ENTERTAINMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 117, 7 November 1911, Page 8

ENTERTAINMENTS.

11ARKY RICKARDS' VAUDEVILLE. Tlifl Theatre Royal will be packed to tlm doors to-night if people take their cue from those who attended the Rick-

, aids vaudeville entertainment last night. ! Wo don't remember having heard as enj.thusiastic. applause in the. local theatre for years' past. The audience couldn't express itself in conventional clapping'or stamping, nor could the by whistling; Tiiey cheered, and cheered again, to filiow tllieir appreciation of many of ' tile perforniersj Jt wa§ undoihjtedlyyttv l ,'very fine entertainment, and the l prdv 'igramnio contained some "turns''-that > ( have made thousands every night just *,as excited and enthusiastic as were our hundreds last night. The difficulty is to lix on any one item and call it the best. There was in-finite variety. So big is the company that even in a two and a half hours' programme there's no need for more than one or two performers to I appear both before and after the inter"|Val, and as each artist specialises in a s , marked degree there is no risk of same- • i ness. Mr. Sydney Bach, a clever and P refined drawing-room entertainer, introduced some pianoforte trick playing. ] Amoiij-st other tliines came "Home.

Sweet Home," with the treble "fingered" I by his nose, and the music for a sandi clttiu'e played whilst the pianist actually i performed the steps of the danee. Mr. I Alf. Holt, the great American jjiimie, was fun itself. And he was wonderfully clever, too, his farmyard calves and bird 1 imitations being splendid, whilst who could fail to appreciate his presentation of the pussy-cats' midnight serenade? •'The perfect lady gymnast," Miss Alcidc <'«tpitaine is styled, and a perfect gymnast and equilibrist she is. Graceful, skilful and dainty, her exhibition on the swinging horizontal and parallels was superb. Messrs. Clarke and Mostol, the English novelty comedians and dancers, wev.e recalled again and again. Their wit was sharp and clean, and their dancing was extraordinary, clever and unique. Mr. Carlton Max played ten pleasant minutes awav in a ventriloquial turn, and scored heavily, Bihns and Binus came^with,' a great and added to it. They cleverly their burlesque by-play and sfcilj; ; , <Ud syeet- melodies were produwd-.that j. . wanted to hold t'Jie audience enraptured,' ■ i but the antics of the musicians : put straight faces to flight. They were comicality itself. The "European eceentriques," Miss Merle and Mr. Pastor, presented a wry fine acrobatic act, the latter tin-owing himself headlong across, the stage and over the backs of fivechairs and landing safely, a feat that none of the audience seemed inclined totackle Mjsa Camille Cornwall i« the principal lady vocalist, and she used her l rich and strong soprano voice in "Poor ■ Wandering One," and she replied to her recall with "Killamey." We would like her to sing ''Killamey" again to-night, and so, judging by the rapturous ap. I plause last night, would many others. t Mr. Godfrey James, the Webster tenor, sang "Nirvana" and "Songs of Afaby.** Miss Fanny Powers was most successful , in her impersonations of stage celebrities. Mr. Tom Dawson sang several of [ Mayo's latest hits, and was twice encored for them. The ''Marlowe sisters ' t are clever girls, and their "Miss Gibbs" , and "Mexican Girls" found instant favor. . The entertainment is vaudeville- of the best, and the public should to-night reward the enterprise of the firm which v has brought.us such a collection of firstflight artists