PRINCESS THEATRE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19721, 23 February 1926, Page 10

PRINCESS THEATRE.

In the lobby and corridors of the Hotel Guess, New York, George Ward and his company find sufficient material tor one of the most laughable corned;;s of the season. “The Hotel Guess” is the name of the new revue at the Princess Theatre, and the production was greeted last night by the appreciative house, previous efforts have already assured this combination. The name of the hotel is the first peculiarity that visitors remark, and Mike O’Brien, the day clerk (Les VVarton) finds great pleasure in explaining to mystified patrons that the name denotes the perpetual state of those unfortunates who seek its shelter. They are kept guessing all the time. The arrival of visitors at the hotel brings into the limelight the two clerks, Mike and Handsome Daily (Carlton Chase), and the droll Abe Cohen, the bell-boy (Bert Le Blanc). The Rev. Obe Joyful (Yorke Gray), whose objects in life are to save souls and to down liquor, arrives with. a female party. They all rush Uo clerk demanding their keys, and as each name is called out some of them are rather unfortunate, the irrepressible bell-boy, “the Hebrew of Hebrew extraction,” makes trite comments, which naturally bring down on his head the wrath and. spleen of niany feminine tongues. These are Bonnie Joyful (Patsie Hill), the reverend one’s daughter, her friend Ima Bird (Dorrie Tointon), and Mary Hold (Daisy Yates), a seductivelooking creature hailing from the Angels Delight Opera Company. With a bluster and roar the last guest arrives in the person of little Hermie Schiiltz, complaining of the ungentlemanly treatment accorded him by the Jew. He demands a room from Daily, who is suddenly called away from his duties by beauty in distress. Hermie’s opportunities are not wasted. Having cleaned _ out the till, he makes a nuisance of himself lyith the clerk and the distressed daughter of the clergyman. The practical jokes of the indignant clerk drive the little visitor to his erstwhile enemy, the bell-hoy, and together they decide to enter society.. Each appears in the reception room with a “bucket” —Abe’s is a bunch of roses and Hermie’s carrots and cabbage. Here they encounter the attractive Mary Hold, and each strives under the tuition of Handsome Daily to make a hit. To Abe’s mortification his roses are rejected for the vegetables, but vain regrets ar'6 cut short by the appearance of the day clerk,' Mike, with the dread intelligence that the parson has consumed the hotel’s entire stock of whisky. He certainly consumes the liquor with a good bit _ more assiduity than he saves souls. Jimmie Travers, the purveyor of spirits (Vern„n Sellars) appears at the crucial moment and replenishes stocks. Handsome Daily’s nest move is to persuade the fickle Hermie, -whose extravagance _ becomes alarming, to join a misogynistic order —the Woman Haters’ Union. Hermie is quite willing to join even when told that a term of a year was the minimum, arid the solemn oath of allegiance is being repeated when the causes of all the trouble begin to promenade before the little man’s gaze, and despite his resolution he falls, and Handsome sees a promising unionist backsliding. The position is saved by the magic pills of the order, which elimiriate desire. Once in the bonds of the union Hermie’s zeal increases, and in great anguish he watches the fall of Daily, the president. This constrains the conscientious Schultz to address his brethren in the union .in accents which for lucidity and vigour left the meanderings of Monty far behind. The appearance of a vamp necessitated the use of the pills, and to make assurance doubly sure he takes a mouthful, but the amorous attentions of her ladyship cause him to dirgorge his curatives gradually until with a final kick at the traces he spits out the last and disappears with the temptress. Scene two is laid in the corridor outside the bedrooms of Hermie, Daily, Mike, and Abe. Here a pathetic story is told of a sornnam bulist —a beautiful girl—Who, as a result of a motor accident, walks in her sleep, following always the sound of a motor horn. The men retire each with a motor horn, each thinking he had outwitted the other, but Hermie’s was the biggest and loudest.

The singing was one of the features of the revue. Patsie Hill and the Snapshot Six sang “Yes, Yes, in Your Eyes/’ after which Carlton Chase pleased the audience with “Never Mind.” Dorrie Tointon gave a delightful Scotch dance. Daisy Yates sang “New Orleans.” Les Warton’s singing of “All that I want” pleased more than the Celtic hearts in the house. Yorke Gray sang an appropriate action song, “Syncopate,” and later' joined Daisy Yates in “Valse Elegante,” a well-named turn. Vernon Sellars made an attractive “Cloze Props” man, and sang “One till Two” with Patsie Hill. Bert Le Blanc, in a grotesque Highland costumne, brought shrieks of mirth with “Goot is a Hoot Man.” There was one new turn on the vaudeville programmme, that of Mae Kegae, whose nimble dancing earned her much applause. Her “twinkling toes” and twisting form wore sometimes hard to follow, so fast were her movements. Phil Lopaz was very amusing with tricks that had such simple explanations. The Murfayne Duo received loud applause for their musical treat. The xylophone and piano made pleasant listening, and the singing of Ella Airlie was very clever. The dazzling display of the Littlejohns has lost little of its brilliance, and the dexterity of the jugglers still amazes many.