BEHIND THE FOOTLIGHTS

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12199, 25 July 1925, Page 13

BEHIND THE FOOTLIGHTS

After a successful season in Dunedin. Maurice Moscoviteh returned .to the - North Island. After visiting North Is-' land towns he will play a season in Auckland. , • • • The Australian Ladies’ Pipe Band, -who havo embarked on a world tour, gave enjoyable concerts in Wellington. 1 *‘•• e ■ • » The Long Tack Sara Vaudeville Company, after a very successful tour of the Dominion, is • now in Australia. ' • -•* • • . * . ' The next notable C. Williamson .dramatic attraction to visit Wellington will he Guy Bates Post, the well-known American actor. The.company is due at the Grand Opera House on August 29th. * * * * * At the end of next month tho Auckland Little Theatre Company will stage Bernard Shaw's comedy. "Fanny’s First Play.” Mr Herbert Bentley la the producer for the society, which has over 300 financial members, and there is every indication of the number being doubled in the near future. ••* • * i "Charities Unlimited” at Christchurch is producing "The Slee >mg Beauty” at the Theatre Royal in aid of the Nurse Maude District Nursing Association and the Plunket Society. Tirre is talk of the company coming to Wellington And giving a performance in aid of the Karit&ne Home. ••• • , • There is an interesting association attacbingto the appearance in "Secrets" at the Theatre Royal. Melbourne, of Miss Frances Ross and Mr Charles Wheeler. For a number of years they were associated in Mr and Mrs Bland Holt’s company, Miss Boss as leading lady and Mf Wheeler as stage, manager and actor. •. • ■ • » • , Among tlm passengers on the Orient liner Orvieto, which recently sailed from Port Melbourne for London,- was Miss Mamie Watson, who had leading roles in productions by Mr Hugh J. Ward daring the last two years. She appeared in “The O’Brien Girl,” “Tangerine,” and "Little Nelly Kelly. s: • #; * # ■ Jimmy Gerald, Fullers* popular revue comedian, is to appear at His Majesty's along with his talented company on Monday, August 10th. He will be well remembered by his many ‘admirers, and his return to this city will be the signal for big business at His Majesty's. - Jim is an ardent motorist, and he intends motoring through from Auckland •t .the wheel or his trusty Essex, visiting Rotorua on the way.

The Three Melforda, who sire appearjpg in Fuller vaudeville, present a most attractive act, and their character studies and dancing are brilliantly carried out. These clever nave been appearing for many years in English vaudeville. They; started .out early in life to become dancers, and all' have won dancing championships, in Great Britain. In their youthful days they were so keen on performing that they would cycle from city to city to secure work. Their ability and perseverance was , soon rewarded, 'and their rapidly advanced in their chosen .profession. a •. * » The J. C. Williamson Musical Comedy Company has been drawing big houses at His Majesty's Theatre, Auckland. "Wildflower” was followed by "The’' Cousin from Nowhere," and the season concluded last Thursday. •■• . e • Mr Harrison Owen, formerly of Melbourne, hashed a play, "The Gentleman in Waiting!” produced in London. The criticisms vary very mnch, but most of the papers speak of the plot as being Original and the stagecraft good. • • One of the sensations of the London theatrical season is the success of “Rose Marie,” which has been breaking financial records at Drury- Lane Theatre. Ac- . cording to the "Daily Mirror," for eiint performances in the previous week the box office receipts were .£5958, which (says the “Daily Mirror”) is a "record figure for a theatre in this country.” The Australian rights of “Rose Marie” were secured recently bv Sir George Tallis on behalf Of J. C. Williamson, Ltd. • • • » • Mr and Mrs Kennedy Allen (Miss Georgie de Lara) have returned to London after a stay of nine years in Australia. Mr Allen appeared hero with Ada Reeve’s company. * • The newly-constructed Moon and Morris Revue Company on the New Zealand Fuller circuit is said 'to be a particularly pleasing combination, and it is claimed that when the company open in Wellington a pleasant surprise is in store for patrons of His Majesty’s. • a s • Henri French is back on the Fuller circuit after an absence of several years. He has travelled his one-man show through many strange lands since be was last here. •aa - a _A farewell concert is to be given Mr Kenneth Impett at Auckland prior to his departure for London, where he intends taking up a course of study. His many Wellington friends will wish him success in the big metropolis, where many other New Zealanders have made good. a a a a Jimmy's Taylor’s sketch, "The Village Minister," to be . presented at His Majesty’s an’ Monday evening, is the funniest thing Mr Taylor has presented on the Australian stage. Casting one’s mind back, one is unable to find anything parallel on the lighter stage to Mr Taylor’s bland old Nonconformist minister—for sueh he seems to he rather than the usual hackneyed type of High Church curate who keeps saying rather uncomfortably compromising things in a sonorous monotone, and with eyes blinking innocently over black-rimmed glasses. Mr Taylor scores a well-merited success, in which he is ably assisted by Dorothy bummers, who appears as the minister's wife—a dear old lady of tender yearsiwho will sing at the village concert. • * * » The impression created by the Australian Ladies' World Tour Pipe Band is ghat the band will long remain in the memory of those who attended either one or botn of the entertainments given as something New Zealand may well feel £roud of. and it is the first time in the ■ominion’s history that a hand composed entirely of the female sex has undertaken * such-a venture v

Mr Cyril Ritohard and .Miss Madge Elliott made a ; successful appearance in the revival of the revne "Bubbly” at the Duke of York Theatre,’London. *•. • • Marcus Clark and Company) Limited, have brought from Fullers' Theatres, Ltd., the Princess Theatre, in Central square. Sydney, for .£40,000, with the object of extending . their present premises. The theatre ’will be demolished. •*'* ■ * • ’ Miss Pauline Frederick will probably appear on the Londpn stage at tho end of this year under the management of Mr FL J. Carroll, and 'in a new play, "Declasse,” This Will be her first English: appearance. .

In London they call "Wee" Georgie Wood (now at the Grand Opera House) "the Peter Pan of Vaudeville." You See, he’s, the little fellow that never grew up. ' Lots of people who have' lived to grow whiskers and have other business interests say that they remember "Wee” Georgie years and years ago, and he looks the very same' now as he did then —-only he’s a hit more mischievous and ever so much more delightful. There must be a bit of Peter Pan in him, too, because he can make you laugh and cry almost in the one breath.- ,

; Neil McKay,, the Russian Scot, Who, it is to be hoped, will be brought over to - New Zealand, has arrived under contract to the Tivoli Theatre (J.C.W.). He appears in the characters which made him famous overnight in London, recently, when he appeared for the first) time at the .London Coliseum. *** . * .

Nick Norton, the "Talkative 'Songster," who has just arrived from London under engagement to ,-Sir- Benjamin ‘Fuller and Mr John Fuller, 13 making his first tour of the Antipodes. Hq is a cousin of Marie Lohr, the famous Actress, and comes of the theatrical stock. His great-grandfather toured- with ' the great'Edmund Kean,* and all his people are been associated with the stage ever since those 'days. He was always keen on seeing Australia, particularly Melbourne, as his uncle, Dr. Hall Owem who died in the Boer war, was at one time mayor of that city. • . *, • •• # • . J. C. Williamson, Ltd., will open a Gilbert and Sullivan season in .Australia next March. Mr James Hay (tenor) and Mr Charles Walenn have be re-engaged. A New Zealand tour will follow in due course. The Opera House will not be large enough to bold the audiences when "Pirates,” "Mikado,” and other old favourites are presented. '•a * *

> Many Wellington residents will remember the elderly but bfiergetic gentleman, Mr William T; Cunningham, hete with "Romantic India,” and they will regret to learn of his death, which ■ (took place at Sydney recently. < Mr. Cunningham was one of the guests at a dinner to Kreisler. the world-famous violinist, when he was stricken with cerebral haemorrhage, from which he never rallied. * * * * Those who delighted in "Black-Hand George,” “Wee” Georgie Wood’s opening sketch, at the Grand Opera House, will find 1 even -greater entertainment in his second offering. “Thicker Than Water." The humour of this is more-subtle, and the touches of pathos more pronounced, than in the playlet that first Introduced "Wee" Georgie in Wellington. Dolly Harmer is seen in the role of the little artist's mother, and gives him material assistance. New song numbers and impersonations reveal, the versatility of this very remarkable little artist. • * • * - That clever and popular comediaVi, Jim Gerald, is attacking records in Auckland. At the Opera House, he and his company have been showing for 14 weeks, and are reported to be still going strong. His last production was one with which Wellington theatregoers are familiaT — "Bare Backs,” a musical frivol with the comedian as a detective in search of a missing heiress. Misses Mona Thomas, Essie Jennings, and Sophie Vivian vocalise pleasingly during the progress of evtents, and Messrs Reg. Hawthorne, Howard Hall, Lance Vane, and Lawrence Halbert all help towards a jolly production. The ballet is said to be stronger than ever, and dainty Polly McLaren does some beautiful dancing. They will be warmly welcomed at His Majesty’s \riien they open their Wellington season. * * * * A. B. Matthews the English actor who has just returned from n trip to America, and is to play the leading part in ’’Beggar on Horseback” at the Queen's Theatre, went round London to see the much-discussed "decadent" plays, "but, he afterwards said, "I have not found anything even to make me raise my eyebrows. Why, the plays here that people call shocking ar* Sunday concerts compared with many of the plays American people flock to see. I was offered parts fn some of them, but they were too impossible. , One was so terrible that Violet Hemming, who is regarded as America’s most beautiful woman, refused to continuo reading a part to me. She read a page of the script in silence, and then said: ‘You can read the rest yourself; I cannot do it,’ ”