davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1938-04-02
'Merrily We Live
Now at Columbia.

"MERR1LY WE LIVE" was one Of
the seasons dafiest, dizziest
cinema comedies when it opened at
Loew's Capitol few weeks ago and
it still is one of the seasons dafiest.
dlzzlest comedies now that it has
moved to the Columbia for another
week on F street. 1t is complete non-
sense at its absolute pinnacle. a gay
bit OF utter insanity which Is guar
anteed to cure any mental. moral or
physical ills you might have.
There is no method in its madness,
but there is plenty Of madness in its
method. It's the story Of the daft
Kilbourne clan and their adventures
when mama. who is always picking up
tramps and trying to make new men
Of them, adopts fellow with a beard,
who turns out to be novelist. Mama
is Billie Burke at her flighty best,
which is very good indeed and the
fellow with the beard is Brian Aherne
The other people involved are Connie
Bennett, the bemused daughter of the
clan, who learns the novelist loves
her when he finally tosses a pail of
water in her face; Bonita Granville,
playing one of her nicer brats; Alan
Mowbray, the looniest butler OF the
year; pair Of Great Danes, and a
few miscellaneous other people and
items.
All Of them get mixed up in all
sorts of wild doings and Director
Norman Mcleod has kept things
moving at pace which makes for
plenty of unconfined fun. H, M.
Evening star., 1938-04-02
Sports Short Tops
Trans.Lux Bill.

uIGH spot of the Tranx-Lux bill
= = this week is the latest release in
the Grantland Rice Sportlight series.
Eminent Sports Authority Rice has
hit upon an angle which lends itself
readily to camera treatment-pretty
girl athletes. That feminine expo
nents of the more vigorous life are
not all unattractive Drawn is proved
conclusively in this short subject as
swimmers. golfers, a hurdler and a
talented horseWoman display their
aptitude and charm.
More than the moneys worth is
furnished in the array of items being
shown in support of the news. Meet
the Maestros" supplies enough to sat
isfy the jitterbugs and more conser-
vative devotees of popular music alike.
Clyde Lucas, Isham Jones, Russ Nor
gan, Cab Galloway and Phil Spitalny
WELD the baton in this one. The other
offerings are a colorful travelogue de-
voted to Java and The Clock Clean
ers,' featuring Mr.. Donald Duck.
President Roosevelt attends the
dedication OF chapel at Warm
Springs, the King and Queen of Eng
land inspect a new housing project,
sweepstakes winners face the camera
and the latest shots of sports activity
are shown during the newsreel por-
ton Of the program which is rather
unexciting this week. The shorts
more than compensate, however.
G. A. M.
Evening star., 1938-04-02

great success in New York with the
Astaires in The Band Wagon" At
the height of her acclaim, she mar
ried rich London Socialite Edward
James (his mother was often hostess
to Edward VID. With the sensational
divorce, Titles luck changed. Hoping
to better it, she came to Hollywood.
She landed two small parts-in THE
Garden of Allah" and The Good
Earth" Then M-G-M signed her to
years contract at salary of 81, 900
week. The year passed without a
single picture for the Viennese dane
er. And her option was not renewed.
X **
Sunday Lunch at the West Side
Tennis Club. The usual conglomera-
ton Of actors, agents. writer's and di-
rectors :. Robert Montgomery plays
tennis on his favorite court-that next
to the lunching audience Nunnally
Johnson-thinner since his divorce . . j..
Plump Nigel Bruce coaching his two
attractive daughters Tea with
Janet Beecher. who also pours for
John Beal and his parents from
Minnesota. Mr.. and Mrs. Beal, ST.,
always spend the winter with their
son in Hollywood. This year they
came out a month later to avoid
the bad weather. Four days after
their arrival came the Goods! 4.
John, jr., tells me I erred in saying
he was free lancing. Il am still
under contract to M-G-M-but not
any more to R-K-O Radio" He re-
Gently saw reshowing of his first
picture In Hollywood. Another Lam
guase," with Helen Hayes. TT gave
mo IN awful feeling to see and hear
Evening star., 1938-04-02
The Kid Comes Back
Dramatizes Resin.

FOR the box fight fans, there is a
picture at the Metropolitan this
week named The Kid Comes Back"
Rather rough and uneven piece Of
dramatization, it presents in the ma
jor roles Wayne Morris, Barton Mac
Lane and June Travis, with Slapsie
Make Rosenbloom and a lot of resin
talk playing second fiddle. AS a play
or cinema, The Kid Comes Back
can scarcely be classed as big time
entertainment, but it does present
some excellent fight sequences with a
sizable lot of rough stuff exchanged
between Col. Morris. the kid with the
winning smile, MI. MacLane. whose
smile would not please professional
sourpuss. and Slapsie the Make. the
only fighter who has been honest
enough to say in his day. If you
don't think 1 am an actor, you
should see my next fight"
There is considerable smell of the
ring throughout The Kid Comes
Back" and as usual the fights are
better than those you pay for in
dollar bills, but it is doubtful that
any one could be especially excited at
any point in the game. Still, solid
sock in the puss is a good sock in the
puss and that alone is sweet music
to some customers.
The Metropolitan also has some
rather stinko short subjects, despite
the fact that one of them done in
technicolor is extremely informa-
tive about the matter of the Louisiana
Purchase. r. B. p, Jr.
Evening star., 1938-04-02


drama Jane Eyre" she made every
effort to atone for them. She ar
rived in Washington, for example,
and promptly announced that she
would hold one of those mass, massive
cocktail interviews that are the GUS
tom of the day. Most of the news
paper people who attended walked in
feeling, in their secret hearts, as
though they were about to have a
cozy afternoon with fresh nest of
Wasps.
Then Miss Hepburn was cast in
stage Door," and by splendidly
sincere performance partially re-
deemed herself. And now she is at
R-K-O Keith's Theater in a wild farce
entitled Bringing Up Baby which
puts the girl back on the map, but
beautifully. 1t may seem silly to
contend that an actress can re-estab-
lish herself by series of falls and
hooligan shenanigans. Nevertheless
the trick has been done, because Miss
Hepburn has entered wholly into the
spirit of the maddest, most frenetic
yarn that was ever spun in celluloid
Perhaps there is magic touch in the
presence of Cary Grant in the cast
for we have seen Mr.. Grant in three
pictures in the last six months, and
all Of them were superb comedy. All
the credit is not his, however, fol
Evening star., 1938-04-02

without the assistance Of Miss Hep
burn, a leopard named Baby, and
the direction of Howard Hawks, the
whole project might have been a
flop.
Mr.. Hawks has used to best ad-
vantage here the positive qualities OF
Miss Hepburns technique. Where
her monotones have been merely
monotonous in the past, they now are
used for fine comic contrasts. Her
severity has been turned into pleas
ant insanity, and she has barred
nothing to achieve the finest effects
of slapstick
Bringing Up Baby" is funda-
mentally tale of misadventure be-
tween lively, irresponsible girl and
a semi-serious scientist who thought
he knew what he wanted until he had
been introduced into the sillier way
OF life. May Robson, Charles Rug
giles, Walter Catlett and Barry Fitz-
gerald add their tokens of amusement
to the yarn, and 1 must say that
Baby, the leopard, is one of the most
accommodating actors of our age.
Any one who misses this particular
bit Of stuff and nonsense will have
no sympathy from me, for nowhere
are there more tears to be shed in
laughter.
Evening star., 1938-04-02
Mrs. Edythe Brosius
Gives Delightful
Harp Concert.
EDYTHE MARMIoN BRos11Js

FDYTHE MARM1oN BRos1us.
harpist. gave delightful hour of
music yesterday afternoon in the sul-
grave Club before q large audience
made up Of music lovers among the
socially prominent. The ballroom
was darkened, the only light being
two attractive lamps on the slightly
raised platform where Mrs. Brosius
sat at her harp.
The program was varied ranging
from the old classics such as Bach.
Gluck and Corelli, to the more mod
ern work o. Debussy. Several of her
numbers were played by request,
Handel's Harmonious Blacksmith. +"
labels THE Fountain" and Rogers
Cradle Song of the Winds" which
Mrs Brosius arranged for harp. The
last number, which closed the pro-
gram, was one of the most beautiful
Of the afternoon and she was obliged
to repeat 1t. Mrs. Brosius has ample
technic, and knows the value of con-
trast in volume as well as quality of
tone. She played the most intricate
passages with ease, her scales, arpeg-
gios and cadenzas having unusual
clarity.
Mrs. Brosius began her recital with
three numbers from the prolific pen
Of Hasselmans. "Au Monastere," THE
Gypsy" and "Folletts," and included
in the first half of the program the
Chopin prelude No. H." as we'll as
Debussys "Arabesque"; the "Bourree'
from Bach's Second Sonata in D
Minor; Harmonious Blacksmith" and
THE Fountain" She was warmly
applauded and played several short
compositions. among them an Irish
folk song which she arranged for the
harp. Her second group included
Pierne's "Impromptu-C Caprice" Da-
quin's lie Coucou," the gavotte from
Glucks' "Iphigenia in Aulis," Corellis
"Giga," ScheutZe's In the Garden
and the very lovely Cradle Song of
the Winds" Mrs Brosius announced
her encores and gave brief explana-
ton of one or two of the numbers in
an informal way which had much
charm. K. B.
Evening star., 1938-04-02

cidentally, plays a mean trumpet)
knows well how to counterpoint mel
ody with the mad jam of modern
sWingtime. A noble contribution he
makes, too.
THE cinema half of the bill certainly
is no slouch of an entertainment,
either The First 100 Years is far
from the greatest film of the season
Tor even of the month, for that mat
ter, but it's bright diversion with
more than mild sprinkling of witty
lines; comedy romance which sets
out to prove nothing, which strives
for no particular status except that of
a pleasant trife. which takes your
mind off the headlines for awhile.
It's the story of an actors agent
who makes a lot Of money and her
husband who wants her to give it all
up and go with him while he builds
boats at New Bedford It's light
hearted and doesn't lag and shouldn't
bore you, even if it doesn't do too
much else for you. Miss Virginia
Bruce is as lovely as ever which is
more than passably lovely, and she
and Boo Montgomery, Warren VIII
liam and several other people play
The First 100 Years with congenial
amiabiity. There are several scenes
notably the one where Miss Bruce
learns from an insurance company
something which should have been
completely intimate and the one where
Lee Bowman dons feathers and plays
a tune on an Indian TOM -tom-which
are guaranteed to rouse your risibilities.
Evening star., 1938-04-02

myself as I was five years ago
like looking at some one who is dead"
Monday Dinner at Bernstein's
Fish Grotto in Los Angeles. Warner
Baxter is with very small. white
haired lady-his mother. Warmers
dark glasses are unnecessary. In this
restaurant, fish, and not film stars, are
all-important.
Tuesday d.. . At the Troc Grill il.
Groucho Marx says that an actors
biggest worry is the fear of being
through" Which I get after each
picture" Groucho has shaved the real
mustache he grew for Room Service. 4"
1T would have been a beard by the
time the picture started lin May.
We were going to change our usual
characters for the film. Harpo was
going to talk for the first time-but
it was too risky. Besides, if Harpo
talks, there'll be less for me- e.
At this point, Groucho's 16-year -old
tennis-playing son arrives. Meet the
next Davis Cup player" says Mr.
1t with He only has to
beat 10000 other players!"
Wednesday >. At the Hollywood
Brown Derby Norma Talmadge
with George Jessel Barbara STAN
wyck minus glamour make-up-and
Bob Taylor And Nebraska Film Critic
Barney Oldfield. H'ya Barney.
Thursday =. Paramount's airport
jamboree for Men With Wings"
William Wellman introduces the stunt
fiers, picture personalities-Andy De-
vine, Ray Misunderstanding cham
pagne from beer glasses-Porter Hall,
who says Thanks, but I'm not viii
lain in this picture" Wellman pauses
fol some one to introduce him.
Finally he can stand it no longer
and tells the crowd II am William
Wellman, director and producer of
Men With Wings"
Copyright. 1888. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance, Inc)
Evening star., 1938-04-02

"Bluebeard's Eighth Wife" fairly
abounds in mad moments, zone of the
maddest of them taking the form of
Miss Colbert's repulsion of her hus-
bands advances through the expedi-
ent of eating bunch Of onions at
one gulp. He can't stand onions, you
know. Another of the more exuberant
moments occurs when Mr.. Cooper, sick
OF being frustrated, studies '"The Tam
ing of the Shrew" to learn how to
handle his wife. The book counsels
spanking, thing into which they get
a lot of realism even though the
camera leaves the actual recording of
the wallops to the sound track.
With that fair which he has for
such things, Mrs Lubitsch never lets
his play wander far away from the
bedroom and on such occasions as he
does, it goes only to beaches, pajama
counters in department stores, train
compartments and allied locales. 1t
never becomes distasteful nor offensive
although there are strong possibili-
ties that it might have done so in
less skilled hands than those of di-
rector and players.
Even the moviegoer who feels
slightly bilious with an over-con-
sumption Of madcappery can put this
one down as deserving of his immedi-
ate and close attention. The wee kid
dies. however, might be put to bed
bit early that night for this is hardly
their puffed cereal.
THE Earle's stage bill this week,
while nothing to 60 mad about,
is not one of those vaudeville obli-
gatos designed to supplement a picture
of definite drawing power. A mixture
OF song. dance and faint spattering
of comedy, offered under the title
Parade of Youth" it has merit of
its own. In the dance line, there is
the tapping of the Four Franks to
entertain tap fans. and vocally-in-
cidentally the bills best feature so far
as We are concerned-audience will
find Lucille Johnston quite up to their
expectations. John Bryant's whistling
nearly stopped the show yesterday eve
ming but not quite so enthusiastically
Jared the five MaXellos, Richards and
Carson, the Manhattanites and Tom
Barry whose acts complete a generally
satisfactory bill
Evening star., 1938-04-02
Where and When
Current Theater Attractions
and Time of Showing.

National-"You Can't Take It With
You," Broadway's prize comedy of a
mad family circle: 2:30 and $50 pm.
EarIe-"Bluebeard's Eighth Wife,"
Great Lover Gary Cooper is taken for
a ride by Miss Colbert after he marries
her: GAS am, 1910, 2:40. $40, 7:35
and 1905 pm. Stage shows: 11:l5
am, las. 4:15, $40 and s:10p.m.
Capitol-"The First 100 Years." an
other of those now slug-now-love
items: II am, 1:47, 4:32, 7:17 and
10 pm. Stage shows: 12:46, 3:3l,
6:l6 and 9:01 pm.
Metropolitan -"The Kid Comes
Back" Wayne Morris smiles through
love and ring war: 11:55 am, 1855,
1855, 5:55, 7:55 and 9:55 pm.
Palace-"The Girl of the Golden
West" Jeanette Macdonald, Nelson
Eddy and the Romberg music: IL
am, lao, 4:20, Z and $40 pm.
Columbia-"Merrily We Live" mad
story of q mad family and tramp
who is not really one at all: IL am,
los, 3:15, 5:25, 7:3c and 9:40 pm.
Keith's-"Bringing Up Baby" Hep
burn as comedienne with q leopard
as aide: 1884 am, 1874, 1894, 5:34,
7:34 and 9:35 pm.
Trans-Lux-News and shorts. Con-
tinuous from 10 am. to midnight.
Lit'le-"Anthony Adverse" revival
Of the Aim version Of the Hervey Allen
novel: 11:27 am, 1856, 4:36, 6:57 and
9:28 pm.
Belasco-"Mayerling," Charles Boy
er and Danielle Darrieux in the much
acclaimed French perturbation of q
tragic royal romance: z, ass, b:55,
7:55 and o:55 pm.
Evening star., 1938-04-02

OF entertainment.
Miss Barrett, as far as We are con-
cerned. can set up housekeeping right
here in Washington and play the
Capitol from now on. No one else on
the stage can tear the shoes off the
idols of Hollywood and disclose their
feet of clay in so few words as can
Miss Barrett. On this visit her piece
de resistance is skit lampooning the
very daylightS out of one of those
star-studded radio hours emanat ting
from a movie studio. sketch full of
bright caricatures of W. c. Fields.
Simone Simon. Carlo. George Jessel
and raft of other people. Miss Bar
rett has conceived and executed it
with a rare wit. which makes it one of
the most hilarious items in her roper
toire and it is to be hoped she will
not be too discouraged because a few
of her best lines apparently were in
the stratosphere for at least one of
yesterdays audiences. Miss Barrett's S
other contribution is another of the
better things she has done-Noel Cow
ards Mad About the Boy" as inter-
preted by lass in the throes of puppy
love.
For more humor on this same vaude-
vile bill, and more fun than you've
had watching many a turn. there is
Mr.. Campo, whose pantomime reaches
high peak of comedy in a take-off
on all those Apache dances you've
seen. And for swing you get Clyde
Mccoy and his Sugar Blues" Or
chestra, an outfit which is one of the
favorites because Mr.. McCov (who. in
Evening star., 1938-04-02
Double Feature.

JOHN BARRYMORE is always good
y for surprise. On the Marie An
toinette" set he was doing his death
scene as Louis XIV and the set was
packed with persons eager to see the
great actor at work. Many a wet eye
was in evidence by the time Director
w. S. Van Dyke ordered "cut." There
was awed silence. Barrymore raised
up on his bier and peered at the crowd.
Stop. your sniveling," he snorted.
THE King dies twice today"
Evening star., 1938-04-02
Asia Proves He's
Just a POOch.
A STA" the wire-haired terrier

AsTA," the wire-haired terrier of
Thin Man" fame, broke his leash,
broke up scene and nearly broke his
contract recently-thereby proving
that the Little Lord Fauntleroy of
dogdom is just a pooch at heart.
On location with Katharine Hep
burn and Cary Grant for R-K-O
Radios Bringing Up Baby" he was
in the midst Of a scene when he for
got his lines, his role and his cinema
training, and disappeared over a
nearby golf bunker.
He was located after a frenZied
search, sitting beneath the limb of an
adjacent tree, on which reposed a hos
tile and somewhat flurried tomcat
Evening star., 1938-04-02

were men until somebody shot them
Eventually in this picture they get
around to shooting Mr.. Eddy, but
prior to that bit of action, there are
many moments of almost distinguished
dullness which not even the pleasant
score and handsome photography can
relieve.
Girl of the Golden West" is the
story out of which David Belasco
made a fortune 80 years ago, when
the movies still shivered in silence.
M-GM probably will make a great
deal more than the late Mr.. Belasco,
but that will be because Miss Mac
Donald and Mr.. Eddy have built their
regulations on more worthy pictures.
It has become virtually habit to
jab at musicals on the ground Of
overlength, but only because it has
become absolutely a habit to make
them overlong This, inded, is the
conspicuous shortcoming of the film
directed by Robert 2. Leonard. His
characters, bands of outlaws on the
one hand and brave, decent citizens
carving profit out of wilderness on
the other, are virile boys and girls
when the occasion demands, but they
do a lot of dawdling in between.
There is this to be said for the inter-
walls of inactivity, however. and very
much to the pictures credit, the
camera has achieved some outdoor
scenes of almost miraculous impress
siveness. Old, or new, it makes one
realize that the West has stunning
looking topography and trees.
Out of the football togs in which
he scored that touchdown in 'Rosalie."
MIR. Eddy bobs up here in the equally
ill-adapted garb of Mexican bandit.
a kind of Robin Hood, with ready
wit, a vagrant heart and kind of
sappy charm. He rides horses, robs
stage coaches and falls in love with
Miss Macdonald, who runs saloon
called the Poker in town called
Cloudy.
The course of the romance. which
begins when they are children, gives
them a chance to sing their hearts out,
a thing for which both are better de-
signed than for wearing wild west
clothing Their duets, composed by
Sigmund Romberg, add up to grand
total of two, both pleasant enough
but neither of them of unusual merit.
who Are We to Say" is one of the
thing Strengthened out after hearing
so much music on the radio. The
other, Dance With Me, My Love-"
which has a tango flavor as BELTS an
aria in Southwestern opera. "Shad-
ows on the Moon" is the already most
popular ditty in the film, but the best
of Mr.. Eddy's talent comes tipping
through in his "Senorita" serenade.
The production feature of Girl Of
the Golden West" which is big enough
to inject a company of cavalry into
the ballet, introduces the Mariachie,
which is lively dance that contrasts
strikingly with the general tempo of
the picture.
So far as character portrayal goes,
the minor lads and lasses of the film
At better into their parts than do the
principals. Best individual perform
ance Is that given by H. B. Warner,
once more cast as a gentle padre who
breaches peace and beauty with an
eloquence acquired through long ex-
perience as the gentle padre of many
Aims. Leo Garlic is good as good
bad man, the kind who puts a lot OF
enjoyment and humor into holding up
stage coaches and otherwise Haunting
the law. Buddy Ebsen, the lanky
dance man, turns in surprisingly nice
comedy bit in the part Of lovabls
Evening star., 1938-04-02

Paramount. And it will brighten your
week no end to get around and see
1t. the only reservation to that recon-
mendation being that you should be
old enough to appreciate Mr.. Lubitsch's
subtleties as just subtleties and not
something to brood about later.
Cooper, who has been kept pretty
solemn by his employers since he
helped make Mr.. Deeds" tradition
among Aim comedies, is back in the
old Deeds groove again. He seizes it
as an opportunity to prove that while
he can be strong, silent man with
the best of the strong, silent men
he also is an actor who can sprinkle
life with joyous laughter. He and
Miss Colbert. at her best when she
can be impishly comic, make a team
over which Mr Lubitsch must have
shed regretful tear when he realized
he was making his farewell picture
for Paramount. The three of them
sparkle every step of the way, and
SO do such subordinate members of the
cast as Edward Everett Horton, David
Niven and Elizabeth Patterson. Max
ing their sparkling simpler is the
zestful dialogue and situation pro-
vided by Charles Bracket and Billy
Wilder. authors of the screen play
"Bluebeards Eighth Wife" in case
the name suggests something murder
Gus to you, has nothing to do with
the Bluebeard you may have read
about. This one. played by MIR. Cooper
is rich gentleman given to impetuous
marriages. a policy he adopts on the
theory that long courtships are a
waste of time. Until he meets Nicole
de Loiselle. pert French miss. he has
made a remarkable record for brief
courtships and briefer marriages.
Nicole miss Colbert) is not that
kind of girl. She marries Bluebeard
after turgid courtship and then
proceeds to hold him for life through
the irritating policy of keeping the
marriage platonic so long that ele-
ments of admiration and enduring
friendship creep into it.
The courtship and marriage, orna-
mented with the Lubitsch touch, are
just about the spiciest affairs Mr..
Lubitsch has conceived and even
though he should stop making pic
lures entirely he will have left other
directors in a position to tell the in
dustry's no men. We'll, you let
Lubitsch do it To say the thing
more briefly, this is an adult comedy
Evening star., 1938-04-02
Leading Role for
Olympic Bradna.

0LYMPE BRADNA, recently award
ed long-term contract by Para
mount as a result of her performance
with Gene Raymond in Stolen
Heaven" has been assigned a leading
role in Escape From Leavenworth.
Akin Tamiroff. who soon will start
work with George Raft. Georges Ri
gaud, Dorothy Lamour and John Bar
rymore in Spawn of the North also
mas been given leading role in
Escape From Leavenworth." which
has been in preparation under the ten
tative title, Federal Pen"