NEW BROADWAY MELODY.

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 28, 1 August 1940, Page 18

NEW BROADWAY MELODY.

When the two greatest dancers of the contemporary stage and screen get together in a single production, it's news. Such news is verified in "Broadway v Melody of 1940," coming to the Majestic Theatre soon, and starring Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell. Spectacular in all of its departments, these two stars are given a suitable send*-off "* for their first co-starring feature. Nine dances, ranging in type from" tap to ballet, six, Cole Porter song hits, gigantic sets, a notable cast, Norman Taurog as director, all add up to the prediction that "Broadway Melody of 1940" is due to take its place as the year's most entertaining and eye-filling film. The story strikes a novel note from the very beginning.. Astaire and George Murphy, a dance team temporarily unemployed', are working as professional , hosts in a , ballroom. Through a novel set of circumstances, Murphy is mistaken for Astaire and given a try-out as leading man for the dance darling of Broadway, portrayed by Eleanor Powell. When he wins the assignment things begin to happen, notably among them a badly swelled head which eventually leads to Murphy's downfall and Astaire's triumph. The cast, in additioa to the three dance stars, Astafre, Powell, and Murphy, features Frank Morgan, lan Hunter, Florence Rice,, and Lynne Carver. Morgan'finds new vent for his comedy as the show's author who battles two shortcomings, a bad memory and blondes. Hunter plays the Broadway producer of Powell's musical shows. Florence Rice is the secretary to Morgan who has her harids full untangling his many affairs of the heart. Rich in production value, with sets topping in size and spectacular qualities those of any previous production, "Broadway Melody of 1940" brings every conceivable type of dancing to the screen. The most pretentious number, which forms the finale, is Cole Porter's "Begin / the Beguine." The set, which covered an entire sound stage, introduces something new in the form of a sixty-foot mirror which swings to constantly change the background be hind the dancers.