WIRTHS' CIRCUS

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12352, 23 January 1926, Page 6

WIRTHS' CIRCUS

LAST SHOW TO-NIGHT.

Those who hare not witnessed Wirths' Circus are reminded' that the final show will take place to-night. The circus is located in Cable street, near the Tara-

naki street wharf. The season has been most successful, and a record booking is expected to-night. The elephants alone are a sight Veil worth seeing. When just moving about the circus, or round the sawdust ring, make an impressive epglit, but when "stunting" at the command of a dainty little woman, Miss Eileen May, who moves like a fairy among the huge beasts, they constitute »an impressive spectacle. Professor Betts has astounded the spectators every day with his mar-vellously-trained seals, their performances being really amusing. Live snarling lionesses, who leap hurdles and jump through hoops of flame, supply a great turn under the-direction of Captain Smith. Clever jugglers, known as the Camella Troupe, do great things, and the Howell Family supply a beautiful tumbling act to the appreciation ot the audience. Alfred Clarke, a oaring horseman, gives a fine exhibition of tumbling on the back of a horse, and there are many other turns of excellence on the programme, including clever clowns, who make all laugh l by their refreshing, frolic and hilarity. The final lr.atinee will take place this afternoon. The box plan is at the Bristol.

THE EMPRESS THEATRE i -THE manicure GIRL."

In Bebe Daniels's new picture, "The Manicure Girl/* at the Empress Theatre, there is one sequence 'into which more comedy ,has been injected than in any other picture shown here in a Ion.? .time. Bebe is the manicure girl and Edmund Burns .plays her sweetheart. He is: very much in love with her, bdt being jjphhg and poor he has a tough time in niaking both ends meet and keep up with*: liip liancee. Naturally she likes nice things, and her job in an exclusive hotel brings her into contact with everything whicli she wants for herself. Most of her customers are men and all men who meet, her seem to "fall for her." Foremost \ of the battalion ■ is Hale Hamilton, a misunderstood husband, and it is the girl's acceptance of favours from him that causes the trouble. ' "The Fighting Sap," the second item in the programme, features Fred Thompson and his wonder-horse, "Silver King/* in a virile story of the West, of which a lost gold-mine, and its dramatic recovery, provide the theme. A con\edy and gazette complete a programme of more than usual merit. GUY BATES POST WORLD-FAMED ACTOR’S VISIT. . Guy Bates Post, th© famous nctor, who will make his first appearance in Wellington next Saturday night ot the Grand Opera House, under the direction of J. C. Williamson (N.Z.), Ltd., has the reputation of being the greatest interpreter ot human emotions on the stage to-day, and he is credited with having the same dominant power to sway audiences ns was possessed by the late Sir Henry Irving and the late Richard Mansfield. "In whntcver rolo lie appears Post is always artistically 'right,*" wiote a leading Australian critic recently, "for he possesses the strength and poise and cliarm of an’ actor whose art has been brought to the highest pitch of unobtrusive perfection." Mr Post's opening production will be "The Masquerader," and in both tho actor and the play, theatre-goers will find awaiting them one of those rare theatrical delights that corae only once in a very long while. "The Masquerader" is tho stage adaptation of Katherine Thurston's well-known novel, Chilcoto, MVP./' and the story centres round a drug-weakened politician who persuades his poor but brilliant "double/' John Loder, to impersonate him in the House of Commons for nn Important session. As a result of Chilcote's continued dei baueb. Loder is compelled to keep up tlio masquerade for a longer term than wa* originally intended, and n series of jKwcrful and sometimes amusing situations resulted. Mr Post portrays the

dual roles ofChilcotn uitd Loder. and his characterisations aro.oaid to be so ■wonderful that the audience finds it very difficult to realise that it is the one actor playing the two roles. Among the members of the splendid supporting company are Miss Eilleen Sparks, who plays tho leading feminine roles in all of Mr Post’s produdtionas Miss Cecil Haines, the popular young Wellington artist, who was last seen in her native city ten years ago, when she was a member of the "Seven Little Australians" Company; Miss Jean Athol, Nellie Mortyne, Elsie May, Helen Hayes, Jane Salisbury, little Lo.ye Green, Messrs Ashton Jarry, Winnington Barnes, Leslie Victor, Eric Mason, Richard Webster, Gerald Pring, Cyril Wender, Fred Francis, William Passmore, Harold Brumfield, and Arthur Watson. “The Masquerader” will be staged for sis nights only, and two other brilliantly successful productions, ‘’The’ Bad Man ' and "The Green Goddess," will be presented during the seventeen nights’ season. Tho box plans for the sis nigpts of “The Masquerader"-will be opened at the Bristol next Thursday morning.