DE LUXE THEATRE.

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 92, 20 April 1939, Page 7

DE LUXE THEATRE.

"Lily of Laguna."

"Lily of Laguna," the immortal song written by Leslie Stuart, the musical genius who set the whole world singing, who made several fortunes, yet died poor, has been brought to the screen by World Film Productions, and will be presented at the De Luxe Theatre tomorrow. Played by an imposing cast of well-known players, headed by Nora Swinburne, Richard Ainley, Jenny Laird, Talbot O'Farrell, Desmond Robert, G. H. Mulcaster, Richard Newton, and Edgar Driver, and directed by Oswald Mitchell, World Film Productions claim that "'Lily of Laguna" with its elaborate settings and beautiful musical background, does full justice to the famous song, and has a human story appeal that the public will find irresistible. The song, "Lily of Laguna," was written by Leslie Stuart for the late Eugene Stratton, I the noted coloured coon, in 1899, and was first performed at the Old Oxford Music Hall. It was an instantaneous success, the lazy lilt of the melody suiting the methods of the black-faced | performer to perfection, and the composer's name, already prominent, was made more prominent still. The Stuart-Stratton association was one of the most successful and delightful in the theatre, and of the many famous songs that were written in this association undoubtedly the^ most popular was "Lily of Laguna." At the time the song was written, Leslie Stuart had never been to America, but from his early childhood days he had always been interested in romances of the Southern States. It was not until several years later that he discovered there was in reality a place called Laguna, a small town in North Mexico, where to this day the song is immortalised in the hearts of the people and played regularly at every festival. "The Last Warnin?." a Crime Club thriller, starring Preston Foster and Frank Jenks. will be the associate film.