The Washington times., 1938-08-08
By Lillian RIXEY


new Robert Taylor film coming
to the Palace this Friday was
the slick idea of inviting the
local fistic gentry and the sport
ing press to q special preview Of
1.-The Crowd Roars," in which
Robert has so far outfooted his
original monicker Of S. Arling.
ton Brugh that from now on
Taylor fans will think of him
primarily as "Killer Mccoy"
The Pretty Boy from Po-
mona," whose stage-struck lean
ings earned him the juvenile
lead on the college theatrical
squad, has undergone studied
metamorphosis from Glamour
Boy to Gentlemanly Pug, with
no mean measure Of success and
authenticity.
Whether the feminine Taylor
fans who sighed over Taylor as
he sighed over Garbo's Camille
will welcome KILLER Mccoy"
with equal enthusiasm is prob
lematical.
GETTING TOUGHER
Much of the action takes
place within the ropes, in the
gym or in the dressing room,
showing a hairy-chested Bob
making music with a punching
bag, taking it on the chin in
the ring with blood pouring
from his head and nostrils and
diShing it out with vicious rights
and uppercuts which look like
the goods to these untutored
eyes.
The crowd Roars" is a broad
jump into more brutalized ath-
letic activity than was exhibited
by Taylor Sprinting along the
cinder path or Taylor stroking
a long shell past Putney in "A
Yank at Oxford" Perhaps femi-
nine fans may think it's going
pretty far To prove a mans a
man by making him a murderer,
which killer Mccoy" becomes
when he inadvertently does for
his old-time pal and boxing men,
tor with weak left jab.
The average feminine Taylor
admirer may choke a bit, too,
over his lialScn with crooked bet
ting circles, in spite of the fact
that the ringleader Of the
bookies is his girls dad. Heroes
don't generally act like that,
especially heroes of the clean
cut Taylor type. The unexpected
in character delineation Is not
usually box-offlce.
APPEAL TO MEN
But obviously M-G-M is not
angling for women appeal in
Taylor's latest picture. On that
he has already cashed in plenty.
It is a territory which Taylor
has worked with phenomenal
success ever since he was fea-
tured.
In the past the reaction Of
most males was the same as it
used to be for Valentino-they
wanted to take a poke at him.
Just as the sales manager of a
national concern searches for
a new product to boost sales or
for new fields into which to in
troduce his sales force, just so
did M-G-M decide that maScu-
line appeal was virtually an un-
tapped source Of revenue for
Bob Taylor.
No chest-beating male will
want to take a poke at Taylor
after seeing THE Crowd Roars." !"
On the contrary, his reaction
will probably be a startled,
"Cheest, the guys gcod!"
FOR THE LADIES
AS a sop to the ladies, Bob is
exhibited for several hundred
feet of film in full evening tails
and white tie dancing at a fash
ionable finishing school prom.
He looks like his cid self, too,
draped over the stern of small
sailboat with foamy, billowing
clouds as a backdrop-but for
all too short q sequence.
As a further sop, he quits the
fight racket, just because his
girl wants him to, at the mo-
ment when he is about to step
into the light-heavyweight cham
pionship of the world.
On second thought, maybe
that's no sop. Maybe M-G-M
figures that if the crowd really
roars with deep, masculine,
chest tones when it sees Tay-
lor'S latest, the way will be
cleared for a sequel in which
killer Mccoy" stages a spec
tacular comeback for wife and
kiddieS.