NEWS FROM LONDON BUSY DAYS IN THE THEATRE

Southland Times, Issue 23840, 10 June 1939, Page 13

NEWS FROM LONDON BUSY DAYS IN THE THEATRE

£ll,OOO A Night Being Taken In The West End

' By Air Mail from TREVOR ROSS

LONDON, May 25 THE theatre is one of the glories of London’s life, and it is gratifying to learn that after a sharp set-back the West End theatres are enjoying a wave of prosperity. It really requires no excuse to talk about London s theatre-land because without it London would not be what she is, and life in the great pity would not be as full of those indefinable somethings which impart to the Town, as Londoners affectionately call it, the very characteristics which have made it famous. Despite hundreds of cinemas, London is still able at the moment to support 32 theatres, including music halls. About .half these are playing to capacity, and even among the others where they say they are losing money, you have almost to fight your way m. The total money capacity of the West Ena is reckoned at £lB,OOO a night. At present the takings average roughly £ll,OOO a night, about £70,000 a week including matinees. Now that “French Without Tears has been taken off after a two-year run, Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge are commanding the greatest popularity in “Under Your Hat” at the Palace. So far 300,000 have seen this farce and the box office has taken £105,000, representing a weekly turnover of £4200. Seats have been booked for as far ahead as next Boxing Day as I discovered when I applied the other day. “The Women, a rather remarkable play from America with a cast of 40, all women, is averaging £2150 a week and it seems likely to have a wonderful run. “Dear Octopus” with Marie Tempest and John Gielgud has probably been the most consistently-successful play in London for a long time. It was one of the few which did not suffer during the September crisis. That, incidentally, was a bad time for the theatres, a sidelight on the feelings of the people at the moment. These are merely a few of the theatres from a long list, but they indicate a revival in play-going which has greatly pleased, all lovers of the theatre.

A Forgotten Man

THE British Broadcasting Corporation’s refusal to have anything to do with the Duke of Windsor’s broadcast to America from Verdun this week is another instance of the studiea campaign to turn the Duke jnt° a forgotten man as far as the British public is concerned. Almost nothing is heard of him these days. Little driblets of news trickle into the English papers from time to time but they are buried in the back pages at the bottom of columns. It is not an exaggeration to say, moreover, that the British public has seen scarcely one good and clear photograph of the Duke since the abdication. Those which appear in English journals give every sign of having been wilfully distorted before reproduction. The Duke is scarcely recognizable in these photographs. In many instances one suspects that even the outline of his features has been tampered with. The Duchess is just as harshly treated. Whereas they have the reputation- of being among the most fashionable and delightful couples on the Continent, photographs of them which are very infrequently published in English journals make them appear as thoroughly unpresentable. The Government, of course, is primarily responsible for the discouragement of anything that might keep alive the memory of King Edward VIII. Yet he himself would be the last to force himself on the British people. It leads one to a little wistful thinking when one sees the continued harshness with which the authorities are treating one who did so much for the Empire during the best years of his life.

Young Artist

IF you take even a slight interest in art, it will be worth while remembering the name of Ursula McCannell, for a good deal will probably be heard of it in coming years. Ursula is no more than 15, but this week she held one of the most remarkable “one-man” exhibitions of paintings and drawings ever seen in London. Critics who visited the Redfern Gallery in Cork street frankly wrote of their amazement. Some of the greatest experts in the country marvelled that a school girl could paint with the assurance, the force and the in- } sight of a gifted;

and Iqng-exper-ienced artist. Her m o s t advanced works are inspired by recollections of scenes and people she saw when, with her father, Mr Otway McCannell, principal of the Farnham (Surrey) Art School, she visited Spain during the early part of the Civil War. There is “War” for instance. It is a group of two men and a woman who have just read the latest news from the battlefront. Horror and despair are dramatically depicted in the woman’s face. She seems to typify all suffering Spain. “Storm” is another astonishingly able composition, strongly symbolical—a group of women kneeling and standing on the edge of a precipice, their eyes filled with dread and stoical courage. This picture, perhaps the finest expression of its young creator’s powers, has been sold for 30 guineas. At 13 this extraordinary young woman was elected a membei - of the Women’s International Art Club and has contributed to several exhibitions. Recently some of her work appeared in a contemporary show of French and British masters.

HIGHLY interesting and important experiments in camouflage are being conducted by the Air Ministry for use in time of war. Captain Balfour, Undersecretary for Air, has said that close attention is being paid to the problem of making hangars and aerodromes inconspicuous. Factories, administrative headquarters and famous buildings such as cathedrals will be unrecognisable in wartime. St. Paul’s, for instance, would be a highly valuable sighter for raiding aircraft. It will be so cleverly disguised that a flyer would be completely deceived. Photographs taken from the air of buildings upon which the Air Ministry has been experimenting are highly interesting. Gasworks have been made to look like churches and an airport has been disguised as a most attractive village. It is possible, to alter the appearance of a whole district, making bombing of well-known landmarks almost impossible. One essential is to eliminate shadows cast by buildings. This is done by sloping camouflage “wings” from the tops of outside walls to the ground. When the whole is treated with paint the building almost disappears from sight from above. Denuded Forests

AT first sight it might seem strange that England, the land of trees, should be seriously concerned about the denudation of her forests. Activity by the Forestry Commission, however, is ample proof that the growing demand for timber in this country is being scientifically countered by planned plantings to meet the needs of future generations. The commission has. acquired 1,105,000 acres in Great Britain. So far more than 350,000 acres have been planted and it is hoped to plant no fewer than 1,770,000 acres within the next 80 years. History is repeating itself in Bedgebury Forest, a tract of 2300 acres of woodland and heathowned by the commission in Sussex. Three hundred and fifty years ago, when Elizabeth reigned, "the Weald was the “black country” of England where the ironmasters flourished. But their furnaces ate up great areas of woodland and it was feared there would not.be enough timber for the Queen’s ships. Acts were passed restricting felling and new trees were planted. And the ironmasters departed leaving stumpscarred hillsides and ugly slagheaps. Today at Bedgebury, centre of the most prosperous part of the old Weald ironworks, trees are being planted again and felling is prohibited except, by direction of the commission. This is but a sidelight on the work of. afforestation going on throughout Britain. It is a work which has been designed to appeal to the children of the country districts where they have proved valuable aids to the planters. In the autumn you will see them scouring the forests near their villages for acorns, beech nuts and cones. These they sell to the forest rangers for a few pence a pound. Later they can have the pleasure of seeing their harvest planted for the making of new forests. Men’s Fashions

TO conclude with a fashion note— Men’s clothes are certainly becoming brighter and more comfortable, if the current exhibition of the Men’s Wear Council at the Waldorf Hotel is any pointer. Comfort, of course, is not everything in the eyes of tbe fashion dictators. At the moment they are extremely wrathful over our habit of wearing baggy grey trousers and no hat. They are, in fact, waging a determined war against the “slacks” we have fondly worn for so long. Complete tweed siuts, they say, are “de rigeur”—and hats must be worn. It must be admitted that the hats are unbelievably light and comfortable as well as remarkably adaptable in shape. Brightness is certainly the keynote of the exhibition. More and more colour is being put into men’s wear. The adventurous leaders of fashion are being encouraged to get into such socks, shirts and suits for “informal town wear” as prompted one cautious soul to brand the riot of modernity as positively demoralizing. Frankly, though, one is inclined to come away from these socalled “fashion exhibitions” with a few cynical thoughts. Often one wonders how much really unbiassed fashion and how much commercial shrewdness is behind the dictates of the designers and their tribe. At the moment, at least, we are being encouraged to wear a little more of everything and to run up our bills on a wider variety of clothes if we wish to be “in fashion.”