AMUSEMENTS.

Wairarapa Age, 8 February 1927, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS.

“IS ZAT SO?” TO-NIGHT.

Coming to the Opera House to-night the American comedy “Is Zat So?”

which has been brought to Australia and New Zealand following its outstand ing success in America and England. It is likely to bo as popular here as it/was in New York and London. It is genuine comedy built round an amusing story, and characterisation. There

is, moreover, a complete absence of the treacly sentiment which so often intrudes in American productions, even when built specifically for laughs. “Is Zat So?” was written by James Gleason and Richard Tabor and Hale Norcross, who share the two principal roles of the comedy. They are comedy actors of genuine ability. The company comes partly from New York and partly from London. Daphne Baird, who plays the role of Mrs. Parker well, is a well-known English actress. Good work is done by Mary Ellen Hanley and Maude Carroll, and Barrio Livesey, another of the English players, is a good juvenile lead. Virginia Norton acts with much charm, and Claude Saunders, one of the few Australians in the cast, is well placed as the villain. Noel Dainton, Mary Nelson, Arthur Cornell, Sammy GreeA, Herbert Leigh, and Bruce Walker (a son of Martin Walker), all do well. The box plan is rapidly filling at the Arts and Crafts, and a crowded house will no doubt greet the famous comedy. HUMPHREY BISHOP CO.

An item of especial interest to Masterton theatre-goers is that they are to have a visit from this talented band of entertainers after an absence of nearly three years. Since leaving New Zealand the company has had long seasons in every capital city of Australia, including a record season of 14 weeks at the J. C. Williamson Garden Theatre, Adelaide. Members of the old company are as follows: Humphrey Bishop, Walter Kingsley, George “Scratcher” Ross, Hilda Beaux and Frank Egan, while the new comers are Charles Albert, Dorothy Ryder, Fred Webber, Elaine Maye, Mark Leslie, Dan Flood, Doris Pretty, Thelma Trott, Allan Kitson, Billy Barry, Bessie White, Tom Hardy, Ralph Hedley. Evadne Royle, and Marie Landon, and the Famous Ragtime Quartette. Commenting on the opening performance in Brisbane the “Courier,” said, “The verdict of last night’s huge audience upon the excellence of the Humphrey Bishop Company has insured the success of their whole season; in fact, Mr Bishop had the greatest difficulty in proceeding with his programme by the enthusiastic insistence of the audience in asking for more. The secret of this success was not only the cleverness of every turn (each member of the company has talent) but of the “ginger” which everyone instilled into their work.” Box plans open at the Arts and Crafts next Thursday. The season is for two nights, commencing on Monday, February 14, with an entire change of programme on the following night. COSY THEATRE. The heroine had consented to marry Batling Butler (hero) because his valet had made her believe that he was the renowned fighter, Battling Butler, lightweight champion; he had hidden from her the fact that he was a mere mollycoddle, son of a wealthy father. Immediately after the marriage the brother’s of the hero’s wife read in the paper that Battling Butler was to go immediately into training to meet the Alabama Murderer. Fearing lest he lose his wife the hero immediately departs for “his” training quarters, enjoining his wife not to follow him. But his‘wife docs follow him. Seeing her in town he “horns in” at the training quarters of the real Battling Butler and pretends to be training. The wives of ( the two Butlers have a mix up, but the hero’s valet persuades the real fighter to protect the hero by not exposing him. The fightVr agrees. But soon the fighter becomes angry and refuses to train or to meet the Alabama Murderer. The trainer thus forces the hero to go into training to meet him 1 himself. At the night of the fight the hero appears in evening dross and cane, but the fight takes place before the hero is ready and the Alabama Murderer is defeated by the real fighter. The hero attempts to thank the real fighter for what he had done for him, but the fighter, saying to him that what he was going to de to him is not anywhere near what he. has done for him, starts punching him everywhere until th© hero, cornered is forced to fight. He knocks the real fighter out. The hero, then, tells the heroine that he was telling her a Jie all along, ami that he was not a fighter. The wife .replies that she is glad he is not a fighter. Spjendid supports. Reserves at Hehderson’s. OPERA HOUSE. “The Son of the Sheik,” commences a three-night’s season at the Opera House on Wednesday The plot has been founded on the story by E. M. Hull, the author of “The Sheik.” It deals with a love affair between the son of the Sheik (her# of “The Sheik”), and a desert dancer, one of a ' company of entertainers and thieves. The heroine’s father is angered at the presumptiousness of the young hero. His men capture him and torture him. But he escapes by aid of his men. The hero is made to believe that the heroine did not love him, and that she .had decoyed him just as she had decoyed others. He is angered and seeks revenge., Later he learns that the heroine had been true to him and decides tn find her and beg her forgiveness. His mother eventually persuades his father not to oppose their marriage, reminding him of the fact that he himself had married her under similar circumstances. Plans at Henderson’s. Be wise and book early.