Plays and Pictures.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 87, 15 November 1912, Page 6

Plays and Pictures.

"CET-RICH-OUICK WALLINCi FORD." NIBLO NIB-NOTES. "Niblo Nib-notes." I This is something of a tongue-twist-;Or, but don't baulk at it and go no further. "Gct-Rich-Quiok Waliingford" is to bo Wellington's fun-late for th.c festive season, commencing Boxing Night at | the Opera House. As tho Williamson management bills it, iv is "a real, rapid-lire comedy, in which the fun crackles and sparkles like tho overhead pole of an electric car on a wet night.'" It has also boon described as a play that "tickles you to death 'n your socks." It had a record run (for a piece of its class) of three months in Sydney, and it- is now running strong in Melbourne. Fred Niblo, who is the Waliingford of the cast, has mado himself one of 'the best-liked actors who has paced tho boards in Australia. He is nob only clever, but he has the additional—and very important—attraction of a delightful personality. Also, ho wears wonderful clothes. Ah, those clothes! Tho matineo girls vote Niblo a "lovely" actor. His personality has something to do with it, of course, but his clothes, we guess, play a big part in winning this adjectival tribute from tho ladies. It is something of a, distinction to bo recognised as tho best-dressed actor who has ever graced the Australian stage, and Niblo has won this premiership. "People keep on writing to mc to ask the name of my tailor," says tho American comedian. "Well, for their benefit, I may inform them that he is the best and m >>t <xpensivo tailor in New York. "Each of tho suits I wear in 'Get-Rich-Quick Waliingford' cost mc 125 dollars. The evening dress suit totted up to 200 dollars (£4O).

i "And the clothes aro worth the ■ money. I've got seven trunks full of . the bost, and I will show them out in [the pieces in which I appear." j Seven trunks full I v j Geo' whiz I Present writer has to bo j satisfied with merely a suit for every day in the week—the same and only suit I Hard luck, ain't it? Something wrong in the scheme of things here, eh? * » » But this scribe has a- certain consolation—he can smoke all day and all night at his work. Mr. Niblo, on the other hand, is looking for a part and a play in which he can smoke continually. | Mr. Niblo likes smoking cigars, but I never gets one of them in the list of properties that accompany a part. Strange perversity of fato —what he desires to get most in a part, Mr. William Desmond, recently through tho Dominion as Nobody in "Everywoman," has and doesn't want. Mr. Desmond . is a non-smoker in everyday lite, and be hardly ever gets a role in a play but it compels him to smoke. For instance, the Hon. Jim Blake, whom ho is now impersonating in "The Woman" in Australia, smokes cigars incessantly. "If I look as if I enjoy those cigars, I'm a good actor," he says. How Mr. Niblo must onvy him. Tho "Waliingford" star longs for a character to impersonate whore he can sit by the firo for a couple of acts smoking a, briar pipe. That is even a greater luxury to him than cigars. "AVhen I was playing in The Fortune Hunter,' in America," he states, "I had a cigar, but after one puff I had to throw it away and stamp on it. "I can sec there's nothing for it hut to set to and write a play for myself, and when I do you'll see some smoke, I'll warrant."