TOWN HALL.

NZ Truth, 4 January 1908, Page 6

TOWN HALL.

■' West's Pictures. The moving picture is the thrilling factor m modern show business which 'adapts itself to* all require-, jnents. -Do you desire a ballet ? The mit'gic glass immediately conjures up a row ofj luresome females whose entrancing limbs lascinate the baldheads m the front stalls. Perhaps you want comedy? Hey, Presto ! A series of laugh/ter-mpviiig' incidents spring on to the sheet, arid throw the /.Town Hall patron into paroxysms of mirth" whicti is better treatment for illness and : liver and the Vblues" generally than all the doctors -and medicine m creation. The .sentimental, crowd likes its pathos also, and the remarkable spectacle is vouchsafed of a dense crowd shak^ig its sides with laughter at some 4 i iab"o/l i ically- i .funny incident, and anon gazing m tear-dimmed expectancy as some' tragic occurrence unfolds, itself. -to the eye, and appeals to the 'ear. . A-gain the watcher is carried m spirit; up the picturesque snow wastes of Switzerland ; through Glasgow, the Clyde and Fingal's marvel--lous cave, (the while the emotional musical ' composition Yof that\amc is played by de Groen's magnificent Band), through l the streets and slums of beautiful, 'but • dirty Naples, right into the ; mouth of, good old . Vesuvius; then 'by a twirl of the magic wand ■the spectator is transported to the lower reaches of "the river Ayon, * the; pride and joy" of Christchurch, where on the rippling waters, the swaying willows- caress the motor boa v ts and the cool environment protects the boating crowds of tooth sexes from the hot, enervating breath of , the north-west winds.. The moving picture is the solution of the future educative mode, for no other means can better convey to the mind the realism of far-away places, and m the school; of the future the prophetic eye may see. nought of map or geography or weariness m the, ypupjil, but a school where the cnildrenwill follow with aJbsorba'ng, interest scenes m their own homeland and m distant countries : which' will be ineffaceable for. all time and convey knowledge of men and things. The . kiddies shoul# be brought to West's. Laughter, tears, and tfreathless interest are the emotions that alternately sway the great audience nightly m the Tow© Hall. The fate of the rash individual who complained at the , laundry about his shirts, and who is seized by $he washer y-girls, soused, ' mangled, starched and ironed (while the •orchestra wails with the mournful / dfs^ pair of a- lost soul'), and is returned m- a neat parcel' to his, home, reduces the audience to a state of helpless laughter ; . then the pathetic story of a- fisherman's widow— a French coastal tra-gedy— unfolds itself ; eije the really mtp-rvellous occurrences m a magic drawing-roomy a haunted hotel, or some such scene are thrown on to the sheet. Mr Harry Listen, who is a son of the famous Harry ; Liston. originator of the "Merry Moments" form of entertainment m Manchester, has reduced the mechanical effects to a line art, and ishe salt sea waves hiss^ roar and splash, and horses pit-a-pat on the flinty road, and crockery smashes with realistic rattle, ' and the thunder and f lightning occur with all the convincingness of everyday life. By all means go to West's, and enjoy yourself, good citizen, and j bring the kiddies with you. An' :en- ! tire change of programme is promised | for to-day (Saturday), when there is a matinee m the afternoon, and new] and astonishing things will foe born nightly on the calico during the week.