THE HAWERA THEATRE

Taranaki Daily News, 1 December 1934, Page 20 (Supplement)

THE HAWERA THEATRE

PROGRAMMES FOR THE WEEK. THE OPERA HOUSE. To-day and Monday: “Let’s Try Again,” Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook. Tuesday and Wednesday: “Operator 13” Marion Davies. Thursday and Friday: “Murder at the Vanities” Carl Brisson. UNUSUAL THRILLER “MURDER AT THE VANITIES.” Earl Carroll’s “Vanities,” which commences on Thursday at the Hawera Opera House, is an unusual blend of musical extravaganza and melodramatic “thriller." Its musical background is one of its delights, an excellent dance band under the well-known radio performer Duke Ellington giving some stirring renderings of rather daring variations, amounting almost to parody of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhadsody. The principal players are all unusually good performers, the best of them being Carl Brisson, a Continental star, who displays a fine quality of voice and a keen sense of the dramatic. He draws a very satisfying portrait of the musical comedy lead who almost falls a victim to the jealousy, of a woman whose affections fail to strike in him a responsive chord. Kitty Carlisle is well cast in the romantic part of the feminine star of the company, who finally wins the star for whom there is such keen competition. CONTRAST TO OLD ROLES MARION DAVIES IN DRAMA. As a complete contrast to her earlier light-hearted screen roles Marion Davies contributes her finest dramatic performance in “Operator 13,” which opens on Tuesday at the Opera House, Hawera. The picture is based upon the last bestseller novel of the late Robert W. Chambers. Different from other motion pictures with wartime backgrounds “Operator 13” deals with the most romantic and thrilling phase of spies. Miss Davies plays the role of Gale Loveless, a northern actress whom the famed Allan Pinkerton, General McClelland’s chief of secret service, sends into the Southern lines to track down Captain Jack Gailliard, scout on the staff of General J. E. B. Stuart. Gary Cooper appears as Captain Gailliard with whom Gale Loveless falls in love though she has been assigned to destroy him. For the setting, many places of historical interest in the rebellion were reproduced—famous southern mansions of Virginia and West Virginia, military headquarters and hospitals and the charm and beauty ,of southern plantation life. SPICE OF THE PROGRAMME OPERA HOUSE. To-day, Monday and Tuesday: Overseas News, “Shiver Me Timbers” (Popeye cartoon), and Universal News. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday: Fox Movietone News, “I Surrender Dear” (Bing Crosby musical), “Sawdust Sidelights” (educational travelogue), and Paramount British News. EVERYBODY’S. To-day, Monday and Tuesday: Pathe News, “Dawdling Through Devon” (interest) and “Down Under” (undersea novelty). Wednesday, Thursday and Friday: Metrotone Newsreel, and “Dirty Work” (Laurel and Hardy comedy). THE REGENT. To-day, Monday and Tuesday: Universal News and double feature programme. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday: Pathe Pictorial Varieties, “Around Port Nicholson” (interest) and “Saga of Silver Horde” (interest). A NEW STARLET SHIRLEY TEMPLE IN LEAD. “Baby, Take a Bow,” coming to the New Plymouth Opera House on Wednesday, introduces five-year-old Shirley Temple in her first title role. After her overnight success in “Stand Up and Cheer!” little Shirley has become one of the outstanding personalities on the screen. She has an important part in the picture and is responsible for much of the comedy. James Dunn and Claire Trevor, who have been teamed in three pictures, are together again in “Baby, Take a Bow, as Shirley’s parents. It is a sparkling comedy-drama that gets under way in the first few scenes and maintains a rapid tempo to the exciting finish. The story deals with the struggle for happiness and success of. a young man just out of prison, a girl who marries him because she believes in him, and the result of their union, an adorable baby girl who is the pride and joy of their hearts.

A Beauty Note. When Joan Crawford last visited England she caused excitement by appearing with her face entire’y devoid of makeup, but generously smeared with oil that made it shine. Nowadays, apparently, she is endeavouring to popularise a new fad. For oil she is substituting cold cream, and the lustre of her nose is even more brilliant.