ST. JAMES THEATRE

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 9, 12 January 1938, Page 6

ST. JAMES THEATRE

"Merry-go-Round of 1938."

It's hardly fair to spring a picture such as "Merry-go-Round of 1938" upon an unsuspecting public without due warning. "Merry-go-Round of 1938," which opens at the St. James Theatre on Friday, is a.riot of laughter from beginning to end. Round and weighty Billy House, tall and slim Mischa Aver, short and shy Jimmy Savo, and raucous Bert Lahr are teamed in what is one of the funniest foursomes of the season. Four madder comedians were never thrown together in one picture. Of a farce comedy plot, plenty of good i music, hordes of comedy gags, gangs of pretty girls, songs by Jimmie Me-: Hugh and Harold Adamson, and the screen play by Dorian Otvos and Monte Brice, the director, Irving Cunmings has woven a laugh-forcing production that ranks as' the best of the screen's mad and merry musicals. Nine-teen-thirty-eight finds four broken-down and poverty-stricken vaudeville comedians faced with the task of straightening out the love affairs of their adopted daughter, he is in love with a young man, heir to the millions of an eccentric aunt. The aunt objects to the young man's marriage to any girl with a theatrical background. The boys determine to set her straight on that little matter. Dressed as, and pretending to be, a titled Englishwoman, aunt of the girl, Billy House gets-into the confidence of the aunt. Mischa Aver is introduced into her household under the guise of a Swami, with Jimmie Savo, world-famous pantomimist, as his assistant, Swami Aver's powers summon Bert Lahr, who pretends to be the longlost sweetheart of the aunt —and then the fun becomes fast and furious. The cast includes, in addition to the quartet of comedians, Alice Brady in the role of the flighty aunt; Louise Fazenda as the hard-boiled but romantic theatrir cal boarding-house-keeper; Joy Hodges jis the girl; and John King as her (Sweetheart.