MIMES AND MOVIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11596, 14 January 1916, Page 2

MIMES AND MOVIES.

Tf at tKS Theatre Soyal to-morrow ftisht, V Allen Boone intends Bailing for America on January 20 t *■»* Madame Bernhardt hns been in the films again. Thia time in " Jean Dare." t V / The "big" scene of " Bought and Paid For" is the end the second act; the emotional scene is the third act. * V It struck me that Kiss Muriel Starr does not speak as clearly as sne did when she was hero first. *n* Miss Bi'Uie Burke's first film part was in a. photo-play called " Peggy. ' It has been well reviewed. V Lieutenant Buckley, of Wanjjanni. has been appointed judge of the band contest, to be held at Napier in connection with the Mardi Gras. V' The Royal Comic Opera Company will ho in Wellington on January 2L The Christchurch season will commence next month. »•* Ona of the lectures given by Mr Liebling, editor of the " Musical Courier," in America, is " Beethoven and Other Plagiarists." * If yon want to see something unusually interesting in the circus business, go right along and enjoy Captain Huling'a seals.. / «„• / George Homan Barnes, one time on the road for William Anderson, has cone on a trip to the Land of the Dollar. Ho expects to return in three months. *** . Julius Knight received an ovation for iiis study of the romantic swashbuckler D'Artignan at the Princess Theatre. Melbourne. He opened to packed benches. *** Leschetizky, the Austrian Pole, and the great pianoforte teacher, is dead. His. greatest pupil was Paderewski. Leschetizky ' was eighty-five years of age when, the call came. #% Mr and Mrs Carlyle Smyth© have left London for Melbourne. Frederick Villiers is one of the celebrities Mr Smytho null conduct through Australasia. » * Miss Mary Law, the English violinist who is now appearing at the Tivoli Theatre, Melbourne, was soloist with London Symphony Orchestra, under Sir Charles villiers Stanford. w * • Miss Clarice Buckman, who has been supplying the song in "Nobody's Widow," is a sister of Miss Rosma Buckman, the New Zealand soprano, who has been so successful in Britain. Miss Clarice Buckman was with the Pollard Juvenile Opera Company. * The famous Players production of "Madame Butterfly" is said to be a woitderful display of picture production, although there is some disappointment concerning Miss Pickford's interpretation of the, principal character. The settings, ft "is announced, are something worth seeing, « •

I notice in the recent London newspapers that G. B. Shaw in a lecture announced that it was useless to expeot any suggestion of peace until Germany was crushed. "If we .allowed, the Germans to patch uj> a peace with us, it would be admitting that their army was invincible and that would be depositing trouble for the future."

David Wark: Griffith is preparinga film spectacle which is to exceed " The Birth of a Nation." One of the Bettings, has been erected in the open at Los Angeles. It is a stupendous affair amd is stated to be bigger than anything of the kind yet seen in films. Even the great temple of Moloch in "Oabiria" is beaten,

Paul Dnfaulfc is to commence his 'Australasian tour in Wellington and to come to Christchurch following. Recently Frederick Shipman stated that he hoped that both Ernest Toy and.Miss Florence Bindley would be with Dufault again. Harold Whittle,is also in Australia, and probably he may be the accompanist.

There is another "first '' Mary Pickford film. This time it is announced as "The Violin Maker of Cremona/' put oil by the American Biograph Company. The authority for the announcement is the manager of the A.B. Company at the time. The director was David W. Griffith, the'leading man Owen Moore, now the husband of Mary.

Elinor Glyn has been making efforts to have the burlesque film of " Three Weeks'' stopped or to mulct the producers in damages. When the mails left judgment was pending, but the Judge who heard the case and had to see "the films, characterised _ the burlesque as "vulgar and offensive " His opinion of the book and the "straight" film is not recorded.

H. Mann is not- correct when: he prophesies Chaplain's removal from Essanay back to Keystone. The very latest announcements, mad© about the time Mann wrote, came from Chaplin, wj lo denied the current rumours of a shift, and said. "I am staying with Es>sanav." That was definite enough; and, if J remember correctly, Chaplin is under contract for at least two years from his start witli Ess a nay

Sir Herbert Tree has been tied a ten months' contract to appear in pictures under the personal supervision ot David Wark Griffith. He is to play Cardinal Wolsey in " Henrv and Bottom in " A Midsummer Isiglit b Dream." Sir Herbert has already done Wolsey in the films, and many will remember film in which Arthur Bourchier played Henry. These American productions are to be released by the Triangle Corporation.

Statisticians may estimate the number of miles of film put through the machines every year, but there is fin interesting calculation to be inade or the waste. One estimate is that for every foot shown ten feet are spoilt. "The Birth of the Nation" is 12.000 ft in length. It took 121,000 ft of iilni to provide the negatives. AY hen tills big feature was finished so far as th;e photography was concerned it ran 31.000 ft ofgoodVork, b"t nearly four miles of it was thrown away.

For the original production in ISew York of " Bought and Paid For, Frank Craven played James Gilley, and Miss Julia Deane was Virgina Blaine Charles Richman was Stafford. and Miss Marie Nordstorm played Fanny Blaine. Miss Dorothy Davies played the maid Josephine. Out in Australia she was Fanny, played here hi 7 Miss Gertrude Boswoll. William Harngrui, the Chicago James Gilley, played the part in Australia instead of Hobart Cavanaugh.

* If you value advice from in*>, go right along and sec ''The Raven when it courts here. J have not seen it, but with Henry Walthall iu the lead and with some "striking reviews of the film in America to support me, I have no hesitation in recommending it. _ The picture is based c 'i the lifo of Jixjgar Allen Poe, and it is stated that Walthall's make-up to resemble the great American is remarkable. It will not be a. particularly cheerful play—it takes oiilv a brief knowledge of Poe's life to feet that—but it seems to be a fine, gripping study. Another Walthall production which is highly praised is "The Outer Ed sic." the study of a doctor

(By THE lIMELIGHT MAN.)

who nearly went under through drink out climbed back from the abyss.

Lieutenant Huntley Wright, the famous comedian of Daly's, has gone to the front. In his , early days as a trooper, Huntley Wright told a good tale against himself. He said a trooper came to hira on© day and asked if ho was Mr Wright. " Yes," said he. " I mean Uutley Wright. "Yes. I'm r Jntley Wright without an H." "What, 'iim what was at Daly's?" "Yes, I'm 'rim what was at Daly's." The chap thought a minute and then blurted out: "1 knew your name hadn't been outside Daly's for a t long time; , but, blimey, governor, I didn't know you'd •omo to this."

The recent offer of tho mayoral chair of Whitstable, England, to actor H. B. Irving recalls the fact that very Pew stage celebrities have entered public life. The late Sir Augustus Harris was once a. sheriff of the City of London, and the wonderful Jimmy Glover —he of the endless reminiscences—has also been Mayor of Bexhill. The only other well-known actors who liave tried a. municipal career are the-1 ate Edward Terry and Sir George Alexander. For many years Terry was Mayor of Barnes, while Sir Georpe is still a hard-working and public-spirited member of tho London County Council.

A good title and a striking poster will crowd a theatre. Unluckily, it is by no means easy to get a title which scrips and which is not old. The Universal Film Company offered a fiftydollar prize a month or two ago for the best title for the "Photoplay Without a Name." The drama dealt with the efEort of an ex-oonvict to regain his place in society. Titles fairly snowed down on the promoters. No 'ess than 4000 chose "It's Never Too Late to Mend," 2100 suggested "The Ourse of Drnk," and IFOO hit on "The Hand of Fate." "Very appropriately, the prize was won by Oscar Cartaya, ah inmate of Sing Sing prison, who hit on "Folly's Crucible." It is not a bad name for a play which shows how trouble brought to light the gold, that is tho kindliness and courage, which the dross, " drinking and gambling," had concealed. But possibly the judges were not quit© iudifferent to the fact that a photo of Warden Osborn© of Sing Sing handing the cheque to No. 6290— smiling, but in convict garb—makes a capital advertisement. W •» * Miss Lily Elsie, who retired from the stage after her marriage some two years ago, made a triumphant return the other evening at Her Majesty's, London, in L. N. Parker's "Mavourneen." Her beauty is of a happy English. type that seems somehow to reflect credit on the nation, and gallery as well as stalls made the night a sort of national thanksgiving for her return. Tho pity was, says a London writer, that she had nothing to sing, and though her acting had the bright--nesa of o child's, its resources were not enough for three long acts, and might well hava been enriched with a Purcell song. Sh« demonstrates that King Charles's judgment that Lady Patricia O'Brien had the best leg in his Court was well founded with straightforward tomboyishness. It was seen from this episode that De Grammont's pages had been consulted. Tho play is a compound of Do Grammont and Papys, with a dash of Vincent Crummies. Tho theme is of an Irish girl who. runs away from home dressed as a boy, faces (as a <?irl) th© dangers of the Court, crushes the wits (Lord! how they must have been over-rated!)., eludes tire wicked King, fights her lover, disarms him, then falls into his arms, reconciles King Charles to tho Queen, and in return King Charles gives the lovers his blessing. » A MARLOW'S SHAKESPEARE. I don't take any responsibility for the following statements, chiefly because! have seen Allan Wilkie act, but here is an announcement in connection with George Mar low's outburst of Shakespeare at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne, commencing with "The Merchant of Venice," on January 21: —Mr George Marlow's season of Shakespeare at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne, will comment# on January 21 nest. He has engaged Mr Allan Wilkie and Miss Frediswyde- HunterWatts, both well-known English artists. Mr Wilkie" has been associated with Sir Herbert Tree, Miss Julia Merton and Mr Fred Terry. He appeared on several occasions "before the late King Edward VII., including a command performance, in which he plaved the Earl of Northumberland in " Richard II." For six years he toured all the principal cities in the British Isles as a Shakespearian star with his own company. He has the unione distinction of being " commanded " to give a performance of " Othello " at the Gaiety Theatre. Miss Hunter-Watts has played loading parts in eleven Shaltesueareau plays, ■ ranging from "Rosalind" to '' Ladv Macbeth." After several years of valuable experience in iSnglamd, she was specially engaged in 1911 for a starring en .cage-'' inent jn Calcutta during the visit of the King and Queen in connection with the Durbar. This was followed by a long tour of the Orient. Miss HunterWatts, who possesses a fine stage presence, is said to be an actress of great emotional power. The first production of the season will be "The Merchant of "Venice," to be followed by "Othello," "Hamlet" and "Romeo and Juliet."

SEYMOUR HICKS. Seymour Kicks, the well-known actor, playwright and theatrical manager, explained to his creditors at the London Bankruptcy Court recently the circumstances that led to his failure to meet his liabilities. The statement of affairs showed liabilities £42,507, of whidh £38,327 was expected to rank, and estimated not assets £3/10. The creditors had accepted a scheme of arrangement. Examined by the Official Receiver, Mr Hicks mentioned the following among his theatrical losses:— £7OOO on the production of " The Little Duke." £6OOO on the building of the 4ldwych Theatre. ' £6OOO on the production of "My Darling." £6OOO on the production of "The Gay Gordons,''' besides large sums on the building ofi the Queen's and the Hicks Globe) Theatres and on the production of "Broadway Jones."

TV ith regard to his expenditure Hicks declared that to travel about the country as lie had to do cost about £■lo a week. Hotel bills alone amounted to £2O a -week It was true, ho admitted, that this was somewhat high but "it was sometimes a niorcv to o-efc away in your socks.'' (Laughter.) Describing the small loans ho liar? made to people ''' by way of gift." Hicks added: "Ever since 1 was ruined it has been quite different. People, seem" that I am now poor, come to me and say: i( TVhat will you have?" (Laughter.) He expressed his intention, when hapier times came, to pnv his creditors 20s in the