AMUSEMENTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXL, Issue 20282, 4 December 1935, Page 7

AMUSEMENTS

STATE THEATRE “KENTUCKY KERNELS’’ Laid in a realm where fierce feuds are as common as mammy songs, “Kentucky Kernels” brings Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey to the State Theatre to-day in their newest comedy hit. The popular pair are seen as two vaudeville magicians who become involved in a family feud when their ward inherits a vast Southern estate. Thus Wheeler and Woolsey inadvertently step into a busy feud with an opposing clan. When Wheeler falls in love with the daughter of the hostile leader of the enemy, Woolsey attempts to reconcile the foe. Then hilarious events are said to pyramid into a side-splitting climax. Mary Carlisle, one of the up-and-coming younger stars, appears with the comedy team as the pretty daughter of the enemy clan, portrayed by Noah Beery. “Spanky” McFarland, bright child actor, plays the orphan. “Kentucky Kernels” introduces the catchy “One Little Kiss,” which serves as a background for a garden dance by a galaxy of beautiful girls, and as a vocal number for Wheeler and Woolsey, Miss Carlisle and Beery. The melody is by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, who are also credited with the story and screen play. “Roberta”—Saturday. The musical comedy “Roberta” will open at the State on Saturday. The main roles are ably played by Irene Dunne, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. This is one of the" most beautiful films of its kind to have reached Timaru, and lavishness is a keynote of the production. The story is of an American footballer who takes over an extremely exclusive millinery house. One of the greatest features of the production is the countless number of Parisian models which are seen in the mannequin parades about which the film centres. REGENT THEATRE “MUSIC IN THE AIR” With a score contributed by that master of light music, Jerome Kern, and that brilliant lyricist Oscar Hammerstein 11., the new Fox Film spectacle, “Music in the Air,” starring Gloria Swanson, John Boles, Douglass Montgomery and June Lang, will begin an engagement to-day at the Regent Theatre. Its star-studded cast has rated superlatives from everyone who has viewed the film, for in addition to such stellar names as those of Gloria Swanson and John Boles, Montgomery and June Lang, the company includes A 1 Shean, Reginald Owen, Joseph Cawthorn, Hobart Bosworth and Jed Prouty. Joe May, celebrated German director, was imported to Hollywood by Producer Erich Pommer to handle the production. To judge from advance accounts, he has made of it a glamorous and colourful narrative. The story, adapted from Oscar Hammerstein’s libretto, is a consistent and convincing one—with tears as well as laughs woven into its texture. From this story a trio of screen writers has evolved a noteworthy vehicle for the talents of both stars and director. Blended with its episodes are such ( magnificently tuneful numbers of t Kern’s as “I’ve Told Every Little Star,” “The Song is You,” “One More Dance,” “There’s a Hill Beyond a Hill,” and “We Belong Together.” The action of “Music in the Air” is laid in the Bavarian Alps and in Munich. Jack Donohue, brilliant young dance director, has staged what are described as enchanting dance routines for several scenes in the film. MAJESTIC THEATRE “NIGHT LIFE OF THE GODS” Very few pictures have ever afforded so many actors and actresses such opportunities as “Night Life of the Gods,” Universal’s highly unusual comedy coming to the Majestic Theatre to-day. It is a veritable playground for talent. And to Lowell Sherman, its director, goes the credit for making these opportunities possible. Sherman, a grand trouper himself, knows his thespians thoroughly. Paraphrasing the old adage of “it takes a thief to catch a thief,” it takes an actor to catch an actor. And Sherman did. Alan Mowbray, who plays the male lead in the picture, the role originally reserved for Sherman himself, who found it impossible to play it because of a prolonged attack of tonsilitis, is afforded the biggest chance of his screen career in this. He ' plays a comedy role, something he never before was able to convince producers he could do, despite the fact that he was an accomplished stage comedian. Florine McKinney, who plays the feminine lead, is another to receive a “break” from Sherman, who personally selected her, firm in his belief she had the makings of a fine actress. Up to now Miss McKinney has played small parts and was mostly known for her singing. Peggy Shannon, who a few years ago was bracketed in the star ranks of screen players, having succeeded Clara Bow at Paramount, is another to be elevated by Sherman, after she had fallen back considerably in the past year or two. Robert Warwick, once a famous matinee idol and silent screen star, but who has not been heard of much in recent years, gets his big chance with the role of Neptune and he plays it for all it is worth. For the difficult pait of Bacchus, god of the grape, Sherman picked George Hassell, famous stage comedian, who makes his debut in pictures with this story. Marda Deering, who creates Venus in the film, was an unknown girl whom Sherman met at a party one night and, noting her marked and unusual resemblance to the goddess of love and charm, immediately signed her for the part. Needless to say she was thrilled beyond words. Wesley B*«.rry, once the popular freckled-faced kid of the screen, nas found it difficult hitting the “comeback trail” since he grew up. He is still another whom Sherman befriended and helped, giving him a prominent part in the picture. With 23 featured players in the picture, it took courage to select actors and actresses who had no box office “names.” But Lowell Sherman has what is more commonly called “intestinal fortitude.” An actor himself, he has the unerring knack of picking actors and rarely goes wrong. It was Sherman’s direction of “Morning Glory” that brought Katherine Kepburn to the attention of the world. It was Sherman behind the camera and Mae West in “She Done Him Wrong” which created a box office sensation and established Mae West at the same time. BOY SINGERS FROM VIENNA CONCERTS ON FRIDAY On Friday afternoon and evening at the Theatre Royal, Timaru, musiclovers will enjoy a treat, when the world-famous boys’ choir from the Imperial Chapel of Vienna will give a

performance of Viennese music, sacred, secular and popular. “These boys whose ages range from 10 to 13 years,” says a northern writer, “completely captivated the crowded audience when they gave a performance that was novel, varied and of high artistic standard. A feature of their programmes is the performance of one act operas by Mozart, Haydn and Schubert, and in the Opera ‘Domestic War’ by Schubert, the boys sang and acted as gay little soldiers who might have stepped out of a Hans Anderson fairy tale, demure little ‘girls’ with bunched skirts and rather suspiciously large shoes; miniature cavaliers resplendent in swallowtail coats of petunia, jade and heliotrope; a middleaged couple who squabbled amicably; and a typical Mrs Gummidge of a grandma, who wrestled furiously with a shapeless head of knitting. These minute actors and actresses danced with the aplomb of professionals and the gleeful abandon of children.” in the first part of the programme they sing sacred music robed in cassocks and surplices, and in the third part of their entertainment they are dressed in smart sailor .suits. , Plans are now open at Begg’s.