ENTERTAINMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 260, 13 April 1915, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS.

"WITHIN THE LAW." "Give them a living chance!"—that is the cry which Bayard Vellier, the author of "Within the Law," sends ringing once more into the ears of the world. It :s the shopgirl he champions in his play and he voices his plea through the character of Mary Turner, a strong-mimltd little woman who is sentenced to a term of three years' imprisonment for atlioft of which she was innocent. It is fcr her sister employees that she makes (lie appeal to an employer whose humanity consists of Riving publicly large sums of money to charitable associations and in stitutions, whose humanity sends a girl to prison for three years so that iier fellow employees may profit by the oxample. On her way to pay the penalty exacted by the law the girl crys "Give them a living chance; we work .line hours for six dollars a week, and yet k r ou don't want them to steal. Do you know how we girls live? No; of course you don't. Three of us in one room doing our own cooking over a two-burner gas stove; our washing and irorrng evenings; and then the first time one of them steals it is often because she nieds a doctor or some luxury like that, and some of them do worse "'oal. They Btarted straight, too, and son"- of them -het so tired of the whole grind— —" "I'm not their guardian," replies Edirard Oilder, proprietor of the emporium: "T pay the 6arne as any other store." TV'n comes the last agonised appeal of the girl who is doomed to suites" for another's crime: "But you don't pay them enough to live on. Won't you do something about it?" "How dare you speak to me like this? Take her away, officer." Then the girl delivers her final speech. "Oh. he can ta"ke me now. Three years isn't for ever. And when I come out you're going to pay me :'or every minute of them. There won't, be a day or an hour that T don't remember that it was your word at the last that sent me to prison. And you're jra'ng to pay me for that. You're going to pay me for the five years I've starved making money for you. You're going to pay me for everything that I'm losing to-day. You're going to pay." The following acts take place after a laps"! nf four years, and are «11 worked round the revenge sworn by Mary Turner in the first act of the play. "Within the Law." by special arrangement with J. -C. Williamson, Ltd., will be staged at New Plymouth in the Theatre Rsyal on Thursday next, and the box plan is on view at Collier's, where seats may be reserved without extra charge.

EMPIRE PICTURES. Once again the "Empire Theatre management are featuring a Keystone comedy in their new bill, commencing tonight. Charles Chaplin, whose appearance is always welcome, is starred in the latest Keystone success. "Those Love Pangs." This comedy had a wonderfully successful season at the Lyric 'Theatre, Sydney, and in its twenty minutes' screening all the various styles of humor are featured, each scone causing great outbursts of laughter. Charles Chaplin essays a new character, and he causes hilarity right to the end. Th's comedy is said to easily rank as one of the best of the Keystone successes. A fine, dramatic war romance, dealing with modern warfare, is seen in "The Battle," wherein is vividly described the love <,f a maid for a man who is a coward, yet at the crucial moment he gets his com'ades out of a tigit ecu or and prj v.s to all the world that circumstances make the man. "The Battle" .is stated to be one of the best battle pictures yet produced. "Memories of Men's Souls," ;i Vitagraph star drama; "Tilm Favirites:" in which Miss Florence Turner appears in some of her favorite, parf.x; "Santa Catalina Island." a beaut-nil scenic; "The Boomerang Swindle," a l.ub'in drama; "In a Prohibition Town," comedy: Pathe's colored study, ""Bird Life," and the Pathe War Graphic, comprise the balance of a brilliant programme. Seats may be reserved.