ENTERTAINMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1064, 2 July 1912, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS.

WHAT’S IN A NAME ? ”

Mr Joseph Blascheck, the cultured English humourist and raconteur, who appears at the Town Hall, Foxton, to-night, is a personality as well as a man with a keenly humorous outlook on life. The conversation recently, when a reporter called to see him, turned upon his name. “ How do you pronounce it ? ” he was asked. “Just Blascheck—divide it in the middle, and its easy, though hard. But really and seriously it is strange how people stumble over my name. I have been called Mr Blue-jack, Blackcheck, Blars-chuck, and Blowschick.” “It sounds foreign however you pronounce it,’’ persisted the Dominion representative. Your nationality—■” “Oh, I'm an Englishman—l say it with my hand on my heart. My lather was English, my mother Scotch, and having been born within the sound of the bow bells in London, my real nationality is that of a Cockney. The name is really that of a Bohemian. lam still Bohemian in my social tendencies, and it came down on my father’s side. That is why it is not M’Blascheck, d’ye ken. In the original Bohemian the name was, I believe, pronounced Blasch-ek, with the accent on the middle syllable. As you say, it is an uncommon name, that is why I was not so long ago placed in a rather awkward situation. A woman named Blazek gave birth to a kind of Siamese twin in London, and the fact was duly recorded by the papers. Soon after this I was astonished to receive from the director of a big music hall syndicate an offer of a large salary if I would allow my child to be exhibited in certain centres. Owing to the similarity of the name I had been mistaken tor the father, too bad, wasn’t it ? New Zealand, I like it. I like the entire absence, that blissful calm associated with a country without politics. It is a charming little country, though, and should have a big future when the Panama Canal blossoms into a great waterway.”

PICTURE SHOW. The story of a “ Sunbeam ” tomorrow night. This is a drama by the American Biograph Company, telling how a little child brought sunshine when it seemed the darkest. The little one is playing with her doll while her mother lies sick, the poor woman dies, and the child thinking her asleep goes down stairs in search of a playmate. The story will show how the tiny mite conquers everyone, and in the end brings sunshine to two lonely people. Another striking drama by the Vitagraph Company is entitled “ The Girl and the Sheriff,” telling how a young girl of the mountains hides and shelters a nuim- ' taineer, who has been shot and is being pursued by the sheriff. When the sheriff comes the girl

borrows his revolver to crack some nuts and when he is not looking extracts the bullets from it. A beautiful scenic, “Nature in Winter Clothes,” will be greatly appreciated. The great English boat race, Oxford v. Cambridge is a fine film that should not be missed on any account. A splendid vaudeville subject will be found in “ Wonderful Equilibrists. “A Compromise” is a real good thing, shows how a man falls inSlove with his wife’s pretty servants, his wife immediately discharges all of them and the next day her husband finds all male servants, and his wife flirting with them. After a little soreness on both sides they compromise and now we find all coloured servants in the Wallace household. We must tell you about “ Chumps.” Chumps produces the laughs in clumps, in fits, and starts and jumps. It fairly beams with hilarious screams, covering the earth with irresistible mirth.