ENTERTAINMENTS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 7 August 1926, Page 2

ENTERTAINMENTS.

OPER A HOUSE

“REVELATION” TO-NIGHT.

‘‘Revelation,” the new Metro-Gold-wyn picture which will be finally .screened in Hawera to-night at the Opera- House, has been heralded elsewnere as one of the most important events of the screen season. It is a big spectacular production, directed by George- D. Raker, with an unusual cast headed by Viola Dana, Monte Blue and Law Cody. The- story isi set in France and opens with a number of rural shots ; from here it moves to- Paris with its underworld and the celebrated Monte mart re. Th>a picture then moves on to tlie ga-iden of a monastery, where some splendid shots were- obtained, and later to the country, where- the two find happiness. The story is an adaptation of the novel by Mabel “The “Rose Bush of a Thousand Years.” Also showing is episode three- of the serial “Perils of the W.ild.”

GRAND THEATRE

“THE BEAUTIFUL CHEAT.”

At the Grand Theatre is one of the most; interesting humorous pictures the movie world has ever made about- -itself. Laura La Plante is the star and her goes much of the credit for making this such an entertaining picture. Miss La Plante gives one of -the most charming and vivacious- portrayals of her career in the title role of “The Beautiful Cheat,” a Universal-Jewel. The story is a, joyous one from beginning to- end mull has more than its share of laughs. It. is the- story oi. a little shop girl taken from her niche by a movie producer,, and sent- abroad to be proclaimed as a great actress. Harry Myers, as the star’s press agent, does excellent work acting m every detail as a press agent should act. He •proves himself as a master of comedy.

OPERA HOUSE, HAWERA

“PHANTOM OF THE' OPERA.”

ON MONDAY

With, thousands of -people in a huge replica of the inside of the Paris Opera House, the first grand opera in pictures was made in the performance of the opera “Faust,” -staged incidental to Lon Chaney’s forthcoming spectacle, “The Phantom of the Opera,” Carl Laemmle’s successor to “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” and which comes to the Opera House on Monday. An audience of two thousand filled the boxes and auditorium, a- full -performance of the- opera, including a ballet of two hundred, was staged, with an orchestra of a- hundred pieces, and atthe- climax the great chandelier in the dome- of the- opera, crashed on the heads of the audience. William Tvroler, former conductor at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, directed the musicians. Scores of stage hands, chorus singers, two hundred ballet girls under the direction of Ernest Belchner, and others took part in the big scenes. The opera performance is staged as coincidental with the strange happenings in the- underground grottoes, where Chaney a-s “The Phantom,” holds sway and- thus is in effect a ~play within a play. It is in this sequence that “The Phantom” drops the huge chandelier on the heads of the- terrified audience to enforce his demands on the opera management. The story adapted from the mystery novel of Gaston Leroux, portrays Chaney as a strange creature living in the cellors below the- opera who, for love of one of the singers, played by Mary Philbin, precipitates a reign of terror. The grotesque action in the cellars is timed by the progress of the opera on the stage above. The opera ‘house, together with thei masked ball on tlie Grand staircase, were photographed in colour. Among the principals in the cast are Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Snitz Edwards, Gibson Gowland, Arthur Edmund Care-we, and John Sainpolis. The Hawera season opens- on Monday.

J. C, WILLIAMSON VAUDEVILLES.

COMING TO HAWERA

It lias been truly said that variety is the spice of life, and never has it stronger application than in the world of entertainment. And so the directors of J. C. Williamson Vaudeville, instinctively sensing the requirements! of the. public, have, inaugurated with unfailing ■ success the periodic, visits to the Dominion of companies, of international entertainers who have made their mark severally in the world’s big centres, and in the Tivoli strongholds in Australia. The latest combination —the eleventh, it is interesting to note —which appeals at the. Opera House next Friday, August 13, .promises. to out-rival them all in points of view of variety and novelty. Dogs, marionettes, and human .artists form the component parts of the most original programme ever presented in R vaudeville- offering. Take Leonard Gautier’s dogs. A whd’e army of them positively stage a sketch called ‘‘The Bricklayers of Dogville.” They realistically carry out every detail of their strenuous contract! They wheel their loads, mount the scaffolding with the agility of athletes, and put in humorous touches with the art of the practised comedian. Equalling them in novelty is. Man tell’s Manikins, an exclusive act, which has been a sensation even in the largest Continental theatres. This is a revelation in marionette dexterity, amazing feats being performed by no fewer than, 60 manikins, who sing) play, dance and .present thrilling scenes from am elaborate miniature stage. Feminine charm will bo alluringly expressed by Peggy Mount, one of Australia’s chosen beauties, in an exhibition of the modern Charleston ; by the shapely Elroy in, evolutions on a scintillating sphere; by Katrina and Joan, artistic and supp'd dancers, in an enchanting seen a; and by Marie Moore,, who does cute songs, at the piano in delightful style. By way of a change is Von Dock, one of the cleverest of caricaturists; Imito, whose gifts of mimicry are wonderfully pronounced; Maxim Rrodi and Deck, who 00-coerate a.s tenor and pianist. Book in plenty of time a.t Miss Brake’s Opera House- Confectionery. Box plans open next Wednesday.