ENTERTAINMENTS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 53, 26 November 1917, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

NEW REVUE AT JUS MAJESTY'S. Combination, as well as individual niorit, fa the slogan ol the Walter Johnson Revue Company, which will be the prjmo attraction on the, now bill that the Fullors will provide at His Majesty's Theatre this evening. The oombmatiou, which, by the way, Is commencing a welcome return soason. Is possibly one oi tho most popular revue coinuaniea on the lulior circuit, and includes many people who have won somo reuown as individual performers, but tho producer's rule is that whatover limelight is to be distributed must illuminate tho whole rather than part o£ the production. It ia probably this faot that made the popularity of the Johnston Company so euduring in Australia, and tho New Zealand centres. There are in all ten principals, reinforced by a particularly happy and attractive bevy of dancers and show girls, and according to an exchange, "there are miles of merriment" in the initial musical travosty, "The Honolulu Girls." Since their previous visit here, Mr. George Taylor and Jlias Naomi M'Quoin, two well-known musical comedy artists, have been added to the company's personnel. Messrs. Harry Burgeßs. Gub Frank, Ernest Lashbrook, and Waltor Johnson will complete the male portion of the cast of characters, while Misses Lola Hunt. Belle Millette, Naomi M'Quoin uud Lydla Came will nguro amongst the ladies. In tho vaudcyillo half of the bill, three nets will appear. Tho last three nights of Miss Kuth Budd, and that mysterious figure, "The Creole Fashion Plate," are anounoed. M Kay and Graham, the basso profundo, and his tuneful partner will complete the programme, which will be presented nightly for one week with tho usual Saturday matmce. ' THE KING'S THEATEE. The King's Theatre was on Saturday converted into the now familiar "continuous" 6how. No doubt there are many who will welcome the change as a matter of convenience, but there is also no doubt a numerous body of picture-goers in Wellington who had come to regard the King'B as the one placo in tho city where they oould bo certain of seeing pictures with that degree of peace that is certainly not oxperienccd in the continuous form of show, where tha audiences are continually changing. On Saturday the management were doubtless well satisfied with the ohanso, for. at the evening sessions, in particular, the building was orowded in every part. The Dim ohosen to mark the new order was entitled The Mormon Maid," which purports to bo an exposure of some of the worst features of Monnonism. The opening scenes depicted a lonely settler's cabin in tho woods, just on the fringe of the Mormon State of Utah. In this cabin live the settler, his wife, and eighteen-year-old daughter. One day the cabin is attacked by a hostile tribe of Indians, and the family is rescued from a terrible fate by the timely arrival of a band of Mormon elders. The elders tof whom one instantly courts tho young girl to add to his already numerous string of wives) porßUadcs tho settler, for "safety," to move his home to Salt Lake City. This lie does, and from that time the real adventures of tho family oommenoo. How tho ex-settler is forced to adopt Mormonism, the tragic fate of his wife, and how the danghter escapes becoming the " —tcenth wife or the Mormon elder, provide material suiiicient to mako a really exciting story, which is in addition a merciless exposure of tho polloy pursued in the early days of the Mormon State. Supporting Pictures comprise the latest flaMttc. a senea ol tlie inimitable cartoons of Bairnsfatner, and a scenic Bubject.

EMPRESS THEATRE. Tho big attraction at. the. Empress Theatre this week Is the final instalment of "Tho Iron Olfiw," which clears up tho mystery of the "Laughing Mask. It tons how Margery is barred. from the conferences of the detectives, who boliove that she is in league with the "Mask. Lcgar esoapeß from prison, and Margery, learn; ing of this, riißlies to tell the Maßk. She accompanies him to the house or a scientist, Soidmon, who is the last of Legar's adherents. Scidmon, who is experimenting with the bacillus that causes old age, by accident becomes infected with it, and dies. Logar arrives on tho scene sorao time after, and also meets hie end through tho same agency. Uoldon and the detectives rush. the place, and discovor no fewer than five "Laughing Masks," all men who have had some old score to wipe out with the "Olaw." Davy iB among them, and Margery realises that he liaß been faithful to iier all along. There is the inevitable conclusion. "The World Against Him _is the title of a powerful play featuring June Elvidge and E. K. Lincoln. Bonio of tho situations are unusually impresBive,. and it Is difficult to witness tho wedding in whtoh tho bridegroom iB a condemned prisoner, without a keen sense of the horror that pervades tho incident. Lincoln rises splendidly to his opportunities, and of June Elvidge it may be said, as the highest praise, that Bhc acta with her usual intensity and power. A fine piece of stage-craft is to be seen in the portrayal of a fight iui a shack between the hero and a, half-breed. The scenes in tho open air are well worth seeing.

EVEEYBODY'S THEATItE. Enid Bennett appears at tho aboye popular theatre this week in a great production entitled "The Mother Instinct," in which an old theme is handled with 6ome originality and charm. Sho takes the role of Eleanor Ooutiorrc, the daughter of a ilshorman on the wild coastß of Brittany. Her father .dies, and the girl, all unsophisticated and ignorant of the ways of the world, goes to take up a- position in a florist's shop in the gay metropolis of France. Lator on, her sister Marie joins her>and spends the winter in Paris. In tho spring, Mario returns to the little coastal village just as Madame Oouticrre is on tho point of leaving to visit her daughter in Paris. On arriving at tho capital, tho mother is startled to find that Eleanor haß become a mother, that she iB iunooenjly as proud of her babe a 6 if it had been horn in wedlock, and she will not divulgo the father's name. Marie Is in love with Pierre Blondel, a young niau of the village, but. she refuses to marry him on account of the disgrace brought on her family. Eleanor, too, has a lovet' whom Bhß has given up as a result of the scandal. The death of a waster named Eaoul Bergere, and a trial df Marie on a charge of murdering him, eventually reveal the truth that means happiness to both of the girls, and vindication of Eleanor's good name. Tho fourth episode of the interesting serial, "The Secret Kingdom," is included in the bill. It is entitled "Tho Honourable Mr. Oxenham," and tells of a thrilling experience Phillip has a 6 a result of the machinations of Savatz.