LOS ANGELES VISITOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22350, 22 February 1936, Page 23

LOS ANGELES VISITOR

INTEREST IN THE STAGE ? . ' • i; •' . <: . RETURN OF SPbKEN DRAMA ' An interesting visitor to Auckland ' who arrived by the Mariposa from San Francisco yesterday is Mrs. Nellie M. Yarnell, of Los Angeles, who is accomby her son, Mr. Richard Yar- «; Yarnell is a prominent member Los Angeles Ebell Club, one of ythe,.many women's clubs iir California. Sjta said the Ebell Club, with a membership of. over 3000,. was one of the . largest in the United States and possessed what was generally described as • » million-dollar clubhouse. It was one i.'ef the most beautifully and efficiently planned buildings in California. The " Tchib was the constant scene of day and night entertainment, parties and gath.fnngs of all descriptions being held in ifelarge halls. Apart from the entertainment aspect, however, the club was important in its educational value. "Study classes in all forms of home management, handiwork and gardening, literature, science, philosophy, finatice, history and world politics formed one of the inost important and enthusiastically supported branches of the club's «#yit,ies. /-Mrs.' Yarnell herself is keenly interested in drama and all aspects of stage *ork. She reads widely, with a preference for plays. "The United States is intensely fond of Shakespeare," Mrs. Yarnell said. "In feet, the Americans' interest in Shakespeare would amaze the English. The s possibilities of Shakespearean drama ®ad comedy have not yet, in my opinion, been fully realised. Perhaps they never will be, but 1 am sure that Shakespeare's greatest day is yet to come.*' . Mrs. Yarnell takes an active interest M the stage. She said she hoped on her return to the United States to give to people there interested in the stage tome idea of what was being done in that direction in this part of the *orld, and of what progress tho spoken drama was making outside America. She thought American films were now of an increasingly higher standard, and she hoped to see them advance still further in tho quality of their productions. She herself would prefer to see 1 more of the legitimate stage, and she fas of th o opinion that its popularity * a s again beginning to grow in the United States. ."lis. Yarnell has travelled extenm both North and South America and in, England, and she has also visited South Africa. On every .Possible occasion she has endeavoured Jo see something of the stage life of the n;aee S she has visited. She was confident that the future for spoken drama and comedy was in every case Ver y promising.