In the Theatres

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18832, 21 March 1931, Page 14 (Supplement)

In the Theatres

Mr Edgar Wallace, who was recently appointed editor of the ‘‘Sunday Chronicle." has taken a seven years’ lease of Wyndham’s Theatre, where his play “Smoky Cell.” is now running. To is his intention to produce all sorts of plays there. Janette Gilmore, the popular star of “Rio Rita,” when it was played here in 1929, is not dead, despite reports to that effect last year. Letters received from her recently state that she and Charles Syber. who was also here with the “Rio Rita” company, have been playing continuously in American theatres. Harvey Adams, appearing in the Barrie play. “Mary Rose.” staged by J. C. Williamson, at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, has seen quite a lot of the world during the last few years. Before touring South Africa with Muriel Starr, prior to coming to Australia, he was appearing in principal roles with a company which was playing through South America and the West Indies in “French Leave” and other comedies. “The funniest part of the trip,” said Mr. Adams, “was to see whole rows of shining white shirt-fronts of the audience in the Burmudas, with no faces above them. The wearers ,of course, were negroes, and in the darkened heatre their heads were invisible. The natives are keen theatregoers, and during the fortnight’s season in the Bermudas evety seat was booked days ahead. For a matinee performance the gallery would be full before nine o'clock in the morning.” J. C. Williamson, Ltd., discloses a loss of £18,503 for the year ended June 30, compared with a profit of £50,804 for the previous year. A dividend of £9375 or 2£ per cent, was paid on ordinary shares on December 31, 1929, and the usual quarterly dividends of 2 per cent, per quarter, amounting to £12,000 were paid on preference shares. Owing to the business for 1929-30 resulting in a loss, the dividends, the directors state, have been declared payable out of the undistributed profits i for the year ended June 30, 1928. Owing to financial restrictions the company has not for the present paid the usual interim dividends on the preference shares since the close of 1929-30. The directors assure the shareholders that as soon as circumstances permit the payment of these dividends shall be resumed. The report states that the loss is due to the prevailing depression : and adverse business and social condi- ! tions generally, accentuated by the ex- ! ceptional and oppressive State and Federal amusement taxes, including j double taxation in New South Wales and Victoria. The continuance of ' special taxation, the directors add, will j result in continued restriction of the , company’s business.

The question of the artistic succession at Bayreuth which has been in dispute since the death of Siegfried Wagner last October, has now been decided by Frau Siegfried Wagner. The musical control of the festival is to be entrusted to Wilhelm Furtwangler, and the responsibilities of producer to Heinz Tietjen, the intendant general of the Berlin opera. In making these appointments, which have both been accepted, Frau Wagner has, it is stated, been guided by the wishes of her husband. He was, it appears, much impressed by the new production of “Lohengrin” under Tietjen and Furtwangler in the Municipal Opera at Berlin early last year, and himself took the initiative towards securing their services for Beyreuth. The Tiet-jen-Furtwangler combination will not come into full operation until 1933 as

it was Siegfried Wagner's wish that no fundamental change should be made in the next Beyreuth Festival. Furtwangler will, however, conduct this year’s three performances of "Tristan.” Toscanini, the conductor of this opera and “Tannhauser” last year, will retain the latter, and also take over “Parsifal” from Mary Muck.

The post-war history of the Aldwych Theatre, the scene of many successful plays produced by Tom Walls, is as romantic as any in the history of the theatre. It reflects the rapid rise to fame which Mr. Walls has enjoyed

since 1918, After the war, Tom Walls took up the threads of his theatrical career, and made .fair progress. Then luck, in the form of Will Evans, the pantomime “Dame,” brought him the script of “Tons of Money.” This had been rejected by innumerable London managers, but Walls saw its possibilities. He had the production re-writ-ten, and some of his friends put up some money. It was staged for the first time at the Shaftsbury Theatre, and in spite of the pessimism of several know-all critics, it was an immediate success, but it had to be moved to make ropm for an on-coming production. The London theatrical world raised its hands in horror, when the company opened at the Aldwych, the “white elephant” among the theatres. However, “Tons of Money ’ opened to capacity business and ran for 737 performances. In the company was Ralph Lynn, Mary Brough, Yvonne Arnaud and Robertson Hare. Walls then acquired the rights of “It Pays to Advertise” which ran for 597 per-

formances. At this jtime the Aldwych Company linked up with Ben Travers, whose first farce “A Cuckoo in The | Nest” was produced in July, 1925. It ran for 377 performances. By this time the Aldwych Company was an inI stitution of British humour, and the | Walls-Lynn combination (they acted I together and were great “pals”), one of the most popular in stageland. Then came “Rookery Nook," and little Winifred Shotter was selected friyn the Winter Garden chorus to play the “Pyjama Girl” role. Ben Travers then wrote a special play for the Aldwych players. “Thark” was its name, and it gave Walls and Lynn their best opportunities. Then followed “Plunder,” “A Cup of Kindness,” and “A Night Like This.” The latest is “Marry the Girl,” which is still running. Ending a notable American theatrical career. Ethel Grey Terry, for twenty years one of the stars of the stage and screen, died at her home in Hollywood on January 6. She had been U 1 for more than a year. As the daughter of Lillian LawTence, a famous actress of her day. Miss Terry inherited her mother’s talent and turned to the stage at an early age. She was two years old w'hen she made her first appearance behind the footlights. For tw r o years she was featured by David Belasco in several of his New York ctage hits, and later she appeared for three years under the Shubert banner. In 1919 she tried pictures and worked with the late Lon Chaney and many other stars during her career before the cameras. Shet never entirely deserted the legitimate stage, however, from time to time returning to the footlights. The libel action brought by Mme. Marie Jeritza, the prima donna, and her husband against the author and publishers of a novel “Bagage.” was adjourned. Despite a cold drizzle, enough women to fill the court-room assembled before daylight. Several had their dresses torn in the scramble into the court. Roderich Muller Gutenbrunn, the author of the novel, which was seized last month, denied that two of the characters in the book represented Mme. Jeritza and Barn Leopold Popper. Baron Robert Schenk, a cousin of Baron Popper, had, he declared, lent him a copy of his (Schenk's) novel “Baron Poldi,” and told him to take anything he wanted from it. Baron Schenck, who is one of the defendants, said his novel was seized by the police in 1926, following complaints by Baron Popper. He never intended injury to Baron Popper’s reputation and had nothing to do with the production of “Bagage." A bookseller said a representative of the Fiba company, the publishers of “Bagage,” told him the novel contained “spicy things about Jeritza.”

“Music Come to Eearth,” is the title of a brilliant book by the late Adolf Weissmann. an English translation of which has recently been published. The translation, which is the work of Eric Blom, is a commendable effort. Weissmann, w r ho was one of the most dis-

cerning of modern musical critics, speculates in this little volume on the future of the art. Reviewing the pre-

sent situation frankly and without sentimental resentment at the inevitable, the author comes to the conclusion that music has lost its divine attributes

and is becoming a mere commodity. Included in the subjects, which he treats so cleverly, is mechanical music; but he does not denounce, he merely asserts statements of fact, and makes the best of the position. He is confident that what music has lost, it will eventually draw from its new conditions. A letter from New r York records the success of a New Zealander. Mr. Lionel Ince, w f ho was formerly well-known in Dominion amateur theatricals, and at one stage w’as the holder of the Napier and New Zealand elecutionaary championships. After arriving in the United States, Mr. Ince made his debut in the Shakespearean production, “King Lear,” which was presented by the Fritz Leiber company. He had previously received favourable criticisms for his work in the leading roles in "This Thing Called Love,” and a revival of “East Lynne.” Writing from New York on January 23, Mr. Ince says he was then rehearsing for a new' Broadway play. “Night Court." which was to be presented on February 20. Since joining the Leiber company he has appeared in eight Shakespearean plays. “Last week,” Mr. Ince writes, “I had a microphone test with the Fox Film Corporation. A few members of the Leiber company w r ere tested, and the idea is that if such a plan is at all feasible, a Shakespeare talking picture will be produced. Thave not seen the result of the test but have been told it was quite successful. The role I played w r as that of the prince of Morocco in “The Merchant of Venice,” and I was in the make-up chair for five and a half hours. It took just over four hours to put on my beard, which was merely a short Vandyke. The theatre in New’ York is quiet just now, and the best plays running are ‘Grand Hotel,’ and ‘Elizabeth, the Queen.’ There are no good musical shows at all and a lot of the plays are very uninteresting.”