STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 795, 16 October 1929, Page 17

STRAND

AL JOLSON ON- FRIDAY Mary Pickford’s first talkie, “Coquette,” will shortly conclude its season at the Strand Theatre. As Norma Besant in the picture, Miss Pickford plays gaily at the merry, frothy game of life. Behind her dancing feet she leaves a trail of broken hearts. In these merry sequences she catches the very spirit of carefree, happy American girlhood. Then she meets Michael Jeffrey, ardent young roisterer from the hill country. Johnny Mack Brown, the former star of America’s premier football team, plays this gallant adventurer. Norma’s father, a fine old aristocrat, revolts at her new romance. But the love of Norma and Michael is stronger than family pride. Michael is not of her set. the little coquette falls in love with him. Overnight she steps from girlhood into womanhood. Despite her father’s stubborn family pride, Norma secretly meets Michael. Desperate, the heartbroken parent precipitates a tremendous climax throbbing with natural realism. The programme of supporting talkies will also be shown only until Friday. A 1 Jolson, the world-famous comedian making his screen debut in “The Jazz Singer” at the Warner Theatre in New York, scored the greatest success of his career. He says so himself. For several years he has been urged to become one of the stars of the screen, but for some reason has resisted the appeal. When Warner Brothers offered him the star part in Samson Raphaelson’s play, which depicts the story of the only son of a cantor trained to follow his father’s career, running away from home to follow the dictates of his own desire to become a jazz singer, they did not know they were asking him to repeat in pictures the incident that developed his career on the stage. It is claimed that there has never been a picture on Broadway that has scored such a sensational hit. While Jolson loves the stage, he admits that he loves the wonderful opportunities afforded him as a motion picture star even more. In "The Jazz linger,” which the Strand will present on Friday, is May McAvoy, an exquisite star of musical comedy, who helps Jack Robin, played by Jolson, to achieve the success his genius demands. Nance O’Neil, stage and screen star, has been signed for a prominent role in "Olympia,” John Gilbert’s new picture for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.