ST. JAMES THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 141, 9 March 1940, Page 7

ST. JAMES THEATRE

Universal's choice in the filling of the shoes of rapidly-maturing Deanna .Durbin, the 11-ycar-old Gloria Jean, makes her debut in "The Under-Pup,” retained at the St. James Theatre. The voice of Gloria Jean, though not quite so pure as that of Deanna when she first appeared is of exceptional range and clarity, and with her acting, natural to the point, where it seems not. as acting, makes her a worthy successor. She plays Pip-Emma. Pip-Emma, so called because she was born in the afternoon, sings iu the choir of a Sunday school in Ihe East Side of New York. The school is visited one Sunday by a .Miss Thornton (Beulah Bondi), organizer of ihe annual camp of the Penguins, a semi-secret society of young girls, daughters of the “upper” class. On behalf of the. Penguins, .Miss Tliorntou announces that the girl who writes tlie best essay on “Trees" will be able to atlend the next: camp. Pip-Emma is eager to win, Miss Thornton having painted a lively picture of trees and lakes high up in ihe mountains. At first. Pip-Emma tries, and does, solicit aid from her grandfather (C. Aubrey Smith) in writing her essay, but she comes to realize that to enter such an essay would be to cheat; she has never seen a tree, she says So in her one-sen-tence essay.

The Penguins, bored with the essays they have received, decide lo award the holiday to Pip-Eiiiinti, largely because Pip-Emma's- plaintive sentence touches (hi; heart, of Janet Cooper (\irgiltia Weidler).

Off I'ip-Emma goes lo Ihe cam!’. sparKling with joy: but. her reception by the I’(‘Bgiiis on the stutioii is not iji such tunc, only one, Janet Cooper, is iriemlly toward her. And so it is throughout most of the holiday. Janet., PipEinmas only friend among the Penguins. But Unit does not mean that Pip-Einniii is entirely unhappy. She is too occupied helping others. She notices that Miss 11101'11ton does not. get any mail, so she writes home lo her family and lias them communicate with Miss Thornton—to, that, woman's delight—and she is succeeslul in reuniting Jamd’s' parents, with her graniifather’s aid. before an ending in whicii Pip-Eiunia liecomes beloved by the J enguins and is even made a member ot tueir society.