EXIT VAUDEVILLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 138, 2 December 1911, Page 4

EXIT VAUDEVILLE.

ENTER THE PICTURE SHOW. MR. FULLER'S VIEWS. Auckland, November "28. "The longing for something new is the. great desire of the age," declared Mr. John Fuller, senr., when informing a Star reporter that the Fuller proprietary, which owns a number of theatres in New Zealand, had decided to drop the vaudeville business and utilise all its theatres for picture show purposes. The firm's vaudeville theatres in Dunedin and Wellington have just been closed, and next Saturday evening will witness the final vaudeville show in Christchurch, while the Opera House in Auckland—so long the home of vaude-, ville entertainment in this city—is, in the course of a few weeks, to see the last of the corner men and the variety artists. "The firm have come to this decision," explained Mr. Fuller, "because the ad-' vent of the moving picture show has meant the passing of the mummer. In the four chief cities of the Dominion the firm's experience has been the same. Picture shows draw big crowds and pay handsome profits; vaudeville entertainments attract but indifferent patronage, and cost far more money. Times have changed. In the old days the playgoer seemed to have an affection for a favorite artist, and fairly lengthy seasons could be assured to good performers for that reason. Nowadays, however, the public craves for continual change. A weekly change of programme is not sufficient; they want new artists all tho time, and even then a show fails to draw as it should."

As an indication that the Fuller proprietary is not stinting its activities, Mr. Fuller pointed out that although the firm owns three theatres in Auckland—the Opera House, King's Theatre and the Palace Theatre—it has just bought two sits for new theatres. One, with a frontage of 183 ft, in upper Symonds street, has been purchased from Dr. Robertson at a cost of £I6,DOS, and the other, in upper Queen street, with an 92ft frontage, was acquired for £4OOO. On the. latter site a new place of, entertainment, to he called the Theatre Royal, is to be erected early next year.

At present Auckland is running four teen permanent picture shows nightly.