FOOTLIGHT FLASHES

Evening Star, Issue 20666, 13 December 1930, Page 23

FOOTLIGHT FLASHES

[By LOITERER.]

Galli Curci has put on 201 b in weight and is proud of it. She has arrived in England after an absence of six years, and is glad to be back; she was to sing a song, * L’Etoile_ du Nerd,’ that has not _ been, sung in England since Jenny Lind sang it. Amongst the soloists engaged for tins season by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra are Jascha Heifetz and Efrem Zimbalist. Both arthists are well known in New Zealand. ■ The J. C. Williamson attraction for Auckland at Christmas time will be the musical comedy company with ‘ The New Moon,’ ‘ The Belle of New York,’ and probably ‘ Lilac Time.’ _ Maurice Moscovitch was appearing at the Trcnlont Theatre, Boston, last month.in ‘The Merchant of Venice,’ delighting audiences with his Shylock performance. Wilkie Bard, who was in New Zealand about nine years ago, was at the London Music Hall, Shoreditch, when the mail left.

Phyllis du Barry, last hero in ‘ Rio Rita,’ has gone to Hollywood to try her luck.

Peter Dawson, singer, _ was on the variety hill at the Palladium, London, quite recently- * The New Moon ’ Company, now touring New Zealand, has commenced rehearsals of ‘ The Country Girl,’ so that probably New Zealand 17111 see that revival as well as ‘ Bello of New York.’

Frank Harvey is on his way to Australia under engagement to J. C. Williamson Ltd. According to present arrangements, he will appear in the firm’s production of ‘ On tho Spot,’ the latest and, it is said, the most successful of all the Edgar Wallace plays. It was written after the playwright’s visit to Chicago. Since he went to London, after his lengthy stay in Australia under the J. C. Williamson Lt. management, Frank Harvey has achieved success not only as an actor, but also as a playwright. , At least two of his plays have been staged in London with great success, and are to be filmed. The death is announced at a private hospital in Melbourne of George Brooke, who was associated with Edward Cahill in a musical act for many years, playing concert, and vaudeville engagements. Humphrey Bishop is onco more in New Zealand with his well-known company of entertainers. His company, by the way, has now. been in existence without a break for’ fifteen years. In the cast of _ * Possessions ’ (tho Neil F. Grant marital comedv drama), at Sydney Criterion, are Ethel Morrison (formerly of Wellington) as Mrs Arnott, the hero’s mother, a capital character study; Frank Bradley as Sir William Jesmond, Mary M'Gregor (tho Australian actress, formerly with Leon Gordon and William Faversham) as Monica Jesmond, Campbell Copeland as David Arnott, the hero. Dorothy Brunton, who recently returned to Australia after a lengthy absence in England (where she was playing lead in ‘The White Camellia ’) is slimmer and younger looking than over. She wears a handsome ring, too, but the identity of the lucky man has not’been disclosed, Sho is to spend tho summer in Australia with her mother, and returns to England in February or .March. Shayle Gardner, the Now Zealand actor, is introducing Roy Sheppard, the Australian pianist, to London’s music world by giving the visitor “ at homes,” at which he meets the bestknown people. Mr Sheppard gave his first recital last month, and appealed with the virility of his work.

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

Freddie and Adele Astaire, the dancing brother-and-sistor team, who made such a hit in England in musical comedy, were ■in the cast of Florenz Ziegfeld’s new production, ‘ Smiles.’ Marilyn Miller gained mediocre success in the leading role, but the piece did not please Boston critics at all, except the Astaires. Leon Quarterhiain, the English actor, has .been appearing in the American version of Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night,’ in tho role of Malvolio; Jano Cowl was Viola, a delightful miss; a .fine cast interpreted 'the comedy to the complete satisfaction of critics. Isabel Jeans, the English actress, is another who has gone to the States; she was scheduled to appear on Broadway, New York, last month in ‘ Tho Man in Possession.’ After an absence of three and a-half years tho famous English Humphrey Bishop Musical Comedy Company is returning to New Zealand. This popular company still has a few old favourites, including Mr Walter _ Kingsley, the splendid Loudon baritone), Arthur Hemsley (famous Lancashire comedian), Fred. Webber, Thelma Trott, and Elaine Mayo. Among the newcomers are two Parisienuo dancers —Montiguo and Desiree—as well as Maurice Barling, the well-known London comedian, of whom reports speak very highly. Fred. Kccley (English light comedian and dancer), Denis Sheard (tenor), Sydney Montiguo (new English leading man and dancer), Gwen Weston (dashing soubrette from the Folies Bergere), Alison Dale, Hilda Reaux, Suzanne Vurney (three very graceful dancers), and Margaret Blackburn (a gifted violinist). Mr Humphrey Bishop will, as before, direct the augmented orchestra on the stage, and promises a fast nonstop show of an entirely new type. The orchestra on the stage_ is welded with clever, sensational dancing, operatic excerpts, and spectacular scenes, Florrie Forde is appearing at tho Holborn Empire, where revivals of her old songs, ‘ Bull and Bush,’ ‘ Tipperary,’ etc., have proved popular. Says an exchange: “Miss Fordo has lost none of her skill in ‘ putting over ’ a chorus number, and audiences arc quick to recognise the fact.” An outstanding feature of tho stage to-day is the revival of interest in great plays of the past, apart from Shakespearean drama. Three years ago Ben Jonson’s ‘ Volpono ’ and Gay’s ‘ J'i’e Beggar’s Opera ’ enjoyed revivals in London, the latter also being seen in Australasia. Aloro recently a whole series of restoration comedies have been presented in London and the provinces, including Farquhar’s ‘ The Beaux Stratagem,’ Wycherley’s ‘ Tho Plain Dealer,’ and John Dmlen’s famous play ‘ Marriage .a la Mode,’ a satire which would bo as applicable to-day as it was 250 years go. The public support which has been given this classic revival suffices to show that tho stage is far from dead; indeed, the growth of tho amateur dramatic movement seems to herald the approach of a really great period in British drama. In connection with tho “ war ” at present being waged by tho United States Government against racketeers and gangsters, it is interesting to note , that Edgar Wallace’s play, ‘On tho Spot,’ dealing with the life and death of Pcrenello/ a wealthy Chicago gangster, is receiving a long and successful run at Wyndham’s Theatre, London. Practically the whole of tho action takes place in Perenello’s luxurious Hat, and the acting of Charles Laughton, as tho Italian criminal, doubly facilitated by Edgar Wallace’s skilfullydirected dramatic talents, is described as one of tho most outstanding pieces of work in the year.

Tom Mix lias paid tlio Government more than £34,000 in back taxes, and £2OO on each of three misdemeanour charges of failing to make a proper income tax reutru. Paul lloboson, the talented negro actor, who won fame for his work as “ Othello ” in London early this year, recently gave a variety programme at the Savoy Theatre. The first part oc the entertainment ■consisted of negro melodies, and the fourth, or final section, was an act from Eugene O’Neill’s ‘ The Emperor Jones,’ the story of the first dark-skinned ruler of Haiti, llobeson is described as the quietest of actors, with a voice of remarkable richness and power of expression. Ho is remarkable not only as the first negro to gain his place in Shakespearean drama, bub as an actor whoso dramatic talents and charm of personality stand unsurpassed on the stage to-day. Herr Toller’s now drama, ‘ Fire From the .Boilers,’ produced recently in Berlin, deals with the German Navy mutiny during the war. During the court martial scene one of the sailors is made to exclaim to the judges: “You are our real enemies, not the English.” The play shows up the cruelty of the German naval officers.

Carlton Max, ventriloquist, who has been out of vaudeville for some time, is now managing a picture theatre in Invercargill. ! Athol Tier, _ now in England, ,is shortly returning to Australia to appear in a yevue show. Dr Adrian Boult has resigned his post as director of the City of Birmingham Orchestra to _ become director of music to the British Broadcasting said that neither the quantity nor the character of the radiocast music would be altered. Ho knew, ho said, that the most careful consideration and investigation governed both these points, so that everyone should sometimes get the class of music ho preferred. Ho himself was and was likely to remain a lover of the old masters, but this did not mean that those who wished to hear the modern composers would not have that opportunity. Asked if music was likely to be composed to lit in with the imitations imposed by_ radio, Dr Boult said that composers in Germany were actually doing this now, and that two English composers—Victor HaleyHutchinson _ and Constant Lambert—were exploring the possibilities in this direction. He quite recognised that certain instruments came through best over the radio and that too many instruments were liable to cause" niush.” Future radiocast music by simplifying chords must try to clarify the sounds and reduce the "mush.” One great advantage that a wireless studio orchestra had over the concert hall was that a solo performer could leave his place and go to the right distance from the microphone, where he could play with the orphestra in its right place as a background. Audiences love " unrehearsed incidents ” on the stage. By this is meant incidents or happenings that are not included in the regular performance, and which, in spite of the best stage management, sometimes occur. For example, at the opening performance of ‘The Cingaleo,’ at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, Alban Whitehead, as Harry Vereker, disguised as a rickshaw, runner, turned sharply while wheeling; off with Nanoya, and capsized the rickshaw, spilling Miss Gwyneth Lascelles on to the stage. Miss Lascelles saw the humour of _ the incident, _ and laughed unrestrainedly, tho audience joining in, so than tho show was held up for a while. What tho audience did not know, however, was that Miss Laseelles had sprained her wrist, and that for the rest of the performance she had to endure a good deal of pain.