AMUSEMENTS.

Grey River Argus, 18 February 1927, Page 7

AMUSEMENTS.

OPERA HOUSE TO-NIGHT. “HELEN’S BABIES,’’ STARRING BABY PEGGY. Statistics show that every fourth family in the entire civilised world has ■read or is reading “Helen’s Babies,” a story by John Habberton, of which over 340 editions, each including a quarter of a million copies or more, have been published in America. Published forty years ago, the book is going just as strong to-day as at its inception. “Helen’s Babies” is now in the pictures, a Principal Pictures 'Master Production, and the infant prodigy of the cinema, Baby Peggy, enacts the role of one of the babies. Everyone who has seen the film agrees that it would seem that Habberton tailored the story to fit Baby Peggy. But the author didn’t. He couldn’t have, because Peggy Montgomery’s acticities in this world reach five years. Her chief attraction and magnetism is centred in her childish simplicity and ability to be just as natural in the glare of the Kleig lights and within the range of the camera as if she were in her own backyard making mud-pies or playing with her pet dog “Brownie.” The screen adaptation of “Helen’s Babies,” a Sol Lesser presentation of Baby Peggy, is scheduled for the Opera House to-night (Friday). Supporting Baby Peggy are such cinema celebrities as Edward Everett Horton, Clara Bow, Claire Adams, Jean Carpenter and a host of others. William R. Seiter, the famous supervisoi of production, directed “Helen’s Babies. ’ ’

SATURDAY—TOM MIX AND TONY. TN ZANE GREY’S “RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE.”

Tom Mix fits the role of Jim Lassiter in his latest William Fox film, “Riders of the Purple Sage,” so perfectly that it seems Zane Grey must have had the cowboy hero in mind when he wrote this, his greatest novel. It is a typical Mix role, with ample opportunities for Tony, his wonder horse, to share in the daring deeds of his master. “Riders of the Purple Sage” will come to the Opera House to-morrow (Saturday) at the matinee, and again at night. It is a picturesque romance of the West of forty years ago. Mix plays the role of a chivalrous soft-spoken cowboy who conies riding forth to avenge his sister, kidnapped by an unscrupulous lawyer. Pausing in his quest for his sister’s abductor, Mix wins the love of a girl rancher while protecting her from the persecution of a villainous cattleman who wants to marry her. In triumphing over a crooked judge, Mix learns he has revenged himself on the man who wronged his sister. This romantic role shows Mix to best advantage. There are many thrilling episodes in which he displays his superh horsemanship, his skill with the lariat and his quickness in handling a brace of six-shoters. The charming Mabel Ballan plays the role of the girl rancher, and Marian Nixon acts the part of Lassiter’s niece. Beatrice Burnham does a dramatic bit as Lassiter’s sister. Harold Goodin is the gallant young cowboy who aids Lassiter in defence of the ranch. Arch villiains of the play are Warner Oland, Charles Le Moyne, and Wilfred Lucas. Fred Kohler, Charles Newton and Joe Ricksen are lesser villains. Arthur Morrison plays the. part of Lassiter’s broth-er-in-law. Seesel Anne Johnson and Dawn O’Day, chubby little screen actors, have diverting roles.