AT THE REGENT.

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3468, 19 May 1934, Page 12

AT THE REGENT.

TO-NIGHT AND ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY. “LITTLE WOMEN.” Preceded by keen pre-opening interest, the screen version of Louisa M. Alcott’s classic, “Little Women,” is to be seen at the Regent to-night and on Monady and Tuesday. The production, featuring &• cast of 20 character artists, headed by Katharine Hepburn, established a unique record in filmland long before actual production work began, when approximately 200,000 film fans sent to the R.K.O.nßadio studio requesting that the story be made just as written, and not modernised, as was the studio’s alternative project. The tone of the letters indicated that the estimated 20,000,000 people in America alone who have read the great classic of home life would far rather consider tampering with the letter and spirit of the original work uncalled for. School children, it was

pointed out, have been taught to believe that the story represents the highest ideals of youth. It was these letters that led to the decision to spend a fortune authenticating the period settings. The Alcott home in Concord, Mass., where Louisa M. Alcott drew her characters from real life, was reproduced in its entirety at Hollywood. The home was photographed inside and out, and these photographs were used as models for the settings.

Players selected for leading roles were not only chosen for their histrionic ability but for their resemblance to Louisa Alcott’s descriptions of her characters.

Miss Hepburn plays Jo. The supporting cast and the roles they enact are: Joan Bennett as Amy, Frances Dee as M'eg, Jean Parker as Beth, Paul Lukas as Fritz Rhaer, Edna May Oliver as Aunt March, Douglass Montgomery as Laurie, Henry Stephenson as Mr Laurence, Spring Byington as Marmee, Samuel Hinds as Mr March, Mabel Colcord as Hannah, John Davis Lodge as Brooke, and Nydia Westman as Mamie.