AMUSEMENTS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10587, 19 March 1912, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS

THOMPSON-PAYNE PICTURES , A large audience greeted the change of pictures at tho Foresters' Hall last evening. The collection of subjects was. widely varied, and several of the items received a great deal of applause. On the educational side there was much of an instructive nature, and chief amongst these films was "Hie World's Greatest Engineering 'Feat.'' An idea was given of how | New York is supplied with water, and ' the great difficulties that had to be 'Surmounted to get the much-needed liquid to the busy centre are clearly shown. Amongst every audience there ' rs always a certain section whose ideal I in life is to go abroad and to see J just a little of the world. ' This section last evening were afforded a

treat during the screening of the film ' "British India." The peculiarities about this "land were pleasingly depicted. Turning to the dramatic side of the entertainment there was much to interest. A tale of exceptional merit was unfolded in "The' Assigned Servant." This film was 3000 feet in length, and every portion was full of stirring and fascinating episodes. The theme dealt with Australia 100 years ago, and conveyed a vivid impression of the. -convict settlements and the hardships, privations and cruelties the unfortunates concerned had to undergo. "The Adventures of Billy" was another .splendid subject, while "His Sister's Children" was a laughable Vitagraph comedy. It is altogether an excellent collection, and another large assemblage should wend its way in the direction of The Foresters' Hall to-night to enjoy the entertainment.

JOHN FULLER AND SONS' ATTRACTION.

I "FASOLA." I Next Saturday evening, tit the Mas{terton .' Ti>inr : Hal]. Messrs John Fuller and Sons,, the' well known theatrical firm, will present a' clever company, treaded by Faso'lrf, the great Indian Magician. Speaking of Fa-sola is Wellington, the New Zealand 1 -Times says:— "Fasola, conjurer and exponent of Indian magic, the worker <rf many remarkable. illusions and' strange deceptions, made hi* initial bow to a New Zealand audience at ,the Theatre Royal oil Saturday eventing. The reputation which preceded' him was one that demanded all the efforts and skill of a master of tlie' art to justify; and Fasola justified in every section of a lengthy and varied performance the pre-eoncoptions formed of his .ability. From start to finish his act is good, and though all his deceptive presentations are not hew they come clothed in fresh garb and -with a certain air of unfaitiiliarity attaching to them. In those which are new, Fasola has started where many in his line have stopped, and it - is in the'mystic branches tlia.t are peculiarly his own. that he attains the best results and produces tlie most

puzzling effects. He stands in a circle of subtle mysticism performing with ease the apparently impossible, and imparting to the vagno and fantastic a strange, uncanny air of reality. InI animate objects disappear suddenly without visible agency, and re-appear, in unexpected places with nothing to j show the method of their transport. White pigeom,, vigorous " and full grown, resolve themselves from thin • air, fluttering in the meshes of a net, i and ducks waddle unconcernedly from a utensil that a moment before was shown to be perfectly empty. An apparently innocent cabinet proves to have a tenant almost before the echoes of the door, closing on a vacant interior, have died away; a curtained apartment, closed for a. moment,. is opened to reveal a bedroom where the occupant lies sleeping; and the furnishings of the mysteriously evolved bedroom, while lacking all outward show of other than furnishing possibilities, become possessed of strange powers and assume all kinds of forms in the hands of the manipulator.." A clever company in support of Fasola will also appear, amongst them being "The Windsor Choristers" —a quartette of boy singers of repute. The plan is now open at the Dresden.