ACTOR "HELD UP."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20958, 22 August 1931, Page 11 (Supplement)

ACTOR "HELD UP."

LOTINGA AND MASKED BANDIT. Ernie Lotinga, the famous English " low " comedian, soon to be seen in the Dominion m Gainsborough's "Josser, I J (J " which is based on one ot his own sketches, " The Police Force " was once the victim of a gunman's hold-up, when journeying from Chicago to Cleveland, during one of his several tours ot America. The actor had not bothered to change from his burlesque policeman s uniform, in which he appeared, on the stage, but had jumped into his car, and was on his way to a friend's houise, several miles out, where he was staying. About a mile distant from Ins destination, he was brought to a halt by a masked man, who demanded his valuables. However, Lotinga had on his person a toy pistol used in his act. Somehow he knocked the revolver out of the gunman's hand and threatened him with his own toy mechanism, liut the comedian has an acute seuso of humour, and as the man " worked ( a / one > and was obviously a " new chum, he handed him a twenty-dollar note, and they parted quite good friends.