ENTERTAINMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 83, 24 August 1912, Page 4

ENTERTAINMENTS.

MISS MARGARET COOPER. AX EVENING'S FEAST. The monologue has varied its form* consideraby since the days of Corney Cam and George Grossmith, hut it still remains a form of entertainment in able hands that never ceases to be attraotive and in the colonies especially it appears to have a very special vogue. For this English artists have much to thank Frank Lincoln and Mel. B. Spurr whopractically created the demand. It Ls not surprising, therefore, that there should have been a large house at the Theatre Royal last flight—even at the prices—to welcome Miss Margaret Cooper, who came with that not always unquestionable hall-mark of an English reputation. Perhaps the best and briefest commentary on the performance is to say that the lady "made good" to such an extent that the audience forgot "their dollars. Miss Cooper has been described as "the lady with a piano," and while this conveys very little in cold print it conveyed a, whole lot in realisation. Her work is solely self-accompanied song and sketch at the piano, and she bore the brunt of a heavy programme with irresistible ease and gaiety. She is no statuesqu* beauty along accepted lines, hut being chic, vivacious, delightfully spontaneous, I and beautifully frocked she very quickly, placed herself en rapport with an enthusiastic audience. To her cultivated gifts of nature and of art she adds that rare quality of charm of personality and a grace of manner and a daintiness of style that convey insidiously to her audience the suggestion that ■ she is at the piano simply and solely for the individual entertainment of every member of the audience and not to sing to a crowd. As Maisie would have said, "She belongs" at once t» every isolated unit of her audience. Peter Folly viewing this dainty handful of femininity would probably have recalled his desire whenever he saw a kitten frisking or a beautiful bird to squeeze it to death. But perhaps the parallel had better stop there. Frankly speaking, Miss Cooper has very little voice as professional singers go, but then her work does not call for any elaborate vocal equipment. What she, has is sweet and clear and cheeky—reminiscent more of the thrush than of the nightin- ! gale—and as she has wedded it to a perI feet enunciation and cultivated an irre--5 sistible lilt, she must stand as one ©1 !the brightest and most enjoyable entertainers we have had the pleasure of appreciating for many years. She is « facile pianist, and her comedy is always refined, whilst her voice has a sweetnes* i of texture that puts the finishing touch to her work. She takes, natur. ally, the most daring liberties with the accepted canons of musi- , cal art, both vocally and instrumentally, and so far as the. grammar of music is concerned she revels in split infinitives and jumbled tenses with a nonchalance that scores emphatically, despite its confidential impertinence. Her "sweet bells jangled out of tune" are never discordant, and her appeal to an . audience with" more -ear, .than. soul for the classics was immediate and em- , phatic. She romped, in fact, with un-

failing certainty of voice and gesture | through a series of characteristic sonfjr I lets covering a •wide range in such a way l as to speedily convince 1 her audience that both she and they were sinrply grown-up children playing at a fairy game of malce believe. When it comes to a discrimination among her many ! items and her generous encores the question at once becomes one of personal predilection, but probably she was at her best in her quaint little opening conceit "My Moon." the semi-serioua "Heaps o' Lickin's."' Scott Gatty's delicious "Peter," and a clever coon parodv "Ma Dusky Maid." But the worst of her best would shine evervwhere, and it is idle to search the dictionary foF sufficient appreciative superlatives. Support with such an entertainer ibecomes a secondary matter, but Miss Cooper was not lacking in this respect. Mr. Horace Witty is a sympathetic and cultivated light baritone, with an exceptionally rich middle register, and he was at his best in "Rose of Mv Heart," "Th« Rangers" and "Oh. That We Two Were Maying." Signor Manzoni is an admirable mandolinist, and be has reduced the technique of his instrument almost to virtuosity. Mr. H. Scott-Leslie's comedy and character work was not al-

ways 'satisfying, owing to a tendency to artificiality and ultra-culture, but his items added acceptable variety to the entertainment. Mr. Charles Lawrence made a capital accompanist, . but his toneless piano solo might very well have been omitted, for it was a hors-d'-oeuvre that certainly did not suggest the dainties to follow. EMPIRE PICTURE PALACE. MATINEE TO-DAY.

Notwithstanding last evening was th« third and last night of the current picture programme at the Empire Theatre, quite a large crowd of picture enthusiasts were present, and watched the fin* screenings with rapt attention. An entire change of films will be shown to-day, first at the matinee this afternoon at 2.30 and again at 8 o'clock to-night. The new series is a very even lot, and reputed to be well up to the high standard of merit that has already made tu« Empire a household word throughout Taranaki. The programme consists ol four big dramas, four novelty films, and four American comedies. The dramas are, "Where the Money Went," a Vitagraph, featuring Miss Helen Gardner, oi "Vanity Pair" fame; "Love and Tears" and "Angel of the Slums," two Luton productions; and "Fate's Interception," a tale of lovo in the land of Mexico, portrayed by the A.B. Company, with littl* Miss Pickford in the leading part. The novelty series include "Pups," a study; "Miss Harriet Quimby," vaudeville artist; "The Pitcher Plant," nature study; and the latest Pathe Gazette. In the comic section there is "Hot Stuff," an A.B. scream; "The Bachelor's Waterloo," an Edison Leap Year story; "The Tenderfoot's Troubles," a Kalem roofraiser; and "Widow Jenkins' Admirers," a thousand-foot Essany " Snakeville" comedy. The music will be made a feature during the coming week, Professor Carbines having arranged the orchestral parts for several operatic airs.