Evening star., 1935-02-09
CUBAN TALE
MINED WITH
RUMBA STEP
This Forms Background
for George Raft and Car
ole Lombard at the Fox.

Although you may come out of the
Fox this week thinking the rumba is
the Cuban national anthem and that
our island neighbors make their living
by dancing and playing lotteries,
there's no doubt of the fact that
Paramount's movie of the title
"Rumba" is good entertainment. In
addition, a bang-up stage show that
runs from the modern to the near
archaic is equally diverting.
Carole Lombard and George Raft
are the chief players in this cinematic
story based in part on the tango-ish
dance rhythm that swept the coun-
try about a year ago after its impor-
tation from Cuba, and seems to be
still sweeping, but the films worthi
ness is due to a Well-knit story. some
splendid direction and several good
bits of acting by minor characters.
Languid Miss Lombard is her aver
age self as a rich American girl who
goes off the deep end for a Cuban
dancer. and Mr.. Raft. despite his lack
Of anything similar to acting ability,
is we'll cast as a Cuban entertainer
rumba specialist and sinister lover
His excellent dancing offsets most
else.
1t is Lynne Overman, as a new kind
of newspaper man; vivaciouS Margo,
who's knockout in a rumba uniform
even without the dancing, and Gail
Patrick, who is another lethal blow
in hot-cha rhythm outfit. that move
the piece along by giving it necessary
color and speed.
The native scene of Cuban fiesta,
where Entertainer Raft first comes
across the rumba; reproduction of
the same scene on an American stage,
and the Interpretation of the dance
by Margo and Mr.. Raft are fine shots
of the film. Another scene in which
Mr.. Overman talks a Texas cattle
man out of some three thousand dol
lars is worthy.
A melodramatic climax that has
Miss Lombard stepping from her
theater box to go on the stage to keep
Mr.. Raft from dancing because of a
plot to shoot him, and then doing the
rumba with him because partner
Margo has suddenly tainted in an
ticipation of gangster gunShots is we'll
done.
Headed by the word-twisting erik
Ambassador" George Givot, whose
Greek phrases must have been funnier
than his American. judging from scat
tered laughs they netted, the Fox
stage this week is cluttered with an
assemblage of talent-some ''mellowed
with age" as Impresario Joe Laurie,
jr., puts it.
Yesterdays audience received the
group of some Is former stage stars
now trouping again with young Mr..
Laurie's wing with tremendous enthu-
Siasm. Their bits were a flash back
to the former days of vaudeville, when
the cakeWalk was what a rumba is
today and when good artists got by
without reSorting to the commonplace.
The remarkable feature of the act
would seem to be the youthful en-
thusiasm and agility displayed by the
veteran troupers.
To counteract the old timers, Hal
Menken offers a revue that shows
some excellent dancing by himself
and Betty Castle, swell banjo artist
in Keith Hankins and nice harmony
from the Sweet and Lowdowns. Tommy
Cecil Mack, Frank Hearst and Ed
die Young unite to complete the stage
bill with some more or less slapstick
comic antics.
An excellent technicolor cartoon
dealing with Mother Goose characters,
a Phil Lampkin overture of a medley
of Bing Crosby's song hits and the
usual newsreel and shorts complete
the program. M. w. B.