ENTERTAINMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13171, 8 May 1906, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS.

MR. R. G. KNOWLES.

i Last evening Mr. R. G. Knowles found ; himself facing a vary large Auckland audii ence at His Majesty's Theatre. Monologue ■entertainments are becoming the fashion to a certain extent, and the present one is a happy little show in which there is much occasion for spontaneous laughter. The ordeal of entertaining an audience for two hours is about as severe as an entertainer could carve out for himself. It cannot bo claimed that Mr. Knowles is the brightest constellation that ever appeared in the stage firmament in th© monologue line, some of his items have a pre-Georgian. flavour and! have born© the teat of time, ; others havo a suspicion of lavender about them, but oil the whole he gives a bright and laughable "At Home," and all his jokey .'are' so garbed that the gnarled chestnuts are las fresh as this year's crop, and the new ones are irresistible, while the setting of each is entirely original and characteristic. In himself Mr. Knowles is no shadowgraph of the "gone befores;" he has out. out for himself a distinot type, and his fun is vigorour and his humour is as bracing as a sea breeze. He is, moreover, a natural humourist, and his _ humour is many-sided ; his range of facial expression and his intonation of voice, combined with eccentrio movement, is responsible for a great deal of the charm of the entertainment, and he succeeded in drawing much spontaneous laughter from his audience. Prior to Mr. Knowles' appearance a bioscope picture re•.presents him concluding his toilet and being hurried.in the operation by the stage manager, and with the last flicker of the picture Mr. Knowles himself is bowing across the footlights. It is a smart and cleverly-con-ceived' picture, and the same be said of the introduction of all the pictures used during the evening, the " fitting in " work having .been, admirably studied. Last night's entertainment was entitled "Humorous Conversations on Songs and Stories of the Stage," and this served to introduce several very good songs, notably "The Gay River" and "Philosophy," illustrated with views of the Thames, " Pins " and " The Girl, the Woman, and the Widow." In th© items under the heading of humour in various lands, Mr. Knowles brought out several very funny new pieces aid some jovial quips, in "negro characteristics" he served' up some plantation items in wholly acceptable form, in his "stories of childhood" he gave his audienoe a teste of real quaint humour, and in "love, marriage, ■ and divorce " he appeared in the old reliable make-up, the white ducks, battered hat and frock coat, which he has used to such advantage before taking to -monologue; but whether in this quaint attire or in conventional evening dress he was a, "fun raiser" well • worth seeing. There are numerous groups of good pioture3, many entirely new, and some that nave looked in here before, but agreeable for all that. The animated views of the Thames River, the pictures of the King and Queen and Royal party posing for a "still" picture while unaware of the proximity of a cinematograph operator, and the pantomime series were all excellent, while a series representing " Little Tich " in one of his humorous sketches was almost as amusing as the original scone must have been, and to all of the views Mr. Knowles had an accompaniment of crisp jest and bright raillery. The pantomime picture representing a red motor oar racing over giddy precipices, leaping deep ravines, ascending cliffs, and plunging over gorges, knocking over and flattening all people en route, was an_ excellent film, clear and sharp, and the career of the vehicle was watched with rapidly increasing amusement by the audience. During the time when Mr. Knowles is engaged in changing his attire from evening dress to the eccentric " make up" of the latter part of the programme, Mrs. Knowles contributed several banjo solos. Her playing, especially in the softer melodies, was a very fine exposition of what may be accomplished with a banjo, and she obtained an exquisite tone from the instrument. Two of her melodies were splendid, and their plaintive beauty, their wealth of cadence, and their soft expression were brought out with a true appreciation of the fine requirements of suoh beautiful music. Mr. Knowles will appear at His Majesty's again this evening. OPERA HOUSE. There was a splendid attendance at the Opera House last night, when Fuller's Entertainers again appeared in their new programme. . The two Colliers, Mr. Ward Lear, and the Scott Bros, were loudly encored in the first part. Master Claud Over, the clever young musician, again performed with distinct success on the lignomaphono and dulciphone. Mr. Frank King, the young actorvocalist, had to respond to a vociferous encore. Mr. Rollow, the now comedian, was encored four times. Messrs. Walker and Hughes, Harry Davis, Miss Kate Maher, and Miss Mabel Lynnc also appeared. The same programmo will be repeated for the remainder of the week. H