“DADDY LONG LEGS”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 121, 12 August 1927, Page 15

“DADDY LONG LEGS”

HIS MAJESTY’S TO-NIGHT This evening and on Saturday afternoon and evening Miss Renee Kelly and the J.C. Williamson, Ltd., incomparable supporting company will ;tage three revivals of the very popular comedy-drama, “Daddy Long Legs,” which has proved itself one of the most successful plays staged in England, America and Australia during the past decade. Special interest will centre in to-morrow night’s production, because it will present Miss Kelly in her irresistible characterisation of Judy, which she portrayed in the original London and New York performances, and in which she won for herself the reputation of being one of the best comedy stars the English-speaking stage has known. On the stage, as in fairy books, Cinderella nearly al-

ways leaves the pots and pans for the society that is made available by the fairy godmother and Prince Charming. She believes, no doubt, that woman’s noblest sphere is the home, but she thinks that in childhood and youth she has done her life ohare of work toward the greasier and

scrubbier part of its upkeep. In “Daddy Long as many playgoers remember, the fairy godmother is not the direct worker of transformations, but she causes the prince to provide education and frocks for Judy. Then, in the approved way of romance, the girl and her benefactor fall in love witk one another, though Judy goes not know that Jervis Pendleton is the man who, as James Smith, alias Daddy Longlegs, has been payiltg the expensive education and frock creators. Mystery and misunderstanding, a good deal of romance and very entertaining humour and a happy and sentimental ending, are the factors which have helped to make “Daddy Long Legs” one of the best of modern plays. As Judy . .iss Kelly received the necessary opportunities to display the fact that she is one of the best actresses the stage has ever known. The supporting cast has been carefully selected, and to-morrow night’s representation promises to be the finest New Zealanders have enjoyed of Jean Webster’s splendid romance.