Greenroom Gossip

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1530, 21 August 1919, Page 30

Greenroom Gossip

A new act which has just arrived in New Zealand for the Fullers is Victor Carmine and company, who present a sensational submarine drama. Mr. Carmine was formerly a wireless operator in many dangerous waters during the war, and many of the thrills of his career have been embodied in his S.O.S. Mr. Harry Dearth has been singing, in Australia with conspicuous success.’ Up till the time the last mail left he bad given his twenty-first concert at the Auditorium, and was still going strong, which is a sufficient guarantee for the Dominion, as from a musical point .of view Melbourne ranks first among the Australian cities. There they liked Mr. Dearth, not only for his fine tonal qualities and superintelligent interpretations, but for the style he introduces. He is absolutely untrammelled by the traditions of. the English concert platform, and sings the song in the manner best calculated to deliver its meaning, not only vocally but in his manner and pose. Mr. Maurice Ralph will control the New Zealand tour for J. and N. Tait.

All people who love children will enjoy the brilliant J. and N. Tait production of “Daddies,” which is now being staged at the King’s Theatre, Melbourne. There are four bachelors in the play who adopt war orphans, and the way the four are brought to a realisation of their step-fatherly duty is very skilfully shown. James Crocket, the crusty old bachelor who reluctantly agrees to take a boy, and is actually presented with a girl, is the character who is specially singled out for a trying education in parental responsibility. Lorrie, the little girl he adopts, accepts him as “daddy from the start, and the way. the old man tries to escape her little infantile tyrannies, only to develop a strong affection for the mite when there is a possibility of losing her suddenly, affords some excellent comedy and by-play. Especially funny is the 'first meeting between the child and her new father, when she climbs unconcernedly on to his knee and, to his horror, reads to him slowly from a picture book. The feelings of the old bachelor are amazingly well simulated by George Bryant in this screaming situation. Madame Marie Power, during a recent tour of the Dominion, impressed her vocal perfections on audiences, in no. uncertain manner. When touring the Auckland district she visited the Waitomo caves, and whilst. those subterranean places were . being inspected, the party entered the great Cathedral cave, which is one of the most magnificent caves of the kind in the world. It has a dome like that of the Pantheon, and at a pinch a thousand people could stand in it. Madame was induced to sing there to the party, and delighted them with such ballads as “Soul of Mine,” “We’d Better Bide a Wee,” and “Kathleen Mavourneen.” The acoustics were found to be perfect, and the general impression given by hearing such a voice ringing out clear and strong through the crystal arches of the vast natural cathedral was said to be moving. The guide stated that her voice was the finest heard there since the Cathedral cave was visited by Madame Kirkby Lunn.

A comedian out for a cheap laugh was gagging to his lady partner about being in prison. “What was your offence?” he asked “Oh, bigamy!” she replied airily, and his retort came at once: “Fall in with the Australians!” The sally drew much merriment from certain parts of, the house (writes Lee Wood in the “Empire News”). But it also roused deep resentment in the minds of Australian soldiers present, who regarded it as a slur on their manhood. So much so, in fact, that they went in a body to the manager of the theatre, and insisted that the gag should be cut out. Otherwise — It was cut out! “What hurts us,” said one of the Anzacs to me, “was that all Australians, after coming thousands of miles to ‘chip in’ at the war show, should be labelled blackguards because of the faults of the few. “Undoubtedly there were men in the first Australian Expeditionary Force who were not exactly in the wingsprouting stage of angeldom, but for a wretched comedian to besmirch the name of Australia’s manhood on account of a few outlaws is rather too thick. And if he repeats it in the presence of any dinkum Aussie ' he will be buying trouble good and plenty.!”