PAUL DUFAULT’S FAREWELL.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1364, 15 June 1916, Page 32

PAUL DUFAULT’S FAREWELL.

Owing to the fact that Paul Dufault sails from Auckland for Australia on June 26th, we are to be gladdened by another opportunity of hearing the great tenor. Two farewell concerts are announced for the Friday and Saturday (June 23 and 24) preceding Mr. Dufault’s departure, and an enthusiastic reception may be regard-

ed as assured. A singer who can pack the theatre at each and every concert scarcely needs any further eulogy, and it is extremely difficult to say anything new about Paul Dufault, as most of the adjectives sacred to self-respecting critics have already been exhausted in his praise. His voice is wonderfully beautiful, but it is not his voice alone which the public love; it is his genial per-

sonality, the sincerity of his art, the magnetism of his unaffected presence. The sight of an audience at a Paul Dufault concert is a study in crowd pyschology; every one literally remains absolutely motionless while he sings, and utter bliss shines on every face; then, at the close, a mighty burst of applause rends the air, and when the concert is over the majority go out and buy seats for his next appearance.

Paul Dufault makes a practice of never singing a song that he does not believe is of value as a musical composition. That this is true is shown by the great number of songs brought us by Dufault, and which have achieved tremendous popularity. If

Mr. Dufault finds that a song does not, as he phrases it, “get over the footlights,” he immediately discards it. Mr. Dufault will be assisted here by the same talented trio as before. The box plans for these two farewell concerts will open at Wildman and Arey’s next Monday morning.

The Tivoli Follies will be in New Zealand shortly, a show beyond re-

cognition better than the Follies of 1.915, which created such a stir in theatrical circles. Miss Vera Pearce, who only a few weeks ago secured the beauty prize in the biggest show of the kind ever held in Sydney, has risen from practically a beginner to a premier position in the company, and is regarded now by the critics as a most accomplished artiste. The company also includes the famous Belgian quartette, each member of which fought in the war against Germany until they were disabled. The tenor of the Follies is M. Jacques 801, also a Belgian. In association with Miss Pearce and Mr. Frank Green, the Belgian quartette, the famous “Carillon,” written by the German poet Cammaertz, and set to music

by Sir Edward Elgar, is beautifully and reverently rendered. It is said to be one of the most thrilling musical efforts heard upon the Australian stage since the war broke out. Mr. George Welch is an accomplished burlesque artist, and Billy Rego is set down as the pantomimist of the year. Mr. John Cannot —well, all Australia knows the man who oozes laughter mist. The New Zealand tour opens in Auckland on July 10.

Mr. George Marlow is bringing to Australia a complete Italian Grand Opera Company, known as the Gonsalez Opera Company. It is said to be a well-known organisation in Italy, which, owing to the difficulty of securing a tour in Europe just now, became available for a tour abroad. Mr. Marlow states that he is bringing out 50 artists, including leading choristers and 10 principal instrumentalists, with two musical directors. The repertory of the new Grand Opera Company, says impressario George Marlow, will comprise big productions, of which several, notably “Ugonotti” and “Ebrea,” have not previously been seen in Australia. The company has its complete equipment of scenery (painted by Italian scenic artists), wardrobe, properties and effects. En route to Australia they have been playing in India, and have created a sensation there, being the first organisation of the kind which has ever ventured to the East. They arrive in Australia early this month, and will begin their tour at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne, on June 18.

While Muriel Starr was completing her wonderfully successful engagement in Australia under the Williamson management, another of the firm’s stars elsewhere was in the midst of a remarkably successful season, playing the roles that Miss Starr played in this country. The other star was Madge Fabian, who is to appear in “On Trial” at the Theatre Royal. For 18 months Miss Fabian appeared under the Williamson management in South Africa, during which she enacted the star roles in such plays as “Within the Law,” “Bought and Paid For,” “On Trial,” and “Madame X.” Her last appearance in South Africa was attended by the Governor-General, and an illuminated address presented to her on the stage at the final performance testified to the popularity she had won and the esteem in which she was held by playgoers and citizens generally.

An unusual feature regarding the great picture spectacle “The Birth of a Nation,” now running in Sydney and Melbourne simultaneously, is that there was no written scenario from which the picture was made. Mr. D. W. Griffith read the books, “The Clansman” and “The Leopard’s Spots,” from which a play called “The Clansman” had been made years ago, and saw in them an ideal theme for a photo-play. He started straight away taking the pictures. In all, 132,000 feet of film were-used. This was cut and condensed to 12,000 feet. Some of the scenes were taken over and over again. The one showing the little girl jumping off the cliff was taken fourteen times before Mr. Griffith was satisfied that the desired effect had been achieved.

Miss Vera Pearce’s 21st birthday party, at the Tivoli Theatre, Sydney, on Saturday night week, was a great success. The beautiful young Australian was smothered in flowers at the conclusion of the Follies’ performance. Later the members of the company entertained Miss Pearce at supper and a dance on the stage.

The gorgeous girleens that make up the Pink and Gold Ballet in “So Long, Letty” at Melbourne Her Majesty’s have won fame such as a star might envy. Never before has a bevy of dancers achieved such popularity as this bunch of beauties. The front rows of the stalls night after night are crowded with their admirers. The stage door entrance is piled high with floral tributes left for them. Patriotic carnivals and charity fetes besiege the J. C. Williamson, Ltd., managements with requests for their services. Photographers ask for sittings. Altogether, the “Exquisite Eight” have fairly captivated all beholders. There was at first a little doubt on the part of some of the public as to whether it was too boldly departing from the conventional in discarding tights and appearing with bare pink legs. But it was ultimately decided that if the thickness of tights—which is not very much —i S the difference between what is proper and what is not, the matter was hardly worth while talking about.

’Miss Thelma Raye, the auburnhaired lady of the Tivoli Follies, shortly to be seen here, is an accomplished water colourist. When she was travelling in India a year or two ago the Maharajah of Mysore paid 1000 rupees for her picture of the Taj Mahal, that most wonderful of all temples in the glittering East. She loves the stage, but India, and its myriad art treasures, is her abiding enthusiasm. She declares it to be the most thrilling country on earth, the country of all the effects that are only realised in the dreams of people of other countries.

Mr. George Welch, who will be in New Zealand shortly with the Tivoli Follies, and is outrageously funny as a burlesque artist, is one of the few performers in vaudeville who drop the theatre when his work is done. At other times he is a student, somewhat of a dilettante, rather dandified, and a writer of better than mediocre verse. Though known as one of the most comical and convincing of stage drunks, he is a most abstemious per son off the stage, which is also a novel virtue as vaudeville artists go.

Theatregoers will learn with interest of the marriage in Sydney at the end of last month of Bert Le Blanc and Winnie Knight, two wellknown members of the theatrical profession. The wedding was a quiet one. Mr. Le Blanc, who is producing the musical comedy revues at the National Theatre in Sydney, had to dodge several old boots that were thrown on to the stage as congratu lations during the afternoon performance. Miss Knight appeared in several of the Willoughby, Anderson and Marlow pantomimes. She was well known as a model, and appeared in a number of artistic advertisements, and a couple of years ago won first prize in a beauty competition.