NOT A MENACE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1052, 16 August 1930, Page 24

NOT A MENACE

Ella Retford True to Legitimate Stage VAUDEVILLE IN ENGLAND. Vaudeville has taken up the challenge of the talkies. In London many of the oldest variety theatres are adhering to fheir programmes and with conspicuous success. Several of the world's most famous variety stars, too, have refused to enter into any contracts with, the talking picture com panies. Ella Retford, the London vaudeville star, who is at pr.esent touring South Africa, is one of the stars who intend to remain faithful to ' the variety stage.

“While the public still wants vaudeville—and I think they do—l shall stick to it,” she said recently. “During my visit to America in November of last year, I was made several tempting offers to allow them to take ‘shorties’ of my act. These are really talking pictures or a variety turn. But I resisted the temptation. K would, after all, not pay a variety artist to have these talkies made. They can be shown at so many places at once, and that is bound to react un favourably. “Now that the novelty has worn off the talkies, and the public as well as the critics are beginning to appreciate the limitations of this new art,” re marked Miss Retford, “they are no longer a serious menace to vaudeville. In fact the Palladium and the Colis eum, the latter one of the oldest music halls in London, are staging variety performances and with very great success. Many of the picture houses, ' too, are beginning to vary their programmes with several vaudeville acts. The first time that the ■Alhambra went over to pictures from vaudeville was to show the British talkie, ‘Atlantic.’ ”