SAPPER'S CHARACTER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 97, 27 April 1939, Page 5

SAPPER'S CHARACTER

"ARREST BULLDOG DRUMMOND" The English actor John Howard | has the role of Sapper’s famous dcI tective character in "Arrest Bulldog Drummond," whish is to commence a season on Saturday of next, week at the Regent Theatre. Supporting Howard in the cast of the first picture is Heather Angel, who has gained a considerable reputation in American films, while another role is taken by H. B. Warner. Reginald Denny has the part of the futile Algy Longworth, and plays the part with his usual sense of its comedy possibilities. The story tells of Drummond’s efforts to regain from the possession of a gang of criminals the secret of a death ray which a friend of his, an ardent pacifist, has invented with the idea of' compelling all the nations of the j world to disarm. With his usual i | aplomb he manages to be first to re-' i gain the dangerous plans, succeeding I before the police have managed to get Iso far on the trail of the criminals. Prefers the Stage. "Blind Man’s Buff," a thrilling play by Ernst Toller and Denis Johnson, is the story of a doctor accused of the murder of his wife by poisoning, and the reactions of the man and a woman colleague. It has an Irish setting, and was well acted on the Arts Theatre Club boards by Antoinette Cellier, Bernard Lee, and Richard Goolden. Ronald Adams directed the piece which had as producer John Fernaid, returning to his first love, the itage, after a two-year term as a film producer. Mr. Fernaid appreciates the individuality of the theatre and describes film work as a heartbreaking business. "In the theatre,” he told an interviewer, "you are employed and trusted to do your best; in films you ' are employed but your judgment is al- ( ways being questioned."

Athlete and {Singer. Richard Crooks, the American tenor, is not only a cultured gentleman, speaking several languages fluently; a wonderful singer with a tenor voice that has won tor him a premier place in the New York Metropolitan Opera House and in the world's other opera centres; he is also a great naturalist, and revels in the out-of-doors. He loves sports, games, fishing, shooting, golfing, motoring, and is a qualified aviator as well as being a very able exponent of most forms of sporting relaxation. Music-lovers will be pleased to learn that Mr. Crooks will make i a brief visit to New Zealand on his | way to Australia in May, appearing at Auckland and Wellington only. “Nine Sharp,” an intimate revue byHerbert Farjeon, drew full houses at the Little Theatre from its opening on January 26, 1938, until it was taken off at the end of last month in preparation for Mr. Farjeon’s next revue, Ito be ready in mid-March. At the 1 moment a title has not been selected, but the author says he has eight equally suitable titles in mind. The music will be composed, by Mr. Walter Leigh, writes a London correspondent on January 9. “Nine Sharp" has been hailed as the classic among intimate, sophisticated revues, and in 200 nights it had made 200 per cent, profit for its sixteen backers. It ran longer than any other show at the Little Theatre except Shaw’s "Fanny’s First Play," which was produced there in 1911, a year after the theatre’s opening, and ran for 624 nights. “An Elephant in Arcady,” by Herbert and Eleanor Farjeon, is still on at the Kingsway,