FULLERS' OPERA HOUSE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18890, 4 January 1927, Page 14

FULLERS' OPERA HOUSE.

BRIGHT HOLIDAY BILL. Had the audience which filled all parts of j the Opera Uouee last night experienced an j otherwise disappointing day, they would still j have considered it a successful one, owing [ to the full measure of enjoyment they obtained from the new programme submitted I by Mr George. Storey and his Revue Company. Ihe programme is divided into two parts a3 usual, and with the exception of a tew minutes whicli are occupied with a pictorial gazette, both are required to present Volume V*l. 01 "Stoiyettes," a series of sketches and vaudeville turns brightly alternated. After a bright introduction by the assembled company, Miss iNeiiie Kemp sang tastctully a dainty little number entitled "The Dance on the Lawn," which pleased everybody. Subsequently she wa s heard in that evergreen ballad, "Annie Laurie." A comical offering was tho sketch,- "Great Hopes," in which a young stockbroker about to get married and expecting a visit from his prospective father-in-law, whom he has never seen, is calied on by a fierce-looking personage whom tho broker at once concludes is tho gentleman he has been expecting. With a view to impressing his caller, lie keeps him waiting in his office while he busies himself in dictating letters to hi 6 secretary concerning business deaU involving huge amounts. In accordance with instructions previously given him, the broker's clerk rings him up every few moments, and when he considers that lie has convinced his visitor that he ie in the presence of a financial magnate, he turns jto him to enquire ! his business. He is not kept in doubt, for the caller announces himself as an income-fax man, who wants to know howit is that the figures of the business done by- the broker do not seem to correspond with the transactions he has been listening , to, tho denouement being greeted with roars of laughter. A second sketch whicli caused great amusement concerned a public wireless service, much more up-to-date than is usually seen, for it supplied beer, pies, and other refreshments when desired, and finally was converted into a local electric tramcar to convey a tired passenger to her home at a seaside suburb. But tho funniest, sketch' of til was "The Murder Bureau," where dark deeds were carried out according to a very reasonable scale of charges. For instance, ordinary relations could bo disposed of on payment of 30s per head, wives at half-price. Troublesome policemen could be conveniently removed at m each, while unwanted mothers-in-law were, scheduled to be killed off at llio low figure of 9s lid, it not being specified whether payment was to be made on the c.o.d. basi3 or in advance. Mr Storey provided excellent entertainment in his ro!e of it "choker," while Mr Ernest Patilaslo as chief of the bureau, Mr Tom Arnold as a garrotter, Mr Rich Butler as a visitor, Mr Fred Paulaslo us a police constable, and Mies Mabs Howarth as a poisoner assisted in tho good work. Ballads, in which the principals were Miss Kemp nnd Mr Kobert Raymond, introduced a number of melodious airs, mostly-of u, few years ago, the effect oE which was enhanced by tho appropriate tableaux accompanying them. A sketch, which was as novel as it was entertaining, was a burlesque of a cricket match, in which the male members of the company participated, the game boing shown first of all in the ordinaly way j and later in. slow motion. The offerings i also included a number of emart dances. Not, the least pleasing feature of tho programme was tho dainty tracking of tho

ladies. The pictorial programme was of more tha.ii usual interest, in that it showed the. Maori Bugby footballers in action at 'Weston-super-Mare against Somerset.

The programme will be repeated throughout the week.