Evening star., 1935-09-10

required him to turn out pot-boilers'
as fast as he could.
Whatever side of that argument
you wish to support, there is no deny
ing that the cinema Harmony Lane"
based on Fosters life, is as sincere
and moving as a divine melody. The
picture which reopened the Rialto to
the public yesterday embodies some
obvious faults as a drama, but in the
realm Of unadorned, sentimental
storytelling it matches the cream Of
the crop. Two large, youngish gentle
men seated Immediately behind your
correspondent at the first show yes
terday were openly sobbing like chill
dren when the curtain fell on "Haf-
mony Lane" and we take it they ex-
pressed the reaction felt, perhaps less
actively. by virtually every one in the
house. The gentle admonition Weep
no more, my lady; oh, weep no more
today" in the lyric of my Old Ken
lucky Home" was needed by no one,
except those in whom 1t inspired a
fresh burst of lacrimals.
In part, this pleasingly morose ef-
feet is produced by the Foster music,
used as a running accompaniment to
the story, and, in part, by an ex-
traordinarily sentient performance
from Douglass Montgomery. The lat
ter gentleman was never favorite of
this department, and he still has not
cast aside every trace of irritating
mannerism, but his work as Stephen
Foster merits both respect and praise.
MO EFFORT has been made in
Harmony Lane" to build up pro-
found characterizationS for the two
women who figure prominently in the
tale, or even for Foster himself. One
of the girls he loves and loses her
through the treachery Of another who
wants him for herself. The second
girl he marries and lives with unhap-
PLY. 1t is family difficult to under
stand why he should have been tor
turously enamoured of a person so
artless as his Susan Evelyn Venable), ,
or to explain the sudden appearance
of ill-will against him in the heart Of
lass who had loved him enough to
Lie and steal to get him for a hus-
band. Perhaps casting added a mite
to that confusion, for Adrienne Ames,
the wife and villainess, would appear
at first glance to be the warmer
hearted and more sympathetic of the
two women.
In any event, these frailties are
easily forgotten amidst deluge of
"Old Black Joe" "Sewanee River"
Kentucky Home" and "Oh, Susanna"
the latter developed before your very
eyes in one of the cleverest sequences
In the play. The Dreamer" number
sung by Montgomery likewise is gen.
timely appealing, emphasizing the
strain of melancholy which runs
through almost all of Fosters music
up to the last he wrote before he
died in the public ward of Bellevue
Hospital in New York, broken and
hopeless alcoholic.
Joseph Cawthorn and William Fraw-
ley contribute satisfactorily to the
production with their limning Of an
old music teacher and Fosters great
a. 1kCIlu SlLA LoO1C, Il1C Al4I1ob4CL
The Rialto also features a prologue
to the picture sung by Katherine Law
lor and the Crinoline Girls, and the
close Of the picture Is followed by
an epilogue of Foster needles sung
by the Southernaires.
X
/" A NNAPOLIS FAREWELL" will
come to the Metropolitan Fri
day, instead of Jack Haley and Ann
Sothern in "The Girl Friend" Sir
Guy Standing. Tom Brown, John
Howard and Richard Cromwell are
featured in the Annapolis film.
Loew's Columbia gets full-length
Laurel and Hardy feature, Bonnie
Scotland" at the end of this week.
KATHARINE CORNELL is coming
to the National with her produc-
ton OF Romeo and Juliet" Miss
Cornell's coming was hinted num-
Der of times last season, but this seems
to be official, as it comes direct frcm
Miss Cornells Office in New York.
The play one of the outstanding