ENTERTAINMENTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 224, 20 March 1912, Page 4

ENTERTAINMENTS

EMPIRE PICTURE PALACE. COMPLETE CHANGE TO-NIGHT. "The Colleen Bawn" has proved one of the most popular ventures this, popular house has shown up to the present, a'iii again drew a full house last night. Tonight there will be a complete new programme of pictures, entirely fresh to New Plymouth. Amongst the leading items is an Edison dramatic subject, "At Jones' Ferry," a story shown in beautiful and unusual surroundings. It i shows views of a lumberman's everyday life, the quaint ferry boats on the river, a girl's fall into the river, how she floats through the rapids on a log, and is ultimately rescued in a romantic and heroic manner. "How they stopped the run on the bank" is a highly amusing Selig comedy, unique in this respect that two hundred motion picture exhibitors and proprietors of the State of Ulinoia have taken part in "The Run." Educa- • tional pictures form a prominent part of , the evening's entertainment, including "Swedish-JNorwegian Boundaries," Minor ,r Trades in ;Malay, and "Climbing the . Rax." "Pussie's Cousins" is a pleasing !<( novelty film. There are also dramatic y and comic pictures of that standard for.-.'.., which the Empire Theatre is famous. •; j ST.-JOHN'S hall; WAITARA. ..I "The Cplleen Bawn" will be submitted " n tot the Empire Pictures' numerous Waitara patrons at the above hall to-pjght, and past experiences will no doubt cause the picture-lovers to be 'earljiain attendance this evening.

MR. 'JOSEPH BLASCHECK. > Those who went to the Theatre Royalf last night were rewarded with an ex- . . cellent evening's amusement, on the lines * of a drawing-room entertainment. Mr. ), Joseph Blascheck, who is an English " humorist of note, carqe with v% much- ( ~ heralded reputation, which,'with the aid § of the praiseworthy accompaniments and captivating voice of his co-worker, Miss tMildred Wrighton, he did not fail to sustain. For two people to set out, to provide two fours' entertainment for an audience is no light task, but they sue- ~ c.eeded and covered themselves with honors. Their auditors were unstinted in their applause, and just as prolific in their demands for recalls, pratically every item being encored. The performance, which wag styled "Society Snapshots," covered an extensive range of"turns," and afforded both Mr. Bias- ' check and Miss Wrighton every oppox-..,,, tunity of displaying their almost extraordinary versatility. Society in all its ups and downs was freely depicted, am* x it is pleasing to note that the humor •dished up by the twain, while sometimes of necessity broad, was always clean and wholesome. Mr. Blascheck was seen to best advantage in his character studies, and some of his impersonations were surprisingly clever. At one moment he would be in the midst of an imitation of a dull-witted rustic making love to a lisping maid, while the instant he would reel off a character i sketch of "a country J.P." dispensing justice in a manner certainly more grotesque than legal, and a few seconds later would see him in the midst of'a dramatic recital of Shakespeare's im- 4 mortalised, "Mark 'Antony's address to the Romans." It was. here that the performer gave taste of his versatility, for in both grave and gay he. was alike at hime, his Shakespearian venture-be-ing quite a dramatic treat. In his de r cidedly humorous selection "The Three Ages"—twenty, forty, and sixty—he made a distinct hit, and the same can be said when he stepped, for the time , being,.into the shoes of a rich Hebrew making a speech—a long one at that —, at the wedding of one of his poor rela-S tions. Miss Wrighton was described on] the advance bills aB a talented vocalist] an a role of charming songs, and her I efforts last night fufly justified this eulogy. Her coon songs and play&jjj little melodies were delightfully entrant ing, while in a more classic vein her ren'-' dering of a French song showed that she possesses a voice of no mean calibre, j Like that, of her partner", her repertoire was seemingly endless, Her "songs and,' the piano" and her concerted items with Mr. Blascheck created quite ~a furorel of applause. The programme was rounded off with a cleverly acted musical', sketch entitled "When the minister comes to tea." During the evening Mr*. Blascheck announced that he would probably pay another visit to New Plymouth before returning to the Coritmeninj