ENTERTAINMENTS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 131, 26 February 1921, Page 12

ENTERTAINMENTS

“HUMORESQUE.” Not for one moment must "Humoresque” bo classified as an ordinary movie picture. It is the artistic reflection of a fine play, a play with a trickle of laughter between big aching heartthrobs, a romance of the Ghetto, with its clamour and garish din, its glaring sordiclness, and its touches of bubbling comedy, a heart-stirring play for mothers and lovers and all the world beside. The story leaps at one bound from the grimy, crowded New York Ghetto, where .is “the melting-pot of the nations” with the cauldron bubbling “at top.” One of the myriad families of foreign Jews struggling upward is that of Abraham Kantor, whose speciality is the conversion of new brasses into rare antiques from Russia. Abraham has a fine wife and a big family. It is seven-year-old Leon’s birthday, and Abraham, takes his boy to buy him a present. At the shop the lad is smitten with the charms of a violin, and exasperates his father by rejecting any consideration of other and cheaper musical toys. So he is dragged home, to fall on his mother’s breast in tears. Abraham teirs of tho boy’s expensive taste, and Mama goes into an ecstasy of joy. She has prayed that one of her boys might be a musician, and here was Leon crying for a violin. So Leon gets his violin, and the rolling years find him a great artist, the idol of the public, and decorated by royalty. On his return from a triumphant European tour ho gives a great concert to his own. people of tho Ghetto, and is acclaimed. But the War God strikes his awful gong, and Leon hears it. ' “The Star Spangled Banner” buzzes in his head so persistently that he enlists. The family is distracted, and Gina, his sweetheart since their grimy babyhood, has heartbreak in her eyes. Forth he fares to war, to- return with his left arm wounded. So obscessed is he with the idq,a that he will never play his loved violin again, never raise the smiles and tears again with Dvorak’s “Humoresque,” that he cannot help his own hurt. Gina he casts away. He will not allow her to sacrifice herself by wedding a cripple. As the stricken girl falls in a faint, Leon rushes to her assistance, to find that he is lifting and supporting her with his wounded arm. Joyously he rushes to his violin, and the next moment the household is electrified by the throbbing song of the violin—the old “Humoresque” played with all its lilting witchery and charm. So the clouds are lifted, and the rosy dawn, of happy days makes a luminous curtain. Vera Gordon as Mama Kantor, and Gaston Glass as Leon bear off the palm for sheer naturalness in acting. The Ghetto scenes simply reek with quaint types, and every scene bears the impress of brainy production. Tho chef d-oeure was preceded by a comedy entitled “Four Times looted, which introduces a charming 'baby, and a chimpanzee that is positively h’ iman ' orchestra played two of Edward Jarman's “Henry VIH" dances, among other delightful music, and Madame Annette Hayward, a cultured zz °’ showed artistic finish in a brl }cket mid-Victorian ballads, winch “Wiv’d Better Bide Harp in tho Air” (from “Mantana ), and “Killarney.”

LEV ANTE AND KEF-CH AT EVERYBODY’S.

Svante and Keech, twm a fairly short one lhe. two e ers named abo--o en esting Jiow and a quart. pictures had ended. , L ® va “ te ' hi ® “ ork> talker with a good style m op „ rf •« and then just! as mysteriously, or per hai more n>y«y expected quarters, -a _ on i-i v untied s/ns ™ were a strait-jacket escape and a trunk escape. Tho strait-jacket busings took just 39 seconds of effort it was deservedly applauded rh e trunk escape was worked with a The lady was tied m a sack and Jockcd in the trunk, which was then secured with ropes. For a few seconds a screen was put about the trunk, and Levante talked through a division in the cur tains. The lady promptly a PP tflie slit and Lovante was gone. He was found in the sack when the screen was removed and the trunk opened; and tho sack was tied with a knot similar A that, made by the member of the audience who imprisoned rne lady- Ke ®° h performance was devoved chiefly to a demonstration of the way m which certain illusions purporting to be spiritual phenomena might be produced by simple physical means. He got a 6 P‘ rl t message written on a slate; he took a spirit photo. The explanation in each case was very simple and illuminating. Keech exhibited his power of bringing to light on demand any card in a pack. This power he attributed to his memorv, and by way of showing that his memory- was much above the average, he performed remarkable feats with a list of common nouns, under condiuone that, left no doubt that a g enul "° was in progress. The finale of the Le vante-Keech programme was a cabinet trick in which some of the weird manifestations associated with a certain type of spiritualistic searre were reproduced. The picture programme screened ing the evening was headed by lhe Inner Voice,” a melodramatic production featuring E. K. Lincoln. “THE IDOL DANCER.” The islands of the South Seas home of romance and realm; where dwell trig “lotus eaters,” who have cast remembrance of home behind them, offer unlimited scope for the mtents of the photo-play producer. In their pearly lagoons, their palm-filled, green-floored valleys, t'heir sun-scorched beaches, where have lain the bones of many a stout ship and many a brave sailor, the playwright, the novelist, and the essayist have found a wealth of inspiration. The film producer also has found the South Seas fit home for drama of quality. It remained for David Wark Griffith, the creater of the super-film “Intolerance,” to seek out an island on which a play could bo produced; and in "The Idol Dancer,” which has pride of place on the programme presented at the Empress Theatre this week, ho has given the theatre-goer a play that is "different.” The story is not quite original. There is nothing in the play that has not been “done” before by some other producer or playwright!; but there is a certain charm about the picture—doubtless the accuracy of detail and absence of artificiality that mark the Griffith production—that makes it singular, and indeed, excellent. The photography is superb. Hero and there one catches a glimpse of the moon-bdams filtering through palm leaves on to the glittering, opalescent surface of a i’iny backwater from tho lagoon, bordered with inlngnolia trees and covered with tropical water lilies. A mite-long beach palisaded with palms is another striking scene, and tho grove of Che gods, (n which the "Idol Dancer” whirls, is a marvel both of photography and of film production. What the story lacks in originality is made up in scenery, and the slowness with which th® climax is reached is ameliorated by the appeal of the settings. SENSATIONAL HANDCUFF DIVE. A feat sometimes witnessed in motion picture serials will be performed to-day at 1.15 by the illusionist Lcvpute, who is appearing this week at Everybody's

Theatre. He will jump off the Queen’s Wharf heavily handcuffed and chained, and while underneath the surface will endeavour to make his escape. QUEEN'S THEATRE. In “A Daughter of Brahma," screening at the Queen’s Theatre, we have a perfect sequel to that delightful production “A Prince of Bharata." It shows /a great love and its developments, the plot being rich with thrills and excitement. Its dramatic qualities appeal with force, and the story holds throughout. The mysterious charm and beauty of the East, with its weird and pneient customs, fascinates and delights. Mr. G. S. Tolness and Miss Lily Jacobson naturally continue in. the title rotes of the Maharajah and Maharani. The supports include Roscoe Arbuckle and Charlie Chaplin in “The Pugilist,” a Ford travelogue, a scenic, and a Topical Budget. Suitable orchestral music is rendered by the theatre's orchestra. TO-NIGHT’S ORGAN RECITAL.. The weekly organ, recital will be given in the Town Hall to-night by Air. Bernard F. Page -(city organist). The programme will consist of the following numbers: —Beethoven’s overture, “Coriolan” (Op. 62); Phantasie, Op. 24 (No. 3), by Dunhill; Romanza (Wolstenholme); Rebikoff’s (a) Miniature, Op. 30 (No. 2), (b) Danse des Odaliseques, Op. 2 (No. 3); Prelude, act 1), “Tristan and Isa»<te’' Tchaikovsky’s Intermezzo from Suite for Orchestra (Op. 43), and ’Tinale” from Symphony No. 6, in IT Minor (“Pathetic”). THE N.Z. "DIGGERS." The announcement that the N.Z. "Diggers” are paying a return visit to the Dominion, after a most successful tour of Australia under the J. C. Williamson banner, will be pleasant news for amuse, ment lovers. Writing of their, recent performances in Adelaide, the “Advertiser” says: “Brightness, freshness, and originality were the prominent characteristics of the N.Z. 'Digger* show, which thoroughly delighted a crowded house." The N.Z. "Diggers" consist of twenty artists, including the celebrated orchestra of ten members. The “Diggers” return to New Zealand with an extensive repertoire, and an enhanced reputation, and their entertainment is said to be brighter and better than ever. The experience of the “Diggers” in Australia has proved them to be a combination of artists in every sense of the word, and a company that cannot fail to entertain in the highest degree. Included in the personnel is Stan. Lawson, the "misleading lady," Frank Perkins, baritone, Tano Fama comedian and producer, Len. Wallace, dancer and light comedian, Donald Stewart, 'comedian, Don \\ allace, character vocalist, Colin Cameron, lyric tenor. The box plans are at the Bristol. MARIE TEMPEST’S FAREWELL TO NEW ZEALAND. In announcing a 'brief farewell tour of New Zealand, the management have no hesitation in asserting that no more popular theatrical company than that headed by the world-famous comedy actress, Marie Tempest, and her great associate, Graham Browne, has apjwared in this Dominion. The following is the programme for the remainder of the farewell tour:—Wanganui, March 9, lhe Great Adventure”; Hawera, Mfirch 1U and 11, “The Duke of Killiecrankie and “Alary Goes First”; Eltham, March 12, “The Marriage of Kitty”; Stratfora, March 14, “The Great Adventure ; Palmerston North, Alarch 15, lhe Great Adventure”; Dannevirke, Alarch 16, lhe Great Adventure”; Hastings, Alarch 1, “The Marriage of Kitty”; Napier, March 18, “'Mary Goes First”; Gisborne March 19 21 22, and 23," The Duke of Kilhocrankie,” “The Marriage W, “Mary Goes First, and Mrs. Dot. Plans will be opened in each town three days prior to the opening night.