ENTERTAINMENTS

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11934, 15 September 1924, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

“AREN’T WE ALL?” FINE COMEDY AT OFEKA HOUSE. TWO MORE PERFORMANCES. It was a delighted, enthusiastic audience which applauded Miss Irene Vanbrugh, Mi Dion Boucicault, and their company on Saturday night, after the amusing and ingenious end of “Aren’t We All?” For those theatre-goers who prefer the light and entertaining rather than the heavy and intense, this play is the best—as it is, unfortunately, the last—of the season. Mr Boucicault. in the part of Lord Gresham, is delightful. Few more fascinating characters have been presented on the stage than that of this debonnair, worldly-wise old nobleman, who declines to admit he is old. With consummate skill he heals the breach between his son and his daughter-in-law, and then, when he is prepared to receive congratulations on a diplomatic triumph, he falls a victim to the woman whose character and motives he imagines he knows so well. Only the instincts of a sportsman, and a keen sense of humour, minimise the force of the blow. The part of Lady Frinton, who frankly hopes that Lord Gresham will marry her, is small, and it might he trivial. Miss Vanbrugh makes it big. Miss Janet Eccles, whom one likes more on a longer acquaintance, in this play has her most important part, and she plays it well. As the wife who catches her husband kissing another woman she is conventional; as the wife who fears that her own indiscretions will be told to her husband, she is delightful. Mention must certainly be made, too, of Reginald Wykeham. As the Rev. Ernest Lynton, he is the typical _ “stage” parson, but his manner is delightfully his own. Martin Walker, Lena Halliday, and E. Pirie Bush, Ethel Wellesley, and Kitty Lake are all sufficient for their parts, and Paul Longuet and Leonard Toogood impersonate world-famous comedians, and Mr Toogood may find himself in awkward straits if Mr Chaplin should ever see him. The company played twice on Saturday, and both the matinees and the evening performance were given before crowded houses. There is a secret about the title of the play. It is well kept, and those who would learn it must see the play. But the revelation is worth while learning, and there are only two more opportunities for learning it. “Aren’t We All?’’ will be played to-night and to-morrow night for the last time. FULLERS’ VAUDEVILLE TO-NIGHT’S CHANGE OF PROGRAMME. An entirely new programme, consisting of vaudeville and revue, which is said to be a most diversified one, will be presented by the Fuller management at His Majesty’d Theatre this evening. The prime attraction will be the staging of a new musical comedy by the Jim Gerald Revue Company, entitled “The Tennis Club,” in which Mr Gerald will portray an amusing role, that of a valet to an English nobleman, who is devoted to the game of tennis and attached to a suburban tennis olub, and aa such is continually getting into trouble. His laughable encounters with the other members of the club afford him ample opportunity to display his talent as a comedian. Mr Gerald’s unaffected humour and “quick-fire” wit, it is stated, will be seen to the best advantage in this production. A number of musical items will he intermingled with the comedy scenes, and several dances by the Merry Twinklers, headed by Miss Polly McLaren, will he given, which are 6aid to be of a distinctive order. Their frocking is said to represent a most harmonious scheme, and the dancing in the new ballet, “Spring,’.’ to be spontaneous and graceful. As lord Colic, Hector’s master, Mr Reg. Hawthorne is expected to give a' good account of himself. Miss Essie Jennings, Miss Sophie Vivian, | and the Messrs Ernest Crawford, Howard Ball, and Lance Vane, in their respective roles, will doubtless lend adequate support to the new revue. The first half of the hill will, as is customary, be devoted to a series of vaudeville. turns, and several newcomers .are announced as making their first appearance locally. Prominent amongst these will be Fiery Jackson and Partner, burlesque jugglers, whoße performance is said to be a unique one, the principal object of these artists being to burlesque almost every sort of sleight-of-hand and juggling trick. Reno’s Marimba Band has been retained, and will provide a now’ repertoire of musical selections, ranging from grand opera to jazz. Mr James Stewart, the original tramp' at the piano, has prepared, further novelties, and doubtless will succeed in gripping his audience as successfully as he did with his first week’s programme. Mr Alec Regan, an English light comedian of headline status, will sing a budget of humorous songs, and will feature the latest English success, “That Old Gang.’’ The new bill will be repeated nightly during the week and at a matinee to he given on Saturday. EMPRESS THEATRE “THE MIDNIGHT ALARM.” A most melodramatio tale is unfabled in “The Midnight Alarm,” now being screened at the Empress Theatre. Action, the keynote of a successful photoplay, is strong in this picture, and there is a delightful love element woven in. Alice Calhoun, Percy. Marmont, Cullen Landis, as well as a full set of stars go to make up a fine cast. A throbbing story tells of “Sparkle,” a young waif, who has been adopted in the city after being found in tragic circumstances after a railway smash. She is, however, really an heiress. Through years she is sought in the city by the executor of her father’s estate, who is seeking to diestroy her, and so obtain the fortune. She however manages, when called 1 to interview the man, to obtain" her identity papers, and rushes home with them. She is, however, kidnapped and imprisoned in a vacant house. From here she effects an escape and hurries to the man she believes her grandfather. Through exciting scenes the film carries one forward, and the papers change hands time and time again. A thrilling fire scene caps the whole film, and the girl is eventually saved from a trap by Captain Westmore, the fire hero, who has loved her all through. The supporting programme is of a high order, and the musical programme is provided by the Empress Svmnhmur Orchestra.

TIVOLI THEATRE DODBLE-FBATURE PROGRAMME. •Two releases, both star attractions, are drawing capacity houses to the Tivoli Theatre this week. “Cordelia, the Magnificent,” with the beautiful Clara Kimball Young in the lead, and “South of Suva,” starring Mary Miles Slinter, are the chief attractions on a great bill. Mystery of the best is contained in “Cordelia, the, Magnificent,” and the story relates the adventures of the beautifh] Cordelia Marlowe, a wealthy society.woman, who by a trick of-the fates is turned penniless on the world. Determined to work, she is employed by a lawyer named Franklin, who conducts rather a mysterious trade, for it is hardly a profession, from which he derives money by the discovery and ultimate secreting of the things which happen in the ranks of the wealthy. Cordelia is sent to the home of her friend, Gladys Norworth, on a mission, as she thinks, and from now on her wits are pitted against those of a clever gang. Startling developments take place, and as fine a mystery is unravelled as one could wish' for. "South of Suva” is an up to the minute romance of the South Sea Isles, full of_ adventure and tensd situations. A capital programme altogether, and one no picture-lover can afford to miss. KING’S THEATRE y “WHY MEN LEAVE HOME.” A. most entertaining comedy-drama is being screened this week at the King’s Theatre, entitled “Why Men Leave Home.” The two leading roles are taken by Miss Helene Chadwick and Lewis Stone, and the picture show* a man who loses his happiness through neglecting his wife. She elects to live her own life; one cannot- go on being a wifely person for always when one is hungry for pleasure. And so she goes away, leaving him the consolation brought him by a typist, a regular girl, whom be marries later. Only in America would the succeeding incidents be possible. A brief clivoroe, a briefer marriage, and the film takes a turn as unexpected as satisfactory, and the final fade out sees a state of things undreamed of a few minutes previously. There is a strong supporting programme, and the King’s Select Orchestra plays excellent incidental numbers. Mr E. J. Gravestock, the well-known concert director, is leaving next month for England to arrange tours of vaii ous artists through Australia and New Zealand. He has been! in negotiation with the Dunedin Exhibition Commits tee with a view to acting as its commissioner in England for engaging artists to visit Dunedin in connection with the oxhibition.