“THE PRECIOUS YEARS.”

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 305, 24 November 1937, Page 13

“THE PRECIOUS YEARS.”

QUAINT FROCKING. Added entertainment is tent to the jubilee play, “The Precious C!irs by tlie clever tracking, which Dame fashion's lead from 1900 to 1937. No time or trouble has been spared to have the costuming authentic in every detail, and this contributed in no small measure to the success or the play when it was presented last evening. Making her first appearance bidding farewell to her brother who is leaving for the Boer War, Miss M’llicent Peuketli, as Ann Priestley', is attired in the mode of 1900 in a dust coat and a boater hat with white gossamer veil. A brown taffeta frock, with leg-o’-mutton sleeves and a trained skirt, is her second choice. Appearing in 1910 in the revue scene as a fairy queen, Miss Penketh wears a _ ballet frock of white georgette with silvered wings and a beautifully spangled headdress. During her brief but dramatic entrance in 1914, a black and white checked coat with a white hat is worn, while on Armistice Day her frock is of black silk relieved with a white lace collar. Tn the mode of 1931, a navy and pink floral dress is chosen. Ann Priestjeiy, of 1937. wears at her party, an evening gown of mauve georgette with matching velvet coat.

For her first appearance in 1900 Miss M. Richards, as Betty Jenkins, wears a slightly trained dress of brown delaine with a high boned collar and a bonnet-shaped hat tied with ribbons. In a rose-pink gown of frilled satin. Betty makes her appearance in 1910, her final frock being of floral georgette.

In the' part o." Vicki Priestley, who later marries Sam Hopkins, Miss E. Hall is first seen in 1900 in a dust coat and panama hat. later changing to a white embroidered lawn skirt and blouse. Her ball-dress, in 1910, is of white net over georgette trimmed with circlets of roses, and she carries a white ostrich-feather fan. Her mourning frock in 1918 is of black velvet, and for her final appearance in 1937 she wears floral georgette with short fur coat.

A washing frock and apron which she later changes to a housekeeper’s frock »f black silk is worn by Mrs Linda Bennett, as Chrissy, a family retainer. For the revue scene, a blue satin frock with lace fisliu and feather l>oa is worn. A black beaded dolman, buttoned boots and a jettrimmed bonnet is worn with a black silk frr k in her final appearance.

Mrs G. C. Petersen is seen at the first rise of the curtain as a neighbour, in blouse and skirt with white apron. A heavy black silk frock with a dolman of black lace, and with a plumed hat of black velvet, is chosen for her appearance at a dinner party. A little black tailed coat is worn over her black frock in 1902. and she finally appears at the theatre in 1910 in a pink silk frock with a rose georgette and lace wrap.

Making her first appearance at the' early dinner party, Miss H. Collinson wears a frock of lavender and grey taffeta with a grey bowler hat. In the 1937 scene she is frocked in black embossed cloque relieved with royal blue.

In the part of .Chrissy Thorensen, Miss E. Christian is seen in a black and white spotted ensemble, her second appearance being in a tunic frock of blue and silver lame.

White pleated shorts and later a pink satin evening frock with spotted net redingote are worn by Miss./ J. Christian.

Appearing in costumes of man} periods is Miss* Js Carruthers, who la first seen m a Victorian bustled skirt and jacket with bowler hat. She changes for her part as a chorus girl to green tights and finally, as a modern girl, to a green evening frock with crimson cloak. Miss Joan Thomson, in IBBG, wears a green taffeta bustled gown, and as a girl of 1937 an evening gown of black velvet.

As Emily, the maid, in 18S0, Miss N. Brackenridge wears a stripped print frock, spotted apron and a checked cap with white stockings and black boots. In 1900, however, she is seen in a black frock with starched cap and apron.

Taking the part of Ann Priestly as a child, Dorothy McKegg wears a flowered muslin frock, and apron and pinafore of the 1886 period. Janet Holmes (Vicki Priestly as a child) is in a mid-Victorian frock of pink, while Margaret Henderson, as Betty Jenkins of 1886, wears a cashmere frock of mauve. >

Ballet girls of 1886 wear pink and white gingham with black button boots, and have their hair tied with large hows A revue ballet of 1910 appear in gold petalled frocks with green petalled caps and gold shoes. A ballet of the same year are attired in magpie frocks with black and white headdresses of rosettes.