STAGE FOLK

Evening Star, Issue 22881, 12 February 1938, Page 5

STAGE FOLK

Fay Compton’s New Zealand Tour. Messrs J. C. Williamson announce the dates for the New Zealand tour of the famous English actress, Fay Compton, who is coming to the Dominion direct from a triumphal season in Melbourne to play a fwo-months’ season* Miss Compton will be at Auckland from! February 5 to 19, her repertoire being Laurence Housman’s ‘ Victoria Regina ’ and Gerald Savory’s sensationally successful comedy, ‘ George and Margaret.’ The Housman play on beloved Queen Victoria will be played throughout the provincial tour, which commences at Hamilton, February 2122; New Plymouth, February 23-24; Hawera, February 25; Wanganui, February 26; Palmerston North, February 28-March 1; Hastings, March 2-3; Masterton, March 4: Wellington, March 5-9; Christchurch,; March 22-31; Timaru, April 1; Dunedin, April 2-9. Melbourne’s reception of the noted English actress has been little short of a revelation* Crowded audiences have nightly, followed her perfect performance in the Housman historical play with rapt attention; and been stirred into transports of delight by her sincere portrayal of England’s beloved Queen. A' company of rare distinction is accompanying Miss Compton to New Zealand. Her colleagues include Bruno Bamabe, Stafford Hilliard, Ann Codrington, Jack M'Naughton, Guy Hast* ings, Michael Wilding, Peter Loma Forbes, Hayley Bell, Leslie Victor, Mary Charles, etc. At the close of her Dominion tour the gracious English actress will be returning to Australia _to enthrall Sydney audiences. She will be seen in New Zealand before the playgoers of the New South capital see her.

Coming Wiiliamson-Tait Attractions. This year will indeed be a busy theatrical dne in New Zealand, for there are several Williamson-Tait celebrities due in the Dominion shortly,commencing with the lovely Fay Compton on February 5. at Auckland. An. Easter attraction will most likely be the entrancing musical play, ‘ Balalaika, ’■ in which Robert Halliday, Marjorie Gordon, and Margaret Adams are the co-stars. Later Messrs J. and N. Tait will present Lawrence Tibbett, America’s idol of stage, screen, and radio. In operatic and concert, work the .tall, handsome baritone is acknowledged by competent critics to be peerless. Another notable celebrity will be Kirsten Flagstad, Norwegian dramatic soprano, who is beautiful to look at, and possesses “ the voice of » century,” as one European critic -wrote of her*

A Successful Comedy. During her New Zealand season Miss Fay Compton and her British company of distinguished people will present ‘ George and Margaret,’ a sophisticated comedy written by a young actor, Gerald Savory, who is the son of Grace Lane, noted English actress. ‘ George and Margaret ’ has been a sensational success and has been secured for American production as well. It has a Noel Cowardish * Hay Fever ’ theme, and is a light and very amusing presentation of odd domestic complications. It allows Miss Compton and her celebrated company ample scop© for the light-hearted revelations of London sophisticates. Incidentally, Miss Compton and the ladies of her company will wear lovely gowns, and the settings -will be ultra-modernistic.

Mervyn Leroy has bought the rights , to * The Sea Wolf ’ for, remake. Production will not start for some, months, and Leroy hopes to borrow Clark Gable to play the Jack London hero. Milton Sills played it in 1930. * * * ♦ » Rosalind Russell’s first starring role will be in * Arsen© Lupin,’ which once served as a vehicle for John and Lionel Barrymore. *■* • • Allan Jones will again be teemed with Jeanette MacDonald in ‘ The Red Mill,* hut she will first make ‘ Girl of the Golden West ’ with Nelson Eddy. ♦#« ' • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has bought ‘Madam© Pompadour,’ the musical comedy in which Evelyn Lay© starred on the London stag© over 12 years ago. It will be a vehicle for either Jeanetto MacDonald or Ilona Massey. • * * * Disney has bought another story for feature filming, it is ‘ Ferdinand, the Bull,’ a fantasy by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson. His other purchase was a story about a deer. * * * * The young screen player Jon Hall is already having a starring vehicle prepared for him by Samuel Goldwyn. It' is entitled ‘ Cardigan,’ taken from on© of Robert Chambers’s best selling novels. Jon, who is 24, is one-eighth Tahitian. His real name is CharlesLochner, hut his Tahitian friends and relations called him, “ Terutevaegiai,”meaning “ Young white god from heaven’s highest shelf.” Gold wyn_ expects the public to have the same idea about Jon Hall, though not perhaps in such pretty words.