THE STAGE.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 76, 12 March 1928, Page 4

THE STAGE.

Miss Muriel Starr and her dramatic company will tour New Zealand again this year. • • • The Stratford Operatic will give performances of “The Arcadians” this month. • • • Renee Kelly and Hylton Allen, who were in New Zealand last year, are playing the sketch “Selfishness” in English vaudeville theatres. « • • At the annual meeting' of the New Plymouth Operatic Society it was reported that the past season with “A Runaway Girl” had been very satisfactory. a • • The Hawera Revue Company will present “Seaside Frolics” this month. There will be, a chorus of 60. a • » Percy Hutchinson and Company will begin an Australian tour on 6th March at the Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne. Their repertoire will indude “The Joker,” “Cock o’ the Roost, ’ ’ and ‘‘ Mr What’s His Name.’ ’

Wee Georgie Wood is appearing in the title role in the pantomime “Humpty Dumpty” at Liverpool, England. • * * Arthur Adams, the New Zealander, who is claimed as the Australian novelist and. playwright, has left Sydney for England with a number of his comedies, which he will try to place oil the market. Mr Adams’ last play, “Mrs Pretty and the Premier,” was produced in London early in the war. On the voyage to England Mr Adams will act. as secretary to Sir Owen Cox, the shipping magnate.

“The Duchess of Padua,” Oscar Wilde’s play, has long been doubly famous because of the mystery of the whereabouts of the original manuscript. Now it is reported that the complete MS. of the work has turned up in New York. It was taken there by George Arliss, the actor. So far as is known, this -is the second important MS. by Wilde to go to America, the other being that of “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” “Dorian Gray” is in the J. P. Morgan collection.

Miss Isabel Wilford has been given a part in “Sauce for the Gander,” a farcical comedy by Mr Russell Medcraft and Miss Norma Mitchell, at the Lyric Theatre, states the “Post’s” London representative. As the result of her success in “The Garden of Eden” Miss Wilford had five good engagements offered to her, one being with Mr Robert Loraine, who is now appearing in ‘ ‘ The Dance of Death,” but Messrs! Clayton and Waller could not be prevailed upon to release her from her contract with them.

Somebody has put the query: Who is the oldest active member of the theatrical profession in Australia today? It’s a dangerous thing to specialise in veterans, hut I am inclined to think (says a Sydney “Sun” writer) that George Dean, father of Nellie, now appearing in “Mercenary Mary,” can claim the bayleaf. He teils me, without fear of contradiction, that he holds the record, having first appeared in Australia in 1880 with George Musgrove’s comic opera company. ' He is selling pianos now with his usual vigor, but only concluded a “professional” engagement with “The Sheik” a few weeks ago.

“I insist on the qualifications being considered if *anyone tries to beat me to it. Remember, I said ‘oldest active’ member.” A fellow-actor has remarked, “Oh, George must be ninety, hut he looks about fortyeight.”

“Peter Pan” still refuses to grow up. When it was revived at the Gaiety Theatre, London, last month, the magic of Barrie proved as wonderful as when the piece was produced in 1904. Chiefly the revival was made important by the entrance of a new Peter and a new Wendy. Jean Forbes-Robertson was the new Peter. She was the eleventh of a line of Peters which began with Nina Boucieault 23 years ago, and in some respects she proved herself the best of all Peters. She showed that elfin touch which others —with the single exception of Miss Boucieault —have missed. She put a feeling which almost drew tears into some of her scenes. And her charming smile was a thing to remember. The new Wendy was Mary Casson, the little daughter of Lewis Casson and his wife, Sybil Thorndike. This clever child of clever parents is not yet 14 years old, but she made Wendy a real little mother. Her elocution is good, and, unlike most child actresses, she has nothing of affectation. She was always perfectly natural. Miss Forbes-Robertson toured New Zealand with her mother, Lady ForbesRobertson, some years ago.

After a run of only a week, the shortest in the history of the theatre, the comedy, “The Cave Man,” was taken off at the Savoy. The failure of the play came as a shock after being enthusiastically received on the opening night, and the disbandment of the company just before Christmas accentuates a tragic feature of West End theatre life (hat has been fairly common recently. The play had n splendid reception on the last night, but scarcely a member of the audience, which included Prince and Princess Arthur of Connaught, knew that they were seeing its last performance. When the final curtain fell, Horace Hodges, who played the leading part, was in tears. Other short runs of recent weeks include: —'“The Music Master,” which had 15 performances at the Apollo; Noel Coward’s “Siroc-

CO,” withdrawn from Daly’s after three weeks and three days; and his “Home Chat,” which finished in five weeks. • • •

‘ 1 Pantomime is dead! ’ ’ said George Robey, th famous London comedian, recently. He was asked why lie was forsaking' pantomime, and he replied: “I don’t think I am. Pantom'me has forsaken me. lam sorry, but ihe day of pantomime is over. That is due to two reasons: The small revues which go around the provinces all the year forestall the pantomimes; and the cinema has taken away nearly all the old pantomime glamor. The old stage tricks I used to work —the redhot poker, the seven-league boots, and the other hits of ‘magic’ don’t amuse

the children at all to-day. They’re used to seeing' at the cinema men who can step over a house in one stride, Peter Pans who really fly, and pumpkins that turn into fairy coaches before their eyes. I think the cinema has done its worst now as far as its effect of the theatre is concerned. Of course, it makes a big difference. It would be silly to say it didn’t. Where the cinema is lacking is that it must always remain mechanical. Even when the mechanically produced spoken dialogue accompanying the film is perfected, it will not have the personal touch.” George Robey is down on jazz. “Jazz,” he said, “is a jingling, jangling enormity fit only for the place it emanated from. Jazz leaves me cold; I’m heartily sick of it. My chief objection to it is that it is thoroughly un-English. That was brought home very' forcibly to m< when I was out in South Africa. The negroes wriggle about in much the same way as our chorus girls do; and they sing the same tuneful sort of ditties.”