NEW REGENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 369, 1 June 1928, Page 15

NEW REGENT

“TILLIE’S PUNCTURED ROMANCE” Some fourteen years ago a picture was produced called “Tillie’s Punctured Romance.” Many of the present gene- 1 ration of theatre-goers have forgotten what it was all about, but will remember that it was one of the first big laughing successes. Now in 1928 we have at the New Regent the whole picture made again, and the added experience of the intervening years has aided in producing one of the. most delightful, not to say uproarious comedies ever brought to Auckland. No small share of the hilarity is due, of course, to the cast, for it is headed by three well-known names in motion picture comedy, W. C. Fields, Chester Conklin, and Louise Fazenda. These are assisted by a strong cast and the whole directed by a man who has established himself by being the director of such comedies as “We’re Jn the Navy Now.” The story of “Tillie’s Punctured Romance” is very easy to tell. It commences in the late 90’s, and continues to the Great War, and is the life story of Tillie who ran away from home, atti*acted by the glamour of a circus. I She is very severely disillusioned, however, and in the latter part of the picture persuades the management to take the show to France to entertain the American soldiers. Of course, all sorts of dreadful things happen to g. circus in the tremendous maelstrom of the battlefront, including the lions escaping into the trenches, and the clowns getting on to the wrong side. Chester Conklin is the owner of the circus, and is known as Horatio Q. Frisbee, Proprietor of Frisbee’s Mammoth Circus, while W. C. Fields is his ringmaster. The part of Tillie is played by Louise Fazenda. On the stage, there will be presented Dance-o-mania, a brilliant display of dancing and music. This novel entertainment, which includes 16 scenes, presents with colourful dancing a pageant from Adam and Eve to the present day, and is accompanied by special music from organ and orchestra. In addition an orchestral novelty will be presented in a burlesque on Lemare’s “Andantino.” First it will be played as originally arranged, then as "Moonlight and Roses,” arranged as a waltz, as a church organ, a-s a foxtrot, a la Salvation Army, and finally as a grand march, the whole orchestrated and conducted by Arthur G. Frost.