TALKIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 95, 1 December 1939, Page 2

TALKIES

8383Y BREEN TRIUMPHS

How an unselfish boy, inbuod with the ideals of his dead father.

saves a great plantation from ruin and preserves the happiness and contentment of its many slaves is thrilling] v recounted in "Way Down South," starring Bjbhy B'een.

Dealing with the efforts of a crook ed executor who attempts to obtain the vast properties for himself, the story casts young Breen in the role of a plantation owner's son, who,, when his father is killed in an accident, seeks to carry on the latter's fair and considerate treatment of the estate's coloured slave population. When he realises his father's former friend, entrusted with ad-

ministering t!ie plantation, is about to sell the slaves and use the profits for his personal ends, the young Southerner takes action astoundingI 3' acute for one of his years.

The Bayous of Louisiana and the gay city of New Orleans provide the colourful backgrounds of the picture in which Bobby is given the opportunity to sing the lovely melodies of the world's most popular negro spirituals. A particularlv exciting and tuneful sequence is the presentation of the traditional sugar cane festival, celebrated bj r colourful folk of a by-gone era, More than 400 singers and dancers participate in this lavish scene, pulsating to the rhythmic strains of jungle chants and the wild beat of tomtoms. WM. FRAWLEY FEATURED IN CAGNEY PICTURE

William Frawley, borrowed from Paramount by Grand National to play the part of '"Hank" the highpressure Hollj-wood press agent in "Something to Sing About," starring James Cagney, began his stage career in the chorus of a musical, "The Flirting Princess," in Chicago. Born February 26, 1893,, in Burlington, lowa, Frawley in his early years was a court reporter in Chicago and a clerk in the passenger accounts department of the Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha. But the lure of the stage proved too much for him and

he returned to Chicago to land in the chorus.

Family opposition blocked his stage ambitions for a time and Fraw ley again tried his hand at shorthand and book-keeping with the Rock Island R.R. in St. Louis, Mo.

A vaudeville tour with his younger brother, Paul, in a singing and talking act, followed. Then lie teamed up with a piano player and played the Pacific Coast. vaudeville circuits for four ■■/ -ars. He joined the old "Plying A",motijn picture company at Santa Barbara, California, and was directed in his first picture by William Desmond Taylor. Re! urn ing to the stage, he. appeared with many Broadway successes. His first legitimate role wa* in "Twentieth Century," and <"rom this lie stepped into "The Ghost Writer," his performance there winning him. his Paramount contract.

DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS Jr.

To say that a man has been an adult actor for 15 years and that he has starred in films of the silent as well as the sound era might give rise to the question: "Who is the old gentleman?" The answer is that the "old" gentleman is actually this side of the 30 mark. He is Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., recently voted the screen's top romantic character star by New York University students. Doug is starred with Basil Rathbone in Universale "The Sun Never Sets," coming to the Regent Theatre on Monday. He was born in New York City on December 9, 1909, the son of Douglas Fairbanks, one of filmdom's most famous stars. For him there never was that period between 14 and 18 when most boys are turning their attention to football and baseball. At 14 he became an actor, and an adult actor at that. He claimed to be 18 and because he was a tall youth he got away with it. "The Sun Never Sets" is one of his most important productions. Among the top players supporting Fairbanks and Rathbone in this production, produced and directed by Rowland V. Lee, are Virginia Field, Barbara O'Neil, Lionel A twill, C. Aubrey Smith, Melville Cooper and Mary Forbes. (Continued foot next column)