ENTERTAINMENTS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7028, 17 January 1910, Page 6

ENTERTAINMENTS

THEATRE ROYAL. All available seating and standing aocommodatioin was filled at Theatre Royal on Saturday evening, when Fullers' Vaudeville Company gave their final performance of the current programme. Enthusiastic encores were the rule, and there was abundant manifestation of the enjoyable nature of the numerous items on the bill. A complete change of programme will be introduced this evening, ■when Armstrong and Verne will appear in their latest comedy dancing and singing sketch. They, will sing "Whistle and I'll Wait for You," a parody on "Asleep in the Deep," and "The Land of the Southern Cross." The miniature acrobatio song and dance National Duo wiU contribute "Hullo, Little Girl, Hullo!" The Duckworths* acrobatic display will be a special feature; The Newcastle miners. Heath and Lamb, will sing the duet "Army and Navy" and other numbers. The comic juggling act by the Levartos is a novelty "turn" of commendable originality. THEI AMERICAN MAGICIAN. OPENS TO-NIGHT. Charles J. Carter, the much-travelled and much-heralded American magician, arrived in Wellington yesterday after a world-wide tour, and this evening at the Opera House will present his performance in magio and illusion. The variety and interest of Mr Carter's performance, which is, of course, the basis of the entertainment, does not, however, exhaust the attractions which are promised by the programme. He is assisted by Coriune Carter, who has a marvellous mastery over the inmost thoughts of others—an almost uncanny power of divination, which has created an immense impression wherever she has gone. Mr Carter's, show is the largest of its kind extant, the company consisting of ten -people and twenty tons of accoutrements. Among his assistants are two charming American young ladies, Miss Alethe Pierce and Miss Evelyn Maxwell. Miss Pierce's special forte is the imitation of a Japanese lady conjurer—performing the Oriental variant of the birth of the rose and other spectacular jugglery. - Miss Maxwell is an adept in hypnotism and lends an important part in the wonderful illusion called Levitation.

Magician Carter lias been a man of many a varied interest in the course of his not very long life. For three years the editor -of a Chicago newspaper, for several years a practising barrister, and at a later period a theatrical manager, Mr Carter found time to keep himself at the top of the magical tree. Mr Carter is nothing if not frank. He says that he'is glad to get back to Wcllingter, in fact, he was so anxious to pet here that he motored, in company with Mrs Carter and two young lady members of tho company, from Greytown yesterday The magician describes the trip by automobile over the Rhnntaka mountains as being the most beautiful and interesting scenic tour he had ever takon. The grandeur of the mountains, the lofty peaks, and the winding devious roads are not to be found oven in Switzerland, according to Mr' Carter. To reiterate, Mr Carter is frank. Ho declares that magicians do not delve deeply into science as people imagine. According to Mr Carter magicians tricks aire on the surface. Merely the application of natural laws, and no elaborate mechanism is required or applied. Asked about his 6ixty-eight trunks, the great magician explained that many tons of ponderous accoutrements were necessary to bring his performance up to the standard demanded nowadays by the amusement-loving public. "As a matter of fact." declared Mr Carter, "children are our real oritics. If I see the children in the audience cannot fathom my tricks, I know that I am safo from the grown persons. Tho latter look away beyond the trick for some occult! explanation, while children look directly at it. I follow the dictum that magic is not jugglery and does not depend upon the agility of one's finger as it does on the ability of the magician to deceive tho senses and make apparent something that is not a fact. I consider Levitation my best illusion, and perhap3 the most bewildering illusion ever discovered. It is the work of years' study and defies explanation." In Corinne Carter Mir Carter has an assistant who is said to be the most marvellous psychic phenomenon appearing in public. Corinne Carter gives a scientific explanation for her mysterious command of any information that a second party may desire. It is claimed that it is done by the projection of her astral body—her real and forceful self—out of tho physical.

Mr J. C. Williamson's dramatic company brought its Wellington season to a close on Saturday night at the Opera House, when a large audience witnessed "The Silver King.'" The company appears at Wanganui to-morrow evening.