Warren William as Napoleon’s Aid in “Firefly”

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 151, 29 June 1938, Page 11

Warren William as Napoleon’s Aid in “Firefly”

DEBUT IN JEANETTE MACDONALD MUSICAL (Regent: Now Screening.) Jeanette MacDonald has added Warren William to her list of willing victims in the new M.G.M. musical hit. Tho occasion was the filming of 4 4 The Firefly,” adaptation of the famous Otto Harbach-Rudolph Friml operetta, in which Miss MacDonald, in the title role, is supported by Allan Jones and Warren WilHam, the latter in the role of Col. Julian de Rougemont, staff aid© of Napoleon. The setting was a Bayonne cafe of the year 1808, resplendent in all the gold paint, scroll work and brightly coloured drapes of the period, its balcony booths reminiscent of opera house • boxes, its floor covering half of au imj mens© sound stage. I Miss MacDonald, as Nina Azara, '“The Firefly,” sweeps down the stops ilo the stage. The orchestra, in an ! alcove behind the stago and above it, ! breaks iuto tho music of her song, the i routine of which takes her in ami

among the tables where, apparently innocently, sho wishes to locato by the insignia which designates rank and proximity to Napoleon, the officer who will bo useful to her in her mission. For Nina is a Spanish spy seeking information as to Napoleon’s plans for Ferdinand of Spain.

She steps at last before the Col. de Rougemont and, instantly noticing the insignia of his rank, concentrates ho: flirtation upon him. As the song, “He Who Loves ana Runs Away,” builds to its climax, dc Rougemont, to whom it is now specially directed, has the air of a man who has just mado a great conquest. Nina picks up his beplumed hat from tho table besido her, perches it on her head and smiles ingratiatingly as the officers around her join in the chorus.