CITY THEATRES

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22661, 16 March 1939, Page 9

CITY THEATRES

-*— AVON “SERVICE DE LUXE” TO-MORROW “Service De Luxe,” starring Constance Bennett and Vincent Price will begin at the Avon Theatre to-morrow. In this film, Constance Bennett is cast as Helen Murphy, the head and owner of an exclusive organisation which renders service of all descriptions to its clients. With her is seen Vincent Price, a newcomer to the screen, but who is known to New York stage audiences for his two-year portrayal of the role of Albert in Helen Hayes’ “Victoria Regina.” Also featured in the picture are Mischa Auer, Charles Ruggles, Helen Broderick, and Joy Hodges. Conceded by Hollywood to be one ot the smartest young women in the cinema city, Constance Bennett has made big business cut of motion picture acting. During her reign as a star, by shrewd and conscientious management and the exercise of common sense. Miss Bennett has come to be as or ?' e Hollywood’s most brilliant business women. After finishing her initial production, she wisely determined to refrain from accepting any long -term agreements until she had discovered whether she had the ability to make herself a star. She has remained a free-lance player. Price, Hollywood’s latest recruit to the ranks of leading men, comes to the screen from a very successful Broadway career. He is noted for his two-year rendition of the role of Prince Albert opposite Helen Hayes in “Victoria Regina.” His father, Vincent Price, sen., is a successful businessman in St. Louis, whore Vincent, jun , was born on May 27, 1911. He was educated at St. Louis Country Day School, and at Yale, where he graduated with a B.A. degree. The record shows him as appearing in a kindergarten play during his primary school days, and in Gilbert and Sullivan roles when he was 17. After Yale, he travelled. In Vienna he was a night club singer, a private guide to museums and other places of interest, and a tutor in history, English, French, and the arts. In London he went on the stage in a minor role in the play “Chicago.” Later he made his initial appearance in “Victoria Regina,” playing Albert' for seven weeks before returning to America to appear with Helen Hayes in the same production. A personable young man with blonde hair, greed eyes, he stands six feet four inches. He is married to Elizabeth Barrett, New York stage star, granddaughter of Lawrence Barrett, of ' Edwin Booth-Lawrence Barrett fame. In Universal’s “Service De Luxe” he has the role of a young inventor. He is taken in hand by a personal service bureau, conducted by Constance Bennett, and through her efforts, is made a business and social SUCC6SS. “Rich Man, Poor Girl" is at present showing. PLAZA “BOY OF THE STREETS” From out of the depth, of the tenements of a great city rises a stirring,, triumphant story of youth and honour and a boy’s fight to find himself. It is “Boy of the Streets,” which comes to the Plaza Theatre to-morrow, and its star is Jackie Cooper, whose moving characterisation of Chuck, the tenement “big shot.” definitely establishes him as an adult star. “Boy of the Streets” is a story of the children who grow up in the sombre shadows of the tenements. The camera focuses on Chuck, leader of a gang of hoodlums, catching him at the sensitive adolescent age when he is first forced to decide what is right and what is wrong. Chuck’s only ambition is to be a “big shot” like his father, and when he suffers youth’s greatest disillusionment —the discovery that his parent is a “four-flusher” and a fake—he attaches himself to Blackie, a public enemy, sinister symbol of the power Chuck means one day to possess. But a greater disillusionment, the discovery that gangster methods are cowardly, teaches Chuck the meaning of words like honour, courage and success, and points. the way to decent citizenship and discipline. The associate feature will be “Expensive Husbands,” which gives an inside picture of the movie capital. The film features Beverly Roberts, Patric Knowles, and Allyn Joslyn. “Crime School” is now showing. MAYFAIR “MISS FIX-IT” “Miss Fix-It,” which will open tomorrow at the Mayfair Theatre, finds the delightful 20th Century-Fox star, Jane Withers, in what John Stone, the associate producer, confidently predicts will be the grandest surprise hit she has ever made. The film has been announced as the first Jane Withers’s 1938-39 pictures for 20th Century-Fox. “Everybody on the set knew we had a hit,” Stone said, “long before the picture was finished. I cannot tell you why, but somehow everyone connected with the picture—cast, writers, camera men and crew—sensed that we were going over the top with a big picture. “Jane felt it, and I think the rest of the cast took their cue from her, because they all turned in fine performances —with Jane herself better than she has ever been. And the story offered her the widest possible range for her talents. Because, in addition to some of the most hilarious comedy ever written for the screen, it has a poignant, heart-warming quality that really gets under your skin.” Gloria Stuart and Henry Wilcoxon head the cast; which includes Helen Westley, Jed Prouty, Douglas Fowley, and Robert Allen. “Carefree,” starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, is now showing.