THE FAMOUS DIGGERS

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2343, 18 October 1921, Page 3

THE FAMOUS DIGGERS

What a wonderful record the Diggers have had! It isn’t given to every theatrical company to be able to run for nearly five years and play in eight different countries to nearly a million people. The management of the company readily recognises that the show must now stand entirely on its merits, and with that in view have engaged at big expense some of the best artists that have ever been seen outside the big Australian centres. Two, at least, of the new artists have London reputations. Bert Barton, well-known as a member of various soldier entertainment parties during the war, started his career, as a lad, with Marie Studholme in London. He is probably best known to New Zealanders as principal comedian in J. C. Williamson’s Pantomime, “Humpty Dumpty.” Mr Barton is very versatile, and his Dickens’ sketches are masterpieces of char r acter drawing. He once had the honour of being congratulated by Charles Dickens’ own son on the clever way in which he presented the characters.

Joe VaHi is an important and ex-

pensive importation from England. •He has been putting his sketch, “Tickets Please,” on at the Palladium in the foggy metropolis with great success, and it speaks wjpll for the enterprise of the management that New Zealand is to be given an opportunity of seeing this very line artist. Frank Moran was well-known as a comedian at the front. When the armistice was signed, Frank elected to try his luck on the English music halls, with the result that he was kept busy until recently, when business reasons recalled him to Wellington, N.Z., and he was prevailed on to accept an engagement with the Diggers. Spencer Furred, a ragtime singer and eccentric dancer, is a performer whose forte is Southern melodies with a lilt in them. Ivan Marshall is a tenor singer whose songs are sure to be sung in

every homestead. Besides , the artists mentioned, there are. still some of the old favourites, including Stan Lawson, the misleading lady, and Tano Kama, the captain of comedy. The song numbers in the new show were specially selected in America, England and Australia, and the publishers are printing special editions of them for circulation in New Zealand. They are an exceptionally fine lot of musical numbers. In addition to the comedy, which is the best ever, the show will have some very fine scenery, including the beautiful Oriental scene and the lovely Lantern Land —a miniature masterpiece of beautiful ef-

foots. The dresses, too, are on a scale that brings them into line with the best London shows, as they were secured and imported from the great metropolis regardless of expense.

Lawson’s dresses range from a beautiful creation by Comelli of gorgeous shimmering spangles and passementerie to a wonderful gold and jewelled Eastern costume with snake headdress. The costumes used in the Oriental scene, by other members of the company, make a kaleidoscope of bizarre colouring. The quartette has been trained by Fred Webber.