ENTERTAINMENTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 240, 10 April 1912, Page 4

ENTERTAINMENTS

JAXSEX. In an age, not so many year* ago, when the Black Art was looked at Bornetiihm- r -.-- | ian askance, people liku u.uiseu wuu.d have been deservedly burnt at the stake. But a generation has arisen which know* not the Joseph* of that time, and the gentle, art of ne«« romancy has become a part and parcel oi the routine of the average goer. They are critical audiences, toff, tor where tin re was one conjurjr and cue illusionist moiv jears ago than th« average man dares to remember, thert are now a dozen. Despite the sad lessor of the- Witch of Endor. people still Jov» to dally with mysteries of this sort, and the enormous audicuoe which attended at the Theatre Bcyal last night fuily e». joyed the weird and eerie performance which was provided by the young Ameri. car entertainer. Judging from his name, Jjinsen ought to have been a Swede of a Hottentot, or some old person who hail discovered the South Pole or wrapped the Equator up in a "brown paper parcel Instead of that lit disclosed himself as a clean-limbed, alert exponent of the arC of doing things that nobody else can do. Nothing was beyond his powers as a "medicine man," from finding truth at the bottom of an Opposition well to disclosing the long-concealed identity of the "Man with the Iron Mask." Dean Swift, in his inimitable satire of Gulliver, p:«l tured a professorial board who mads sunbeams from cucumbers and taught little pigs to fly. But this would be elementary work for Jansen, whose pockets are full of unexpected guinea-pigs, crook doV lars, sunshades, thyroid glands, unpaid bills, pigeons, liquid glue and all the flotaam and jetsam that pertain to the methods of modern magicianry. So far \ he has not been often lynched nor spent' many years in gaol for 'his deliberate defiance of all the laws of possibility, buf if he continues to work such miracles as he worked last night his "little wooden ulster" cannot be far from mater;a':«ition. The average man who attends such a delightful entertainment as Jansen provided last night is not concerned so much with the "why and wherefore" as in enjoying the results that an achieved, and it is the clearness aid cleverness of the magician which count rather than the results. In these respects Jansen stands alone. He suffered, if anything, from an exaggeration of preliminary managerial eulogy, but he discounted this by amply justifying all that' had been said of him, printed of him, and dreamt of him. His elaborate "paper," which flaunted itself brazenly in every shop-window of the town, did not do him justice, despite its elaborate depiction of stupendous miracles that I would put the loaves and fishes to abject J shame. It is not necessary to go into J intimate detail concerning a performance which ;puis all others of its class well in the shade. Some of his illusions and tricks are, not new, some of them are very present helps in time of trouble, and some of them are years before their time. But all of them are clean, cleve* and brisk. The beauty of lis performamm rests in its picciseness, its invariable certainty and its happy comedie relief. Added to this is a perfect setting, ana the clove'- illusionist must carry "props." enough to supply every clothes line in the colony. In a word, he has reduced the science of illusionism to a fine art, and no hetter entertainment #f its class, end ncne more perfect in detail could possibly be imagined. He produces .sermons from stones, books from the running brook?, and mosquitoes from hatpins, witn an enviable nonchalance that deiies criticism. His support, too, is in every way excellent, and in this connection the magnificent humorous juggling of De Hollis and Valora Seserves very special mention. Mr. Nelson Stony,, too, hits the piano in all sorts of amiable and original attitudes, and .also strikes the melancholy boards of the xylophone with delightful aptitude. Taken all round, the entertainment is an exceptionally brilliant one, and fully justifies the experiment of a two nights' season.

EMPIRE PICTURE PALACE "IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO "MEND." To-night the Empire Pictures will present another o* Fullers' exclusive a£ tractions in the form of a wonderfsl picture drama of Charles Reade's famous story, "It is Never Too Late to Mend." The late Charles Reade, when he committed to paper this masterpiece of fiction, made for himself not only a niche in the temple of fame, but created a work that will live for all time as a standard novel of English literature. If the story only embraced the genuine love of George Feilding for his cousin, sweet Susan Merton, their many diffi- : cutties, their long separation when the J former was away in far-off Australia, I the desperate machinations of John [Meadows, who passed through the valley of Hell in his endeavor to win to himself the woman he passionately loved —if it contained only all these thrilling i episodes it would stilt! remain a creation of exceptional and fascinating interest. But there must be added to all this the daring and striking •revelations by the author of the degrading and fearful prison system which existed in England at that period, and which he 60 boldly and harrowingly revealed to th« British public. The story wiU bo graphically depicted by that master elocutionist, Mr. Alf'. Boothman, thereby bringing out all the main and most salient features of the novel, allowing for the bridging over of many incidents, and making a natural sequence and clear cut story. "It is Never Too Late to Mend" will be shown to-night, to-mor-row, and again Friday. On Saturday another great "star" attraction will be shown (by special arrangement with the greater J. D. Williams Amusements, Ltd.) a 4000-feet pantomime by the Cine Roma Company, entitled, "Pinocehio," at present creating a sensation at Macmahon's Continuous Theatre, Wellington.