LONDON JOTTINGS

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 April 1925, Page 2

LONDON JOTTINGS

big days Xt Westminster. (Special- %q- ‘' ;• / ',. ' CHELSEA,-March 7. In the itouse of .Commons there 13. some dissatisfaction...over the Political Levy Bill, and it is rumoured that Two prominent Ministers may resign over 1 , tins, issue/.. Mr. Baldwin. nuiue the. finest speech of his i t liie on tins Bill, last Fridayand , revealed. ,wnat wasj to manyj an unsuspected origin-; afity’ and forceful personality. - Begin-, ning in , a low voice,’ Air Baldwin spone of , jiis own .industrial experiences. “I often wonder,” he remarked, “if people realise . the. inevitable change tiiat is -coming over the industrial system, of this-,, country. .For many years I liad a >nunlb.era of men iiindet Hid) dnd it st) happened, owing to, fhe citcuiliSiailce, of it being dll. oi»i. • family busiiiest;, aiid witli /Very .good traditions, that 1 was pfotldbly Working under a -system that was. already passing.- I- knew, every maiLon .the job. AVe were ablejjto talk^S'-,men not only, about troubles dn.jthe works, but at hqine, .It,was .a place where there were no strikes nor lockouts; also, it.' was a place/'-where •- nobody ever got- the .sack, . and. •;they j had. ■,a wide and t ,natural, . sympathy.,”,. The Prime Alinister held .his (listeners under a...spell. .. At. the end,’there 'was a itremelidous. toat,of. cheering - from all sides of .the-House. / i other, big day at- ..Westminster this week was Thursday, wnen Mr Austin Qhamberlain spoke vaguely and ponderously on- Foreign Affairs, and- Air a particularly “red” ALP., from Scotland, with a. resonant voice and- rolling r’s insisted on interjecting and was suspended from the House. Air Kirkwood’s interruptions are spoken of as being a nuisance,, but not.entirely ii'A relevant. Mr . Chamberlain quoted, some more or less commonplace words attributed to Lord Grey, and Mr Kirkwood boomed forth—“AVeighty words,” and a little later when the speech seemed to be about something, said, loudly : “Now, we’re comf ing to something.”':,; AVhen;the..chair- ' man named ,Mr .Kirkwood: the marching out of Jus mem by. Mr. MacDonald was ap act of, great presence .of’ mind for had he not done that, and Mr Kirkwood had had to. be turned out, there would have been a nasty fight.

/ AVEMBLEY’S SECOND ROUND., t' • - AVembley is' being prepared, for its second ; year ■ of' Empire Exhibition. There has, of course, beep some talk in the House about it, and Sir Alfred; Butt 'has some harsh things .to .say about the management. “The Exhibition,” he,declared,; “has been, carried on fin* a manner that would not be worthy of a. seaside fair. • It is ;,a grave scandal.’’ ,'. And Sir <,Alfred should/*know," since he, is a man of wide theatrical interests. ,The startling -revelation made by. Mr. Samuel -that “if the Duke of Devonshire- had .not, guaranteed £500,000 i sovbr,,his ( .own signature,-, the British Erapii’B Exhibition would hive been shut, up,” came as a very big surprise to the people. This, year, .a Treasury ‘fwatch ,-dog”/has been . appointed, m the pprsqn. of Sir James Cooper, and lie ipromises to take care'of the-finan-cial side, not necessarily to cut down expenses, but to see that value is obtained for money spent, ' THEATRELAND. ' Misfortune seems ,to have ’ persistently dogged every show that has been produced in ,the new Fortune , Thea-, tre. The latest unfortunate , is. the revue “£ S. D.,” which is supposed to be, “laughter,, song, dances.” Tliere are songs and dances, but very little laughter. The revue is written by Eve Kelland, who takes leading part in it, but Miss Kelland has not given herself or her supporters material worth while. Michael Martin Harvey, son of the famous Sir John, , has a part, and in one scene wqars as little clothing as Nicholas Hannei/s Hippojytus costume. The dancing is the best part of the show, especially those in. which the two Espjmosa children take part, and dance to u jazz arrangement of some of the more f'ariious AVagneria airs. Tschaikowsky has also been\called in to help uut this dull revue, ■ and part of his “Casse. Noisette” has been mutilated for a dance scene.. '

.At tl the Lyric,. Hammersmith, Nigel Playfair has again brought his great gifts of production to bear on Sheri; dan’s ,“The.Rivals.” Any production inj this theatre is' bound to be well done, and this one again upholds the high standard.., ..Air Playfair has a knack of bringing an entirely unprejudiced mind to work on these old masterpieces—they might be new works sent in by some unknown man, and prodqced for the first time. In. this new edition. of the play, the greatest innovation is the playing of the famous “Airs Malaprop” as a “straight” part. , Here there is no exaggeration of make-up and behaviour. She is a woman who might move in the “best circles,” a little withered, and with rather a kink. Many of the critics have quarrelled l with the ideft.

They would have the rollicking low comedy Mrs Malaprop of previous productions, but there is iquch to be said for Mr Playfair.’s view of the part, and the admirable way the part is played bv Dorothy Green. Another part, Faulkland, generally considered a bore and a bad part, is admirably played bv one of the cleverest antors on the English stage. Claude Raines. It is a piece of . masterly actcng, all fire and despair, purple outpourings and tragic passionate depression'. a .performance with just suf / ficient of elegant burlesque, and the

greatest in the play. Nigel t Playfair, besides produchig the play, [ himself one ■of the actors, and hi> Bob Acres is an entii'ely ra-.tional and,, credible person with a .dignity and pathetic 5 belief in : all the-.., fudge • abopt. “honour.”, He nobly retrains from all. clowning .in „tfiis , part... NQi'maii AVilkinson\ as, responsible-, for the exand. -dressing, and once again this little theatre on the;Tj:outskirts of London is housing a t ,produc- . tion that must delight all -true , theatre-lovers. : , I FASHIONS. ' • | People are looking noticeably smart \ er, tlie, result of. the stim ulus given to dressing,; fiy almost daily “spring, shows.” ■ London itself is donning /the;.first of its' spring gar? ments. C 1 ’ ocusei »-‘ ue their lull glpry, ~an audacious tree here and tnere has -a tJiin cov.ei'ing- of. fresh green, and the almond trees’ are decked in their gay pink ...blossoifl. 'AVomen are looking much smarter, notonly because, of their new gowns and liatS). but' tTe.ch.use the “shows” nave fhown . how the-new fashions'should be/wofh. '. This/i.S): A £ r fi a t -service iefid.ered. by mannequins .at; » the parades—how -to’*'"Aar the fashions, and the varlotis little/ . points that mean .so. much if A< 1 woman, is to wpll-tuvnetl. c.*Ut.-- 5 At °h 9 of the most fashionable, dress’ parades this week, where / celebrities- pf‘>tlio-' so- '■ tial, political and artistic- worlds were gathered, there were many'-, of these ..smaller pointscited.' For. example, a little., ‘.‘sun-burn” powder—just' a, tiny,touch—can make a great improve- . inent in the appearance when the browns -, aiid deep warm biege shades • are worn. The latest resting place for<the flower is another-point —it lies tucked on the corner of the collar with day frocks and coats. Enormous pierrot collars . attached to evening cloaks arc fastened with one large .4 bloom. A posy on, the left shoulder of an evening is not new, but still correct, and- the. real novelty is me hem of roses matching a rose-coloured evening gpjvn.. Another note is the - extravagant use of tulle. Ultra-smart / women will float into the dance room this Reason in clouds, of-Tulle, ’ pale or brilliant in hue, according to the frock. The -yolvminonus diaphanous

scarf draperies ■&f tulle '"seem to z caress the figure that/ they envelope and give a softness to The straight rather hard lines of the. most.- modern frocks, , . i. . Agiin,' some ..of the most fascinating little “touches’,’,.in the new styles are found in - the region of neckwear, one of the ..prettiest ideas is . the jewelled strap of . .the -same .material as the coat collar. , Auren it isj iiot hdknng the high collar securely .round the ; throatn-a sensible vogue for chilly days—it -is slipped inside and becomes aj necklace; The allover hitt of flowers,has made its usual springtime appearance. This season it lias taken the form of the inevitable cloche, and some becoming examples are shown in tfie new shades of hyacinth blue, wallflower reds an(l browns, and rust, and a: charming tone of begonia pink. The. . so.'fashionable for-,some time past, lias yet another variation, inis ' is -a,heavy bold'woollen designs on a foundation of crepe de .chine. They aye comparatively simple to jnake provided the niaker has a good eye for colour combinations—the finish is given by a very long wool fringe. One .of the .newest ideas in China wear is to reproduce the effect of the texture of. Shagreen .on the surface. This idea is mainly used for such decorative small sets as the early morning tea service and so on. .. The accompanying tray -is, of course, in let with Shagreen. \ New ways of.wearing the large artificial pearls arfe shown by the mannequins. Sometimes the rope pf. pearls is drawn round tho throat and knotted at the back, where it.. falls nr two unequal ends, one reachiiig to the waist. . Or. in contrast, there is an enormous rope of large pearls arranged. across the front of the cor-/ ;sage,, r crosspd at the back and brought io the front again, where the heavy loop reaches the knees.

YOUNG PEOPLE’S PARTY. writer .in a London newspaper comments on the lavish entertainment •which now seems , necessary fo,r a “young people’s” party. At a dance given by a well-known London hostess for lier and. his friends up from Eton 1 during the recent “long leave,” it pointed out that as well as dancing, the evening’s entertainment included) t.-“a number of artists frqm the Cafe de Paris, who gave a. cabaret;show, an amusing turn bv a man w]io sang songs at the i piano and lastly, the carefully-tuned arrival of the- wonderful AVembley seal who, when released from his travelling crate, flopped rapidly steadily upslairsi, made a triumphant tour of. the crowded room, and finished with some clever tricks! And all ' these thrills besides the dancing to a fine jazz band and a sumptuous* supper.” "' ' “ ’ ’ ' '