PLAYS, PICTURES AND PEOPLE

Northern Advocate, 11 July 1925, Page 11 (Supplement)

PLAYS, PICTURES AND PEOPLE

(By Alphonse.) Madame Rose Dione, the French emotional actress who appears with Pauline Frederick in "The Lady" at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, has had a distinguished career both on the stage and screen. She began her dramatic career at the tender age of 15, and for several years appeared with, and was trained by Sara Bernhardt. Then, as the star of her own company, she toured Europe, returning to open a theatre of her own at Brussels, where she played in "Madame X" and other notable plays. When the War closed down all the theatres she did Red Cross work at the front. Later, in America, she appeared in such famous productions as "The Great Lover," "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," "Scaramouche" and many more. Madame Dione is a very great actress, and Australians are lucky to be seeing in her prime.

Tom Moore has been seen in many roles, but now he takes the part of a flighty, pleasure-loving husband who refuses to take married life seriously. In "Marriage Morals" he is a fast stepping millionaire who fills his wife's house with a very rowdy bunch, and even his little son (Micky Bennett by the way) cannot persuade him that he is breaking his wife's heart. However, Ann Forrest is the wife, and she decides that "sauce for the gander is good enough for the goose," and she starts a delirous round of parties and jazz nights that completely eclipse Tom Moore's efforts in that direction. It is all very amusing, even though serious complications naturally arise, but the final fade-out sees Mickey and Tom and Ann happily united. "Wives will learn much from some of these movies, but giddy husbands will hardly take the lessons very seriously. That a story of purely Bibical interest- should draw capacity houses in a large city theatre for seven menths, showing twice daily, and still be going strong, is surely a record for gay, pleasure-loving. Sydney. Yet "The Ten Commandments" has done thi3, and several projected attractions have been shelved in the meantime because of the insistent demand of the public to see this masterpiece of moving coloured photography. People have seen the picture not once but half a dozen times, for the sake of the wonderful Bibical portion which is so faithfully reproduced from, the records available. The modern portion of the story must suffer by contrast, and is really shown to accentuate the wonder and magnificence of the beautiful Bible stories so vividly reconstructed.

Spectators who witnessed Hie talcing of a dance hall scene in Mary "Pickford's new production "Little Annie Roonev" in Hollywood'recently could not understand why the "floor committee' at the dance wore dress suits that did not fit them by several 3izes. There was a reason. The dance was supposed to have been held in an East side dance hall in New York. At these dances the floor; <;ommitt.e<v must be' rigged out ia "soup an' fish" costume, and tao.se boys do not own dress suits even in this enlightened day and age. Therefore ;'the business of renting dress suits is«till in vogue in parts of New York, and a rented dress suit never does fit. The enterprise of the American producer is illustrated in "A Son of the Sahara," the picturisation of Louise Gerard's novel. A company of Ameri-

can players was taken on a trip of 14,000 miles to get the proper Algerian desert atmosphere for the picture. Over 12,000 Arabs, 800 camels and 2500 horses weie employed, and Onlad Nail dancing girls were persuaded to give their weird evolutions before

the camera. Thousands of JEVencli Spahi cavaliy, Sengalese and Arabian troops staged a thrilling battle in the desert, and the slave markets .of old Arabia were revivified under tfte capable hands of these progressive producers.