ACROSS the FOOTLIGHTS

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15230, 5 May 1923, Page 14 (Supplement)

ACROSS the FOOTLIGHTS

PLAYS AND PICTURES.

THEATRE ROYAr, wrjfttly—Pictnres. May 7,8, 9, 10, 11—Hamilton Competitions Society. June 6.—Allan Doone. June 26—Hamilton Choral Society. July 18—J. C. Williamson (Oscar Asche), NEW STRAND THEATHE I Nightly—Pictures. TOWN HALL. May 3 to s—Competitions. FRANKTON'S OWN THEATRE. Nightly—Pictures.; Competitions. The Competitions,, as was expected, are creating much interest, and promise to be wonderfully successful. A very high standard has been set". Next week the sessions will be held in the Theatre Royal, and will conolude wittt a demonstration on Friday night.

Return of Emllie Pollnl. At His Majesty's Theatre, Auckland, oh Tuesday, May 8, J. C. Williamson, Ltd-., announce the reappearance, after a few years' absence, of the delightful English actress, Emelie POlini, who will be so well remembered here for her brilliant plays, "Eyes of Youth" and "De Luxe Annie." The opening production will be "The Lie." The drama, when staged in Sydney, proved an emphatic success, and is described by the press > of that city as "Emelie Polini's supreme triumph." Emelie Polini is supported by a specially-organised J. C. Williamson dramatic company, including Nancye Stewart, G. Kay Souper, John Fernside, Katie Towers, Raymond Lawrence, Herbert Leigh, Eileen Cottey, Richard Hatteras, Dorothy Purdell. and Letty Paxton. The producer is Mr George D.. Parker. Other plays to be staged during the season are "The Lie," "The Tlaw," and "French Leave."

Popular Vaudeville Turns at Strand. The vaudeville turns presented at the Strand Theatre from time to time are a very popular feature, and to most people make a very pleasant change from a full picture programme. During the week the Hilo Trio of Hawaiians have pleased the audiences Immensely. it iS interesting to learn that they will be followed by Little Lorna, a wonderfully clever child, whose impersonations »f Daisy Jerome, Ella Shields, Joe Brennan, and others have proved very popular on the Fuller circuit; Harry North, the concertina expert; and others.

Sir Harry Lauder Coming.

Allen Doone.

Many are puzzled to know the reason of the perpetual success of Allen Doone and his Irish plays. It cannot be due to the work of the star, Mr Doone, though he is an ingratiating actor "vvid a way wid him," nor can his plays be said to be scything new or startling in the way of dramatic literature. Probably the "pull'' exists in the fact that Mr Doone's plays are clean, wholesome, bright and humourous and never above the people's head. Mr Doone, presents the simple homely play "Wid lashin's of humoUr an' love," and there you have the secret of his success.

Film Comedian's Elopement.

Signor Constantlnl Returns. Signor Constantini, the popular basso of the Sistine Choir Soloists, has returned to New Zealand, and will settle in Auckland.' If sufficient inducement offers he will probably lake pupils at Hamilton. Wellington Amateurs. I In connection with the forthcoming production of-" The Toreador" by the / Wellington Amateur Opera Company,. Mr Foster, the well-known producer (here with Nellie Bramley Company) is now hard at work with.the splendid company. Misses Addie Williams and Gibbs (formerly with J. C. Williamson's ballet) have charge of „lho Ballets arid dances, while Mrs Hanna (designer) and Miss Annie Drumm (Dunedin), the well-known wardrobe mistress, are looking a'ftcr the dressing. From the above it is evident that the essential details are in the best possible hands.

The State and the Orchestra. " _ "It is with much regret that the New South Wales Government finds Itself no longer able to maintain the State Orchestra," said Mr Bruntnell, New South Wales Minister of Education, when officially opening the Newcastle Eisteddfod. The Minister said that the orchestra had lost £II,OOO a year, and that, although he would dearly have liked to sec it maintained, the Government at the present time had to confine its expenditure to e'ssentials. lie had the highest hopes fdr the Cpnservatorium which had been very effective. The Government was absolutely in favour of the splendid work of (he Co'nservatori.um and /like organisations, and would do all possible to further their progress. Music, 1m said, was the agency which was doing much to alleviate "life's sorrows, and should be developed in every enlightened community. Actors Out of Work. More than 2000 variety artists and almost as many musicians are unemployed, some of them being in desperate straits, says the London Daily Mail. v Well-known names figure on the "resting" list, and the days of high salaries and long engagements have gone. Mr Albert Voyce, seerelary of the Variety Artistes' Federation, told a reporter that distress cases, eligible for- assistance from Hie Variety Artistes' Benevolent Fund, are increasing daily. Mr David Leslie, assistant Secretary of the Actors' Association, also told of cases of girls stranded in provincial towns. Bogus managers, he said, continue to flourish despite efforts to boycott them, and in one revue the chorus girls were paid f>s a week. They accepted an engagement at £3 a week, and after the first week were told by the manager ho could not find the money, and they must be satisfied with what he could give them. Melbourne Shows. The.' following from Hie Sydney rteforce will be read with interest: — ilugh Ward is certainly capturing the public fancy with his offerings in Melbourne. Now that he owns the Theatre Beautiful and the House Exquisite (the Princess and the Palace) it has become finite the fashionable thing to visit these theatres afler dinner. "The O'Brien Girl" is certainly leading the way for canafiiv houses. Business is boom-

I (By "Fra Diavolo") I

lng, and up to now there has never been a late door open for the gallery. What were Williamson's doing to let Hugh Ward monopolise three of the crews for Boat Race Night, May 12—Scotch, Xavier, and Geelong colleges will all be there, and the Wesley' crew, whose custom it is to be guests of honour at the annual boat race diiiner, will all be present on May 14. On the other hand, Williamson's hold the cards for the big headline™. To have Laurence Grqssmilh and Gertrude Elliott occuying two of their theatres is an achievement after ihe theatrical famine we have lately experienced.

Both shows are doing splendid business and more than compensating for slack houses- at "The Southern Maid." At the Tivoli Gus McNaughton heads the bill with his new sketch, "Klcaners, Ltd," an act with which ho has toured all the provincial halls in England. I}aisy Jerome is still pulling in the crowd at Fuller's, where she is as popular as ever. Dion Bouclcault—lrene Vanbrugh. The London farewell to Miss Irene Vanbrugh and Mr Dion Bouclcault was a most successful fixture, at which Mr Boucicault found to his great surprise a number of New Zealanders who recalled the -days of Brough and Boucicault, when Finero was the reigning dramatic author. Miss Vanbrugh was overwhelmed with claims on her time, even down to the eleventh hour, for she had worked indefatigably for the King George's Pensions Fund for actors... The plans for their tour, which'will comprise South Africa till August, Australia next, and New Zealand' about this time next year, provide for production of a number of Barrie's plays, A. A. Milne's and Pinero's—the repertoire, in fact, in which Miss Vanbrugh has made her reputation arid" achieved first rank in her art. A dramatic critic recently adjudged Miss Vanbrugh as the foremost 'in her genre on the English stage. Miss Vanbrugh, he says, is a matchless comedienne. No one who saw her as the artful manicurist, Sophy Fullg'arney, in "The Gay Lord Quex," can have any douWt about that. So steeped was she in her role that it took her months to eradicate the accent she had acquired On Sophy's behalf. She can be a realist. Yet, perhaps, it is in fantastic comedy that she is most enchanting.

Mr Walter Monk, well known in theatrical circles, arrived by the Makura to make arrangements for the opening on May 16th, in Wellington, of Sir Harry Lauder's New Zealand tour, of which Mr A. Wilson will be manager.

Harry Lauder Stories. The latest gag about Sir Harry Lauder is- that, when he arrived in Sydney the other day, he opened his purse to pay for a newspaper, and a couple of moths flew out. This story is only half-true. What actually happened was that only one flew jout. Starved by his long imprisonment he had eaten the other!

Sir Harry was asked recently by one of his army of admirers: "Why have all Scotsmen the gift of humour?" Sir Harry replied: "Probably because it's a gift." ' , ...

_ The London Daily Express correspondent at Paris says the elopement of Max Linder, a fllm star, with the pretty 17-year-old daughter of a wealthy Parisian widow, ended when the girl's mother, accompanied by detectives, broke into a room of the hotel which the couple was occupying in Anlibes.

The mother and daughter fell into cacli other's arms, while Max, who is 20 years older, professed his love for tfie girl, and begged to be allowed to marry her. The mother and daughter returned to Paris, leaving Max in the hotel. A Romantic Career. 'A- few years ago Jack Buchanan, leading man in his own show, "Battling Butler," at the New Oxford Theatre, London, was a clerk in his father's auctioneering office. When his father died he tried the stage. He appeared at a music-hall, where, to use his own words, he "got the bird" for a whole week. He went to Edinburgh, where lie was no more of a success. Then he went to London, •friendless and penniless. For many weeks he lived from hand to mouth, until Andre Chariot saw him and recognised his talent.

Footlight, Flashes. —, ..... Lee White and Clay Smith, with Miss Maie Baird,, the dancer, have left Australia for America. Wee Georgie Wood, the Musgrove importation who created something of a' sensation in Australia recently, will* it is. said, return to Australia for the next pantomime season. Mr Ailan Wilkie lias eclipsed all records at the Theatre Royal, Hobart, with his .Shakespearean repertoire. The regular crowded audiences are testimony to Hie company's popularity; According to s Hie latest information, Mr Harry Plimmer, the ex-New Zealand actor, was touring JJie United States with Ethel Barrymorc in Alfred Syfro's latest comedy, "The Laughing Lady."

The Nellie Bramley Company is at Melbourne Playhouse inV'The Land of Promise.". The popular,little lady is as effective as ever, .while Ethel Bashford, Guy Hastings, and Arthur Cornell have congenial roles. Miss Bene Maxwell, the brilliant Australian soprano, will shortly join Madame d'Alvaroz, the famous Peruvian artist. With the world's stage confronting her, Australia should find in Miss Maxwell yet another to add to the country's musical honours. George SHcwart McManus, an American pianist or distinction, is acting as accompanist to Jean Gerardy during the Jattcr's lour of Australasia. During his career (says Everyone's Journal) McManus has'acted as solo pianist, and accompanist to other of the world's platform celebrities.

Admirers of Vera Pearco (the Australian girl who made good in England) will be interested to know that she is at the moment, on her way to South Africa to fulfil a contract there. She will be back in-Australia for pantomime next Christmas tinder the J.G.W. banner. News has been received from Australia that Miss Nellie Calvin, a well 1 known Australian actress, was found dead in her bed, having succumbed, presumably, to heart failure. Miss CalvM, who was Hie wife of Mr Bolnd Staveley, actor and sometime manager, was a competent actress who appeared many times in Kcw Zealand. She was here with the Nellie Bramley companv.