(Continued from Pag 826.) to draw any money. 7 is pruetics ly the play as a touring pro position later on, with good artists economically employed for touring requirements. There is hardly any London success in the comedy or farce lines which has been a pro:
vincial success recently, with the result that thirty-yenr-old plays, "Charley's Aunt" and the private Secretary," are able to come along on their old reputations as good Taughter-makers and box-office attractions at 6 or 10 per cent. less than the "latest known suc:
Another disadvantage 13 that the talking picture, being released too soon, often kills the provincial touring play of the same name. "The Trial of Mary Dugan" and "The Desert Song" have both suffer ed in this way, and in some cases both plays have been played in the same towns the same week, in opposition to each other. The position has become desperate, and what the future position of the provincial drama is to be nobody knows. Stock. seasons on the old principle seem to be the only tangible solution, but even here, until the modern plays are released for these purposes, very few repertoires are of sufficient ity to be acceptable, Some provincial theatres, to meet the competition of the cinemas, have cut their prices to exactly the same as those of a cinema, and in one case there is a flat rate of one shilling here, and the proprietor, on ightly show, does excellent 8 of Tsungming Is. lands, Haimen and Chihtung-listen have raised $60,000 for the construction of a couple of patrol boats to engage the pirates who have become more active than ever. One of these will soon be completed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.