Penelope at the Pictures

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 10 December 1938, Page 2

Penelope at the Pictures

The "Vivacious Lady" Wears Chic Clothes ' Well, if it’s a laugh tonic you're wanting, you ought to see “Vivacious ; Lady.” It may be low-brow of me. but I like Ginger Rogers. She’s no Garbo of course, but who wants her to be? She knows how to look sweet and provocative and she certainly knows how to wear smart clothes, and that’s enough for most of her fans. | In her musicals with Fred Astaire i she usually wears some rather outlandish models, but for the benefit of Jimmy Stewart she wore frocks that were smart without showincss. That is, with the exception of the gown in which she first appeared, as a nightclub entertainer. This was an elaborate affair of white net. heavily sej quinned in Hollywood's prevailing manner, and with the full skirt billowing out from the knees. I didn’t like it. but impressionable Jimmy Stewart evidently did. and the | next thing you knew they were homeward bound for his home town. Ginger ! looking very charming in a flower pot felt and a sports spectator coat. Jimmy was a professor and the soa of a professor, so you can imagine wha| Ginger was up against back in Old Sharon. Jimmy, who incidentally, was engaged to a girl called Helen, lost 1 his nerve at the last moment and couldn’t bring himself to tell his people lie u r as married. He gets his obliging cousin to take Ginger to a college dance that night, .and she goes to a lot of trouble to look lovely in a black net head shawl over a black net dance frock. She did so want to make a good impression on ! Jimmy’s parents, but the outraged fiancee attacked Ginger vigorously, j and in the melee which followed I couldn't decide whether Ginger's black net was over white taffeta or not. Oh dear, things happen thick and fast and Ginger as a new student in Jimmy’s botany class works havoc with her Jong golden page bob and a black velvet frock relieved solely by a brilliant clip. What with one thing and another she decides to return to New York, and Jimmy has great difficulty n making contact with his young wife, who does her packing in a black wool frock with a crisp touch of white in collar, vestee and belt Matters become more and more involved with the catty Helen keeping watch on recalcitrant Jimmy S-ewart, and Jim’s mother played delightfully by clever Beulah Bondi, calls on Ginger who this time is wearing another wool frock—a blue sports weave with high-necked collar and broad shoulder line. Jim’s cousin happens along and when Nemesis in the shape of father. President of the University arrives, he finds his wife enjoying herself by learning the Big Apple from the other two. This scene is a perfec* scream, but there, all good things come to an end. and while Jimmy, thoroughlj' fed up with the stodginess of his life, makes whoopee in his botany class. Ginger really leaves for New York in a striped sports jacket paired with a matching ■ top coat, and sobs her heart out in her : compartment on the train, while her i mother-in-law is sobbing hers out next j door. The story builds up with lots of : humour to its climax which shows Gin- : ger looking really enchanting in a blue negligee edged with dark fur. Altogther, a frivolous and lighthearted picture and a certain cure for the blues. All the same, I’m very fond of Jimmy Stewart, and I don’t think it was necessary to emphasise his stupidity in being afraid to announce his marriage. Still, it’s part of the picture, and Jimmy seemed to enjoy himself I must admit .