Evening star., 1936-01-01

Even in cold" theater, Wlthout
viewed the other midnight. 1t was
easy to see that certain of Miss Pons
numbers were due to be met with
spontaneous applause. The good
people who should be crowding into
Keith's at this very moment for an
operate treat certainly must be
voicing some enthusiastic approval
of her colorful and thrilling rendition
of the Bell Song" from Delibes
"Lakme."
OF course, any additional praise of
Miss Pons' full. clear, inspiring voice
at this late date is redundancy of the
first water, but her singing of this
'Lakme" aria is destined to become
one of the musical moments of 1885
as far as the cinema is concerned.
Her other operate selection, Caro-
Meme" from "Rigoletto,' falls mighty
sweetly upon the ear, too.
Miss Pons sings also four selections
written by Jerome Kern into his ef-
fective score for the picture, and she
sings them the way you'd expect her
to sing them-superbly. Two of these
Kern tunes probably will be crowding
from your loud-speaker more often
than they should before long, in the
minner the radio has with popular
songs of the day, but they are tunes
you'll like to hear again.
THE best of these is I'm the Echo,
You're the Song I Sing" catchy
and hummable song of romance, and
the closest runner up is Il Dream Too
Much" a sweet tune your favorite or
chestra leader will have to get before
long if he doesn't have it already. The
other Kern selections are Jockey on
a Carrousel" and Il Got Love" the
latter a bright little ditty, the like OF
which you've never heard Lily Pons
sing before.
Miss Pons. as a screen personality
Is welcome newcomer to the ranks
even apart from her voice. She goes
about her acting chores in natural
manner and Is a clever comedlenne.
She's an attractive person, too, who
would look good in bathing suit
mot that she wears one, but you can
tell she'd look good in it If she did,
Henry Fonda, Osgood Perkins and
Eric Blore offer fine support for the
opera star in her film debut.
The story of Il Dream Too Much"
is no great shakes-plcaSant enough
but nothing particularly new. It's the
one about the singer who suddenly
gets too much fame for her COM
poser husbands pride. and there are
snatches here and there that will re-
mind you vaguely of something you've
seen before. A much worse tale than
this. however. would be plenty of ex-
cuse for Lily Pons' voice.
FINAL production details-the en-
u gaging of scenic artist, the Or
chestra and the remaining members
of the cast-have been completed for
Alex Yokel's newest play, Julie the
Great" which opens at the National
Theater Monday, January 13. The
drama, which will feature Beth Mer-
rill. was written by John Taintor
Foote, Arne Lundborg Is doing the
scenery and the orchestra will be
supplied by Alexander Haas, who also
is arranging the music for the play.
Miss Merrill's supporting cast Is
now rehearsing under the direction
of Worthington Miner at the Play
house in New York, where Mr.. Yokefs
"Three Men on a Horse" Is entering
its second year.
THE NATIONAL. dark for two
L weeks, has two entertainments
booked to precede the Yokel play.
Lucienne Boyer will be here for one
day only, as the star of Continental
Varieties" which will be seen here
next Sunday in two performances,
one in the afternoon and one in the
evening.
Brock Pemberton's comedy hit,
personal Appearance" opens Mon
day for a one-week engagement at
the National.
TEAM HARLOW was called away on
a. location last night and had TO
work New Year eve, so the local drama
desks had to celebrate in some other
manner than by greeting her via tele-
phone from the stage OF Loew's FOX
Theater.
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