STAGE NOTES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1576, 8 July 1920, Page 3

STAGE NOTES.

Robert Courtneidge’s London Comedy Company commenced their Melbourne season at the Tivoli. Their opening attraction, “The Man From Toronto,” is a three-act comedy by Douglas Murray, originally produced at the Duke of York’s.

Bigger than a pantomime, “The Passing Show of 1920” is said to be the most elaborate production of the kind ever staged in Melbourne by J. C. Williamson Ltd. There are seventeen scenes in the two acts. These include 1 an ocean liner, which extends the full length of Her Majesty’s stage; the Lamp of Love, Garden of My Dreams, the Dancing Carnival, Cinema Land, the Golden Hills, and other gorgeous settings which are said to .represent the last word in stage production.

Carter the Mysterious, who is at present in Melbourne, presents his performance on a most elaborate scale. He carries with him a company of about twenty people, and more than fifty tons of baggage, including a lion weighing 1175 pounds. The animal comes under the magician’s spell and vanishes into thin air on the open stage, to re-appear instantly as Carter himself. Many marvellous feats are performed by Carter, who is said to have beaten the wonderful Hindu fakirs on their own ground.

An. inquiring reader in an American paper asks why spectators at a motion picture show indulge in applause, expressing the opinion that such action is asinine and irrational. Seven correspondents in a subsequent issue express as many views as to the custom. One sets forth that producers are begging the public to applaud so that they may know what is liked and wanted. “Movie audiences are only reacting to - the same impulses which affect them in theatres where the -actors appear in person—they automatically,” says another. “The public absolutely governs the class of pictures presented on the screen, so far as it§ taste can be learned,” writes a producer. “If the audience applauds certain situations then' it will get certain situations until it no longer wants them.- If it could be brought to ‘boo’ or to hiss pictures it does not like then it speedily would get better pictures.”

Mr. Leonard Boyne, the actor, has died in London after a long illness. He was in his sixty-eighth yeai’ and had been connected with the theatrical profession for 50 years. In addition to playing leading parts in a great variety of plays, both in London and the provinces, he had frequently toured abroad with companies of his own. and had several times crossed to America. Probably his best-known parts werp in “Sporting Life,” “Raffles.” and more recently “General John Regan.” Since his last public appearance, which was in Manchester about 18 months ago, when playing with Miss Irene Vanbrugh, Mr. Boyne had undergone two operations. He is survived by his wife and a daughter, known in theatrical circles as Mrs. Gordon Ash.

At the official invitation of the Commonwealth Government, extended through the High Commissioner in London, the famous young lecturer, war correspondent, and traveller. Lowell Thomas is coming to Australia to tell of the glorious deeds of the Anzacs with Allenby in Palestine and Arabia. It is a wonderful entertainment Lowell Thomas is said J;o present, excellling the romance of the Nights. His moving pictures are marvellous. Many of them were taken from an armoured car in the desert —on many occasions under fire. He has delivered his entertainment before the King and Queen at Balmoral Castle, by special command. Lowell Thomas will tour Australia under the management of J. C. Williamson Ltd.

“A startling drama that will stir humanity and make millions think” is an apt description of David W. Griffith’s latest masterpiece, “The Greatest Question.” It has a great theme, depicting the titanic battle, between the forces of evil and good, darkness and light, clashing with a volcanic power that tears the heartstrings and rends the soul. Yet with its grim poignant tragedy it combines hilarious comedy.