RETURN OF THE RAYNER GIRLS

Evening Star, Issue 22367, 17 June 1936, Page 17

RETURN OF THE RAYNER GIRLS

EXPERIENCES ABROAD Those two charming ami novel entertainers, Joan am! Betty Rayner. have returned again to New Zealand after four and a-lialf years of playing at troubadours in many parts of the world, and will appear at the Little Theatre towards the end of this month and again at the beginning of July. At a reception given for them in the Lyceum Club in Wellington the girls said they wore surprised and pleased to find people had not forgotten them. Those four and a-half years had been rich in experience, and having the. caravan gave them new ground on which to meet people—“ just the. right ground for us,” they said. Joan. vivacious and charming, plunged into a delightful account of their travels, as varied as it was interesting. Perhaps few travellers have ever got to the heart of a people and country as these two have. For them doors were thrown open, and hearts were opened, too—hearts that are seldom opened for Hie ordinary traveller. In England, she said, it was difficult to break into one stratum of life if one was of another. But their caravan did away with all that. After their English ' tour they could count all people their friends, from the village undertaker to a marchioness who would have liked to accompany them. Their genius for entertaining with next to no stage effects, their infections gaiety and courage of youth will not easily be forgotten by the people who saw them on their previous visit. Round the world twice is their record to date, by caravan and cargo boat, entertaining, studying costumes, and evolving fresh playettes and quaint sketches in each new country that welcomes them. And now badk to New Zealand again, which is their own land, for they are the daughters of Fred. Raynor, who will he remembered for his brilliant work as a caricature artist.