MAJESTIC THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 84, 11 April 1940, Page 7

MAJESTIC THEATRE

“NAUGHTY BUT MCE.” Ann Sheridan heads the cast in “Naughty But Nice,” concluding tonight at the Majestic Theatre. Also featured are such old favourites as Dick Powell, Gale Page, Zasu Pitts, Helen Broderick and Maxie Rosenbloom. Dick Powell plays a professor of music at a small town university. He takes one of his compositions, a symphony, to New York, and through a misunderstanding it is broadcast as a dance number with a night club “canary” (Ann Sheridan) singing a lyric to it .entitled “Hurray for Spinach.” His superiors at the university are disgusted, and even more disgusted when Dick Powell makes the New York headlines when he climbs a chandelier in a night club owing to his confusing a glass of i lemonade with a glass of something quite different. “San Francisco.” M.G.M.’s “San Francisco,” with Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald sharing the starring roles, is to commence a return season of two days tomorrow at the Majestic Theatre. For the lirst time, the rugged, two-listed Gable of old and the lovely Miss MacDonald, with her glorious voice, are brought together, with Spencer Tracy also sharing the honours. “San Francisco” contains drama, love interest, comedy, and spectacle, Gable has the rough-and-tough type of role in which his screen public likes him best. Miss MacDonald appears in the ideal part to give her opportunity to sing, and her voice is heard to splendid effect. The story, which was directed by \V. S. Van Dyke, the man who made “Naughty Marietta,” concerns the Barbary Coast of 30 years ago, opening on New Year’s Eve, 1906, and continuing through one of the most disastrous dramas of the century—the San Francisco earthquake and lire. Gable has never been seen to greater advantage. He gives a periormaace that stands* out for its power and sharplyetched character delineation. Miss MacDonald, singing songs which range from simple ballads to glorious operatic arias, surpasses even her superb work in “Naughty Marietta.”