AMUSEMENTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 30 June 1924, Page 11

AMUSEMENTS.

■\ItISGROVK CELEBRITY VAUDE- ' /■ 1 Y11.1.K. OPENING TO-NIGHT. To-night in the Theatre Royal, >-i R A. Shepard will present another raw and brilliant company of Musgrove Celebrity Vaudeville, ,direct from Gig Tivoli Theatre; Sydney, lhe Musgrove management arb’ ' notoiL for the higli class!of acts presented in their Australian theatres, which compare favourably with the programmes seen at tha Palladium, London, and Hippodrome, New York, and it wnl their policy to present at regular intervals all the world’s best in vaudeville to Dominion theatregoers.. The “Star’,’: (Auckland) of tee company which opens hero to-iiight .-- “Expectant of a good entertainment after' the taste of quality shown ty members of the first Musgrove Vaudeville Company, there was a crowded audience at ,His. Majesty’s Theatre when the sfccond company made us appearance. Nor was this audience disappointed, for the,show was one ot the best ever seen here in vaudeville, each and every item on a diversified programme being one of outstanding merit.”

To-night’s company includes ten acts, many of which have been headliners in the principal vaudeville theatres of England and America. An act of international reputation is Renio Riano, who comes direct from a starring engagement with the Music Box Revue, London. Miss Riano, with her work and remarkable frocking will, it is said, be a revelation to theatregoers. She is the possessor of a muchly photographed pair of limbs, which are insured for £20,000. Also direct from London are the English musical comedy trio, Windsor, Edgar, and Kell a wav. The turn is billed as “Three Musical Jokers in One Pack.” ' Kellaway <s a well-know London musical comedy barritone, and Windsor and Edgai have been conductors of .tlie leading London orchestras. Their turn is throe men, two violins, and a plaintiva baritone.

Presenting what is billed as a hurricane of burlesque, song, and dance, are Niblo and Doris. Niblo is a remarkable coon impersonator and dancer, and Doris, . with her grand opera impressions, is said to give a “classic, of absurdity.” , Guilly and Jeanhy i are Continental acrobats whose Eiffel Tower act is described as 'lie acme of equilibrist novelty. Two singers who are sure to be popular are Bruni Sarti, late tenor of the Sistino Choir, and Clare Solly, a brilliant Australian contralto. The Alton Sisters appear on the silver wire, and Don Stuart, the ■ high' ' and •-. mightymagician, presents V novel act.'). J. J, Collins giy.es an‘exhibition of,, skill arict. artistry, aiid 'the ''five JRoyal Rarotohgans, with their native music and hula dances, are a delight for the eye and ear. The box plans are at the Bristol, and; filling; rapidly. , . FULLERS’ PICTURES. Lovers of thrilling drama have a tyeat in store for,them, in ‘'Thundergate,” a First National picture,' which! opened on Saturday ai^.Eoilers, to a 'crowded house". While the principal action in this pulse-quickening play is laid in China, amid the colourful scenes of the Orient, ,the story, chiefly concerns Americans. story centres about an. American civil engineer, Robert Wells (played by Owen Moore), who goes to China to assist in the building of briclgeu . for an . American concern. His downfall is plotted by another engineer, Ray Williams, in love with the girl to whom the first is engaged. Insidiously Williams plays upon Wells’ one .weakness —drink., ~ Wells sinks lower and lower, and finally disappears. Kong Sue, profligate son oi the Lord of Thundergate, steals money from his father’s safe; and . bargains with the priests at the temple for Eileen Ainsmith, a white girl, who had been reared as a Chinese. The ceremony over, servants inform Kong Sue that his father : is sending guards for him, and he hides in a room- at a disreputable inn.. In a drunken brawl there-, Wells is knocked unconscious, and noting Wells’ resemblance to himself, Kong changes clothes with the American.- The guards take Wells, still stupefied, to the palace. The‘Lord of Thundergate, drops dead during the excitement, and Wells is acclaimed in his place. Meanwhile a rice coolie, whose wife had been wronged by Kong, recognises him and . imprisons him in the cellar of the inn. The. bride is brought from the temple. Learning that she is white, Wells continues the masquerade that he may protect her from the real Lord, should he return. Proof that Williams, who brought about his downfall, is in the pay of the Imperialist faction, is found by Wells. How he discovers the duplicity of liis former associate and frees the white girl, makes a fitting culmination to this Master picture. Owen Moore handles a difficult role admirably, and Virginia Brown Faivo gives a remarkable inter pretation in the leading feminine role. Other members of the cast include Svlvia Brea mar, Tully. Marshall, Robert McKim, Richard Cummings, Ynea Seabury and Edwin Booth Tilton. A fine programme is completed by the last chapter but one of “Hie Oregon Trail,”an interesting educational picture “The Storv of a Can of Salmon,” and two comedies “Polo,” and “Plus and Minus.”

THE GRAND THEATRE. What harm newspaper publicity, notoriety, and fame can do to a person in public life when the breath of scandal turns against them, is the central themo of “The World's Apjjlause,” a new William de Mille production for Paramount, featuring Robe Daniels and Lewis Stone, which is now being screened at the Grand Theatre. Colourful, exotic, Lobe Daniols has the role oi Corinne d’Alys, a successful artist ol the stage, whose high place has been largely due to her insatiable search for publicity. Lewis Stone-, is seen as John Elliot, a dramatic producer who becomes enmeshed in emotional situa lions of compelling force, when lus Mstor, Mrs Elsa Townsend (Kathlyn Williams) allows jealousy of her artist husband to drag them all into a quagmire of scandal. When Robert Townsend, who desires .tQ : make the actress his conquest, odors to paint her portrait and hang it in the French,saloon, she consents to the arrangement. Iho portrait is painted, but on seeing it, Mrs Townsend, unable to restrain hei jealous fury, slashes the portrait to ribbons and stabs her husband to death. Corinne is detained by the police, and the newspapers make a sensation of the affair, with the result that Corinne loses all her friends except hei producer, Elliot. From this point onward there is a succession of thrills, which hold the spectators as by a spell. The second feature is “A Heart to Let,” starring charming Justine Johnstone, as a perplexed young aristocrat who has inherited fine traditions and a huge and run-down mansion, but no money. The girl decides to take n few boarders to support her young brother and a spinster cousin, she- advertises, and the advertisement is answered by a young financier (Harrison Ford), wlio has lost his sight. The girl, Agatha Kent (Justine Johnstone) disguises herself ns a very old lady, and carries out her impersonation very successfully, until some of the _ young man’s city friends, feeling sorry for him, appear on tho scene. The plo, thickens rapidly, us Agatha trios to double ns the old lady and a maid ol all work, keeping her own identity a sec-rot. There are complications ami misunderstandings galore before tno young mail regains his sight and nntiiially considers Agatha the host thing tor weak eves that he has ,-m-oonU-n .1 They fix up a life contract tor room and board.