THE LORGNETTE

Observer, Volume XL, Issue 13, 29 November 1919, Page 6

THE LORGNETTE

LBY PttOMPXEK.J

AT Fuller's Opera House there is . a rich and varied programme attracting plenty of people. The Ashton Brothers, vrho are expert balancers are also as strong as young lions. One chap lies doAvn and lifts his brother Avith a side lift with u*ie arm at full arm stretch. He also permits his brother to stand on his head and then Avalks the length of the stage. Their combined balancing feats are exceed inglv graceful and clever. Cracknel 1 and Jeaune haA'e their clever stockAvhip act, the man doing anything Avith the whip and being most expert Avith a lasso—the "rope" of the American cowboy. Frank Sidney, the lady, and the dog, have a most interesting leaping act, novel in all its features, and "Zillah," the said dog, "sings" to a guitar accompaniment. Doody and Wright, burlesque artists, and Ernest Barraclough, the sweet singer, are having a very good run and the audiences like them. The musical comedy which forms the second part, is above the average. "The Blacksmith's Wedding" is bright in music in its setting, costumes, and dancing, Avhile the orchestral accompaniment is splendid. The scene is the square in front of the village smithy. and there the frolics and loA>-e affairs of rustics are enacted with the candour common to lightopera. It is the wedding-day of one blacksmith, and his fellow-vil-lagers are present with congratulations, and with choral comments, and Avith their own love affairs. Comedy is provided by the village idiot and a motorist. Brisk and well-dressed dances by rustic youths link up the details of a little play that holds together in good sequence. A charming item is the "SAyan Dance" by Miss Polly McLaurcn, very gracefully performed to the strains of Saint Saen's "La Cygne." An effective scene is the finale, " The Bells of St. Mary's," in which the whole company appears in early Victorian costumes. ®> @ ®> Mary Pickford is attracting very large crowds to the Princess Theatre, where a film, "Captain Kidd, Junior," is entrancing all beholders, the favourite little lady acting Avith genius and sAveetness. The story concerns a young Avriter who quitted the pen to search for hidden treasure, and who found a curly-haired treasury when he'd finished his search. The beautiful scenery in this story has been selected Avith a vieAV to surround Miss Pickford AA'ith the best example of loveliness available, and as there is true humour in the yarn without any of the suggestive matter which is usually the basis of the American plot, a girl can take - her grandmother to sco the picture without fear of injuring her morals. Besides this very pretty comedy-drama there are other charming pictures, beautifully played. ® ® ® At the National Theatre there will be staged on Saturday next an American drama, "Never Say Quit," starring the beauty actor, George Walsh. In the words of the American who Avrites the preliminary notices of "Never Say Quit," "it has a monopoly on the jinx. It's Thirteen and* Friday and hoodoos all the way through."

It appears the hoodoo jumps from roof to roof fearlessly. "Not for a moment" (says the author "can the unfortunate . hero elude the jinx." This, according to the author, is • where the _fun comes in. It sis further stated that "the hoodoo if freed'"will make your life oiie round of misery, the hoodoo packed in tins .-will, work AA'onders for you." Personally, I don't know Avhat it means, biit it's a good picture. "Kultur" is also on the bill, and features Gladys Brockwell. Here one revels in the secret diplomacy (from an American writer's point of view) of Vienna and Berlin. The Kaiser and Baron Yon Zeller take leading parts. It is tremendously interesting. © ® @> At tho Strand Theatre "A Man and His Money" Avill be screened on Saturday next. Harry Lathrop commits a croAATiing indiscretion in carousing at a time when he has a dinner engagement, and is to escort his fiancee, Betty Dalrymple. He quits his dissipated croAvd under the influence of liquor, and commits the unforgivable offence of appearing before his refined fiancee ridiculously drunk. She discards him for ever. He returns to his dissolute companions, and continues the debauch in his own house, but the excess ignites a spark of manhood in him, and he arranges Avith his attorney to advance no more funds for a year. He will cure himself. His adventures culminate in his obtaining a job cleaning the pet dog of Betty's aunt, where that young lady chances to be visiting. Her hand is solicited by a'villainous suitor, whose plot to compromise her is foiled by Harry, and, as she has never ceased loving him, a pretty reconciliation follows. 99 : 9 The Queen's Theatre has a vivid picture drama, "Her Price," in which Virginia Pearson takes the part of a girl who in the search for fame does not find any, but is socially barred, which seems to her unjustifiable punishment for folloAVing an inclination. Tom Mix is seen in a Avild pictorial story, "Hell Roarin' Reform," in which he is a mounted Christian with revolvers, shooting religion into sinners Avith guns, and riding oA'er them in his anxiety to drag them to heaven. The American notion of teaching religion Avith a bludgeon is a trifle overdone nowadays, but to see Tom Mix doing his stunt, whether he's teaching the Gospel with a "45" or riding up the pulpit stairs on a buck-jumping pinto, is. good goods. You jest naterally kaint imagine an Auckland Gospel guy shooting texts into yer Avith a gun or riding the gospel of forgiveness into you mounted on a horse, can you ? es ® ® ' At the TiA'di Theatre on Saturday. 29th, there will be produced D. AY. Griffiths' wonderful masterpiece, "The Great Love." The theme of this picture is a tremendous one. It shows the aAvakening of the social butterflies of England, marshalling of the nation's forces in the gigantic struggle in which all ranks Avere levelled and an aroused country worked with a unity of purpose. In his stupendous undertaking. Mr. Griffiths had the support of the British Government and the personal assistance of Queen Alexandra. Baroness Rothschild, and Sir Frederick TreA r es, the famour surgeon of King Edward VII. Other noted persons who appear in the film are the Princes of Monaco, Countess of Masarene, Lady John La very. Miss Violet Kennel, Countess of Drogheda, Lady Diana Manners, Miss Asouith, and Miss Lilly Elsie. Following " Th-p Birth of. a Nation," "Intolerance." and "Hearts of the World." In addition to the celebrities, "The Great Love" offers Lillian Gish, Henry Walthall, Robert Harron, George Fawcett, Rosemary Theby, Mansfield Stanley, etc.

In the London "Daily Chronicle" Mr. George Ren wick draws a contrast between the night life and the mania for gambling and " boxing which prevails among one section of the population of Berlin and the distress which is to be found among other sections. Of the theatres he says:—"One evening I tried to obtain a seat at the Deutsches Theater, where Shakespeare's 'Corliolanus' Avas being played; but the house Avas 'sold out.' The theatre Avhich Avas nourishing Avith 'Charley's Aunt,'. Avas likeAvise booked up; and at the Theater dcs Wcstens, I think it Avas, someone Avas playing "Mimosa San' for the tAvo thousandth time; our 'Geisha,' with its untranslatable lines preserved in English, has been running continuously in Berlin since the Revolution, Avith croAvded houses every night. There, too, not a seat was to be had. Berlin's theatres have been as packed every night as those of London. The AAorld of art, indeed, in Germany, has changed little, been but little affected, so far, by five years of AAorld Avar. Here and there one notices a little more liberty of expression on the stage, in stone or on canvas.—ever and anon some revolutionary little 'tAvist' in the work of an artist seeking a neAV path or seeing something in a new light. But neither Avar nor revolution" has stirred literature out of the dull, unimaginative way into Avhich it had fallen before the Avar." 9 9 9 Mrs. Irene Castle indicates in a life of her husband, the late Vernon Castle, that chance played an important part in his life. He had no intention of going on the stage, but while-attending the rehearsals of "The Orchid." in Avhich his sister Avas to appear, he Avas unexpectedly given a minor part—that of one of the seconds in the duel scene. His real name was Blythe, but as there was another Blythe in the caste he changed it to Castle, suggested by Windsor Castle. Their dancing also began by chance. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Castle had gone to Paris to act in one of the minor theatres, and there ,they gave from memory a dance they had seen Blossom Seeley do in America. A Russian nobleman who had seen their Avork recognised them at the Cafe de Paris Avhen their finances Avere far from good, and asked the management to request them to give the dance for him. Thus their dancing came into A'Ogue. In time of Avar Mr. Castle became an aviator, gaining the rank of captain. It is stated that he deliberately sacrificed himself to saA r e a younger man. <& . <& <& Ben. J. Fuller, Avriting to his brother John from America, refers to the big strides in their vaudeville acts that have been made by numerous Australians Avho quitted that country to gain experience in the Avorld of entertainment. Many of them, he says, are getting big salaries and have long contracts, but they arc all longing to get back for a spell in their native land. The result is that the list of vaudeville attractions which Mr. Fuller is sending out Avill include several Austrwlian acts that have proved that although an artist may not be a prophet in his OAvn country, Avith a little experience and polish he can become a profit to himself and his manager in another. ® <© ® Playgoers a few years back, says the Sydney "Sun," will remember the romantic marriage of George EdAvardes and Rosie Parkes, of the Edwardes and Parkes vaudeville act. They met at luncheon. They gazed into each other's eyes over the soup, held hands instead of attending to the entree, while he proposed OA'er the sAveets. It is said she accepted while, .the waiter presented the bill. They got into a cab, and the driver told them the address of the registrar's office. It all happened in ten minutes or so.