LIGHTENING THE BURDEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21264, 19 February 1931, Page 3

LIGHTENING THE BURDEN.

VALUE OF THE PANTOMIME. JIM GERALD’S OPINIONS. Mr Jim Gerald, the principal comedian of the J. C. Williamson Pantomime Company, has had a very interesting career. He has been in all kinds of theatrical work from the circus to grand opera, though it has to be admitted that his part in the latter sphere was brief and not very prominent. Mr Gerald was fascinated W the circus in his early youth, and to this day he holds the opinion that the circus plays an important part in the lives of children. The youngsters, he says, dream of the circus before they see it, and they continue to dream of it after it has gone. In these times, he considers, the children need to be lifted out of the morbid atmosphere induced by so much talk of depression, and there is nothing like a circus or a pantomime to do it.

“ The pantomime is in Englishspeaking communities what the circus is in America,” says Mr Gerald. “Itis a tradition, and it represents something no other form of entertainment can give. Founded as they are on fairy tales, pantomimes simply dramatise the stories the children learn at their mother’s knee, and they remember them all their lives.” He knew old men who could, to thi3 day, remember the names of the clowns and dames who had entertained them as children. Pantomimes had an appeal for all, irrespective of age, and the reason was that everyone had a childish streak. Pantomimes were not subtle, and they were not clever, like dramas, but he knew of no other form of entertainment that was able to hold the children year after year. j Mr Gerald spent the first 16 years of his theatrical life with a circus, and he has since been associated with burlesque, vaudeville, revue, musical comedy, and, once, with a grand opera. In explanation of this last experience, Mr Gerald says: “I wanted to hear grand opera—this was about 20 years ago—but I could not afford the prices. The super-master was a friend of mine, arid he suggested that I should be one of the army, and carry a spear so that I could hear ‘ Lohengrin.' So, dressed in a suit of mail, I stood all through the first act, while hardly anybody moved, and thought it was the longest opening chorus I had ever heard. When the curtain went down, I was still wondering, and I asked my friend when they were going to do something. He said that a lot had already happened. I thought that a little comedy, a swan ballet, and some cross-talk between a jester and a comedy soldier would bftve helped ft lot, and i do not know that f my opinions have changed since then.” Mr Gerald also refers to the number of circus “fans” in America. In some of the large cities there were Circus Fans Leagues, backed by wealthy men, and they went to considerable expense in entertaining circus people. . Remarking that life was a serious business if people cared to make it so, Mr Gerald points out that from the earliest times wise men had known the value of a little nonsense now and then. The old kings used to keep jesters to enliven the atmosphere pf the court when things became too serious. “No amount of laughing will cure our economic ills,” he says, “but it will help us to bear them. I may be prejudiced because amusing people is my job, but all entertainment is based on the knowledge that w e must not be serious always, and laughter is one of the best medicines we have. That is why I think pantomimes are good for children, and I am sure that the reason why we like playing to children is that they love it so.”