£500 OFFERED FOR BOX Thrills at Midnight Revue

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 750, 24 August 1929, Page 20

£SOO OFFERED FOR BOX Thrills at Midnight Revue

Y tar tlle most brilliant entertainment of the London season began at the London Pavilion ailHjUraSßll quarter of an hour after midnight recently, when the Prince of Wales, Prince George, and the Duke and Duchess of York were present at Mr. C. B. Cochran’s unique midnight revue, “Looking at You.” This performance was the first and the last .of the “run,” and did not end until 2.30 a.m. The revue transformed what would have been the dark and desolate haunt of the night watchman and the theatre cat into a setting for a glittering assembly. The stalls were a sea of white ermine and dress shirts. It was estimated that the value of the ermine was £ 100,000, while the jewellerv worn was judged to be worth at least £ 500,000. All the orchestra stalls were sold at £ 5 5s each. Seats which normally would have been in the pit were eagerly bought for £2 2s each. Some of the stage boxes were sold at £262 10s a-piece. At the last moment a millionaire vainly offered £525 for one. Mr. Cochran said the salary list of the performance would have amounted to at least £3,000. But it was for the Save the Children Fund and the players gave their performance free. Mr. | Cochran added that whereas £SBO 1 was the normal earning capacity of the theatre, at least £4,000 was taken. Crowds spread all over Piccadilly Circus to watch celebrities arrive.

Lord Birkenhead, in dinner jacket, Miss Helen Wills, closely followed by Captain Cazalet, came first. Then appeared Lord and Lady Plunket, Prince George of Russia and Lord Derby. Tbe inimitable Ruthven twins were there: so were Sir Philip Sassoon, Mr. Noel Coward, wearing a white carnation. Lady Loughborough, and Lady Cuuard. Mr. Churchill was loudly cheered by the crowd, as were the other guests. The entertainment opened with Mr. Ernest Thesiger dressed as a. comic fortune-teller who was expecting a client. The client was Mr. C. B. Cochran, who uttered a few lines of rhymed verse and departed with the remark, “I never talk about myself.” Mile. Yvonne Printemps and M. Sacha Guitry, who on the only occasion when they have given a single performance before charged £1,050, also played. M. Guitry disclosed himself as a first-class spoof conjurer. Speaking in his native language, he apologised for his bad French, which he spoke with an English accent for the occasion. Heroines of bygone musical comedies were impersonated by some of the prettiest types of women m London. They included the Countess of Haddington, Lady Brownlow, Ladl Diana Bridgeman and Lady BreckI nock. The “hit’’ of the evening, Doweveiwas “Looking at Clothes,” in w r .. I JL the mannequins included Mr. “U i Clarkson. Mr. Harry Preston, and <■» fat Mr. Davy Burnaby.