THE LORGNETTE

Observer, Volume XXXV, Issue 20, 23 January 1915, Page 6

THE LORGNETTE

[By Peompter.]

THE gay doings at the Opera House include the best dancing turn seen on local boards, and Eddy Martyn, straight from the land of the screamin' eagle and the timber ham is the dancer. Eddy is sure some terpiischore! He twinkles to that extent that you can't tell until he breaks out into impersonations (still dancing) whether he's an electric invention or just a meat man. The audience is hard on Eddy. It won't let him off to. refresh, and he trips return stunts as if he really liked it, and says with smiles, "It didn't hurt me a bit." Phil Smith, lately a leading comedian with the Musical Comedy Trust, has broken out into vaudeville, and very good he is. Miss Jessie Barlee aids the genial Phil, and their stunt goes large and to the general satisfaction of the audience. In character sketches Philip is bright. Mr Carlton Chase pleases with a well trained and mellifluous voice, and obtains the glad recall. Mr Jene Hawkins uses his lissome fingers to good effect on the piano. Dangar, on his cycledrome, claims to put up a speed of 60 miles per 60 •minutes against local riders— : an.d he seems to. Clinton and Beatrice, the rifle shots, have added variety by instituting competitions. On Monday night Mr Wheeler of the audience put up top score. The nightly winners will shoot in the final on Friday evening. The rest of the programme is ridh with fun, frolic and skill. W ® ® On Saturday night, in the Town Hall, that fine singer Mr Peter Dawson, with his English Concert Co., will give his first concert. Mr Dawson sings splendidly popular songs, and the company especially cater for the catholic taste of the crowd and not for the "long wools" in particular. The highly successful singer and his talented confreres will receive the heartiest possible welcome during their season. © © © Fuller's Pictures at the King's Theatre include an intense and thrillingly painful drama, "Shadows of the Past," wherein it is shown that until you are dead and done for there is no escape from the wrongs you have inflicted during your life. This drama of reparation, which winds up with a terrific smash between a motor car and a railroad train, visibly affects the audiences which see it. Pathe's War Special is of universal interest, because it • brings one into touch with the war in the air, a place with which we in New Zealand are not familiar, and whose possibilities are so awful. The customs of Indian troops are illustrated, and British Tommies are seen in their little bivouacs—all smiles. Turkish troops in force are exceedingly interesting, and they look keen, workmanlike chaps, able to swing a blade with quickness and despatch. A giddy Keystone, "Hard Cider," is just a Keystone, and Keystones are the limit for healthy, athletic fun. A good Gaumont is ■"Physical Culture." "Oh, You Kids" is a cheerful A.B. farce come•dy with a laugh or two to every running foot. " The King's Orchestra dispenses sweet music, which has the added value of appropriateness. ® © © "The Brute" is at the Lyric. It is a picture story which emphasises the contention that a man here and there still retains the primal force 'handed' out to the animal at the beginning of the world. It shows that a man of force, decision, and of a dominating personality, can be as gentle as a lamb and strong as steel,

and can obtain and retain possession of the love of women because of his forcefulness. Among the topical war picture records purporting to be taken during the great actions near Dixmude are shown, and also troops in Egypt have been brought to Auckland's doorstep by the wonder •of the camera. "The School Teacher and the AVaif" features the finest "movie" actreets living—Miss Mary Pickford, who, although only 21 years of age, has won fame by sheer genius. The story is particularly telling, because or Mary Pickford', and it is told with a tenderness and simplicity that is extremely vivid and natural. Any photo play in which Mary Pickford appears is worth going far to see. There are a large number of other dramatic, topical, farcial and educative pictures. © © © At the' Globe there are several special pictures, notably "The Romance of the Sawdust Ring," wherein is pictured the woes of a lion tamer and his fiancee, and the villainies of a ring-master, who releases the wild animals in revenge. It is obviously acted by genuine circus people, and the animal incidents are thrilling. There is real human charm about the love part of the story. "The Train of Incidents" is a Bunny-Flora Finch comedy, and is a gigglesome interlude, mostly acted in a railroad car. Flora Finch is the star. "The Colonel's Adopted Daughter" is an Indian girl who becomes real Indian once more when her poor old pa is shot to. bits by soldiers. Personally, I don't blame her. "The Dancer" is a story wherein is shown the fat financier who falls to the bow of a dancing girl. Ultimately the millionaire loves her no longer, and the girl makes a bend in the water with fatal results. A blast furnace going full bore is a fine educational film, and consequently a lot of people leave when it is put on. Good pictures of Venice are shown. "Mabel's Strange Predicament" is that she rushed into somebody else's room while attired in pyjamas—hence these 6iniles. "The Hand of Iron" is a fine Edison drama. "Jinks and the Barber" details occurrences that never happen in my barber's shop. The War Specials—two of them —are of the greatest possible excellence. © © © A charming photo-play, "The Stepmother," i|s the headliner at the Princess. It details the indifference that springs up between a man and his second wife, and the coldness that may arise by the juxtaposition of two families. Emotional interest is centred in the devotion of the stepmother to her stepchild when the child is stricken with serious illness, and a reconciliation is brought about. It is thoughtfully and beautifully played. "Forgetting" is the tearful tale of a married man who seeks other women than his wife, and moves along rather sorrowfully until he is carefully killed in a motor accident, and the woman gets a chance to marry a really truly lover. You will find the acting very good indeed. "The American Soldier" (claimed for some unexplained reason to be "the most intelligent in the world") is explained in pictures, and he is seen at work in warlike regalia but without a war. He is, in effect, rather a tiresome person at present. "Spending It Quick" is a pictorial American lesson, teaching the novice how to get rid of dollars. "That Awful Maid" is a comedienne with a dimple, who plays merry Gehenna in the household, and laughs a dental postcard smile the whole while. The topical pictures include some American naval pictures, in which the admirals wear moustaches and look like stray greengrocers. There is a good deal of good war film. © © © "The Mills of the Gods," the triumtphant dramatic- episode which heads the list of good films at the Queen's Theatre. The purpose of this moving tragi-drama is to show that good fruit cannot grow on evil trees, and that the machinations of the sinful lead to, ultimate confu-: sion. The acting is particularly fine. "The Last Performance" is sad, too, but people like deeply

touching and emotional plays. Circus incidents are thrillingly used as a basis for a plot that keeps the audience breathlessly interested. "Cohen Saves the Flag" in a highly comic manner, and the film is a good foil to the tear-stained 1 dramas that play upon the hearts of the people. Among the topical films are good pictures of the warlike Turks, who are reported to be advancing to try conclusions with our soldiers in Egypt. It is well to remember that the Turks are old in war, and that they are much better worth fighting than the public, who don't know Turks, appears to believe. It is in reality the most important picture in a fine programme, and emphatically discountenances the generally heldi theory that Turkish soldiers are ragged ruffians only enlisted to run away. © © © Mr Harry Hall-Kennedy, a Wellington boy who has been associated with various theatrical managements in New Zealand, and who is now on a tour of the world, writes from Marseilles that he intends returning to New Zealand in the near future, if he does not volunteer for the front when he reaches England. Whilst in America Mr Hall-Ken-nedy visited' the principal theatres in New York, Chicago, and Boston, seeking ideas and information, relative to the theatrical and picture show business, which he hopes t to make use of on his return. He visited the New York Hippodrome, which has the largest stage and company of any theatre in the world. He witnessed the staging of "The Wars of the World," a most startling production. There were over 1000 people and hundreds of animal® engaged in the production, and the scenic effects were extraordinary. The company employs 20 stage hands, 75 property men, 78 electricians, 22 engineers, 195 in ballet, 400 girls and 100 men in the chorus. It costs £1500 a day to run the Hippodrome. In the picture line, "Cabiria" was the star of the moment, a great picture, drawing immense business. The Americans do not show many coloured pictures, and tney screen a much smaller picture than' New Zealanders are accustomed to. <SS ® © According to the latest London reports many cases of dire poverty are being reported to the relief committees from among the class that depend upon furnishing amusements for their livelihoods. Smallsalaried actors, stage hands, and others are threatened with starvation. The war has hit the theatres and theatre folk of the United Kingdom a hard blow. Whereas in ordinary times there are 400 travelling companies on the road, there are to-day less than half that number. The darkened l streets in London have already resulted in a decision, by many managers to give matinees daily and night performances twice weekly, thus reversing the established order of things, and many theatres have been closed. To the ' high-islalaried actor or # actress who has saved up for a rainy day the situation is not so serious, but

the theatre employee needs substantial aid at once. To alleviate the situation several relief movements have been started, among them a plan to have a special variety week at the Women's Theatre, for which the public have been urged to purchase tickets. Well-known actresses and actors have offered to give their services gratis.