Film “Star’s” Daughter for N.Z.

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 306, 17 March 1928, Page 24

Film “Star’s” Daughter for N.Z.

Woman who Presents Delightful Studies One of the most prized attractions, secured by E. J. Gravestock for Australia and New Zealand is Cornelia Otis Skinner, the daughter of the famous American “star,” Otis Skinner. Miss Skinner presents a new style of entertainment which is having a great vogue in Europe and America, and of which she is considered to be the finest exponent. For want of a better title they are called character sketches, but it does not nearly convey the delightful entertainment the brilliant actress provides. Alone, on an empty stage, she presents her little dramas of life and love and tragedy, until the barren stage is no longer barren and she no longer alone. Adroitly she evolves her character, her atmosphere, her plot. One minute you are laughing at the woman who is having her hair bobbed, the next you are horrified at the latent tragedy she unrolls in sunny warm-wind-swept Barbadoes, again you are smiling at the American tourist, lying on her back in the Sistine Chapel the better to see the ceiling. Young, attractive and gracious she has a personal charm that is reflected in all her work. She wins her audience the instant she steps upon the stage in a way that only the inborn professional can. The character sketches are all from he.r own pen. In addition Miss Skinner has written for many of the best magazines, also a full length play which was successfully produced in America. “Captain Fury.” Miss Skinner’s training has been extensive and thorough. She studied |at the Comedie Francaise in Paris, and also at the Theatre du Vieux Colombier. In America she has had four years’ stage experience, appearing in several famous successes. Miss Skinner will commence her tour in Sydney at the end of May, under the direction of Mr. E. J. Gravestock.

It is not often that an amateur shows such promise and adaptability that one feels the professional stage would be enriched by the transfer, but Beryl Lynex, who is playing Viola in Arthur Greenaway’s production of "Twelfth Night,” is an exception (says a Sydney writer). Besides possessing a most charming expression, this English girl, who has already done good work with the Repertory, has a delightful speaking voice with nice modulations, expressive features, and a fund of vivacity which would be invaluable assets should she adopt the "profession.” The J. C. Williamson New English Comedy Company to appear in New Zealand in "A Cuckoo in the Nest,” "Rookery Nook,” and "Thark,” three of Ben Travers’s most amusing comedies, will open in Auckland on April 7. It is described as one of the strongest combinations of Londoners ever seen south of the line. Most people have laughed over the sayings and doings of the bland Reverend Sloley-Jones in “A Cuckoo in the Nest,” and their interest has been maintained to the finish. All those wonderful characters have now been transferred to the stage, and the play, already a big London success, is now scheduled for New Zealand. Among ihose who came out from London under special engagement to J. C. Williamson are Hastings Lynn, Helene Simon. Cyril Vernon (a son of the late W. H. Vernon), Vera Gerald, Raymond Langley, Minnie Rayner (who has been playing in London for four consecutive years), Willa Lyndberg, Jane Comfort, and Willie Clifton. In Australia they were joined by four experienced artists Leslie Victor, Mary Rigby, J. B. Atliolwood and Alec Alves.