TALKIES AND THE STAGE.

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17877, 25 November 1929, Page 7

TALKIES AND THE STAGE.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —I't is only to he expected that the old-established theatrical companies are making capital out of the falting-off in attendances at the talkieß. They contend that nothing will heat the legitimate stage and that picturegoers are tired of "tinned music.” While there is a certain amount of justification in this since so many talkies so far have been Impregnated with senseless jazz and hideous American twang, it is sheer blinking at the facts for dramatists and producers to claim that the popularity of the talkies as a passing phase which must be inevitably extinguished .by the appeal of the boards. Naturally there is a decrease in talkie audiences becaues phenomenal crowds "rushed” them when they were first introduced. Many of these must have been people who never attend films but went purely from motives of curiosity or scientific interest. I have heard talkie films produced by Americans hut interpreted by an English cast which I enjoyed better than any stage play, and I have witnessed a good many. When film producers and exhibitors realise that the public (especially in New Zealand) are fed up with 100 per cent. Yankee tripe with wailing “Sonny Boys,” the talkie boom will he a permanent one. Already we have been shown some of the treasures of dramatic literature in the talkies and have heard some world-famous artists and we are asking for more. lam not denying that the stage will always have an assured patronage, but 1 do claim that the stage will not affect the appeal of the talkies. —I am, etc., TERPSICHORE.