The Observer from London, Greater London, England · 10

10 THE OBSERVER, SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 1985. From Southampton JUNE 15 Aug. 3 AUG. 24 Sept 7 SEPT. 28 Madltamman, Greece) II days from 32 iu. Gretcs, Italy, Riviera II days from 30 gne, Atlantic bin, Madeira 13 days from Signs, Mediterranean, Adriatic II dart from 33 gna. Mediterranean, Egypt 21 days from 32 gna. Jubilee NAVAL REVIEW Cruises From Southampton JULY 15 BERENGARIA " (5X000 tens) 1 day from I im, "Homsrie" (39,000) 3 dtp torn 7 pa. Writ for dataJarf erutttt end tours eve rontmet to Cunord Whita tor Ltd. Unrpool, iondort, or heal Cunard WhxXc Slav CRUISES 5 IN MAY VENICE ATHENS RAPALLO and THE MEDITERRANEAN ORFORD ORONTES ON MAY 4TH AND MAT IITH. 20 DAY CRUISES FROM 34 GNS. ON MAY I5TH, A 17 DAYS CRUISE FROM 27 GNS. OTHER CRUISES JUNE TO AUGUST WRITE FOR PRICED PLAN ORIENT LINE CRUISES Managers : Anderson, Green & Co., Ltd., 3-5, Fenchurch Avenue, London, E.C.3. West End Offices: 74 Cockspur St,, S.W.I & No. I Auatralla House, W.C.i Tel: MAN 3456, WHI 6981, TEM 2258 AUTUMN CRUISE by the new S.S. STRATH MO RE 23,500 TONS to the Mediterranean . (Naples, Dizerta;, uaiz and madeira from London SEPT. 27 returning Oct. 14 17 days. Fares from 30 gns. FIRST CLASS ONLY Apply : P4 0 Cruises, 14, Cockspur St., S.W.1 130, Leadenhall Street, E.C.3. Australia House, W.C.2, or agents. LIFE OF AN AFRICAN TRIBE. FILM PRODUCER'S ADVENTURES. SONGS AND DANCES. rt tttt6 Artists. BRITON INTO ARTIST. THE R.B.A. IN 1935. (By Our Film Correspondent.) Five thousand miles away in Africa there is a girl baby of the Acholi tribe called Picture Cinema, named for the strange occupation of the white men whose arrival coincided with her birth. I saw" her picture recently in a London studio theatre, six weeks old, carried on her mother's arm at a tribal ceremony. Picture Cinema's mother was simply dressed in the narrow girdle with the grass tail that indicates honourable motherhood. Near by, inside the square of. speotators, a bunch ol young girls, wear ing the tailless girdles of childlessness, were dancing a girl-choosing dance with two masked witch doctors. The warriors of the tribe, fantastically painted with the semblance of European clothes half a white waistcoat here a checked golf stocking there beat out the rhythm with drum and foot, and sang their tireless responses. That was the beginning of the oddest and most fascinating hour I have ever spent in a picture theatre. I had asked Zoltan Korda to tell me about the raw material which he brought back from Africa as a basis for " Sanders Of The River," only a small proportion of which could be used in the film itself. He did better than talk he showed it to me thousands of feet of short ends of film, broken lengths of sound-track without pictures. There were war-dances from the Congo, songs of rejoicing from the Acholis girls and warriors, voices in a perfect counterpoint, that combines the effect of the old London street-cries with the plain-song of a cathedral choir. There was a hyena dance from Uganda, mimed by two witch doctors, with hyena skins drawn over their heads, masks with grinning cow teeth, and in their hands carved and rose-pointed sticks, invested with powers of deadly magic. THE MAGIC STICK. " They quarrelled for an hour as they danced." said Mr. Korda, " and in the moment they first appeared in the camp all the women ran out. You couldn't get them to stay, they were so afraid of being touched by the magic stick." " Did you have much trouble," I asked him, " in getting the people to show you their dances? " " At the beginning, yes. They were afraid of the camera. They thought it was a machine-gun. But I let them look into it, first the chiefs, then the people told them they could see each other in it, only upside down. They thought that was a great magic, and got very excited, stampeded the camera, swarmed all over it. And I promised them that if they would help me with the film they should have their songs put into little round boxes, so that even after they are dead their children shall be able to hear them and learn how their fathers and grandfathers sang." " Then they sang for you? " " Yes, but at first I had a terrible time trying to explain to them that I didn't want them all to sing different songs at once. Fifteen hundred men would come into the camp together, and divide into groups, and sing three or four different things at the same time. They got angry at each other, and each group said, ' The others don't belong to us, so we can't sing the same song.' If I asked one man for a certain tune he would say, ' But that is the song of Alois. For nothing in the world will I sing the song of Alois. I will sing my own song. . . .' Yes. it was difficult at first. But after three days I got it better. I got them to sit down on the grass and take turns in singing." 3Kuj$Ic and Musicians. THE ESSENCE OF PLAINSONG. A THORNY QUESTION. (BY JAN CORDON.) About 1890 Whistler resigned the presidency of the R.B.A. with a characteristic remark: " The ' artists ' have come out, the ' British ' remain." To-day the British character there is still predominant, but under the energetic presidency of Bertram Nicholls and the secretaryship of Kirkland Jamieson the artistic nature of the show has been keyed up a lot, although the present exhibition contains few very outstanding works. After Mrs. Madelline Wells' decoration ".The Riders to the Sea," the Hon. Secretary's picture, " The Approach to a Cotswold Village," is the most ambitious canvas. But in this, despite the noble and massive design and treatment of the landscape, Kirkland Jamieson seems to have been influenced by a back-draught from Vlaminck, and, deserting his normal quiet skies, has crammed a steel blue thunderstorm into spaces too small for it. Consequently the sky cannot detach itself from the foliage, and fails to win perspective. Near by is Ethel Walker's " Swing Low Sweet Chariot ..." a fine piece of suggestively coherent colour and feeling. But here, too, trusting that Miss Walker will emulate the humility of Apelles, may I suggest that even a negress cannot play the mandoline without a plectrum. Her other study, " Companions," has true virtuosity in its loose .texture, though the normally sighted visitor will have to stand about eight yards off to focus it properlv. COLOVR AND MOVEMENT. Among the other figure pieces Dorothea Sharp's " Gulls " is one of her happiest combinations of colour and movement, Carel Weight's dramatic " Symphonic Tragique " has been seen before and now needs varnishing. Otway McCannel's portrait of " Mrs. Rupert Anderson, O.B.E." is stamped with character and contains what so many portraits lack, decisive design. For a similar reason Dorothea Selous's emphatic " Norah " is more fortunate than her complex " The Mirror," which is, I feel, a bit out in the mechanics of reflection. (The same is true of the Rokeby Venus, but the mirror is not the happiest touch even in that masterpiece.) The president, Bertram Nicholls, quietly rings the bell of appreciation with his justice of restrained tone and colour simplification especially in " The Quay at La Rochelle." Two of the most successful landscapes hang together, Constance Bradshaw's "Near Corfe," with its fine design of rounded hill and curving road, and Allinson's "Dover Docks," suffused with keenly felt sunlight. The sunlight that also marks Sylvia Crosse's " The Jolly Roger in Home Waters " is only promised in Adrian Hill's lyrical " Spring in the Air." Ethel Gabain's " The Young Bride " is a harmonic unity of delicate, tone and senti ment CONCERTS OF THE WEEK. CONTINUITY." (BY A, H. FOX S TRANG WAYS.) At a meeting of the Musical Association lately we were discussing with pur usual placidity the- rights and wrongs of accompanying plainsong a subject in which quot medici tot remedta but, unlike doctors, were agreeing that it is a good thing to spread a chord over several notes, that a descant makes a pleasant change, and other harmless matters, when suddenly a bomb was dropped on the peaceful scene.' A voice was heard pleading with earnestness, candour, and evident knowledge that plainsong ought to be sung in tune, and that, iri view of that, not only were the lecturer's accompaniments, but all accompaniment for centuries past had been, all wrong. The lecturer received this in good part and the audience sat up. The interpolator did not mean that all motets, antiphpns, masses and the like ought to be scrapped, but only that if we are now to accompany plainsong with the organ in church, we should do it right, not wrong. Nor was he thinking of how to avoid these shameful moments of which there have been two quite recently (1) when the equally-tempered organ crashed in upon the Bach choir and forced them out of tune, and (2) , when in Mozart's A major concerto the orchestra had carefully established just intonation in their glowing introduction, and Mr. Schnabel had to' barge in upon it with his chilly equal-temperament. No; those things are past praying for. Every keyboard instrument is out; of tune with itself, we have agreed that it should be, have discoursed much eloquent music on those premises, and are not going to change now. Mr. E. Clements's point was a different one. Granted that the organ is out .of tune, the organist can yet choose his chords in such a way as to make it easy for unison voices to keep in tune. It is over this subtle point that I must now " crave audience," as they say at City dinners, for a short paragraph. Our scale did not come by accident; it is a survival of the fittest. It was slowiy hammered out of a great many " ways of singing," and consists of three common chords on the three most closely related notes. Since a common chord consists of third and a , fifth, all the notes of the scale are related to the tonic either as third, as fifth, or as both. Three notes the second, sixth, and seventh of the scale have two origins, quintal and tertian. Quintal, fiftfai only. . II . . . for health, enjoyment and new scenes in a new world. Plan your tour with Canadian National the largest railway system in America famous for comfort and service. Toon at inclusive rates. Leaving each week June to August. Tourist From First 53 Independent Travel Arranged Class Ocean. Class Ashore. 'Phona WHlfhali 3130. coll or writs Jor Touts BookUt D." Canadian National 17-19, Cockspur St., London, S.W.X And at boutnampton, Liverpool Glasgow, Paris, or Local At, .1. Cardiff. Agents. THE .-JUBILEE PROCESSION ST. CLEMENT DANES, TEMPLE BAR Covered Stand The Best Site on the Route Continuous Interest all the Morning All processions pass. Service broadcast Refreshments available -SEATS FROM 5 GNS J Leaflets and plans from: HICKIE.BORMAN, GRANT & CO., LTD. 35, Cockspur Street, LONDON, S.W.I WHITEHALL 2094 Box Office at Church open Easter Monday A HAPPY SONG. The screen went suddenly blank, and a lovely fragment of a man's solo singing came on the sound-track. ' That's the Okelemele, a sort of happy song," said Mr. Korda. " I got a West African here in England to sing it for me, because I heard it once in Africa, and couldn't find it again. That was another trouble. When they did begin to sing out there, they sang everything they knew and everything they could make up. They sang for days and wouldn't stop, and some of the most beautiful things I couldn't get them to repeat. They would sing me twenty other songs, but not that one. I tried to hum it. but my humming didn't mean anything to them, and I couldn't make them understand' the tune I wanted. At last I found how to ask for the Ai-ai-ai;' or the Utanata, or the Awarawa rama shin, and then I got it." " Do they improvise the words as they go along? " I asked. " Oh yes, as a rule the chief singer makes up his words to fit the occasion. Just a simple phrase, like 'Oh what a happy day! 1 and the chorus answers, ' Yes, that's right. Yes, that's right.' On and on. Sometimes they can't even translate the meaning of the chorus sounds; they are just a humming, just a sound of agreement, too primitive to put into words at all." "A MAN TOLD US " He stopped, as two lines of dancers appeared on the screen, one of warriors, the other of young girls, beating the rhythm with feet and hands, turning, dividing, meeting. " That is a silly little song," he said. " The girls say, ' A man told us to go to the hill, but we won't go.' And the men : answer, .'Yes, that's right.' They made it Up specially for me, practised it for five days. So I had to take it to keep the peace, rney maae up anomer auuj iui me, too. ' The Big White Chief is a very good man. He gives us shillings.' " We sat for a time in silence, listening. At the end I asked him, "Have the aki;d v.oot-h theso records themselves? " Not vet." he said. " but I am send ing them the records and the film. They look at the little bits of film and recog-ct rthr. And talk a (Treat deal. and hide them away somewhere in their dress. Perhaps I shall send them, too, an old apparatus, something they won t have to pay duty on, so that they can project the films and see themselves on the scrwn 1 want them to have tneir dances and music. And I bet you when I co back thev will be dancine ana sing ing to them, making up new words as tv.A., -.1-.. . i n..Ar, pitty LitcLii uvtri. " And are you going back? " I asked. " I should like to," he said simply. I like to be among happy people, and they are the happiest people I have ever known." C A. L WATER COLOURS. To borrow from the Irishman the best things among the watercolours are In tempera, Steven Spurrier's two pieces of ironic social humour, " The Toilet " and " The Piano," with their grotesque victorianisms, and Harvey E. Allen's two industrial studies, one in subtle greys, "Limestone Quarry" and one in full colour, " Industrial Landscape, Potteries. In pure watercolour Marcella Smith's " September " stands out, but note should also ' be taken of Clifford Webb, Hervey Adams. Hunt Milner and G. H. Stevens. who is also an imaginative etcher, as shown by " The Well." On the screen in the big room, modestly hung, are three fine lithographs by John Copley, of which " The Caress," with its suggestion of Chinese design, is most unusual. The non-members have also contributed very promising work, and among the water- colours may be cited, "Evening," by E, Hinde; " View from Highdown," by W F. S. Buttery; "Augustus," by Dorothea Travers-Smith; " Heidelberg," by Rosalind Thurston: and Guy Malet's woodcut, " Dieppe Harbour." Among the oils are Lucien M. Gow's " Holly Bush, Hamp-stead," Kathleen Tyson's two sombre landscapes, and Mervyn Peake's vigorous Sole and Plaice." RAPHAEL LANES. Raphael Lanes, a pupil of Casals and leading 'cellist in the Coricerfgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, gave a successful though ill-attended first recital in London on Tuesday at Aeolian Hall. The most interesting item was Schubert's Sonata for Arpeggione, or "Guitarre D' Amour," an instrument which was played like a 'cello, had six strings which were tuned like those of the. six-stringed guitar, , and enjoyed a life of only ten years before becoming a museum curio-, sity., The work, which is filled With characteristic . loveliness, was written four year's before Schubert's death, in the year of the Octet. It had a most sympathetic interpreter in Mr. Lanes, who achieved as nearly as possible the balance between deep poetical express sion and absolutely exact rhythm which is often so difficult in Schubert; his playing of the ' Adagio," in particular, was very moving.: The programme, more than usually' - enterprising, also included Chopin's G minor Sonata. Theo van der Pas, like the 'cellist, unobtrusive in his technique, was an excellent accompanist. SHERIDAN RUSSELL. It is probable that a temperament so apparently nervous and highly strung as Mr. Russell's would usually lead him to over-accentuation and prevent him from displaying his giftsto their happiest advan tage. This impression was powerful at his 'cello recital on Tuisday at Wigmore Hall, and also that of a passionate, alert, and poetical mind. Brahms's F major Sonata did not sound rich enough; the effect was rather unsteady and excitable; but Boccherihi's B flat Concerto was beauti-f ullv done. Mr. Russell played the " Adagio " with great Charm and restraint, the faster movements with delicacy and skill. Mr. Myers Foggin accompanied with a rather modest intensity. St. JOHN PASSION. Sir Henry Wood conducted the Philharmonic Choir and the B.B.C. Orchestra in a performance of Bach's St. John Passion, at Queen's Hall on Friday. - As last year," the version of one Heinrich Reimann was used; in : which there are five times as many wood-wind instruments as Bach required, and in addition a noisy array of brass, plus harp and percussion. The trombone climaxes in chorus after chorus were unsettling, if not appalling; the recitatives needed a continuo; and the arias, so adumbrated, and done often with an accompanying lack of simplicity, were nanny ever expressive. unoir ana orchestra both did well in this disappointing event. Of the soloists, Eric Greene was competent in a big task, Elsie Sud-daby sang with style, and there were some impressive moments ' in Roy Henderson's singing of Jesus, though the effect sometimes was too stiff and un varied. . CONCERTS. VI VII Tntnu. fifth and third. The quintal are sharper by a " comma " than the tertian. The VII, vii does not often occur; what we have to look for are the II, ii and the VI. vi. Take this tune: a ' II II NEW THEORIES OF L'AIGLON. TESTS FOR CINEMA AUDIENCES. (BY C. A. LEJEVNE.) One of my more bright-eyed colleagues, finding himself with little to engage his serious attention during the film called " Mississippi," remarked with some gusto on a break in continuity in the scene be tween W. C. Fields and his dunning creditor. Mr. Fields, he assured me, absent-mindedly pockets his own promise sory note, is forced to give it back, and appears in the next shot with the note still in his pocket. My colleague, I have every reason to believe, is a truthful man, and I am prepared to take his word for it, though I did not notice the inconsistency myself, and if I had should have cheerfully ascribed it to some feat of habitual legerdemain on the part of W. C. Fields. . If the continuity writer really did slip up over this Incident in " Mississippi," it is only fair to observe that these lapses are to-day exceedingly rare. There was a time when you could hardly see a film without finding half a dozen glaring errors in it. The hero would come into a room in morning coat and go out of it in flannels. The heroine would start a love scene with a gardenia in her corsage and end it with a carnation. Nowadays producers are far more careful of their trivia, and the lapses, if any, are inclined to be in the observation of the audience. It needs a sharp eye and a cinema-trained intelligence to follow the niceties of modern continuity. Even the most acute observer is apt to be unreliable when it comes down to cases. Test yourself next time you come back from visiting a cinema and see how much you really remember -of the things you have seen. As an alternative recreation to crosswords and anagrams, I suggest some such examination as this. You have, supposedly, just seen a film. Who directed it? What was the name of the writer? How many characters can you recall from the cast list? What was the opening scene of the film, and what was the last line spoken? Describe in detail any three of the heroine's gowns. Describe the furniture of any one set. How was the villain first introduced, and under what circumstances did the misunderstanding between hero and heroine occur? How many different cars were used in the film, and what were their makes? What firm produced the picture, and who was responsible for the photography? WJOUORE BALL. ; V,WMlY NEXT. S.JO. ION AULAY. PLWOroKTB-KKCU'AL. BhjttaerH.no. EgSStJgSt&i. w.l S' ac iuiuii rj' ---ft wiatb HALL. HAROLD SAMUEL. BACH WfcfcK. - sear. A '. MAY Tlptlon. 10. at 11. at MAY 4. at 3.13. KAY 7. at -3.15. HAY B, at 8.30. Btemw.j i"fy-.,.vj:"'T5i ' sr i sa. f 'igUft SSrr "i air Wlimore-stieet. w . THURSDAY NEXT. 8 8.30. 3.15. 50a.. 42a.. 10s. teas a " . i , ;-,y , 1 1 1 zino Kis?rll,, VIOLIN RECIT AL FRIDAY NEXT ft 8.J0. E InXHOLAHD ot PAUL BAUMGARTNER. FIAHOFOBTO QUEEN'S HALL. . , fsole Leasees Cbappell Se Co.. Ltd.) viSInnawilharm orchestra. WEDNESDAY.' MAY 1. at 8.15. Conductor: BRUNO WALTER. TUESDAY, MAY 7, at 8.15 conductor-. FELIX WEINGARTNER. vocaaat: VERA DE VILLIERS. Ticket!. At Box-o: ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC Prince Coaorod, RogtKlo.ton. 8.W.T. Patrons a.u. TBI QUEEN. THE PRINCE OF WALX8. K.O-Director: ALLEN. K.C.V.O.. H.A.. O.nui. NAPOLEON'S SON AND HIS TUTORS. ErVS. SIR HUOH P. MIDSUMMER TERM. k inpeTjMMre.THW.wui, n .J?- - Ma.v 7ui. i3oJ- ""-rry tlon will be new on wtww( JUNIOR DEPARTMENT. The uesaar Classes Hmm Im i generl education. a- J lir twinlll alaV wS'pied' bl 'tee wSeaittie. 16. whone ox tneir SPECIAL CLASSES. snial Classes are held Beore fading Conducting. Tratnln ol iwatn. Criticism, and Ballet. SCHOLARSHIPS AND EXHIBITIONS. .h lRvliltitrlrmi mim gendowinenl land. Onwards ol 70 I provided from a peri A.RiOiM. An examination In f'f ioVLli the Royal College ot "'2S'A2''iii ArPiir,rf nnSlSatlorT to the Registrar at th. College. CLAUDE AVELTMO. Registrar. VARIETY ENTERTAINMENTS. 86 a ttne; Minimum, 76. Mats.. Wed. "PALLADIUM. in.. v.ou. wlllTirtftf OP " T.TFK AT OXFORD CIRCUS.'' Jack HyKon i A BajM:ana-gan atAUen; aunleT Hc-Bowar; Bottand Bart; 4 Oaiung Pearii; 4 Pranks; tHpay Nina: - Jubllr raraac. uv iuuc ito" wwgj ..v Jr im. Ronald Prankau. FOLDS EN PARADE: 50 Bk. BS. 6d. Olorloas Olrla. 435th jte HrPgrl.. ADrfl. 27..HEW SHOW. ' LA REVUE SPLBKDIPE." MAY 1.. IgTlNDUnL, Plcc Circus. " REVUDEVTIJJ RO Hal 4th YEAR. C4tb seek), starts 9.30 nlgnur. John Bull (or whoever invented it) con ceived all these seconds of. the scale as ll's; but by our usual harmonies two of them become ii's, i.e., we place a chord below the first and last of them which makes II out of tune and ii in tune. That might do very well if there were a musical reason for the alternation; but if the variety proceeds from ignorance or inattention, we are merely singing out of tune. Now take another, with which wireless has made everyone familiar, or, if not, it ought to have. vi AT THE ARLINGTON. At the Arlington Gallery " London ' being depicted by the London Sketch Club. To quote from the leaflet in the catalogue:. "Picture lovers are growing weary of the old subjects . . familiar corners of St. Ives and Polperro, the in evitable Corfe Castle . . . Vitality has gone out of them " And yet, inevitably, many of these visions of London are as hackneyed as anything Cornwall or Corfe can show . . . familiar pot-shots at flower " girls," the inevitable St. Clement Danes ... So that when something born of genuine and immediate vision is offered, it stands out as keenly as all genuine and veracious vision must stand out. Of such are Greville Irwin's two studies, " The Changing of the Guard " and "The Mall especially the latter, with its most char acteristic troop of Lifeguardsmen and their horses glinting against the grey of London's atmosphere. Such also is Nevin son's "The Strand at Night" and his angular " Westminster From a Savoy Window." There is London truly observed in S. T. C. Week's " Trams on the Embankment," in George Ay ling's " Chelsea Bridge " and " Old Father Thames," and also in Rupert Moore's " The Park." " Hyde Park," by Charles Watson, holds, too, an immediate suggestion, although it is rather spoiled by the tint of the sky, and J. B. Nichols just missed something in " Old Iron." Gilbert Wilkinson's " The Constitutional, Bayswater," a nocturne of a stiff butler dragging out a " peke," is acidly pointed, and his other nocturne of Hyde Park; "The Talkies," is full of energy of expression. But the device of merely changing the subject matter, while it may be useful in the actual talkies for a new film, is not really the way to give a fresh turn to Art. That can only be given by a keen, individual out look which can by itself alone transform to new Art the most hackneyed subject in existence. Schubert's harmonies have made the seconds all II's, so we need not bother about them. But the sixth place in the scale is always vi until the last one, which is VI; and perhaps he had a reason for this. The sense of the song is " In the interlacing branches and their dappled shadows, in . . . etc. I read one name alone. Thine is my heart, and will forever be." At the word " Thine " he suddenly sharpens his note for the first time, and the singer feels a certain elation without knowing why; the reason being that it has now been made easy for him to take the higher note. Now apply this to plainsong. Plainsong is not dramatic like a song of Schu bert: it is reflective, ana cast in a mooa gay or gloomy, hopeful or despondent. The one thing required of it is that it should maintain that mood, and that it cannot do if the II changes irresponsibly to ii, or vi to VI. Unaccompanied, the singers would certainly feel this to be so, and would sing the notes uniformly. So that what the harmonies have to do is not to lead them into temptation. But this puts harmony at once in a strait-waistcoat, and musicians will resent that. They will argue that, as Parry said, harmony is as much a matter of invention as melody, or even (as he did not say) that no melody exists except as harmony makes it. Pope John XXII. would have made short work with the harmonists: if the question had arisen in his time, his Bull would have made it clear that not only the melody but its intonation was sacrosanct. A very thorny question, all this. It is, no doubt, a blush-making moment when (Contlnuid In next oolumn.) Mr. John Wyse, the young actor who has recently gone successfully into management with " Frolic Wind " at the Royalty, gave me some details last week of a new play that he intends to produce for a couple of special, matinees before transferring it to another West-End Theatre. . The play is to be called " The King of Rome "a title substituted for " The Son of the Man," as it was called originally." The play is by Miss Madge Pemberton. It deals with . the great Napoleon's son, best kriowii to English people as the hero of Rostand's " L'Aiglon." But it is not written from the Rostand point of view. Mr. John Wyse: " A very great many hew documents have come to light since Rostand put his romantic and emotional conception of the young King of Rome into a-play for Sarah Bernhardt. Iri that play the young King of Rome is a romantic young man, entirely obsessed with the idea of following in the romantic loot-step's of;his father's greatness. But there is another conception of L'Aiglon than, this. He was not in the least necessarily as emotional and effeminate as Rostand makes him out. He was not necessarily by any means carried away only, with the Napoleonic tradition of 'la gloire.' LIFE TO THE FULL. " He was a young man who lived his life to the full in every minute as far as he was allowed to. He was strong physically (before his last illness), standing 6 ft. 1 in. high. And there, is a good deal of evidence for thinking that he had grasped the more serious intentions of the. Napoleonic ideal if it could ever have been fully realised the founding of a United States of Europe, .the setting up of a general European monetary currency, ana so lortn. " The two big influences in his life seem to have been his military tutor, Anton von Prokesch (a: passionate admirer of the great Napoleon, who stimulated his warlike side), and the Archduchess Sophie (who had a completely opposite reaction). These will be. played by Mr. t. J. warmmgton ana Miss Lyaia Sherwood. " The young , man himself is to be played by Mr. Peter Croft, the son of Miss Annie Croft, the musical-comedy star. One hesitates to say these things beforehand but I believe (or hope) that in this young man I have made a discovery who will more than justify himself. The mother, Marie-Louise, will be played by Miss Martita Hunt." Mr. Wyse added that he hoped it would oe maae plain mat " ne lung oi Kome " was not being put up to replace " Frolic Wind " at the Royalty which play has been one of the successes of the season but that he hopes that the two special matinees will justify him in transferring "The King of Rome" to another West-End Theatre. H. G. When you have tried to answer these questions on an experience that is, at best, only about an hour old, you are likely to agree, I think, that the observation of the keenest fancier of the cinema is eminently undependable. If ,rnay be a consolation, however, to know that the drama critics are in little better case. Some time ago a couple of eminent New York hostesses conceived an idea for a contest that would prove how little even a trained audience is aware of the detailed arrangements of a play. On a stage erected on the home estate, they presented a simple melodrama, and challenged the Invited Intelligentsia to answer, after it was over, thirty-two simple questions. . What- tune, they asked their critics, did the murderer whistle after he had done the deed? What brand of whisky did he drink to steady himself? What was the name, of the Irish -policeman who arrested him, and what was the first thing he did when he saw his victim dead at his feet? PICTURE THEATRES. 26 a line; Minimum, T6. A CADEMY. Oxford-street, per, Ok BAUM'S - LAO AUX.Di Ruramcrl. mitb Hlmnne I Viennese prtxe mm. 2981. V1CKI tA ruaruns TJZ. 9.30. and rsARLTON, Bwmarket. 4th Month! " LIVES QP V A BENQAL LAUDER." London-a Greatest Pliin IB). To-night. S Distinct Shows at 6 & So. All Seats Bookable. Prices from 2a. 6d. wni. am. fINXMA BSE-, aapprncaa wfc CICELY Vy " im. " Death &0.tP-m.. Pi2BS5rS Broadcasting HoaselA). -piMPIRE, Lelc.-aq. -- nelson -' " ' x ill SlACmONALD. winntyrv umiifr-l1' iAi Greatest alngtrjg picture ever mad!. To-night at rj.-D; a.u. uaiiy. xu.u: ibju; j.u. .bw. j.j. VERYMAN (Opp. Jgm: If.miutMJ TntM. fttlt 1. 72 IK. TtMlleTC: SOUS LEB TOITB DE PARIS (Al. THE CRAZY RAY (O). Mondavi JACK ABOT (Ol. Wedneadav: A NOOB LA LIBEBTE U). E' FORUM (Char. X), VUUers-at. " TROUBLE m PARADIBE Herbert MarsttaU. Walts " 4U). 1-11. Ltlla To-daj and all week " rver Tern. 3931. (A, KaSLpfeMlt. 1UB INTO KEHSIWOTON. To-Dlgbt. " THERE. GOES 1BUSZE " I Hate women "RADIO PARADE" OENB OZRRARD. (A): Wallace Ford, I Ai. To-morrow. ValLL HAY. (TJ); Jean Parker, " SSqnoiA." T EICESTER-80. ' -a-' SANDERS SANDE ooerta Bookable: Bs. 6d. TH. To-1 or Tos A 8.30. Box-offlee ooerta to-dav 2. SO n.n U, ..ou, o.3. at 6 (UJ. 2a. 6d. to, 6a. LONDON PAVILION (Per. 2982 . At 6 tc ,8.30. ELISABETH BSBGNFR in ESCAPE ME MBVER (A). Ply, prog. io: la-it: a.ao; 4.45: t. e s.jo- The results ot . this questionnaire. afterwards described in the " New York Herald Tribune," are hardly inclined to strengthen our confidence in the relia bility of the trained observer. The " Tribune's " own drama critic, who did well, answered three of the thirty-two questions correctly, and the eminent sportsman who won the first prize trophy came home with a top score of five. This story, has no moral, and no posy, except, perhaps, the old one of " the higher you go the fewer." The office boy, I don't doubt, would have been able to answer all thirty-two questions correctly in a similar film inquiry. But we, who consider ourselves to some extent as' arbiters of taste and fashion, may very well learn modesty from our fumbling, when we think of all the theories we advance and all the hard facts that we permit to elude us in our scrutiny oi stage or screen. Katharine Hepburn .In Sir LITTLE MINISTE& IUI Prog. Comm. : 5JS0v.aV15. HTARBLE ARCH PAV. -LVX James Bame'a " XHE LITTLE MINISTER " (TJ uriuao Movietone, newa. NEW. GALLERY (Reg. 8080 St 2235). Tom -Walls. Ralph Lnn: " FIGHTING STOCK " (A); &55. 9.45. Oordon Barker: " THE LAD " tA) ; 5,30, 8.20. NEW VICTORIA (Vic 2544) " OH I DADDY " (A); 6.55. 9.45. Also " THE GILDED LILY " (A); 5.30. 8.20. Stge: (Wkdys) Bobby Howell At His Band. PALACE THEATRE. Qer. 6834. LAST S DAYS. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's greateat film. DAVID COPPERFIELD TJ), with Star cast Of 65. To-nleht. 6 & 8.30. .xira peri., ro-morrow. Daily 2.30 At 8.30. MONDAY, at 6.0. PLAZA Greatest Musical Show Afloat! BOtQ CROSBY, w. c. FIELDS. Joan Bennett In - MISSISSIPPI," with S Cabin Kids (TJI, da -". Logons. 1 Exquisite Romance of South Seaa in Technl-colour (Ul. To-night. 5.30 St 8.30. Wat, 8944. SOME NEW FILMS OF THE WEEK. 1744. TO-MORROW. nreaenu -' THE BIO GAME OP LIFE " (U). ' An Autobiography In Cellttlold' Mickey Mouse. Full prog, dally, at 2.15. 5.13. 8.13. "OOLYTEOHNIC -a. Cherry Kearton RIALTO. Coventry-at. " BEYOND SHANGHAI " ( Al. abowlng at 7.5 and 9.50. Also " OSCE TO EVERY BACHELOR" I A). Oer. 3488. To-nlzht at 5.30 8.15 P-in. CTOLL (Klrurswavl !-- Stan Laurel aod Oliver Hardy In DfUJW iw tuxijuuj - tui. Dick Powell In - HAPPINESS AWiean (D) . To-morrow! 11.45 a.m. Great Easter Shovl Cicely COUR.TNEIDOE In " THINGS ARE LOOKING UP (tj). Jean Parker in " SEQUOIA " (U. And a Mickey Mouse and St Silly Symphony. Up to 1.30 p.m. 7d. to Is. 6a. Later 7i to 3s. 9d. rpiVOLI. Last 3 days. Ronald Ootman. " CLXVE Ll: Q.on. l.t mr. xalr.v.v Com. Wed.Jtpril a - t.itm smrawtaBLEfl" (Ai. ART EXHIBITIONS. 26 a line; Minimum, 7e. RED PERN GALLERY, 2T, Old Bomtctreet New Water Colours by PAUL NASH. Hours lo to 6. Sat, fo to i. FREE. (Continued from preceding oolumn.) the Queen's Hall organ blares out cacophony against a well-meaning choir, or when an equally well-meaning organist puts obstacles in the way of pure intonation. Perhaps we must balance these disabilities of the twentieth century against the bad smells and rudimentary hygiene of the fifteenth, hoping that if they could sing we can play in good tune when we set our minds to it, and congratulating ourselves that if they died of the pike or the pestilence at thirty-five we no longer have to die of old age at seventy if that is a satisfaction. Naughty Marietta (Empire). Big and handsome version of the Victor Herbert costume operetta, directed by the versatile - W. S. van Dyke. Jeanette MacDonald and a new film, baritone, Nelson Eddy, sing the leading parts, and they really do sing them. It s all incorrigibly American but unfailingly entertaining, and it's a pleasure to hear such a businesslike couple get to work on the Victor Herbert songs. Imitation op Life (Capitol). Unlike life, this film is very long: like life, it is frequently very dull. The original idea of the author, Fannie Hurst, was to contemplate the plight of a white negro girl who refuses to accept the barriers of race. The Sun version -sneaks up to this theme with some diffidence, examines it nervously, and turns with evident relief to the success story of Miss Claudette Colbert, free, white, and a panoake queen. Louise Beavers, the coloured actress, however, has moving moments as a rejected " mammy." Mississippi (Plaza). W. C. Fields, whose comedy is, I imagine, just about the best there is on the screen at the moment, appears as a show-boat captain in the Old South. Bing Crosby croons spasmodically, but that doesn't stop a lot of the film from being funny. Bright Eyes (Regal). Cynics if such people ever visit Shirley Temple pictures will enjoy the sight of a nasty little girl named Jane Withers stealing her scenes from Hollywood's pint-sized Duse. The rest of the picture, in spite of some mild 'plane thrills, is mainly sweetness and light. STEUBEN .GLASS, STANISLAUS S. L0NGLEY, RJ LK,WU UUWCKDCB aOO. t? FINE ART SOCIETY, 14B. New R.BA ileets. w.i. EXHIBITIONS. 26 a line; Minimum, 76. TyADAME TTTSSArD'S, Baker -ft. stn. Dally and I f-TT.'' Jr!2i ySii- 6d- Child (121. 6d. LATEST MODEL: KATHARINE HEPBURN F R A N C E There's little your " beauty doctor" can do whilst you need internal treatment. Keep young by taking a euro at Vichy, tor Age is principally a question of Health. Vichy Is noted for treatments of UVER, STOMACH, DIABETES, GOUT & OBESITY ; and ii FIRST for SPORTS FIRST for AMUSEMENTS 1 formation (nn F aeration ol Hulih awasra f Franca, Tavistock Heuu. TMeteck Square, Mmden. W.CI . 7 Q S M V