ENTERTAINMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 265, 19 April 1915, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS.

THE EMPIRE THEATRE. ; On the occasion of the change of programme a largo audience filled the , Empire Theatre last Saturday night, i when (!.j Vitagraph Company's great i moral i ..iy, "A Million Bid," was presented. The picture shows how the • vaulting ambition of a proud society woman sacrificed the happiness of both, i her husband and daughter for wealth and luxury. After, her extravagant habits have brought her husband to ruin and death, the society woman (Mrs Balgradin) succeeds in forcing hcri daughter, Agnes, to consent to mavryj Geoffrey Marsh, a millionaire. The j honeymoon is arranged as a trip on | Marsh's yacht. The boat collides with another in a fog, and is so badly damaged that she sinks in a few minutes. Mrs Belgradin is lost with the ve;wel, and Marsh, who was seriously injured in the collision, is believed to have been among the drowned. Agnes, believing herself to be a widow, subsequently marries her former lover,.Dr Loring Brent, who becomes prominent as a brain specialist. Some years later Dr Brent is visited by a patient, who haß no recollection of events prior to the tiiae at which he was picked up by fisherman on the coast of France. He meets Agnes without recognising her, but Agnes sees that it is Marsh, who must have been saved from the wreck of the yacht. Then follows the operation, and a- highly dramatic stfene, which ends in the death of the millionaire, and the usual happy future for Dr Brent and his wife. The drama is mounted on a luxurious scale, and is acted by a specially selected cas.t, including Miss Anita Stewart, Miss Julia Swayne, and M«';rs Charles Kent, Barry Morey, and E. K. Lincoln. It is stated to have run .'or 250 nights on Broadway. Judging by the enthusiasm with which it was itceived on Saturday night, it should diaw draw another large audience to-night to witness its final screening. The supporting items on the programme are all good quality. Among the number wc "September Morn," a dashing comedy;' "The Temples of .Nikko," a scenic; and the latest European Gazette. The last-named film contains much interesting matter from the great theatres of war. As the, pictures are screened, appropriate musical accompaniments are played by Mrs George. THE PLIMMER-BALL COMPANY. We would draw attention to the fact that on Thursday next the iPlimmerHall Dramatic Company will appear at the Theatre Royal in "The Mummy and the Humming Bird," and that ail the profits derived from their tour in New Zealand go to the distressed Belgian FiiniK" But for the Belgians, the hateful thud of the goose-step might ere long have been heard in our cities, as well as in Antwerp and Brussels. But for their heroism our fields might have soon been reddened with our blood; instead, they are teeming with earth's bounties. Crops, fruits, herds are ours in great plenty. Our wages are as before the war; even our pleasures con-, tinuo. Far remote from the scene of the great struggle, we are permitted to live in peace. Our lives are fallen in pleasant places; we have a goodly heritage. Surely, out of our great store' each one of us ean still spare something for a nation that deserves to be the ward of the world. This is an historic occasion and an historic cause. Have you already given? What of that? Have not the Belgians given their all for freedom Surely from our all we can spare a mite for the Belgians, especially when that mite will purchase pleasure 1 as well as show forth pity. In the years to come the Belgian' "will say: "We suffered agonies in the great war; but Britain and her children beyond the seas stood by us, bound up our wounds, fed. our hungry, and cared for our widows and orphans. Of a truth, Britain was: the good Samaritan."