“Zeppelin Terror”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 714, 13 July 1929, Page 8

“Zeppelin Terror”

GLADYS MONCRIEFF HAS OWN PRODUCTIONS With the presentation of “The Zeppelin Terror” at the Palace Theatre, Melbourne, this evening, a new theatrical firm will begin operations in Australia. This firm, to be known as Gladys ; Moncrieff-Tom Moore Productions, has already made arrangements to stags a series of plays. Mr. Moore recently returned from America, where he spent 10 months searching for plays suitable for production in Australia, and making general business arrangements on behalf of the new firm. He has been assisted by Fullers Theatres, Ltd., and is assured that theatres will be available for the new enterprise in every part of Australia. “The Zeppelin Terror” is a spectacular mystery melodrama. Mr. Moore bought the whole Broadway production, which has now arrived in Melbourne. He estimates that the cost of building the production in Australia would have been £3,000. “In my opinion ‘The Zeppelin Terror’ was the best play on Broadway at the time of my visit,” said Mr. Moore. “It was very successful in New York and is still running in America. ‘Crime’ and ‘East is West’ are to follow ‘The Zeppelin Terror’ in due course. I bought six plays in America, and have options on the lights of others.” Vera Spaull and Hector St. Clair I will appear in the new company. ; Maisie Gay, the famous character : impersonator, who was engaged by .T. C. Williamson for the Noel Coward revue “This Year of Grace,” gets one of the highest salaries ever paid for a revue or musical comedy artist. The London favourite is nightly cheered when she makes her first appearance as an old lady burdened with parcels, toy balloons and other accessories, waiting patiently for a bus. One of her most popular music-hall turns “What Love Means to a Girl Like Me,” a low-comedy impersonation of a charwoman’s love episode, is described as one of the funniest items ever seen on the Australian stage. A. A. Milne’s “The Perfect Alibi,” to' follow “Apple Sauce” at the Criterion Theatre, Sydney, was staged in London under another title, “The Fourth Wall.” A crook prepares “a perfect alibi” for the crime he commits, with the result that he considers himself entirely safe as regards the law. But a man and a girl, the parts to be played by Alan Bunce and Ruth Nugent, consider that intuition is a safer guide than w r hat appear to be facts, and in the end bring the criminal to justice. Additions to the present company will be Harvey Adams, Reg Wykeman, and Maidie Hope.