Memorial Hall: Entertainment.
Buckinghamshire Examiner, Friday 16 January 1925
On Saturday last there were entertainments both afternoon and evening in aid of the Sunshine House Home for Blind Babies. That in the afternoon was the variety performance. Oojah. Don, and Snooker, of the ” Daily Sketch,” were a great attraction, and some of the young sters joined in a dance with Snooker the Cat. Mr. Charles Conyers was splendid as conjuror and ventriloquist, and Miss Tessie Gorringe was a general favourite. Mrs. Gilbert-Smith and Miss E. Lee were at the piano. The evening performance consisted of a short play called, “The Changeling,” by W. W. Jacobs and H. C. Sargent, followed by a comedy in 3 acts, by Gertrude E. Jennings’ entitled; “Isabel, Edward, and Anne.” Mrs. Mac donald and her company of local ama teurs scored another great success, both pieces being received with enthusiasm. In the first, the old favourites. Miss V. Tozer and Messrs. Ralph Riderand G. G. Macdonald, were splendid, notwithstand ing that it was an entirely different style of acting to their usual type. It centred round a working man’s home and showed a determined looking wife with a some what nervous husband and his pal. It made up a very amusing episode. In the second presentation we have the picture of a loyal wife, a haughty husband, and a vivacious daughter as “Isabel, Edward and Anne.” The love affairs of the daughter with a young artist, and the plans of her mother (who is a semptress) to bring about the match, coupled with the efforts of the father to stop it, kept the large audience very enthusiastic Miss E. Tozer as Isabel, was exception ally good, and Mrs. Macdonald as Mrs. Bucket played the part to perfection. Miss Vera Gilbert-Smith as Anne, and Mr. Macdonald as Edward, were excellent, and Don Macdougall as the young artist was very good. The whole company came in for tremendous applause at the end of the performance.
The programmes were as follows :— Afternoon—Part I.—Oojah, Don and Snooker, from the ” Daily Sketch ” ; Miss Nancy McBride, Red Riding Hood’s Adventures among the Nursery Rhymes (by Compton Mackenzie) ; ” Valerie,” Polka de la Reine (by Raff); Tessie Gor ringe, Comedienne ; Miss Nobody Spe cia ; Mr. Charles Conyers, magic mirth and mystery. Part 2—Oojah, Don and Snooker, from the ” Daily Sketch ” ; Miss Nancy McBride, Selected ; “Valerie,” Spanish Dance (Moskowski); Tessie Gorringe, Comedienne ; Miss Nobody Special ; Mr. Charles Conyers, Musical Sketch, ” Our Party.”
Evening programme.—Part 1. “The Changeling,” by W. W. Jacobs and H. C. Sargent. Characters: George Henshaw Ralph Rider : Ted Stokes, G. G. Mac donald ; Mrs. Henshaw, Violet Tozer Scene—The Kitchen of Henshaw’s house in Bermondsey. Part 2—”Isabel, Ed ward, and Anne.” a Comedy in Three Acts, by Gertrude Jennings. Characters- The Hon. Edward Carew, G. G. Mac donald ; Isabel (his wife). Erica Tozer. Anne (their daugher), Vera Gilbert Smith ; Alice (a maid), Violet Tozer. Matthews (a manservant), Roy Marshall. Stephen Audley, Dou McDougall; Mrs. Bucket, Betty Macdonald ; Lady Massing ham, Lena Goddard. Scene : Act 1- The lounge in Edward Carew’s House at Prince’s Gate; Act 2—Stephen Audley’s Studio, Chelsea; Act 3—Lounge at Princes Gate.