DRAMA OF THE DAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18374, 14 April 1923, Page 8 (Supplement)

DRAMA OF THE DAY.

THEATRICAL NOTES. ;■;;-: -.-.y," —: —«» ' .'■'"'•;■',;■. Miss Kathlone MacDonell, the fascinating ' heroine in "Daddy Longlegs" and .''The Outcast," was last month leading woman in'"R.U.R.," a play having a successful run in New York. • : , : Miss Lily Langtry, the famous actress and beauty, known the world over as "the .lersey Lily," who has, been in retirement for years, is anxious to return to the stage. She fears that it will be difficult to find a suitable part, because "they arcall flapper plays now." She is seventy-one. Mr. Leon M. Lion hopes to find a play for her. •< /. - ■ s '- ; According to Mr. Dion Boucicault, Melbourne plavgoers are the very best in the world. Speaking at a farewell dinner in London, prior to his tour of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand with Miss Irene Vanbrugh, he said there were no audiences, excepting Manchester audiences, to comparo with them for receptivity and enthusiasm. A -informed" Russian review notes : "On November 2, in London, the thousandth performance was given of an opera written by an eighteenth-century beggar named Hammersmith. It was revived two years ago. Another eighteenthcentury opera, 'Polly,' by an equally famous composer, Kingsway, will be revived shortly." . ->, Negotiations are practically complete for bringing the celebrated Vienna State Opera Company with -all its stars to London for about six weeks. The company will include Jeritza and Picaver, with Richard Strauss and Franz Schalk as conductors. Great interest is taken in the project in English musical circles, and a ■ substantial guarantee fund was sub scribed within a few hours. A suitable theatre, however, remains to be secured.

An enthusiastic reception wag given at Drury Lane. London, last month, to the 350 th performance of "Decameron Nights." The secret of the success of the production is to be found in a wonderful combination of colour, movement, melody, and interest in the unfolding of the many stories. Arthur Collins, Robert McLaughlin, Boyle Lawrence, and Herman Finck have all done their bit in attracting to this colossal "show" over a million playgoers.' .■'■'■. :;. -; 1 ' : :-■'"''■•. ' ■'"'

"Life }is sweet,' brother—as Borrow says—even ! ; at ■ seventy-five-" ■;* Miss Ellen Terry, England's best beloved actress, who celebrated her seventy-fifth birthday ' a few weeks" ago,"' made 'use of this apt quotation in reply to the numberless greetings which she : has received. Miss ferry, who is at present v staying with friends 'at Surrey, is in the best of health, and as eager as ever to talce an active part in the work she loves so well. "Ellen Terrv is still the youngest thing imaginable.'* said :an intimate friend of the great actress, "and I am sure she will live to . delight ' many more audiences."

'.• Referring to Ellen Terry's . birthday an English paper says she will be affectionately remembered by many, but especially By everyone who ■ has ever been privileged to play in her company,! for to such she has always endeared herself by her unfail- ! ing kindness and thought for the, comfort of ( others. : One Christmas time, ! years ago, ,'. the company of which she .was a member had been rehearsing all- day,'-- and it was past eleven ,at \r night h when the streriu ; business ! concluded. Miss Terry. had slipped off a few minutes earlier, and, just as the tired little group was dispersinc. she reappeared with a basket of provender| and \ some \ bottles of .wine, for which her kind ; heart had sent ; her foraging, very late at night, in a rough town where ladies scarcely 'cared to wander far at any time. v '•'?■:,.'■;;.'>'. v ; .'.

i Two shows playing to big business in London are "The Last Walts" and "Tons of - Money," ' both :of which . are on- '■■ Mr. • • Hueh iJ. Ward's list - for y production in ; Melbourne. In 1 "The Last Waltz," which , has a wonderful score by : Oscar Stqauss, -;'Josie Collins is making a great hit 'at the ';•: Gaiety, and the cast •'.of '"Tons of Money" -,iat the Aldwycb/ is/ headed by Tom Walls and : Leslie Henson. - "Cauvre Souris" „ now in its third edition; at the- Century /Roof (New York)-. passed its v 357 th r per- • formance L recently.:: "Chauvre ..' Souris" -is ; : among the attractions Mr. Hugh J. Ward lias simmering- for/Melbourne :later on. Mr. ,C. B. Cochran, the clever London producer, who/has achieved great 'things ' in spectacular musical productions, has arranged with Mr. Geo. M. Cohan, to introduce to London theatregoers, "Little Nellie j Kelly,"/a; musical comedy which ( surprised \ even !■ Cohan himself by its ; ( mag- ; netic power - to draw crowded bouses in ; 'America. It was. from Mr. Cohan that ' : ; Hush J. Ward got "The O'Brien Girl." ; and incidentally.he secured "Little Nelly. '] Kelly": at the same time. In the . light of • Mr. '■Cohan's-appraisement of it that piece '■?; should be even more popular, if that be :// possible, than 'The O'Brien / Girl" has proved to be. /• ■ -

>■*■■ -One of. the leading/Vienna theatres has just produced ; a musical ; comedy entitled /"The Yellow Jacket," the music of which '% is 'Franz ' Lehar, the ; composer of X "The Merry Widow" and "Gipsy Love." A "i" new Lehar operetta is always an event in the theatrical life of Vienna, yet I ram afraid, * the 'fashionable crowd which 'ast sembled at / the first performance left the -.-,; theatre somewhat disappointed, writes a > critic. ' The music ig composed of Chinese and Viennese motifs, but ;it is anything but original. / We again hear many pretty tunes,'-yet we 'feel that/ we knew that music before we entered the theatre. The composer of ; "The Merry Widow" and of v "The/ Count •■ of Luxembourg',' is/: in fact, ■■.<•' repeating/ himself. The libretto, by Victor Leon.''the' author of - "The i Merrv Widow," suffers I from weaknesses, t too. It , is ( the story/ of : a! Chinese diplomatist in Vienna: who. makes the acquaintance of a Vienna girl. The fair Viennese- falls in love with the Chinaman and refuses her local suitor. The infatuated maid follows her lover even to China, and eventually the two j are married. But the mamape

is unhappy,, and the girl -returns to her native 'town.- Later on ? the Chinaman and th© pretty Viennese meet aorain,. and the comedy ends by a reconciliation of the lovers. *'":■/ ~" r :''

Miss Irene Ainsley, whose beautiful contralto voice and splendid actinc are widely recognised in London and in the provinces, is looking forward to revisiting New Zealand in the near future, writes our London correspondent. It is a good many years since she was in Auckland, and she finds that a respite from work here will be quite feasible if she is away during the English summer. Accordingly she will leave: London in r May accompanied by her little < son—in private life Miss Ainsley is Mrs. Pursaill— her aunt. Hoh'day is the chief motive of the trip, but Miss Ainsley hopes to give two flong-recitals in Auckland. New Zealand will be reached after a stay with friends in Sydney. In addition to her ■ concert work and her teaching connection—Miss Ainsley has been very successful. with voice production— ia: a. great favourite at the "Old Vic," where many well-known operas such as "Carmen," "H Trovatore." '.'The Daughter of the, Regiment," "The Hueuenots," "Samson and Delilah," and a wide ranee of Wagnerian masterpieces are successfully performed, the Auckland singer being well equipped and well qualified to fill leadine parte' in them all. \ In "Orpheus," too/she has been a great success. Everywhere her dramatic talents are referred; to , with marked appreciation by all 'critics,' while vocally even the most exacting have to admit their great satisfaction.: ; '- - V "-'*'/: ; -/:;//-'''' /---'■'- : -- ;,..::' '■'

IN FILMLAND. • v.;."'; "■■ -r- — ♦— ~-~ ■'.""■.■'■■' "Anna Q. Nihson and Cyril Chadwick will complete the quartet of principals in Herbert Brenon's first production for Paramount, " The Rustle of Silk." Betty Compson and Conway Tearle will be featured. Miss Nilssoii has been a.featured member of the casts of several recent pictures, including " Pink Gods" and Cecil B. D e Mille's latest, " Adam's Rib." She will play the role of Lady Fee- in the screen version of ; Cosmo Hamilton's novel. A youngster in a -Dannevirke school made a name for himself the other day. The class had received a lesson on cereals, wheat having been the chief topic of instruction. To test the knowledge of her pupils the teacher asked if any of them knew of another cereal. One mite responded with " Yes, ' Miss, Robinson Crusoe"—a picture serial which is now running. Such is the educational value of pictures! The Glimpses of the Moon." the first production of a series- for . Paramount, which Allan Dwan recently extracted to make, has been completed at the • Long Island studio. Bebe Daniels, Nita Naldi, Rubye de Remer, David Powell, Maurice, Costello and Charles Gerrard are in the cast. The company's studio was taxed during,the making" of the production. More than three-quarters of a million dollars worth of properties were used.

Mr. Adolph Zukor, president of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, has extended an invitation to the leading novelists, artists, dramatists, editors,- and educators of the world. He proposes to hold a conference in New York in the near future of all the leading men and women of art, literature, and drama to discuss the artistic needs and possibilities of the screen. On February 10 ho sailed from America to make a tour of _ the Continent, and he will personally invite all the European artists, authors, etc., to come to his conference. A supervisory board of well-known men and women will be appointed by the conference, and this board will award a series of prizes amounting to several thousand dollars, which Mr. Zukor will offer to those elements contributing most to the motion picture's artistic development during the year.

Scores of American film stars whose names are household words are leaving Los Angeles and going back to the stage, or, in some instances, to private life. Many have succeeded in securing European engagement, and not a few have settled down in England. Among the more famous names which seem to he lost to the screen permanently or indefinitely are Nazimova, Pauline Frederick, Mary Miles Mint Mabel Normdnd'. Pearl White, Alice Brady, Marguerite Clark, Billie Burke, Bessie Barriscale, Josephine Earle, Gladys Brockwell, Will Rogers, Francis Bushman, Taylor Holmes, Wallace McCutcheon, and Sheldon Lewis. Most of these are, announced as having accepted stage engagements, but others have . vanished without mentioning their plans or even an address. ! \ Some, : like Miss Wanda Hawley and Hr. Randolph Valentino, have left Los Angeles because they refuse to be mere " puppets of publicity," but the great impulse behind the exodus, which bids fair to obliterate the presents hierarchy of film stars, is the notoriety which the film colony has gained, during the recent drink-and-drug i; revelations, capped by the tragic death of Mr. Wallace Reid,' says a i London paper, v The film industry, under the leadership of Mr. Will H. ; Hays, ex-Postmaster-General, has been conducting an investigation for some weeks past on its. own account.

"The -Loves of Pharaoh." on© of Germany's celebrated super-films,, was presented with ; much topical circumstance at the ■ New ; Scala Theatre ■; : in > London, .; recently, -; to an audience which included many Egyptologist's. They saw the most massively-built architecture ever seen in a > photoplay: great i: temples throwing pillars to heaven; palatial halls and courtyards showing immense space and perspective'; battlements, ; monuments, stairways, tombs and dungeons of impressive solidity.- and many vast interiors illuminated with such v, misterioso" ;effects of light and shades as might have been conceived :-by v Rembrandt or Dore. ■•"■ Great crowds, military .pageantry, and Nile and desert panoramas complete the spectacular side of the production-, but the human story' set amid ; all. this grandeur :is ; a grotesque travesty of tradition, devoid of all dignity or reverence.; writes a critic. Pharaoh (Mr. Emil • Jannings) is as fat as 'a grampus, and ; as bald as a bullet. Ho wears- a goatee -beard 'of •'. the kind morn familiar in Kentucky than• in Karnak. (Some of the, Pharaohs, Cheops- for example, did : wear goatees.) Pharaoh is portrayed as a man' huckster and sensualist, trafficking .in .- gold and • girls. He squabbles , with > a young .architect (Mr. Henry Liedkte) for possession of a beautiful slave; girl (Miss >Dagny;Servaes). Pharaoh is overthrown in a war with an Ethiopian king, who looks more like a Red Indian, and • the architect obtains the ' girl and the throne. There are moments of real beauty when the young : loversr occupy the stage, but : the ' ignoble monarch and his comic Prime Minister between them completely assasinate the glory and glamour of Egypt. •