LAVISH SPLENDOUR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 122, 26 May 1938, Page 3

LAVISH SPLENDOUR

MAJESTIC OFFERING ‘‘BROADWAY MELODY OF 1938” With a name-cast of Broadway stars, augmented by Robert Taylor of the screen, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “Broadway Melody of 1938” opens to-morrow at the Majestic Theatre. Here, unquestionably, is the new order of things in the world of show business. On sound stages themselves larger than the greatest Broadway theatre, the picture has been furnished with a lavish splendour that could never be approached elsewhere. The cast has names that would flash individually in the lights of a dozen Broadway houses. Here they are assembled in a single show. Robert Taylor and Eleanor Powell co-star. With them are George Murphy, Binnie Barnes, Buddy Ebsen, 'Sophie Tucker, Judy Garland, Charles Igor Gorin, Raymond Walburn, Robert Benchley, Willie Howard, Charles Grapewin, Robert Wildhack and a chorus of lovely dancing girls. Roy Del Ruth directed the picture, which was produced by Jack Cummings. Dave Gould, who won the Academy Award for his direction of dancing, was in charge of the chorus, and the elaborate musical score is the work of Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. The songs are assured hits. Eleanor Powell and Murphy have a number “I’m Feeling Like a Million. Gorin sings “Sun Showers” and Taylor joins Miss Powell in “Yours and Mine.” Miss Powell offers “Pair of New Shoes” and then appears with Murphy and Ebsen in “Follow in My Footsteps.” The plot of the story is real and substantial. As the daughter of a horse breeder gone broke, Miss Powell backs the last of his racers by working in a night club. Taylor, as a struggling young playwright, buys the horse for her out of sentiment. The horse wins his race and everyone is repaid.

John Boles had a letter from President Roosevelt congratulating him on his singing in “Romance in the Dark.”