REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 September 1940, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“THE GREAT VICTOR HERBERT." The change of programme tonight will be headed by "The Great Victor Herbert.” This magnificent picture tells a great human story. A new and attractive singing star is introduced, Mary Martin, and she has Walter Connolly and Allan Jones associated with her in the principal roles. Louise (Mary Martin), up from the country with a good singing voice, plenty of ambition, very little money and no opportunity, meets John Ramsey (Allan Jones), the leading Broadway star, under somewhat unconventional circumstances. Ramsey, who is the true artist, impulsive, generous, tempera-! mental and slightly egotistical, is immediately attracted by the charming young stranger, and when he discovers that she can sing, has no scruples in "boosting” her to his agent and even lo Victor Herbert (Walter Connolly). The agent and Herbert will not listen to his suggestion that she star in Herbert’s next production, however, by a trick, he manages to have her sing before a fashionable audience in whose eyes she finds immediate favour. From then on her future is assured, even though Herbert, annoyed at the trick, refuses at first to have anything to do with her. The public’s demand for the new singer’ forces him, nevertheless, to put her under contract eventually, and she helps to make his operettas even more popular than they were before. John and Louise marry, and this inevitably brings its own trouble. John’s nature is not big enough to withstand his wife’s popularity increasing while his is on the wane. He gradually becomes a back number, and the couple, though still in love with each other, find it best to separate. Of particular interest will be the appearance of Masterton’s Percussion Band led by Miss Enid Stubbings (L.R.S.M., London), which has just returned from a most successful visit to the Wellington competitions. Excellent featurettes include the latest Air Mail News, giving graphic shots of Paris bombings, a Ted Tusing sportlight, a beautiful snow study and a Popeye cartoon. Plans are at Messrs Steele and Bull’s and the theatre, and early booking is essential.