FOOTLIGHT FLASHES

Evening Star, Issue 20364, 21 December 1929, Page 26

FOOTLIGHT FLASHES

[By LOITERER.]

Anna Pavlova, the famous dancer, is back in London after her Australian four. Owing to the unsatisfactory financial results of her last London season it is not certain whether she will dance there again Miss Lila Boddam (formerly of New Plymouth, a niece of Sir Benjamin Fuller) is a vocal student in London. She has recently done a good deal of broadcasting. Leo Carrillo, the star of “ Lombardi, Ltd.,” which will open in Wellington on January 8, has had a varied career. Civil engineer, artist, newspaper reporter, and cartoonist were the steps by which Carrillo reached the stage. ‘ Lombardi,' Ltd.,' was the first play that made Carrillo a star. Since then he has starred in such productions as ‘ Magnolia,’ ‘ They Knew What They Wanted.’ ‘ Mike Angelo,’ ‘ The Padre.’ ‘ The Toreador,’ and ‘ Beau Brummel.’

Following on his success with ‘ The Lady of the Lamp,’ Mr Reginald Berkeley, the former Aucklander, has again captured the fa#icy of London audiences with ‘Miss Adventure,’ a comedy which verges on farce. , That delightful actress, Miss lienee Kelly, who appeared here in ‘ The Last of Mrs Chcyncy,’ and other comedies a short while ago, lias the leading feminine role. The play has been , given a very cordial reception by the critics, but the majority regret that the story was not set to songs and dances and a “Rolls Royce” chorus. A comedy adapted from the French, under the title of ‘ He’s Mine,’ is to be produced in London shortly. It is notable that Miss Tallulah Bankhead and Miss Isabel Wilford. the young New Zealand actress and daughter of the new High Commissioner for the dominion, are both in the cast. Miss Wilford was Miss Bankhead’s understudy in ‘The Garden of Eden,’ and received her first opportunity when Miss Bankhead became indisposed. The New Zealand girl scored a pronounced success, and she lias been receiving high praise for her work in the new play during its provincial tour.

An extremely unfortunate accident has incapacitated one of the most popular members of the Jim Gerald Revue Company now at Auckland. Olivette is the gifted solo dancer of this company, and it was while rehearsing a difficult dance that she slipped and sustained a broken ankle. This will mean a long sojourn in hospital, and it will be many months before she is able to again take up her theatrical career. This young artiste

Jottings on the people of the Stage and Screen* and on the latest recorded Music.

will indeed be missed from the (Jerald Company, but Miss Joan Graham has stepped into her place and is proving a very capable substitute. Whatever may be the opinion of the new Shaw play, ‘ The Apple Cart ’ — and opinions seem almost as numerous as_ spectators or dramatic critics—nothing in the London theatre is attracting so much attention as the elevation of Shaw to a festival pinnacle at Malvern. Rarely have such honours been paid to a living dramatist. ,The annual Shakespearian festival at Stratford received no more than polite notice from the London newspapers While Shaw was holding forth at Malvern, ‘ Everyman ’ and ‘Dr Fanstns ’ were being revived at the annual Canterbury festival. Neither Marlowe nor Shakespeare has been able to compete with Shaw, either in newspaper space or in attendance.

Miss Leona Hogarth, the American actress who is leading lady in the American Comedy Company which opens at tho Princess Theatre on Boxing Day, is an artist of the highest calibre. She brings with her all the finish and repose of the ultra modern school of netting, coming, as she does, direct from the leading play houses of the United States. There lias been (it is said) no actress in New Zealand of recent years with a more fascinating personality or pleasing stage presence than Miss Hogarth. Miss Hogarth is just as charming off the stage as on. The only Australian member of the company, Miss Lucille Lisle, has already done some cinema work, being leading lady in ‘ Helly. Marmaduke,’ in which Claude _ Dampier appeared. Previous to joining this company she was with Maurice Moscovitch understudying the lead.

\ehudi Menuhin, who recently made his London debut, has been “ v born ” in almost every capital in the world, but really hails from New York of humble parentage. Insisting on learning the fiddle at three, he was given a to yinstrument, which he promptly smashed because it would not emit the sort of sounds he wanted. Then he was presented with 25 dollars by a grandmother to buy a proper one, and from that time there was no going back. At six he played Mendelssohn’s * Violin Concerto ’ with a symphony orchestra in San Francisco, and now, at the age of twelve, he uses either a 00,000 dollar “ Strad ” or analmost equally precious Grancino—both tho gifts of wealthy admirers. Though full of fervour in the presence of a Kreisle.r or Hcifitz, ns a child should be, he meets

them already on an equality. Charlie Chaplin is another good friendd of his, and among the few films he has laughed at two were by_ that embodiment of perennial precocity.

The novel title of a musical play to be presented first in Birmingham and then in London, and in which Annie Croft_ and Vera Pearce arc cast, must be printed to be effective. It is ‘ £Dear Love.'

After having been absent from the variety stage for thirteen years, Phyllis Dare is to return shortly, appearing at the Coliseum, London. Famous as a musical comedy star, Miss Dare made her first appearance in a straight comedy early this year, when she flayed in Frederick Lonsdale’s comedy, ‘Aren’t Wo all?’ “The last time I appeared on a variety stage,” she told an interviewer , “ 1 sang war songs, ‘ Somewhere in France ’ and ‘ I’ve Been Very Busy Knitting.’ ” With the production of ‘ Archie ’ at the New Opera House. Christchurch, last Saturday Fullers’ Musical Comedy Company begins the last week of its season. _ ‘ Archie ’ was to be played for sever, nights, ending with a gala farewell performance to-night. The Opera House will then be closed for three days until Jim Gerald’s Revue Company, from the St. James Theatre, Auckland, takes up the running on Thursday, December 26 (Boxing Day). The musical comedy company, headed by Freddie Forbes, Betty Lambert, Catherine Stewart, and the Big Four, has been playing weekly changes since November 9. No fewer than six musical comedies have been presented in this time, a considerable tribute (says the ‘ Sun ’) to the intensive work of the company and of its producer. Jack Phillips. From Christchurch it goes to Wellington, and the 1 Company, now in Wellington, moves on to Auckland.

In connection with tho presentation of ‘ Lombardi, Ltd.’ in New Zealand, with Leo Carrillo in his original role, it is said that it was only after years of negotiation that J. C. Williamson, Ltd., at last succeeded in interrupting Leo Carrillo’s series of stage triumphs in tho United States, and to-day he is the idol of tho theatregoers of the South Pacific, as he was of tho great audiences of Broadway and the studios of Hollywood. His is an outstanding personality. He is one of the most renowned figures of the New York stage, and he should assuredly set a new standard in character presentation in New Zealand.