POTTED COMEDY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 547, 27 December 1928, Page 15

POTTED COMEDY

“MIDNIGHT FROLICS” FOURTH CHANGE OF SEASON Fruity and frolicsome was the fourth change rung on at His Majesty’s Theatre by the “Midnight Frolics” to an appreciative Boxing Night audience. For three weeks Clem Dawe and his merry maids and men have entertained Auckland with their sportive vaudeville, and the show seems to be improving with each programme. Potted plays, those efforts at phantasy or realism which invariably end with a black-out and a roar of laughter, are specialised in by the “Midnight Frolics” Company. They do them excellently, fire their lines at tne audience, and build up the suspense to the “kick” of the last line. But the people have many other talents beside this important one of travesty. Rarely have “song and dance 1 ' numbers been put over in Auckland by more able principals against a more attractive background of ballets than by the “Frolics.” Their repertoire, also, is not shop-worn, and their “novelties” are deserving- of the name. The Frolics’ Jazz Band syncopated itself into popular esteem with its first number, and this week, in wailing waltz and sprightly one-step and melodious “blues,” it keeps the feet tapping. Their music has body and flavour and personality, three which are vainly sought after by. many dance bands. Clem Dawe is the man who keeps the “Frolics” frollicking. He is tireless and übiquitous, a man of many parts, and all of them extravagantly funny. He sets the pace, and The other nineteen singers, dancers, musicians, comedians, and comediennes have to move with alacrity to keep up with him. They succeed, and that is what makes the show a bright, happy, and snappy one. Of many funny sketches, the funniest seems to be the “Not Allowed Speaker,” a radio tragedy in one act, in which Clem Dawe has to be proxy for all the broadcasting stations in the Southern Hemisphere. But there are others which run it hard, like “Father, Herbert, and Emma at the Zoo,” “Neighbours,” and “The Advertising Drama,” this last being a pretty use of art for publicity’s sake. Navvies de luxe appear in an electric street drama, “The Man Down the Hole.” Clem sets the pace as the Beau Brummel or' the gang, Eric Edgley and Les White wearing much less artistic bowyangs. “Tulip Time” is a pretty scene in which the “Frolics” are complete with clogs on. The musical numbers are effective, Oscar Beck, Lilian Crisp, and William Perryman being the principal songsters, and the dances are excellent. Phyllis Amery sings something jazzy, and is most attractive in specialty dances. Her “Golliwog” capers are splendidly done. A bouquet of Christmas carols by the vocal trio, Lilian Crisp and Messrs. Perryman and Beck, finds an appreciative audience. Dorothy White, complete with bustle, sings a comedy song with a Victorian flavour, and Gertie Cremer appears with success in several sketches. Just to prove they can do something pathetic, the company provides “ The Last Cabby,” a well-played sketch. Gregory Ivanoff plays popular tunes on his popular violin, and keeps the band under control until Clem Dawe gives his famous interpretation of how “Poet and Peasant” should be conducted. Alfred Green, who was responsible for “Irene.” “Sally,” “The Music Master” and many other outstanding successes, will direct Marion Davies’s next starring production, so far untitled. “Pay As Y r ou Enter” is the name of the unique Warner Bros, farce soon to be released throughout the Dominion. Louise Fazenda. Clyde Cook, William Demarest and Myrna Loy are featured in “Pay As You Enter.” The two male players spend their days running a street car and their night in courting Louise, who is a romantic hash-slinger in a quick-lunch place. Myrna enters to “spill the beans” as a good-looking gold-digger. Lloyd Beacon directed this uproarious laugh film from a scenario by Fred Stanley.