OPERA HOUSE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1302, 8 April 1915, Page 39

OPERA HOUSE.

PAUL STANHOPE’S REVUE. Good measure pressed down is being meted out to patrons of vaudeville this week. Paul Stanhope’s American Musical Burlesque Company opened on Easter Monday and amused two packed audiences with their revue “This is the Life.’’ They filled in the second part of the bill with song, ballets, choruses and merry burlesquing, presented at lightning speed. Miss Ruby Kennedy and Miss Fritzie de Guy looked charming and sang a couple of taking songs, while the comedy work was briskly handled by Mr. Paul Stanhope and Mr. Les Bates (an old vaudeville favourite), a melodramatic burlesque being responsible for continuous hilarity. A popular item was “It's a Long Way to Tipperary,” sung by Mr. Arthur Renshaw, assisted by a sprightly chorus representing the Allies. A leading feature is the “Grafters” Quartette, comprising Messrs. Renshaw, McColl, Long and Ross, and they had to take several encores for their harmonising of ragtime airs. An attractive stage setting was further set off with lighting effects and coloured lanterns. Mr. Stanhope's entertainment is another departure from straightout vaudeville, and promises to catch on readily with old and new patrons. The first part of the programme was featured with a bunch of strikingly good acts. Among the headliners was Henri French, the “Intoxicated Genius on one Wheel,” who has returned with another whirlwind of surprises, keeping the audience laughing and trembling in turn as he manipulates his very uncertain machine. He is worth a visit alone. Miss Flo Esdaile made a first appearance and was well received for her singing of operatic airs. Those champion entertainers, Vaude and Verne, exercised their originality once more, finding plenty of scope in the Ellerslie races for a play on names, and. needless to say, met with an uproarious reception. Sensation was piled thickly on by the Dental Riskitts. who have returned with more thrilling and death defying aerial acts. Carlton Max went better than ever with his ventriloquial act, while variety was refreshingly lent by Bonita, the crack shooter, and Billy Lee, stockwhip manipulator. A bill that never lets interest flax a minute. W. H. Rawlins, who is playing .Teffrys, the lumber king, in “High Jinks,’ at Her Majesty’s, Melbourne, relates that he was once appearing in drama, when the company had to put on a new play with but scant preparation. On the day of the opening, the manager, who was also the producer as well as a member of the cast, pointed out that no one seemed to know their part at all well, and the only thing to do was to be prepared for emergencies. “I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” he said, “if I find things are too bad, I’ll come on with a pistol and kill everybody off.” “And this is what happened,” said Mr. Rawlins. “Half-way through the last act, after 'everybody had been floundering terribly, the villain came on with a pistol, and, pointing it at each of the principals, exclaimed, ‘Your time has come; now, die!’ shooting them all off, one after the other, and the curtain fell amidst loud applause.”

Gaby Deslys’ advice: Be gay! — laugh! Remember that it is those why cry who are the cowards. And you who are here at home, go to the theatres and the varieties as you have gone in the past. To stay away and cuddle your sadness is an imbecility; it is as if you were trying to make bad worse, or to paint jet black. Do not renounce your duties for the sake of pleasure—never that. But when your duties for the day are over, or when you have a spare night, do not spend it in making miseries for yourself, but go to the laughter-makers and the gaiety-mer-chants, and to-morrow you will do your duties all the better. The secret of life is to forget it for an hour.