as an accomplished violinist, graceful dancer, and popular singer. . , The stage setting for the Chinese section of the show was gorgeous, con- j sisting almost entirely of embroidered silk hangings brilliant in colour and rich in ornamentation, and all the work of Chinese artists. Long Tack Sam himself has a happy way of his own with his audience, and a keen sense of humour that has made for him many friends the world over. He puts on a splendid show and knows it, and he has, too, the happy faculty of making his audience feel that it is really part of the show. The entertainment will be repeated this and tomorrow evenings, with a matinee on Wednesday.