ENTERTAINMENTS.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXV, Issue 1901, 22 April 1913, Page 5

ENTERTAINMENTS.

FIRST NIGHT AT FULLER'S.

There were several very prominent features in the picture programme opened at His Majesty's Theatre last night. "Saved from Court Martial" and another drama, "Strength and Gunning," are conspicuous among them. "Nerves and the Man'' is another dramatic morsel which «eemed to appeal to the bir audience last night. But the greatest sensation of all is provided by the thrilling America* tragedy, "The Massacre." It is a. drama in which hundreds of artists are engaged at an expense which must have been enormous. The story takes the onlooker over the prairies of the great western country through the deep tortuous valleys and in the treacherous wilds where the redskins dwell. The tale which ends so tragically starts at very tender beginnings. There is a touching scene wherein a young widow on her death bed leaves to the car® of a former lover her baby girl. The child grows into womanhood and marries. Her guardian joins the American army as a scout, and at a time when his ward and her husbantf are setting out by waggon train to try their fortunes in the great west, the guardian is guiding an onslaught upon an Indian village. The attack appears a cruel and unprovoked affair, and one's sympathies are rather with the redskins in their thirst for revenge. Their chance comes when they sight the waggon train, which, in fear of developments, is escorted by a powerful body of troops. The young woman and her baby are picturesque figures in the motley concourse. The Indians swoop down upon them in great numbers, completely surprise them and exterminate them. There is a wild and picturesque struggle on the vast prairie, and a moving scene in the last act where the young woman and her child are shielded by the bodies of the gallant troops so that she and her child alone in that heap of dead survived to tell the tale. The audience was so moved by the power of this drama that quite a subdued cheer greeted the arrival of the relief party. It is one of the good dramas of the present year. SOLAR PHYSIOS. Miss Mary Proctor, member of the British Astronomical Association, who is touring New Zealand delivering lectures with the object of raising funds to erect a solar physics observatory in New Zealand, and also of interesting the people of this country in the project, will deliver a lecture on Solar Physics on Friday evening next in the Municipal Hall. Elsewhere these lectures have proved intensely interesting and very instructive. MR C. H. STEPHENS' RECITAL, On Thursday evening music lovers in Palmerston will have an opportunity of hearing one of New Zea* land's most artistic vocalists, Mr O. H. Stephens, of Wellington. Mr Stephens is a tenor of rare culture and he sings songs that few other vocalists in New Zealand could attempt with much success. He sings also in four or five languages, and critics write of the correctnesss of his pronounciations. His selection of songs has already been published. The second part will consist entirely of items in English. Mr F. R. Johnstone, the popular Wellington 'cellist, will assist.