JACK CANNOT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17883, 31 August 1918, Page 3

JACK CANNOT.

A COMEDIAN OFF THE STAGE. YEARNS FOR THE SIAIPLE LIFE. Lucifer Bing, tho gay Lothario who has been drawing crowded audiences to the Theatre Royal lately, is in private life Jack Cannot, although no doubt ho was christened John, or possibly Jean, sinco his parents were French. Like another great Frenchman, Cannot has to suffer a good deal of misunderstanding concerning the proper pronunciation of his name; but while there may still bo some doubt as :to whether Foch is pronounced Fok or Foshe, there can be no doubt that Cannot cannot be oclier than Cauno, since Cannot says so. Ilie point cropped up in conversation yesterday with the comedian, apropos of the fact that his uncle, General Cannot, C.AI.G., an officicr de liaison between the British War Office and the army in tho iield, has just received the 1X3.0. This piece of news reached the elder Bing brother at Timaru, quite recently, adding a very pleasant page to the family war record, which is already good. , Jack Cannot described himself to his interviewer as a French Cockney. His father, although an English K.C., was born a Frencnman, and married a French wife, but the comedian was born in London, within tho sound of Low Bells. Ho in turn has left his native land, and adopted Australia, and it is at Coogee, one of the haunts oi tho Australian surf bather, that the comedian is at homo with liis wife and little boy and girl. “No,” said the actor, “Airs Cannot is not on the stage, and she is not travelling with me. Ido all the dirty work myself. I know lam a wowser,” he added despairingly. “ People imagine mo having a great Mine with the.girls, but all the time I wish I had a steady job in Sydney, and could take my wife to the pictures in the eveiling.” . . This ideal existence, however, is likely to bo denied brother Bing for somo ‘time to come, as he has just signed up a two years’ contract, and after finishing up with the “Bmg Boys” at Brisbane, will start with a new revue, ho does not know what. This, fortunately, will bring him back i!o New Zealand. _ Altogether Jack Cannot has mado six trips to tho Dominion, having first figured as the' Dame in “ Jack and the Beanstalk,” seven years ago, afterwards playing in “ The Quaker Girl,” “ The Sunshine Girl,” and with Vera Pearce in the Tivoli Follies. But there was a touch of 'tragedy about the last leave-taking in Sydney, for tho company weie to havo returned by the ill-fated A\immera, and when news of the disaster arrived, tho members felt very blue, and it was a caso of putting on a semblance of jollity and shrugging the shoulders, and hoping for the best. The hazards of the trip, however, do not weigh heavily on a mercurial scMl liko Jack Cannot. He is looking forward already to his return trip to Aotea Ron. Meanwhile, he is genuinely pleased to be playing to Christchurch audiences again, and while revue makes heavy claims on an artist’s talent, it may be. said for Jack Cannot, as his many Chris!!church admirers can testify, that he is in j a class by himself as an entertainer. |