ENTERTAINMENTS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4794, 31 December 1924, Page 2

ENTERTAINMENTS.

TO-NIGHT FISK JUBILEE SIN(HSB& ■ GAIETY THEATRE—TO-NIGHT. At present the oldest touring company in the world is the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Originally starting in 1863, they have toured every clime and have sung before audiences composed of the leading representatives of the nations of the world. It is estimated that the favourite "Steal Away” has been sung by them 16,000 times. Of course, the old personnel has changed considerably, although Miss Belle Gibbons is still with the troupe, and "Miss Marjorie Alwyne, Mr Harry Penn, and Mr Huntly Spencer have toured with the company, on a previous .occasion, The new artists in the compaiiy consist of Miss Alice Baptiste. mezzo-soprano ; Mr Harrie Franklin, baritone; Miss Barbara Maxwell, coloratura soprano; and Miss Thompson, soprano. Mr Huntly Spencer is said to be one of the finest coloured singers in Australia, and his quaint sense of humour adds the necessary piquancy to a programme laden with good things. The Fisks have an appeal to all classes. Their simple, heart-reaching melodies are acceptable to the most close critics as well as the less musically educate*? portion of the audience It is but natural that these coloured folk, whose ancestors were fervent members of the Baptist and Episcopalian Churches of the Southern States of Anieria, should mix hymns with the light ragtime melodies, humorous choruses, and plantation songs, but they do it well. The company opens a short season in the Gaiety Theatre to-night; GAIETY THEATRE PICTURES. TO-MORROW NIGHT. ZAZA. “Zaza.” Gloria Swanson’s new paramount picture, which will be shown to-morrow night, is a romance of a star of the French music-halls and is spiced with the atmosphere of the French theatre, full of tense moments. FRIDAY NIGHT. BEHIND THE CURTAIN. Unusual methods have been used by officers of the law to obtain by means of what is known as the third degree confessions from suspected persons, but never one so weird as the one used in “Behind the Curtain,” a Universal picture to be screen on Friday night. The story from which the picture was adapted was written by William J. Flynn, noted criminologist and former head of the United States Secret Service Bureau. The all-star cast includes Lucille Ricksen, Winifred Bryson, Johnny Harron, Charles Clary, Eric Mayne, George Cooper, Clarence Geldert. SATURDAY NIGHT. TORMENT. The conspiracy of a band of international crooks, operating from America, to steal the Russian Crown jewels, is the basis of the plot of M C. Levee’s “Torment,"’’ directed by Maurice Tourneur, which will b" shown on Saturday night. The crooks go to Japan, having intrigued the Russian nobleman into whose possession the gems have fallen to "sell" them. In the vault of a Yokohama bank those adventurers trap their vict'm and find the jewels. But the great Japanese earthquake comes in time to put a most unique and dramatic twist into the plot. A romance, wi'h Bessie Love and Owen Moore portraying the principal figures of the story.