MAJESTIC MAORI NOVELTY TO-NIGHT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 381, 15 June 1928, Page 15

MAJESTIC

MAORI NOVELTY TO-NIGHT

Only the theatre which sets entertainment standard in Auckland coultf present such a glorious entertainment combination, as is being presented for the first time at the Majestic Theatre. To-night for the first time Princess Te Puea and her Maori Maids and Toas. seventeen skilled performers will sing the ancestral chants of their ancestors, against the charm of old Maoriland on the Majestic stage. The Maori girls in the Waikato district as become a river people, have always been famous for the variety of their pois, probably one of the most graceful dances ever invented by a people. Sir Apirana Ngata, M.P., who is a chieftain of the Maoris in that part of New Zealand, exclaimed that he had never before seen anything like it. When the party arrived at Rotorua, in the course of their tour in the intersts of the social work which Princess Te Puea has so successfully undertaken on behalf of her race in the Waikato, the girls there attempted to emulate their river cousins. It was no use. They simply could not manage the wrist movements to which Te Puea's well-trained girls had been accustomed. These will be among the dances which will i#e presented tliis evening by Princess Te Puea’s Maori Maids and Toas. Two special waiatas will also be introduced during the programme. Both chants are very tapii or sacred. One illustrates the ancestors of Te Puea crossing the ocean from Hawaiiki to New Zealand. The other is descriptive of the coronation of King Potatau, the first Maori king, at Ngaruawhahia. In each instance the greatest difficulty has been experienced in obtaining a correct translation. The chief pictorial attraction, “The Latest from Paris,” starring Norma Shearer,* is a story of a keen-minded woman who travels for a clothing firm through the Middle West and competes with the veteran drummers of other wholesale houses. Ralph Forbes has the leading male role, that of a rival salesman, while George Si<fhey and Tenen Holtz play the Jewish partners who employ Miss Shearer to sell their wares. The cast also includes such players as Bert Roach, Margaret Landis and William Bakewell. A strong supporting programme will also be screened, and will include the Majestic Magazine, a Naw Zealand News and Views Film, an amusing comedy, “Wandering Papas,” with Clyde Cook, and a very interesting nature study film, “Humble Friends.” An incomparable musical programme will be provided by Mr. J. WhitefordWaugh’s Majestic Orchestra, who will specially feature as their musical interlude, “Caprice Viennois” (Kriesler). Musical gems to be included in th© incidental music are “Les Bateaux Bo Fleurs’* (Gauwint, “Symphony No. 1,” (Schumann), “Norwegian Rhapsody,” No. 1 (Spendsen), “Chopinata,” Chopin’s works written in fox-trot time, “What are You Waiting For, Mary?” “In a Little Garden,” two latest foxtrots. As a special request “Woodland Echoes” (Frank Tapp) will be played. This will be played during the screening of “Humble Friends.” Earle Foxe ‘is villain in “Four Sons” and “Hangman's House,” two Fox productions.