"THE SEVEN KEYS"

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3047, 7 April 1917, Page 12

"THE SEVEN KEYS"

. '~- ■:'.';,'■ .'■'; ' ;>-—■ '—- ' : ■ ! AND THE MAN'WHO TURNS- ■-■'.■ -..- '■ ;■;.;,,; '■•:: THEM; ■■,'■' v..'.' .■".,' ."Oh, no, I'm not busy. Got here at 5 o'clock on Monday evening; re r hearsed' that ' night; rehearsed Thursday morning, reheared. that afternoon;':, still I've ; oceans •_ of time. /An actor never does anything especially when he's producer and the. plays are new to the company." _ r It. was ■ 'Mr. Kobert Greig;, the big, breezy, actor-producer;, who is to turn ,'i'Tho Seven Keys to Baldpate" at tho Grand Opera House' . to-night, who spoke, Softening his_ sarcasm, with a broad smile. Mr. Greig has been aj •busy-man for the'past four or five years.' He was tuned up by Mr. Fred Niblo -some years ago until he struck tlie right note; then the, Williamson •firm, sent him and his ',-fcalonted wife (Miss Beatrice Hollpway} off to South Africa. They, went' for four month's, ,arid stayed for twelve, for South Afri : cans liked them and they liked South Africa, i .Thoy - declare that the audiences of Jo'burg,'.or ''Jewbufg,'' as it is often miscalled* ikere as good, to j play before as ,any: they, know.' They liked /things; dono; well, but given that, their/appreciation, was of the.most enthusiastic kind. ,i , ,!'I i would like to no back," said Mr. Greia, "riot now, perhaps, as the war ha?.upset the place, and. things 'in our ,lino, are dull, but /there: is,a 'something about tho country that makes you want'to get back—like' Kipling's .reference til' the East aicallin'.; We played' a lot of new plays there, 'including. "The Seven Keys," "It..pays -to Advertise," "A Pair .of; Sixes," and other American comedies.' Hard/ work it was—but if was a .tliorou'chly delightful experience. the Children's Hospital ? Dn you. remember'what a time,we had: here when. Hugh Ward .started .that gale? I shall never,forget it—how we all .worked, and bow the monev pour-, odont to help'along the good work.; 1 D'vou remember, mo being cut with a' flviua half-crown as r was singing in the lorry by the. Albert Hotel? VI must CP up and see the hospital. I did my bit towards it and deserve, a- peep."

:-.: Mr.: Grcig did not wishto say too much about 1 "Thp. Seven Keys to EaldTiate." He'considers that George Cohan must have had a flash of genius to conceive such an.:original plot. "I consider the play' mechanically and' technirally, perfect; ~ There is,: not a line. in it that, is cheap- or blatant, and I defy anyone' who does not tho play ; to': tell what is going to happen five minutes ahead;"'.

/'Mr. Grcie tells : a good story. "Once;" he says, "in 'An'ah-na-Poaue,' when, as Major Coffin. I had to sentence The Shaiichraun to death, tiierp were-tw-o'speeches. commencing with the same words,'' and somehow or other I sot "on /to the wvovur one, and sudden-, lv, realising mv mistake, ih'tlio .oft'ort to. remember 'the . right.--one, 'lost my memory altogether: those about mo could not. assist me. mid the proinnter .preserved "an nwful\ silence. Anyhow. ■ the death -'sente'ee/had to hi.p'pespd or the '-'play could notl'lmpend. nnrl in some.'way I nrononrirari it.. The yiext dav nnpearprl a Press notice saviitu that +V natural p.mriti"n of the mo■nipnt had hepii expressed in a strikingly rp.ili.stir. ninnnpr—even to the iiinnpp|it castinr; jihout for words. ' : -T- thus h>d crpatnpss thnist; unon mo: hut mv own pnnd'd Mi«f is t'.'it in th's instanc the rharitabl" critics '.hiul followed ii; snirit owl nv letter'Hninlo+'s instructions to Po^nius—tn treat the actor better than his deserts." \. - '