AMUSEMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 89, 11 May 1909, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS.

MASKELYNE'S MYSTERIES.

There was a fair attendance at thtf Theatre Royal last evening, when Maskelyne and Devant gave their second entertainment, which passed olf just as successfully ae Saturday night's and was equally as well enjoyed by those present.

The second change of programme will be presented to-night. Mr. Maskelyne's famous illusion "Elixir Vitae," will be performed. In it a decapitated man will walk about the stage with bis own liead under his arm, still talking. Mrs. Daffodil's sen nee, aimed at the exposure of the methods of so-called spiritualistic mediums, is a clever sketch, and caused a sensation in England. Most of the wonderful doings attributed to supernatural agencies are reproduced by merely material means. Mr. Owen Clark will introduce a budget of new enchantments. M. Gintaro, the Japanjuggler, will be seen in new feats, whilst Mr. Barclay Gammon, whose laughing philosophy'is full of infectious merriment, will perform new tunes and taradiddles.

TUB AUSTRALIAN CHORUS GIRL. Miss Florence Young, the Soiiia of "The Merry Widow/' -who will be seen here shortly, expressed her opinion with delightful freedom to a Wellington interviewer on the subject of the Australian chorus girl, as compared with the English variety. "The Australian chorus girl is, 1 believe/' said Miss Young, '* the finest in the world. Look at our girls in the Royal Comic Opera Company, and yon see as fine a lot of girls as you would nee in the pick of the London and New York theatres, and, what is more, they sing better, and take a livelier interest in their work than the average chorister in the big centres of the world. Another point in favor of the Australian girl is that she is everything at once—show girl, singer, dancer, and even a player of small parts, which 1 is not so in London. Some of the show-girls are just there to make a show and could not sing a song to save their lives; others in the ballet only sing if they are inclined and are able to do so, and' the singers do not think of encroaching to any extent on the domains of their dancing sisters."