ACTOR’S OUTBURST

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 904, 22 February 1930, Page 25

ACTOR’S OUTBURST

Disgust at Fickleness of Sydney Theatregoers STAGE V. TALKIES In a dramatic outburst from the stage at the final curtain of “Divorce” at the Grand Opera House, Sydney, recently, Mr. Richard Bellairs expressed his disgust at the fickleness of the theatre-going public, who, he said, had deserted the Australian stage and abandoned Australian actors for foreign films and American capitalists. “What do they want?” asked Mr. Bellairs in despair, as the numerically poor audience rose to leave the theatre. “Why can Australians not give their countrymen a chance? They are driving their own people to unemployment and starvation. “The support we have had has been pitiable. We tried to give you good clean comedy with a first-cla3s com-pany,’-but our effort has failed; Last week Mr. George Marlowe closed down the pantomime because Australians would rather patronise ‘canned’ drama than Australian plays.” Australians seemed anxious to give their money to Americans. America received 60 per cent, of the gross takings from “talkie” shows. Once the picture shows used to include “presentations,” hut now even they had been cancelled. In addition the most recent tax impost of the State Government had hit the stage heavily, and made it more difficult to make the legitimate stage pay. During Mr. Bellairs’s speech the audience listened earnestly, and at the conclusion applauded vigorously.