ONE PERFORMANCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 115, 17 May 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

ONE PERFORMANCE

FATE OF LONDON BEVUE. OSCAR ASCHE CRITICISED. After one performance at the Duchess Theatre “The Intimate Revue” was taken off. Oscar Asche was the producer. Writing in the London “Daily Mail” Alan Parsons says:— If anyone needed conclusive proof of the value of first-night applause here it was, for a passer-by, happening to look in for the last five minutes, would have carried away the impression of a big success. There was a fine showing of “friendly’’ applause (rumour had it that someone had taken a trifle of 80 stalls) and bouquet after bouquet, including a grand piano in red blossoms, was handed up over the footlights. “I said that it was “inexcusably under-rehearsed”; as a general rule I think it unfair to dwell on first-night hitches, for, as often as not, they have nothing to do with the worth of the play and will not be allowed to recur on the second night. But Tuesday night was one long procession of hitches; scene-shifters were to the fore in every scene, the leading lady was in tears during one number, and poor Mr

Morris Harvey grotesquely attired as Eros, had to shout three times for his music to begin. Oscar Asche was the producer, but the man who produced “Kismet” and “Chu Chin Chow” should never have allowed “The Intimate Revue” to see the light in such a form. I can only repeat, it was inexcusable. Mr Asche informed a reporter: “I am too old a hand to under-rehearse a production. I actually spent more hours rehearsing this revue than in rehearsing ‘Chu Chin Chow,’ ‘Kismet’ or ‘Cairo.’ ” The trouble, Mr Asche added, was due to a breakdown in the stage staff.

Norma Reappears. “Sizzling” is the word used to describe the title of Norma Talmadge’s new picture, which is called “Flame of the Flesh.” It is a tempestuous show, radically different from her recent pictures, “Kiki, ” “Camille,” “The Woman Disputed” and “New York Nights.” “Flame of the Flesh” will soon go into production at United Artists’ studios, with Sam Taylor directing. This will be his third all-talk-ing United Artists picture, the others having been “Coquette,” with Mary Pickford in the stellar role, and “The Taming of tho Shrew,” with both Miss Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks#