ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS

Taranaki Daily News, 7 December 1929, Page 26 (Supplement)

ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS

COMING EVENTS. OPERA HOUSE. New Plymouth. [To-night.—“Pho California Mail” (Ken Maynard), First National, and... “Parisiennes” (all star), Cinema Art Films. [December 11.—Commercial Travellers' Xmas Cheer Concert. December 14.—“ Giant of the Mountains” (all star), First National; and /‘High Seas” (John Stuart-Lilian Rich), Cinema Art Films’ Production. ■ December 10 and 17.-—“Westminister Glee Singers.” December 18.—“ Journey’s End,” J. C. .: Williamson Coy., Ltd. December 19.—Taranaki Boxing Assn. .. EVERYBODY’S. New Plymouth “Talkie” Attractions. JL'o-night, Monday and Tuesday.—“ The Four Feathers” (William PowellClive Brook), Paramount Synchronised super special; and Fox Movietone News; “When. Caesar Ran a News- . . paper”; and Schubert’s Songs. December 11 to 13.—“ Abie’s Irish Rose (Jean Hersholt-Oharles RogersNancy Carrol), Paramount Musical- . ly Synchronised special production; and* “The Installment Collector” , (talking comedy). December 14 to 20.—“0n Trial? (Pauline Frederick), Warner Bros.’ Vitaphone /Special Production; “Light Cavalry,” overture; Fox Movietone News; “Hollywood Bound” (comedy playlet), and “Arnaut Brothers” (singing and whistling with musical accompaniment). THE PEOPLE’S. New. Plymouth. “Talkie”; Attractions. .. December 7, 9 and .10.—“ The Wild Party” (Clara Bow), Paramount talking production; “Two Little Chinese Maids” (a Paramount singing act); -“Boyhood Days” (alltalking musical, act) and “Favourite Melodies.” December 11 to 13—“ The. Midnight Taxi” (all star), Warner Bros.’ Vitaphone Production; “Roger Wolf Kalm and orchestra; Geo. Jessel (in short sketch); Eddie Peabody (king of ■ banjo, players), and “tfalli and Giggle” (opera singers). December 14 to 17.—“ The Doctors’ Secret” (all star), Paramount; A Ziegfeld* l Midnight Frolic; “Dear Teacher” (all talking comedy). December 18, t° 20.—‘'The Idle Rich (Bessie Love-Conrad Nagel), M.G.M. Talking special; Jan Garber’s Band; Keller Sisters and Lynch; Cliff Edwards;- (ukelele artist) and Van and Schench (comedy singers). ... # ' « =» * : " “THE WILD PARTY.” Rigorous'-tests for her vocal qualities [were given to Clara Bow before it was Announced that the “It” girl had a perfect voice for the audible screen. After the tests were made work -was started on her first all-talking production, “The 1 Wild Party,” which comes to the Peoples “talkies” to-night. In this picture, which deals with the loves and caprices of flaming youth, Miss Bow is required to develop an “Americanese” inflection and manner in her speech, and she does the near-slang dialogue with a discerning intelligence which will be a pleasant ex- * perienco for the millions who have seen her in films but who have never heard her voice’ heretofore. Dorothy. Arzner, only woman director in the land of celluloid drama, directed “The Wild Part.” * * # * •., * “THE FOUR FEATHERS.”

. The Sudan and the Fuzzy Wuzzy made famous hy Kipling is the back- . ground against which the thrilling tale of “The Four Feathers’’ is etched. It ■ adds atmosphere and gives a' thrill to . the picture that beggars description. Ernest Schoedsack' and Merian Cooper spent many, months .in . the distant lands of Africa taking the scenes that ’ give the flavour of reality to the story • and give you a thrill. The story of “The Foui' Feathers” has to do with a ' cowards effort to redeem himself, and to force the four people to. take back the white feathers they had presented him as a symbol of his lack of courage. William Powell, Richard Arlen, Fay Wray, Clive Brook, Noah Beery and Theodor von Eltz are the players of this great Paramount picture, which will be seen at Everybody’s theatre for a season commencing to-day at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. “PARISIENNES.” A hasty marriage and its results form the basis of the fast moving comedydrama entitled “Parisiennes,” which ■ comes to the Opera House to-night. The picture, which is being released by Cinema Art Films, stars some of the best known screen actors on the* Continent. Among them is Miles Mander, an actor of growing fame, who takes .the leading role of a successful playwright in this film. He is supported by Margit Manstad, who recently appeared ■ in “Sparkling Youth” and Ruth Weyber, who is known for the excellent part she took in “Secrets of the Soul.” Louis Lerch, a young actor, who takes a prominent role in this film, has been selected to play the leading role in the big circus picture for British International Pictures due to the success he was greeted with in England, when the public saw him in “Parisiennes.” “THE CALIFORNIAN MAIL.” A £'2ooo policy was taken out with an " insurance company by the popular western movie star, Ken Maynard, for his equine partner and pal, Tarzan. According to officials of the insurance company, this' is the only policy of its kind I known to be in existence, for it covers not only the death of the horse but any injuries that might occur to him at any .time or place. It is also the only policy covering an animal that the company in . question has written. Tarzan as.now re- - cognised as the most valuable animal appearing in pictures, and the premium on the above policy costs over £4OO a year. “The California Mail,” Ken Maynard’s next picture, will give movie-goers a Chance to see why this particular horse is reckoned to be so valuable. “THE MIDNIGHT TAXI.” “The Midnight Taxi,” the Warner rßros.’ melodrama which comes to the People’s theatre shortly for a run' of • three nights, is a bootlegging, hi-jacking, rum-running, bond-robbing biff-bang of

ft thriller —with a dash of lovemaking and the argument that crime doesn’t pay, thrown in for good measure. Harvey Gates adapted the Gregory Rogers story. The cast includes Antonio Moreno, Helene Costello, Myrna Loy, William Russell, Bobbie Agnew, Tommy Dugan, Pat Hartigan and Jack Santoro. John Adolfi directed. “ABIE’S IRISH ROSE.” “Abie’s Irish Rose” will be presented in its film version at Everybody’s theatre shortly, equipped with quality sound effects, music score and talking. The picture was produced by Paramount from the famous stage success of Anne Nichols who also supervised the transplanting of her famous play from stage to the screen at the Hollywood studios of Paramount. “Abie’s Irish Rose” is perhaps the best known play generally to have been produced. The stage play ran five and a half years continuously in New York City. Innumerable road companies have presented the play in every important city, and even the small towns have glimpsed the Nichols’ success. “The picturisation has been credited with a tremendous amount of favourable criticism wherever the film has been exhibited, and bids fair to rival the success of the stage play.” Charles “Buddy” Rogers, Nancy Carroll and Jean Hersholt have the leading roles. “THE DOCTOR’S SECRET.” The Paramount all-dialogue picture, “The Doctor’s Secret,” based on the successful stage play, “Half an Hour,” by Sir James Barrie, was recently previewed in Sydney. It is a revelation both in regard to the perfect enunciation of the actors and the power of the drama. The voices were subdued, yet they could be heard clearly, even at the farthest portions of the theatre. The tenseness of the drama was heightened by the ability of the camera and microphone to travel from scene to scene. The actors themselves were drawn from Broadway and the London stage. They Include Ruth Chatterton, H. B. Warner and John Loder. Warner and Loder are both Englishmen who have become famous for their work in motion pictures as well as for their performances on the legitimate stage. “ON TRIAL.” “On Trial,” Warner Bros.’ murder mystery drama, which is due for release shortly, is one of the most human mystery stories ever filmed. The play was written by the now celebrated playwright, Elmer Rice,~at the time a clerk in a New York law office. The human drama which he saw daily in the pursuance of his duties finally crystallised into "the play which, when produced set New York agog. All the routine of the law is followed to the letter in this picture, and the result is thrilling in the extreme.'-The cast of “On Trial” includes Pauline Frederick, Bert Lytell, Lois Wilson, Holmes Herbert, Richard Tucker,' rFanklin Pangborn and Edward Martindel. “HIGH SEAS.” John Stuart, the handsome young British international star, has again been cast in a picture entitled “High Seas,” which is being released at the Opera House shortly by Cinema Art Films. This young actor has a wonderful screen personality, and hence has found a deep spot in the hearts of the picture-going public. The role in which he is starred in “High Seas” required an actor of considerable bearing as well as one who could stand many hardships. Stuart, answered all these qualifications, arid has given a performance as to rival any seen°in productions made in other countries. He is supported in his role by Lilian Rich. Have a race of deaf and dumb, people come to Hollywood? This is a natural question which comes to the minds of present-day visitors to “talkie” stages. For the coming of the speaking screen has brought about the invention of a new sign language- On Cecil B. De Milla's sets in the old days, for instance, the commands “Camera,” “Cue,” etc., were given vocally< by the director himself. To-day, for De Mille’s first talkie, “Dynamite,” the sound technician on the floor signals “start” by a certain flip of his hand to the assistant director who relays the “flip” to the players as their cue to start talking. Intermediary signals as to tempo of the scene are given through private and silent hand signals of the director. All of this is necessary, of course, because the talkie stage must be absolutely silent during the talking of a dialogue scene. . “Dynamite,” from Jeanie Macpherson’s story, is being produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Two fine old favourites of the silent regime will play leads in a one hundred per cent, talkie now being made in Hollywood. Blanche Sweet and Tom Moore are the leading lights in a story of night club life in New York. The

Moores have.been popular ever since the first smiling brother appeared with the old biograph pictures. He was nameless —as were all artists in that company for a long time. But when identity overtook this excellent company, Owen Moore became a rare favourite. And Matt Moore and Tom Moore fast rose to favour. Blanche Sweet is another old biograph star. She was a D. W. Griffith find, and her scintillant eyes and nimbus of golden hair were to be found in many of the best pictures seven years ago. She was leading lady opposite Ronald Colman in one of the stories which established that actor’s success. And she made the first celluloid version of Anna Christie. Twenty-three new Paramount talking pictures are in the making. At the

Hollywood studios, six of the new productions are being edited and cut. In the group are Richard Dix’s “The Love Doctor,” Clara Bow’s third talkie, “The Saturday Night Kid,” “The Kibitzer,” with Harry Green, Nancy Carroll’s “Sweetie,” “The Virginian,” Paramount’s first outdoor talkie, and “Fast Company,” with Evelyn Brent. In the process of filming are Edith Wharton’s “The Children,” Gary Cooper’s “Medals,” “Behind the Make-up,” with William Powell, George Bancroft’s “The Mighty,” the all-colour romance, “The Vagabond King,” “Pointed Heels,” “Here Comes the Band Wagon,” and “The Lost " God,” starring Richard Arlen. “Dancing Eyes,” starring Nancy Carroll, “A Lady . in Love,” a new vehicle ’ for Evelyn Brent, a new talkie for Moran and Mack, the “Two Black Crows,” and a new Clara Bow picture are in preparation. At the Long . Island studios, “The Return of Sherlock Holmes” the American Girl,” “The Lady Lies” have been completed.

OPERA HOUSE, lIAWERA. To-night, Monday and Tuesday—“ Close Harmony.” (Paramount 100 per cent, talkie). Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 11 and 12.—“ The Valiant.” (Fox talking speical). Friday.—Savage Club Christmas concert. December 14 and 10.—“ Show Boat.” (Universal super talkie special). GRAND THEATRE, HAWERA, To-night—“ Black Magic.” (Fox Films). Also final episode of “Tarzan.” Wednesday and Thursday.—“ Tide of the Emire.” M.G.M. Friday and Saturday.—“ Masked Emotions.” (Fox Films). Also episode 1 of “The Mysterious Rider.” COMING ATTRACTIONS. Dec. 14 and 16.—“ Show Boat.” (Universal super talkie special. Dec. 17. —“Journey’s End.” J.C.W. Dec. 20. —Technical High School.

Dec. 21, 23 and 24.—“ Thunderbolt.” Paramount talkie special. Dec. 28, 30 and 31.—‘‘Speakeasy.” (Fox 100 per cent, talkie). KING’S THEATRE, STRATFORD. Matinee to-day, 1.30, to-night and Monday.—“ College Love.” (Dorothy Gulliver and George Lewis). Tuesday and Wednesday. —“The Carna'tion Kid.” (Douglas Mac Lean). Thursday and Friday.—“ The Terror.” (May McAvoy and Louise Fazenda). It * * • «= “COLLEGE LOVE.” A fast moving comedy-drama of college life is heralded for showing at the King’s theatre, Stratford, to-day and Monday when “College Love,” a feature picture made by the same cast as Universal's popular “Collegian” short comedies, will be the principal attraction. The high-light of the feature is a thrilling football game with all the noise, singing, cheers and close plays of a championship grid-iron struggle. It is as realistic as seeing a regular game. Special college music was written for this picture. On the evening before the big game of the season, all the students of Caldwell college build and light a huge bonfire and, carrying torches, parade, around the flaming pyre. Co-eds, no less enthusiastic than the men students, sing their college tunes •while they frolic and skylark around the fire. The entire gridiron contest which follows the next day also is shown in complete detail with all the excitement, of the crowd, their songs and cheers being reproduced in sound. The intimate conferences between the coach and the players between halves in the clubhouse, as well as what actually happens in a “■huddle” in the middle of the field, also are shown and can be heard in accurate detail. The cast includes George Lewis and Dorothy Gulliver. to # * * “THE CARNATION KID.” «8». Douglas Mac Lean, tho brilliant Paramount star, has made another thrilling and humorous play in “The Carnation Kid.” On a train journey between two big cities Doug fell a pretty girl, and was held up by a gunman. No one believed, his story, but the girl let him know her feelings by giving him a white carnation. Thus was he mistaken for the Carnation Kid himself, quite a pleasant experience at first. The gangs of a city are at war with the AttorneyGeneral, and to get rid of him they hire a notorious gunman. On the train he is nearly caught, and when the train arrives he is not on it. However, the gangsters mistake another- man wearing a carnation for the Carnation Kid and treat him well. When he finds out just who he is supposed to be, things begin to happen in the most unexpected way. See Douglas Mac Lean in “The Carnation Kid.” * # * * “THE TERROR.” . May McAvoy and Alec. B. Francis, who are so remarkably cast as daughter’ and father in “The Lion and the Mouse,” aro playing similarly in their current roles in “Tho Terror,” Warner Bros.’ great mystery production showing at the King’s Theatre, Stratford, next Thursday and Friday. “The Terror” is an amazingly spooky melodrama laid entirely within the environs of a secluded rest-home in England, where Francis appears as the proprietor and Miss McAvoy as his helper. Louise Fazenda is cast as a spiritualistic medium and Edward Everett Horton as a detective. The locale is a dilapidated English manor house, supposed to hide both the loot of a recent bank robbery, and. , the looter. Crooks of various sorts, frightened and spiritualistic ladies, cops, and what not, come to the old house—where all i are kept in chattering fear by a hidden and mysterious monster who is forever committing some deed or other to put the already ragged nerves of the household in a state of collapse. The whole atmosphere of “The Terror” is English, thus making it altogether different from ojjy .play seen on the scueen .here.

LONDON’S NEW THEATRE. THE DOMINION OPENED. 5 AUDIENCE SHOWS DISAPPROVAL. A very gorgeous affair indeed is the new Dominion Theatre, which has risen on £he old Meux Brewery site at St. Giles’s Circus; and gorgeous was the free fight we had outside in the street before we reached the portals, breathless and dishevelled (writes Alan Parsons in the London Daily Mail). But that adventure once over it was a relief to find no continuation of the scrum within, but plenty of room both in the passages and in the vast auditorium, giving us plenty of leisure to retie our ties and admire the pleasant colour scheme of the theatre. But my immediate concern is not with the Dominion Theatre, but with “Follow Through” the American musical comedy chosen for its opening night. The first thing I would say is that it establishes Mr. °Leslie Henson for good and all as a comedian in a class by himself.

In the old days he sometimes seemed to work too hard, to strive too energetically for his effects. Then came “Funny Face,” in which, with the minimum of apparent effort, he acted everyone off the stage and ran away with the play; now he has even improved on himself, for he has become an accomplished dancer. And his genius for grotesque grimacing is more, astonishing than ever, especially a special brand of eyebrow lift wh>ch contorts his whole frame. His material was never particularly promising, some ancient golfing stunts of the Harry Tate variety offering him the best opportunities, but he was always funny —very much funnier, indeed, than the play. And now what about the play? Well, it follows more closely than ever on the familiar American model, except that it is vaguely written round golf; its plot is indescribably nebulous, the scenery consists largely of a profusion of leafy “borders” and artificial flowers all very garishly lit; there are one of two tuneful numbers, and a good-looking, efficient chorus. The mixture has been immensely successful in the past, so why not again? And yet, considering that the home-made article cap be, and has been, so much better done, one continues to inquire, why go on borrowing from America? Why indeed? s Honours among the rest of the cast are so evenly divided that nobody has much chance of shining except Miss Ada May, a blonde newcomer from America with limbs of indiarubber and a gay, infectious smile. Miss Elsie Randolph has one good number, but seems a trifle depressed; while Miss Ivy Tresmand, though she looks lovely, is a little too consciously ladylike throughout. Mr. Mark Lester’s comedy gifts are quite, wasted. No doubt “Follow Through” will improve when the players have found more confidence; at. present it is all a trifle thin, and were it not for Mr. Henson it would be thin to vanishing point. At the end of the play the first rowdy scenes of tire London theatre autumn season occurred. There was a good deal of applause from the majority of the audience, but from certain sections there were demonstrations of disapproval. Mr. Leslie Henson began to make a speech, but from certain parts of the house he was shouted down, HISTORIC FILM LOST. . PICTURE OF SOMME BATTLE. The London Daily Mail has revealed that, the most historic film ever taken is missing. This is the official War Office film of the Battle of the Somme, now the properly of Dr. Dustin Maddick, who was Army Staff cinematographer in charge of the film. It has not been seen in> public for 12 years. It was placed in Dr. Maddick’s safe oh premises in Wardour Street, W. As a result of a paragraph in People and Their Doings, Dr. Maddick decided to see his cherished property again. On inquiry, however, it appeared that during a severe illness which he had four years ago the London County Council informed the owners of the premises that their regulations compelled all films to be removed to the roofs of the houses in which they were stored. This was for safety. As Dr. Maddick was too ill to be informed of the situation, the safe had to be drilled open without his consent and the films stored upstairs. When Dr. Maddick asked for hib property, no one could lay hands on it, and a reward of £2OO has been offered for the film’s recovery. “The Battle of the Somme” film includes pictures of the Buffs, Bedfords, Suffolks, and the Royal Welch Fusiliers moving up to the attack just before July 1, 1916. It shows the morning of the attack, the attack itself,. the rescue of a private who.died half an hour late, an unsuccessful German counter-attack, “mopping up” by the Royal Fusiliers, the arrival of the King in France and his tour Af the front, and hundreds of other dramatic incidents.

The loss of this film, if it is lotst, is clearly of national importance.

METEORIC CAREER.

MARIE BREMNER PLAYS LEAD. PARENTS HELPED HER. Five years ago Marie Bremner wag a student of singing. To-day she is leading lady for J. C. Williamson’s principal musical comedy company. For a swift flight from the chorus to stardom she holds an Australian record. Miss Bremner wanted to be a pianist, Dame Nellie Melba wanted her to go on the. stage. For once it can be recorded of a leading actress that she did not have to outwit her parents to take up a stage career. They assisted her in every possible way. Miss Bremner is almost a New Zealander. Her father, Ernest Bremner, was a well-known Dunedin singer, but his daughter was born in Sydney and so Australia claims her. In her student days at the Conservatorium Miss Bremner seems to have raided the prize list very consistently, including the Melba Scholarship. It was Dame Nellie who first suggested that she take up musical comedy work. A chance to go on the stage (and

this pleased Mists Bremner’s parents very much) came with the, formation of the Williamson-Melba Grand Opera Company. The leading lady of “The Desert Song” was then a member of the choral claims at the Sydney Conservatorium and was chosen to go into the grand opera chorus. This was followed by a tour in the chorus with “Lady of the Rose” and several other pieces, in which Gladys Moncrieff played lead; A small part in “The Street Singer” was then assigned to .Miss Bremner, who made such a good, impression that she was selected as an understudy. to the leading lady. \ Then followed perhaps the dullest period (for her) of her meteoric career. For three years she just sat in dress-ing-rooms and sewed.

When “Rose Marie” came to Auckland Miss Bremner was understudy to Harriet Bennet. She got so tired of her sewing that she decided to go back into the chorus to escape the boredom of waiting. Recently in the revival of “Rose Marie” in Australia, Miss Bremner played the lead. Although Auckland will see and hear Miss Bremner in “The Desert Song,” the rest of New Zealand will not be ao. fortunate. She had been kept behind in Australia to play the leading part in “Show Boat” when an American importation returned to the States. However, rehearsing all day and playing a big part each night proved to be too strenuous for the little lady. Miss Bremner is a keen and appreciative reader and shows fine discrimination in.her choice of literature. One of her favourite authors is Christopher Morley, and others whose works she admires are Carl. Van Veehten, John Galsworthy, G. K. Chesterton, S. P. B. Mais, Ambrose Bierce, and Mencken. In. the musical world she prefers the old masters and every hotel piano where she has stayed in New Zealand has responded to the touch of her welltrained fingers, 1 THREATENED ACTOR. SEEKS POLICE PROTECTION. WOULD NOT PAY FOR APPLAUSE. Jack Osterman, the American talk-ing-film actor,- who was appearing at the London Alhambra, told an extraordinary story of money demands made by a gang of men. Their attitude was so menacing, he said, that he was forced to seek police protection when leaving the theatre. Mr. Osterman said to a reporter — “I was in my dressing-room - after my act at the Alhambra when I was told that some men wanted to see me at the stage door. I asked the theatre attendant , to show one of them up. Apparently the leader came. “He said to me in the presence of my wife and mother-in-law: ‘Our gang has been in the theatre every, night this week giving you a cheer and boosting you up, and now we’ve come for our money.’ I said to him- ‘l’m obliged to you for your cheers, but I didn’t- ask you to come and I’m not indebted to you, and I’m not going to pay you any money.’ “The man became threatening, and eaid that his gang had been paid Urge sums by a number of well-known American artists for cheering them syuy night for their first week’s appearance in the West End. I replied that I was not interested in what other American artists had done, and was not going to pay him. He retorted that Ivs gang would see me when I left the theatre. “I became somewhat alarmed; mainly because of the presence of my wife and her mother, so I rang up the police and asked for protection. We left the theatre escorted by two policemen. “The man who came to see me said that his gang had been unable to follow the greyhound races, as was their custom, because of their attendance at the theatre during the week.” When asked how -much the man had demanded Mr.. Osterman stated that he had asked for about £lOO. .. .

SAVING IN HOLLYWOOD. .. RAQUEL TORRES REPLIES. Can. actresses in Hollywood save money? It is apparently a debatable point; but read what Raquel Torres, star of “White Shadows of the South Seas,” has to say on the matter. “Some say that Hollywood is a cruel place to live in,” says Miss Torres, “and ( that the actresses cannot save their money for their living expenses are so high. Here, my sister and I live and make our plans to be sensible business girls. We do our own cooking and go marketing for Californian fruits and vegetables that are very inexpensive. “The studio furnished me with a Ford to take me to and from work, and I have found a garage in my neighbourhood that is very reasonable and the gas is also quite cheap. I have h *ard some of the girls say that the merchants raise their prices when they find out they belong to the pictures, but wherever I trade they give me good prices, for they like to say thaf an actress uses their materials. “My clothes are quite inexpensive, tor I learned to sew at the convent and often make my own dresses. I don’t have many dresses, for I don’t go to many parties. I think the girls who attend lots of parties and lunches are those who aren’t working. I have a savings account that has grown )a ’ger every month, and J hope some day to invest my money wisely.’’ * * * * Mr. C. B. Cochran, the enterprising London theatrical producer, who is now completing a talking film that will be called “Cochran’s Talking Revue,” regards the success of “talkies” as a “blessing in disguise” for the theatre. “If you mechanise a form of entertainment,” he says, “you , inevitably make more popular the original form of expression. The ‘talkies’ will ensure that only good theatrical shows succeed. A third-rate play or revue will have no chance against a first-rate ‘talkie.’ That the twin arts of screen and stage should walk hand in hand without quarrelling lias ‘been obvious from the earliest days of the cinema. No single form of art could, or should, be allowed to monopolise entertainment. Art that stands still is dying art. Inasmuch as the ‘talkies’ are an offshoot of the silent film and the theatre, they are a tribute to the vitality of their parents.” FOOTLIGHT FLASHES. . Muriel Starr is to play another dramatic season at the Palace Theatre, Sydney, shortly. u The “talkies” were inaugurated in Masterton recently with “The Black Watch.” ■ # a a o Eugene O’Brien, formerly a movie etar, is in the stage play “Girl Trouble” in San Francisco. * * # # Allen Prior, the Australian tenor, seen here in the talkies, is in the new musical comedy, “Great Day,” in New York. * * .. : Charlie Perrin, a member of the Big Four, popular harmonisers 'and ■hunior-*' ists, appeared as juvenile lead in “Mercenary Mary," the Fuller musical comedy in Christchurch, this week.’ * # * Miss Frances Doble, the actress who went to London' from Canada a few years ago, is to marry Sir Anthony Lindsay-Hogg, the 22-year-old baronet. # # * . »# ' The Allan Wilkie Company has returned to Shakespeare at the Newtown Majestic Theatre, Sydney. This week “Henry VIII,” “Twelfth" Night,” and “The Merchant of Venice” were produced. « * # <j Miss Anna Pavlova, the famous dancer, is back in London after her Australian tour. Owing.to unsatisfactory financial results of her last London season it is not certain whether she will dance there again. . *.* # # “Clowns in Clover,” a revue that was not a success in Sydney, will be one of the Christmas attractions at Melbourne. Ann Penn, ah impersonator who has been appearing in revue in Sydney, will head the company. * # # << The Williamsons are extending their activities abroad. They have several successes in London, and now have decided to stage “Jew Suss” (with Maurice Mcseovitch) and “Mr. Cinders” in New York, and “Mr. Cinders” in Berlin. # * # * Mr. Jack Lumsdaine (“The Radio Rascal”), who toured New Zealand some time ago as a solo entertainer, has returned under the banner of J. C. Williamson, Ltd., by whom he has been “sub-let” to the Regent Theatres. He mentions “Lombardi, Ltd., and “The Cock-Eyed World” as Australia’s present outstanding stage and screen attractions respectively.