GREENROOM GOSSIP.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1415, 7 June 1917, Page 34

GREENROOM GOSSIP.

TWO BRILLIANT PLAYERS. MISS KATHLENE MAODONELL AND MR. WALDRON. Two theatrical players will arrive from Australia on Monday under engagement to the J. C. Williamson management. They are Miss Kathlene MacDonell and Mr. Charles Waldron, who are to appear next Monday in the New Zealand premiere of “Daddy Long Legs” at His Majesty’s Theatre. Miss MacDonell is said to be striking looking, with smiling blue eyes and retrousse nose, and radiates health. She has a wealth of auburn hair. “I am awfully glad to be here,” she said in a brief chat on her arrival in Sydney. “It is a long way to come, but I have long wanted to make the voyage. It is not easy to realise one’s ambition in this respect, however. When one wants an engagement nobody wants you; when you are wanted in Australia you are wanted in America. That is the way of it. Mr. Ward, however, secured my release, and here I am. Canada, Toronto, my home, is tremendously interested in Australia. The fact that the boys o: both countries are fighting side by side has made a sentimental tie that will always endure.” For the past three seasons Miss MacDonell has been continually in New York in first-cla n s productions.

The last two seasons she has been starred by Mr. Miller, from whom Mr. Hugh J. Ward secured the Australian rights of “Daddy Long Legs.” Mr. Miller had engaged her for a revival of “The Great Divide,” Miss MacDonell to play Margaret Anglin’s original part. It was from Mr. Miller that her release for an Australian tour was secured, he being anxious to have her appear as Jean Webster’s heroine.

Mr. Waldron will appear in his original role. He played the ti f le part of “Daddy Long Legs” in both New York and London. He is accompanied by Mrs. Waldron, formerly a Sydney girl, and their two children.

The title of “Daddy Long Legs” is derived from a glimpse the I’ttle orphan, Judy, gets of her unknown benefactor’s shadow on the blind of the John Greer home, and she nicknames him because of the length of the nether part of the shadow.

It is stated that the receipts for “Where Are My Children” in Christchurch broke the records in Auckland and Wellington.

Miss Maggie Moore, a great favourite with Auckland theatregoers, will be seen in the cast of “Daddy Long Legs.” Her performance of Mrs. Semple is said to be one of the features of the production.

Mr. Charles Waldron is a very handsome man, with a pronounced magnetism, whilst his personality has gained for him many excellent engagements. Indeed, it was some time before he could be secured for the character of Daddy Long Legs, although it is said that without him the play was not to be produced, for it requires a special characterisation.

When Miss Marie Tempest and Mr. Graham Browne return to Melbourne they will present a repertoire of five of their most notable successes —“Good Gracious, Annabelle”; “Mrs. Dot”; “A Pair of Silk Stockings”; “Mary Goes First”; and “The Unchastened Woman.” One of the most successful attractions J. C. Williamson Ltd. has ever handled was the Marie Tempest season in Melbourne.

“Daddy Long Legs” in book form has had an enormous sale in Australia. Readers of it will wonder how it could be dramatised, as it is in the form of a schoolgirl’s letters. Its author, Jean Webster, was a niece of Mark Twain, and her gleams of humour are delightful. That Miss Webster also had com-

mand of tears will also be admitted by those who see her play. The atmosphere of the book, which is subtle and charming, has been transferred to the play. This is the unanimous op nion of all critics.

Miss Gladys Moncrieff, who made a big success of Gilbert and Sullivan roles in New Zealand and has since been starring in South Africa, is joining the Royal Comic Opera Company and will appear in “The Pink Lady” in Melbourne.

“An April sunshine girl” is the description one of the London critics accords Judy Abbott, the heroine of “Daddy Long Legs,” to have its New Zealand premiere on Monday, June 11, at His Majesty’s Theatre, Auckland. First a drudge in an orphan school, she is seen to have possibilities, and is sent to college, where the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis. It is the ever popular story of Cinderella, and Daddy Long Legs is, of course, the young-old millionaire who takes her from the orphanage and wins her (unaware of his identity) for his own.