ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 21853, 2 November 1932, Page 4

ENTERTAINMENTS

THE REGENT. GOOD FUN IN SMART COMEDY. “BACHELOR’S AFFAIRS” (ADOLPHE MENJOU, MINNA GOMBELL, JOAN MARSH). Keeping count of the hilariously funny situations in “Bachelor’s Affairs,” the Fox comedy due for screening at the Regent to-night, would be a difficult task. One side-splitting episode follows another in rapid succession. The cast headed by Adolphe Menjou, includes Minna Gombell, Allan Dinehart, Arthur Pierson, Joan Marsh, Herbert Mundin, Irene Purcell and Don Alvarado. The central figure in the story is a wealthy bachelor who is happy and contented until he meets and marries a foolish young flapper and finds her wise-cracking, gold-digging sister a member of his entourage. Setting the stage to get rid of . them both, he resorts to all manner of subterfuge leading to complications and situations said to be highly amusing. The debonair Adolphe Menjou has the leading role of the repentant husband. Minna Gombell, in the role of the sophisticated sister who engineers the marriage, is said to bring all .her accomplished art to being thoroughly disagreeable and unlikeable to her characterization. Herbert Mundin, the English comedian, has a role that is said to give him a better opportunity than any of his preceding screen efforts. These included the taxi-cab driver in “The Silent Witness and the butler in “The Trial of Vivienne Ware.” Another prominent member of the cast is Allan Dinehart, who will be recalled for his performance as the relentless district attorney in “The Trial of Vivienne Ware.” He portrays the role of the business partner who tries to assist Menjou in getting out of his troubles. Joan Marsh, beautiful and vivacious blonde, appears as the dumb creature who is the second pivot point of the comedy’s action. Others contributing to the production are Arthur Pierson Irene Purcell and Don Alvarado. During the action of the play, Miss Gombell and Miss Marsh, between them, display more than thirty of the latest fashion creations. They are said to be not only lavish and beautiful, but also reflections of the advanced modes. The production is said to have many unusual and expensive settings since the locales include an ocean liner, a beautiful country estate, a Florida beach club, an ornate night club and a suite at the Ritz. Among the supporting items is a Magic Carpet Trip to Venice, Fox News, Australian Cinesound Review and other popular subjects.

THE MAJESTIC. “THE BARGAIN.” LEWIS STONE AN APPEALING FATHER. “The Bargain,” which is the title of the new feature at the Majestic, is a heart-warming domestic drama, the sort that might happen in any of the thousands of homes. It is an adaption of the Haward prize play “You and 1 which won acclaim on Broadway. At concerns Maitland and Nancy White—their grown son Ricky and his girl friend Ronny as well as an amazing maid—an eccentric and resourceful bachelor friend the enthusiastic boss of a soap factory and some other interesting folks. Maitland White has for years made a fairly good living at a soap factory though his wife knows that he has hankered in spite of his kindness to her and the boy for the fulfilment of his early ambition to be a painter. The two plan to send Ricky to Paris to study architecture, but at the crucial moment he announces that he means to marry Ronny, and take a job in the soap factory. Their objections are of no moment. Nancy gets the brilliant idea that her husband must take a year away from the soap factory, fix up the home attic as a studio, impress Etta the pretty maid as model, and paint to his heart’s content. He reluctantly, though eagerly accepts. The portrait is completed, just as word comes that the job at the soap factory has been filled, and that _ the copper stock which has been providing an income, has gone down, if not out. An eccentric but kindly friend whisks the painting off to rich art fanciers he knows, apparently without results—and things look black for the Whites — when an astonishingly amusing and at the same time tender, series of happenings puts things on the uproad again—but not as you expect at all. Lewis Stone and lovely Doris Kenyon play the captivating parents—Ricky the son is portrayed with boyish ardour by John Darrow, while Evalyn Knapp is just the sort of sweetheart you would want your son to have. The eccentric friend is Charles Butterworth’s most amusing role, which is saying a lot, and the maid who peacocks it so wistfully as the ludicrous artist’s model is done by Una Merkel, who was the Ann Rutledge in “Lincoln.” Oscar Apfel is convincing as the big soap man. Nella Walker also appears a gushing art patroness. Robert Milton, who directed “Outward Bound” directs “The Bargain.” The shorts include the latest Sound News, a most interesting travel series of South Africa, a comedy “Partners” and a musical novelty number.

THE MAROTTA CONCERT. TALENTED OPERA SINGERS. Owing to the brevity of the New Zealand tour, only one concert can be given in Invercargill by the talented Italian Grand Opera singers, Signor and Signora Marotta. This will take place at the Civic Theatre on Monday next, the 7th instant, at 8 o’clock. The Wellington Evening Post, commenting on a concert given in that city, said:— “Signor and Signora Marotta, visiting operatic artists sang to an appreciative audience at the Town Hall on Saturday a number of selections from Grand Opera and some old and beautiful Italian and English songs. The programme had evidently been compiled with care and was generous in numbers and varied in character. A wide field of operatic solos was covered by both artists, and if some of the selections were not so familiar to average concert audiences as were certain of them from Gounod’s “Faust,” “Mignon,’’ “La Boheme,” and “Cavalleria Rusticana,” all were sung with the style and finish to be expected from operatic principals of culture and experience. Signora Marotta received a most flattering welcome. She has the looks, the figure, and the personality of the prima donna. Her principal numbers were “Si Mi chiamano Mimi” (“La Boheme”) and “The King of Thule” and the “Jewel Song” from “Faust.” Her voice was revealed in these numbers of one of crystalline purity, of rare flexibility, and perfectly suited and trained for severe tests imposed by the art of successful coloratura singing (as in the “Jewel Song”). Every note was sharply defined and brilliant in itself. Signor Nino Marotta is an outstanding artist with a voice of great natural beauty and highly trained, with a wide range and used with sound judgment. Signor Marotta, in his operatic numbers, displayed considerable interpretative knowledge, submerging himself in the character in the opera. He was recalled again and again.” Mr Richard Maunder is a violinist of high merit, and Mrs Stuart Cunningham a pianist of rare accomplishment. Reserve seats may be reserved at the Bristol Piano ,Co. from to-morrow morning,