EXHIBITION PERIOD

Evening Star, Issue 23817, 22 February 1941, Page 6

EXHIBITION PERIOD

FINE CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA MAURICE MUSGOVITCH LAUDED HIGH STANDARD OF SILENT PICTURES [By Loiterer.J XXXVII. By far the most important event in the second hall' of 1925, so far as reference to Dunedin's world of entertainment is concerned, was the opening of the Exhibition at Logan Park on November 17. A goo<l deal of. the history of this undertaking was rewritten at the time the Centennial Exhibition opened in Wellington more than 12 months ago, so no more than passing reference will he made to it hero. In any event, it is hardly “ theatre,” although there were many forms of entertainment put on in the hall. Mainly these were of a choral or musical nature, and it is not intended to refer to them specifically. The season opened on November 17 with the Exhibition Choir and Orchestra presenting ‘ The Dream of Gerontius,’ the soloists being Mabclle Esquilant (contralto), Arthur Jordan (tenor), and Harold ToUemache (bass). The orchestra conductor was Gustav Slapoffski, the chorusmaster being W. Paget Gale. There was some very fine work performed by this choir and orchestra during the period of the Exhibition, and at that reference will cease. Perhaps the greatest attraction at the Exhibition was the 93rd Highlanders Band—the band of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders—under the

baton of Mr F. J. Ricketts. Nothing finer in the way of bands has ever been heard in Dunedin, and it captured the public interest and imagination from the moment of its first brief performance behind the old iron railings in the Octagon reserve on the day of its arrival. To many the band was the Exhibition. It certainly played a material part in boosting attendances. APPRECIATION OF AN ACTOR. Carrying audiences before him, Maurice Muscovite!! came here on July 7. 1925, playing first ‘ The Outsider.’ He left behind him an impression of buovancy, breeziness, and originality. Of "Muscovite!! an Australian critic wrote: “ When an actor of such standing in his art ns Mnscovitch comes to this country wo can highly pride ourselves on having boon placed on the level of the groat intellectual centres of the older world.” There you have the man’s value. Certainly his initial appearance as Anton Ragatzy in ‘ The Outsider ’ was a personal triumph. Jean Robertson, as a crippled girl, showed herself as an actress of fire and emotion; she gave a brilliant performance. The company also played 1 The Great Lover ’ and ‘ The Merchant of Venice,’ Mnscovitch leaving behind him the reputation of being the greatest Shylock to appear on the Dunedin stage. ‘ KID BOOTS.’ . The Black Hand Gang was in town from August 17. with Wee Georgie Wood at the head of affairs. This entertaining English comedian was supported by a good company of vaudevillians, including Neil M'Kay, a Russian Scot, who played the pipes, sang, and danced; Eddie Leslie and his Columbia Syncopators; Frank’s ‘Canine Statuary "’; and Jay Whidden, dancing violinist. ‘ Kid Boots ’ on October 10 won high favour, partly because of the humour of George Gee and the graceful and dainty dancing and the pleasant and unaffected singing of Josie Melville. The comedy, though in the nature of a musical extravaganza, had something of a plot to give it strength, while the humour of the golf links was well brought out. ‘ Good Morning, Dearie,’ followed. ' GAPPY RICKS.’ Considerable interest was roused in ‘ Gappy Ricks,’ which was played on October 20. There were several departures from the then well-known Peter B. Kyne story, but dramatist E. M. Rose did not spoil the original in making these departures. ‘ Gappy Ricks ’ can best be described ns “ honest-to-goodness ” fun, and it went over well. Ward Lyons made an ideal Caippy, being short, nuggety, and cocksure, as the part demanded. Herbert Stallard was Mat Peasley, and his rather sturdy style was suited to tho part of a slow-moving and slowibinking sea captain. On December 12 the Diggers Costume Cornedv Company entertained at the Exhibition. There wore women with (lie company now, and the principals included G. P. Hanna, Bert Gilbert, •lock Thompson, Vera Carew, Stan Lawson. Joe Vnlli, Brian Lawrence, Jessie Hanna, Rosetta Powell, and Thelma Pittard. ADVENTURES OF A CIRCUS. On December 21 Wirth’s Circus, hoping to be near the fun, pitched its marquees on vacant sections along Auzac Highway, close to the Exhibition. Came a* south-west wind of no slight force, and the tents were rudely razed. The circus was forced to change its quarters to the Drill Hall. But who was going to visit a circus at one end of flic town when all that mattered was taking plane at another? Wirth's did a ” freeze " that, year, vowed they would never play

Dunedin again, and for a season on two came no nearer than Mosgiel or Port Chalmers. But the management did not overlook plastering the city with hills, hoping that the canny Scots would find Mieir way to the city of the Taieri Plains or the Port of Otago. The only subsequent comment which scorns necessary is that Wirth’s again plays Dunedin. RECORD-BREAK ING SONG. Jim Gerald’s Ilevue Company made its debut at the Princess during 1925. The players included Reg. Hawthorne, Polly M'Laren, Sophie Vivian, Essie Jennings, Lance Vane, and Ernest; Crawford. The feature of the show was the regular singing of ‘Mr Gallagher and Mr Shean ’ with new verses weekly. This song was a real recordbreaker. Jim Gerald and Reg. Hawthorne, who rendered it, had, when they came to Dunedin, sung the song more than 1,000 times, and no fewer than 7,760 verses had been composed. . Fuller performers during the year included Wee Willie Lancet, English “juvenile” comedian; Bradley’s Monkey Hippodrome; Lesley Elliot, in “fun at the piano”; John Moore, Scottish baritone and character comedian; Enid Parker and her violin; Barclay, magician and bullet-catcher j Alice Hollander and Arthur Standford, Australian contralto and English pianist; Amy Rochelle, “ queen Australian song and pantomime”; Max Sandrisi and Rita Copelli,; specialty dancers: Harry Taft, English' comedian and siffleur; Anita Shawe, comedienne; Cardini, card manipulator; Kentucky Four, vocal quartet;. Videau, and Kirhy, English burlesque stars. A long-running entertainment was offered by “ The Veterans of Variety,” including Jake Friedman, Arthur Slater, Idly Burnand, George Campbell, and Florence Hinton. As stars of the English variety stage of 30 years previously they were seen in‘ original interpretations of vaudeville of the ’9o’s. Besides Jim Gerald’s company, other revue players were F. Gale Wyer’s Band Box Revue Company, Moon and Morris’s Revue Company, and Phil Smith’s Comedy Company, which had Nat Hanley as stooge to Phil Smith. OUTSTANDING PICTURES. Silent pictures were almost at their highest level in 1925, and there were some very fine films screened in Dunedin that year. Many of the productions were considered of sufficient importance to warrant their being shown simultaneously at the Octagon and Empire Theatres, while frequently later screenings followed at some other theatre. Heading the list of superfilms was ‘ The Ten Commandments,* a combined Biblical and modern story, in which there was no lack of spectacle, such a feat as the dividing of the Red Sea being a sensational hignlight. Richard Dix, Estelle Taylor, Theodore Roberts, Beatrice Joy, and Rod La Rocque were among the stars. Other great pictures included Sabatini’s ‘The Sea Hawk,’ with Milton Sills, Enid Bennett, Wallace Beery, closely followed by another of Sabatini’s great sea yarns, ‘ Captain Blood,’ with J. Warren Kerrigan and Jean Paige. ‘ Dorothy Vernon ot Haddon Hall ’ provided Mary Pickford, Anders Randolf, and Maro M'Dermott with action-filled roraantio backgrounds; ‘Wanderer of the Wasteland,’ with Jack Holt, rvoah Beery, and Kathlyn Williams, introduced a new colour photography; Lon Chaney did amazing things with his body as Quasimodo in ‘ The Hunchback of Notre Dame,’ which also had'Patsy Ruth Miller and Norman Kerry. Looking back on this film one realises that Charles Laughton, recently here as the “ Hunchback,” fell far short of Chaney in the role.) Camera wizardry never had a greater innings than in ‘ The Thief of Bagdad,’ with Douglas Fairbanks, Anna May Wong, and Snitz Edwards (as the thief); Rudolf Valentino, Bebe Daniels, and Lois Wilson made delightful Tarkmgton’s ‘ Monsieur Beaucaire ’; Betty Bronson, Betty Brian, and Ernest Torrence enacted Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan ; Charlie Chaplin, with Georgia Hal© and Macik Swain, convulsed audiences with ‘ The Gold Rush ’; John Gilbert swashbuckled his way through ‘The Count of Monte Cristo ’; monsters of the prehistoric past roamed wild in 1 The Lost World.’ with Lewis Stone. Wallace Beery. Lloyd Hughes, and Bessie Love; Norma Talmadgo, Wallace Beery, and Betty Francisco scored heavily in ‘ Ashes of Vengeance ’; a thrilling outdoor romance was The Spoilers,’ with Milton Sills, Anna Q. Nilsson, and Noah Beery. Straight ■Westerns of the “super.” class were < North of 36.’ with Jack Holt Ernest Torrence, and Lois Wilson, and The Border Legion.’ with Antonio Moreno and Helene Chadwick. Finally there was a revised Italian version of Quo Vadis,’ better in ©very way than its predecessor screened 12 years formerly. (To be continued.)