MAJESTIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 389, 25 June 1928, Page 15

MAJESTIC

SPLENDID ENTERTAINMENT Another very popular programme Is being offered to picturegoers at the Majestic Theatre. Not only is there a very attractive pictorial programme, headed by “The Divine Woman,” but Princess Te Puea’s Maori Maids and Warriors are presenting another new programme of hakas, pois and waiatas. Their programme opens with Timi Pai, with an historic Waikato mere in his hand, giving an old-time challenge to the enemy. The curtain then reveals the Merry Maori Maids in the double canoe poi dance. This is one of the most delightful items in Princess Te Puea’s repertoire. Next, "Mahuta's Lament,” an old chant, which Mahuta, the third King of Waikato, sang two days before his death in 1912, is rendered, followed by a graceful double poi dance by the Maori maidens. The twirling of the ever-graceful poi is followed by an action song, which has never before been sung to European ears. It is the song of Te Whiti. Te Whiti was the Taranaki prophet and Maori leader in Taranaki in the early ’eighties. He was arrested by the Government of the day, and subsequently imprisoned. “If it were not for my work,” says Princess Te Puea, “the Song of Te Whiti would never be sung in public before Pakehas!” “The Divine Woman,” with Greta Garbo and Lars Hanson, heads the list of pictorial attractions. In “The Divine Woman” Miss Garbo has one of the best vehicles of her career and her best cast to date. Lars Hanson proves himself a great actor in the role of the French soldier who deserted his regiment, and served a term of imprisonment for the girl he loved. As the theatrical impressario Lowel Sherman gives one of the best performances he has ever offered on stage or screen. Mention should also be made of the marvellous work of Polly Moran, Dorothy Cumming, Johnny Mack Brown and other members of the brilliant cast. The Majestic Magazine, with_ a special short film of the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree, a Fox Variety film showing the evolution of newsprint from the standing timber, and a Lloyd Hamilton comedy, “Waiting,” conclude the pictorial programme. The musical programme rendered by Mr. Whiteford-Waugh’s Majestic Orchestra greatly enhances the enjoyment of the programme.