ENTERTAINMENT AREA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19177, 17 November 1925, Page 10

ENTERTAINMENT AREA.

MANY NEW ATTRACTIONS.

URGE FESTIVAL HALL. VISIT OF A FAMOUS BAND. [BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER-] DUNEDIN, Monday. The arrangements for entertainment at the exhibition, which are in the capable hands of Mr. Scott Colville, have been made on a lavish scale. Everything will be offered from "fun factory 1 to "Faust." The Festival Hall lias seating accommodation for 2700, including the chorus benches. It is a remarkably fine building, nothing in the interior suggesting its temporary character. It has a large circle, and upon the circle level beneath the dome there is a tea room. Leading on to a colonnade, from which a splendid view of the grand court scene is obtained, a small pipe organ has been installed.

Primarily the hall is intended for choral works. An exhibition choir of 400 voices and an orchestra o;i 45 have been trained by Mr. W. Paget Gale, and will be conducted by M. Gustave Slapofski, brought specially from Australia. The soloists include Arthur Jordan, the English tenor, and several members of the Carl Rosa and -MoodyManners Opera Companies, notably Ilarison Cook, Madame Kate Campion, Madame Irene Ainsley and Miss Helena Stewart, the Australian mezzo-soprano. Mr. Harold Tollemache, the Australian baritone, has been engaged, and also Mr. Victor Evans. There will be a permanent orchestra of 12, which will piay daring the operatic and repertory seasons and at any functions where its services are required. The greatest musical attraction is the Argyll and Sutherland Band, which will cost about £30.000. Bandmaster Ricketts, the composer of the "Colonel Bogey March," is the only conductor who has succeeded in combining the bagpipes with an ordinary band. In some cases the bagpipes play the solo to the band's accompaniment. The band will play in the afternoons and evenings in the grand court, and will give special concerts in the Festival Hall, for which admission will be charged. It will be remembered that only one indoor concert was given in Auckland by the Royal Artillery Band, which was a feature of the Auckland Exhibition. Works For Presentation.

In addition to works by the choir the ■local Operatic Society will fill two seasons with "Flora Dora" and "Our Miss Gibbs." The Shakespeare Club will present "Othello," and the Male Choir and Choral Society will render "The Messiah." There will be two seasons' of costume comedy by G. P. HaVina's "Famous Diggers." There will be a week of musical and elocution competitions, a week for the international tug-of-war, a repertory season, in which "Dover Road" and "The Pigeon" will be presented. A dance festival will also be given. The New Zealand band contest will occupy a week, and tho Royal Choral Society will give "Tho Golden Legend," "Elijah" and "Faust." Interspersed will be a series of promenade concerts, and under the auspices of the Otago Boxing Society three boxing contests will bo staged. Various entertainments will be given by a children's choir of 500. The New Zealand fire brigade contests will be held on the sports ground, where a grandstand to seat over 30CO has been erected. Many atKletin. fixtures have been arranged, as well as a historical pageant in tableau form. The Amusement Park. The amusement park, containing a number of the attractions of Wembley, is considered to be finest ever established south of the line. The scenis railway, a much better affair than the ordinary switchback, is a colossal structure upon which there, is promised a thrill every second. The "river caves" is quite a new idea. Beside a working mill wheel which keeps the current flowing' passengers embark in boats which travel through weird and uncanny places and are then elevated to enable a water shoot finish to be made. "The caterpillar" is a kind of merry-go-round. Before it starts a green canvas sheet comes down over the carriages, which have been built for two, and in the ride all the movements ol a caterpillar are produced. The "dodge em" will be a fine fun maker. On a flat iron floor, sheltered from the weather, people will take rides in electricallv-driven carriages which make contact with power through a pole touching a steel network overhead. There are constant collisions but the impact is taken by the rubber buffer that runs round each carriage. Much fun is promised. The "merry mix up" is based on the merry-go-round idea but chairs for one hang on steel rods and when the machine revolves each chair swings out. One should imagine that demure girls will avoid the "merry mix up." " Fun Factory" and Cabaret.

"The fun factory" is entered .through the huge mouth of the gigantic head of "Old Bill" and before one reaches the interior, where there are a couple of fine slides, lie has to pass through dark passages in which floors shake and wobble and weird ogres howl. There are all sorts of novelty games. A large cabaret has been built by a syndicate and will be a certain attraction.

Adjoining the amusement park is a children's playground, with 36 devices. Nearby is a creche and mothers' rest room and it will be possible for mothers to leave their bairns at play while they tour the pavilions. In the vicinity are a restaurant and tea rooms and a large cafeteria where quick "snacks" may bo obtained.

The aquarium, promoted by a company, contains large glass tanks with every kind of fresh water fish found in Now Zealand. The tanks are on a rock foundation covered with growing ferns. A magnificent collection of'rleer heads, including specimens of chamois, thar, and sambur, all shot in the Dominion, is on view. In addition to a mounted group of red deer notable specimens of mounted salmon and trout are on sjiow. A swordfish and a kirigfish from the north will appear later. The fernery, built of pnnga trunks, lined with moss, is a delightful bower of green.