ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1933, Page 18 (Supplement)

ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS

COMING EVENTS. NEW PLYMOUTH OPERA HOUSE. To-day, Monday and Tuesday: “Pleasure Cruise” (Roland Young, Genevieve Tobin, Ralph Forbes, Una O’Conner and Herbert Mundin). July 19, 20 and 21: “The Secret of Madame. Blanche” (Irene Dunne, Lionel Atwell, Phillips Holmes, Una Merkel and Douglas Walton). July 22, 24 and 25: "The End of the Rainbow” (starring Richard Tauber, the golden-voiced tenor of the world). EVERYBODY'S (ALL-BRITISH).' To-day, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday: “Love on Wheels” (Jack Hulbert, Leonora Corbett and Gordon Harker), British production. July 20 and 21: “Insult” (Elizabeth Allen and Hugh Williams), British produc--1 1 tfon. July 2 to 25: “Diggers in Blighty” (Pat Hanna, Joe Valli and George Moon), Australian production. REGENT THEATRE. To-day, Monday and Tuesday: “The Cohens and Kellys in Trouble” (Charles Murray, George Sidney, Maureen O’Sullivan and Frank Albertson). July 19 to 21: “Silver Dollar” (Edward G. Robinson and Bebe Daniels). . July 2 to 25: “Night After Night” (Alison Skipworth, George Raft, Constance Cummings and Wynne Gibson). * “COHENS & KELLYS IN TROUBLE.” The Cohens and the Kellys will be seen in new surroundings at the Regent Theatre to-day at 2 and 7.45 p.m. Kelly having side-tracked the lady he married and divorced in eight’hours, is settling i i down as master of a harbour tug, with his daughter Molly (Maureen O’Sulli- ' van), when Cohen, rich and prosperous in all ways, comes on the scene and revives the old rackety friendship. Qn the very first night ashore they run into the former Mrs. Kelly, and the reason for the divorce is made apparent. From that moment onwards the fun is fast and furious, and is intensified by the rocky moving of Molly by the officer of the revenue cutter, Kelly’s natural aversion for whom seems to bar the wedding. Kelly and Cohen conceive the brilliant idea of chartering a millionaire’s yacht on which to stage a plot to marry .a half-wit Swedish deck hand, who is dressed up and presented as a fabulously rich commodore, to the tireless lady in search of the back alimony. When this falls flat, they lock the lady and the captain of a rum-runner below deck, and escape in a speed boat, in which Cohen starts off so suddenly that he leaves Kelly behind on a dinghy. The ensuing incidents are riotously funny. • « • •' • , JACK HULBERT’S LATEST. Jack Hulbert, of the Hapsburg jaw and infectious smile, and the one and only Gordon Harker, as the two chief funmakers in “Love on Wheels” between them manage to transform the stock phrase “a riot of merriment,” into an apt description of this fast-moving comedy, which commences at Everybody’s to-day at 2 and 7.45 p.m. Hulbert enacts the role of a shop assistant who, as the firm’s professional scapegoat, is summarily dismissed whenever a disgruntled customer lodges a complaint Out of business hours, however, the genial Jack is disclosed as a man of ambition and sentiment who aspires to become a window dresser and also the husband of a charming, yet rather aloof, goddess who patronises the omnibus which, conveys her fervent but bashful admirer to and from the scene of his daily labours. Gordon Harker is the friendly bus conductor with a streak of sentiment, who takes a paternal interest in the budding love affair and prompts the laggard lover into action. With Jack Hulbert well in his stride anything is likely to happen, and the merriment which accompanies his adventures in love and business is a tribute to his prowess as a comedian. Gordon Harker, as Hulbert’s aider and abettor, supplies most of the thickening for the plot, and when he dons evening clothes and joins in the hunt for the girl among the night clubs of London, where the corks pop freely, the fun waxes fast and furious. Both the protagonists are well supported by a caste of surprising excellence and the musical numbers must be heard to be believed. • • • • “PLEASURE CRUISE.” Combining the talents of a group of modernists responsible for some of the stage and screen’s most brilliant comedy successes, “Pleasure Cruise” comes to the New Plymouth Opera House to-day. In the cast are Roland Young (the star of “Wedding Rehearsal”) and Genevieve Tobin, whose work is always convincing, Minna Gombell, noted for her rollicking girl friend characterisations; Herbert Mundin and Frank Atkinson, two of the screen’s comedy favourites, Ralph Forbes, Una O’Conner, Theodore von Eltz, Robert Greig and Arthur Hoyt. Frank Tuttle directed “Pleasure Cruise.” Guy Bolton, author and co-author of metre than 50 successful plays noted for their gaiety , and dash, wrote the screen play. It is based on the London stage hit of Austen Allen, who is being acclaimed by the English critics as one of the cleverest of the modern authors. The story concerns a spicy romance, complicated by k- matrimonial entanglements, on a “Pleasure Cruise,” where practically everything is condoned, so long as it is in fun. ••* • ■ “SECRET OF MADAME BLANCHE.” Irene Dunn, the accomplished actress of ‘Back Street” and “Cimarron,” gives the best performance of her career in “The Secret of Madame Blanche,” the latest Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film, which will be screened for the first time at the New Plymouth Opera House on next Wednesday. It should enjoy a successful season, for it is a film with a universal appeal Irene Dunn is cast as an American chorus girl playing in “The Belle of New York” at a London Theatre. She falls in love with a young aristocrat, Leonard St. John, and, against his fathers wishes, the pair marry. When the embittered father disowns his son, the couple go to the Continent, but the son is forced to return to beg from his father. However, the old man is adam- • ant, and the boy commits suicide. The young wife, Sally, obtains work in cheap music halls to support herself and her baby son, and a note of drama is struck when her father-in-law gains the custody \ of the child with a court order. Twenty years pass. The mother, now the manager of a cafe in France, meets her son in dramatic circumstances, and from this point the drama sweeps on to an impressive climax. The players in “The Secret of Madame Blanche” do full justice to the production. Phillips Holmes, who appeared with Nancy Carroll in “The Man I Killed,” gives a splendid performance as Leonard St. John. His is a dramatic role, and he acts with fine restraint. Lionel Atwill is appropriately severe as the embittered father. Una Merkel is another member of the cast. * * * * “SILVER DOLLAR.” Edward G. Robinson, star of “Silver Dollar,” a First National picture which

opens at the Regent Theatre next Wednesday, has the most dazzling role of his career in a character that parallels that of Haw Tabor, Colorado’s sensational Silver King, in the days of the gold rush and silver strikes. He is said to have achieved his greatest dramatic triumph in his portrayal of this historically important, though somewhat bizarre personage, whose spectacular rise from poverty to a multi-millionaire was the talk of the nations, and whose love romance was a scandal of Denver and Washington Society. Gone into the background of i memory is the modem gangster and gunman of “Little Caesar” and “Smart Money,” as Robinson blooms forth as the Croesus of the West, political leader a«d U.S. Senator. Bebe Daniels heads the supporting cast. * * # * “NIGHT AFTER NIGHT.” George Raft, Constance Cummings, Alison Skipworth, Wynne Gibson and many other popular players are featured in “Night After Night,” the Paramount production screening at' the Regent Theatre on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday (July 22, 24 and 25). The film is set in a New York night club—a luxurious old mansion, .which has been converted into an oasis for the thirsty. Raft is proprietor of the place. Miss Cummings, a luscious society bud, who was bom in the house in its better days, is drawn back to it time after time by a deep yearning for the scene of her childhood. Her frequent visits bring her in contact with Raft and a queer romance, which is brought to a startling climax by a series of unusual events, develops between the two. #. * * * „ DRAMA OF NORTHERN AFRICA. “Insult,” the sensational Apollo,. Theatre, London, success, is the third consecutive film Harry Lachman has directed for Paramount British productions. It. is to be shown at. Everybody’s Theatre on Thursday and Friday next. The stage play, which made an instantaneous hit in New York and London was written by the Dutch playwright, Jan Fabricius. It is a dramatic story of life among a handful of whites in a lonely empire outpost. The author was for several years in an out of the way colonial garrison, and has introduced into the play a number of authentic touches based on knowledge acquired during his long exile. In the stage play there was only one woman in the entire cast, but the plot has been revised for film purposes so that a bigger element of feminine interest has neen introduced. The cast includes Elizabeth Alien, Hugh Williams, John Gielgud, Sam Livesey, Sidney Fairbrother and Abraham Sofaer. -♦ * * * “DIGGERS IN BLIGHTY.” Wholesome, human comedy predominates in the Australian film production, “Diggers in Blighty,” which will commence at Everybody’s on July 22. The appeal of pictures of this kind is natural to New Zealanders, for the sentiment is wholly British, and it is a comedy first and last “Diggers in Blighty” is a Pat Hanna production, and he appears as Chic Williams, an Australian private. His friends are Lance-Corporal 'McTavish (Joe Valli) and Private Joe Mulga (George Moon). The three, although they have a reputation for gallantry in the field; get up to much trouble behind the lines, and a good deal of fun is provided with the proverbial war-time sergeant-major. Their commanding officer is. Captain Jack Fisher (John D’Arcy), and the love interest of the film is siisfaiped by him and the nurse at the hospital (Iza Crossley). In the opening portions of the picture there is considerable drama, dealing with the work of the secret service, and Norman French stars in this. Thelma Scott is cast as his secretary. The supporting programme will include “A Night Out,” an hilarious comedy, featuring George Wallace, the popular Australian comedian, and more fun with Downie and Henderson, radio entertainers, in addition to interesting news reels. ' • * * * WORLD-FAMOUS TENOR. Bver endeavouring to improve the quality of audible film entertainment, producers have now enlisted the services of the world’s greatest living tenor, Richard Tauber, who enriches the talking screen with a golden voice and a radiaht personality in “The End of the Rainbow,” which will begin at the New Plymouth Opera House next Saturday. To present this great singer, who clinjbed to the throne of fame almost in the twinkling of an eye, to screen audiences, a simple romance, adapted from Tauber’s own life, set in the Bavarian Alps, has been chosen. In this picture debut Tauber' the actor is delightfully human; Tauber the tenor is magnificent The melodious beauty of the notes, the evenness of his production, the velvety quality of his upper register, his unfailing sense of rhythm, and the fluency of his phrasing make it an unalloyed joy to listen to him. The story moves from the Bavarian Alps to Berlin, there to reveal flashes of real life behind the scenes at the Opera; there are pretty movements of a love story; there are beauty, drama, touches of comedy, but always the dominant thing is the golden voice of Tauber. It is interesting, and not without humour, to recall that Tauber was educated as a musical conductor, and an actor, because his voice did not show much promise I Not until he went to Frieburg, at the age of 19, were its possibilities recognised. Professor Carl Beines was the discerning man, and he trained Tauber for three years. After two years Tauber was offered operatic roles, but his father insisted on a further period of study. To-day he is recognised as the successor to the great Enrico Caruso, the undisputed monarch, of the music world, with a host of ardent admirers throughout the length and breadth of the universe. His concert fees are enormous; and for one small tone film Tauber was recently paid the princely sum of £15,000. - OPERA HOUSE, HAWERA. To-night and Monday: “State Fair.” (Will Rogers). July 18 and 19: “Madame Butterfly” (from the opera). July 20 and 21: “Flesh” (Wallace Beery). July 22 and 24: “Love on Wheels” (Jack '■ Hulbert). GRAND THEATRE, HAWERA. To-night and Monday: “Under Montana Skies” (Slim Summerville.) * * # * THE ROMANCE OF A PIG. I It may not be the sweetest story : even told, but a romance blossomed and , flourished at Movietone City recently between Hollywood’s newest star and his red-haired leading lady. The party of I the first part is Blue Boy, blue-blooded boar, who has since been elevated to star rating for his excellent performance in the Fox production of Phil Stortg’s novel, “State Fair,” showing in Hawera to-night. The object of his affections rejoices in the old-fashioned name of Esmeralda. Esmeralda made her appearance on the “State Fair” set as an after-thought. Blue Boy was temperamental. He refused to behave in the full glare of the lights and with tIM emeras clicking. Esmeralda was

hurriedly sent for, and from the moment of the arrival of the red-haired lady pig, Blue Boy was a changed actor. He preened and paraded and developed into a regular show-off. # # * # “MADAME BUTTERFLY” COMING. Cary Grant, featured in “Madame Butterfly,” a picture based on the treasured oriental love story, which, accompanied by music from Puccini’s opera, will show in Hawera next week ran away from school in his native England to join a troupe of acrobats. He toured England with the troupe for twelve months, and then sailed with it for America to play an engagement at the New York Hippodrome. On his return to England, Grant studied voice and played stage stock for two years. His achievements as a singer won him American musical comedy contracts, and this led to Hollywood and roles in such pictures as “Devil and the Deep" and “Blonde Venus.” # # * * SELFRIDGE’S LOAN STORE. One hundred and seventy members of the staff of Selfridge’s became film artists one week-end when they took part in scenes filmed at the well-known Oxford Street (London) store for Gainsborough’s production “Love on Wheels,” to. be shown in Hawera shortly. Victor Saville’s unit took possession of the premises as soon as the doors closed to shoppers on Saturday,, and Gainsborough’s new fleet of mobile generators —five in all—were concentrated in Somerset Street from whence hundreds of feet of cables ran to the lighting apparatus concentrated in the various departments in which scenes were being filmed. In addition to sunlight arcs, spot and flood lights, special lighting battens were suspended from the ceiling and attached to the supporting pillars, some 3,000 amperes of current being used in all. Saville was principally occupied with scenes in which Leonora Corbett is chased by Gordon Harker who in turn is pursued by a large crowd of shoppers and assistants. Jack Hulbert heads the cast. » • • • THE ORIGINAL “VIRGINIAN” Kenneth Harlan faced the microphone for his first talking picture in the very studio where he faced the camera for the first time. The studio-to-day houses the production unit of Tiffany, but when Harlan played with Constance Talmadge in “Betsy’s Burglar,” his screen debut, it was known as the Fine Arts Studio. His first talking picture is “Under Montana Skies,” coming to Hawera to-night. ■Harlan’s long and varied experience in the show business, stage and screen, stood him in good stead. In his character in the story he plays voluntary godfather to a show troupe stranded in a Western town and enduring all the trials, tribulations and laughs and adventures of such a troupe. But there won’t be a thing in the plot that is strange to Harlan. .> He knows the ropes by experience. One of Harlan s best characterisations, incidentally, is remembered by thousands of fans, the title role of “The Virginian,” in the silent film version a classic of the pre-talking era. ARTIST IN EGYPT MR. LESLIE GREENER’S IMPRESSION. RELICS AND SOUVENIRS. With a comer of the lounge of a city hotel strewn with relics of ancient Egypt, implements of war and cultivation, statuettes, scarab beetles and strange personal articles, a reporter listened to Mr. Leslie Greener, who is well-known in New Zealand art circles, recount his impressions of the dusty tombs and ruins of the long-dead civilisation of the Nile. Mr. Greener has been working as an archaelogical artist. During the. past two or three years Mr. Greener has been able to combine his enthusiasm for art with his more-recent-ly awakened interest in archaeology. He has had the important task of reproducing on paper and canvas all the details of newly-excavated palaces and tombs at Luxor, about 500 miles up the Nile. Here the great tombs and palaces of Barneses 111. are being explored by an American scientific expedition. Mr. Greener himself is an Englishman. He explained that this particular field expedition was one of seven sent to the East in recent years by the Oriental Institute of Chicago. COPIES OF ANCIENT ART. On the artistic staff with Mr. Greener at Luxor have been three others. Their work has been to make facsimile drawings and paintings of the tombs and palaces, with all their relics and hieroglyphics. The work was very exacting, although tremendously interesting, he said. One had to draught to scale every fragmentary relic of scientific value as well as the walls of the great tombs and palaces covered with bas-relief figures and designs, and masses of Egyptian characters. He had sometimes to work under a burning desert sun standing on a ladder almost all day transferring the minutest detail of walls that reached as high as 70ft. The draughtsmanship of the artists was of a highly specialised kind, and, .some knowledge of Ancient lore also was necessary. He himself was becoming a keen Egyptologist, and he was thinking of going to Berlin shortly to study hieroglyphics there. TUTANKHAMEN’S CURSE. Mr. Greener smiled when the muchpublished “curse” of Tutankhamen cropped up in the conversation. “Archaeologists in Egypt laugh at those stories about the cause of the deaths of the members of that expedition,” he said. “All sorts of things can be attributed to their deaths. Naturally enough it is not a healthy work, although I have not known it to affect anybody mentally. If you ask me, I ascribe the deaths to perfectly natural causes.” For the first two weeks of the work possibly one would be rather depressed by the presence of ancient death in the dim and dusty tombs, he said, but soon one was too interested in one’s work to be troubled. As an example of what he meant, he said that he had often taken the teeth of mummies to show to dentists without feeling the presence of some impending remorseless doom hanging over him. Mr. Greener said that if he had known that New Zealanders would be so interested in the work of the expeditions he would have brought with him more relics and copies of his paintings. Before coming to Wellington he had spent some days in Auckland, where he was continually being questioned about the tombs. WIFE'S PAINTINGS EXHIBITED. Mr. Greener’s object in coming here is to give exhibitions of the paintings of his late wife, the artist Rhona Haszard, who was a native of New Zealand. Rhona Haszard died at the age of 30 in Egypt, two and a-half years ago, after having great success with exhibitions of her. work in the older countries. An exhibition has already been held in Auckland with great success, and Mr. Greener intends holding one in Wellington on July 4. As a New Zealander, he said, he work was of some cultural significance to this country. It was better to make her talents bf national importance to New Zealand art than to have them dissipated in various parts of the world.

THE CURTAIN FALLS SYDNEY THEATRE’S PASSING. A SOUVENIR PROGRAMME. To commemorate the closing down of Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney, a special souvenir programme was compiled for the firm of J. C. Williamson by Mr. Claude Kingston. The programme is brimful of photographs, and stories covering productions from 1887 until 1933. There are reproductions of pages from programmes of several of the countless successes that were staged at the theatre, photographs of stars—including some of the world’s most renowned artists—and even autographs of artists. Prominent among the autographs is 1 that of the late Dame Nellie Melba. Many of the names are long since forgotten, while others are fresh in the memory of all theatregoers. Included in the programme are pictures of managing directors of the theatre from 1903 to 1933. These include Mr. J. C. Williamson, Mr. George Musgrove, Major-Gen. G. Ramaciotti, Mr. Clyde Meynell, Mr. John H. Tait, Mr. Nevin Tait, Mr. Hugh J. Ward, Mr. Frank Tait, Mr. E. J. Tait, and Sir George Tallis. The curtain fell finally at Her Majesty’s on. the night of June 10, at the conclusion of a performance of “The Maid of the Mountains,” in which the leading role was taken by Miss Gladys Moncrieff. NEW MOTION PICTURES DEVELOPMENT IN BRITAIN. PROGRESS OF TELEVISION. The new third-dimensional screen is expected to be in general use in picture theatres in the very near future, according to Mr. A. C. Davis, of Wellington, managing director of Australian and New Zealand Pictures, Limited, who returned by the Rangitiki after a business trip to England. The original invention had been improved considerably, he said, a mechanical device having been perfected for attachment to existing cinematograph machines, thus avoiding the necessity of using special wide film, as was originally planned. A wide screen, filling the entire proscenium of a theatre, was needed, Mr. Davis continued, and in one of the two systems on the market, new wiring was necessary. The other system required only the wide screen and the projector attachment—an arrangement of lenses which gave a perfect sense of depth and perspective in the pictures. The wide screen was already in use in some London cinemas, but was used only for newsreels and other supporting films at present. However, the results were remarkably good. “It is difficult to say when the new device will actually be in general use,” Mr. Davis said. “Most 1 cinemas are at present still struggling with the expense of talking picture installations, and the electrical companies are waiting a favourable time before they put forward a new device which will mean additional expense.” Practical television was much nearer than most people believed, Mr. Davis continued. Opinion in England was to the effect that television could hardly be used successfully in conjunction with radio broadcasting, and that its future development would be in the hands of the film industry. An announcement had been made that a new: radio television broadcasting studio would be opened in Hollywood this year. STUDY OF MUSIC EXAMINERS FROM ENGLAND. BROADCASTING INFLUENCE. Two music examiners from London arrived at Auckland by the Rangitiki to carry out the usual annual examinations. Mr. F. A. Tyrer will conduct examinations for the Trinity College of Music, London, and Mr. F. G. Moore is examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, London. Mr. Tyrer is making his first visit to New Zealand and said he was.looking forward to his tour with the keenest anticipation. He is accompanied by his wife and they will later give a series of recitals in the Dominion. Mr. Moore is well-known in England as a pianoforte recitalist and lecturer. He was examiner for the Associated Board in New Zealand six years ago, but said he had made an earlier visit to New Zealand, arriving as a boy ip. the sailing ship Calypso in 1878. He had subsequently returned to England, but had always regarded New Zealand as the most beautiful country in the world. “Music in England is generally m a flourishing condition,” Mr. Moore said. “This particularly applies to musical composition. The English school of.composers has never been more flourishing since the days of the Elizabethan writers. “It is quite true that the development of radio broadcasting has thrown many musicians out of employment, but this is only temporary. Wireless will eventually react on music in the same manner as the invention of the printing press reacted on literature. After the initial period of transition, composers and musicians will be given a much wider field of activity, just as writers were encouraged by the facility of printing. The outlook for the future is quite satisfactory.” STAGE ROMANCES. Betty Balfour, the pretty British film star, known as the Mary Pickford of England, was recently married to James Campbell, the British song writer, and. left by the Berengaria for America and Hollywood. Miss Balfour is 30, and has been on the stage since she was 11. In 1924 she took first' place in a British film star popularity competition . Lawrence Wright, better known as Horatio Nicholls, song writer, was marred in London recently to Babette Hilda Hogan, known on the musical comedy stage as Betty Warren. Miss Warren is giving up the stage; her last appearance was as principal boy in the Liverpool “The Forty Thieves” pantomime. John Stuart, film star, who .was born in Edinburgh 33 years ago, and is now turning his attention to ,a serious singing career, recently took for his bride pretty Muriel Angelus, the 20-year-old Ayrshire girl, who is also famous on the films. Eight years ago Miss Angelus fell in love with John Stuart and wrote to him for a photograph, which she has treasured all these years. They have been appearing in the same films of late, and Miss Angelus was also appearing in “The Jolly Roger,” with George Robey. Two prominent wireless folk at Home, Jocelyn Corinne Rae, of the art department of the 8.8. C., and Gerald Clayton Beadle, assistant director of programmes of the same company, have married, and after honeymooning were to return to their work at the 8.8. C.

Hilda Duckett, ’cellist with a popular London quartet, is going to Vienna to marry the son of Herr Buxbaum, the well-known violoncellist of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, under whom she studied.