IN THE LONDON THEATRES

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17976, 22 March 1930, Page 5 (Supplement)

IN THE LONDON THEATRES

“JOURNEY’S END” SUCCESS. MAKES £250,000. LONDON, February 1. Next Tuesday “Journey’s End” will be exactly a year old, and yesterday (says a writer in the London Daily Mail) I was shown a list of its earnings, up to December 31, for its author, Mr R. C. Sherriff. I must not disclose the exact sum, but it is a trifle under £45,000, which the earnings of the final three weeks, together with the sale of the foreign rights irt Flemish, Greek, Yiddish, and nine other languages, will bring up to more than £50,000. Mind you, this is merely the author’s profits. It is estimated by his agents that it will have earned at least £200,000 more for the managers, actors ,and others associated with it. Orchestras Come Back. Filmgoers have so clearly shown their disapproval of the wholesale dismissal of cinema orchestras when the talking films came in, and their appreciation of orchestral music, that in London alone of the 500 musicians thrown out of work by the “talkies” nearly 200 have already been reinstated. Orchestras arc gradually being re-engaged all over (lie country. Significant is I lie volume of applause contributed afler every orchestral interlude given by picture theatres like the Regal and the Plaza, both of which have first-class orchestras. No film ever evokes half so much applause. Patrons of cinemas who enjoy a wide repertory of mechanically reproduced music at home from wireless or gramophone expect something different in the picture theatre. They want a band, with visible flesh-and-blood instrumentalists and that breadth and richness'of tone which cannot be reproduced. Candid cinema proprietors admit this: hence the re-engagement of orchestras.

A Hit at the Gaiety. The Gaiety has a palpable hit in “Darling, l Love You,” which came to London following a provincial tour. The audience liked it, and rightly, for it is one or those happy-go-lucky, “slap-hang” musical plays that aims at nothing but entertainment and is entertaining. The central figure is Mr George Clarke, who is not exactly new to London, but is not widely familiar. Mr Clarke —who is supposed to be a musician made lo masquerade as. an earl- —is an accomplished "silly ass.” He can dance excellently, he has at least one funny song, and his motorcar turn, known to variety audiences, is as expert as it is- funny. The whole piece radiates round him gaily, if at times a triflle over-emphati-cally. Miss Ella Logan is a “cute” dancer and singer; and I liked some of the deep notes in Miss Wyn Richmond’s > voice (Miss Richmond was the original “Sunny” in Australia). Miss Vera Lennox has not. much of a part, but she and Mr Harold French, as the two young people in love, have a couple of songs that will be popular. Evelyn Laye’s Divorce Suit. A petition for divorce by Miss Evelyn Lave, the musical comedy favourite, who is now appearing in New York in the English revue, “Wake Up and Dream,” against her husband, Mr Sonnie Hale, the actor, is in the defended list of cases set down for hearing in the Hilary Term. The action will be a sequel to the case heard in the Divorce Court on J November 21, when Miss Jessie ; Matthews, the actress, was granted a decree nisi on the ground of the adultery of her husband, Mr Lord Alva Lytton.

She admitted adultery with Mr Hale, and the discretion of the court was exercised in her favour. Miss Laye, who is 29, married Mr Hale, who is 28, in 1926. Mr Hale's real name is John Robert Hale Monro. Offered £SOO per Weok. Cablegrams from Mr Charles B. Cochran in New York Indicate that his “Wake Up and Dream" revue began rather badly on New' Year’s Eve, but has retrieved its opening. It is said that Mr Jack Buchanan, !I j e London comedian, was nervous at Llie first performance, and that some of the sketches missed fire; but that “incessant work has turned the show into a hit with capacity business assured for months."

Miss Jessie Matthews, an English artist, made a big personal success, and has been offered £SOO a week to remain in New York after the revue. Exploiting Notoriety. Dolores, formerly model to Mr Jacob Epstein, the sculptor, is to play in “The Monster” with Mr Philip Yale Drew', the actor w'ho figured prominently at the inquest on Mr Alfred Oliver, the murdered Reading tobacconist. She will appear at the Theatre Royal, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, on Monday, February 3, In the part which Mrs Lindo has been taking, Mrs Linde, having gone to South Africa for .a rest and a holiday. Dolores stated yesterday: “Mr Drew’ and I feel that we shall be able to pull well. We both think we have been badly treated.” It was his infatuation for Dolores that led to the suicide of Mr Frederick Atkinson, the promising young artist, in his studio in Maida Yale, W., in January of last year. Sermon In Circus Ring. One of the most remarkable religious services ever held In this country was conducted at Olympia, West Kensington. Rev. P. S. G. Propert, rural dean of Fulham,, standing at a little table in the ring' of Mr Bertram W. Mills’s circus, preached to a congregation formed of acrobats, clowns, and others appearing in the circus. They sat round him on the baizecovered rim of the ring. It was the first time they had ever heard a sermon in such a place, just as it was' the first time that. Mr Propert had ever preached in such circumstances. The lesson was road by the ringmaster, IMr F. A. Foster. It was the first time that he had officiated in such a e a p a city. , r