Evening star., 1934-05-26
BIG CAST AND
FINE COMEDY
IN FOX FILM
"Stand Up and Cheer''
Has Many Stars and
Much to Laugh about.

Thrown together and out across
with a spontaneity and a lustiness
that smacks you right between the
eyes, Stand Up and Cheer" the Fox
Theater film that Will Rogers had a
hand in the story of, and Stepin
Fetchit and trained penguin have
both hands and feet in the acting
of. is heads-up entertainment for
movie fans who likes their film fare
loud, lunatic and lavish.
From the creation of a department
of amusement in Washington with
Warner Baxter as its head, right
straight through its series of lively
sequences and well-staged routines
until Stepin Fetchit gets tangled up
in a goldfish bowl looking for q had
dock tor the trained penguin, the film
Is first-rate musical comedy. And
even though the script gets side
tracked at the end by a double bar
relied blast Of new deal propaganda
in which all the extras on the Fox
lot are given a chance to parade and
shout to a pandemonium climax, you
will take it all and like it because
you'll still be laughing at the pen
guin which looks and talks like Jimmy
Durante and the way dusty Fetchit
looks in an Indian chiefs headdress
Aside from the half-baked plot,
which nobody cares about, the Sc
quences include the best youngster
the screen has offered to date in the
person of 4-year-old Shirley Temple,
who brightens an already well-illu-
minated chorus number In which
James Dunn and a blond are fea-
tured; several shots of Stephin
Fetchit, who is funnier than ever,
trying to catch a hill-billy for the
Government and being introduced as
George Bernard Shaw, and a raft of
good looking girls in a number Of
routines that somehow manage to
get away from the artificiality that
most Hollywood dance numbers are
staged with.
Warner Baxter Is excellent as the
producer, Lawrence Cromwell, who is
made secretary of amusement at the
! head of a new department the Presi-
dent has created to do away with the
| depression by getting everybody to
laugh. And even though he has his
| ups and downs, he has the assistance
of pretty Madge Evans in his under
| taking.
Extra bits Of comedy are furnished
| by Senators Danforth and Short
Mitchell and Durant) who are in
troduced as straight characters only
to amaze you when they begin a
series of circus clown stunts in a
cabinet minister's Office, by Aunt
Jemima herself who laughingly sings
| I'm Laughing" one of the shows
| several tunes, and by Nick Foran, who
| does an original hill-billy number
| If there Is such an animal. Then,
too, there is John Boles singing to
Sylvia Fross, who also sings back at
him in the only serious scene of the
film.
Funny-man Herb williams, with his
| collapsible piano. three stooges and
an off-stage wedding bell head the
stage bill with 20 minutes OF semi
serious and semi-slapstick buffoonery.
Raye, Ellis and La Rue twirl through
two adagio numbers that are grace
fully presented. even. though a fake
octopus spoils the effect of the latter.
Comedienne Harriet Hutchins bur-
lesques torch singer to make her
act worth applauding, and Three
Kings and Queen, an aerial quartet,
open the bill by initiating several
men on several flying trapezes
A patriotic overture, dedicated to
all American soldiers and sailors
since 1776. Is presented by the Fox
Concert Orchestra in advance of
Memorial day. Band Leader Phil
Lampkin steps out Of his role during
the overture to recite a poem, and the
movietone newsreel completes the
program. NJ w. B.