ENTERTAINMENTS

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11820, 5 May 1924, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE FIRST NIGHT OF NEW REVUE. "I'VE SEEN THE HAREM." "Altogether tasteful and charming" is how a northern contemporary described the new revue "I've Seen the Harem," which will be one of the principal attractions in the new programme to be presented by the Puller proprietary at His Majesty’s Theatre this evening. The new piece, as its name implies, is Eastern in conception, and itß many attractive phases are said to be conducted with a wealth of colour, beauty and movement. The opening scene reveals a market place in old Bagdad, and the second episode depicts the interior of an Oriental harem. During the action of the piece various songs and specialty items will be introduced by Mr Vernon Sellars, Alf. Mack, Doddy Hurl, Harry Evans, Victor Dyer, and also the Misses Patsie Hill, Billie Jones and Madeline Dormer. The Sunbeam Six will provide the terpsichorean support, and will specially feature a new number, "Dreamy Araby/* and also the popular fox trot song ''Kismet/* The new revue is designed to give the chief comedian, Mr Doddy Hurl, every opportunity for funmaking, and it may be anticipated that he will avail himself fully of every chance to provike laughter. The scenery in the new extravaganza, which embodies many features of pantomime, is said to be most artistic, and the wardrobe to be appropriate and tasteful, whilst new music has been written. In the vaudeville first part there is no change of personnel,, hut the artists in season will all furnish complete change of items. Signor Alberti, the operatic tenor, is announced to appear in a new repertoire, and will sing "Rimpianto" (Roselli), "Mat tai nata" (Leoncavallo), Your Tiny Hand is Frozen" (La Boheme), and as a special request numberd will render the popular "0 Sole Mio." Cestria, the acrobatic waiter, will deliver _ feats, and these will be supported by Charles Lewis, the Hilo Duo, iiawailan instrumentalists, and Soli, xylophone solist, who will play and sing fresn instrumental music. The new bill will be r ®P*jted nightly during the week, and at the customary Saturday matinee. THE TIVOLI MUSGROVJaTS CELEBRITY VAUDEVILLE. This popular theatre in Manners street Was packed to the doors on Saturday night, when several additions were made to a particularly strong vaudeville proRrai ?J? e ’ Carr Lynne, described as the world s greatest animal mimic, aston!®bed the audience with a wonderful exhibition, his imitations of animals and birds being so true that with the performer unseen, it would have been impossible to detect the true from the imicockatoo said: "When he called to me I thought it was the wife, so I left—and got left." In Sydney Carr Eynne became one of the most popular performers, and he is likely to achieve a similar, enviable reputation in New Zealand; his Dominion tour will be an unqualified success. The Alton Sisters, two charming girls, gave a remarkably clever performance on the silver wire, and instilled all the flattering remarks passed on their unique offering at Sydney and MelShiela May (known in London r® Silver Dress Girl") and Sydney Keith, a pair of accomplished vaudeville artists, created much amusement with thelr sin B’ n ? and dancing appreciated. Windsor, hdgar and Kellaway,. the world-famed .English musical trio, were recalled again and again for their original musical scena. Alex Kellaway is a well-known CO T’ ed ?«7- 81 J nßer frora London, while Charles Windsor and Fred Edgar, bes’des being England's great violinists. Tho»t^ ndU^° rs °f fading West End eS ‘ J bey l ok ® Wlth music as a • artls * amuses wi th words, and fr /l m n °tcd compositions to jazz music with much dexterity. Niblo I nrn„,M 0n3 ’ ec , c , entri ? comedy entertainers” tu?^ d wh-i re fl ly f n i° y(lbl0 song and dance of an Italian grand opera singer m- 7. convulsed the audience Tha FrniV T > ri °]/ Clflr j S *°y y ' contralto) Dallas oi.sfT’ ce, jo. and Adonia Aitken, at the olfn whf°b ided . “ enjoyable musical S iJi r l /. 1 ! 11 h,gh commendation 2L„? it nd i•°i th °se present. Donald th l highi ■ and mighty magician; Rebe Kesslova the gipsy violinist, who P’ ,r rnosm of all sorts and plays it well, are ■ other enjoyable items on a good programme. A splendid performonoe is provided by the Tully Sisters with their delightful jazz band. The girls simply glory m their work, and each one is a specialist in her particular l 1”,- The concerted pieces are wonderfully attractive, and the spirited jazz finale is one of the most enjoyable performances of its kind ever seen in Wellington. , f J~ r E -. Shepard has received advice of the coming of Rene Riano, the delightful American singer and dancing comedienne; Bignor Romano Rasponi, the magGiURv »^ ari T° ne of^ the i . Sistine Choif; Ouilly and Jeanne. Continental acrobats l 17: Jnha ". ® cße . the worldfamous Hebrew comedian; and Will Hav master 0 " 11 * 8117 ’ presenting "The SchoolSTRAND THEATRE "WATCH TOUR STEP." Young Slocum was a dashing youth ®“ d , while do'ng a little dash of 80 miles t? „„°3 r In hw car he is caught and sent i?° t c SZ nes out Penitent, and momises his father to "watch his step." do S?. f°« 18 excitingly told in the Master Picture. "Watch Your Step." *h® Strand Theatre this week. He is proceeding along the road at the modcst pace of 10 miles on hour when he meots a doctor whose car has broken dawn. Young Slocum gives him a lift f? d ! n to the doctor’s urgent pleadings he Jets his racer go at top speed, and he soon meets trouble. He hoped to win the girl before the other fellow, hut when he landed with a bump, saw thousands of stars, and felt a motor tyre round his neck, he thought it all looked boneless— but it wasn't quite! The Bad Man," a First National pic- :£ r ®b ’V’S showing. It is a drama of the South-West, and it tells a story more complete and more thrilling than the usual motion picture. Enid Bennett piAvs the leading feminine role. H. . Aver y and hi" jo** hand roniler the latest m uze music. QUEEN’S THEATRE "WILD BILL HICKOK.” A characteristic William Hart picture full of action and excitement, and hreathspirit Of tho great American South-West, is "Wild Bill Hickok," the principal feature of the current bill at the Queen’s Theatre this week. The romantic days of the old West, with its esprit de corps, and its big, raw-boned men of sturdy ideals, are faithfully portrayeii in this picture. The selection of Alilham S. Hart for the leading role in a drama with such a setting was a wise one, for he has proved his ability to handle the part, and in the present "play sustains it with striking success. Glowing scenes depict the life in the plains which made American history in the 'sixties and 'seventies, when might was right, and the men who were quick on the draw survived. There was not much peace in those days for the peace officers, and the picture depicts many stirring incidents in their adventurous lives. As tho story proceeds all the well-known figures of the period are brought on the stage, and there is seen in action many nf that fearless band, such as Wyatt Barp. Bat Mastorton, Charlie Bassett, Doc Holliday, and others. The supports include a splendid comedy, a Burton Holmes trnvelogue, and the latest gazettes. The Queen’s orchestra, under the direction of Mr A. H. Jerome, supplies the msic.

VAUDEVILLE TRIALS

GRAND OPERA HOUSE. REPULSE MEN CONTRIBUTE GOOD TURNS. There was a good attendance, particularly on “the big top shell" at the amateur vaudeville trials, held at the Grand Opera House on Saturday night; and a good many of those present had evidently taken very literally, though perhaps not altogether as it was intended, the exhortation to "roll up and give to your own stage aspirants a reception to remember/-' They had, in fact, come prepared with overripe tomatoes and other vegetable "tributes"; and these they occasionally showered on the 6tage to the no small danger of the pianist and those of the audience in the front row of the stalls, when the shots fell 6hort, as they did now and then. These rows were, os a consequence, soon practically deserted; but one or two sailors and their lasses sat it out determinedly, though one of tho latter £ot splashed by a tomato "of a certain age" and had to wipe her hair repeatedly with her handkerchief. Tho ballad-singers were exceptionally unfortunate in arousing the ire of "the gods." The first artiste was of this % anety. Ho was distinctly nervous, and could hardly make himself heard, with tho result that before the end of the first verse several pennies fell on the stage, followed by various vegetables; and when finally a very ripe tomato burst at his feet he left without waiting to say goodbye. A later ballad-singer struggled through two or three verses; but the audience then lost patience with him. He stuck it out gamely, however, until a ripe tomata, splashing on to the piano and the score, so discouraged the gianist that he retired from the line of re, and the vocalist then also beat a retreat. Tho .first ballad-singer after-: wards gave a ventriloquial .turn, which met with a rather more favourable recoption, though, even so, he, did not venture to. tempt fate very long. A longer and better Turn, was given by a much longer ventriloquist j indeed, a quite unusually long man Some excellent songs, and- some not quite so excellent, were Supg .by sailots. and stokers, and a petty officer from. H.M.S. .Repulse; one of the stokers succeeding in winning the ballad singing competition with a very creditable rendering of ''Way. Back in County Down." The comic singing competition was won by F. Stone; but this was not a strong class, most of the comedians being involuntarily comic rather than -purposefully so. The winning specialty turn was given by Jacky Harris; and a very amusing dramatic sketch ("Joining the Colours'), which was also awarded a Mize, was contributed by Petty Officer Wbotton and Marine Willis. The medical boarding of a would-be recruit for the Army was very cleverly parodied, some of the "gags" being ‘particularly funny, and the make-up of tho recruit wonderful to see. Little Irene Avling .won the girl's song competition, in which there were throe or four quite pood contestants. The character 60i»g, "Huckleberry Finn," deservedly encored, was the best of the voasl efforts; rnd of the dancing the best, perhaps, was a Dutch clog dance by a small girl attired in the national costume of the Hollanders. Two tittle girls contributed a Russian dance for two, and a small boy. a Russian "pas soul." The youngsters, both vocalists and dancers, were given very sympathetic receptions; and the men of H.M.S. Repulse were very hospitably welcomed, though in one or two cases the tribute of a stray copper or two tinkled on the stage. THE KING’S "THE TOLL OF THE SEA/* Something out of the ordinary in the way of picture entertainment, in ihe form of a natural-colour photo-play, entitled "The Toll of the Sea," is now snowing at the Theatre. Of all the attempts that have been made in the past to secure natural-colour photography, this stands easily supreme, and the effqct produced is astonishingly beautiful. The setting of the story is in China, and thus admirably lends itself to the introduction of quaint and picturesque scenery. The play itself is well worthy of the beautiful setting. It tells with tender pathos a more than usually charming love story. The wistful little Chinese girl, "Lotus Flower," so innocently playful in the springtime P* love, ana ever faithful whatever may betide, - strikes a distinctly human and appealing note; and the quaUty of the characterisation and the charm of Anna May Wong lifts it for above the ordinaty* Kenneth ’ Harlan plays with distinction the unthankful part of the man who loves her, the "honourable husband," as she pitifully calls him, who forgets her and marries another when he gets back to his homelands America. Lotus Flower gnves her child to the woman who won the man she had lost—a magnificent admission that what must be, must be a. herolo submission to the unkindest of fates. , There as a Chinese legend of the beauty and treachery of the siren sea; a legend which tells that for every bit of toy the sea gives, it gives double the amount in disappointment. The sea ha<? laid a strange gift at the feet of Lotu* Flower m old Hong Kong—a youth of ▼ lc *® n * was P6d ashore, unconscious With Lotus Flower's aid he was revived and brought back to strength, and afterwards—he wooed and won her. After °§th ha Have passed out of her life, Lotus gives herself to the cruel sea that had first brought him to v r * Bentley is very sweet ami beautiful as tho other woman; and-Babv" Marian is wonderful as the child of the Orient—Occident. __The supporting films include a topical News Gazette, travelogue, a Cartoon SS?« — a humorous picture, Whores my Wife?" During the sereenof blg picture. Mrs R. Wildish sings. There s a Story Told of a Little Japanese/* BRITANNIA THEATRE "COCAINE.” A REMARKABLE FILM. Every now and then one reads in the cables of the death of some prominent society or stage celebrity who has fcnien a victftn of tho drug habit, and at such times 6ome indication is afforded of the enormous scope of this traffic in London, and of the amount of suffering and misery it entails. Such a situation, though tragic, or perhaps because of it, is essentially dramatic, and thi9 feature has been seized upon in the making of tho powerful film, "Cocaine," now snowing at the Britannia Theatre. In tl’is picture is told the story of how the cocaine traffic is operated in the night clubs of London, and 'how it turns brilliant men and women into its victims and slaves. Every civilised country in the world is to-day waging war against this evil, for the reasons which are so forcefully emphasised in this picture. Though presented primarily as an entertainment, this film is founded on fact, and constitutes an expose of the drug traffic in Txmdon. The central character of the stoTv is a young girl, the daughter of a wealthy man, who, carelessly pursuing the life in which she finds 'herself, is brought to the brink of ruin by the insidious influence of the drug—cocaine. Thi* role is filled by Hilda Bayley, the well-known English star, who * will be r emembered as playing the leading part in the film version of "Carnival/* in striking fashion, in the course of the olay. is shown the .method of carrying on the traffic in London's nocturnal pleasure resorts, and the measures which are taken by the authorities, to combat it.