THE LORGNETTE

Observer, Volume XXXVII, Issue 15, 16 December 1916, Page 6

THE LORGNETTE

(By Fbomfteb.)

"m T t*ays. to Advertise" is an I American play that tells home * truths with a grin, and makes you chuckle.over its sage advice. It is., at the moment of writing, getting a good hearing at His Majesty's Theatre —the faces of the audience are a composite, smile. You see the people of the play in daily life—they are common types, and they and their wit, drollery and philosophy are rained on you so fast that you don't know you've been learning a lesson until you get home. Ordinarily the son of a rich man who is suddenly called on to hike out into the great world to earn his own crust and margarine is looked upon as. a pathetic incident. In this story the wealthy person's eon enters the arena with no noticeable intellect, and, having searched round for his brains, discovers them at last, and, with a drollery beyond precedent, snatches success fw>m the lap of fortune. Mr Donald* .Bowles, as the young man, is cordially approved. He unveils the character a brain-cell at a time, and he is in most of hie moments great.

Miss Myrtle Tannejiill is -Mary.;-; Grayson, X stetnograpliesr;:, fand has a remarkable aptitude for being a nice young woman, free of frill, susceptible to love, eminently natural and most businesslike. Miss Tannehill gives a charming study of. an attractive character. My! but Mr Hale Hamilton as. Ambrose Peale is some person. As an advertising person with a nose pointing dead in the direction of the next business, he sweeps across the mental view like a mob of buffaloes over a blue grass prairie. He has a grip-full of mirth, and the audience rocks with cackles when he undoes the strap. Don't get it into your head that he's just a voice heaving the other fellow's stuff. He livens it with a droll devilment that wins you. Miss Nancye Stewart is cas.t as an adventuress of the French Countess type. She speaks largely in French, so that no one but city councillors and Auckland M.P.'s understood her. Her naivette and drollery are irresistible. The excellent character work put into a suitable part by Mr Leslie Victor, and the fine study given by Mr Edwin Lester round out a fine cast. "Twin Beds" goes up as we go to press (Wednesday evening).

A delightful and highly successful dances-concert was given by Miss. Wynne Foote and her clever pupils in the Town Hall Concert Chamber on Saturday night. A feature was the dancing (in national costume) representing a large number of the. peoples of Europe. A Highland fling was danced by Misses Annie, and Jessie Robinson, Minnie and - Nessie Charteris, and Masters Norman and Albert Charteris, Norman Charteris being awarded Miss Foote's medal as the best dancer. Mise Mabel Oliver performed a Russian dance with grace and vivacity, and later in the programme danced as a butterfly and a wood nymph. The Misses Beryl Nettleton and Beryl Burgess gave a charming exposition of a Spanish dance. One of the most pleasing items on the programme was the "Persian Ballet," by Mieses M. Brown, M. and D. Turner, M. Philcox, D. Spencer, A. Jones, A. Ronayne, and K. Blomfield. Two little girk, Jessie

Robinson and Lily Smith, pleased the audience with "Where Fairies Rove," and Miss Mabel Oliver and ,Mr Leslie McNaughton gave a spirited waltz. Miss Olive Jones, a singer with a pleasant contralto voice, was charming in "Coming Home." A rollicking Irish jig was given by the Misses Beryl Bungese and Beryl Nettleton and Messrs Leslie McNaughton and Reg. Beiridge. Miss Jocelyn Dixon, a pupil of Miss Cecil Hall, gave a beautiful rendering of the "Swan Dance." Miss Foote, who received a cordial reception, gave a spirited exhibition of dancing in an item entitled "Kopak." A popular item was "The Flame," by Miss Iris McKenzie, in which the dancer ehowed grace, skill, and agility. During the evening an acrobatic display was given by Mies Foote and her pupils. Miss Mary Turner was. presented with a medal as the pupil having made the most progress. Mr A. McElwain was stage manager, and Miss Freda Hunter leader of the orchestra. ® ® ® Miss Dorothy Harris., who reappeared' on the. Opera House stage on Monday, has brought with her a good budget of bright new songs. She has a piquancy and charm that make her a favourite. Newcomers are M. Arthur Baroen and Mdlle. Blanche Rosetti, two Belgian artists of high musical attainments. Mademoiselle has a highly sympathetic andj excellently trained mezzo-soprano voice. Mdlle. Rosetti sang with great beauty many highrclass songs, and reached the heart of her audience with "Night of Stars" ("Tales otf Hoffmann"). Mr Baroen is a 'cellist of exceptional qualifications. The acrobatic dancers the 2sandellae are a delight tofthe <$ys— graceful, agile and ori,,ginai*',« Mr Harty Tsuda, a Japanese b^ilt§r£-has #mazine aptitude in his and*'is a 'highly skilled exponent of graceful and difficult pose. His wonderful work with the globes is quite out of the common. Dura and Judge are the patter artists and acrobats who have already made a name for themselves locally. Miss Margaret Jewell, the sweet soprano from Australia, is a great favourite with Fuller audiences. Her voice is true and good, and her method excellent. Starr and Star, Ross Wyne and the Big Surprise and the Johnson Girls are still on a highly excellent programme. ® ®> SS> The King's Theatre, in which MiBrandon Cremer and his excellent company are playing good oldfashioned melodrama, is packed with people every night—in short the red blood stuff is l a distinct and' palpable draw. "New York by Night" is a thriWinjg- dttamaitfc narrative in which, much to the. satisfaction of tjhe feudience, villainy ie punished and virtue is rewarded. Mr Maurice Tuohy as the hero, Miss Kathleen Arnold as Madge, a dumb girl, Miss Mable Hardinge as Doris Glenny, and Miss Alice Rede as a criminal person of low type played excellently. Mr Edgar Kenna's conception of Jamee Grantley, the leader of the gang, was as villainous as the part demanded. The comedy relief was done by Miss Biddie Hawthorne as Tilly Andrews, and Mr Frank Neil as her lover Larry Larkspur. • • • The success that has attended the production of the different plays of the "gjirl" class that have been presented by Mr Brandon Cremer'e Company at the King's is doubtless the reason for the selection of still another in "No Mother to Guide Her," a four-act drama by an English playwright, Migs Nita Wray. This drama is one of those purchased in England a few years ago by Mr George Marlow, who always looked upon it. as the best of them, and it certainly justified his good opinion by also proving the most attractive. The characters of the play Iwive. been faithfully drawn, and the. plot works out in a succes-

sion of startling and most unexpected incidents. The heroine, a flower girl, lives through the. ill-treatment and brutality dealt out to her by a depraved wretch who falsely poses as her father, and uses his private knowledge of her origin for the purpose© of blackmail. "No Mother to Guide Her" will be offered at this Saturday's matinee and every evening during next week. m ts> ® An excellent castaway story, "The Chain Invisible," is seen on the screen at the Queen's Theatre, and is possibly suggested by the book "The Maid of the Mist. The point of the story is not, of course, how would two people act when thrown together in these circumstances, but how would, they act, having in view the possibility of being restored to the realms ruled over by Mrs Grundy. Apart from its dramatic interest, "The Chain Invisible" is attractive owing to the completeness of detail and the clever manner in which the work of the photographer and the playwright have been combined. Included in the new programme there is also "The Mysteries of Myra," which is the continuation of a series that has been very popular with the public. "Her Wedding Night , ' is a mirthprovoking comedy, which goee with that rapidity which is so essential to a successful funny film. @> <& ® The Princess Theatre has a dashing Wild West picture, "The Flower of No Man's Land, a "Metro" film of exceptional merit. The story concerns a daughter of the West, the land of camps and true hearts, who falls into the net of an out-and-out "bad man." She goe/s through what she thinks is a marriage ceremony, and goes to live in New York, where she is eventually discarded by her betrayer, who is already a married man. When she learns the cruel manner in which she has been deceived, the brave girl makes her way back to the old friends in the West, where she finds consolation, and the horrors of her experience of the treachery of the world are gradually eifaced from her memory. The Topical Budget is full of recent happenings. The "Metro" travel subject this week is full of good things. ® gfe © At the Globe Theatre there is a fine Indian picture, yarn, full of the thrills and hairbreadth escapes dear to boys of all ages, from 10 to 100. "West Wind" is a breezy story. "West Wind" is the daughter of a ranchman, a half-breed murders her, and there are thereafter many things doing in the wild riding line with revolvers and rifles and every other kind of adjunct to a picture of wild life among the "Reds." A "Mutt and Jeff" cartoon series is good value in fun and black and white frolic, and there, are other films of varied interest. ffr % © "Zaza" fills the eye at the Lyric Theatre, and is a "Famous Player" picture of an alluring kind. Zaza is a vivacious singer beloved by Paris. She loves and is beloved by Dufresne. He provides a home for her where all goes merry ac a marriage bell until she finds that monsieur is already married, and she's as angry as. a nestful of hornets. Zaza sets out. to find Madame Dufresne, and possibly to provide a sudden funeral for the gentleman who has killed her romance. She drops across the child of the Dufresnes, and is prevented l from doing anything naughty by that innocent babe. The supporting programme is a fine one. 9 to ® Sir F. Paolo Tosti, X.C.V.0., the famous song writer, is dead (states a Press Association message from London). Sir Paolo Tosti was born in Abruzzi in 1847. His compositions include: "Come to My Heart," "For Ever and For Ever," "Good-bye," "That Day," "Let It Be Soon," "Help Me. to Pray," "Yesterday," "At the Convent Gate," "We. Have Loved, ,, "Tell Them."

Miss Billie. Burke, who in private life is Mrs Zeidfeld, wife of the big amusement entreprejiuer, is. now the proud possessor of a daughter, born a few months after she. finished her film, "Gloria's Romance." The baby's name is to be. Gloria Burke Zeigfeld. ® © <® Max Linder, the. well-known comedian, who, after being severely wounded in France, has received his discharge, and has signed up a contract to appear in films again, is said to be" about to receive for his work a salary of ove.r £1000 per week. @> © ®> Carlyle Blackwell, who appears in the picturisation of "Mr Grex. of Monte Carlo," is not exactly a dog fancier, but he. has. a most especial fancy for one particular dog. 'Medford Belle" is the object of his choice—a great dane, which recently captured first prize at the San Francisco Exhibition. "Medford Belle" weighs one hundred and forty pounds, and stands thirty-two inches high at the shoulder. Mr Blackwell is prepared to offer a big prize to anyone, who will submit an acceptable scenario written around his favourite, with possibly a nice, small part in it for Medfordi Belle's proud owner. ® ® -® Mafbel van Buren, the popular screen star who has played in many feature productions, has. been engaged to appear exclusively in Lasky photo-plays during the coming year. This is not her debut as. a Lasky star by any means, as she appeared in the leading role of the Lasky - Belasco production, "The Girl of the Golden West." Before appearing for the pictures Miss Van Buren played leading parts in many stage successes, including "The Man of the Hour," "The Virginians," and "The Squaw Man."

Olga Petrova was at one time a dramatic critic in London, and l is a frequent contributor to magazines on both sides of the Atlantic. She has now written her own scenario for a production which will be made for the Metro programme by the Popular plays and. players.

The newe that' Ze.alandini and Brisbani have made a highly successful debut in London will be welcomed in New Zealand. Carlo Zealandini is Mr Vernon Redwood, a nephew of Archbishop Redwood. Realising comparatively late in life that he had l s.trong vooal gifts, MiRedwood (the father of a family of six) resolved to risk all on an operatic career, and his wife (who hails from Brisbane), who is curiously enough, no less gifted, also decided on a stage career. So off they both went to Milan to study, worked at vocalism and the Italian language, with the result that within

three years they appeared in Milan as Faust and Marguerite respectively, and were hailed, as genuine artists of undoubted ability. Since then they have appeared in concert j in London, again with success, and ' a little later America and probably [ Australia will hear them. If Mr [ Ben Fuller is serious in his inten- , tions to play Italian opera in English next year, here is, as a Wellington Exchange remarks, a chance of securing two artists, who are sure to create widespread interest in Australia. & $? ® Mr John Tait, who was in Wellington last week, stated that his brother, Mr E. J. Tait, has secured the Australian rights of the new comedy drama "Turn to the Right," by Winchell Smith and John Hazard, which has proved a "winner." —New York. /■(©".© ® "Hindle Wakes," by Stanley Hough.ton, is the most discussed sex drama'that has been staged in England 'for a generation. It was produced at the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester, by Miss. Horniman's company, and afterwards at the Aldwych Theatre, London. It shocked many prudes, but its truth and direct dialogue won scores of thousands of admirers, *and to-day it is one of the. most-talked-of plays in England, having been' produced in every town of consequence from Land's End to John o' Groats. The scene is laid in Lancashire, at the little factory town of Hindle. Until produced in Sydney recently, "Hindle Wakes" had never been seen in Australia. iaf # ' © "My real work is to run the theatre to better the. conditions of. men and women," stated Dr. Eugene Brieux, the French Academician, in an interview published recently in an English review. The author of "Damaged Goods" argued that plays which are meant to better social conditions have as good a right to be, heard as novels have to be read. His attitude has been warmly endorsed; by the Australian public and leaders of all movements . 'for the betterment of conditions of the■>national life. <® ® $? "On the Love, Path/ "Leah Kleschna," and "The Jury of Fate"—three non-musical plays wholly unlike in style and texture —had varied, receptions, "Leah Kleschna" being the only one of the three that got wide recognition from . playgoers. Among Mr McLellan's • many successes in musical comedy authorship were "The Whirl of the Town," "Nelly Neil," and "The Pink Lady." 0 @ @ Robert Harron, who has been Mac Marsh's opposite, and co-star ever since their old Biograph days, is a crayon artist of no m©an ability. The walls of his. dressing-room are smothered with the clever caricatures he has sketched of his fellow-players.