“SILK STOCKINGS” IS SPICY COMEDY NOW AT EVERYBODY’S

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18393, 20 February 1928, Page 7

“SILK STOCKINGS” IS SPICY COMEDY NOW AT EVERYBODY’S

To tell a deliberate lie in the Divorce Court invites, we believe, some six months’ free board and lodging at his Majesty’s expense; and it does not mean Windsor Castle. What it invites in American law one knows not, but if it is the same, then White House loomed large on the horizon of Molly Tornhill, when she took the witness stand to testify that her husband, Samuel, smoked, swore, drank homebrew, played cards, went to the club, put flowers on his typist’s desk, neglected to wipe his feet on the mat, and wouldn’t cut the wood. The nasty part of it all was that Sam, stout fellow, didn’t do any of these things —he didn’t even cut the wood. But Molly was one of those blondes that once started in, nothing can stop them. She told the judge a frightful tale, fondly thinking that he wouldn’t believe it, and that Sam would start chopping wood or something. Unfortunately, his Honor swallowed the lot, gave her a decree nisi, and behaved, during the case, with a general distressing lack of judicial decorum. Which is all the preamble to stating that Laura La Plante will disport herself at Everybody’s Theatre this week in “ Silk Stockings.” A very amusing sophisticated comedy for the grownups only, wherein a pair of silk stockings (any other kind would depress a saint), play an important role in the making and marring and re-making of the conjugal relations of Molly and her Sam. Like Mabel’s famous garment, it lends itself, this pair of stockings, to innumerable situations redolent of French comedy at its best and brightest; it gets people out of trouble, into trouble, verging on trouble; it gets the dramatic pair unmarried, and when they, still labouring in Cupid’s toils beneath it all, seek to be “compromised” at a house party, the good old socks pop up again in all their pristine silkiness, and do the trick. . The acting is at all times brilliant, especially that of Miss La Plante, who is as frisky and effective as ever. John Barron plays opposite her, a naive and subtle comedian-spouse who makes the most of his role. The supporting feature on the bill is the Richard Barthelmess picture, “The Drop Kick,” a football story of college life with all the necessary thrills and romance. The game, as played in America, is strongly suggestive of Rafferty rules, and an ennormous amount of fun results. Mr Albert Bidgood and his Select Orchestra will play the following numbers:—Overture, “In a Chinese Temple Garden” (Ketelby) ; “The New World” (Dvorak) ; “Ascanio” (Saint-Saens) ; “Princess Gioia” (Morton); “The Rainbow” (Simson); “My Son John” (Williams); “Petticoat Fair” (Novello) ; Fox-trots, “Muddy Waters” (Richman); entr-acte. “Love is Just a Little Bit of Heaven” (Baer). Box plans are at The Bristol Piano Company, where seats may be reserved.