GOLFING COMEDY SCREENED AT GRAND THEATRE THIS WEEK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18187, 21 June 1927, Page 7

GOLFING COMEDY SCREENED AT GRAND THEATRE THIS WEEK.

Those fortunate folk who saw the play, “Kid Boots,” when it was presented in Christchurch on the stage, will have no hesitation in recommending their friends and acquaintances to visit the Grand Theatre this week, where the screen version of this clever comedy is being shown. It presents fun in its most acceptable vestments; a cunning little plot being enhanced by many original pranks, and a niultitude*of inimitable drolleries. Golf and matrimony form the basis round which the story is written. Family affairs have made audiences laugh from the days when the hoary old chestnut about the mother-in-law was first put over vaudeville footlights. At the Grand last night, however, this theme was dealt with in a way which charmed immediately with its refreshing originality. Golf, more than all others, is a game of humour. Its very nature lends it to the hands of the versatile humorist, and in “Kid Boots” its funny side is dealt with cleverly and sympathetically. The story opens with “Kid” Boots himself. It had been said of him that, his face had been responsible for breaking one plate-glass mirror, and his mind was* almost as remarkable. His occupation as a tailor’s lad threw him into contact with Clara M’Coy, who was a decidedly ornamental young thing. She had ripped her 6kirt, and “Kid” was detailed to sew it up for her. “Kid” found that Clara had a jealous beau, and decided that discretion sometimes took precedence over valour; but Clara persisted in following him, for the simple reason that “Kid” had sewn his braces onto her skirt. A series of diverting circumstances lead “Kid” into the company of one Tom Sterling, a man who is having great trouble with his wife. His wife had tried to divorce him, but he had inherited a. fortune, and the wife decided that it would never do to be divorced from that. Hence her hate turned to love, and she pursued him relentlessly. Tom seeks seclusion as a golf professional, and f’l -ra and “Kid” become mixed up in proceedings Jo a most laughable extent. How tilings are straightened out at last, and everyone lives happily ever after, is a remarkably hilarious tale. The screening of the comedy is beyond reproach. in Eddie Cantor, the star, the producers have secured the ordinal “Kid” Boots, who first appeared in the part in New York, and as a screen star his success is even more striking than it was on that ocasion. Eleanor Belmore js played by Billie Dove, while the part of Clara M’Coy is charmingly taken by Clara Bow. Lawrence Gray, a new footlight favourite, plays a good part as Tom Stealing. Other members of the cast are Natalie Kingston, Malcolm Waite, Wm. Worthington, Harry von Meter and Fred Esmelton. The music of the Grand Quality Orchestra adds to the pleasure of the evening.