HEROES OF WIRELESS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 115, 18 May 1939, Page 3

HEROES OF WIRELESS

“THE STORM” AT REGENT THRILLING SEA ADVENTURE Telling an emotional stoiy of adventure and thrills in the, lives of wireless operators on American merchant ships, I nivertai’s j production of “The Storm’’ opens on Saturday at the Regent Theatre. Filmed against, the colourful background of giant ships and thundering storms at sea. the narrative possesses power and realism. Top-Light per- 1 formances are turned in by the cast of popular stars, which includes Charles Bickford, Barton Mac Lane, Preston Foster, Tom Brown, Nan Giey, Andy I Devine, and Frank Jenks. Sweeping | across the screen with unusual force, ’ the screenplay by Theodore Reeves, i Daniel Moore and Hugh King unfolds ias one of the most virile action dramas ito come out of Hollywood in recent months. Impressive scenes show- a great steel freighter crashing into an iceberg and going down while Preston Foster sticks to his radio key sending SOS calls for help. Bickford adds to his standing as a skilled portrayer of rugged he-man roles in stirring light scenes along the waterfront and aboard ship. Director Harold Young and Ken Goldsmith, the producer, may again take bows for producing a picture which should win even mure favour than their recent success, “Little Tough Guy.” The .otoiy concerns itself with the efforts of Bickford, an adventurous and hard-lighting wireless operator, to keep his young brother Brown from marrying the ship's pretty nurse, Nan Grey. Gripi ping storm scenes in which great I waves batter the ship arc shown in spectacular realism by the photography of Milton Krasner. The as-1 sociate feature is “23i Hours Leave.”

ALL-AMERICAN REVUE “HOLLYHOOD HOTEL” STARS | Lavish scenes, clever humour and ! beautiful and talented girls are some of the features of the “Hollywood Hotel Revue,” which will be presented at the Majestic Theatre o.n May 31 and June 1. The company consists of 60 American artists, and includes many outstanding personalities of stage, screen and radio. Presented by the famous American producer Harry Howard, the show is headed byMarty May, New York star of "Roberta,” who acts as compere ’ throughout the revue. Bobbie Morris , and Murray Briscoe are creators of a •new type of comedy which has found i great favour during the Australasian tour. The company abounds in dancing stars, including Jack and June Blair, and Jack Whitney, a sensa1 tional acrobatic male dancer. Among the female leads are Wilma Horner, vivacious comedienne, who, until joining the “Hollywood Hotel Revue” Company, had worked as stand-in for Claudette Colbert in Hollywood for two and a-half years. The singers of the show are Magda Neeld and Robert Berry. Mis Neeld has just completed an 18 months’ tour of America with Jack Hylton and his Continental Orchestra. Robert Berry was juvenile lead with the “Ziegfeld Follies” and “George White’s Scandals.” Two of the revue’s brilliant stage settings | are built round a pair of magnificent I acrobats, Frank Park and Bob Cliff- | ord. A .novel act is that of the Eight , Apple Dancers, a group of coloured folk who introduced the stage version of the “Big Apple” to American audiences. “I Married an Angel,” a spectacular musical play, will succeed “The Waltz Dream” in Sydney. Children of the poor in Sydney were invited to a free entertainment and distribution of ginger beer and buns at Wirth's Circus on Good Friday at 6.30 a.m. Messrs. Philip and George Wirth organised the programme, which was contributed to by crowns, tumblers, elephants, ponies and dogs.