ENTERTAINMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13303, 9 October 1906, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS.

HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. THE RICKARDS VAUDEVILLE CO. The Rickards Vaudeville Company opened to a crowded house at, His Majesty's Theatre last evening. .The bill presented was exceptionally good in- regard to both variety and contrast, containing : a .complete .constellation of star turns of the first, magnitude. Little Cliff, who loomed large in the bill, made his debut. He is a boy of perhaps 1+ or 15. He appeared first dressed as a school urchin and next in evening dress. He sang well, danced well, but the lad showed.'himself to be a born comedian, which fact is noteworthy, because boys being ordinarily 'such wooden creatures, their .parts'in plays are nearly always given to girls. Cliff was quite different.' He was- far from being wooden; on the contrary,' he had all the art and manner of a comedian of x mature years,'with exceptional experience added' to natural ability. By the way, one of Cliff's songs, "The Drummer,"' in which ■ho appears in a Border uniform, would not suffer for a little revision. Brinn, an,ltalian, artist, described his turn as " Pastimes on a Battleship." , But this description proved to be one of Brinn's euphemisms. If tossing 1751b projectiles in the air and tilting them _ full in the hollow of one's back is a pastime, then -Brinu must have enjoyed, himself last evening. :,;■; Not content with ■■'. this [ kind 'of thing, he had a field-gun hoisted in the air by block and tackle, and lowered -so >.: that the carriage rested upon his chin. Then all was let go, and the gun and carriage were supported by ; Brinn alone. In that position a, lanyard" was pulled and the gun was discharged in mid-air. It was a : most thrilling turn, and was /.''greeted'l with long and enthusiastic / applause. A pair of exceedingly ■clever' speciality artists, "in, tiro persons of Seymour and Dupre, had a very heart reception/ The long, and high jumping of the former and, the graceful dancing of Miss Dupre were something quite out of the ordinary bill. Seymour, besides being an exceedingly agile, acrobat, showed himself to be a skilful player of the Chinese fiddle, coaxing from such 1 an unpromising instrument sounds that sent his audience into shrieks of laughter. Miss Nellie ' Kilburn supplied a good deal of the serio-comic element to the programme. Her song, " When She's in Town." was ' vivaciously sung, but it was manifestly , less acceptable to -some tastes than the Chevalieresque ditty, in which the artist appeared as a typical London coster wife deserted by her husband. In this selection Miss Kilburn found her metier. Mr. Fred. Bluett had a budget of comic songs, which depended, as they usually do, upon the singer to -make the humour. ; /Mr. Bluett's business is to make people laugh. He succeeded to the full last evening, and most of his gags and his patter have the saving grace of novelty. Stepping, as it were, from out of the early " thirties " a pretty, flaxenhaired child made her appearance.'/ People looked at the programme and learned that the artist was- Baby Watson. Quite a little child, without precocity or self-assortiveness, and yet a consummate little artist, selfpossessed, singing and dancing as well.as if she had been on the stage for years. Baby. Watson needs not to claim indulgence on. the score of youth; she is entitled to judgment on her merits, which are certainly great. Miss Nita Leete's rich-and sympathetic voice was used with good effect in the ballads "Listening" and " Convent Bella,".! and also in illustrated songs. A ; small but well-selected cinematograph display formed acceptable terminations to the first and second parts. The programme will be.repeated this evening, and a matinee performance will be given to-morrow.- • , HOCKEY ASSOCIATION CONCERT. The concert organised by the Auckland Hockey Association in aid of their ground funds took place in the Choral Hall last evening. With such an artist as To Rangi Pai and leading local musicians assisting a larger * attendance might reasonably have been expected, but the audience was highly appreciative and the concert was very*sue- ; cessful. Te Rangi Pai had : fom * numbers set opposite her name, and in each ' case she received an enthusiastic reception and encore, while in one .case th» : audience demanded her reappearance twice. Her first number was Laddie's; Homo Song," which delighted the audience, and, her rich, strong contralto voice was again -heard to much advantage in her second number, "The Beating of My Own Heart" (Macfarren). / The fine song, Douglas Gordon," was also delightfully 'rendered with • full expression. As a concluding number the ■" Shepherd's Cradle Song (Sommerville) was successfully given and resulted in an encore, the audience being loth to part with' the 'talented contralto. As one of her encore numbers Te Rangi Pai gave a delightful Maori melody, playing her own accompaniment. The Unique Quartette rendered /" Sally in Our Alley" and "• "Annie Laurie." 'r This clever quartette appears to improve on each ■ occasion, and their efforts last evening were j so successful that an encore was demanded on/each occasion, and a second encore in the latter case. ■ Mr. M. Hamilton Hodges displayed his fine baritone voice to full advantage in the number "Across the' Far Blue Hills, Mario" (Blumenthal), and the bracketed numbers f (a) " Heatherbud "..(Brauh) - and (b) "My Song is of the Sturdy North " ! (German).' lii each case ah encore was; de- \ manded. Mrs. Ernest Davis delighted the audience with a charming rendition of the numbers " Look Back" . (Vernon Wren) and "Vanity Fair" (Clutsam). Dr. Hugh Keith was the other vocalist, and his fine tenor ; voice was heard to advantage in the "song,. i " Onaway, Awake, -Beloved" (Coleridge ; Taylor), for which; he received hearty an- ' plause.' Mr. S. McLean gave two 'cello; solos, which were much appreciated. The accompanists were Miss G. Hunt, Mrs. E. 11. -Queree, and Mr. T. E. Midgley, " . MUSICAL AND ELOCUTIONARY, ; CONTESTS.' Musical and elocutionary contests are being held in the Foresters' Hall, ; Newton, every evening this week up to and including Friday. The contests are being, held under the auspices of the Auckland Baudot Hope Union, and; the first of the series -was" held last night. There was a very small attendance,, but to-night the programme is a hotter one,: and the attendance will; no doubt, bo larger. The judges are as follows:—Music: Messrs. (',. Paque, J. P. Hooton, and J. McDougall. Elocution .- Messrs. 11. Hemus,/ G. Phtmmer, and G. 11. Plummet The programme last night was made up as follows:, —Piano solo, B division : Gertrude Payne (Howick) and Pakuranga), ? Alice .Lillian Clark (Defence Juvenile Temple), ? Mary Macdcrmotfc (Christian Standard), Alex. Thomson (Eden Terrace), Beatrice Tucker (Tabernacle). Piano duet, B division: Myrtle Dean and Alex. A. Thomson (Eden Terrace). Piano duet,' U division : Dorothy Henderson and Noreida Moses (Taliernacle). Recitation, B division ; John McKenzie (St. David's), John Coombes (Eden Terrace). 0 division : Richard Ward (St. David's), Louis . I'". Faulkner (Church of Christ', West-street),' Hugh M. Patrick (Newton Public), Charles 11. Hughes (Mount Eden Baptist), Darcy Thomas (Eden Terrace P.M.). Impromptu speech, C division : Thomas Moor (Men Terrace P.M.), Darcy Thomas (Eden Ter- • race P.M.), Ernest Aldridge (Church of Christ, West-street), Erncstus A. : -Pea-roe' (Otahuhu). The programme for to-night* includes competitions for choirs,-*vocal:solos (females over 16), recitations (females 12 to 16 years), club-swinging, model baud of, hope address, and awards.