AMUSEMENTS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 March 1917, Page 6

AMUSEMENTS.

OPERA HOUSE

"The trading ol ! our daughters for wealth or social position is frequently called by an uglier word." Thus does the J lev. John Armstrong, in "The Bartered Bride," point from the pulpit the linger of scorn at his fashionable millionaire congregation, in ojhie of the most dramatic scenes, it is admitted, which have ever been enacted in a cinema drama. At the Opera House to-night will be presented for the first time the Triangle Kay-Bee Company's sensational social morality piny, "The Bartered Bride," with H. B. Wariner, whose,fine, virile work in "The Raiders" is well remembered, in the strong and manly role of a fighting parson who dares to say what he thinks. The beautiful and accomplished daughter of a millionaire member of his congregation is about to marry a dissolute aristocrat, and he is called upon to make the announcement from the pul. pit of his church. His whole y,ml revolts from the task, and he determines to denounce (hi.-: and all similar marriages of convenience. Vain words,' he realises, will not suffice, so he resolves upon a bold and dramatic stroke, lie goes out into highways of itinerant vice, finds fl woman of the street, and persuades her, for a consideration, to sit in his church next Sunday and stand forth in plain sight of the congregation when lie calls her. Thou he delivers the sermon of his life. "Xo matter how unpleasant it may sound," he begins, "this is tho truth —the truth 1 believe iilny duty to present to you." And he goes on : "The loveless marriage, cold-blooded bargaining based on selfishness, is to. day one of the greatest dangers that menaces society." Then comes the sensation of the play. He calls upon the woman of the street to stand forth, point,. t,i her, and to a spellboimd congregation declares: ''Tho only difference is this- the world pities the woman of the street!'' On

Sunday evening the big five-act play, "The WaiiV a story of the Xew York slums that features Matty I'oubert, the greatest child actor in the world, in the part of "The Waif." will be screened. Matty Roubett has been eulogised l>v the world's press as tit*' greatest wonder of the present day. His success is so .great that he is in receipt of a salary greater than that of a I'rime Minister.

TOWN HALL The usual iuaum\ j wui be given at ;>.:>o p.m. on Saturday, when a delightful programme will be screened, and will he followed on Sunday by Mary I'ieki'urd o.\ the beveUi-part Famous. Vhiyers.' star, "Poor Little. Pep< piua," which is claimed to be too

most sUece.jsi'ul effort of the cinema world's neatest star, who plays thy part of a drudge •'•id who -i„ the Cinderella of tin.; community, and uttruet* the attention of the' mighty Padrone, who suggests marriage, a ins Junior is more than Peppina .can stand, She manages, up to the betrothal ceremony, and then, breaking bounds, she openly defies her guardians and w-ottld-be husband, and with the assistance of Beppo, her .young playmate and* supposed brother, she makes her escape in an old suit of He'vpo's. In the next phase of the storv, we see Peppina making her way to the nearest seaport, where she succeeds in getting on board a vessel sailing to America. The journey over, still in boys' clothes, Peppina arrives in New York, and is taken by a vil,l;iinous stoker to a low drinking den, where she is robbed of her little store

of money. Sh,e becomes the innocent Confederate of a gang of thieves, ami coiners, who use her to pasis their counterfeit money. She once more makes her escape, and we next and her employed as. a messenger ''boy," where she is, initiated into the "delights" of cigarette smoking. Subsequently, after being arrested as a passer of bad money, the little waif comes into her own, finds her parents and a lover, and all elids happily. The length of the picture, 7000 ft. precludes the possibility <>f screening tlm filial adventure of "Terence O'iwurke" which has: been deferred till Wednesday. Patrons will remember that Mary Pickt'ord's production will bo presented on Sunday only. miners'hall] IU'NAXCA. In "Poor Little Peppina," th<? lead, ing uttraciiou at McLeans I'ictureri in the ab"\e hall to-night, Mary Pickford plays the leading character. Jn tin.' opening scene one sees tile hoineiife of a wealthy American, who, with his wife and daughter, Lois, resides in their beautiful Italian villa. A revengeful butler kidnaps the little girl. By the agency of confederates, it is reported that both are drowned in the bay. In reality, the man escape.-; to America, leaving the child in Italy with his relatives. This ends the prologue. Fifteen years later. Peppina (.Mary Pickford) is introduced in (ho stoiy as the daughter of poor Italian peasants. She and her brother, Beppo (Jack Pickford) are working on the estate of an Italian count. The padrone, who is in charge of the laborers, casts eyes of love on Peppina, and wishes: to make her his. wife, Peppina indignantly rejects hta advances, and, clad in ;i s-uit of Beppo's clothes, with her lovely hair shorn, stows away on a liner to New York. A great deal of the action takes place on the steamer. Washington Square also furnishes mainy picturesque settings. Through force of circumstances, in New' York, Peppina pursues a most chequered career. She becomes a bootblack, a fruit vendor, a newsboy, an employee in an opium den, a messenger "boy," and, finally, the hmglost daughter of the American millionaire, who comes into her ownLate)-, after her rescue from the kidnappers, she gets to school to learn the niceties of society. The support- ! ing programme includes "The Adven- < hires of Terence O'Rourke." <