ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 227, 24 August 1938, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

MAYFAIR THEATRE. “varsity' show.” “Varsity Show,” a musical comedy along altogether now lines, and possessed of a sparkling cast, is screening now at the , Mayfair Theatre. A star individual , Diclc Powell —and a star organisation Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians—-arc the top-liners in this melodious, laughable, fast-paced tale of college life as the moviemakers see it —and as, doubtless, all collego s boys and girls wish it werej It is the i tale of how the undergraduates of a little ( fresh-water educational institution try to ( put on a show under the supervision of a , dignified and gloomy professor, only to ] realise that he’s ruining it with his highbrow notions. Then they go to the city ■ and dig up Dick Powell, a graduate, who by now is a successful Broadway producer, , and induce him to come back to school and supervise a real show. Dick and his , partner—none other than the goofy Ted Ilealy—take over the job. And after many , a battle between tho modern and old-fogey ■ elements in the school, a show is put on —and what a show ! Maybe you can imagine Fred Waring himself and all his bandsmen, some 50-odd, as college students, and the negro pair, Buck and Bubbles, as singing and dancing janitors of the school. “Varsity Show” is a refreshing relief, in i its story, from the well-worn “back-stage routine into which many musical comedies have boon kept. There is an air of briskness and youth and gaiety to it rarely found in movie musicals. Rosemary Lane, lovely to look at, is Dick Powell’s romantic feminine interest, while her sister Priscilla is one of tho most original and adept dancei'B to be seen upon, the screen in recent years. meteorAheatre. “STOLEN HOLIDAY.” Kay Francis,' 1 ' perpetual favourite ill this city, comes to the screen of tho Meteor Theatre to-night in “Stolon Holiday,”. a First National film which depicts the. rise of an obscuro little French mannequin in a tiny modisto shop, to the position of queen of fashions for the world. ’lho name of Kay Francis instantly conjures .up visions of magnificent gowns and no list of ton best-dressed women in the country fails to include her name, but “Stolen Holiday” is said to bo not merely a fashion show. It is a tense drama, with rioting mobs ,on the streets of Paris, international, political and financial complications, and no end ot suspense. While advance reports indicate that there are plenty of “1937” gowns to be seen as Miss Francis advances her career as a designer, the beautiful costumes are merely incidental to the story, Claude Raines, who triumphed in “Anthony Adverse,” appears as an unscrupulous financier who backs Kay in her ventures, until at last iiis complicated schemes crash about liis head. lari Hunter, who appoared with her recently in several pictures, provides the love interest for Miss Francis this one. Alison Skipwortli, Alexander UArcv, Betty Lawford, Walter Kingsford, Frank Roidicr, Frank Conroy and other wellknown players make up the balanco of the niccly-roundcd cast. Michael Curtiz who directed the sensational “Charge of the Light Brigade,” guided tho making of “Stolen Holiday.” LAWRENCE TIBBETT. STAR OF OPERA, CONCERT AND SCREEN. Lawrence Tibbctt, famous baritone of the Metropolitan Opera Company, who will be heard in Palmerston North shortly lias groat reverence for his art, Hie secret of TibbottV art is that the words of a song are just as important with bun as its notes. His intense dramatic fooling, his sense of humour, his manly grasp of profound pathos cause tears to folloiv smiles with bewildering subtlety. When ho sings, whether it be a great aria or a 1 simple song, he makes an impression so I vivid that, he captures his audiences. ! Everything he sings becomes a scene, and 1 i each word in that scene expresses to tho 1 full its meaning, a meaning heightened by 1 the varied colouring which lie gives to 1 tho sung lone. And his clarity of entmeia- ' tion is such that each individual word ■ not only can bo, but must be understood. 1 liis voice is capablo of clarion tones, but ’ it is also capable of a softness in mezzo ' voce whose quality can only be described ■ as ravishing. On tho stage Tibbett s man- ‘ nor is of a combined dignity and friend- ’ linens; the dignity expresses his attitude towards his art, and the friendliness his jj sympathy toward his audience. But, .when , chance comes and propriety allows it, he : is humorous. This happens, for instance, t | when lie sings, of oourse in English, the , biting satire of “ The Flea” by the Rus--0 sian composer, Moussorgsky. Then he . smiles so broadly, oven before beginning i it, that his audience smiles, too, present- ’’ ly’ bursting into laughter at a provocation which Is ‘irresistible. In interpretation, Lawrence Tibbett is the most astounding singer.