ENTERTAINMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 March 1922, Page 8

ENTERTAINMENTS.

PANTOMIME SEASON. “LITTLE 80-PEEP.” At the 'Empire Theatre last night the Stanley McKay Co. produced the pantomime, “Little 80-Peep.” The role of “Little 80-Peep” was Well sustained by Miss Audrey Carlyle. Her songs, “I’m Little 80-Peep” and “In Sweet Arcadia,” went with a swing, the latter being aided by an excellent chorus. Both Miss Carlyle and Mr. Harpur (as “a merry widow”) received a warm welcome back to New Plymouth from an audience which evidently remembered their former good performances. Miss Lulla Fanning as “Jack Straw” gave an excellent performance, her song “Chilli Beau” evidently meeting with the approval of the audience. As “Sybil, Queen of the Fairies” Miss Ethel Osborne was enthusiastically received. It is difficult to say whether her new songs, “Fairy Revels” and “Blackbirds,” or such old favorites as “Scenes that are Brightest” and “The Last Rose of Summer,” met with the greater appreciation. Mr. Fred White gave a clever performance as “Simple Simon,” and with his fiddle both “grave and gay” kept the audience highly entertained. The serpentine dance of Miss Rubee Raymond, the “Princess Dinarzaidec” of the play,' was a dainty and clever performance, whilst the Egyptian dance of Mrs. Laurie McLeod aroused the audience to enthusiasm. Clever jokes and witticisms, with some local “topicalities,” helped to increase the fun. There will be a matinee this afternoon at 2.30 and an evening performance to-night at 8 o’clock. EVERYBODY’S. LAST NIGHT OF “DICE OF DESTINY.” One of the actors who never fails to impart a romantic glamour to the parts he plays is H. B. Warner. In his latest feature, “Dice of Destiny,” a Pathe attraction concluding to-night at Everybody’s, Mr. Warner is in the role of Jimmy Doyle, a gentleman crook of the “Raffles” type. The characterisation is wonderfully drawn and kept true to form by the remarkable acting of the star. The story deals with the struggle of a reformed crook to go straight. The love element of the drama is well worked in, and the story is one that will appeal to all lovers of a good motion picture drama. The bill includes Breezy ‘Eason in the big Universal feature. “The Big Adventure.” THE PEOPLE’S. “FINE FEATHERS. “Fine Feathers,” the Metro production announced to he shown at the People’s to-night and to-morrow, is particularly notable, and deserving of attention, in the fact that it was adapted from the highly successful play of the same name, which came from the pen of Eugene Walter, the man who is known wherever th<v drama is mention ed. This is a picture with a plot that is bound to fascinate all manners of theatre-goers, whether they be poor, struggling, or whether they have already attained the upper rungs of success’ ladder. The bill includes gazettes, two-reel Century comedy, and “The Fatal Sign.” “A MAN’S HOME” SATURDAY. What is acclaimed as Selznick’s best production ever made is the six-reel allstar attraction, “A Man’s Home,” to commence at the People’s on Saturday. In the story Frederick Osborn is a selfmade man, among other things president of the very steamship company by which he was once employed as stevedore. He is too intent upon the enlargement of his fortune to seek social relaxation or in this pursuit to encourage his wife. So long as she does not annoy him he lavishes money upon her, and lets her make her friends where she pleases. She is content with the superficial polish of the “Broadway crowd.” and falls in with. Jack Wilson and his putative sister, Cordelia, who fleece her handsomely while concealing their operations. He had given her an abundance of worldly goods, but. denied her the love she craved, choosing to dominate her as if she were an employee. No wonder Mrs. Osborn fell into the power of the notorious Cordelia Wilson. No wonder the shadow of her indiscretions bore down to stain the life of her innocent daughter. But then—in the nick of time the man realised it all — and with the fury of an outraged husband he drove the interlopers from his home to win again the love of an erring wife. The picture is interpreted by an all star cast, headed by Ralph Ince. The matinee on Saturday commences at 2 p.m.